Admiral Yin stepped out of his office with his sheathed blade in one hand, and the base tablet in the other and quietly walked down the halls of the base. Stopping at a window he let the early morning light shining over the horizon and through the window, splash across his face warmly. It was a nice feeling, and reminded him of earlier days, like his days at the academy, and his first dozen days as the bases admiral, before things turned so morbid so fast.
Walking through the halls Yin made sure his uniform was in good order before affixing his family blade onto his belt and walking into the mess hall. Entering the mess hall Yin could see both Musashi and Shimakaze, but did not say a word to them until he sat down at the end of the table, avoiding his usual spot across from Musashi, which had been beside where Tenryuu would sit.
Without saying a word Musashi reached over and slid his tray of food from his usual place to in the front of him." Thank you." Yin said unemotionally, a reply that Musashi answered with only a nod. It had been obvious to Yin right from the start that Tenryuu's loss had hit everyone hard, including himself, and had made him begun to question himself. He needed to fix things somehow, especially since today was the first day that Yuudachi was officially part of their fleet. Thinking this Yin suddenly looked around, only then realizing that Yuudachi and Wo were not in the mess hall. "Is Wo still in her room?"
Musashi nodded as she replied, looking at her plate of food, and not at Yin for the first few words. "Yes, Yuudachi went to speak with her last night, but this Musashi does not know how it went."
"I see." Yin answered plainly before standing up from his chair, his food unfinished.
As his chair fell backwards both Shimakaze and Musashi looked to him with confusing looks. "Is something wrong admiral?" Shimakaze asked.
Yin could feel the emotions he had been holding back piling up behind his eyes. He couldn't stand it anymore! "Yes. Something is very wrong." Yin said as tears began forming in eyes. "And I'm going to fix it right this minute!" Yin stated as he turned and began walking toward the mess halls doors.
Both Musashi and Shimakaze watched for only a few seconds before standing up and rushing to catch up to Yin. "Admiral, I ask you to wait. What is it that you are doing?" Musashi asked as she stepped in front of Yin, between him and the door with her arms up to the sides.
Yin looked at Musashi and smiled slightly as Shimakaze stepped up beside her, a second later he stepped back and fell to his knees on the floor before them, looking up at them with tears in his eyes " I need to fix this. I've been wholly unfair to all of you since Tenryuu sunk."
"What do you mean?" Shimakaze asked in a confused tone.
Yin shook his head. "Here I was taking my teaching at the Academy to heart and trying to be strong for everyone, but none of you needed me to be strong . . ."
Musashi knelt down in front of the admiral, a tear falling from her face and garnering his attention. "This Musashi thinks that perhaps we have all been taking this the wrong way. In truth, this Musashi does not enjoy how things currently are, and does not think Tenryuu would enjoy seeing her friends acting in such a way."
Yin looked at Musashi and reached up, flicking a small tear off of her cheek before pulling himself up and extending a hand to Musashi. "I think you're right, and I think that what we need to do is help the one who needs it most."
Musashi nodded as she took Yin's hand and let herself be helped up. "Yes, we should speak to Wo, and help her through Tenryuu's loss as well."
Yin nodded and looked to Shimakaze, "You coming as well then?"
"Hmph, yeah right. Do it yourself!" Shimakaze said as she walked away and sat back down at the table and went back to eating her food.
Yin shook his head slightly as he and Musashi left the mess hall and walked down the halls, toward Wo's room. "She still doesn't like Wo, does she?" Yin said, saying it more like a statement than a question.
Musashi nodded. "This Musashi thinks she still has trouble wrapping her head around it, both Wo and Tenryuu."
Yin nodded. "I think Shimakaze may be the kind of person who doesn't take change well, but I guess we'll have to deal with that later, after we deal with this problem first. We can't do anything with everyone mourning like this."
"Agreed, though it would be impossible to just stop everyone from doing so."
"I'm not planning on doing that actually. I have something else in mind."
"Then this Musashi shall stand nearby and assist how she feels she can," Musashi said as the two of them got to Wo's room and stopped outside of the door.
Standing there for a moment neither of them could hear the sobbing that had been prevalent the day before. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves Yin stepped up to the door and lightly knocked on it, then spoke up. "Wo, may I come in?"
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"Wo, may we enter to speak with you?" Musashi spoke up significantly louder than Yin had, hoping that perhaps Wo just didn't hear them.
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"It seems she may be asleep." Musashi said, unsure of what to do.
Yin let out a heavy sigh as he placed his hand on the doorknob. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Yin muttered quietly under his breath, and before Musashi could say a word, Yin literally tore the doorknob out of the door, looking very shocked at the doorknob in his hand. "The uh, maintenance fairies can fix that, right?"
Musashi looked at Yin and slowly nodded. "This Musashi believes so, but- how did you?"
"I've uh, always been a little bit strong despite my looks, some people in the academy actually used to call me inhumanly strong but, I didn't expect the latch to stick so badly, or for the knob to come off." Yin explained as he pushed on the door, using it to slowly open allowing light to filter into the room.
As the light filtered into the room both Yin and Musashi got a look at Wo's room. It was clean and rather barren and her silver headgear and equipment sat on her bed, while she and Yuudachi were both lying on the floor, their arms around the other and big smiles on their faces. Both of them looked at the scene before them for a moment before Musashi spoke up. "Not the situation this Musashi was expecting to see. Did the admiral plan for this?"
Yin looked to Mushasi and shook his head. "Are you kidding, I figured Wo wouldn't let anyone into her room and that we'd be seeing Yuudachi at the mess hall. I did not expect this any more than you did."
Musashi and Yin's voices being loud, Yuudachi stirred and sat up rubbing her eyes, her shirt falling slightly to the side and showing off her shoulder as she blearily looked to Musashi and Yin. "Ugh, is it morning already?"
"That would be a correct assumption." Musashi said, noticing that Yuudachi seemed so out of it that she didn't even realize where she was as she looked around in confusion.
"Oh, uh, oh yeah, I'm staying at this naval base now. Um, what was I doing again?" Yuudachi asked still not completely awake.
As Yuudachi continued to look around Wo stirred and sat up, pulling herself back a bit before stretching her arms out and looking to see Yuudachi just in front of her " Mmm, good morning, Yuudachi. Couldn't see last night, but your hair is pretty." Wo commented blearily, still half asleep, but still more awake than Yuudachi was.
Hearing Wo's voice Yuudachi turned to look at her, and froze as she did. For many moments Yuudachi looked at Wo, before turning her head slightly and noticing Wo's headgear on the bed, which was of course, turned so it was facing her. Staring at Wo's headgear for only a few seconds Yuudachi looked back to Wo and finally spoke up, her voice full of confusion and un-surety. "So . . . Wo wasn't just a nickname, Poi? You're, actually a. . . . a . . . a . . . –"
"Wo came to us as a level one miniature carrier, but when she leveled up her designation changed to 'advanced hybrid support carrier'. I suppose you could say that our Wo, is like a cross between a ship girl and an abyssal Wo-class aircraft carrier." Yin explained from the doorway to Wo's room, causing her to look up and notice him.
"Oh, Musashi, Admiral. Good morning! Wait, what time is it?" Wo asked, her voice and face now saying that she was fully awake as she looked around, not realizing her room didn't have a clock.
"It is currently 0923 hours," Yin said as he glanced at his wristwatch and then looked to Wo. "We were worried since you weren't in the mess hall, and well-," Yin trailed off, causing Musashi to walk past him in the room and up to Wo, kneeling down in front of her beside Yuudachi.
Musashi looked at Wo for a few moments, not allowing either of their gazes to falter and making Wo a little nervous before Musashi suddenly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Wo, pulling her onto a deep and tight hug. Loosening her grip on Wo she leaned back and placed her hands on Wo's shoulders, looking at her again, though small tears were now in her eyes. "This Musashi has been meaning to do that for a while now, and apologizes."
Wo looked at Musashi for a second before her reply slipped from her mouth barely audible to everyone else present. "F-for what?"
"For everything. For Tenryuu, for you, and for not having done this sooner." Musashi admitted as tears slipped from her eyes as she pulled Wo into another tight embrace.
Wo sat there with her head on Musashi's shoulder for only a second before she wrapped her own arms around Musashi and allowed more tears to slip from her eyes.
Yin watched as the two girls sat there hugging each other, taking each other's pain, and smiled even more when Yuudachi shuffled over and hugged them both, but only for a second before it became awkward and all of them let go of each other. As the three girls began wiping the remaining tears from their eyes Yin took a step forward into the room, causing all three of them to look at him. "Wo, I'm sorry. I've been terribly unfair to you since Tenryuu sunk and I shouldn't have. There is so much that I can say and could say, but I think the best thing I can say is this. Tenryuu gave her life to protect Yuudachi's home fleet, so let's give her actions and her memory meaning, and use her memory as strength."
Wo looked at Yin and then turned to Yuudachi, who spoke up immediately upon being looked to. "I only met Tenryuu for a few moments, but I don't think she would want everyone grieving over her, Poi." Yuudachi said solemnly as she smiled slightly to Wo.
Hearing Yuudachi's words Wo then looked to Musashi. "This Musashi is inclined to agree, but what do you think Tenryuu would want you to do, Wo?" Musashi asked as she stood up and sat herself down on Wo's bed, right beside her equipment.
Wo looked at Musashi and then to Yuudachi and Yin before finally looking down at her own hands for a moment. Clutching her hands into fists Wo watched as a single tear fell from her eyes onto her clenched fists, and then looked up at the roof. "She wouldn't want me to just sit here and grieve. She'd want me to live on!" Wo said before looking at Yin, her eyes filled with sudden strength. "Admiral, I want to go on all operations that we do, I don't care if they're expeditions, rescue missions or sector clearings. I'm going to prove I can be just as useful as everyone else!"
Yin smiled and took a step forward, bending over and offering his hand to Wo. "Then we'll have to make sure everyone can work as a fleet before we do anything. Ready?"
Wo took Yins hand and nodded. "Yes!"