Sakawa managed to get to the dorms quickly enough to beat Shimakaze's personal record. Rushing to the first floor, she nearly bounced off the door after arriving at her destination. The room was shut and silent.
"Nagato-san, are you there?", she knocked, but only silence awaited her.
"Nagato-saaan!", the cruiser raised her voice before trying again. This time, with limited success.
"Go away…", tired voice was barely audible.
"I'll keep knocking until you opyan! I have a special mission!", Sakawa was once again answered with silence.
The cruiser continued for a while to no effect – Nagato stayed silent.
"Fine! If you want to be so stubborn, Sakawa will sit here until you let her in!", she sat down, and heavily leaned on the door. "If I starve to death it will be Nagato's fault!", she shouted with tears in her eyes.
An hour has passed with Sakawa's occasional attempts to lure Nagato out of hiding, but the battleship stayed relentless. Sitting there with the chin between her knees, she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar overly energetic voice.
"HEEEY, SAKAWAA!", Kongou shouted full of positive energy.
"Kongoou-saan!", teary-eyed cruiser looked like a homeless kitten, but the battleship had no time to take a closer look, as she immediately embraced her in a hug.
"Now, now…", she patted Sakawa's head. "Did something bad happen?", her fake British accent was gone.
The cruiser proceeded to tell the battleship about her talk with the admiral and Akagi. She described in detail how she was filled with pride and happiness to receive such an important task, but Nagato just didn't want to talk to her. Kongou quickly began to empathize with her smaller friend.
"Now, now. Big sister will fix this. I have a plan!"
"Really?", Sakawa's eyes were once again glinting with hope.
"Yes, a special plan named…", she paused to move Sakawa out of the way. "BURNING LOVE!", she shouted as she kicked the door open.
"PYA!", Sakawa let out, surprised and terrified.
"Hey, Nagato!", the battleship barged inside without as much as a glance at the broken barrier once protecting Nagato's privacy.
The smell of sweat. Thick and suffocating it immediately stopped Kongou from performing the other part of her plan.
The Big Seven battleship was sitting curled up on her bed, thoughtlessly staring at the wall in front of her, completely ignorant of Kongou's and Sakawa's presence. The same could be said about the newfound lack of door. Contrary to what one could expect, the curtains were wide open, furthermore all lamps were turned on as well. Nagato's eyes had dark rings around them, revealing at least a few sleepless nights. Normally, Shipgirls could spend days fighting without as much as a nap, so even without looking at her, both visitors knew that Nagato's in a really dark place.
"Oi, Nagato! Being arrested is not a reason to hole up in your room and stop washing! Hara keeps doing this to me every second week…", Kongou tried to crack a joke while pulling her friend up by the arm. "Sakawa, help me here, this old bastard is heavy…"
As soon as the cruiser joined in, Nagato shoved both of them away.
"I said, leave me alone!", the tone of her voice made Sakawa instinctively crawl back a bit before standing up again.
"We can't do that, you know it. I have no idea what's going on, but this certainly isn't helping.", Kongou tried again, only to be pushed away once more.
"Don't make me angry!", Kongou jumped on the battleship, trying overpower her prior to another attempt at dragging her out of that stinky room.
To her surprise, however, Nagato offered no resistance this time.
"Eh?", the britophile let out a surprised sigh and soon silent sobbing filled the room.
"Why? Why can't you just go away? I… I can't…"
"Sakawa's not going away until you tell us what's wrong!", the cruiser embraced Nagato and for the longest moment, their junior-senior statuses seemed reversed.
"You… you don't understand…", the battleship barely uttered through the tears. "I must not fall asleep… If I do, I will lose it."
Suddenly the embrace was broken by Kongou who pinned Nagato to the bed with expression that most people thought impossible for her.
"No more screwin' around, old timer! If you won't tell us what's wrong, I'll beat it out of you!", usually calm and happy-go-lucky, the battleship was now seething with rage.
"Ko-kongou-san… I don't think…"
"No, Sakawa. I've seen this before, in Singapore. One of the British girls stationed there was going through the same thing… HMS Ameer… Ah, I'm such an idiot for not noticing it earlier!", the Old Lady was visibly angry, although Sakawa couldn't decide whether it was with herself or Nagato.
"Wh-what happened to her?", the cruiser asked hoping to never hear the answer.
"It doesn't matter… we need to find a way to get this one to talk and help her as soon as possible.", Kongou tried sparing Sakawa the details, but this one sentence was enough to make tears stream down the cruiser's cheeks.
"Fucking great…", Kongou swore inaudibly.
"Sa… Don't cry, Sakawa…", for the first time Nagato's eyes actually moved. "I… I'll be fine… I'm the Big Seven after all…", her pained expression and still absent eyes caused an opposite effect.
"You need to talk to us!", Kongou squeezed battleship's cheeks and forced Nagato to look at her.
"See what your stupid pride is doing to your friends, you donkey!", she pointed at crying Sakawa.
"I…", Big Seven's eyes wandered away from the Old Lady towards the swollen face of the light cruiser. "You win…", she quietly admitted her defeat.
"Finally… Now the other one…", Kongou turned towards her companion. "Sakawa, I need you to listen carefully now. There's still hope for Nagato, so focus, ok?", she pulled the cruiser's face up meeting her with her trademark smile.
Sobbing, Sakawa agreed uncertainly and sat down next to Nagato wiping off the tears.
"I've… I've been having nightmares.", the battleship's eyes wandered away as her face turned red from embarrassment, expecting a salvo of laughter which never came. Instead, she felt two palms tightly squeezing her own as if to encourage her to continue.
"That's nothing to be ashamed of, old friend. They can be a real hassle the first few times.", Kongou cut in hoping to calm Nagato down.
"You don't understand, Old Lady… They aren't just bad dreams. They… They feel real… I can feel the pain on my skin after waking up…", she paused steeling her resolve. "I see my closest friends dying the most gruesome deaths… I can smell the molten steel and burnt skin… I've seen Mutsu's last moments, Kongou… I've seen her beg that bastard...", she wept.
"It must have…", Sakawa tried reassuring Nagato that it's just her imagination, but was stopped by the other battleship.
"I can't survive seeing any of you die once more… I'm too afraid that when I wake up the dream will turn out to be true… Even now, I'm not sure if you're real…"
"As real as they get. So, you decided to stop sleeping and work yourself to death?", Kongou's voice was much softer and empathetic than her words. "You old fool, we're your friends.", she and Sakawa simultaneously embraced Nagato.
"You don't understand…"
"No, Nagato-san, you don't understand.", for the first time that day, Sakawa's expression showed resolve and determination. "We are not leaving you behind this time!", Sakawa squeezed tighter. "I will stay with you day and night if need be! I will protect you, the same way Yahagi and Noshiro did during the war!"
Nagato tried answering, but words were stuck with her throat, turning into sobbing and, soon crying. She finally returned Kongou's and Sakawa's embrace.
"You're going to crush…", Kongou tried joking, but her throat was already dried out from sobbing.
The trio stayed like that for what felt like eternity to Kongou, until…
"Hieeee! Onee-sama's having a steamy romance!", Hiei's face appeared in the broken doorway, but was only met with Kongou's silencing gesture, pointing at Nagato and Sakawa who finally managed to fall asleep.
"I will tell you tomorrow.", the battleship's lips moved without letting out a sound.
Now, to put them both to bed without waking them up, she thought to herself before lying down next to her old friend.
This night Nagato's nightmares were the most intensive yet, however each time the things were heading down the crash course, a gentle push woke her up. Kongou and Sakawa were taking turns watching over their troubled comrade, until she finally woke up for good. Only then they've realized that they were supposed to show up for manoeuvres three hours earlier. Lucky for them, Hiei couldn't stay quiet and Hara quickly received the good news, letting them off the hook this once.
"So, are you ready for yet another beautiful day?", Kongou let out an enthusiastic shout, passing Nagato and Sakawa two cups of freshly boiled tea.
"I… I think so…", uncertain, she answered tucked a freely hanging lock of her long black hair behind her ear.
Deep in thought, she didn't participate in the morning talk too much, aside occasional confirmation or denial.
"So, Sakawa, what's the plan for today?", Kongou asked after coming back from her room in fresh clothes, carrying another set for Sakawa. They were a little too big, but the cruiser looked captivatingly cute in the miko-like uniform of the Kongou-class.
"Destroyers, pya!"
"Huh?"
"When Sakawa's feeling down, she goes and plays with destroyer girls.", the light cruiser quickly explained.
"Are you sure it's such a good idea after…", Kongou paused realizing that Nagato's still in the room.
"Don't worry! They are all good girls, pya!"
Not having any better ideas, Kongou shrugged and got off the bed and headed towards the wardrobe.
"Nagato… Don't tell me you didn't do any laundry…", the battleship sneered while rummaging through her friend's clothes. Her face expressed a mix of disgust and confusion. Met only with a look of guilty, she rushed back to her room, bringing Hiei's old uniform a moment later.
"We'll be like sisters, pya!", Sakawa clearly liked the idea.
"I don't mean to whine, but haven't you got any other clothes?", Nagato did not.
"Oh, don't sweat the details, oldie.", Kongou, of course, was in possession of other types of clothing, but at this point something in her wanted to punish Nagato for her selfish behaviour in the previous weeks.
Reluctantly, the battleship got out of the bed to finally take care of herself and some thirty minutes later, the three were ready to leave.
"By the way, oldie.", Nagato opened mockingly. "I hope my doors will be fixed today."
"Uuhm… Sure they will!". If Hara sends somebody to fix them, she thought simultaneously.
Sakawa, overflowing with happiness, stayed silent during their exchange, glad that Nagato has finally made some progress. Now she only had to hope that the destroyers don't fail her.
With spring in her step, the cruiser served as the flagship of this little expedition, leading the two battleships to a small playground located behind Houshou's Izakaya, where destroyers used to spend their free time. They have just passed Daikoku's shrine when Akebono's group appeared in sight.
"Stay away, you shitty old hag!", Akebono reacted almost immediately, nearly tripping over her own feet.
As both groups passed each other and exchanged short greetings, Akebono openly refused any interaction with Nagato.
"Heh, serves her right.", Kongou sneered, visibly happy. "Hara has patience of an angel."
"He sure does…", Nagato thought about her discussion with the admiral three days earlier. "I may disagree with his methods, but they seem to work…", at last she could open herself, even if just a little bit.
Luckily better than that half-assed arrest idea…, Kongou nearly let that one slip.
They walked for few more minutes until arriving at Houshou's restaurant. When there, Sakawa asked them to wait, so she can let the kids know about their guest, and disappeared around the corner. Few moments later, she came back and invited both battleships to play.
The place was actually just a patch of ground with some benches and tables - steel was scarce even in the navy, so building anything else was out of question. Destroyers, however, didn't seem to care and were having a blast swinging on pieces of wood hanging from the trees, or building castles in the sandbox they've created over months with sand that each of them brought back from sorties and expeditions.
Seeing Kongou, Akatsuki rushed towards her, excited at the prospect of meeting a real, adult lady. Unfortunately, contrary to Sakawa's hopes, the moment she saw Nagato, the destroyer froze in place. Immediately all three of her sisters jumped between her and the battleship, armed with plastic sandbox tools.
"Just stay calm and play along.", Kongou whispered before taking few steps back.
Dumbfounded Nagato had no idea what to do and started searching for clues all around her, until meeting Sakawa's eyes.
"Just play along.", the cruiser's lips moved silently.
Not knowing what it means, Nagato looked at the four little girls in front of her, ready for a fight and decided to do the only thing she's ever done – respond to their passion with her own. She raised her hands and started making slow, heavy steps towards the destroyers.
"I'm going to take you away, little lady!", she said the first thing that came to her mind, a memory of one of her crew members talking about his little sister.
"Stay away, you… you monster!", Ikazuchi let out a battle cry before charging at Nagato with her plastic shovel.
"Try and stop me, little one!", she roared like she thought a dragon would, right before being hit on the hip with Ikazuchi's deadly weapon. "Ouuch! It hurts!", she roared again, putting the destroyer over her shoulder, as she began to spin.
"Give her back!", Inazuma and Akatsuki shouted through tears preparing to charge.
"Uraaa!", Hibiki, or Verniy, was faster and already at Nagato's feet, but she too got grabbed just like her sister.
The other two Akatsukis quickly rushed to their sisters' help, hitting Nagato's thighs and pulling on her skirt, as the crowd around them kept getting larger and larger.
"Huh? This seems fun!", Satsuki shouted enthusiastically. "I want to try it too, c'mon Fumizuki!"
"What's so fun about being spun around like a bag of potatoes? It's so childish!", Kasumi acted more sceptical, yet she couldn't take her eyes off Nagato.
"Hey, Asa-nee, did somebody do this to you too?", Matsukaze asked her sister.
"Huh? Whatever you're talking about?"
"I just thought, if you were spun like that, it'd explain your bald forehead, you know."
"Huh? Is it a fight? Let me join!", Kawakaze shouted from behind the crowd. "Ouch! Shigu-nee, I'm kidding!"
Meanwhile, Nagato kept fending off the relentless attacks of Akatsuki sisters with as much delicacy as she could – they were actually pretty strong.
"Ahahaha, I've got your sisters now!", the battleship taunted, deciding that it's time to let the girls win.
She carefully collapsed onto her knees, putting down both Ikazuchi and Hibiki, only to perform a sneaky tickle attack on the other two sisters. The secret technique possessed only by the Big Seven battleships, quickly turned out extremely effective as both Inazuma and Akatsuki started laughing for the first time since they saw Nagato at the playground.
"I told you it's a good idea, Kongou-pyan.", with smug look, Sakawa approached the still standing comrade of hers.
"Should we help her?", Kongou was more enthusiastic about the idea than she wanted to show.
"Pya!"
After the group of now seven girls fell on the ground, exhausted with their battle, Nagato immediately go surrounded by all of the gathered destroyers, each wanting to play with her too.
That day, both Nagato and Sakawa were tired enough to fall asleep nearly immediately without paying attention to the still broken doors. For the first time the battleship was too happy to think about the hardships of the night. She knew that whatever she may see or feel, a bunch of little rascals will wait for her behind a traditional Japanese bar.