Chapter 7: Reunion
The next day, I accompanied Akagi to her refit. The mechanics were understandably upset about her reckless behavior. When I asked them whether her damages would have negative effects on her refit, they assured me that they would grapple with the issue and reported this to the Navy as soon as they could. They might still be able to finish it on time, but she would require a longer time to adjust herself until she could properly launch a plane again. Akagi didn't complain when they gave her a stern warning to keep herself rested or she would never get to first reserve status. I guessed she had learned her lesson. She clung to me the whole time before starting her refit, and hearing her say that she owed me a great debt of gratitude before she waved goodbye to me was enough to send me to that day's fleet exercise in high spirits.
Afterward, Akagi went right back to her refitting process routines once again. I didn't see her much even after it was finally finished, because the higher-ups gave her a punishment where she was obligated to go back to service as soon as possible. That meant she had to undertake rigorous body conditioning that might or might not be painful judging from what I heard from some fleet girls who had gone through it. After not hearing from her for some time, I became worried sick. Even if I wanted to see her, she was also not allowed to meet anyone as a part of her punishment, so it was no go. Ryuujou continued to be a great one for idle gossip, but she hardly brought Akagi up because she thought it would just make me feel even worse than before.
When I missed Akagi so bad, I found myself staring longingly at that small bunny keychain.
Days passed and before I knew it, April had arrived. Although the landscape was drastically changing, the sea remained the same, and I liked it better that way. But lately, it always reminded me of this dullness inside my mind. I tried to ignore it in the best way I could: keeping myself busy with training.
"Thank you for your hard work today."
I politely returned the bows the other fleet girls gave me after that day's training maneuvers.
As I put my quiver away and picked up my bag, I heard a soft ringing sound.
I've been carrying the keychain that I received from Akagi with me everywhere except during fleet exercises.
I got used to the light jingle that followed me whenever I walked, and it attracted the curiosity of some fleet girls.
"That's a cute keychain."
Today's remark came from my former fleet mate, Yura. Having gotten rid of her gears, she stood in front me in her usual grey and white sailor uniform with arms akimbo. Her huge ponytail was tied with a brown ribbon that made a loop of criss-crossing spirals that ended with a pretty bow on the tip of her ponytail. I still wondered how she managed to arrange that hairstyle every morning.
When I was about to reply to her, I realized that someone was hiding behind her back, someone who was wearing the same uniform as her.
Yura seemed to notice my questioning look, so she said, "Oh, there's someone I want to introduce to you, Kaga."
However, the brunette behind her ducked her head when she heard that, and I could see her looped twin tails waving.
"Come on, you're the one who said that you want to introduce yourself to her!" Yura said with an impatient tone.
"I said I'm going to do that with Ushio!" a muffled voice behind her responded.
"Nuh-uh, don't act like I don't know you and Ushio. It'll be forever until either of you take even one step closer to Kaga, so I'm helping you out now!"
"T-that's not true! I would've done it today if Ushio wasn't taking care of Akebono!"
Although Yura sounded rather annoyed, she looked like she was having fun when she tried to push the girl to me. It seemed that this was all just a game for her.
"Kaga, this is Abukuma, sixth ship of Nagara-class light cruisers. As cruisers go, she's not bad, but she's the youngest of us all so she can never seem to get over her shyness, and her habit of hanging out with Ushio doesn't help. Then she develops this phobia of facing a stranger head-on ever since that incident with Kitakami..."
"That's because Kitakami is-!"
"Anyway, she got disappointed that she was assigned to the 3rd Fleet but didn't get to battle with you because she was assigned for patrol duties on the cold, cold North..."
"You don't have to make it sound so sad!"
"So here we are. I guess there's a thing or two that she wants to say to you."
I recalled seeing this girl several times during fleet training, but it was true that she didn't go with me to battle. If I remembered correctly, she was next to me when we were grouping around for a photograph near the end of the war, but we never spoke at all.
It took Abukuma several seconds before she finally moved from behind Yura's back and spoke to me while kneading her hands, "H-hello, I'm Abukuma, a light cruiser. ...I-I heard amazing things about you, Kaga-san!"
"Oh..." I said, not really knowing how to respond, "They might be exaggerating things because they never saw a fleet carrier fight before."
"B-but still, I'm looking forward to working with you, Kaga-san! And Akagi-san, too!"
"Akagi-san, uhh..." I muttered, "...I don't know when she will be back."
It pained me a little to say that, since I didn't know how much longer I could go without her.
"Oh, I thought she is back," Yura piped out, "Because I saw her just now."
"She might be...wait, what?"
"I saw her just now wearing her usual gears, chest protector and all. I thought you know that already, Kaga."
"I didn't know..." I said, somehow feeling even worse, "Why didn't she tell..."
Right on cue, I felt a pair of arms hugging me from behind in a surprising tackle that almost made me lose my balance and fall.
And...damn it, I hate how I can find out who it was just from feeling her... assets on my back.
"Kaga-san! Guess who?" she said, tightening her grasp around my breasts.
"My eyes are up...You...you're supposed to close my eyes for this game!" I exclaimed, catching sight of the three-fingered gloves on her right hand.
"But..." I felt her hot breath at the nape of my neck, "Ryuujou-san told me that..."
"Don't believe everything that goddam runt said!"
I had to stop her before making this show longer for Yura and Abukuma, who were obviously getting increasingly uncomfortable watching her groping me in another of Ryuujou's goofball ideas. Especially because Akagi accidentally rubbed my nipples and I nearly groaned with pleasure.
Yura only shrugged at me like "just play along with her" and I said, "Akagi-san...! I know it's you, okay? Please stop it!"
She released me and her nervous smile was the first thing I saw of her in months.
I didn't exactly understand how, but it melted my heart instantly.
It was also the first time I saw her in her complete armaments and attire, and it was at that moment I realized how similar our outfit was to each other.
You are built with similar designs after all...
Before I could compare our smaller accessories, I heard Abukuma's small squeal from beside me.
"A-Akagi-san! Nice to meet you!"
I was amazed at Akagi's collectedness, as if she had handled this a hundred times before.
"Nice to meet you, too. You're Abukuma-san, right?" she said with her million watt smile.
"Y-you know me?" she said, nearly jumping up and down.
"Um...let's see, I think I heard from Kitakami-san that you..."
"Waaah, I don't want to hear about her...!"
I wondered what the heck happened between Kitakami and this girl.
"How do you know about me, Abukuma-san? If you're in the same fleet as Kaga-san, you might have seen her before, but I don't think you ever met me."
"O-of course I have heard of you, Akagi-san. Everyone is always talking about your beauty and expertise! And of course I know that Kaga-san's girlfriend is definitely as skilled as her!"
I choked on my surprise and Akagi's eyebrows rose a notch. Not even Akagi could be prepared for this kind of statement.
"Abukuma-san, she's not my girlfriend!" I corrected her, my face burning all over, "Who did you hear that from? ! Although... there's only one person who could possibly start this thing."
That was when I heard the annoying voice of that certain light carrier.
"Hey, everyone, what's up? Can I joi-"
"Ryuujou-san...!"
"...On second thought, I suddenly have an urgent matter to attend to. See ya!"
I ended up chasing her around several blocks of buildings before she completely vanished from sight. Disgruntled, I went back to the harbor where Akagi and the others were and was immediately greeted by a question from Yura.
"Uh...did she escape?"
"Yes, but I will definitely get her next time."
Because I heard her yelling "I thought it would help you out! !" when I accused her of spreading false rumors just now.
Although it is probably useless to pick a fight with that girl because she can give as good as she gets.
"So...you're not Kaga-san's girlfriend. I'm sorry about that, Akagi-san," Abukuma said.
Akagi shook her head and told her, "It's no problem at all. I think it's an honor to be mistaken as Kaga-san's girlfriend! Right, Kaga-san?"
"I don't want a girlfriend, though."
"Aaw, Kaga, that's cold. You have to try harder, Akagi!" Yura commented.
"That's right, I shall try harder so that Kaga-san would consider me her girlfriend material!"
"Girls, please, stop joking."
It was getting harder for me to hide my discomfort, mainly because they were obviously not taking it seriously without knowing what I really felt.
But still, I was glad that I was able to see Akagi again after so long.
And was it just my bias talking, or she looked even more beautiful than before...?
"Akagi-san..." I said, my eyes falling on her gears,"Don't tell me you're..."
"Yes, I am!" she uttered, "Starting from today, I'm coming back into service. They even told me that I could participate in this year's special fleet maneuvers! I was so excited, I put my armaments on and rushed here to show them to you, Kaga-san! Do I look great?"
Oh, Akagi-san, if only you know that you look fabulous no matter what you wear.
"Yes, they really suit you," I told her, and she responded with a bright smile, "Are you alright...? Did the Navy...?"
"It's okay, I deserve that punishment. I've been as good as gold and I did whatever they asked me to. I'm fine!"
For some reason, "did whatever they asked me to" didn't sound great at all in my ears.
Before I could ask her to elaborate, Abukuma suddenly spoke again.
"W-why don't both of you practice together?" she suggested.
When I heard what she said, I felt like a primal fire was just lit inside my chest.
I wanted it so bad.
I wanted to practice with her so bad.
The talk about the Navy's punishment and what exactly Akagi had gone through with for them could wait.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Yura piped in, "I know how to get round the admiral. You should do it now while the getting is good. This is a special day after all!"
Akagi looked as eager as I did when she said, "Let's do this, Kaga-san!"
Right at that moment, I wouldn't care even if bad things happened for the rest of the day.
Akagi was here, she was healthier than she could ever be, and her refit had truly gone smoothly after that incident.
"Yes, Akagi-san!" A thrill of excitement rushed through me, putting springs under my feet when I followed her to the sea.
A crowd started to gather because Yura and Abukuma thought this was a rare sight: watching two standard carriers practice at the same time.
Wearing our full outfit, Akagi and I started at the same point near the beach.
Various floating targets were prepared, with the distance between each of them at least as wide as the distance used for battleship target practice, perhaps even wider.
The golden rule of a carrier target practice is maintaining your perfect stance while sailing across the rough waves as fast as you could, calculating the best direction and aiming to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and enable the most efficient attacks on either enemy ships or planes. The faster the targets were destroyed and the heavier their damages were, the better the performance of that carrier and her aircraft.
Akagi didn't move or speak for some time, closing her eyes and breathing in the fresh salty air before exhaling deeply.
All fleet girls great and small were, essentially, true lovers of the sea.
When I was being converted, I found myself missing that floating sensation around my feet, and it was strange being away from it for so long. Some fleet girls had jokingly compared it to an addiction, but it was one of the traits that we all shared, so I understood how she felt.
I wondered, just how similar fleet girls are with each other...?
Does anyone... I thought as I took a quick glance at the rows of girls who were watching us from the beach ...also think of Akagi-san the way I do...?
The breeze carried the fragrant scent that her body gave off to me. It had been some time since I stood this close to her, and it got my heart running.
"Are you okay? It's been awhile since you did this, right...?" I asked her.
"Yup, I'm tired of sitting around. Give me a full-day practice anytime."
"We have quite an audience there. Are you nervous...?"
"No..." she said while slowly opening her eyes, "...Because you're here with me..."
As if she hadn't caught me off guard enough times that day, she gave me a wink and glided ahead of me in unbelievable swiftness before I realized what was happening. I quickly adjusted myself and went after her, followed by the cheers of the onlookers.
"Akagi-san!" I called out to her in frustration, "You so did that on purpose!"
"You have to concentrate more during training, Kaga-san!" she stuck out her tongue.
Damn that girl.
"You have to know, this won't be as easy as our shogi match!" I shouted.
"Oh, that sounds like a challenge!"
She sped up and headed for the nearest target. I had to admit, even after that long refit she didn't seem to lose her touch. Her stance was still as beautiful as ever, and her quick, precise calculations revealed that she still remembered it by reflex. The movements of her arms when she drew her bow was still a little awkward, though, and I wondered what caused that. She would definitely be going great guns in no time, though.
"2nd Carrier Division, Akagi! Launching first attack wave!"
The arrow that she released transformed into several practice planes, and in less than a minute, Akagi's aircraft had destroyed their first target.
She did a little turn and showed me a wide grin. It felt like she was so proud of herself and wanted my approval instead of boasting about her first shot.
Months earlier I would never imagine that this moment would come.
The moment when I could sail on the sea by Akagi's side, excitedly competing in a target pratice with her.
The moment when I could finally see myself as her equal, without having any miserable thoughts about the unfortunate circumstances surrounding our meeting.
The moment when I could see Akagi's sincere smile, right under this blue sky and witnessed by our beloved sea.
"Kaga-san, what are you waiting for?"
As I raised my hand toward my quiver and pulled out an arrow, I realized that a moment like this was the reason that I felt so blessed to be born.
"Can't let you have all the fun, Akagi-san," I gained up ground on her and readied my arrow, keeping a tight grip on the bow, "1st Carrier Division, Kaga. Launching first attack wave!"
1933
Akagi returned to service as the flagship of the newly formed 2nd Carrier Division.
IJN started implementing a new strategy that emphasized on the importance of establishing air superiority in the initial stages of battle with a massed, preemptive aerial attack. For this purpose, IJN carriers began to operate together with the main battle line in fleet exercises, and an extensive reconstruction for the carriers was planned.
