Chapter Two – Ship Girls

Except the dinner was anything but normal. Sitting in a bowl, steaming, was a red soup he was unfamiliar with. Alongside it was crusty bread as well as a green salad with an unidentifiable dressing. Seeing such a meal surprised him, as the set meals in the Japanese military were definitely Japanese-style oriented. Certainly, there were hamburgers and other such western-inspired foods, but he did not even know what the red soup contained, or its name.

Of course, it would be extremely rude to refuse a dish after it was already served, and so he decided the best course of action was just to dive in. if it was not to his liking, then he would eat it anyway. After all, he needed to be on this girl's good side. He had no clue about anything, and she was the best source of information. Taking a deep breath, he dove it.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that he enjoyed the taste of the uniquely flavored soup. It was somewhat sweet-tasting, something that he would never have thought he'd enjoy, but it just gave a warm feeling of homeliness. The crusty bread was definitely home-baked as well, and he had no clue who made it, or when it had been made, as it appeared to be fresh from the oven. A thick lathering of butter covered the surface, and the combination of the soup and bread was heavenly. He almost felt like a small child, leaving the salad for last.

"Do you like the borscht, Commander?" Hibiki tilted her head. Though they had known each other for only a short amount of time, that tilting of the head was the largest amount of emotion he had gotten out of her.

"Er, yeah, I've never had it before, but it's very good. Thank you." To Raki's surprise, Hibiki gave the tiniest smile at his words, and said, as if in relief,

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Commander."

Despite the warm atmosphere, Raki could feel an awkward silence growing. With such an unemotional companion, it was more than a little of a surprise to be suddenly faced with emotion, he supposed, especially as he was still completely unfamiliar with who or what she really was. … Well, he might as well learn about her while they were together like this.

"So… Hibiki, how did you, er, become like you are?"

"Pardon, Commander?" Tilt.

"I mean, were you always able to do… all of that?" Raki could not put into words his exact question. There were simply too many, and there was too much he did not know. For all he knew, she was an alien, was a god, or was an input-other-supernatural-being. That being said, she was a living, breathing person. She was not his enemy. His quick mind, as broken as it was from all the confusion, was able to put these two very important pieces of information at the front. Along with these, he felt he had understood a few other things.

"Yes, I have always been like this." A short answer. If Raki was going to get information, he would probably have to draw it out of her. It was clear that she was not being obstinate or anything of the sort. She simply was answering in a manner that suited her best.

"Er, I know this is rude, but how old are you?"

"I do not know, Commander." She considered her next words carefully. "My soul has… existed for a very long time. But this body is very new. My old body –"

"Was… that, right?" Raki looked her hard in the eyes. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to say that word. Even if he had admitted that she was out of the ordinary, that their entire situation was nothing like he had ever experienced, to admit that the stoic yet still soft girl before him was anything but human rankled him. Yet, he had to clarify his meaning. "… A real one."

"… Yes, Commander," she simply nodded. "I retain … shadows, something like memories, of that time. I do not really understand much of it myself."

"I see…" Lacing his fingers together, he looked at her, sinking back into thought. He would probably need ot get some sort of high-end clearance to get concrete information, as it seemed Hibiki herself was not fully aware of the circumstances. Of course, that made sense, as the policy in the military was "if you do not need to know, then you do not know." Yet, this was something that was of utmost importance. … Security was like a bell curve. You did not know if it was completely unimportant. If it was important, but not dire, then you do probably know (such as rules, and basic dispatches, training, etc.) But things of the highest level, only those directly involved knew what was going on. Even then, they probably did not know everything, just like Raki. Raki felt he had understood just a tiny fraction of the situation. However, a tiny fraction was better than no fraction, he hoped. He went on to his next question. "Before, you mentioned you assisted with the procurement and construction of Ship Girls."

"Yes." Nod.

"Are you implying…" Yes, she was. He knew that, but he wanted to hear her say it herself.

"Yes, I was constructed, Commander. I woke up here, at the base. My body already looked like this."

"I… see." Well, he did not understand, but how she was made was not his concern, he supposed. What was, however, was, "What was that thing you fought? They are real enemies, right?"

"Yes. The Abyssal fleet. They are a great danger to anything in the ocean," taking a bite of salad before continuing, she went on after swallowing. "I'm sure you are aware of this already, but there have been many cases in the past year of ships disappearing. That is the work of the enemy. They seem to prey on anything manmade in the water."

"What do we know about them?"

"They are the enemy." Hibiki looked into his eyes. "They fight in a way very similar to us, the Ship Girls, and some of them have features similar to us. I personally believe we are related in some way."

"I see…" Realizing that was basically all he had said, he tried to go on. "So, how do we construct more Ship Girls? Since I don't know anything, how about we do that next?"

"Understood, Commander. I will make the proper arrangements." She got up, her dinner still only half-finished.

"Wait, Hibiki. You can do it after dinner." He realized he had grabbed her arm as she was about to get up. Once again, he was reminded that she was real. She felt just like a regular girl was supposed to. Which meant… "Hibiki."

"Yes, Commander?"

"What happens if you get hit?"

"It depends, Commander. If I get hit with a large round, I probably will take extensive damage. If it's light, it is nothing to worry about."

"Ex-extensive damage?" It sounded like a round-about way of "mortally wounded", which made Raki more than slightly uncomfortable.

"No matter what it is, however, I can always get repaired at the docks."

"I see…" not that he really did, of course, but even as curious as he was, his mind probably wouldn't be able to take all of this impossible to understand data in.

"Do not worry, Commander, such a matter requires only the resources necessary and will not add to the budget costs very much." As always, Hibiki was calm. Too calm. Raki remembered suddenly the note that Admiral Watanabe had left him. "Each Ship Girl has a unique personality" he had written. Were there girls that would react in a much different manner than her?

"I was not asking because of the budget. I just… it would not make me happy to see you get injured." Raki threw something lame-sounding back at her. Hibiki just tilted her head, as always, and responded.

"You need not worry about me, Commander," she just nodded slightly. Realizing that he had been holding her arm for such an extended period of time, Raki let go, face heating up.

The rest of dinner was eaten in relative silence. However, it was not as awkward as Raki had thought it would be. Perhaps this was simply how Hibiki was supposed to be. Afterwards, Hibiki got up and put the dishes on a cart. Some kitchen workers would come and take care of everything, she explained, which would allow them to leave for the construction docks.

The process of construction was far more normal than he had expected. Paperwork, followed by a quick delivery to the construction chief. All that was left, then, was to wait. Hibiki suggested using the minimum amount of resources at the start, as using large amounts of resources sometimes did not succeed. Various incidents could occur, she explained, that could cause one to get a different ship than they had intended. Certain ships were also much harder to construct. Perhaps they were particularly strong souls, or they were just elusive, but it was not uncommon to be looking for a ship and get one completely different. Rather than uncommon, it seemed it was the norm. As Hibiki was the only Ship Girl at the base, Raki had been hesitant asking about such matters. After all, perhaps they had simply been lost, or sunk. However, as if reading his mind, Hibiki further noted that most of the Ship Girls had been transferred to different bases when Admiral Watanabe first requested to be transferred.

While this helped to fill a few of the questions that had been occupying his mind, there were still so many things he had yet to understand, things that he could only get through experience. He found himself waiting eagerly to meet the one that would become his second Ship Girl.

"Oh, Admiral. The construction will take approximately a week."

"What?" Deflate.