The 1st Fleet was gathered around a canteen table and were discussing their thoughts and woes over lunch, their tough training day ending on a high note as the food supply ship Mamiya gave them a free treat and made them all her signature ice cream dish to celebrate the inception of their fleet with a belated treat.

Mamiya was a senior ship girl, and yet looked relatively youthful and impossibly beautiful like any other adult ship girl, who, along with Houshou, also carried herself with a motherly vibe as she was the chief cook of the naval base.

She wore a light maroon collared shirt and an azure blue dress that reached down the length of her body much like a gown, and her white apron and baggy sleeves adorned it as she smiled down at the exhausted yet satisfied and starving 1st Fleet, who were wolfing down her professionally made sundae after a hard day's work.

Her light brown hair reached down to the arc of her back, with a hair pin to hold up her right fringe and an ahoge sticking out of her hair, and she also had a purplish red ribbon hanging down behind her head, lazily holding up the ponytail that was located behind her head.

And Mamiya's Ice Cream was one of the most delicious things that Junyou had ever tasted ever since she was brought back into this world.

The ice cream didn't come cheap, but through Mamiya's grace, she graciously made everyone an ice cream sundae that had chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry scoops mixed together in a glass cup with sugar strands sprinkled atop them.

It came with a chocolate bar sticking out diagonally from the vanilla scoop, and with strawberry and chocolate syrup added to the vanilla scoop, but much care was taken to ensure that the flavors wouldn't interfere with each other or get muddled with each other in the sundae, each scoop and drop arranged intricately to instead enhance each other's flavor no matter where you started eating from and building up to a crescendo, the warm strawberry and chocolate syrup hidden in the other's ice cream scoop.

Several times, Junyou felt a warm sensation in her mouth, the sweet flavour of the strawberry syrup mixed in with the chocolate ice cream scoop or vice versa, a syrupy and delicious blend of syrup and ice cream mixing together in her mouth and stimulating her tongue.

Everyone was silently enjoying this mouth-watering work of art, and it was a little sad to have to eat it, but Mamiya told them that the ultimate purpose of the sundae was to be eaten, not admired like a piece of art, so they shouldn't feel too bad whenever they take a bite out of it.

This did help alleviate the short-lived guilt within them, as they happily feasted on the sundae.

And finally, Junyou was sipping on a bottle of ramune that replaced her usual bottle of sake to wean off the booze, talking to Hiei and Shigure about their future plans and goals, seeing that they were like her.

Tenryuu had pretty much proclaimed out loud her goal to fight above her ship class which Junyou could understand and empathize with, but she was now, engaged in a conversation with Ayanami and she didn't want to interrupt them

She wasn't too sure about how she was to hold a conversation with the more bloodthirsty member of the Tenryuu-Class, although she ws sure that would change over time.

Ayanami was kind of like a bro to her, where she was the straight man of the fleet and a name ship that everyone could rely on for elder-sister advice, Tenryuu being a little too hothead to fill that role despite also being a name ship.

And although she was sure that there would be a chance to talk to the Tenryuu-Class cruisers in the future, she wanted to take her time to develop the existing relationships she had with her Fleet as she spoke to the two teammates about their future plans, Shigure explaining.

"I, well, talked to Akashi about myself for a while, and I like to think I understand myself a little better now.

I realize that one of the goals I want to achieve in this life is to become stronger than I am now.

I never want to see another ship girl sink before me again, and unlike my past incarnation, I'm now conscious and am in control of my own progress.

I want to become stronger and protect you all, as well as my sisters."

Hiei nodded, biting down on an unwrapped sweet as she pointed out,

"Well, it's great that you've set a goal for yourself, and that you're driven to accomplish that.

But you also have to remember that you still have limits, and that you should take care of and pace yourself.

And that no matter what, know that we'll always be here for you as the 1st Fleet of the Yokosuka Base."

Shigure nodded thankfully at that, Junyou silently taking in the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer and thinking back on what she had learnt about the little ship girl.

Being a lucky ship girl, she had often survived situations where others had died, like the Massacre of Surigao Strait and the Battle of Vella Gulf, and it was no surprise that much like the luckier destroyers of this base like Hibiki and Yukikaze, they were haunted by the events that almost sank them, resulting in their high luck as a mark of shame for them.

And perhaps even for her too, seeing that she never wanted to feel the way they did in the very unlikely, but not impossible case where she survived when everyone around her died, much like in World War 2 and making her experience this bottomless pit of despair and self-condescension that alcohol managed to wash away temporarily, although she now had friends to try and fill that hole.

This was a whole new world, and she now had an entirely new fleet to fight alongside as she contemplated her own future goals, something that she never really thought of beyond simply achieving Kai Ni.

Thinking about the conversation between her and Amagi during the practice session, Junyou wondered how else she should proceed from here on out.

Junyou was training with the 3rd Fleet, and being a light carrier, naturally, she was paired up with the standard carrier of the 3rd Fleet, Amagi.

The Amagi-Class carrier wasn't exactly powerful, but what she lacked in terms of stats she made up in terms of hard work by coordinating her movements with the 3rd Fleet and backing them up whenever they required it.

It was all rather intriguing to Junyou, who was as much awed by the amount of hard work she put in as well as confused by it, unable to see why this carrier, who couldn't hold a candle to the 1st and 2nd Carrier Divisions, was trying so hard to matter.

And now was the time to train with her, Junyou participating in the mock battle session while facing off against Amagi.

Only that her heart wasn't in it.

She didn't know what it was about being a light carrier, but they were naturally inferior when compared to standard carriers, and maybe this was something that only she felt, but she didn't like going up against carriers since she knew that she was naturally at a disadvantage.

And after training for a while where they summoned their planes and tried to 'destroy' the opponent while doing their best to evade the opponent's own bomber planes, Amagi stopped right in her tracks as she recalled her planes, Junyou anticipating the incoming lecture and bracing herself mentally as she did the same.

Amagi calmly walked towards her as her bomber planes landed on her rigging that was shaped like rectangular-shaped plated wings, waving her hand aside to signal a pause in the practice session as Junyou's bombers also landed on her scroll and transformed back into shikigami for her to collect.

Amagi's youthful face was concerned in the way a mother would, much like Houshou did sometimes as she looked to her and asked, Junyou unable to meet her gaze.

"Junyou-san, I'd like to know why you aren't going all out in fighting against me, and despite being a light carrier, you're getting hit a little too much by my fighter planes..."

Junyou shrugged as she gave a halfhearted excuse that she could think of off the top of her head as she thought about other things, remarking.

"Well, you are categorized as a fast warship, and I'm the slow one here, so it goes without saying, you know..."

But Amagi was shaking her head as she corrected, trying to bond with the light carrier as she pointed out.

"That can't be the reason, as I understand that you've been through enough physical training to be able to at least try and physically evade my bombers, since the categorization of our boat slippers' maximum speed does not influence our physical evasion capabilities.

So may I ask what's really bothering you?"

Junyou sighed at that, looking away and slumping as she admitted to the standard carrier who was genuinely worried about her, and she wouldn't feel good about herself if she turned someone like that away without at least humoring her first.

"Well, I mean, I'm a light carrier, and I'm naturally unable to beat a standard carrier like you, right?"

Amagi's expression darkened at that, responding seriously about how the carrier didn't even put any effort into overcoming that gap in power and stats.

"And is that going to stop you from even trying?"

Junyou's eyes flitted back towards the Amagi-Class carrier at that, seeing that the carrier looked almost disappointed in her, something that she really felt bad about as she listened to the carrier continue on.

"You're a ship girl who possesses a lot of potential compared to someone like me, since I died in an earthquake in an earlier incarnation as a battle-cruiser, and never even got to participate in the war as a carrier."

Junyou wasn't sure how to respond to that, and quietly listened to her senior try to talk some sense into her, and even though she was rather tired of ship girls left and right trying to do the same, she was rather glad that this incarnation allowed them to explicitly communicate with each other and allow them to display their concern for her, watching Amagi look at her with hurt eyes.

"I understand that I'm not the best carrier in this base, since others like the 1st, 2nd and even the 5th Carrier Division easily surpass me, but I don't care!"

Junyou was rather taken aback by the forceful manner that Amagi enunciated that last word, the carrier's words resonating with her as she tried to pull away from Amagi who was leaning in a little close.

"There's potential in you, and you don't need a blueprint to achieve it!

You need to work hard, sure, but I do genuinely believe that you can perform as well as a carrier if you do your best!"

Junyou was surprised at that, never having thought of such a lofty goal, and Amagi clasped her hands around Junyou's and raised them to the height of their bosom, Junyou now able to see the whites of her eyes as she pointed out.

"I need a blueprint to upgrade myself to Kai, and this is quite the struggle when other better and stronger ship girls are also competing for it.

Tone-san has already guaranteed herself one due to her great skills, while Abukuma, Chikuma, Bismarck and Chokai-san are all also competing with me for blueprints, Abukuma-san being in the lead.

So I won't know when I'm going to receive my upgrade, if ever.

But you're not hindered like I am, Junyou-san!"

Junyou's face cringed as she snickered, mocking Amagi's version of a bad joke.

"Naw, there's no way that's possible...

Performing close to the level of an esteemed carrier like Kaga and Hiryuu..."

But looking at Amagi keeping a straight face at her own 'joke', Junyou's smile was wiped off her own face as she tried to point out how that was simply not possible.

"But...

But I'm a light carrier, and I'm not as tough or as armored as any carrier..."

"You've got good evasion stats."

"And I don't perform as well as you do..."

"But you do perform well as a light carrier, right?!

And it won't happen overnight, but I know that you can eventually learn to perform splendidly with enough training and enough determination to try and perform at the standard of a carrier!"

Junyou had nothing to say to that, because she knew that the Amagi-Class carrier was correct.

She did indeed have the potential to go far and the only thing holding her back was her own drive, which was pretty much non-existent right now.

And she was absolutely silent all the way back to the harbor to get back on land, the training session now being over.

Junyou's attention was brought back into the present as she saw that Hiei and Shigure were looking at her, slight concern reflected in their eyes and likely having asked a question, waiting in awkward silence as Junyou was lost in her own thoughts, the light carrier scratching her own head and asking meekly.

"Ehe, sorry.

I was lost in my own thoughts, and I wasn't paying attention to the conversation.

What did you ask again?"

Hiei spoke up, the tension in her expression now relaxing as she repeated herself.

"I asked, 'What's your aim for the future, other than Kai Ni?'"

Junyou blinked at that, thinking about how the conversation was also about her future, remembering the flashback about Amagi as she responded, a little embarrassed at even saying that lofty goal out loud and getting mocked by her own teammates.

"I don't know, it's kind of an impossible goal by my standards..."

But Shigure was surprisingly the one who spoke up this time, taking Junyou by surprise as the headstrong destroyer leaned in and pointed out.

"Junyou-san, we've been revived to assume human forms, something which we would never have dare to imagine back when we were simply steel ships, and it's not up to you to determine what's impossible for us by this point in time!"

Junyou held her palms up to placate the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer as she conceded the point,

"Alright, alright, I get it, girl!

I mean, I just didn't want you all to think that my goals were unrealistic or whatever.

And my goal is..."

Junyou inhaled, and she braced herself as she tried to accept the fact that she did want to achieve the goal that Amagi suggested to her, revealing.

"...I want to fight at the level of a standard carrier when I achieve Kai Ni.

And I know, I know..."

Junyou started defending herself and pointing out why she wanted to do so, lowering her head as she didn't want to meet her teammates' gaze as she did so.

"I know that my stats aren't as impressive as the carriers from the 1st, 2nd and 5th Carrier Division, but I don't really care about any of that.

I don't want to lose to them despite being weaker than them, and I just want to protect all of you..."

"Ok."

"Eh?"

Junyou's head jerked up as she met Hiei's flat gaze, the fast battleship reaching for the bag of sweets as she nonchalantly responded to Junyou's future goals.

"It's not unreasonable to want to do better than what your stats limit you to, and I say that it's almost like mine, except that I have a specific battleship whose battle prowess I aspire to reach."

Hiei shrugged as she munched on the sweet, Junyou still a little too stunned to say anything and tried to focus on Hiei's admittedly attractive lips as she consumed the sweet that was in her mouth and spoke at the same time, her beauty a natural result of being created as a ship girl.

"If you've thought of a foolish dream to fight on the level of a carrier and want to chase it, then I guess I'll also chase a foolish dream of mine.

I want to become as powerful as Nagato-san, since I have a second remodel that makes me stronger, and I, too, want to fight with all of you and do my best in battle."

Junyou nodded, lowering her head as she accepted the fact that this life held new possibilities that should be explored by them, and she did indeed want to achieve a level of strength that she wouldn't have even bothered to try had she not been drafted into a fleet and shown that there were still things worth fighting for in this world.

But Shigure was also adamant in trying to make them feel like a team and achieve their goals together as she leaned in, giving them a shy smile as she made clear the goal that she had set for herself.

"I want to achieve Kai Ni so that I can protect all of you, as well as my sisters!"

Junyou's lips creased upon hearing that, asking a question that she previously refused to ask out of tact and concern for her mental state since the destroyer was recently constructed.

But now that Akashi talked to her concerning her past, Junyou was a little more emboldened to ask her teammate this.

"Is this desire to protect us borne of your inability to protect those around you in World War 2, Shigure?"

Junyou was worried about her teammate, and how she might try too hard to protect them in battle, needlessly endangering herself and perhaps even dying, or, God forbid, sinking because of their inability to protect themselves...

Oh man, she was now craving that bottle of alcohol to wash away her own fears again.

And as she expected, Shigure flinched upon hearing that, and Hiei looked at her nervously as she ate her snacks, Junyou barely registering the staggering amount of food that the fast battleship consumed to feed herself as Junyou met Hiei's gaze, Junyou pointing out something to the destroyer while shifting her gaze to look Shigure in the eye.

"Look, I'm no oracle, so I can't say whether I'll be proven right or wrong in the near or distant future.

But I want to make this clear right now that I don't intend to simply sit by and wait like a damsel in distress for you to save us all."

Shigure's eyes widened, and Junyou used her left thumb to thrust at her bosom as she continued.

"I've lived through enough shit in my past life to know of loss, and although I won't even bother comparing the loss that I've felt with what you've felt, I want you to know that I absolutely hate feeling useless and watching others die around me, so I'm going to tell you right now.

I'm going to be a light carrier that you can depend on not to get in trouble in times of crisis, because I understand the fear of that self-loathing feeling that comes after failing to save a fellow comrade.

And I would really hate to see you crash and burn because you felt as though you had to carry the burden alone, you get me?"

Shigure blinked at that, nodding resignedly as she accepted Junyou's offer to back her up, Junyou hearing Shigure slightly uncertain and fearful tone about her prediction concerning Shigure's 'must-save-everyone' attitude as she listlessly responded.

"I guess so..."

But Junyou was having none of that, wielding her half-full ramune bottle like she would her usual alcohol bottle with her left hand as she wrapped her arm around Shigure's neck and pulled her in for a big hug, exclaiming in an annoyed tone as she shoved the little destroyer's face into her right breast, feeling the destroyer's frantic arms flail about uselessly when resisting the strength of a light carrier.

"Ah, don't be so full of yourself, you precocious little brat!

I'm not lacking in the luck department, and I now have no problems in saying that I survived the war, so I'm a survivor, just like you!"

Junyou pulled up Shigure's head to prevent her from passing out due to asphyxiation, and made sure to look down at her slightly reddened, gasping face as she proclaimed.

"We're a fleet, and more than that, we're ship girls who've been through the same war!

Don't just write us off as delicate flowers to be coddled by you, and learn to rely on us a little more to practice the art of 'not dying'!"

Shigure blinked at that, and Junyou could see that the little destroyer had watery eyes and looked as though she was about to cry which made her wonder if she went too far in trying to convince Shigure.

But the destroyer slowly nodding and leaning on her boob was all that was needed to convince Junyou, the light carrier giving her a big grin that stretched from cheek to cheek, Junyou calling out to her fleet.

"Well, now that that's all said and done, let's celebrate!"

Tatsuta was now walking around the barracks to allow her body to digest the delicious food that she had eaten while in the canteen, cooked for them courtesy of the skilled senior ship girl Mamiya, who was good with her hands.

She was also trying to review the memory of her training with the Kai Ni heavy cruiser, and although Haguro looked rather meek and passive, fighting her was an absolute nightmare, as Tatsuta could now attest to having fought against her in a 1v1 mock battle.

And being a senior in this base, Haguro could naturally see through her despite Tatsuta's best attempts to try and keep her distance from others to prevent herself from being hurt by the unpredictable events of life.

Haguro, being a ship girl who also had more life experience, had also given her some relevant advice pertaining to her own concerns and problems after handily defeating her, to which Tatsuta was secretly grateful, seeing that not a lot of people approached her and gave her advice that was actually useful.

Things were not going well for Tatsuta.

Well, they rarely did for the Tenryuu-Class light cruiser, but this was a special case where she felt completely out of control despite being an active participant in the battle, in which secretly infuriated her to no end even when she was one hell of an expert in maintaining a poker face.

And it just didn't seem nice of her to be angry at a ship girl who looked as though she regretted every action that she had to undertake in order to defeat Tatsuta, looking at the frightened but steady expression and stance of the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser before her.

Haguro looked as though she were suppressing the fear that welled up within her when facing off against one as dreaded as Tatsuta, the light cruiser breathing heavily as she gripped her glaive, named Sado, a little tighter than usual.

But that wasn't the point, wondering how there could be such a large difference in terms of skill between her and the heavy cruiser when Haguro didn't even sortie with any of her equipment.

Haguro was standing in front of her, leaning in and almost cowering as she brought her gloved hands together and asked meekly,

"Tatsuta-san?

I-If you're tired, should we take a break?

Tatsuta blinked, never missing a beat as she responded smoothly,

"Not yet.

I just want to understand how you were able to evade all my attacks, and why you didn't sortie with your equipment when fighting me.

I was wondering if you don't see me as much of a threat and not worth using your weapons to defeat."

Tatsuta smiled in a saccharine manner as she considered that possibility of Haguro possibly looking down on her and determined to defeat her without use of her weapons.

But the heavy cruiser pushing her hands out and vehemently denying Tatsuta's claim was something she didn't expect of the timid heavy cruiser, watching her large and innocent eyes express genuine disbelief at that insinuation and trying to correct it, Haguro exclaiming.

"N-No, it's not that, I promise!

I respect your abilities, and especially how hard you trained to try and counter my observation skills by attempting to eliminate all visible tells pertaining to your attack moves!

It's just..."

Haguro looked as though she deflated from within as her shoulders sagged, the Kai Ni heavy cruiser bringing the tips of her fingers together as she admitted to Tatsuta while looking away ashamedly.

"I really don't want to accidentally kill you, Tatsuta-san."

Tatsuta blinked as she thought about that claim, gripping Sado's shaft a little tighter as she debated herself on whether she should use the new move she thought up of against a senior ship girl.

Now, she had heard that the Myoukou-Class heavy cruisers were all skilled combatants, and that all of them had spent up to a decade in training up on a particular skill that was difficult to emulate or fight against, Tatsuta having heard that Haguro possessed extraordinary battle senses, situational awareness and body-reading skills.

And having heard that the 1st and 3rd Fleet were going to train together, Tatsuta had done the math and eventually concluded that her training partner was likely going to either be Abukuma or Haguro.

And although Shigure going off with Akashi was unexpected, it didn't change the outcome by much, seeing Tenryuu fighting Ashigara, Nagato coaching Hiei, Amagi with Junyou while Abukuma and Yukikaze trained Ayanami, watching the Kagerou-Class destroyer sit on the Kuma-Class light cruiser's shoulders and add another pair of firearm-wielding hands to their bizarre totem-pole fighting stance, Tatsuta sweat-dropping at how energetic they were.

Back to the matter at hand, Tatsuta, in preparing for a potential sparring match between Haguro and herself, had tried to eliminate all her tells and any subconscious movements that the heavy cruiser could pick up on to predict and evade her attacks in time.

But that obviously didn't work, Tatsuta accepting the fact that if it were so easy to counter her observation skills, anyone would have beaten her and she wouldn't have performed as well in battle against the Abyssals, who possessed impressive firepower and manpower to make up for their lack of close-quarters combat skills and would've killed her with a simple shell into her torso or something.

And now, Tatsuta had an attack that she wanted to try out on someone, and the problem here was that she wanted to find someone who could defeat her offensive technique.

Here was a ship girl who possessed (in her eyes) almost godlike reflexes and powerful battle senses that were honed through years of training and could shut down her attack in a way that wouldn't end her life (hopefully), and help point out any glaring issues in her technique.

In the end, Tatsuta decided to go for it, choosing to believe that the heavy cruiser would be able to stop her technique, and she also hoped that she wouldn't accidentally injure the Kai Ni heavy cruiser on the off-chance that the heavy cruiser failed to counter her attack.

Tatsuta dropped her smile, her pupils emptying as she focused all her might and got into her glaive-thrusting stance and feeling her muscles tense up and prepare to strike like a wary snake, coiled and ready to explode at the drop of a hat.

Haguro was also aware of something going on with the Tenryuu-Class light cruiser, because unbeknownst to the light cruiser, the Kai Ni heavy cruiser could feel a purplish-red aura emanate from the light cruiser and cause her halo to glow a predictable crimson red as Tatsuta allowed her killing instinct to take over her body and increase the deadliness of her attack to ensure that she wouldn't hold back despite Haguro being a fellow ship girl.

And finally, Tatsuta burst forward and accelerated from a resting position, achieving a breakneck speed through her leg muscles pushing her forward and her turbines running at maximum capacity.

She used her right hand to thrust her glaive forward and achieve the final burst of speed required to perform the move she envisioned in her mind, shouting in her mind.

'God-Killing Spear!'

Her execution was perfect, having performed the move exactly as she imagined after going through the motions in practice without the burst of speed to conserve her strength as she flew through the air at a disgustingly swift velocity.

So why was her right temple bleeding, her head reeling from some sort of unknown impact to the side of her head, and her entire body collapsing onto the ocean surface?

Tatsuta's eyelids flew open as she laid down on the ocean surface, trying to remember what happened as she looked up at her HUD, which read,

'31 March 2015

12.53 p.m.'

And looking up at the ship girl who was blocking out the sun, casting a shadow over her entire body and shrouding her in darkness as the Tenryuu-Class light cruiser squinted her eyes to look at the heavy cruiser watching over her.

Haguro again brought up her clenched hands to cover herself as she chided, looking as though she were about to cry.

"That's not very nice, Tatsuta-san.

I really didn't want to hurt you..."

Tatsuta reached up to her right temple, wincing as she tried to remember how she ended up lying on the ocean surface, feeling the cool steel patch stuck on the side of her head.

She knew that the steel patches were like band-aids, where the 'patch' was composed of inert nano-machines to be activated when they were placed on a wound, helping the ship girl body recover faster as the nano-machines went to work, treating the wound and utilizing the steel material that the patch was made out of to replace ship girl flesh if the need arose.

Haguro no longer looked as though she wanted to fight anymore as she was already seated on the ocean and wiping her tears, causing Tatsuta to blink at the show of weakness.

Tatsuta knew when to throw in the towel, remembering how the heavy cruiser shut down her moves prior to her ultimate technique somehow being shut down as she graciously nodded in apology, wiping the sweat from her face as she squatted and eventually sat on the ocean surface as Haguro shifted to give her some space.

She pressed her skirt in to sit down in a ladylike manner, the both of them looking at the rest of their fleet training together and enjoying the silence between them as Tatsuta took the time to catch her breath and nurse her wound.

She shot the heavy cruiser beside her an aside glance, trying to piece together the Kai Ni ship girl's fighting style, and how she was able to evade all her attacks thus far.

Haguro must've picked up on her looking at the heavy cruiser, as the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser covered her face shyly with a slight blush upon someone looking at her so keenly, stuttering.

"U-Um, Tatsuta-san, why're you looking at me like that?"

"Oh no, I just want to note how you were able to counter my attack without getting even a scratch on you.

And besides, you're a beautiful ship girl, so looking at you's a rather pleasant experience."

Tatsuta giggled at that as she covered her mouth, and Haguro was sputtering as she tried to explain herself to the stunned light cruiser while trying to hide her blush.

"U-Um, you see, part of how I can keep track of everyone i-is to feel their killing intent.

And when the Abyssals often want to kill you, that killing intent flares up right before their cannons fire.

That allows me to perform a split second counter to evade and reflexively shoot back at them, often which they die very quickly."

Tatsuta nodded at that, nodding as she understood that Abyssals would possess killing intent as they faced off against the ship girls, something which was difficult for participants of both sides to suppress, Haguro continuing on as she looked down at her own shoes.

"I've trained myself up to read and predict the movement patterns of the enemy, and I'm also able to keep track of their position around me, as well as whether their cannons are empty, which I take advantage of to advance and predict when their cannons have reloaded.

So for instance..."

Gesturing to Tatsuta, Haguro gave her an aside glance as Tatsuta noted the heavy cruiser's eyes roaming over her sweaty uniform and body as she elaborated.

"I already knew that you were right-handed, and I've already noted the maximum range that your glaive extends and the various ways that you would wield it in with your master hand.

Add the fact that I deduced the limits of your speed and agility, as well as your fighting style that is offensive in nature and leaves a margin of safety to protect yourself, giving up that margin of safety to enhance the deadliness of your final attack.

Keeping all that in mind, I can counter your every move while also watching the weapons that you carry on your backpack to ensure that I wouldn't get hit by a torpedo."

Tatsuta blinked at that, never having thought about such things before and rather amazed that the heavy cruiser could take in so much information and render her impotent through observation skills alone.

And it wouldn't be out of the question if Haguro detected her killing intent well before she even attacked with any of her weapons and detected the instant that killing aura flared up as a sign that she was attack, the light cruiser now beginning to see how the heavy cruiser operated in combat as she operated on instinct and observation.

And even if Tatsuta was carrying her handheld cannons, she could picture Haguro whipping around to evade her attacks and squeeze off a shot in her direction before Tatsuta even had a chance to respond should she decide to bring her weapons to the battlefield and overpower Tatsuta.

Her skills might be fearsome to the enemy, but fighting reflexes that had been honed and drilled into the ship girl body could also pose a danger when sparring with allies, possibly injuring them or worse as she felt the cool metal patch stuck to her head.

Tatsuta nodded, heaving as she leaned back to enjoy a cool breeze that had blown in from the south as she looked back at her training teammates.

But Haguro still saw that something was troubling her, and seemed determined to help out a fellow comrade in arms despite her timid demeanor, leaning in to get a closer look at Tatsuta as she asked,

"U-Um, T-Tatsuta-san, is there something that's troubling you?

I-I'd like to help give you some advice, because I'm concerned about you as a senior and as a fellow comrade!"

Tatsuta blinked and drew back a little as Haguro leaned in, her eyes innocent and sincere about her cause as Tatsuta thought back about her own troubles.

Well, there was always the problem about controlling her own blood lust and the overpowering urge to feed off of the carnage and destruction of her enemies.

The blood lust, which was useful in battle to spur her on to eviscerate her enemies was slowly beginning to interfere with her daily life and interpersonal relationships, but that wasn't such a serious problem that required help from an external party, right?

Right?

Tatsuta's eyebrows creased at that, and she was stuck between coldly rejecting her senior and sharing her personal issues with someone who wasn't her sister or even her teammate, contemplating as she glanced back at the bright face of Haguro inching closer with her eyes widening in anticipation.

Finally, Tatsuta sighed as she shared her issues with the heavy cruiser so as to get her off her back, leaning forward as she looked down at her boat slippers, watching the reflection of the airborne clouds and the distant figures of her sparring teammates as she elaborated.

"I've often felt the urge to see my enemies bleed on the battlefield, and it's served me well in that I've always felt sated after a good battle, and especially when the enemy dies in a spectacularly gory fashion.

But recently, I can't help but feel that that blood lust is seeping into my mind when I'm not on sorties."

Tatsuta hugged her own thighs and held her own weapon Sado tight as she thought about the possibilities that could occur, which were frightening even to her as she remembered what Akashi told her in confidence.

"Akashi-san told me that there have been various Tatsuta that have hurt their own comrades to try and sate that blood lust whenever it became uncontrollable, something that I admit that I wouldn't be comfortable with doing.

She told me that I needed to have a few hobbies to pass the time, since 'idle hands are the devil's workshop' and all that, and she offered me the chance to join her as a medic and a surgeon."

Tatsuta shrugged her shoulders as she pondered over the frightening possibility of being allowed to do anything else than what she was created to do, something that she touched upon as she glanced at the attentive Haguro.

"I'm just worried that I might not be a good surgeon, because I'm created to be a weapon, right?

So if I ever hold the surgical knife, I might want to hurt the patient and kill her because of my blood lust, although I understand the need to find a hobby or an activity to apply myself..."

But Haguro leaned in again as she seemed rather agitated at that, responding passionately.

"Y-You should accept Akashi-san's offer, because I know that you can do it!

You're comfortable when handling bloody situations, and you look like the type that likes to handle knives, no offense, Tatsuta-san!"

Tatsuta blinked at that as she looked into the eyes of Haguro, but she was unable to get a word in edgewise as the Kai Ni heavy cruiser continued on.

"Actually, now that I think about it, Akashi and Mamiya work together closely as surgeons and cooks, as both professions require the delicate use of knives to help ship girls heal correctly and to create delicacies respectively.

So, you should ask the both of them to teach you skills in your free time to take your mind off of more morbid things.

And also..."

Haguro put up a finger to silence Tatsuta as she tried to talk some sense into Tatsuta, the Tenryuu-Class light cruiser having only seen a handful of ship girls this concerned about her, and looking at the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser, she was actually beginning to feel something that she currently hadn't felt concerning anyone who wasn't her sister ship or her teammates.

Gratitude.

Watching the heavy cruiser be so concerned about her when she didn't even need to bother in the first place since they weren't sister ships or even fleet-mates, she expected to feel irritated by the heavy cruiser's concern when her issues didn't even involve her.

But that never occurred to her as she watched Haguro's heartfelt and genuine expressions flit across her face as she continued, being concerned for a fellow ship girl without any sort of hidden agenda behind her words.

"This second life that we've been given and reincarnated into human bodies and with personalities of our own would mean that we aren't simply machines of death, but are now able to develop our personality and skills to prove to ourselves that we aren't all about combat and killing, right?

And besides, I want to ask..."

Haguro pointed at Tatsuta as she asked a question,

"If you're in control of your blood-lust, then why don't you exert that control?

That blood lust isn't the only thing that defines you, so I personally wouldn't recommend relinquishing control and let it blind you to everything you could become."

Tatsuta thought about that, and saw that the heavy cruiser had a point in that her own blood-lust wasn't her only defining trait, and as a few institutionalized Tatsuta could attest to, letting her violent and sadistic urges run wild to cause wanton destruction wasn't a very good idea, and might slowly infest and corrupt her mind, making the entire situation with her blood lust a delicate balancing act.

But was she the one in control?

If one would forgive her for sounding a little like Tenryuu, hell yes.

Tatsuta flashed Haguro a smile, and this time, it wasn't one of those superficial smiles that she put on her face when she didn't know what other expressions to put on to face others, but this time, it was a genuine smile of gratitude at the heavy cruiser having shared her thoughts in a genuine attempt to help her as a comrade.

Tatsuta looked down at her hands, having dropped by the docks and had Akashi check her wound to make sure that she wasn't going to suffer some sort of brain damage before leaving for dinner.

And having rested up the docks, she could clearly remember how the heavy cruiser had countered her attack at the instant before contact.

The heavy cruiser spun around to avoid Tatsuta's God-Killing Spear that moved in a linear path, and Tatsuta could clearly see that the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser was frozen as she took in all the information concerning her attack as Tatsuta ran towards her.

And when Tatsuta got close enough for her to counter, Haguro, acting on instinct alone at this point in time, spun around to evade her incoming glaive thrust.

She nailed Tatsuta in the side of her head with an elbow strike too fast for Tatsuta to even see coming as her eyes blanked out for an instant, Tatsuta certain that her brains would have been splattered all over the ocean had the heavy cruiser not become aware of her actions and held back at the instant before impact, causing the Muay-Thai-esque elbow strike to become a love tap instead of the devastating blow it was meant to be.

As Tatsuta raised her fingers to inspect the area of impact, she thought about the heavy cruiser's frightening ability to negate her attack so easily, and how she had trained herself up to respond to attacks that possessed killing intent so quickly that she almost wasn't aware of her own action, and would have killed Tatsuta in an instant were she an Abyssal.

Clenching her gloved hand tightly, she tried to grapple with this newfound fear of the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser's abilities, now having seen a glimpse of what the ultimate ship girl was capable of, and how she felt a chill down her spine as she imagined training herself up to be able to fight like that.

And having previously thought of the kind and meek ship girl as rather weak in terms of her mentality, she now saw that the heavy cruiser, despite having been through so much throughout the entirety of her existence, still stayed true to herself and genuinely wanted to help and protect others, now heavily respecting the heavy cruiser both as a kindhearted person and as a skilled soldier.

Looking at someone like that, Tatsuta thought about Haguro's advice and wondered to herself as she contemplated her own existence and worth, not just to her sister but also to her own newfound teammates.

She wanted her sister and friends to be safe despite keeping herself emotionally distanced from them, and the last thing she wanted to see was her sister cry over her losing control of her own blood lust and having to put her down.

She was finally seeing other ways to apply herself that had never occurred to her before and learn to firmly control a bloodthirsty desire that she had always kept at arm's length for fear of possession.

'Can I become stronger and also protect my friends, despite being who I am right now?'

And the thing was, Tatsuta was strangely feeling a little more enthusiastic about the answer to that question.

Hiei was sitting in her room, laying down in the darkness on her bed as she heard the tell-tale signs that her sisters were sleeping, with her Onee-sama snoring resoundingly, Haruna mumbling almost inaudibly in her sleep and Kirishima being deathly silent save for her steady breathing.

Haruna had turned in for the night after learning first aid from Akashi and the various orderlies around the hospital, having heard that her sister ship wanted to expand her skill sets and not simply be a machine of death, being able to treat and help her teammates on the battlefield instead of simply pushing forward.

Kongou had come in around the same time that Hiei did as the 7th Fleet that was the Firepower Fleet had also trained throughout the day, and her Onee-sama was exhausted after a hard day's work as she collapsed on her bed and promptly fell asleep, leaving her sisters with the responsibility of removing her sweat-drenched miko clothes with heavy breathing on Hiei's part as she tried to stay her hand.

Kirishima was the last to arrive as usual after a hard day's work and tinkering with her equipment in the workshop as she too, changed clothes and went to sleep after a productive day, leaving Hiei alone in the dark, awake on her bed and clutching her Kongou Onee-sama dakimakura with a blanket covering her body.

Hiei had considered her training session with the esteemed Nagato, thinking about the words they had exchanged as Hiei admitted to the battleship her desire to become stronger and protect her comrades, and especially the battleship she wanted to match in terms of strength in order to fulfill that goal.

"You're tired. We'll take a break here."

Nagato turned away from a panting Hiei, who was resting her palms on her knees as she tried to get up, the fast battleship struggling to get the words out of her gasping mouth, feeling sweat drip from her chin and run down her head as she exclaimed.

"Not... yet...!"

Hiei could feel that considerable superficial damage had been inflicted on her body courtesy of the stronger Nagato-Class battleship, most of which could be repaired in less than half a day as practice rounds were being used, and Hiei had reacted fast enough to avoid being hit by her large-caliber cannon shells full-force and potentially taking her out in one-shot.

But Nagato turned around and Hiei could see that she had hit Nagato a few times with her own shells, her own 35.6 cm Twin Gun Cannons smoking as she noted that Nagato's uniform was ruffled with a few bruises on her abdomen and her gloves smoking from having punched a few shells out of the air.

Nagato was going her an unrecognizable look, and Hiei wiped the sweat from her forehead as she listened to Nagato's words.

"You don't understand.

If you fight constantly without rest, especially when going up against a superior opponent, it's only going to wear down your stamina and send you to the docks prematurely."

Hiei shook her head, thinking about how she wanted to surpass her current power level as she tried to straighten up her body, and laying her eyes upon the long-haired battleship striding towards her.

And was powerless to stop the smoking fist flying towards her face as Nagato's gloved fist blurred.

It stopped a centimeter from Hiei's stunned face, a slight gust of wind that was produced by the flying fist blowing her hair back and ruffling it as Hiei felt a chill go down her spine despite knowing that the Nagato-Class battleship wasn't going to hurt her.

Hiei collapsed onto the ocean floor as she looked up at the proud and immovable battleship, heaving as she caught her breath and tried to muster the strength to fight on, despite having been utterly drained of stamina due to having fought the Nagato-Class battleship all the way into the afternoon.

She could feel her muscles aching, although in a good way after a good workout had stretched her muscles and pushed them to the limit after a period of inactivity.

This was something that battleships often suffered from since one, they didn't always get the chance to sortie on a weekly basis like the rest of the ship girl population save for carriers due to their high fuel and ammo consumption, and two, even when they did, most of the work was done by their large-caliber cannons and thick armor, and they didn't get to physically exert themselves like the destroyers and light cruisers did.

But this was a good fight, Hiei wanting to fight to the end despite feeling rather fatigued as she had to physically evade the slow battleship's cannon shells and trading physical blows without giving out, considering the prospect of fighting on even when Nagato leaned down and extended her hand to help her up.

She eventually relented as she raised her hand to accept Nagato's offer, and slowly struggled to get up as Nagato leaned back to use her own weight to pull Hiei up, Hiei complaining about her own incompetence and inability to secure a win.

"Shit, I can't seem to match your might, no matter how hard I try.

Is this the limit of a Kongou-Class battleship?"

Nagato blinked at that, pointing out and talking as one esteemed battleship to another as Hiei stabilized herself, speaking curtly.

"You and I are created for different purposes, where you're a fast battleship who can move fast while I'm slower, but can carry more armor and firepower as a result.

So why are you so driven to defeat me?"

Hiei looked away, wondering about whether she should reveal her goals to the waiting Nagato-Class battleship, ultimately not seeing much wrong with it as she revealed.

"IwanttofightonyourlevelNagatosan."

Nagato blinked again, raising her hand to gesture to her in a placating manner as she requested of Hiei.

"I'm sorry, come again?"

Hiei inhaled deeply, and looked into Nagato's red eyes as she repeated herself while slowing down her speech.

"I want to fight on your level, Nagato-san.

I have a Kai Ni remodel, and being a fast battleship, I have every right to believe that I can make that dream a reality!"

Hiei waved her clenched fist around, ready to prove a point if the need arose, but the slow battleship lowered her gloved hand and simply replied with a blank face,

"Alright."

Hiei blinked at that, unprepared for the slow battleship's immediate acceptance of her stated goals, Hiei waving her hands around as she tried to get the Nagato-Class ship girl to respond in the manner which she expected, retorting.

"But aren't you going to tell me that it's not possible since, well, y'know, I'm a mere battle-cruiser and can't compare to a real battleship, or something along those lines?"

"So?

It's a whole new world for us, and we can't simply narrow our mindsets by thinking that a fast battleship can't fight on par with a slow battleship."

Hiei drew back at that, never having thought of things like that and and was unable to interrupt the slow battleship's small monologue as she continued.

"I've seen skilled light and heavy cruisers defeat slow battleships via 'Death-of-a-Thousand-Cuts' without the use of torpedoes.

And weapon-wielding ship girls like Hyuga, Tenryuu and Kiso, amongst others, change the game as their Anti-Abyssal weapons possess the tremendous potential to cut through almost any Abyssal skin if they train hard enough."

Hiei looked away at that, having known that presence of Anti-Abyssal weapons, requiring intensive training to unlock their full potential.

And Hiei was confident that Tenryuu and Tatsuta, despite being mediocre light cruisers on paper and not possessing Kai Ni, would be able to find a way to stay relevant and fight on even when they had to go up against stronger opponents in the future.

But back to the present, where Nagato was looking down at her, due to the slight difference in height as she continued,

"Besides, right now, your stats can't compare to mine, and yet..."

Looking down at her third 41 cm Twin Gun Cannon that was deemed inactive as Hiei had likely hit a vital spot, the flank of the cannon spotting a nasty dent caused by Hiei's shell impacting it.

"...You were able to hold out for a few hours and get some good shots in.

If keep this progress up and achieve Kai Ni, where the difference in our stats save for luck are pretty much negligible, I do believe you can fight on par with me."

Hiei's eyes widened at the possibility of her goal being fulfilled, and Nagato huffed as she pointed out a slight obstacle that stood in the way of that lofty goal.

"Of course, there's no getting round the fact that you need to train harder than me, and sortie more often to achieve Kai Ni."

But Hiei clenched her fists, undeterred by the long path ahead so long as she could reach the end and protect her sisters and friends with that newfound strength as she broke out in a silly grin.

But Nagato must have seen through something within her, as her eyebrows creased and she asked Hiei politely.

"And I don't wish to interrupt whatever thoughts you may have about your own odds of success, but what is the reason that drives you to seek this strength?"

Hiei's smile was wiped off her face as she blinked, taken aback at that question before responding coolly.

"To protect my friends and family, of course."

Ngato's eyes narrowed as she tried to peek into the fast battleship's heart, which made her a little uncomfortable as she racked her mind for possible reasons that would drive her to achieve Kai Ni.

And she remembered the obvious reason why she would work to obtain Kai Ni, adding to her answer as she face d the battleship.

"I want to make Kongou Onee-sama and my sisters proud.

I mean, that's not a bad reason to achieve Kai Ni, right?"

Nagato tilted her head as she lifted an eyebrow, before resuming her default stoic expression as she pointed out in order to give Hiei something to think about.

"I understand that you love your sister ship Kongou, but I know her to be a larger-than-life ship girl.

And as I understand it, you want to protect your friends, but also want to make your sisters proud, first and foremost."

Hiei's eyebrows creased at that, and she saw how the battleship might get that idea, which wasn't wrong anyway, but she kept her mouth shut as she listened obediently.

"I might not have any right to ask you this, but would your sisters approve of you prioritizing making your sisters proud over protecting your teammate?

I mean, you're the eldest ship girl of your fleet, and in the eyes of the 1st Fleet, you're now considered the representative of the Kongou-Class battleships, so wouldn't it be more appropriate of you to strive to grow up and be an 'Onee-sama' to your comrades?"

Hiei was silent at that, never having thought of things that way and mutely listened to Nagato elaborating on her point.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't make your sisters proud or anything like that, but as a name-ship, I think I can safely say that seeing your sister ships mature and branch out to achieve independence on their own.

It reassures us when we see that our sisters can take care of themselves, instead of constantly worrying about them.

I mean, that's why your other sister ships, Haruna and Kirishima both signed up and are now working in the medical and intelligence departments respectively to help out the base in other ways, right?"

Hiei couldn't argue with that, and quietly sailed back towards the base as training ended, various thoughts running through her mind and having been thrown into disarray by Nagato's opinion on things.

Hiei looked back at her sisters, watching the peaceful, resting faces and figures of Kirishima, Haruna and Kongou as she thought about the slow battleship's words.

She knew that the Kongou Sisters as they knew it, where the days where the four of them were in the same fleet were no more, and they had split up to pursue their own paths.

And now, watching the prone, sprawled body of her sister, she considered Nagato's words that was spoken as a name-ship, and could thus empathize with another name-ship's feeling about not having to worry about her sister ships when they grow up and become independent.

Hiei now knew that to achieve Kai Ni was a noble goal, and to strive to perform above your limits was a lofty, yet not an unreasonable goal that she had eventually learnt to share Nagato's view on and accept it as a possibility that could come to fruition only if they worked hard enough to closer the gap in power, something which she was grateful that she had communicated to Junyou to inspire her to perform better.

But Nagato's point about her Onee-sama worrying about Hiei's dependence on her also made sense, Hiei remembering how Kongou sometimes broke character to look at her with worried eyes that Hiei had never been able to comprehend, especially when she coddled and hugged her sister ship affectionately (outside of battle, of course; she considered herself to be mature enough not to show that on the battlefield).

And now that she thought about it, perhaps that dependence was what was holding her back, since their lives were fleeting and life was unpredictable, where ship girls could die and sink at any time.

And perhaps her Onee-sama was worried that Hiei wouldn't be able to brave the loss of Kongou, which put that much pressure on her to keep herself alive while trying to get Hiei to become independent by dissolving the Kongou Sisters.

Hiei almost wanted to cry upon seeing that she had placed such a burden on her Onee-sama, but reminded herself that she was now taking the next step in maturation, and she now had to be a pillar of strength to support her own teammates instead of always depending on her sister ship and being perfectly content to stay in Kongou's shadow.

Hiei looked back to her dakimakura, which had her Onee-sama on both sides and she was currently looking at the image of her sister which was far less lewd, and she planted an affectionate kiss right where her sister's lips were as she slowly felt her consciousness fade, falling asleep as she hugged the dakimakura with all her might, promising to do better tomorrow.