/* Sorry for not uploading anything for such a long time, but my life has been quite a rollercoaster this past month. Job searches, diving course, now I'm sick... Charms of being on the wrong side of 20s. This is just a tri... prologue to a bit larger chapter that's coming soon. */
For next two weeks, Nagato's schedule was divided between training with Katori and training at the gym. Her nightmares kept getting more realistic and didn't stop even for a day, causing her mental state to rapidly deteriorate. Ironically, only excessive physical exercise allowed the battleship to keep her attachment to reality and take the mind off of the disturbing images that each night brought.
Some degree of short-term, illusionary respite came in form of ever-energetic Sendai, who kept nagging her, like every other newbie, to join her night battle trainings. Not thinking straight, Nagato reasoned that less sleep and more exhaustion will cause the nightmares to become less cumbersome, or at least take her mind off of them during the day.
Sendai wasn't the only Shipgirl with strange affection for unforgiving and exhausting routine that night battles were. She was often joined by other "night battle idiots" as other girls dubbed them, or "defective products" as the admiral liked to call them. Coming and going depending on patrols, missions and whims, in addition to the light cruiser, the group mostly consisted of two Shiratsuyu-class destroyers – Shiratsuyu and Kawakaze; and two Kagerou-class – Hagikaze and Arashi
As far as Nagato knew, Shiratsuyu wanted to receive her second remodel and catch up to Shigure and Yuudachi, so she kept training day and night. Somehow, she's also managed to play an electric guitar and had time to hang out with her friends and sisters. Kawakaze's case wasn't a bit different, as her main motivation was to not lose to her older sister. These two kept competing in everything.
Hagikaze's motivation also stemmed from the will to become a top-notch Shipgirl. Due to sinking in an ambush at night, poor girl was panickily scared of darkness and wanted to use this controlled environment to get rid of the phobia which stopped her from missions other than short patrols around the base. Arashi on the other hand felt a very strong desire to protect her sister. She was skilled enough to become a frontline destroyer, but persuaded Hara to assign her to Hagikaze's unit.
All other shipgirls who joined these not-so-secret secret meetings had similar motivations. Much to Nagato's surprise the lax atmosphere and lack of discipline at the base had next to no negative effects and each and every Shipgirl possessed a strong desire to become the best. The reasons for this remained a mystery.
However, spending entire days in training and at the gym, combined with a few hours of night battling, resulted in something exactly opposite than what Nagato hoped for. Without proper rest her consciousness became fragile and the weakened mind became more susceptible to the mysterious dark visions. Within few days the battleship became closer to a machine than a human. The only thing stopping her from accidentally hurting herself were the reflexes she acquired thanks to her inhuman training routine and the simple truth of being, at least partially, an actual machine.
Over that time Nagato's subconsciousness kept playing out multiple different scenes, mostly from her own past. She's seen Kongou's sinking, unable to do anything as each time she opened her mouth orders to push on would go out. Lost battle off Samar, where each time she tried to help, a wake of torpedoes appeared, forcing her to withdraw and helplessly watch the humiliation of that day over and over again.
As days passed, the nightmares took another form. Nagato no longer saw her own memories. Instead, each night, she saw last moments of her comrades. Moments and memories, she had no way of knowing in such detail. These actually turned out a respite, as nearly all of her closest comrades died heroic deaths. All, but one, the closest one she had back then. That night, Nagato dreamt about Mutsu.
She saw her sistership's spirit form, breaking the most important rule of the spirit world and showing herself to the man who proved her undoing. Failing to talk him out of the suicidal plan, Mutsu got on her knees and started begging. Begging to let her live on to fight another day. Begging to not take away her one and only duty. She wanted to sail out and wreak havoc among enemies of the Empire. The view filled Nagato with pride of her sister's sense of duty on one hand, but also rage and hatred towards the man in front of her. She tried strangling him, throwing boxes and planks, but her hands just phased through everything. Hopeless and helpless she slowly fell to her knees as the arsonist set fire to Mutsu, looking directly in her teared-up eyes, with a victorious smirk on his face.
Nagato's rage was burning intensely enough to bring her back to her senses after waking up. Hitting the wall, she swore that if she ever meets him in the afterlife, she'll send him to yet another one. As she stood with her fist on the wall, trying to hold back tears, her mental exhaustion began to sneak in. Without even noticing, she turned back into her robot-like self and with trained automatism began dressing up and headed towards the mess for an early breakfast.
After barely eating anything, Nagato directed herself towards the usual training grounds. Katori showed up nearly at the same time that the battleship finished the equipment process. A few minutes later, both of them were ready to begin.
Despite being mentally absent, Nagato's body was following the routine that was forged into it over days of ceaseless training. After a near flawless execution of all exercises, consisting of launching, maneuvering and shooting, Katori didn't seem very impressed and ordered yet another run. This time, right after launching, she swayed to the port instead of starboard but to her disappointment, Nagato who was supposed to follow her acted on muscle memory and the training cruiser had to restart the course.
"You have to be more aware of my movements, I'm your flagship now and, unless ordered otherwise, you are supposed to follow me. Again.", Katori said when they were back in the launch pads and, as usual, hit her right boot with the pointer.
"Yes, madame!", Nagato replied instinctively, despite completely missing out on Katori's feedback.
After launching, Katori followed the usual course, at least until the shooting range, when suddenly she's gone for a close-range engagement. Again, the battleship did not follow and kept shelling from the distance, and again the training cruiser had to stop the course.
"What did I tell you? Did you perhaps learn the course by heart, thinking I'll let you into fleet training earlier?", Katori shouted, smacking her pointer against her boots, letting out a loud clank, bringing Nagato back to her senses for a moment.
"No, madame! I would never resort to such lowly tactics!", Nagato subconsciously lied being unaware of the state of her mind and body.
"Again.", Katori said without as much as looking at Nagato. She wasn't interested in apologies or excuses.
The story kept repeating for the entire day. Nagato either followed the regular path or copied whatever Katori did during their previous run. As the sun began to set, the training cruiser decided it's time to stop, much to Nagato's disappointment and anger. However, no objections were as much as heard as Katori just smacked her boots with the pointer, silencing the battleship each time she opened her mouth.
Both of them equally disheartened silently entered the launch pads to unequip their riggings. The process was over within few minutes and they went to change into fresh uniforms. Right after Nagato smacked the door behind her, a loud smash came from her changing room. With her uniform skimpier than Katori's, the battleship was done first and obediently waited for her teacher outside.
"Nagato-san", Katori opened right after leaving. "Sit down please.", she pointed at the bench overlooking the launching area. Still under cruiser's command, the battleship quickly obliged.
"Is something wrong? You've been completely absent for the entire week, and today you seemed lost.", she continued.
Spaced out Nagato needed a longer while to gather her thoughts and formulate a comprehensible answer.
"Don't worry, Katori-san. I just want to proceed to fleet exercises as soon as possible and start fighting for real.", Nagato lied again, this time consciously. She couldn't let anybody know that she's being tormented by something as silly as nightmares.
"Well, technique-wise you're already at more than sufficient level, but for the past week you have failed to stay in formation or follow orders for total of 82 times, out of 212 courses. You seem exhausted, are you having enough sleep?", even in her mindless state, Nagato could notice that Katori was worried about her. Little did she know how much.
"I apologize for worrying you, sensei. It's just that I don't feel confident in my own abilities and put too much thought in everything. I will train even harder and make you proud, I promise!", somehow the battleship managed to come up with what she thought was a convincing lie.
"Nagato-san… I may have taught you a few things, but surely lying wasn't among them…", her voice revealed a mixture and anger and disappointment, like a parent scolding their child for smoking. "What you need is to relax and get some rest, and I even know where and how.", a devilish smile appeared on Katori's face as she spoke those words.
"Katori-san, with all due respect, I don't think I have time for follies.", Nagato tried to protest, deeply believing that more training will solve her issues.
"I don't remember saying that the training is over. As such, you are still under my command, and the orders are to follow me and relax.", unfazed, Katori said while bending her pointer upwards before releasing it to hit her boot.
After Nagato's apology, both of them headed towards the base's shrine. Confused, Nagato quietly followed Katori along the winding paths of shrine gardens. Few minutes later, they've crossed a small red bridge and ended up in front of a large, traditional Japanese house.