Shigure was lying down on the couch while Akashi was leaning back on her chair in the same counseling room two days before the sortie, Shigure taking some time off to talk to the repair ship in order to learn more about the world of ship girls.
The session was after another training session earlier that day to train them up for their first sortie, the both of them scheduling their get-together session in the late afternoon, after Shigure's training session.
Akashi was currently covering the topic about how the docks functioned and how they repaired ship girls from the inside and the outside.
The 'bathtubs' of the docks were like hospital beds, with heartbeat sensors and hidden X-ray machines amongst others hidden within them to detect a ship girl's injuries and keep track of their vitals.
The specialized nano-machines that filled the bathwater would then attempt to close the wound and perform surgery on the afflicted area with available materials, restoring the ship girl body to its original state.
The walls of the bathtub were lined with little supply lines that supplied recovery materials in almost undetectable quantities to allow the nano-machines to resupply on steel and fuel, both materials essential in repairing a ship girl's body.
Akashi was quick to clarify that to them, dying and sinking meant two entirely different things.
"A ship girl can die countless times, and so long as she's able to keep her brain intact, resurrection is still possible.
But the act of sinking, is, well, being sunk in battle.
We can't resurrect something that can't be brought back to us."
Akashi continued as she stared at the ceiling.
"The Americans nicknamed it the Lazarus Pit, due to the seemingly supernatural properties of the bathwater to bring back dead ship girls to life, almost under any circumstances.
But as they also joked, in such a godless, violent world like ours, what's the point in believing in saviors and gods when all we need is a bathtub to bring us back to life?"
She smirked at that, Shigure raising an eyebrow at how much lightly some girls took their lives to make such morbid jokes, Shigure interjecting with a question.
"So is the ship girl made up of only the mind and body?"
Akashi broke eye contact with the ceiling to give Shigure an aside glance, replying knowingly.
"Not quite.
The ship girl is made up of three components which make up the Trinity, the body, the mind, and the soul.
The body is the physical form we are given, the mind helps us understand the world, granting us intelligence and sentience, and the soul is a unit of self-sustaining source of power to give life to our bodies.
A ship girl's soul is an extremely powerful, flexible and adaptable power source, but a lot of things are not known about it despite its near-miraculous properties, taking on a randomized personality in every construction process."
Gesturing to Shigure, Akashi used the little destroyer as an example of the creation process to explain how a ship girl was created.
"Hence, with you as an example, when a Shigure personality is selected by luck and summoned into this world, the Fairies would then build the body of Shigure and install the soul-slash-personality into the steel body, helping your soul get adjusted to the earthly vessel.
The soul generates enough power to boot up the destroyer body and creates within it the modules necessary for a ship girl to function, amongst them World War 2 memories and basic naval combat techniques suiting that of a destroyer, effectively bringing the ship girl to life with pre-programmed knowledge."
"S-So, if a ship girl were to be decapitated…"
"If the brain's still intact and the head is brought back to us, she'd likely suffer a week of physical rehabilitation after recreating the body."
"But, if the head were to be affected…"
"Then pray that you die or recover quickly.
Trust me, anything could happen.
From being perfectly fine if you're lucky and your brain adapts and recovers, to personality corruption, memory loss, constant headaches or worse."
Akashi sighed, and explained,
"Look, humans don't understand the entirety of how their brain works, and it's almost the same for us ship girls, despite everything up in here…"
Akashi pointed at her temple.
"...being for the most part ones, zeroes, tons of program lines, and modeled after the human psyche.
And besides, I'm helping you understand how the ship girl works in general, not here to give you a full-blown medical lecture-slash-philosophy lesson on the nature of the ship girl to help you get a doctorate degree."
Shigure nodded meekly in agreement, thinking about the conversation at hand and mentally going through the creation process of the ship girls,
She finally decided to ask a morbid question out of curiosity.
"I understand if our mind or our body fails under stress and injury, but can the soul fail?
I-I mean, if that made any sense..."
Shigure looked a little sheepish as she tried to think of a way to clarify herself, but Akashi nodded as she answered with the bored tone of an experienced doctor explaining bodily functions to a child, seemingly dulled by her life's experiences and almost unfazed by what she was talking about.
"With the three aspects of the ship girl, there come the three stresses, psychological stress for the mind, physical stress for the body, and emotional stress for the soul.
The constant stress from battles, the ever-present threat of death, and the less-than-pleasant memories of World War 2 will wear down the mind.
The repeated destruction and subsequent recovery from life-threatening injuries may cause the body to weaken and break down from needing to be replaced so many times.
The inevitable loss of comrades and sister ships along with the very dangerous possibility of a fatalistic attitude seeping in would take a toll on your soul, warping the soul and causing a negative change within you.
And since the soul powers your body and mind, what do you think will happen to you when you fall into despair and lose heart?
Well, I suppose when we gain the ability to understand our pasts and experience life's ups and downs, it also helps when we can communicate with one another and express our joys and sorrows.
It's just..."
Shigure noted the slightly saddened expression, or at least Akashi being a little more sad than usual as she explained to Shigure.
"I'm just one repair ship, and I can't help everyone with their problems.
Especially since ship girls, much like humans, sometimes refuse all help when they need it most and make things difficult for me.
Because of that, I sometimes have to delegate the responsibility of helping them to a ship girl who's in a better position to help them with their issues.
And as you might expect, I absolutely dislike this method as I can't personally talk to them, which greatly increases the possibility of miscommunication and making things worse."
Shigure had a good idea of where this was going, and Shigure looked towards the repair ship as she cautiously asked.
"Let me guess.
You want me to talk to someone, right?"
Akashi nodded as she met Shigure's gaze, answering honestly.
"Well, it was quite a coincidence that you wanted to find me, because I wanted to find you and ask you to talk to a fellow ship girl who tried to bury her pain after a ship girl close to her sank."
Shigure winced at that, now extremely intrigued and concerned about the ship girl in question, Shigure understanding the feelings of pain and loneliness that could overwhelm ship girls who weren't mentally prepared to face and deal with these turbulent thoughts and feelings.
Akashi's gaze softened as she saw the helpfulness and sincerity reflected in Shigure's eyes, asking Shigure about a certain destroyer in the 2nd Fleet.
"What do you know about Shimakaze?"
After a sumptuous breakfast the next day, Shigure was hanging out with her sisters Samidare, Yuudachi and Murasame, her third sister ship having been on a long two week expedition and was only able to return yesterday, Murasame immediately taking a long nap upon returning and was unable to meet Shigure.
Murasame was understanding of Shigure's circumstances and accepted her apologies, Yuudachi and Samidare consoling and reassuring her all the while.
Murasame was wearing the signature black sailor uniform of the Shiratsuyu-Class, possessing beige-colored hair tied up in long twin-tails reaching down to her hips, and had reddish-brown eyes that were wide and lively, something Shigure found soothing.
Somehow, she needed it in her life to balance out the morbid and depressing matters that insightful ship girls like Akashi were there to discuss and explain, like the workings of the ship girl and the darker topics of the war.
But whenever she needed a shoulder to lean on, she realized that her lively sisters Yuudachi and Murasame were always there for her.
But Shimakaze was always alone.
Sure, she had seen the self-proclaimed 'Fastest Destroyer' running around the base numerous times and often hung out often with the 2nd Fleet, but unlike the majority of destroyers, she didn't have any sister ships.
Not only did she have to bear the burdens of the war, but she also had to do so alone and without any family members to greet her when she went to bed, or when she needed a shoulder to cry on.
Like Aoba, she wondered if she could somehow help out the lonely destroyer by talking to her and working something out.
But like Akashi explained as she laid out the plan, Shigure had to be deliberately kept in the dark to ensure that nothing tipped Shimakaze off about her ulterior motives.
Her ignorance as a newcomer also worked in her favor in that she could get closer to Shimakaze without fear of it looking like act of pity or sympathy, this being the most important reason why other Shigure alone was the only viable candidate.
Shimakaze was obsessed about going fast, being first and generally being a girl of action rather than words, so words were unlikely to get through to her.
So Shigure had to play her game in order to truly connect with her.
Even when she didn't know the specifics about what happened to her to make her so closed off and reluctant to accept help, Shigure felt it didn't matter.
Shimakaze was hurting, and Shigure, being someone who empathized with her situation, wanted to help her.
End of story.
So when she asked her sisters if they wanted to visit Shimakaze and keep her company, her sisters were understandably confused, but accepted the offer without question as the destroyer was likely in need of company.
The Shimakaze-Class destroyer was rather hard to find, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers always a few locations behind as they struggled with their manhunt despite the sailors and various ship girls around the base giving them a basic idea of Shimakaze's movement patterns.
In the end, Samidare, panting from the exertion of fast strolling around the base for a few hours, was the one who suggested that instead of trying to catch up to the fast destroyer, they should hunker down somewhere and wait for Shimakaze to come to them.
And in the absence of better ideas, the rest of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers agreed to the plan.
Even Shigure, who admitted that while she genuinely wanted to befriend the lone destroyer, she wasn't going to exhaust herself simply trying to catch up to Shimakaze when she had an important sortie to go on tomorrow.
They picked a sheltered walkway with benches for them to rest and recuperate while they waited. And during the wait, Shigure took the time to speak with Murasame, who was also glad to have some time to get to know her sister better.
Murasame had been built quite a while ago, and after a few sorties, she asked to be sent on expeditions instead of sorties.
When Shigure asked her why she'd want to be stuck doing boring expeditions, Murasame smiled weakly and replied,
"Shigure, I'm sorry to say that not all of us are that eager for battle.
And I'm sorry to say that for me, my motto is that 'Discretion is the better part of valor'.
I'd rather do expeditions all day than risk my life in another battle."
Shigure nodded her head, completely understanding her sister's point of view and held Murasame's hand tightly to comfort her.
She knew that Murasame was quite active doing transport runs back in the war, and it was understandable if her sister wanted to stick to what she knew best rather than risk her life on the battlefield, where she had little aptitude for.
Murasame sheepishly scratched her head, trying not to get flustered at this revelation, laughing meekly as she looked to Shigure,
"Well, someone's got to keep the resources coming in, else we'd all starve here, right?"
And Shigure nodded sagely in reply.
If Murasame didn't wish to court death by sortieing all the time yet wanted to help everyone in her own way, who was she to judge her sister?
She changed the conversation topic to something less serious, talking about the recent weather changes and the fact that she was to sortie tomorrow.
And like that, with Samidare and Yuudachi talking merrily about something or another while waiting, Shigure was enjoying herself at this point in time.
No sorties to worry about, the war now a passing thought in her mind as she chatted with her sisters.
The weather was gentle as the winds barely rustled the nearby trees, and the clouds helped prevent the sun from beating down on them.
The temperature wasn't too hot due to said clouds keeping the sun from raising the ambient temperature despite summer being around the corner.
Shigure made sure to commit this moment to memory, having been made painfully aware of their violently short lives, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't guarantee that all of them could be together like this in the future.
Her HUD read,
'5 April 2015
11.29 a.m.'
She noticed Shimakaze standing stealthily to the side, quite a fair distance from them.
Shigure wouldn't have noticed her if she had forgotten about keeping an eye out for the fast destroyer.
Shimakaze was carrying her three Rensouhou-chan and she was looking sad, an expression didn't fit the energetic, speed-obsessed destroyer.
The first time she met Shimakaze, she got the impression that Shimakaze was more like Sendai, enthusiastic about being the fastest as opposed to Sendai's enthusiasm for night battles.
Shimakaze wasn't exactly trying to hide, not that it was easy to hide yourself while wearing Shimakaze's embarrassingly revealing outfit, with a cut-off sleeveless sailor uniform top, a micro skirt, g-string, a pair of stockings, shoulder gloves and her black bunny ear headpiece.
But as Shigure looked in her direction, Shimakaze flinched as she turned away to try and escape the situation.
But Shigure bolted from her seat as she tried to catch the elusive destroyer, and finally intercepted Shimakaze.
She caught her gloved hand as Shigure tried to pacify the destroyer in front of her, Shimakaze looking a little scared of being mocked by the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers for peeking at them.
"Shimakaze-san, we've been waiting for you."
And Shimakaze's look changed from one of fear to one of faint surprise as Shigure continued.
"I-I know that you don't have any sister ships…"
And upon hearing that, Shimakaze's face darkened and she smacked Shigure's hand away with her free hand, looking away as she sneered.
"Yeah, I don't.
So why don't you rub it in some more, hmm?"
Shimakaze turned away from Shigure, her Rensouhou-chan all clicking furiously and their eyes in caricatures of closed eyes as they waved their cannons at Shigure.
"I don't need sister ships, not when I'm faster than you all."
But Shigure put her right hand on Shimakaze's left shoulder, which prompted Shimakaze to try and shrug off Shigure's hold on her.
And when they were face to face with each other, Shigure placed her left hand on Shimakaze's right shoulder, Shimakaze lazily swinging her head beneath Shigure's arm and turning away.
But as Shimakaze was trying to get away from the approaching group of Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers, she felt Shigure's hands clap on her shoulders, Shigure not allowing Shimakaze to escape.
Not when she was this close.
She announced,
"We just want to be friends, Shimakaze-san."
Samidare was the voice of reason, moving in slowly so as not to startle Shimakaze as she stated.
"Shimakaze-san, we really want to be friends with you.
We can't ever be your actual sisters, but we want to at least keep you company."
Yuudachi took up the rear and exclaimed,
"We just wanna get to know you better, is that too much to ask, Poi?!"
And Murasame was there, trying to convince Shimakaze.
"Is it too much to ask you to humor our attempts at friendship, even if we're not of the same family of destroyers?
We spent all morning looking for you."
And finally, when Shigure was uncertain if Shimakaze was going to simply walk away despite Samidare politely standing in her way, Shimakaze's shoulders slouched as she exhaled, wordlessly giving in to the suggestions of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers.
Shigure broke out into a relieved grin as Shimakaze shook her shoulders free of Shigure's hands, Shimakaze bluntly asking.
"So what're we going to do?
I already know that I outclass you all terms of speed, so I'm not so heartless as to ask for a race."
And while the rest of the Shiratsuyu-Class looked to each other, looking confused and clearly not having thought things through, Shimakaze face-palmed along with her three Rensouhou-chan, but Shigure smirked, stating,
"I have an idea."
Lunch was the first order of things, where the Shigure's sisters surrounded Shimakaze and asked her questions in order to know more about her.
Shimakaze answered them all happily while eating her lunch in classic Shimakaze fashion and finishing her lunch first, saying that her day just got better knowing that she now had friends to hang out with.
Her interests were racing, exercising, training up on her sprints and challenging various ship girls to races, which everyone knew by now that they were going to lose, but still humored her anyway.
But one topic of conversation that Shigure noticed everyone avoided was about Shimakaze's past.
And exercising some tact, she also decided not to ask about such a sensitive topic.
But one thing Shigure couldn't figure out right now was how Shimakaze's smile seemed off.
Well, it was more about how she smoothly looked away when they attempted to know her on a personal level.
It was well-hidden behind her smile, and she recovered fast enough, but she couldn't figure out why the fast destroyer would react so negatively.
Was she uncomfortable with sharing her innermost thoughts because she didn't have any sister ships, or was it because of something bad happening to someone close to her in the past that caused her to distance herself from others?
The Shimakaze-Class destroyer was somewhat easy to read, and this made Shigure feel a little guilty about being able to see through her facade so easily.
After lunch, the group of destroyers were at the engineering block, where they surrounded two engineers and were pleading with them about something.
The engineering block to the extreme corner of the base was filled with scrap materials that were sorted into various large plastic trays with duct tape stuck on them and labels written on them.
There were sawn-off metal poles piled up in one tray, their ends thankfully filed down to blunt edges as they were held down by leather straps and stored at the end of the hangar.
There were instruction pamphlets stapled onto the notice board and engineer uniforms left out to dry on the racks outside where the sun shone.
Machining tools hung from the ceiling like vines from a jungle ceiling, and some of the equipment, like the furnace that was essentially a large oven, was bolted down to the hangar floor with heavy-duty bolts and sealed when not in use, smaller handheld equipment left on the steel shelves.
The whole hangar stank of motor oil and the metallic taste of metal shavings, the impressive ventilation system keeping the air reasonably clean and was a true playground for the two engineers standing before the destroyers.
The engineers were both wearing oil-stained overalls with their name tags sewn atop them, one named 'Akio Fujishima', was a man who looked to be in his thirties, with short cropped hair, black eyes that were hidden behind horn-rimmed glasses.
He was trying to pacify the enthusiastic destroyers surrounding him with his gentle and pacifistic demeanor while standing by his buddy 'Kousuke Nakagawa', who had shorter hair that was barely a centimeter above his scalp, was a little bit pudgy and also wore glasses.
He was smirking at the fact that his best friend was becoming so popular all of a sudden and was shyly dealing with the girls before them.
Shigure was trying to explain the situation to the two engineers,
"We want to loan your go-karts.
We're trying to keep Shimakaze here company, and I heard that you had several go-karts in the hangar to be brought out to race if we could afford the price."
And Yuudachi asked,
"How do you guys have the time to craft the go-karts, Poi?"
And Kousuke answered.
"Well, as to the second question, we're still human.
We still have to entertain ourselves, which isn't too difficult since we're surrounded by spare materials and enough spare time.
Not every one of us has the physique to play basketball as a means to pass the time."
Akio turned back to regard his friend, mocking,
"Yeah, we can tell from your body that you're clearly in no position to engage in any physical activities.
Go do some damn cardio, why don't you? We're at a military base, after all."
"Yeah, well, so long as you remember who has the higher GPA here when we graduated, I'm fine with you taking pot shots at me about my weight, bitch."
Akio waved him off, and turned to face the ship girls.
"We make a lot of the items in the base, but we leave the creation of ship girls and your weapons to the Fairies.
Anything within the base, from beds to benches, we build them.
And since the Admiral's pretty lax about these things, so long as we use spare resources within reason, don't do anything illegal and build these things in our spare time, she doesn't really care what we do."
Samidare pleaded,
"Please, good sir, we are willing to pay the fare if you'll let us ride the go-karts!"
But Kousuke assured her with a relaxed wave.
"It's alright.
We make these things for everyone on this base, and we're more than happy to do anything to help you all relax and relieve your stress.
Go-karts, see-saws, swings, even spare uniforms if you need them."
And Murasame then asked,
"So how much do we have to pay to ride the go-karts?"
And as Akio moved over to the notice board to pick up a set of keys and exited through a door marked 'Garage', Kousuke shrugged and replied.
"Depends how many times you want to run the downhill course."
But when Yuudachi asked why they were only limited to the downhill course, Kousuke deadpanned,
"Well, each one of you destroyers weigh a fair bit more than a human adult even with your ship girl mode turned off.
Considering how much gas the engine's going to consume to move the go-kart uphill, it's more fuel-efficient to only allow downhill runs."
Akio approached the group in a white golf-cart with a small shelter to protect the driver from rain or shine, and in the exposed trunk were a few stacks of traffic cones, 'Do Not Cross' tapes, and a few 'Stop' signs along with some metal poles to prop up the said signs.
He gently pressed on the brakes and brought the already sluggish cart to a halt as he chirped.
"Remember when Yamato asked to ride the uphill course the first week she was here?
The go-kart slid back down after going a few meters up the slope and used up two-thirds of the gas tank."
Kousuke raised an eyebrow at Akio's choice of transport, and asked his best friend.
"Yo, man.
I know that you have shit taste in cars, but could you have picked something with a little more power?
I think even I could out-walk that slow cart everyone uses to get around the base."
But Akio smirked at him, and retorted.
"Yeah, but I gotta bite the bullet because I don't want you to get a heart attack or something when you exert yourself as you walk the course, right?"
Right as he pressed down on the accelerator and turned to the left to exit the hangar.
Kousuke returned the shit-eating smirk and raised his middle finger to his friend, who noted the gesture and returned the gesture while driving away.
When Akio was out of sight, Samidare asked Kousuke, who lowered his hand in a wary voice.
"U-Um, is it alright to treat your friend that way?"
Kousuke shrugged and waved off her concerns, motioning for the destroyers to follow her.
"Eh, it's alright.
We've known each other since young, so we don't really mind it when we trash talk each other.
Not when we know when to cut the bullshit and focus on our jobs when necessary.
Come on, now. We're gonna have to adjust the seats of the go-karts so that you girls are comfortable while Akio sets up the track."
Opening a door on the far end of the room, Kousuke led the group into a well-lit hangar of engineering wonders, amongst them a Ferris Wheel about 3 meters tall and sitting intimidatingly in the middle of the hangar, almost kissing the steel beams atop the hangar roof.
There were several rollers and wheels mounted underneath the large structure, a generator mounted beneath the Wheel the source of power for the currently-inactive light bulbs on the Ferris wheel structure and carriages with steps leading up to the lowest carriage.
The whole structure was made out of reinforced steel and carbon fiber, Kousuke noting the destroyers' interest in the large structure and commented.
"We bring this bad boy out whenever we have a festival of sorts, and the Admiral decides it's ok to waste some fuel powering it for the night."
But when Murasame asked,
"B-But what counts as an occasion for celebration so important that we can bring this Ferris Wheel out?"
Kousuke shrugged and replied dryly.
"Dunno. We haven't got much reason to celebrate nowadays, if you know what I mean.
Besides, we're in the military, and we don't celebrate holidays like normal civilians do."
But as the destroyers drooped their heads and looked depressed at that reality check, Kousuke tried to salvage the situation by scratching his head sheepishly and saying,
"Well, it's not though we don't celebrate at all.
It's just that, we just wait for a lull in the enemy's movements before our Admiral decides it's safe to celebrate some random holiday.
Maybe you'll get to ride it one of these days, if the enemy eases up on their offense."
Walking through the hangar, Shigure noted several stored equipment that were lying around the hangar, one of them being gas-powered rockets stored in a locker secured with heavy-duty padlocks, a large sign on it stating,
"NO DESTROYERS ALLOWED".
Several steel sculptures stood at another corner, depicting several ship girls in authoritative positions or pointing their weapons at unseen enemies.
There were also a few steel swings, an electronics corner with several dismantled laptops and a miniature racetrack marked out by metal girders with remote-controlled drift cars parked to the side.
Finally, they approached six go-karts at the end of the hangar, all hooked together via a heavy-duty cable with a mini-jeep pulling them along.
And by the looks of it, the go-karts were incredibly well-made.
Shigure wasn't an engineer, but she could learn to appreciate good engineering, Shigure herself being the result of a major engineering marvel.
The joints were smooth and the welding faultless, the handles on the underside of the racing seats used to adjust its position with seat belts hanging from the top corners and formed an 'X'.
And by the looks of it, the whole kart itself was crafted to be able to support the weight of almost any ship girl out there as the car tires looked sturdy enough to carry them over any terrain without bursting.
The engine that was tucked behind the driver's seat possessed six pistons, the wiring and tubes stretching out from it neatly bundled up and tucked into the frame of the kart.
The sealed gearbox was covered by the the go-kart's protective shell with colored foam cushions forming an extra layer of protection.
Kousuke clapped his hands to get their attention, announcing.
"Well, girls, get into a go-kart and adjust the seats accordingly until you're all comfortable.
Let me know when you're done, and we'll be on our way onto the course."
Shimakaze naturally ran for the first go-kart and immediately went to work on the seat, the Rensouhou-chan all cheering her on as she studied the workings of the car with genuine interest.
An excited Yuudachi ran for the second go-kart and fiddled with the controls while Samidare politely occupied the last go-kart, pressing her dress in as she sat down and tucked her hair behind her ear.
Murasame went up to the fourth go-kart and motioned for Shigure to take up the third go-kart as she broke out into a wide smile, Shigure as she occupied the third go-kart.
The cushion was hard but not uncomfortable as it was designed to support the ship girl body for extended periods of time.
Shigure noted Kousuke retrieving several hair nets as she buckled her seat belt, coming up behind them and passing out the hair nets, announcing in the classic bored-theme-park-announcer voice,
"Be warned that your long hair can get caught in the many moving parts of the go-kart.
Hence the hair nets to tie up your hair.
This is compulsory, no questions."
The destroyers accepted the hair net without question, understanding that their long, flowing hair risked getting caught in the moving mechanical parts.
After reaching Samidare, Kousuke bent down to uncouple the sixth and final go-kart from the queue, pulling out five wireless helmets from a shelf to hand out to the five destroyers, Shigure noting that the helmet had a built-in microphone as she buckled her black helmet and pulled down the visor.
And as Kousuke walked down the queue of destroyers doing up their hair to pass out the helmets, he motioned to Shimakaze, stating,
"Your little boys can't be with you on the go-kart, but they can sit in the spectator stand and watch the live feed.
We don't want you dropping one of them on the way down.
Also, no bunny ears, unfortunately."
Shimakaze looked distraught by this, but her Rensouhou-Chan cheered her up, chirping merrily and waving their cannons around in an attempt to get their master to smile.
And finally, Shimakaze's eyes hardened as she nodded, removing her bunny ears and handing it to Kousuke.
Shigure tilted her head to observe the Shimakaze-Class destroyer and found that without the black bunny ears, her signature blonde hair hidden by the blue helmet and her trio of Rensouhou-chan missing, she looked like a very different girl indeed.
And finally, Kousuke announced as he opened the door of the mini-jeep to store the Rensouhou-Chan and start the engine.
"On the way there, you all can talk about how many runs you want to do.
The maximum of four runs cost about 3500 yen, and every other round costs another 1800 yen because of gas prices."
But amidst the destroyers' groans about being reminded to spend a fair bit of their salary to pay for the ride, Shigure nodded at the price, understanding the situation the world was in.
A voice popped up from the sides of Shigure's helmet, Kousuke's voice instructing,
"Alright, push down the emergency brake, AKA the lever located to your left, and we'll be on our way."
The go-karts lurched after everyone disengaged the emergency brakes, the mini-jeep pulling the line of go-karts out of the hangar exit at a low speed.
The queue was led out of the hangar onto the road that led into the forest where Shigure could see the neatly trimmed trees shielding them from the sun, the asphalt showing signs of use despite it being on the outskirts of the base.
Shigure heard the voice of Kousuke again from the in-built audio transceiver in her helmet, explaining.
"I ain't here to give you an engineering lesson, so all you need to know is that the go-karts themselves can reach up to about 160 km/h.
The three pedals beneath your feet are what's going to run your go-karts. The pedal shaped 'A'..."
Shigure looked down, and indeed, the right pedal was shaped like an 'A', the 'B' pedal in the middle and the last pedal on the left being 'C'.
"...is what's going to make the car go 'vroom vroom', alright?
The 'B' pedal is the brake, and it's what's going to slow you down.
If you want to shift gears to go faster or slower, press down on the 'C' pedal to release the clutch, press one of the paddles behind the steering wheel to shift gears before re-engaging the clutch by releasing the clutch pedal.
For the steering wheel paddles, remember: Left is to shift down, Right paddle's to shift up one gear, and there's a total of six gears.
The speedometer on the steering wheel will change from green numbers to red to let you know when you are going too fast, or amber to tell you that you're too slow while engaging the gear.
And when that happens, for god's sake, please change gears."
As they entered the forest, a pleasant scenery came into view as the environmental flora were trimmed regularly, the road here marred by black tire tracks stretching down the road, a result of numerous high-speed races being held here.
Kousuke continued,
"If you're worried about practice, don't worry.
We've got a car-park at the top of the hill for you to let loose.
And if you want to speak, press the 'talk' button on the helmet."
A small static sound was heard before Yuudachi's voice spoke up in the headset, Yuudachi exclaiming.
"Is this going to be the best afternoon ever, or what, Poi?!"
Before Samidare interrupted,
"I do foresee that this is going to be fun, but everyone, please exercise caution when on the road, please!"
"Maa, don't worry about that, and instead worry about how I'm going to leave you in the dust!"
Murasame's voice boomed, and Yuudachi's laugh could be heard while Samidare sputtered, Shimakaze joining the conversation and proclaiming.
"Everyone, please.
All of you are going to have to compete for second place, especially now that I'm here with you all."
Shigure smirked at the banter as she recalled Akashi's explanation about the go-karts themselves.
Somewhere along the ten-year history of the base, these go-karts were built as a form of entertainment for the base's occupants and was to be used on the less-often used roads that were built when the entire base was renovated to become one of the largest ship girl naval bases in Japan.
When Shigure asked for a short history lesson of the naval base itself, Akashi obliged, saying that the reason why they took ten full years into the war to decide to renovate the Yokosuka Naval Base was because before that, the Japanese government thought that they could still keep the war under wraps, and the complete renovation of one of the most prominent naval bases in Japan to accommodate girls of steel that could walk on water was anything but discrete.
And thus, after the big reveal ten years ago, there was relatively little paperwork needed to hand the naval base back into Japanese hands, since the Americans had already been brought up to speed three years into the war when it was clear that the ship girls needed an industrial giant to power the Japanese war machine while keeping everything a secret from the world.
Going off on a tangent, she described that the Americans had relatively little success in summoning their ship girls unlike the Germans and Italians, until three years of hard work with a few Fairies sent over to them produced the first American ship girl to be shown off to other countries via mass teleconference with almost every ship girl base at the time, as well as several ambassadors from participating countries eager to see what they had been investing in.
Old grudges and bad memories were being brought up, and the Japanese ship girls weren't too happy about this development, but ultimately attended the teleconference out of respect for the Americans' dedication to the cause by supplying resources and performing aerial bombardment when necessary.
The summoned USN ship?
William D. Porter.
Akashi said that even though the teleconference itself was purged from the internet by the powerful and influential Americans, the tale would forever be passed on by word-of-mouth, memory sharing via wireless torrenting between ship girls or by accessing the deep web.
During the teleconference, William D. Porter tried to prove the might of the USN despite her apparent nervousness by attempting to twirl her handheld ship girl cannon in a style reminiscent of cowboys in old Westerns.
Key word being attempted.
The unlucky destroyer promptly shot herself in the foot.
By accident.
On a global live teleconference.
The high-pitched scream that came from the White House coupled with a resounding bout of laughter that rocked the coast of Eastern Japan and the ports of Europe formed one gigantic mystery that plagued the internet's conspiracy theorists for another four years before the big reveal.
The fact that Willie D. Porter tried to salvage the situation by posing with two peace hand signs held beside her teary-eyed smile as she was carted off by six muscular medics before the teleconference ended helped her subsequent clones earn the nickname of 'LOLboat' to this day.
Despite that hiccup, the USN dedicated their resources into mass-producing ship girls to help hold the fort against the Abyssals, who had already begun to really pile on the pressure with their mass-produced Elite Abyssals in the second quarter of the war.
And that wasn't accounting for how much they helped in the third quarter of the war, where major changes rocked their world with the establishment of rights, something the Americans learnt well from their own history, and garnering major support from the public.
And that was around when the Princesses came…
Akashi explained to Shigure that any wartime grievances between the ship girls had to be slowly resolved over time because they had to work together to effectively combat the Abyssals, this being an undeniable fact that all ship girls learnt to accept sooner or later.
So despite the fact that a few fights were going to break out between ship girls who bore major grudges against each other, a few ship girls in the naval war have reconciled and befriended each other despite their violent history together.
And the unspoken rule of survival amongst them was that their grudge matches should be kept to backyard fights and never be allowed to influence the battlefield where each ship girl watched each other's backs, this ironclad rule transcending nationality, history, and ship class.
Shigure was brought back to reality by the line of go-karts stopping atop some sort of hill overlooking the base, the voice of Kousuke chirping in Shigure's ear as she shook her head to focus on the present.
"Alright, we're here.
I'll uncouple the cables that tie your cars together, and you can ride around the car-park until Akio finishes setting up the track."
Right as Shigure saw the engineer walk out and start uncoupling the cars, observing that the cables had some sort of mechanism on them that hooked the cable to the underside of the go-karts via the steel frames.
As Shigure waited for the cars to all be uncoupled before they started to drive off, Shigure pressed the 'talk' button just as Kousuke returned to the car, asking.
"Kousuke-san, I was just just wondering.
Do the carriers and battleships go-kart often, or do they have actual cars of their own?"
Kousuke's voice answered,
"The current setup is good for carrying anything up to a heavy cruiser.
It's not as if a lot of older ship girls come here to race, it's mostly destroyers and light cruisers since y'all technically aren't old enough to buy cars, and will likely never be.
But if a battleship or a carrier were to ask to ride on our go-karts, we'd have to do a quick swap out for stronger and more long-lasting brakes to compensate for their weight and use heavy-duty tires which doesn't allow them to drift.
The chassis however, and that's the body of the car, is capable of supporting anyone."
Murasame voiced a simple question,
"How do you know?"
She got a simple answer.
"We got the Yamato and Nagato-Class battleships to drive it downhill.
Several times.
It works."
Kousuke left them with a final piece of advice.
"You can play 'bumper cars' with each other right now, but incur any damages and y'all are paying for it, you hear me, kids?"
Followed by a chorus of "YES, SIR!" from the destroyers, Kousuke waving with a smug grin as he replied,
"Nah, just kidding.
We'll rope you in for repairs, but you don't have to pay a single yen for the repairs since y'all do so much for us already.
We'd feel bad if we tax you 'Saviors of Mankind' for all the lill' things, eh?"
They pulled out their wallets to pay the fee that the destroyers made sure to withdraw from the cash machines around the base in advance, Akashi sharing the fee beforehand to prevent any complications.
For the next fifteen minutes, Shigure learnt the basics of driving, following Kousuke's advice and shifting gears when the speedometer notified her, while Yuudachi experimented with the controls by pulling on the emergency brakes and spinning out, only to laugh heartily upon stopping as Shimakaze did her own thing and maneuvered her go-kart fluidly.
Shigure observed the Shimakaze-Class destroyer every so often and noted her movements, theorizing that Shimakaze wasn't a stranger to driving as she did everything with only a slight uncertainty as if running through everything again to check if her memory served her well.
Samidare was more reserved, pressing down on the pedal for a burst of speed, only to ease up on the accelerator with a frightened squeak and losing her momentum while Murasame was swerving and trying to master maneuvering her go-kart through the imaginary corners in her mind, Shigure's HUD displaying.
'2.37 p.m.'
Kousuke's voice chirped again on the helmet speakers.
"Hey, Akio, you finish setting up the track, or did you crash the golf cart again?"
And Akio's irritated voice responded wearily, as though having heard this joke too many times.
"It was that one time, and the road was wet from the rain…"
"Yeah, why don't I get you one of those baby walkers, where you can sit down on it and crash that as you run it down the course?"
"Yeah, fuck you too."
Kousuke got the destroyers' attention via the speaker, getting into the booth with several monitors overlooking a few corners on the course and changing every few seconds, the Rensouhou-Chan trio chirping animatedly inside the booth.
The booth was flanked by a road marked out 'Exit', and on the other side was some sort of escalator with the same hooks used to connect and transport the go-karts, Kousuke announcing when they maneuvered their go-karts to the exit of the car-park.
"Alright, after you go down the course, Akio will be down there making sure you all reach the end of the course.
He'll be manning the machine to take you back up, so follow his instructions, alright?"
He jerked his thumb at the sheltered escalator made out of steel poles and folded metal sheets, the windows perhaps made out of transparent acrylic or Plexiglas.
But Shigure and the rest of the destroyers were focused on the Exit path ahead of them, an oft-traversed path that was evidenced by the skid marks on the floor.
It led down the hill and vanished behind a corner, Shigure's foot resting on the accelerator as her other foot held down the brake pedal.
The installed traffic light displayed red, but as the lights changed to green, Shigure released the brake pedal and pushed down on the accelerator to gain a burst of speed.
The exit of the car-park was relatively narrow, only allowing only two go-karts to enter the course at a time.
Yuudachi and Shimakaze went first, Murasame and Shigure entering second and Samidare starting out last as she offered to take up the rear.
Shigure changed gears, the loud engine changing in pitch as Shigure released the clutch to press down on the accelerator, the resulting burst of speed pushing her back into her seat.
The incline was gentle and the corners weren't too sharp, allowing for high-speed cornering as Shigure noted the speedometer reminding her that she had to change gears again.
In front of her, she could see Shimakaze and Yuudachi duking it out while Murasame was struggling to control the go-kart while driving on this unexpectedly fast section of the course.
She couldn't divert her attention to look back at Samidare when she didn't know the course well enough.
Besides, she knew Samidare wasn't the type to take things to the extreme, likely preferring to take the course especially slow on the first run.
The trees that lined the road were trimmed such that they wouldn't pose a hazard to the drivers, and Shigure appreciated the view of the lush flora, the green and light grey-brown 'walls' guiding them and blocking out most of the elements as sunlight broke through the cover of the leaves to illuminate the road.
The road and the go-karts in front of Shigure disappeared to the right as Shigure's heart stopped.
But amidst her pounding heart, sweating forehead and white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, she calmly reminded herself that this was a mountain road, and there would eventually be corners.
And being on the left of the road, she swerved to the edge of the road before turning gently to cut in front of Murasame, who decided to play it safe by braking earlier, Shigure coming up on the inside of the turn and exiting swiftly, her mind whirling at how fast she was going.
'Whew, I have to be careful not to sound too much like Shimakaze.
But I have to admit, this is a rush!'
Shigure shifted up, seeing the brake lights of the two go-karts in front of her blink on and left red streaks as they approached the corner.
Yuudachi took the lead as they exited the corner, Shigure estimating the braking distance before cornering.
And as she came out of the corner, she noticed something about the Shimakaze-Class destroyer.
She was taking in everything.
From the gutters barely covered by the weeds and the blades of grass to the minute cracks on the asphalt, Shimakaze's helmet twitched constantly in different directions as she took in the details of the course, Shigure looking on in amazement.
'Is she using this run to learn the ins and outs out the course so that she can crush us in the later runs?'
Shigure looked to her right, and as she matched Shimakaze's speed for an instant, she could see that the destroyer's eyes were watchful.
Almost calculating, if Shigure wasn't trying to focus on driving at the same time and had more time to analyze her at that moment.
But Shimakaze's eyes softened as she broke out into a soft smile, taking her hand off the steering wheel and pointing right in front of her as she stepped on a pedal.
Shigure looked back in front of her to find herself speeding into a left hairpin turn, black-and-yellow arrows surrounding the outside of the corner.
Shigure's heart stopped as she hit the brake pedal, hands jerking to the left as she used her foot to press on the clutch for an instant as she changed gears mid-turn, rustling the bushes as she exited the corner.
The road swerved to the right and Shigure sporadically pressed on the brakes as she entered the corner, wondering if the seat belt holding her down was really going to protect her despite being made out of steel and could easily recover from most wounds.
But just because you could recover quickly, didn't mean that you couldn't feel the pain.
Sometimes, Shigure lamented, it didn't pay to be a ship girl.
When she was absolutely sure that she was figuratively out of the woods, Shigure took a deep breath and recalled Shimakaze's observant look.
Shimakaze was taking a step back to observe the situation instead of rushing in, before concentrating her efforts on where it really mattered to annihilate her enemies.
But then, Shigure thought, what changed her so much, to make her be capable of such a thing?
Akashi explained that Shimakaze was rather outgoing and brash during her younger days, so something had to really affect her on a personal level to change her this much.
She had now become extremely guarded about her past, and everyone avoided that particular topic out of 'tact'.
But she temporarily shelved those thoughts, seeing Yuudachi spin her steering wheel to the right and pulling the emergency brake.
And as the rear of Yuudachi's go-kart swung out, Shigure's heart leapt into her throat, wondering why her sister was sabotaging her own lead.
But Yuudachi immediately counter-steered as she spun her steering wheel to the left, working the pedals and causing the go-kart to kick up smoke and debris as she drifted.
Shigure was suddenly thankful for the helmet visor as she mimicked her sister's movements as best she could, snapping the steering wheel to the left to counter-steer and hope for the best.
The resulting drift wasn't too shabby, working the pedals and gear paddles and eventually learning to maintain the drift throughout the corner, learning on the fly as she kept up with her sister ship.
The incline was starting to become a little steeper, this section of the course filled with turns and unexpected rises in the road where the ground rose to temporarily become an uphill climb before dropping like a meandering roller-coaster ride.
Throughout the course, Shigure had noticed several exits that had been closed off by Akio beforehand with the use of traffic cones and erected signs, and Shigure could get a bird's eye view of the base as she came across an opening in the forest to her left.
What she saw next took her breath away.
The base looked so massive from above, the larger buildings of the hospital and the Administration Office standing tall while the same cranes that were inactive when she arrived were now moving cargo about and doing their duties sluggishly yet efficiently.
The ocean was a brilliant sapphire blue as the afternoon sun was reflected off the ocean surface, the wake of several ship girls barely visible as she strained her bionic eyes, the trees parting to allow her this glimpse of what was essentially Paradise to a ship girl like her.
She was brought back to reality by a crowd of trees slamming by and blocking the view, Shigure barely braking in time to avoid crashing into a tree that was standing a little too close to the next hairpin corner and saving herself from having to spend a few days in the docks with a broken neck or limb.
Shigure could see Yuudachi drifting into another corner, but Shigure now knew that although drifting was a good way to enter the corners faster, she didn't want to rip her tires apart so soon into the race.
She braked prematurely, shifting down as she entered the corner at a decent speed while easing up on the brakes.
She was slowly catching up to Yuudachi, and amidst the pounding of her heart and the sweat on her sailor uniform, the shrill scream of the engine right behind her, the ground vanishing underneath her front bumper at an exhilarating speed, and her trembling palms on the steering wheel, she could see.
She could see life flashing past her like the trees lining the road, each of them a passing thought as she raced down the mountain, the adrenaline coursing through her body as her mechanical heart pulsed.
And for an instant, she could feel as if she could see the world as Shimakaze saw it, the adrenaline rush overwhelming and addictive as all her concerns, burdens and responsibilities were left behind as she focused on the path ahead of her.
As she approached another sharp corner, she went with the flow and pulled the emergency brake for an instant to initiate a drift as she worked the pedals, smoothly exiting the corner while on Yuudachi's tail.
The go-kart was simple enough for a ship girl to pick up and learn, and drifting was a technique Shigure wanted to experiment with to see how fast she could go despite the second section being full of low-speed corners.
The incline steepened after the next corner, the winding 'S' road that curved to the left led to a wide right corner that was at least seven meters wide, but Shigure wasn't going to take any chances as she drove on the right side of the road and cut in sharply while braking, in contrast to her sister who entered the corner by drifting into it.
And as Shigure expected, just barely out of view of the two corners were the distinct yellow-black arrow signs near the exit to indicate a sharp turn as the incline of the wide road became gentler yet narrower at the exit.
Shigure could almost hear Yuudachi squeak as she kept to the outside lane, hastily engaging the brakes to slow down her go-kart in order not to miss the narrow exit and fly off the road.
Shigure easily passed her sister, having reduced her speed earlier and was able to maneuver freely while cornering.
And after that, Shigure only had to contend with a few more high speed corners, the last section of the course after that infamous corner having dangerously narrow roads.
She knew she was no longer on the main road and was now on one of the less often used roads that the higher-ups likely saw no need to widen due to its isolated location and lack of use.
Shigure found herself braking more often on the final section of the course, Shigure doing her best to navigate the high-speed corners while trying not to crash on a dangerously narrow road.
At the end of the course, a 'FINISH' banner was raised to signal the end of the course, a high-speed camera strapped to the erected steel pole to capture the winner of the race.
Akio was there, the golf cart parked at a small plain which doubled as a makeshift car-park.
Akio gestured for Shigure to get off the road, the destroyer turning to the left at the T-section where Akio was stationed, spotting the other end of the heavy-duty escalator that could be seen at the top of the hill.
Akio motioned for her to stop, and as Shigure unbuckled her helmet to air her hair, Akio mentioned,
"Well, that was quite the lap record you clocked in at.
You interested in breaking the fastest destroyer time record?"
And Shigure smirked cheekily, welcoming a challenge.
"If that's possible.
But I think I know who set that record in the first place…"
Akio smirked, and pointed behind her at another go-kart entering the car-park.
"Speak of the devil…"
Shigure turned her head to follow the direction of Akio's finger, already certain of the destroyer's identity.
"...And the devil appears."
The rider of the go-kart wore a blue helmet with conspicuous strands of blonde hair peeking out, wearing her blue-white sleeveless sailor uniform and had a gloved hand on the steering wheel.
They had to wait for everyone to arrive, Shimakaze coming in second, Yuudachi third and Murasame a close fourth.
Samidare took the time to enjoy the view and thus came in last.
Akio explained that the escalator was used for transporting goods and cargo, the engineer duo 'putting the damn thing to good use' and used the escalator to transport the go-karts back up the hill, the escalator sheltered by the metal sheets and window panels.
The ride back up the hill had quite a view of the forest as the windows were kept relatively clean, if only marred by the dried marks of the wipers used to clean the windows in neat arcs.
The five of them chatted the entire time, Yuudachi loudly proclaiming that she was going to finish first this time and tried to out-proclaim Shimakaze, who was more confident in her boasts.
Samidare tried to diffuse the situation between the duo, Murasame enjoying the conversation and Shigure taking the time to enjoy the view of the forest.
The individual leaves that hung from the trees were a lively green, and along with the sun shining down at an angle upon them, the whole escalator was illuminated in a soft neon green glow and created a picturesque scene, the lights fixed to the ceiling currently turned off and connected by wires bolted to the ceiling.
Finally, they reached the top of the hill after a 20 minute climb, the conveyor belt moving surprisingly fast for a machine located so far out into the woods.
Along with the fact that the whole course took about 5 minutes to complete, it was a little more than half an hour after the start of the race, the clock now reading
'3.32 p.m.'
Again, the five of them lined up in two rows to begin the downhill race, and this time, Shimakaze and Shigure went first while Murasame and Yuudachi were behind them, Samidare naturally positioned last.
Kousuke announced that the first run was more for them to familiarize themselves with the course.
Now, Eurobeat music was available for them to listen to as they raced down the track and could be played by fiddling with the buttons on the steering wheel.
Shigure looked down and noticed the music player buttons on the steering wheel reading.
'Play/Pause',
'Next',
'Previous',
And a plus and minus button beside a sticker named 'Volume'.
Shigure tore her eyes away from the steering wheel and looked to Shimakaze, asking.
"So, how was today?"
Shimakaze looked back at her, replying.
"I had a lot of fun today, thanks!"
Before her eyes narrowed, and her smile widened.
"But I think this afternoon's going to be even more fun, now that I'm with you."
The Shimakaze-Class destroyer looked back at the road, adding on.
"I've never had anyone race with me like this in a long while, so for what it's worth, thank you."
Shigure was a bit touched by the genuine show of affection from the destroyer, but she looked closer into her eyes, and discerned something.
Yes, something did happen to her.
But what?
Shigure shook her head, remembering Akashi's words.
'Shimakaze isn't the kind of person to properly express herself when it comes to anything that isn't related to speed or racing.
And with her lack of sister ships, she's probably more closed off and reserved than the average destroyer.
This is the easiest way to bond with her and get her to slowly open up, because let's face it.
If you competed with Shimakaze in any other kind of race, you'd already been left in the dust long ago.
But I know you, and I trust you to be smart and skilled enough to keep up with her if it's a race of pure skill.'
And as the traffic light changed to green, the two of them bolted from the starting line, gaining speed as they sped down the winding road.
Shigure allowed Shimakaze to overtake her, having already run this course once and already knew the layout of the course, allowing her some brainpower to think as she kept up with Shimakaze in the first section of the course.
'So fast!'
Shigure exclaimed as Shimakaze vanished behind a corner, Shigure struggling to keep up with her.
'Why is she so fast?
It isn't because of the go-karts, they're all the same.
The tires aren't a major factor yet since they're still mostly intact, which means…"
Shigure gulped as she braked to enter another turn at what she deemed to be the appropriate speed, noticing the widening gap between her and the leading go-kart.
'It's my fault that I'm falling behind.'
She looked down to the music player options, having never noticed them until now as she was focusing all her attention on not getting into an accident.
She pressed down on the 'Play' button and heard the comfortable volume of the track,
'Dejo & Bon - Wheelpower & Go!'
Sounding in her ears, shifting gears to catch up with Shimakaze as she continued to theorize.
'Alright, so it's established that she doesn't like others knowing her on a personal level, but I don't like asking others for what happened to her, not without people saying I'm becoming like Aoba-san.
But since she's giving her all in this race, I guess I'll have to do the same and hope for the best!'
Pulling the emergency brake to drift into a hairpin left, Shigure watched Shimakaze slowly pull away, Shimakaze's precise movements to guide her go-kart into the corners a result of her earlier observations which likely allowed her to correctly deduce the best line for the go-kart to follow.
'Shimakaze's had lost someone close to her, likely resulting in her reluctance to form close bonds with anyone to prevent herself from being hurt again in the same manner.'
As she changed the music track with the 'Next' button to play,
'Ken Blast - The Top'
She observed the roads and how the destroyer before her was able to blitz through them without much effort, pressing the pedal to the metal in hopes of keeping up with her.
'I can easily detect the signs because I look in the mirror everyday and sometimes see that same look of pain and loss.
It's not hard to see through that smile of yours, Shimakaze-san.
But who was it?
Was it someone whom you looked up to, or loved so much that you couldn't bear to see them go?'
The second section of the course was coming up, and Shigure could feel herself catching up to the fastest Japanese destroyer, who thankfully had her physical advantage negated by being placed on equally fast go-karts.
She couldn't hear or even feel anyone behind her anymore, her world now only consisting of the two of them rushing down the course at breakneck speed, the speedometer now reading 96 km/h.
Shigure shifted her gears and aligned her go-kart upon approaching the wide corner with the narrow exit, initiating the drift two and a half seconds after Shimakaze initiated hers.
The two go-karts drifted into the corner, Shigure counter-steering as she saw Shimakaze barely doing the same and working the pedals effortlessly as she arrived at the narrow exit.
Shimakaze's bumper kissed the grass blades sticking out of the gutter on the outside of the corner as she exited the corner at breakneck speed with her brake lights on and entered the final section of the course, Shigure allowing Shimakaze to pull ahead as she trailed behind the destroyer, thinking.
'It would be a sortie, obviously.
If I understand her correctly, her initial loneliness would be exacerbated after the loss, but since she's a prideful destroyer, she would want to project a facade of normalcy and strength, especially since she harps on about being number one in speed.
And the 'Fastest Destroyer' wouldn't want to show any signs of weakness, or, God forbid, slowing down, right?'
Shigure approached the 'FINISH' banner, letting Shimakaze win this round. She decelerated, braked and shifted down as she approached the T-section, Akio whistling as he looked away from the monitors overlooking the course, Shigure's three sisters captured on several of the cameras as Akio announced.
"Yo, you girls cut, like, four seconds off of your previous time.
Shimakaze, you ready to break your previous lap record?"
As Shimakaze gave him a thumbs up, Akio chuckling and starting up the escalator.
"Well, no point holding you two here, not when your fastest sister isn't even three-quarters of the way down the course, so you girls go first."
Shigure nodded at him, barely trying her best to calm her heart down and think about the third run against a seemingly unstoppable Shimakaze.
The ride back up the hill was spent in silence, Shigure not having anything to say to Shimakaze at this point in time.
The sweat was starting to drench her uniform, and she had to try to find a patch of cloth that she could use to wipe her forehead and face without looking indecent.
She was reconsidering her hypothesis as the motor and rollers underneath the escalator whirred monotonously.
'But wait.
Could it be that she's running from something?
It'd still make sense.
If someone sank because of her, her inexperience in dealing with such matters, along with the guilt weighing down on her and her love for speed would mean she'd likely run away from her problems and not face them.'
Shigure thought, resting her cheek on her left fist and remembering Shimakaze looking exceptionally distraught when she saw the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers enjoying each other's company.
'The fact that everyone wouldn't want to ask about your problems would also make sense, because they'd want to 'tactfully' leave you alone.'
The escalator ride ended there, the two destroyers got driving away from the escalator and maneuvering onto the car-park.
Shigure concluded,
'I could be wrong, but I'm quite certain that I'm right.
You've lost somebody close to you in the past, and that's why you don't form close bonds so that you'd never be hurt like that again.
If the ship girl in question is a destroyer, there's also a possibility of Shimakaze seeing her as a pseudo-sister ship, making the loss even more devastating along with loneliness of being one-of-a-kind.
I guess there's only one way to find out.'
Shigure pulled up beside Shimakaze at the starting line, and held down her brake pedal.
The Shimakaze-Class destroyer asked Shigure, who hadn't yet put on her helmet.
"Aren't you going to put on your helmet?"
To which Shigure responded,
"It isn't your fault she sank.
But no matter how fast you run, you can't run from your ghosts forever."
Causing Shimakaze to freeze up and her muscles to tense as her knuckles coiled around the steering wheel.
Shigure's ears picked up Shimakaze's breath stopping, as simply thought,
'I see.'
Shigure buckled her helmet, the audio system in the helmet now playing,
'Chris Stanton - A Perfect Hero'
As she saw Shimakaze come back to her senses, jabbing the 'Talk' button to speak in her microphone, silently furious as she sneered,
"We talkin', or we racin'?"
Shigure simply stared at the road ahead of her, concentrating on going even faster than before and tuning everything else out.
The green light came on and the two destroyers started the race for the third time, their brake lights coming on as they approached the corner and left four brilliant red streaks as the two destroyers disappeared behind a corner.
K: "Akio, did you get a good look at those two destroyers, Shigure and Shimakaze?"
A: "..."
K: "Akio?"
A: "...One sec, I'm calling the police to report a pedophile in the area, HAH!"
K: "... This is serious, dude."
A: "..."
K: "Did you see their eyes, dude?"
A: "...yeah."
K: "Like, I know they're ship girls, but, like, they're still kids, man.
Not even teenagers, and they're capable of those ferocious and completely focused looks."
A: "..."
K: "..."
A: "... Kousuke?"
K: "Yeah?"
A: "Remember the good ol' days?"
K: "What good ol' days?"
A: "When Man made war with Man."
K: "...those days are over, man."
A: "Yeah, but when did we become so comfortable with sending little girls out to fight wars?"
K: "Kid soldiers ain't new man."
A: "You get the point."
K: "Yeah, well, so did the rest of humanity, and you know what the terrifying thing is?"
A: "What?"
K: "How quickly almost everyone got used to it."
A: "Amen to that."
Shigure was struggling here.
Somehow, Shimakaze was now going even faster, reducing the braking distance and using the resistance of the moving parts in the go-kart, her heavy weight and the expert handling of the steering wheel to engine brake upon entering a corner and accelerating when exiting the corner.
This gave her the impression of blurring when exiting a high-speed corner and vanishing from Shigure's sight, even if for a moment before Shigure caught up with her.
Shigure thought to herself.
'Alright, so it's pretty much confirmed that rather than dealing with her, she runs away from everything and hopes that it'll go away.
Not a good idea, but then, seeing that I haven't been in her shoes and lost a sister of mine, who am I to judge?'
Her helmet was playing,
'M.o.v.e. - Dogfight'
Shigure was secretly pleased about the choice of music stirring her fighting spirit, excitedly shifting up as she exited another corner as the gap between her and Shimakaze only gradually widened.
'I'm already hitting 100 km/h and I'm getting scared!
How is she going even faster than I am and not breaking a sweat?
Alright, alright, she's going to dominate the high-speed corners with her engine braking.
But at the second section of the course, I can catch up with her before the large corner, and then hope that I can somehow maintain the lead throughout the final section.'
A small funnel of flames burst out from Shimakaze's exhaust pipe before she disappeared behind another corner, Shigure desperately trying to keep up with the go-kart before her, who was almost three go-kart lengths before her.
Throughout the second section of the course, Shigure concentrated on hugging every corner whenever possible, looking at Shimakaze and thinking,
'I want to help her, but if things go on like this race, she'll distance herself from me, and I'll have lost my chance.
I can't let that happen!
I'll do ANYTHING in my power to prevent that from happening!'
Shigure's eyes never wavered from the tail lights of Shimakaze's go-kart.
And that's when Shimakaze decided enough was enough.
About two-thirds into the second section, when Shigure was about half a go-kart's length from Shimakaze, she suddenly saw Shimakaze's brake lights flash.
Shigure's fear of crashing instantly kicked in and she released the accelerator out of self-preservation instincts.
But as Shigure slowed down, Shimakaze's brake lights instantly turned off, being turned on for barely a tenth of a second with a gentle press of the brake pedal to psyche her pursuer out.
Shigure cursed herself mentally and shifted gears to compensate for her lower speed, noting that the second section of the map was coming to an end, and she mentally sighed as she prepared herself for a second loss.
Shimakaze left Shigure in the dust as the distance between them now equaled three and a half car lengths, the song,
'Manuel - Gas Gas Gas'
Playing in her ears.
She estimated that Shimakaze was going about 120 km/h, and Shigure could only watch in despair as Shimakaze pulled ahead of her with no hints of even pressing down on her brakes as she disappeared behind another corner in a flash of blue, white and silver, blonde trails following the blitzing comet down it's unstoppable downhill descent.
Shigure was speechless at Shimakaze's timing, the destroyer already leaving her in the dust and was still hadn't broken her fastest record?
It boggled her mind how fast Shimakaze could go when she got serious.
And she was lost on how to approach the final lap as she rode the escalator, sitting in her go-kart and looking at the scenery while appreciating the break as she calmed her heart down.
Shimakaze sat before her and didn't look back, already writing the final lap off as a win. Her three sisters would be waiting at the top of the hill when the destroyer duo finished the fourth lap.
Her sisters didn't feel the need to waste their hard-earned money on a fourth lap, and Kousuke agreed to refund them the appropriate amount when they regrouped after the third run.
And Shimakaze…
Honestly, she got really lucky by getting this chance to race with Shimakaze on more or less equal ground, where the natural advantage of Shimakaze's speed and their stats were irrelevant here.
But Shimakaze had her extraordinary racing skills which Shigure saw as a significant factor in the downhill battle.
Now what did Shigure have?
Shigure was undoubtedly lighter than the Shimakaze-Class destroyer despite both of them being destroyers.
Of course.
Shigure came to a conclusion after brainstorming.
Shigure was fighting a battle which Shimakaze was undoubtedly familiar with, but just how far had she been pushed while in her comfort zone?
If she always won, then Shigure wondered how would she hold up mentally should she face the possibility of losing while being pushed to the brink.
'Well,' Shigure thought,
'It isn't as if my chances of winning and taking it to a round five is absolutely zero.
I just need a way to beat her…'
And looking at Shimakaze, she tried to think like Shimakaze.
To leave everything behind in pursuit of speed.
Fear.
Pain.
Sadness.
To leave these burdens behind, and go faster.
The fourth run down the course was about to begin.
But now, Shigure wasn't thinking about anything except going faster.
Much like Shimakaze, she now possessed a cold, steely look in her eyes, muscles coiled and ready to burst down the road as soon as the lights turned green.
But not before Shimakaze accidentally pulled ahead in a burst of speed a quarter of a second before the green light flashed, perhaps out of jittery nerves or an explicit intent to cheat.
But Shigure waited for the green light before accelerating from rest, Shimakaze leading by about a second.
They both looked like they were about to fight to the death, and Kousuke was already certain that the first-aid kit, stretcher and fire extinguisher he stored in the mini-jeep was going to come in handy, seeing how likely this dogfight between the two hardened destroyers was probably going to end in a fiery crash.
But he also saw that the two destroyers were waging some sort of war between them, the tension between them suffocating as they mentally forbade anyone from interfering.
And he did the only thing he could do in such a situation.
Sit by the sidelines to do his job, wave them on and hopefully be there for them when they were in trouble.
What a time to be alive.
Shigure wasn't furious at the attempt to cheat.
After all, someone had to take the lead.
And besides, Shigure need to observe Shimakaze's movements, and she couldn't do that while in the lead.
She observed Shimakaze's movements as she entered the corner and replicated them as best she could when she reached Shimakaze's position, remembering her impromptu preparatory lesson on the way up.
'You will feel fear as you copy Shimakaze's movements,'
Shigure closed her eyes, partially meditating as she imagined Akashi coaching her in order to prepare her for the fourth run.
'This fear you feel is an illusion.
You are modeled after the human mind, and that's why human fears such as heights and spiders are passed onto you without taking into account the fact that you're a ship girl, and thus nigh-invulnerable to these things.'
She tuned out everything in the environment and allowed Akashi to talk her into letting go of these irrational fears.
'You will feel fear as you enter the corners at high speeds because you fear death, or at least fatal accidents that would kill a human.
But you are a SHIP GIRL, and you can survive these impacts.
And fear, in this scenario, will only serve to slow you down and make you lose focus.'
Shigure raised her hand politely to address her imaginary coach, asking,
'Can you guarantee I'm not going to die from the impact?
I was wondering if I were to crash head-first into the tree and my head were to be pulverized like a watermelon underneath a falling anvil, and…'
'SILENCE!'
Akashi raised her voice, before calmly reassuring her.
'You wear a helmet for a reason, dear.
And besides, if you crash into a tree, you'll likely be going in leg-first, crashing through the trees and spending some time in the docks.
But it's alright, because you're a ship girl.'
'B-But,'
Shigure sputtered quietly,
'That doesn't make me feel any safer…'
Coach Akashi asked obnoxiously as she leaned in and pointed at her ear,
'Who's the coach?'
And Shigure could only look away as she muttered,
'You are.'
'Who's the coach?'
'You are.'
Shigure hesitated, before adding,
'Ma'am.'
'Excellent!' Coach Akashi pulled back up and nodded, finally looking down at Shigure and leaving her with one last piece of advice.
'Listen, if you want to show Shimakaze that you're serious, you've got to think like her, and RIDE like her.
Leave your fears at the starting line, and keep pushing forward despite what you may feel.
But remember.
She may not be perfect, but you can't just sit around and wait for the circumstances to align in your favor.
Pressure her into making mistakes, create opportunities and seize them when you can.'
Shigure nodded, stating.
'I got it.'
Closing her eyes and concentrating in an attempt to convince herself that there was nothing to fear.
If Shimakaze could do it, so could she.
'I can't hesitate or waver.
If Shimakaze can do it, so can I!'
Barreling down the course, she observed Shimakaze's reduced braking distance, theorizing.
'Since she weighs more than I do, she naturally needs to brake more to slow her car down.
But since this is a high-speed section, her momentum carries her into the corner while the car slows down by itself, allowing her to brake less.'
Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest upon seeing the trees fly past so quickly and the ground become a blur of grey-black asphalt beneath her, all of it irrelevant in her mind.
She observed Shimakaze blitzing through a corner that Shigure previously had to tap the brakes to even dare to enter.
But now, she mimicked Shimakaze's movements and felt the go-kart start to slide dangerously, Shigure immediately tapping the brakes to bring herself back on course and regain some traction, thinking to herself.
'Shit.
I hate to admit, but I also expected Shimakaze's weight to keep the go-kart on the road, while I can't say the same for myself.
If I try to mimic her moves to the letter, I'd fly off the course the second my go-kart starts to slide to the point where I feel my tires are barely kissing the ground...
For the fourth lap, it's alright if I fail to overtake her in the first and second sections.
The only thing that matters is that I keep up with her until that corner…'
Several times, Shigure had to counter-steer to compensate for the sliding, and had a few close shaves which she learnt to brush off eventually.
The high-speed section ended where the second section began as the corners became sharper, Shigure stepping on the gas pedal to pull up to Shimakaze's rear bumper as they approached a right hand corner, the audio speaker now playing,
'Max Coveri - Golden Age'
She piled on the pressure now that Shimakaze's no-braking method of driving couldn't be applied here in the low-speed section.
She initiated the drift beside Shimakaze, almost spotting her panicked look as Shimakaze was forced to brake earlier to hug the inside of the corner.
Shigure controlled her drift with almost machine-like precision, knowing full well that you couldn't pass from the outside.
But she could pressurize Shimakaze into making a mistake and allowing this battle to stretch to a fifth round.
Admittedly, she knew that if Shimakaze recovered fast enough, she could pass Shigure in the last section of the course as it was also a high-speed section.
But she kept on pressuring Shimakaze, forcing her to brake more often and hug the inside of the corner, thinking to herself.
'I knew it.
In the slow-speed section, her speed complex compels her to go fast and she has to brake more often before cornering, while I need to brake less as I maintain my velocity throughout the section.
Keep forcing her to brake more often and keep to the inside, and she'll be thrown off her rhythm.'
The gutters loomed ominously as they flanked the road, ready to ensnare Shigure and cause her to spin out in case she lost control.
But Shigure was more than human, her enhanced learning senses as a sharp destroyer coupled with her eidetic memory as a ship girl and her training-enhanced reflexes working in harmony to keep the go-kart on the road and right on Shimakaze's tail.
The same clearing in the trees presented itself to Shigure, but she wasn't going to get distracted and spare it another glance, having nearly crashed because of it.
She instead focused her attention on braking and deciding when she was going to pull on the emergency brake to initiate the drift, executing it flawlessly and coming up behind Shimakaze.
'This is it!
The second section is coming to an end, and after the wide corner, it'll be another high-speed section where the roads will be even narrower.
I need to make my move soon!'
Reading Shimakaze's movements correctly, she cut in to occupy the inside of the left corner as Shimakaze tried her best to body-block her while staying in the middle of the road.
Shigure drifted in tandem with her opponent, barely hearing the music player about to play the chorus of the current song,
'Nuage- Crazy Little Love'
As she snapped her car back to the right, entering the wide corner right behind Shimakaze go-kart.
The Shimakaze-Class destroyer's go-kart occupied the middle line marker and was pulling ahead of Shigure, who was still valiantly keeping up as she took the outside lane and reminded herself.
'Everything's going according to plan.
Shimakaze is taking the fastest line through the corner, just as I predicted she would.
I'm sorry to say, Shimakaze, but on this corner, the line that allows you to go around it at the highest velocity… is not the best line!'
Shigure closed her eyes, and pressed down on the accelerator.
In her mind, Shimakaze, upon exiting the corner, was about to push down on the brakes to slow herself down to fit into the narrow exit and would come up on the outside lane to maintain speed.
She kept her eyes closed and referred to her photographic memory of the exit as she put the pedal to the metal.
Her go-kart regained traction as the drift ended smoothly, gaining a burst of speed as Shigure shifted gears and slingshotted past the still-drifting Shimakaze on the outside lane of the exit.
She felt the wheels of the go-kart slowly losing touch with the asphalt as she exited the corner as she almost entered the gutter upon overtaking Shimakaze.
Her eyes flew open, her hands trembling and her face pale and sweaty from the near-death experience as the go-kart shifted its weight back onto all four wheels.
She brought her go-kart under control, exhaling sharply as she thought,
'I can't believe that worked!
Shimakaze-san likely blitzed through that corner, but that meant she had to use the brakes to slow the car down upon exiting.
I closed my eyes so as not to see the narrowing corner and instinctively press down on the brakes, allowing myself to slingshot past Shimakaze-san!
I was so sure I would end up as a heap of burning metal on the side of the road, but now that I pulled it off, I have to pull ahead while Shimakaze-san is likely still shaken up!'
And with the song,
'Mega NRG Man - Express Love'
Pounding inside of her helmet, Shigure traversed the fast-speed section, several brushes with death a reasonable price to pay for speeding down the final section of the course while using her improved handling and engine braking skills to achieve an unbelievable timing.
And at the finish line, Shigure took off her helmet and heard Akio's amazed whistle as she waited for Shimakaze, who wasn't far behind.
They rode up the escalator in silence as they mentally prepared themselves for the fifth and final round, both destroyers too occupied with their own thoughts to talk to each other.
Up the hill, Shigure and Shimakaze were greeted by the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers who had gotten off their go-karts and placed their helmets on the go-kart seats, approaching them with towels provided by Kousuke and cold drinks from nearby vending machines.
Shigure was now noting how thirsty she was as she took off her helmet to hungrily gulp down the contents of the can, Shimakaze doing the same as Murasame and Yuudachi flanked her, although Samidare was hanging back a little from the duo.
Wiping her sweat, Shigure called over to Shimakaze,
"Shimakaze, what say we bet on the outcome of the last round?"
This got Shimakaze's attention she proposed,
"If you win, I keep my nose of your affairs and leave you alone.
I win, and you confide in me your past and your woes.
How about it?"
Shimakaze smirked and replied,
"You're saying that as if you have a chance of winning."
Shigure retorted with a smirk of her own,
"You say that as if I didn't beat you just now, despite the fact that you cheated."
Shimakaze's left eye twitched violently at that as she crushed the plastic bottle in her hand, Murasame and Yuudachi leaning back and exclaiming.
"OHHHH!"
But Shimakaze composed herself and calmly replied,
"I accept.
See you at the finish line."
They both put on their helmets and slammed down their visors, already tuning everything out to focus on the decisive round.
Samidare didn't like the look on their faces.
She knew that her sisters would eventually become more powerful than her and become powerhouses of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers while she accepted her limits.
But the cold look in Shigure and Shimakaze's eyes secretly shook her to the core, wondering if Shigure was going to be alright in the final lap where they apparently developed a fierce rivalry and wanted to win, no matter what.
She had already notified the two of them that they had agreed to use the money that Kousuke refunded to them to pay for Shigure and Shimakaze's fifth round.
And despite their protests, she assured them that the race that they paid for was going to be worth the price they paid.
She hoped.
She knew that Shigure had been through a lot in her past life, and despite seeing Shigure trying to make friends and learn more about the world, she accepted the fact that her sister was becoming stronger and tried to be there for her as often as she could.
But, when she looked at some of the destroyers, Shimakaze, Shigure, and even Hatsushimo, whom she talked to on quite a few occasions, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.
They were maturing a little too quickly, accepting the burdens of war as an everyday part of life and wanted to become stronger at any cost.
Samidare noted that before putting on their helmets, Shimakaze and Shigure had on a look of absolute focus, a dangerous air surrounding them as they mentally prepared themselves for the final race.
She was more spiritually attuned to others, being an unofficial elder sister to everyone due to her calm and caring personality.
So it came as no surprise that she was absolutely terrified by the two destroyers' intense auras.
Their strength, determination, pain, losses and growth formed an unstoppable and laser-focused air around them that made it almost suffocating to be in their presence when they were in the zone.
She was afraid that more of the destroyers would lose their innocence and eventually adopt this mindset when it came to anything, slowly poisoning their lives if they weren't careful in their pursuit of victory and strength at all costs.
She prayed that she didn't just pay to see her sister and her new friend crash and burn, vowing to never forgive herself if either one of them were sent to the docks because she paid for one last round.
Shigure allowed Shimakaze to take the lead.
The destroyer had an obsession with speed, after all, and it wouldn't feel right to have Shimakaze chasing her for the first half of the race.
Despite Shimakaze's growth, some habits were still hard to break and Shigure wasn't going to stop her anytime soon.
Shimakaze was now driving extremely dangerously, no longer allowing any margin for error as Shimakaze used her fastest lines to try and pull ahead, Shigure never letting up on the pressure.
She wanted to get to know the destroyer better, she really did.
But for thickheaded girls like Shimakaze, words often failed to persuade them of one's sincerity.
They were more about action, and somehow this made the problem worse when they had one-track minds and were easily bored when not dealing with anything relating to their favorite topics, Shimakaze's topic being speed.
And thus, to truly drive the point home, Akashi had told Shigure that this was the fastest way, albeit also being the riskiest.
'But I believe in you, Shigure.'
Shigure remembered Akashi's words yesterday.
'I know that you hate seeing someone suffer, and I'm going to tell you right now.
Shimakaze is suffering.
What makes it worse is that she's suffering alone by running away from everything and everyone, and somehow thinks it's the best way to cope with things.
I know you can understand her and prove her wrong.'
The track,
'M.o.v.e. - Outsoar the Rainbow'
Played in her mind as she entered another corner, wondering about this heart-to-heart session that required no words as she thought to herself.
'Words truly fail us when we try to describe our losses, especially when someone's lost someone dear for the first time.
But we eventually learn to confide in others, and learn to live with the pain.
But what you're doing right now isn't that.
You're simply running from your problems, and eventually you'll hit a wall with nowhere to go.'
Shigure gripped the steering wheel as she continued,
'You think that this way is the best way, indulging in your passion for speed.
And I understand that speed is truly a wonderful thing.
With it, all of your troubles seem to melt away.
All the trauma, pain, issues, the War, all of it all fails to matter when you're running down a course at 147 km/h.
But you've perverted that love of speed, Shimakaze-san!
You use it as a means to escape and forget your pain and grief, using it like a drug to escape your problems.
Along with a superficial smile and a guarded heart, you've become addicted to this means of escape!
And because no one can catch up to you, you assume that this is the best way to deal with everything since no one can prove you wrong.
But I'm here now.
I'm going to beat you and show you that running away from your pain won't work forever!'
A powerful ultramarine-blue aura that slowly shifted into a cerulean blue trail began to flow out of Shigure, her concentration starting to shift the air around her as she ran down the course while listening to.
'David Dima - Dancin' on the Street'
She was performing perfectly under pressure, patiently biding her time as she tried to pass Shimakaze at every corner and kept pressuring her into making a mistake.
Shigure knew that it was going to be difficult, seeing that the Shimakaze-Class destroyer was used to going this fast and was in her comfort zone as she ran down the course in the go-kart.
So Shigure drove as aggressively as she could to force Shimakaze's hand, being spurred on by her competitive spirit and desire to win that morphed her kind and quiet personality into a fierce spirit fueled by her competitive drive and the desire to be closer to Shimakaze.
She observed Shimakaze vanishing behind another corner, the insane speed leaving behind a white aura that almost formed a pair of wings that spread like a bird taking flight, almost symbolic of her fast nature before speeding away as Shigure admired Shimakaze's skill.
'You are indeed skilled, Shimakaze-san.
Even on land, you never fail to pull out all the stops and leave everyone in the dust.
But you're up against me, who's also a stubborn little ship girl who secretly, absolutely hates to lose!'
Shigure followed suit and entered the corner without hesitation, barely affected by the threat of death and only interested in going faster than ever before as she vanished in a burst of speed, utilizing Shimakaze's 'Moderate speed In, Fast Exit' to leave a trail of her blue aura in her wake.
As she felt the go-kart slide, she was reminded that she had to account for the grip in the tires as she exited the fast-speed section of the course and entered the low-speed section, where Shigure had the advantage.
But she wasn't going to pass her.
She kept up her pace and pressed down on the accelerator, the struggling Shimakaze trying to body-block her by occupying the inside.
Several times, Shigure was close to overtaking the destroyer, but Shimakaze desperately protected her lead, never having been pushed this far by anyone.
And that was the point that Shigure was secretly trying to make.
Seeing Shimakaze desperately trying to protect her lead attempting to pull ahead, Shigure thought to herself solemnly.
'Shimakaze, you feel safe when you're outrunning everyone at a speed that only you can achieve, and that's what I'm going to undo.
First of all, your decision to take the lead every lap was your first mistake.
The one in front has to deal with the stress of the chasing car potentially passing them the entire time.
Your obsession with speed and finishing fast likely means that you dislike endurance and siege battles.
And with your personality, you will want to defeat anyone as quickly as possible.
But I've been putting the pressure on you ever since the last run, constantly trying to pass you.
Your memories are undoubtedly wearing you down despite your best efforts.
Add that to the intense pressure to win while trying to pull away from me to convince yourself of your own superiority along with the fact that I beat you once and made you seriously doubt your abilities.
It all weighs down on you and encroaches onto your safe haven that is anywhere above 120 km/h on the speedometer.
This is the first time you've been pushed this far in your own comfort zone.
And this time, everything you usually do to escape isn't working, not when I'm following so close behind you and steadily piling the pressure on you.
You can't run forever, Shimakaze!
The question is, how long can you last before you break?!'
True to her word, she saw Shimakaze entering corners at speeds that almost seemed suicidal, constantly correcting herself as she kept her lead.
Shigure was now pushing Shimakaze to the limit as she hounded the destroyer before her and attempted to pass from the inside and outside, now keeping her front bumper no more than 10 centimeters behind Shimakaze's rear bumper and never letting up.
And by the end of the second section, Shigure could see Shimakaze mentally falling apart, trying to compensate for everything and trying everything in her book to pull away, entering the wide corner at a higher speed than Shigure did.
'You're going in too fast!
Shimakaze-san, your ship girl skills can save you, but can your will and mind hold out under the strain?'
Shimakaze struggled with the steering wheel, working the gear paddles, pedals and the steering wheel in order to correct the go-kart as it slid dangerously around the corner, the wide road allowing her room to maneuver before the narrow exit.
In the end, Shimakaze decided to slam down on the brakes as she exited the corner, Shigure keeping her eyes open this time.
She knew that her previous trick likely wouldn't work this time due to the condition of her tires that had worn down over time.
She no longer possessed the element of surprise, and the mental wreck that was Shimakaze might attempt something suicidal in order to protect her lead.
Shigure tried to use the intuitive controls of the go-kart to try not to crash into Shimakaze's go-kart as they entered the third section, still riding behind Shimakaze as Shigure eased up on the accelerator, quickly but calmly swerving her steering wheel to the left and right as the go-kart's momentum carried her forward.
The go-kart's deceleration barely slowed her down enough to carry her through the corner without crashing, Shigure pressing down on the accelerator gently to push the go-kart forward and accelerating out of the turn.
Shimakaze's aura of concentration was already gone as she entered the corners too quickly and, as Shigure predicted, her frayed nerves that were not mentally used to or prepared for an extended psychological endurance battle was forced to brake out of the all-too-real fear of crashing as she exited the corner.
She failed to pull ahead as a result and this allowed Shigure to attack her from behind, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer poking holes at her defense while calmly assessing and sizing her up from behind.
Shimakaze was already mentally breaking down from the stress, making more and more mistakes while being thrown off her game even when she had the advantage in this section of the course as she was pushed further to her mental limit.
In the battle between two stubborn and competitive destroyers who refused to give up and kept pushing themselves and each other to the limit, something had to give.
And eventually, something did.
Shimakaze was accelerating into another corner, but made another mistake as her tires finally gave out and lost traction, threatening to send her flying off the road and into the docks as Shimakaze visibly struggled to recover from her mistake, shifting gears and counter-steering as Shigure approached.
Shigure mentally debated whether she should pass Shimakaze now, but eventually came to a conclusion and blitzed past Shimakaze.
As the devastated destroyer tried to recover from her fatal mistake and attempted to maintain her speed, her heart dropped upon witnessing Shigure's flawless maneuvering as she exited the corner, the starting of the song,
'Leo River - Runaway'
Resounding in her shaken mind.
Her trembling arms, pounding heart, sweaty clothes and rapid breathing were all ignored by her as she observed Shigure's go-kart pull ahead in front of her for a third time.
Shigure's ultramarine aura was pushing forward like an unstoppable storm cloud, changing in tone as it ran down her go-kart to leave a cerulean blue trail with azure blue raindrops streaking out horizontally behind her, almost akin to tears as Shigure perfectly and calmly controlled her go-kart to vanish behind another corner, accelerating without any hesitation and leaving the defeated Shimakaze behind.
The ride back up was deathly silent.
Shigure didn't want to look back for fear of what she would see, quietly taking off her helmet and hair net to ruffle and air her hair.
She was covered in sweat due to the exertion and the immense stress she was under, although she performed wonderfully.
Although she was a mature destroyer who could maintain her focus for extended periods of time, she still had a mind of a child and was prone to eventual burnout and fatigue.
Akio came of the booth as she crossed the finish line, congratulating Shigure on setting a new record on the course before spotting the tired expression on the winning destroyer and the defeated look on the other.
Shigure simply asked him to take them up, Akio nodding and smiling weakly at the both of them as the hooks of the conveyor belt caught their go-karts and carried them up.
Shigure finally looked to the engineer and thanked him for the race, and also for setting and packing up the track, Akio simply nodding in acknowledgement.
But the only thing she was worried about now was the fact that Shimakaze didn't make a sound behind her.
No cries of a rematch or even whining about the loss, things she mentally prepared herself for as she reached the finish line and waited for Shimakaze.
She tried to listen for anything that would indicate any signs of life behind her, and heard some shuffling as she assumed Shimakaze was taking off her helmet.
She finally plucked up the courage to peek behind her, extremely worried that she would do something foolish.
What she saw slightly unnerved her.
Shimakaze looked almost comatose with the blank expression on her face as she likely tried to comprehend her loss at the hands of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, blankly looking down at her steering wheel and her expression unreadable as her sweat-drenched uniform and disheveled hair were both ignored by her.
Shigure was panicking on the inside, but she reminded herself to keep calm as she tried to determine the best course of action to comfort the destroyer.
And after she reached the top of the escalator and silenced her cheering sisters, she spent the entire ride back to the engineering block in silent contemplation and finally came up with a simple plan.
Shimakaze was a girl of action.
Having lost at her own game for the first time was going to have major repercussions on her self-confidence and psyche, and she couldn't predict and account for all of them no matter how hard she tried.
But in these situations, maybe it was the right words that would truly resonate with her and help her understand...
Her sisters and the engineer duo had left them alone, feeling the tension between them and understanding Shigure's pleading look as they left for dinner.
She got off her go-kart, noting that the engines and tires were still smoking a little from the race as she narrowed her eyes and turned to face Shimakaze, who still had the same blank look from before.
Shigure addressed her.
"You may think that someone told me about it, but I'll say this right now.
I only figured things out during the race, when noticed how you didn't want anyone to bring up your past.
It would obviously be a sortie, where ship girls sink and don't come back.
You don't have any sister ships, so it should be someone whom you deeply loved or saw as a pseudo-sibling that sank on a sortie, although I admit that the finer details elude me."
Shigure scratched the back of her head and looked away as she explained herself.
"And when shit hit the fan, you ran from your problems.
I don't blame you for doing that, since no one can catch up to you and prove you wrong.
And just like that, you've become conceited and believed that this was the best way to handle things.
I've been through enough in my past life to know what you're feeling right now, and let's not lie to ourselves anymore.
No matter how fast you run, your past, and the ghosts that haunt you will always be waiting for you at the finish line when you slow down.
And we all need to slow down, sooner or later."
Shimakaze looked away upon hearing that, but she didn't get up and leave the one-sided conversation, which Shigure took as a sign that Shimakaze was at least partially interested in what she had to say, Shigure starting to ask the heavy questions as her expression darkened.
"You know that we destroyers utilize our extreme speed to outrun everyone.
But I'm truly curious.
Since when did you start running like a coward?"
That last line was what got a reaction from Shimakaze, her blonde brow twitching as she slowly raised her head to return Shigure's gaze as she continued.
"I genuinely want to help you, Shimakaze-san.
And when I learnt of go-karting, I knew it was likely the only way I could get through to you and show you that running away doesn't resolve anything, contrary to what you may believe.
Shigure cracked a small tired smile, Shimakaze's eyes widening at the expression.
"And I think understand you a little more now, Shimakaze-san.
That's why I want to know you even better.
So that I can be there to lend you a shoulder to cry on, to watch your back and also be someone who can keep up with you.
But I don't want to force anything on you.
About the bet…"
Shimakaze's shoulders locked up at the mention of that, her brows creased as she was visibly worried about the impending pseudo-interrogation.
But Shigure surprised her by saying,
"...I left a loophole in it.
I said that you have to share everything with me, but I never specified when."
Shigure put her hands in the pockets of her skirt as she regarded Shimakaze warmly.
"You can take your time and tell me everything at your own pace after you've sorted out your thoughts.
You can share them with me a week, a month, maybe even a year from now.
I'll be here for you whenever you're ready."
Shigure turned away and coolly walked away, pulling one hand out of her pockets to wave to a silent Shimakaze behind her as she exited the engineering block without looking back.