Numerous thoughts and emotions were running around inside the head of Observer Alpha as her slender fingers danced around on the holographic keyboard. Although she wasn't showing it outwardly, the Siren girl was experiencing something that she had never felt before: confusion.

A full week had gone by, and yet the world was still at peace. The World War should have already been in motion by now following the Sakura Empire's attack on Hawaii. She predicted that there would be a slight change of plan following the appearance of the UFO on December 7th and that the vixens and their friends would still bomb Pearl Harbor to hell and back, which led to a domino effect of nations declaring war on each other, resulting in a World War.

Observer Alpha had already watched this whole World War before in previous timelines. Although she did enjoy watching humans killing each other in the little war of theirs, she was not impressed. In the first timeline, when the war was nearly over, Observer Alpha was really hyped to witness an epic final showdown between Japan and the US. Imagine how disappointed she was when the Western powerhouse decided to simply drop two massive "F U" bombs on Japan's soil and call it a day. Worse, Japan also decided to surrender unconditionally to the US of A, effectively ending the war.

To show how deeply disappointed she was, Observer Alpha mobilized every and all Siren assets that she had at her disposal and eradicated the world of all human beings before creating an identical second timeline with some minor tweaks and adjustments. The Arbiters were, understandably, not impressed. They scolded Observer Alpha for hours for her unprofessional behavior as well as the gross misuse of military resources for personal gain. But at the very least, Observer Alpha did manage to get some data out of that first timeline so she only got a slap on the wrist and that was it.

At this point, Observer Alpha had come to admit that her speculation was proven wrong. Right now, instead of reports of war and stuff rolling in, all she had gotten so far were daily weather updates and reports from Siren sleeper agents stationed in each nation around the world. The World War was not going to start anytime soon and she knew exactly why. The only problem right now was to get some eyes and ears inside that island in order to get a proper picture of what was going on.

Or she could just go with the fun way and carry out a probing attack. With this method, she would not only get some eyes on whatever singularity that was getting in the way of her plan but also some data out of said anomaly.

Thus, Observer Alpha had made up her mind. If the attack on Pearl Harbor was not going to happen then she would do it herself. Her fingers danced on the holographic keyboard again, closing all the unnecessary tabs and contacting Purifier.

Observer Alpha smirked in amusement. Purifier could be a loose cannon sometimes but at the end of the day, the girl always got the job done. So long as she proved herself to be a useful subordinate, Observer Alpha could tolerate and turned a blind eye to Purifier's antics.

A ring or two later and the chirpy voice of Purifier came through. "Yoohoo! Got something for me to smash?"

Observer Alpha rolled her eyes. Of course that would be the first thing that came through Purifier's head when she called her given the girl's affection towards violence. Nevertheless, she replied. "Correct. As you are already aware, it seems that our Sakura 'friends' chickened out and didn't bomb Hawaii as planned. I want you to take a hundred multirole drones and raise hell onto that island for me. The objective is to gather intel, so you shall sit back and observe while the planes do their job. Clear?"

"Aww, you're no fun!" Purifier whined. Again, predictable. "Can I at least increase the number of drones to 150? These things are cheap and expendable after all."

"No." Observer Alpha deadpanned. Though what Purifier said was technically true, it still took nine and a half hours to build a drone with their state-of-the-art automated assembly lines. Plus, she hated waiting, so the less time she had to wait for new drones to be built, the better.

"130?"

"No."

"How about 110?"

"No."

"...Pwetty pwease?"

Observer Alpha sighed. This girl really knew how to get on her nerves. However, she didn't have time for this. "Fine. Just take the damn drones and get to it."

"Yay!" Purifier loudly celebrated. "Oh by the way, what about that Brit Rear Admiral coming to Hawaii? Should I get rid of the guy before he makes it to port?"

Observer Alpha pondered for a moment. According to one of their moles, the Brit officer was coming for a routine inspection of Pearl Harbor with some shipgirls of the Royal Navy, namely Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, Sheffield, and Edinburgh. Whether the man was dead or alive was not really a concern to her since it didn't make that much difference in the course of things, according to her logs from previous timelines. Thus, the Siren saw no harm in having Purifier eliminate the officer.

However, there was a small problem that forced Observer Alpha to not give Purifier the go-ahead. The Siren knew that while she had spies all around the world, she didn't have any in Hawaii. Plus, even though the purpose of the upcoming attack was to collect intelligence data from the islands, she would only gain so much such as what she was dealing with and perhaps some rough data, not the fully detailed picture.

And the British Rear Admiral would be her ticket to get past that gate, courtesy of her moles within the British Armed Forces.

It was decided: the man would live… for now. "No. We need not only eyes but also ears within that place. Let him inspect the base as usual and report back to his homeland. You may engage the Royal fleet if necessary but do NOT, under ANY circumstances, harm the guy. Clear?"

On the other end, Purifier sighed and groaned loudly. "Cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyystallllllllllll. Oh yeah, what's the ROE on this one? Ya know, the 'Attack on Pearl Harbor' thing?"

At that point, Observer Alpha decided that she had heard enough and ended the call without replying.

Since when did Purifier suddenly care about rules of engagement, anyway?


A few days went by after the awakening of the kitsune spaceship and Amagi was now readying herself to leave the hospital. What would usually take a normal person or even a shipgirl a few weeks or even months to get back to acceptable shape reduced to mere days, all thanks to the augmentations done on her body. In those few days, words of her "revival" coupled with photographic evidence had reached Sakura Empire and, to nobody's shock, her former government demanded her safe return as soon as possible.

Knowing her 20th-century's homeland, "as soon as possible" was quite literally "immediately".

At least they were kind enough to deliver her a spare change of her signature kimono. From what Amagi could hear, they stripped a Ki-57 transport plane off of its non-essential stuff in order to extend its maximum possible range. After reaching that range, the plane airdropped her kimono and returned home, then a nearby shipgirl by the name of Ayanami would pick up the package and quickly deliver it to Hawaii.

That act of kindness truly surprised Amagi and warmed her heart somewhat. Earlier, she was told that her previous 26th century outfit was pretty much destroyed and that she would have to temporarily wear standard-issue women's uniform of the Eagle Union's Navy until she got back to her country. Not that she had any issue wearing someone else's outfit. She, along with other shipgirls, had to wear standard-issue PT uniforms during training with the ODSTs when the Human-Covenant War first broke out. She could even go around naked if the situation called for it and she would not mind one bit.

Currently, both Amagi's sister and half-sister were helping her put on her outfit. She had made it clear that she could put it on by herself just fine but the other two younger carriers just kept on insisting so she relented. In a way, it felt kinda nice. Though the fabric was obviously not as good as the one used to make her "new" but still the same outfit of the 26th century, the feeling of it left her with a sense of nostalgia.

After they were done, the two younger kitsunes stepped back to let Amagi look at herself in the full length mirror. Both Akagi and Kaga couldn't help but admire the elegant beauty of their sister, now that all of her cuts, bruises, and scrapes were gone. However, those were the only wounds that had fully healed. Slowly, Amagi raised her left hand up and lightly touched the place where her missing ear once was. She sighed and touched her reflection in the mirror using the same hand, once again showing the younger kitsunes the hand with only four fingers now.

Akagi and Kaga grimaced at the sight as they could tell their sister was in some kind of emotional pain. Physically speaking, Amagi had already recovered from her wounds but the mental scars of her latest conflict were still there and it would take quite a long time for them to heal.

"Dear sister, we can have Akashi and some of our friends in Iron Blood help make you the prosthetic parts to replace your missing ones." Kaga respectfully said in an attempt to soothe Amagi. "With the level of their technological advancement, such a thing will not be too complicated."

Akagi nodded in agreement and offered a reassuring smile as support. Amagi smiled back in appreciation at how much her sisters cared for her and turned around to face them. However, to the surprise of both Sakura carriers, Amagi declined. "I'm thankful for your offer but I'm afraid I have to decline."

"But why, sister?" Akagi inquired in confusion. While it was true that prosthetics of Iron Blood origin were not that aesthetically pleasing since they just screamed "Siren" based on looks alone including the riggings used by their shipgirls, it has been a proven fact that their prosthetics were all top-of-the-line. Plus the fact that they were quite difficult to create made them very hard to obtain. Aside from money, one had to have the right connections just to have a slot on the "waiting list", and the high-ranking kitsunes of Sakura Empire were among those right connections.

Amagi directed her gaze down and turned to look at her reflection once again. In a firm voice, the kitsune replied. "I shall wear these wounds with pride for they serve as reminders of who I am and the things that I did. While I may have lost to the Covenant in the end, with these I can at least say that I fought."

'...They also help me remember those close to me that made the ultimate sacrifices for the greater good…' Amagi thought to herself.

Thankfully, the Sakura kitsunes decided to respect their sister's wish and dropped the topic. As Amagi turned to give herself one final lookover, Akagi remembered something back when she and Kaga were helping Amagi put on her outfit. Even though it had been quite a few years since she last saw her older sister, the black-haired carrier still vividly remembered that Amagi back when was not as thin as this Amagi before her. Some theories had already been popping up inside her head as to what was the cause of this but until her sister said it herself, Akagi would never know for certain.

However, Akagi was also known to be a determined shipgirl, that was why she was going to address this small issue right now. In a timid voice, she carefully asked. "Um… Onee-sama… Have you been eating well lately?"

While Kaga stared wide-eyed at the black-haired kitsune in disbelief, Amagi was well-aware of what her sister was trying to ask. Instead of answering the question, the heavy carrier decided to mess around with her sister a bit. She feigned indignation and lightly gasped before replying. "Are you saying your big sister is getting fat?"

That certainly got a reaction out of Akagi as the black-haired carrier's face was as red as a tomato. She quickly raised both of her hands up in front of her in a surrendered faction and quickly explained. "N-N-No! You misunderstood! I-I would never in my life say-"

"Hahaha, relax now, I'm just teasing you." Amagi silently laughed while covering her mouth with one hand. Next to her, Kaga was also seen genuinely smiling at the little sisterly interaction.

Akagi puffed out her cheek in annoyance, folded her arms, and looked away. However, it seemed that her sister's infectious laugh was starting to rub off onto her and soon enough, the black-haired kitsune also giggled along. A minute later and the laughter finally died down, but Akagi was still determined to find the answer.

"Still, you haven't answered my question, dear sister." Akagi said with a hint of worry in her voice, a sentiment that was also shared by Kaga.

Amagi sighed in return. Denying it would only raise more suspicions and thus worry her little sister even more later down the road. Taking a deep breath, the chestnut brown-haired heavy carrier replied. "There's no point in hiding it. I don't want to tell you but… I... have been skipping meals and only eaten MREs lately. So no, I haven't been eating well, Akagi."

Akagi and Kaga gasped and stared at Amagi in shock. Immediately, Akagi grabbed her elder sister's hand and dragged her out of the room with Kaga following close behind. The loud noises of hasty footsteps resonated throughout the hallway of the emergency ward which garnered more than one curious stare from the soldiers stationed there.

"Slow down, Akagi! I'm fine!" Amagi protested. "Where are you taking me to, anyway?"

The trio stopped after exiting the building. Akagi then had Kaga go and fetch a car for them while she herself stayed behind with Amagi. The heavy carrier asked again. "Akagi? You still haven't answered my question."

Akagi turned towards her sister and answered. "I'm taking you to the dining hall."

"The mess hall? But there's a cafeteria right here, no?" Amagi gestured back at the hospital. "Why are you taking me to the mess hall instead?"

"If what I have heard from some shipgirls and soldiers stationed here is correct, the quality of the food in there is sub-par." Akagi replied. Thankfully, nobody, especially hospital staff, was within earshot when the Sakura shipgirl said that or else there would have been a pointless argument broken out. However, Akagi was not entirely wrong about the hospital food being sub-par. While it was definitely an upgrade from the MREs she had been eating in the past few months when she was still in service with the UNSCDF Navy, Amagi did wish to have a proper and fulfilling meal for a change on more than one occasion. But then again, the war never gave her a chance to do that.

Just then, a black US Navy Plymouth staff car appeared around the corner and stopped in front of the kitsune sisters with Kaga sitting behind the wheel. The white-haired shipgirl stepped out of the vehicle and opened the back door, beckoning her two stepsisters to get in.

"Besides, I was told that the cranes are cooking something new today. Certainly, you still miss the culinary arts of the 1940s Sakura Empire, yes?" Akagi said with a loving smile before quickly ushering Amagi inside.


To say that HMS Javelin of the Royal Navy was troubled would be a massive understatement. She was currently tasked with accompanying one of the "future" guests to wherever she went, or in other words she's doing bodyguard work. To make matters worse and more awkward, the one she was escorting was her alternate future self, Halberd-class destroyer UNSC Javelin.

Earlier, she and Belfast were given a thorough briefing by Commander Adams to get them up to speed on the peculiar as well as somewhat sensitive situation. Needless to say, both were quite shocked throughout the session, and while the Royal Navy's Head Maid was able to somewhat take the news in stride, the petite destroyer was not. It was to be expected though, given the amount of information dump that the Royal pair had to absorb and that was only the tip of the iceberg. In the end, after learning the circumstances of their guests, the two agreed to help the future kansens in any way they could.

And that brought us back to the current moment. At first glance, aside from eye colors, one would think that they were identical twins based on how similar they look, which was totally understandable since they both were literally one person. However, looks were the only thing that HMS Javelin and UNSC Javelin shared as everything else between the two was vastly different.

While Javelin of the Royal Navy still had that optimistic and cheerful personality, Javelin of the UNSC, or Javy as she preferred to call herself so as to not mistake her with HMS Javelin, did not. As they were walking along the hallway leading to the mess hall for lunch, Javelin could clearly see that her future self was on edge. Her muscles were tense, her pace was quite fast even though there was nothing to hurry about, her right hand occasionally hovered over her massive pistol strapped onto her right thigh, and her eyes just kept shifting left and right before focusing on the way ahead. It was as if Javy was expecting trouble to happen around the corner or something, and to be honest, that conclusion was quite true. Considering the fact that the future shipgirl was directly involved in a massive years-long war of unimaginable scale a few days ago before appearing in this place, this kind of behavior was to be expected. That was why even though Javelin was not very comfortable with how paranoid Javy was, she decided to cut the poor girl some slack.

"So um…" Javelin said, trying her best to disperse this air of awkwardness. "Such a pleasant day, is it not?"

Javelin mentally facepalmed herself at how cheesy that line was. The Royal destroyer had never had this problem before when chatting with other people. Initially, Javelin thought the task would be a walk in the park since the person she needed to escort was literally herself, which meant she knew exactly which topics interested her and which ones did not. However, something about Javy was making Javelin fail miserably as pretty much all attempts so far had been met with either curt answers or simply silence. Striking up conversations, even if they were all just small talks, was her forte and currently that social skill of hers was being put to the test.

"Huh?" Javy replied, a bit surprised with the out-of-the-blue question. "Oh yes, it is indeed a nice day."

'Well, at least she DOES reply.' Javelin thought. It was getting more and more awkward as time went on and if the purple-haired Royal destroyer didn't do something soon to disperse it, she didn't know if she could continue to carry out this assignment.

In her eyes, Javy was quite a unique and interesting character since she was literally Javelin from the future and the Royal destroyer still had lots of questions to ask to satisfy her curiosity. Aside from that, the Royal destroyer also genuinely cared for her future counterpart after learning of the hardships and things that she had to face. Those were the main reasons why she volunteered for this job and she had no intention to fail.

Javelin decided to try again, this time with one of the topics that she herself loved the most. "Have you heard? Shoukaku and Zuikaku volunteered to cook lunch for us today."

That seemed to get the future destroyer's attention as she turned towards Javelin with a surprised face and asked. "Really?"

'Finally! Some REAL progress!' Javelin inwardly celebrated the small victory. "That's right! Apparently, they are making something new as the other Sakuras themselves don't even know what it is."

Javy was showing genuine interest now as her face brightened up considerably. "That sounds great! Do you know what they're making? I'm sorry, that was such a silly question, do you know what ingredients they use?"

Javelin cupped her chin in a thinking pose as she concentrated. Aside from some "usual" things such as vegetables and beef that the Royal destroyer saw earlier in the morning, she had seen the Sakura crane sisters cooked loads of BONES of all things in huge pots, grilled onions, as well as making some kind of noodles out of rice the day before, which to her own standard was "unusual". Understandably, other chefs and individuals with culinary knowledge voiced their concerns about the dish the Sakura carriers were making but their opinions were met with answers that were along the lines of "we know what we are doing".

"Hmm… I'm afraid I don't know every ingredient they are using, but I remember seeing bones, beef, different kinds of vegetables, onions that they grilled for some reason, and noodles or ramen made of rice." Javelin answered after a few seconds. "I'm most concerned with the bones part, though I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt."

After hearing the information, the gears within Javy's head started to turn as the ingredients listed were very similar to the ones used in a specific Oriental dish that she really loved before the war. She used to go to a lot of restaurants specialized in this particular dish but none came close to the one that Shoukaku and Zuikaku made, in her personal opinion of course.

The UNSC destroyer quickened her pace which forced Javelin to light jog in order to keep up. Javy had her suspicions and she really hoped that it's going to be proven correct.

"I believe I know what they're making and I can't wait." Javy told her past self with a hint of glee in her voice.


A black Plymouth stopped in the parking lot of a large white building and out came three particularly beautiful Oriental women with features resembling that of foxes. After a mere 15-minute drive, Akagi and Kaga, along with their recently "resurrected" sister Amagi, arrived at the building used as the base's mess hall. This building used to serve as both an enlisted men's barracks and mess hall, but due to the increase of personnel following the introduction of kansens, it had been converted to function as a mess hall only in order to properly accommodate such a high number of people.

There were some concerns at first at the idea of letting human service members have meals together with the shipgirls due to the fact that almost all of them were males and a significant number of shipgirls wore colorful outfits that were quite… eye-catching, to say the least. It was understandable, however, since not all human personnel possessed the same level of self-restraint as well as noble intentions in mind, and all it took would be one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Thankfully, no incident of such level had been reported, thanks in no small part to the importance of the kansens in the war against Sirens.

The trio walked along the hallways leading towards the main mess hall, passing by human personnel as they briefly stopped what they were doing to either salute the shipgirls or gawk at their beauty. Akagi, Kaga, and Amagi saluted back and ignored the ones who were busy staring at their features while Kaga expressed minor annoyance towards the latter.

Seeing the expression on her half-sister's face, Amagi chuckled. "Some things never change, I guess."

Both Sakura carriers heard that and turned towards Amagi. "Pardon me, Amagi-neesama?" Kaga asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." The future heavy carrier waved her sister off. "It's just how funny it is to me that hundreds of years later, you of the future still had the same personality as you right now."

In response, the kitsune in question's face reddened with embarrassment which made Amagi giggled even more. Akagi, however, couldn't help but notice how her sister used "had" instead of "have" when talking about Kaga. That alone implied something unpleasant and the black-haired kitsune sincerely hoped that Amagi had made a grammatical mistake instead of truly meaning it.

Before long, the three kitsunes arrived at the main doors of the mess hall and pushed it open. To their right were rows of seats and tables filled with hungry human personnel and shipgirls as they enjoyed their delicious meals. To their left were two long lines of people waiting patiently for their turn to grab their lunch. There was also a small black chalkboard placed next to the serving counter and behind said counter was Zuikaku working non-stop delivering food alongside other staff members.

'TODAY'S SPECIAL! HOT, SAVORY BEEF NOODLES BY IJN SHOUKAKU AND IJN ZUIKAKU OF SAKURA EMPIRE! ONLY 250 PORTIONS! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!' the chalkboard read. With a quick glance around the place, Amagi could see a lot of people digging in their own bowl of beef noodles, some even shared some of their own food with their comrades who didn't choose today's special. Looking closer, the heavy carrier's eyes widened a bit at seeing the extremely familiar white strings of noodles hanging from their mouths before being sucked in.

She then saw her comrade, Javy, sitting at a table by herself, her eyes glued to the crowd as if she was waiting for somebody. On the table where the destroyer was sitting, Amagi could see a small plate containing bean sprouts and some herbs. That confirmed it; the cranes' special dish for today's lunch was Pho and Amagi couldn't wait to have a bowl.

"Well." Akagi said. "It seems that whatever those two have made is really good since many are eagerly enjoying it."

Kaga then turned towards her sisters. "Akagi-neesama, Amagi-neesama, please find a seat, I shall go get your meals. What would you like to have?"

Akagi thought for a moment and decided that she would try the cranes' dish out with Amagi doing the same. With that settled, Kaga went to get the kitsune sisters meals while Akagi looked around for an empty table. She found one and just before she beckoned her older sister to follow, Amagi instead chose to join Javy at her table, which left Akagi no choice but to follow her sister.

"Good day, Javy." Amagi greeted the purple-haired destroyer with a small smile. Javy snapped her attention towards the super carrier at once and her expression brightened considerably at seeing her sister in arm. "Mind if we join you?"

"O-Of course not, miss Amagi." Javy stood up and respectfully beckoned Amagi and Akagi to sit down across from her. She then turned towards the younger of the two kitsunes and greeted. "Good day to you too, miss Akagi."

"Good day. It is an honor to finally meet one of my dear sister's close comrades." Akagi smiled in response and asked, her voice showed genuine concern. "How do you feel, Javy?"

Normally, Akagi couldn't care less about those belonging to the Azur Lane alliance, especially those of the Royal Navy due to the less-than-ideal relationship between the Royal Isles and Sakura Empire. However, the Sakura shipgirl was reasonable enough to not include UNSC Javelin and UNSC Enterprise into that political mess due to the fact that they both were Amagi's close comrades and had been actively helping her during that war. Because of that, Akagi was eternally grateful and indebted to them.

"I'm okay, miss Akagi." Javy replied with a smile. "Thank you for your concern."

The kitsune in question smiled in return and while she didn't notice it, her sister was watching the interaction with close attention. Amagi knew full well of Akagi's rather "unfriendly" personality towards others around her save for the Commander, her sisters, and other Sakura shipgirls to some degree. To see that the black-haired kitsune showed a genuine friendly side of hers to a foreign shipgirl made Amagi smile in satisfaction.

However, there was another thing that Amagi noticed which filled her with concern. Javy's eyes. While at first glance nobody could see anything wrong with them, Amagi could see past the "outer layers" and see the barely constrained pain, sadness, and happiness thanks to her augmentations as well as personal experience. It was quite understandable to the heavy carrier; to personally see the ones that were once just lines of words on casualty lists alive and well would make anyone feel that way. Even Amagi herself had been feeling the same ever since her meeting with Commander Adams and the shipgirls days earlier. It took a considerable amount of professionalism and discipline for her to not have an emotional breakdown in pure happiness.

Putting her thoughts to the side, Amagi engaged in small talk with the space destroyer. "I see that you chose today's special. Can't wait to have a good ol' bowl of pho, yes?"

"Ah, yes, indeed." Javy giggled. "I do find it weird that I'm having a Vietnamese dish made by the Japanese but it is what it is, I guess."

Amagi awkwardly smiled in return. She knew exactly why this little culinary mishap happened but she just couldn't bring herself to say that it was Javy who was at fault, especially since it was not entirely her fault. Instead, she made a mental note to discuss this with UNSC Enterprise when the assault carrier decided to wake up.

Akagi raised an eyebrow after hearing the short conversation between Javy and her sister. "Um… Amagi-neesama, Javy, are you two familiar with this… 'Pho' dish?"

Javy was about to answer but Amagi beat her to the punch. "Ah, yes! We used to have this Sakura dish a lot back in the day during our service with the UNSC." The heavy carrier then turned towards the destroyer with eyes that literally screamed 'just go with the flow'. "Right, Javy?"

The purple-haired space-destroyer, to her credit, recognized what Amagi was doing and nodded. "Indeed! I still remember how successful it was in the 20th century! To think that pho even stood against the test of time and remained popular centuries later is so… eh… wonderful!"

Akagi narrowed her eyes at both her sister and Javy, but before she could inquire further, her half-sister, Kaga, along with Javelin of the Royal Navy came to their table, each carrying a wooden tray with bowls of hot food and eating utensils on top.

"Ah! Good evening, Miss Amagi and Miss Akagi!" Javelin greeted, receiving nods and smiles in return. She then put her tray down onto the table and took out Javy's and her own bowls along with chopsticks and spoons, with Kaga doing the same for her sisters and herself. The shipgirls stared in amazement at their own hot, steamy bowl of pho, or simply "beef noodles" to other non-UNSC persons.

'No Sriracha and Hoisin sauce' both Amagi and Javy thought to themselves sadly. 'Oh well. It's to be expected.'

"Impressive presentation." Akagi commented.

"The aroma is very amazing too!" Javelin added. "Just the smell alone is enough to make my mouth water."

Even though she was staying silent, Kaga also agreed with both opinions. Truth be told, she couldn't wait to have a taste of the dish but she had to hold herself back. The white-haired shipgirl had an image to maintain.

Javy couldn't wait any longer. She grabbed her eating utensils and began digging in, her unladylike action shocked the other shipgirls sitting at her table and then some from surrounding tables.

First mouthful filled Javy's taste buds with an explosion of flavor and made her eyes widened in amazement.

Second mouthful and nostalgic memories started to kick in. Looking up and around her, the destroyer was taken aback by how the mid-20th century mess hall she was sitting in a moment ago turned into a small, humble Vietnamese diner, with UNSC destroyers Ayanami and Z23 sitting on her left and right respectively enjoying their own food with smiles on their faces. Javy blinked twice and in an instant, everything went back to normal.

Third mouthful and tears began to form on her eyes. Javy finally realized that the flavor of the dish she was eating was the same as the one made by the same cranes in the 26th century. More memories began to flood her mind reminding her of the happy days she had spent with her sisters in arms when they were still alive. Although the taste wasn't as good as the authentic Vietnamese one, the fact that it was made by Shoukaku and Zuikaku was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Fourth mouthful. The space destroyer couldn't hold in her feelings any longer and started sobbing uncontrollably. Shipgirls and human service members nearby turned and stared at the crying shipgirl in confusion and worry; some stood up and approached Javy to check on her, joined by Amagi and Javelin of the Royal Navy.

"Shhhh hey now. What's wrong?" Javelin quietly asked with concern in her voice, to which her future self neither replied nor showed any sign of acknowledging the Royal destroyer's question.

After serving the final bowl, Shoukaku and Zuikaku also joined in to see what was causing the commotion. At first, they thought Akagi probably had something to do with this mess based on her rather nasty personality towards other non-Sakuras AND especially towards the Royals. However, a quick ask around proved that theory wrong and now the crane sisters were puzzled just like everyone else.

Amagi, however, knew what was wrong with the destroyer. Gently, she said. "Javy, look at me."

The shipgirl in question complied. It took a tremendous amount of willpower for Amagi to resist the urge to vault over the table and hug the destroyer in an effort to calm her down. Taking a big breath, Amagi asked. "Is it about the food?"

Instead of answering verbally, Javy merely nodded and looked back down at her feet. While the silent answer was satisfactory enough in Amagi's opinion, Kaga took it as an insult towards her half-sister. With a harsh frown on her face, the Sakura carrier stood up and glared at the crying shipgirl. "Oi! Amagi-neesama is asking you a ques- GAH!"

Kaga didn't have the chance to finish when suddenly a sharp pain came from her right wrist, causing her to yelp in surprise. Kaga and everyone else nearby, minus Javy, looked only to see Amagi was gripping her half-sister's wrist very tightly. What was creepy to them was how calm the heavy carrier looked, as well as the fact that she did not have to turn to look at Kaga to do so. The air was getting more and more tense as seconds passed by with nobody saying a single word, only to be broken by Amagi herself.

"Kaga, my dear." The heavy carrier said with a sweet yet dangerous tone of voice, sending chills down both Kaga and Akagi's spines. "Interrupting one's conversation with such baseless accusations is rather rude, no? Kindly never do it again, clear?"

"But-But Ama- AH!" Kaga tried to reply only to yelp again in pain as Amagi's grip tightened.

The heavy carrier's patience was running thin and she made it absolutely clear by turning towards her half-sister and glared at her with eyes that promised greater pain if the white-haired carrier did not comply.

"Clear?" Amagi's sweet voice from before was replaced by something more akin to a growl which made everyone stare at her in alarm.

Kaga, for her part, was unprepared to be treated by her half-sister like that. For the first time in her life, she genuinely felt fear. Seeing that Amagi would not take "No" for an answer and that arguing with her would be useless, Kaga had no choice but to squeak out an apology. "Y-Yes, dear sister. P-Please forgive my b-brazen behavior."

Amagi immediately let go of Kaga's limb and her face returned to its state of calmness from before, coupled with a smile on her face. "Very well. That was your only warning. I won't show such leniency the next time you do something like that ever again." She then turned to Akagi, who was still stunned with fear from the little incident. "Same thing applies to you too, Akagi."

Even though she didn't do anything wrong, the black-haired carrier only nodded and uttered a silent "Yes, sister" so as not to displease her older sister. With that out of the way, Amagi turned her focus back to Javy, who was still sulking. With a calm and gentle voice, she asked. "Does your food taste good, Javy?"

Another nod. Nearby, Shoukaku and Zuikaku let out breaths of relief since they were worried that their dish was so bad that it caused the space kansen to shed tears. They put a lot of effort into making it so to hear that their creation was bad would deal a serious blow to their confidence and image. Thankfully, it was not the case here.

Amagi nodded and put a hand on Javy's shoulder from across the table. With a gentle smile, she spoke again. "Good. Then use it as something to remind you of the good old days. Enjoy it to the fullest… as a way to remember 'them'."

By now, Javy had stopped crying. She looked towards Amagi with a surprise look on her face. She then looked at the surrounding faces around her, whether they were familiar or not. For a brief moment, the faces of the human staff around her were replaced with faces of sailors, soldiers, and officers of the UNSC that she once had the honor to serve with, all of whom had all long perished in the line of duty. A smile began to form on the destroyer's face as she wiped the remaining tears off her face.

"Thank you." Javy repeatedly turned and bowed to the service members. "Thank you, everyone."

The people around her were confused as to what the destroyer was thanking them for but they accepted it regardless. Javy then turned towards the crane sisters and offered a bright smile. "Thank you for the food. It's very delicious!"

Shoukaku smiled back while Zuikaku crossed her arms and smirked with pride. "Of course! After all, we spent a whole night without sleep to perfect the noodles. It's impossible that such a complex and delicate dish would taste bad."

The laughter that erupted after the Sakura carrier's boast was enough to dissipate the awkward and uncomfortable air surrounding the mess hall, and soon everyone started getting back to what they were doing earlier. However, that moment of respite was ruined when suddenly, alarms sirens signaling an incoming air attack blared. Every single person in the mess hall immediately abandoned their food and rushed towards the exits, with human personnel rushed into staff cars, Jeeps, and trucks while shipgirls summoned their own riggings and jumped into the nearest body of water before skating on the water surface out towards the open ocean.

"Javy, what's the sitrep?" Amagi asked as both she and Javy jogged side-by-side out of the building.

"Long-range radar picked up approximately 100 or so unknown blips South of Hawaii." The destroyer in question reported with such professionalism and a tone that betrayed her earlier breakdown. "Fast movers. Too fast for piston-engined aircrafts or even the German Me 262."

"Sirens… Shit." Amagi muttered with a frown. "Okay. Take a ride and get to the command center. While I don't doubt the anti-air firepower of the girls there, some additional guns would be much appreciated. Defend that building at all costs. Clear?"

"Roger." Javy turned and ran towards where soldiers were hastily getting into cars and Jeeps. She then found a Jeep that was about to leave for the command center, quickly got in the vehicle, and together with four other soldiers sitting next to and behind her, they quickly left the area for their intended target.

Amagi then began to run towards a truck that was unloading crates of weapons and ammo. Akagi, with her rigging already equipped, was surprised and confused as to why her sister was doing that and followed close behind. "Where are you going, Amagi-neesama? The water is over there!"

"I'm a spaceship now, remember? I can't ski on the water anymore." Amagi replied with haste while still jogging her way towards her intended target. Upon reaching the truck, the heavy carrier picked up a M1917 Lewis LMG along with two pan magazines from a nearby stack of weapons crates. Thanks to the augmentations, Amagi was able to magnetically glued the spare magazines onto her torso with ease.

Akagi, again, was surprised at her sister's action. With confusion clear on her face, she asked. "Why are you arming yourself with conventional guns? Where's your rigging, sister?"

The shipgirl in question began doing a quick inspection of her weapon. Despite it being the first time she had ever used the Lewis LMG, she acted and performed the action with ease as if she had been using the gun for years. "My ship form is still under repair so I can't use my rigging for the time being. I can still provide some firepower support since my automatic AA turrets are still functional, so there's that."

She then climbed onto the passenger seat of a nearby Jeep and began doing a quick inspection of her weapon, much to the surprise of the driver and the other two officers seated behind her. Turning towards her sister, Amagi said. "You should go back and join the others, I'll be fine."

Hesitantly, Akagi did as she's told. The Jeep that Amagi chose also began to make its way towards its destination as fast as it could. After a quick ask around, the heavy carrier realized that they were going to the military hospital to provide support.

"Y'all think it's another plane coming in for a crash like days ago?" The driver asked no-one in particular.

"No." Amagi answered, surprising everyone else riding with her. "My partner's radar confirmed about 100 unknown fast movers approaching from the South. There's a high chance it's Sirens."

Upon hearing the kitsune's words, the human service members riding on the same Jeep as her looked at her in shock and alarm. "Dammit, 100? We don't have enough time to evacuate the civilians!" An officer gritted his teeth.

"Then that's what we're gonna do." Amagi said, and to the confusion of others, she pulled the charging handle on the left side of her LMG. She then turned towards the driver next to her. "Keep it steady."

The kitsune stood up and held onto the windshield frame of the vehicle with her left hand while her right hand held the weapon and pointed it towards the sky. As the Jeep made a turn into a residential area, she fired the LMG in short bursts, making civilians turn and stare at her in shock, confusion, and some even in fear. Amagi then shouted as loudly as she could. "GET TO THE MILITARY HOSPITAL ASAP! DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST DO IT!"

Realizing what the kitsune was doing, the remaining officers on the Jeep also joined and yelled at the people around them to do the same. The folks, despite still being confused, complied regardless and hastily ran back into their houses to collect their family members. Several had already got in their cars and were making their way towards the military hospital. If a kansen was yelling at them telling them to abandon their homes and get to somewhere military-related, then something big and bad was happening and they didn't want to stick around to find out what it was.

'I hope you've woken up already, Enterprise.' Amagi bitterly thought to herself as she and the officers continued to race towards the hospital.


FUTURE SNEAK PEEK:

"It… just never ends, ya know?" Javy quietly said. "Although all those poor souls had left my hangars years ago, I still carry their weight."

A flurry of images rushed into the destroyer's mind as Vestal sat there and took some notes with a face that spoke of sadness and pity. The crying and wailing of men, women, and children in the hangar bay void of military hardwares assaulted Javy's head as she remembered the hasty and harrowing evacuation of planet Arcadia. The faces full of distraught, pain, and even anger of the civilians that she was forced to leave for dead during the evacuation of Biko assaulted her already damaged mind.

"I'm fucking useless." Javy chuckled as tears started to fall. "Out of every ten people, I only managed to save three. What good am I in combat if I can't even do something as simple as evacuation?"


Richelieu was stunned beyond words at what /NAME_REDACTED/ just told her. Slowly, she stepped back away from the space shipgirl and shook her head slowly. "You… You're pure evil… There is no place in Heaven that shall accept you…"

/NAME_REDACTED/ was unfazed by that, as if she had already grown used to it. Calmly, she replied. "I'm on the wrong side of Heaven, but the righteous side of Hell. I'm necessary evil."