Junyou laughed heartily upon watching Hiei's memory of the beat-down that occurred yesterday, the fast battleship at her side and sulking while holding a ramune bottle, Houshou consoling the fast battleship over her humiliating loss at the hands of the Ise-Class battleship.
The bar was empty at this time of night, with the duo being the only ones still up to enjoy each other's company while Houshou kept the bar running for as long as she could to accommodate anyone who needed a quick snack or drink.
Junyou asked Hiei whilst wiping away the tears that were starting to form at the edge of her eyes.
"Sheesh, did that cannon really knock you out in one hit?
How did you not see that coming?"
Hiei huffed, taking a sip out of her ramune bottle while speaking up in her defense.
"To be fair, I was fighting against the crazed sister of the Ise-Class.
She's more unpredictable than her sister in combat.
I made the mistake of underestimating her big-time just because she goofed around more than Hyuga and made us think they weren't anything special.
And I think that her obfuscating silliness is by far the most dangerous aspect about her, seeing how she defeated me, my Onee-sama and Bismarck by fooling us all."
Houshou nodded, empathizing with the sulking battleship as she consoled Hiei.
"I understand where you're coming from.
Ise is also a battleship, and therefore a respectably powerful opponent in her own right.
But she did her best to make herself look incompetent, leading you all to think that she was weak, which eventually turns out, she wasn't.
Her fighting style is unorthodox and wild, which may have contributed to your downfall."
Junyou drawled as she took another sip of her wine bottle, offhandedly asking about the motherly light carrier's abilities.
"Maa, since the seniors of this base are so damn powerful, what 'bout you, Houshou-san?"
Houshou's eyes widened a fraction before settling down to smile at the two ship girls, revealing cryptically.
"Well, all I can say is that I at least know how to hold my own in combat."
Hiei nodded as she asked Junyou about her day, to which Junyou cheerily replied.
"Oh, it was a blast!
I hung out with Ryuujou after coming out of the docks, and we had quite the talk over lunch!
Ryuujou taught me that our flames were basically like an unofficial 'super power' that we have!
Apparently, it was less like magic, and a lot of science-y stuff that boiled down to the paper cut-outs that we carry being shikigami and somehow containing the soul of the plane.
Our planes consist of a body and soul, but has no mind of its own as it is piloted by a Fairy pilot.
The scroll that we carry deconstructs the body of the plane and breaks it down into easily-stored resources that's hidden within a layer of the scroll."
Junyou then pulled out a paper cut-out styled in a way that was reminiscent of a plane, with the basic hull of the plane and two squarish wing designs sticking out on its sides.
"The soul of that particular plane is then stored in a shikigami, a method of physically storing the plane's soul and acts as a foundation for the plane to build itself on.
And with my flame…"
Junyou produced a small pinkish-purple fireball on the tip of her index finger, the flame flickering about softly and had two Kanji characters inside that spelled '勅令', or 'Imperial Edict'.
"I run the paper shikigami along the deck, and the flame basically calls forth the specified plane to assemble itself back together on the shikigami as it leaves the scroll and takes off.
Isn't that amazing?!"
Houshou nodded sagely, commenting as she cleaned a glass cup with a wet towel, Junyou shaking her hand to extinguish the flame.
"Thus, it is a very advanced technological process of sorts, and not magic as you initially believed?"
Junyou nodded, but Hiei had a 'Thinker' pose, looking up to ask Houshou about carriers and how they used their equipment in battle.
"But how do the carriers summon planes?
I know that they practice archery at the shooting range, but how exactly do they summon their planes if there is no plane mounted at the tip and the arrows themselves look rather ordinary?"
Houshou nodded and answered in a way that a senior ship girl who perfectly understood her own equipment was able to.
"The fins of our arrows are colored in a way that it corresponds to certain bomber planes, and there are small buttons that we can press on our long bow to order our mechanical arrow quivers to extrude a certain type of arrow for easy access instead of simply fishing around for the right arrow to arm.
The plane is deconstructed and forms the shaft of the arrow, while a variant of the paper shikigami forms its fins.
The arrow turns back into a plane when the arrow is fired far enough to transform safely in a small burst of fire much like the flame that you can form, Junyou-san."
Looking down at the two of them sagely, Houshou continued on as Hiei and Junyou listened silently.
"All of this is accomplished through cutting-edge technology that the Fairies introduced to the humans.
One thing to note is that the Fairies that pilot the planes are summoned through the paper shikigami.
This is merely speculation that I heard, but they are summoned from the realm where the Fairies come from into this world via technological means with a seal stored in the paper shikigami, and the pilot lives and dies by the plane."
Both members of the 1st Fleet were surprised to hear this, thinking about how the Fairies themselves couldn't actually be stored in the scrolls or arrows.
And the bombers were unlike the Reconnaissance Planes, general-use planes that were available to a light cruiser and above and could be stored in the battle backpacks and riggings of most ship girls.
Hiei raised a hand to ask Houshou a question about the technological prowess of the Fairies, the ones who had appeared from nowhere and introduced futuristic technology into this world to fight the Abyssals.
"Just how powerful are the Fairies to be able to accomplish such advanced engineering feats like summoning and the creation of ship girls, amongst others?"
But Houshou simply shook her head in resignation, explaining.
"No one, not even the Fairies themselves, know.
All they know is that they were dropped into this world with all this knowledge but no memories of where they came from, and they knew that they had to help out humanity in their time of need."
Junyou mulled over that interesting and slightly horrifying thought about their unknown origins, and how their creators literally appeared from thin air with knowledge of advanced technology to build the ship girls.
It made her wonder what what secrets the Abyssals kept close to their chest, to be able to retaliate with entire armadas of their own with seemingly limitless resources to combat the ship girls on a global scale.
She also thought about what would have happened to mankind had the Fairies not appeared to introduce ship girls into this world.
All this was before Junyou took a hearty swig of her beer can, determined to forget about these morbid thoughts and made a resolution to do better the next time she sortied.
After she got wasted tonight.
A slight earthquake shook Junyou out of her inebriated state, experiencing the touch of soft hands on her warm shoulders as the world slowly came into focus in her mind.
Peeking out with barely-opened eyes, she could barely make a pair of greenish twin-tails flowing down her assailant's hair, and Junyou eventually woke up from the gentle shaking that she was subjected to at the hands of the Shoukaku-Class carrier, Junyou drunkenly waving her hands at her in order to get her to stop.
Craning her neck to take in her surroundings, she could make out the distinct golden winged headdress and miko uniform of the Kongou-Class battleship who was seated beside her, head tucked in, eyes closed and arms crossed as Hiei slept soundly.
Zuikaku softly whispered while looking down at the hungover light carrier, who was lying on her bed and half naked from last night's drinking session.
"Good afternoon, Junyou-san.
Time to wake up."
Junyou stirred, wondering what was up with the polite and soft tone that Zuikaku used to address her.
Not that Zuikaku was exactly impolite, but she was known to be somewhat lax with the way she treated people she knew.
She gently shook the carrier's hands off of her shoulder while feeling a breeze down her unbuttoned red shirt and her non-existent hakama (she still had her underwear on; It'd be a disaster if she didn't), and groggily got up as she breathed in the humid afternoon air inside her room, thankfully aired by the open door that led outside despite the air conditioner being turned on, Junyou looking at her own room as Zuikaku gave her some space to move.
Her room was relatively neat compared to the dump that she lived in before she was drafted into the 1st Fleet as almost everything was now in its proper place.
She could make out her alcohol-stained white blouse and hakama on the floor as Zuikaku picked the former up with the tip of her index fingers and thumbs, folding it delicately as she placed it on a nearby drawer.
A few beer bottles littered her bed as some of the liquor had seeped into the bedsheets, pillow covers and even into her hair.
She shook her head slowly, accepting Zuikaku's extended arm as the light carrier tried to remember what happened yesterday.
The last thing she remembered was Hiei trying to convince her not to drink who-knows how-many bottles before everything became a mix of sweat, liquor and joyous shouting in her memory bank, all of it from her.
She guessed that it was Hiei who carried her back into her room, undressed her so that she wouldn't sleep with wet and sticky clothes that were drenched in her own sweat and covered her with a blanket so that she wouldn't catch a cold.
She even went so far as to accompany her in her sleep instead of leaving her be and returning to her room and back into the company her sisters.
She mentally thanked Hiei for looking out for her before she caught a whiff of her own body odor and dry heaved, exclaiming.
"Jeez, how much did I drink last night in order to smell this bad?"
Zuikaku shrugged, nonchalantly remarking.
"I dunno.
I manually overrode and turned off my sense of smell before coming in here, because I predicted that the room would smell pretty bad because of you."
To which Junyou cringed and commented about the extreme move that Zuikaku made in order to avoid breathing in her body odor and the stench of alcohol, already undressing as she turned on the toilet light and stumbled drunkenly into the toilet to relieve herself and take a shower.
"Wow man, rub in some more about how much much I reek, why don't you.
And while you're at it, grab some salt and pour it in, you little brat."
The water started running, and Junyou's muffled voice could be heard through the door, causing Hiei's sleep to be disturbed as she breathed in softly and jerked her head in response to Junyou's voice, before her body relaxed and she resumed her beauty sleep.
"So, I suppose this visit isn't simply a courtesy call just to make lill' ol' auntie Junyou feel loved, right?"
Zuikaku made a noise in agreement, helping the light carrier make her bed as a show of courtesy by trying to free the crumpled blanket in order to fold it up neatly.
She called out to Junyou in a way that wouldn't immediately wake the sleeping battleship in the room.
"Well, I have a favor to ask of you, and it's about my relationship with Kaga-san."
Junyou then asked.
"Well, why ask me for advice?
There're more than enough dependable ship girls and carriers in the Yokosuka Naval Base to listen to your problems."
Zuikaku, after airing and folding the blanket, moved on to lightly beating and fluffing Junyou's pillow without taking a whiff of the odor that permeated the pillow, looking away as she justified her decision to confide in the drunkard of a light carrier.
"Well, this is something that I'd like to keep contained amongst us bird-carriers.
I want to take the next step in establishing the possibility of a relationship with Kaga-san.
But if it blows up in my face, I'd like to keep the fallout contained, if that made any sense.
But at the same time, I'd also like to recruit as many people as possible to improve my chances of success."
Zuikaku heard the running water from the shower head stop, but her enhanced sense of hearing picked up slight squeaks, which meant that Junyou was likely using the shampoo dispenser.
So Zuikaku made herself comfortable on Junyou's bed, waiting for Junyou to prepare herself to face the second half of the day.
"No, no, I get it.
You don't want everyone to know of a relationship that failed to develop, and result in a mass misunderstanding that might essentially spread throughout the entire base and make things uncomfortable between you and Kaga.
And besides, not a lot of people outside of us bird-carriers know about your crush, which means that you don't have to reveal your crush to anyone who doesn't already know about it.
But then, I really hope that you have someone on our little Team Cupid other than a drunkard of a light carrier that has no experience in love or other related matters."
Zuikaku huffed, revealing the carriers whom she was going to recruit and the reason why she couldn't ask the other carriers for help.
"Akagi-san and Shoukaku-nee are naturally on the planning committee as well as you, Soryu, Hiryu and Chitose-san.
I wanted to get everyone's help to ensure the highest chance of success.
Amagi-san and Houshou-san both admitted to being rather archaic when it comes to matters like love and was unable to help in planning, but expressed interest in helping out in other ways.
Shouhou is out on a sortie while Zuihou and Ryuujou admitted about being rather uninformed about such matters, and Unryuu, no matter how thoughtful she can be, is still rather air-headed and also uninformed about such things, even less so than the light carriers.
Together, I suppose we can form some of planning committee for the 'date' of sorts…"
Junyou resumed her shower, the water running again as the light carrier picked up on the tone of the carrier that belied her seemingly low confidence in her own ability to win over the heart of the Kaga-Class carrier.
"Going by your tone, I'm guessing that you don't have much confidence in yourself and the date despite having an entire team of carriers and light carriers supporting you.
And I'm warning you, that sounds a lot like the attitude of a defeatist, and almost like you're setting yourself up for failure."
Hiei quietly breathed in as she was still sound asleep, Zuikaku shooting her a look and making sure that she was indeed asleep before continuing, looking down at her feet in uncertainty.
"Well, it's just that I can't tell what Kaga-san is thinking, since her expression is almost always set to default 'stone-cold hit-man'.
I can't tell if she's happy, sad, interested in me, or really just views me as a nuisance by her comments.
And if this plan to get into a relationship does work, I can't help but worry if I can understand her well enough to know what she's feeling if she's the kind to always put on a poker face."
But Junyou was quick to rebut with a point of her own, pointing out.
"But Akagi can help you with that, right?
Being the one who spends the most amount of time with Kaga, she'd know how Kaga would behave and can teach you to look out for cues to clue you in on Kaga's emotions.
Add Soryu and Hiryu into the mix, both of them close friends and former students of Kaga, and you've got yourself a pretty solid team that can tell you what you need to know about Kaga, so why worry?"
Zuikaku narrowed her eyes tiredly, exhaling through her slight smile as she took comfort in Junyou's reassuring words, nodding.
"I suppose you're right."
"Well, then.
Where're we going to meet the rest of the gang to plan out your step-by-step relationship plans?"
Zuikaku shifted about, scratching her cheek abashedly.
"Well, about that…"
Junyou's eye twitched in annoyance, but not at the company of the carriers in her presence.
Oh no.
She was annoyed at their presence in her room.
Her smelly, relatively untidy room which was where she could be truly alone.
Although ever since she was selected by Admiral Mako to be in the 1st Fleet, this was looking to be less and less the case, thinking back on how Shigure and Hiei had barged into her room, the fast battleship dragging her ass to practice.
Beside her, Akagi was munching on some sweets and snacks merrily, the crumbs bouncing off of her flight deck apron to hit the floor, Soryu and Hiryu chatting merrily about something or another while seated on the other side of the room.
Zuikaku was discussing something with Shoukaku and the calm and mature light carrier Chitose, who both had their serene smiles on and were politely listening to Zuikaku's concerns.
Hiei was politely but urgently ushered out of the room by the carriers upon waking up, Junyou promising to make things up to the confused fast battleship over the chatter of the carriers as her room was now made into the impromptu base of operations.
Junyou raised her hands, vein bulging out of her forehead as she shouted in exasperation.
"THE HELL YOU BITCHES DOING IN MY ROOM, OF ALL PLACES?!"
Everyone unanimously turned to shush her, Junyou feeling her cheeks coloring because of her outburst and waved her hands about wildly to express her frustration.
Akagi patted her on the back, an air of understanding around her as she offered a cookie to the distraught light carrier.
She opened her mouth to speak, but that only served to make the cookie crumbs spill out of her mouth as she consoled Junyou.
"Ift's Fouhay, fhe phwon't be phere lawung."
But Junyou was quick to retort, chiding with tears at the edge of her eyes.
"Stop spilling crumbs all over my floor!
I'm the one who has to clean that up later!"
Hiryu continued where Akagi left off, explaining their reason for choosing Junyou's room to meet up in secret.
"Well, the Bird Nest is also occupied by Kaga, and we don't want her to walk in on our planning session.
We don't want to inconvenience those who aren't in the planning committee, and you occupy a room all by yourself due to your alcoholism, so it's more convenient than Chitose's room which is shared with Ryuujou and Zuihou."
Junyou had nothing to say to that and resorted to simply putting her face in her palms, accepting the fact that everyone was going to be coming and going from her room to plan, and that her privacy during the day was likely going to be non-existent from now on.
But Zuikaku silenced everyone by raising her hand and took the spotlight as she briefed everyone on the reason for being here, if they didn't already know.
"Everyone, we're gathered here today to discuss how I'm going to…"
Zuikaku blushed, but Shoukaku's reassuring pat on her shoulder bolstered her courage and allowed her to finish her sentence.
" … to form a romantic relationship with Kaga-san."
Hiryu raised her hand, asking innocently.
"Just asking, but aren't you moving a little too fast here?"
But Chitose assuaged such concerns by speaking up for Zuikaku.
"We understand that this isn't something that can't be rushed, since Kaga-san isn't the type of person who likes relationships to develop too quickly.
Akagi-san knows that Kaga-san is also a little old-fashioned in terms of love and interpersonal relations, so for now, we're here to discuss our strategy for the upcoming month, and even longer if need be to ensure the highest chance of success."
Hiryu nodded, Soryu piping up and asking.
"But is a possibility of a relationship even possible?
I mean, most of us are girls, so it wouldn't be surprising if we were attracted to other ship girls, but Kaga-san doesn't seem like the person to be inclined to start a relationship in the midst of fighting a war…"
Zuikaku flinched and looked down in disappointment, but Akagi, now having swallowed her food and wiped her mouth at the cost of further dirtying Junyou's floor and earning her short-lived ire, she raised her hand to get everyone's attention.
"On the contrary, I believe this is exactly what she needs right now.
Despite our best efforts, we are currently unable to craft the name-ship of the Tosa-Class battleship to serve as a sister ship to Kaga, which I feel might be a little unfair to her, as I have Amagi with me…"
Akagi looked a little ashamed at feeling happy that her sister ship Amagi existed and was here in this base while Kaga was alone with no Tosa to be with her.
"I also understand that she isn't the friendliest of ship girls to approach, which means that other than the more powerful ship girls that she associates with often for mission purposes and us carriers, she's actually quite introverted as a person, and unnaturally so for a girl.
I believe that this relationship will do wonders for her, and I'm here to make sure that it succeeds for her sake as well as Zuikaku's."
Soryu seemed satisfied with the explanation, Shoukaku nodding in encouragement as she tried to push her sister on.
"Zuikaku-san, you can do this.
Not just for yourself, but to also be there for Kaga-san whenever Akagi-san can't be there for her.
Despite your rivalry with the 1st Carrier Division, you want to be with her.
And secretly, I also know that you want to surpass Kaga-san so that she'd be proud of you…"
Zuikaku sputtered at that, trying to deny the last allegation, but Shoukaku wasn't backpedaling as she encouraged Zuikaku.
"Don't be ashamed or shy to admit your feelings.
That's one of the most important things to keep in mind, although it's also important to know the right thing to say at the right time.
Kaga-san seems like the person to shoulder the burden by herself, and despite how close Akagi-san is to her, Akagi-san is also her own person and can't be there for her all the time.
You should make it about you two and how you can depend on each other on the battlefield and in life despite your rivalry."
Zuikaku nodded in acknowledgement, but her next question stumped everyone.
"So who has a plan to take the first step?"
The entire room lapsed into uncomfortable silence as none of them had actually thought about just exactly how they were going to get the ball rolling.
Everyone looked at each other, expecting someone to have thought of something to bring to the table and they would give their suggestions.
But Junyou raised her right hand in an almost tired fashion, and not just from the hangover that still made her head buzz and feel that the room was a little too hot despite the air conditioner being turned on, but also from having to deal with simply thinking so soon while being hungover.
If experience had taught her one thing, it was that you should never exert your mind too much during a hangover, lest you get a headache.
But heck, this was a friend that she was talking about.
And not just a friend, this was a fellow carrier and a maiden in distress. She wasn't so much of a douche to turn off her mind and tune everyone out just because of her drinking habits.
"So if this relationship works, will you all stop gathering in my room like it's some kind of secret base?"
Everyone nodded, awaiting Junyou's response which they hoped was a positive one and hopefully contributed to the discussion.
Luckily for them, despite her hangover, Junyou was feeling charitable today as she sighed, holding the index finger of her clenched right fist to her forehead and closing her eyes as she thought about the situation and how they were going to go about their predicament and brainstormed.
She felt the buzz of the hangover threatening to split her mind, but she was a professional drinker, damn it.
She had dealt with many things while being hungover, including sending herself halfway across the world several times, blacklisted by the airport authorities that banned her from boarding any more commercial planes, more than a dozen arrests for disturbance of the peace and was somehow still employed as a ship girl and not simply exiled by being sentenced to a few years of community service.
"Well, I'm not wholly unsympathetic to your plight, so I guess I'll help out a fellow bird-carrier by playing Cupid, although I want this on record that I just want you all out of my room."
After a short while, Junyou's eyes peeked open as she asked Zuikaku.
"Zuikaku, how lucky do you feel right now?"
The Planning Committee was in the midst of preparing everything for the meeting, and Junyou was wearing a one-eared headset on her left ear with a microphone extension that was wirelessly connected to the almost unnoticeable earpiece in Zuikaku's ear.
They were in the Shinsengumi, and for this plan, they required Akagi to get the ball rolling and Houshou to provide the setting and materials needed.
The reason for choosing Houshou's bar over Mamiya's canteen was due to the aforementioned reason that they didn't want to involve any more people than was necessary.
Junyou was hiding in the kitchen with Chitose and Shoukaku as they sat on the floor, each one of them with an opened Popsicle wrapper on the floor beside them while Zuikaku was standing next to them and ate her own Popsicle.
To Chitose's side, there was an additional pile of snacks and drinks that she had purchased from Houshou beforehand to pass the time should they ever get hungry.
The kitchen itself was brightly lit, and being mostly a one-woman establishment, it was rather cozy without being claustrophobic.
A 2 meter tall steel-layered fridge stood unyielding at the far end of the kitchen, facing perpendicular to the exit of the kitchen which had small banners covering the exit and by extension, hiding the planning committee from anyone who entered the bar.
Pots and pans were stacked neatly on the marble counter to the right of the room, and the cupboards that stored various cooking materials and miscellaneous items were hanging from the roof of the kitchen in order to conserve space in the already-small room.
Along with a rack of knives, utensils and spatulas on the counter along with a few baskets of fruits and various assortment of foods, at the corner of the room and sitting beneath the counter were a few heavy sacks that likely contained rice, and were raised off the floor by being placed on small stools to prevent pests from easily eating into the material of the sack to get to the contents within.
The kitchen was well maintained as there were a few towels hanging off of drilled-in, round-tipped metal hooks at various locations in the kitchen. The maintenance of the kitchen was also accomplished with a well-hidden mop and empty bucket located at the other corner of the room, where a tap was turned off and sat beside a dustbin that was wrapped with a plastic bag for easy disposal of the garbage.
The duo seated before Junyou were using the material that Houshou provided to prepare the items needed to execute the plan, and were going to support and back Zuikaku up in case things didn't go the way they intended.
Hiryu and Soryu were off to complete their part of the plan in another location in case Kaga noticed too many of them together in the same place and suspected that something was up.
Chitose and Shoukaku were writing the words 'あたり' with a black marker on the three Popsicle sticks to indicate a winning stick, with a cross on them to indicate a redeemed free Popsicle.
If you ate a Popsicle and you were lucky enough to have chosen a Popsicle that had 'あたり' on the stick to indicate a winning stick, you could get another Popsicle for free.
The plan here was that Zuikaku, being a lucky carrier while her sister was infamous for being an unlucky carrier, would appear to the approaching 1st Carrier Division to have eaten too many Popsicles due to the fact that she kept choosing a winning Popsicle, and was to offer it to Kaga to get her a Popsicle and possibly allowing her to start a conversation to improve their relationship as best they could for now.
Chitose and Shoukaku were forging the 'あたり' writing to make it appear genuine, each carrier buying one Popsicle from Houshou, who was in on the plan, to make sure that there was no discrepancy in their plan as the Popsicle box that was taken out of the freezer now had four less Popsicles, Junyou receiving the Akagi SMS on her phone to signal that they were making their way from the Bird's Nest towards the Shinsengumi.
Zuikaku was almost finishing her Popsicle, the words 'あたり' barely visible on the wooden Popsicle stick as Junyou silently motioned for her to hurry up with her food.
Zuikaku nodded, swallowing the remainder of the strawberry-flavored Popsicle while sticking her hand out for Chitose and Shoukaku to pass her the Popsicle sticks.
Chitose and Shoukaku both nodded at their handiwork, handing their Popsicle sticks over as Junyou reminded Zuikaku of the plan, uncharacteristically serious about helping out a fellow ship girl.
"You go out there and do your part.
We'll be here listening in on your conversation while I guide you on depending on how the conversation goes, but it's ultimately down to how you want to approach her."
Zuikaku nodded, looking to her sister and her fellow light carriers as she smiled gratefully.
"Thank you.
All of you."
Chitose smiled back at her with her 'understanding elder sister' smile, Junyou giving her a thumbs up while Shoukaku raised her arm to put a comforting hand on Zuikaku's shoulder and saying.
"We'll be here for you.
Now go."
Zuikaku nodded and turned to exit the kitchen as Chitose looked to Junyou and commented on the plan.
"This is a rather ingenious plan, Junyou-san.
But are we being a little too manipulative in trying to get them together?"
But Junyou shook her head, thinking of several ship girls who would resort to far more underhanded tactics to achieve the same goals.
"We aren't hurting or coercing anybody to do anything they don't want to do.
We're all willing participants, and it's for Kaga's own good."
'At least, I hope it is, if we don't fudge anything up and everything goes to shit.'
Junyou thought that last part, but knew tact and didn't say it out loud as she turned on her ship girl mode along with the duo beside her and used her enhanced hearing to listen in on the conversation.
They didn't need to move around too much as they made the kitchen their temporary base of operations with Houshou's consent, and their subdued signatures would be hidden by the material that made up the Shinsengumi to prevent Kaga from noticing their presence.
They hoped.
Along with the rustle of the grass, the whistle of the wind and the chirp of the crickets that the ship girl mind instinctively dismissed as background noise, she could make out Zuikaku pretending to dry-heave as Akagi and Kaga approached her, their footsteps becoming progressively louder.
Zuikaku must be pretending to be sick or at least a little tired as Akagi asked with a touch of concern in her voice despite knowing about the plan.
"Zuikaku-san, are you alright?
You seem a little uncomfortable there, did you eat something bad at Houshou-san's place?"
But Zuikaku reassured her with a slightly raspy voice.
"S'alright, I was just eating too much ice cream.
See these?
I kept drawing the winning Popsicle, and I already finished four of them."
But Kaga huffed, pointing out the obvious.
"You can either save the stick for another day, or give it to another ship girl for them to eat.
There is no need to hog all the Popsicles to yourself, 5th Carrier Division."
Zuikaku started at that, Junyou hearing her increased breathing located just outside the bar as she whispered into the headset.
"Relax, relax…
She's being prickly as usual, but you have to grow a thicker skin if you want to take things further."
She heard Zuikaku's breathing slow down as the carrier of the 5th Carrier Division casually shrugged off the jab.
"Ahaha, I guess you're right.
I guess I shouldn't have been so selfish…"
Shoukaku leaned in to whisper encouragingly into Junyou's microphone,
"Zuikaku! Do your best!"
While Chitose was already helping herself to a chilled fuel can that was previously purchased from Houshou.
Junyou, trying to anticipate the best move to make while trying to get into the head of the Kaga-Class carrier, instructed Zuikaku quietly.
"Offer it to the both of them, but give it to Akagi, since Kaga's likely to refuse the first offer."
Zuikaku did exactly as she was told, piping up with the offer.
"Do you want the free Popsicle?
I can choose from the box to get another free Popsicle if you want."
And Akagi was quick to respond with an enthusiastic,
"Oh!
Me, me, me!"
And the trio could hear the footsteps of the Akagi-Class carrier get progressively louder as Akagi approached Houshou's bar with the 'あたり' Popsicle stick to redeem a free Popsicle as Kaga kept pace with her while taking big yet confident strides.
Zuikaku walked behind them as she accompanied them to pick another winning Popsicle, possessing the highest luck stat amongst the trio.
Houshou, who was told of the plan, welcomed the carriers and allowed the trio to sit at the serving counter while pulling out the box of ice cream to let them observe the selection of flavors.
Zuikaku asked Akagi about her favorite flavor despite being informed about it beforehand so as not to arouse suspicion.
"Akagi-san, what flavor do you like?"
To which Akagi replied merrily, already anticipating the next step of the plan to eat the delicious Popsicle that Zuikaku picked out for her.
"Strawberry!"
Kaga, meanwhile, was deathly silent as Junyou strained her ears to try and pick up anything that would give away her presence.
A bit of rustling was heard, Zuikaku relying on her luck to accomplish the next step of the plan. And it was hard to accept, but even Junyou admitted that the next step of the plan was a calculated risk.
Even when Akagi had told them of both their tastes and helped them predict which flavor Kaga was likely to pick (orange), Junyou didn't like relying on something as unpredictable as luck.
Even on its own, a high luck stat wasn't very reliable despite its inherent power to influence cause and effect on an environmental, and potentially even global scale to allow a chain of events to go your way. It only gave you improved odds of something happening or not happening, and not a guarantee that everything will go the way you want.
For example, if there was even a 75% chance of Zuikaku choosing another winning Popsicle, the 25% chance of Zuikaku choosing the wrong Popsicle was also equally capable of coming true, no matter how lucky Zuikaku was.
They had to hinge the entire plan on the chance that the cosmic dice wouldn't screw them over this one time, no matter how many variables they accounted for.
Add that to the fact that they couldn't rig the Popsicles to be the winning ones without potentially drawing the suspicion of Kaga, the only thing that they could do now was quite literally pray that the goddess of luck would continue to smile down on Zuikaku as she forged on to win Kaga's heart through her stomach.
Junyou noticed out of the corner of her eye that Shoukaku was holding her palms together and her eyes closed in prayer, while Chitose had a hand on her shoulder to reassure her of the outcome.
The crinkling of the Popsicle wrapper could be heard, as Junyou could hear Houshou reminding Akagi not to eat too quickly lest she get indigestion.
But Kaga was quick to reassure Houshou.
"It's alright, Houshou-san. Something so insignificant as indigestion will not affect us, the mighty carriers of the 1st Carrier Division."
And Akagi piped up, her mouth full of what was likely the finished Popsicle.
"Yup, ith's nufhing, fince fhe're the 1st Fharrier Fifishun!"
Houshou audibly flinched, remarking incredulously.
"You've already finished the Popsicle?!"
Junyou could hear the almost unnoticeable sigh of relief that came from Zuikaku, which likely meant that the ice cream had the 'あたり' sign on it.
Junyou turned to see Shoukaku open her eyes in relief, and nodded to Chitose to send a text message to Hiryu, to which the light carrier nodded and turned on her touch phone.
The next part of the plan was to draw Akagi away from the scene with an external event while Kaga would stay to finish the last Popsicle so as not to cause Zuikaku to supposedly throw up from eating too much ice cream.
Hiryu was to be with Soryu, and when Hiryu got the text message from Chitose, she was to notify Soryu to inform Akagi with a message about a random dish that Mamiya was serving today and allow Akagi to excuse herself by expressing interest in said food.
Akagi then suddenly whimpered, clearly no longer acting as she whined.
"Oww, I think I might be suffering from brain freeze…"
Houshou was softly chiding Akagi for her gluttonous appetite, slapping the crown of Akagi's head softly.
"You should eat cold food slowly, because our steel bodies are sensitive to heat and are affected by sudden changes in temperature.
Add that to the fact that the thickness of the armor in the roof of your mouth is but only a fraction that of the armor that is your skin, it's no wonder that you suffered from brain freeze.
Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth for a while, burn up some of the fuel in your body to warm yourself up and redirect the heat to your head.
You'll feel a bit flushed that way, but you'll dispel the brain freeze faster if you do."
Akagi nodded, and right on cue, her phone buzzed silently.
Akagi popped up, whipping out her phone and sounded as if she was going through the motions of turning on a phone.
But as Zuikaku and Kaga both kept quiet in case it was a call, there was a skid of a chair being pushed back by someone standing up really fast, Akagi addressing the duo as she slammed the winning Popsicle stick on the table and dashed out of the bar at a speed that could give Shimakaze a run for her money.
"Mamiya'shavingacurryspecialthatIreallywantoeatinordertowarmmyselfupgottagobye!"
Leaving the two carriers alone in the bar with Houshou, and one could hear a pin drop as everyone had nothing to say about Akagi being attracted to food like moth to a flame. But Junyou had planned for this, and she whispered into the headset for Zuikaku to take the initiative.
"Ask her what flavor she likes, and pick one out for her."
Junyou could hear Zuikaku clear her throat to get Kaga's attention and parrot the question that everyone already knew the answer to.
Beside her, she could see Chitose and Shoukaku crouching and hunched over an already-opened 'Hello Panda' packet that was colored pink to symbolize the flavored cookies within containing strawberry cream, the duo munching on the cookies as best they could without making too much noise.
Junyou held out her hand to quietly ask for some, and she was rewarded with the empty pink packet being placed her her hand, Shoukaku and Chitose shrugging their shoulders in unison while putting on apologetic expressions.
Junyou's dulled eyes stared down at the betrayal of her two fellow carriers, but suddenly snapped to attention as she heard the skid of the steel chairs on the wooden floor.
Junyou could hear Zuikaku exclaiming,
"Hey, where do you think you're going?
You haven't asked me to pick a Popsicle for you yet."
But footsteps that rounded the now-silent chair was heard, Kaga distancing herself from Zuikaku and Houshou as she left, calmly commenting.
"I don't like to eat anything cold before any major meal of the day."
But Zuikaku was also leaving, pushing her chair out loudly to put her feet on the floor as she sounded as if she grabbed the winning Popsicle stick and followed Kaga, accusing.
"Bullshit!
You just don't want to accept anything from 'The 5th Carrier Division' in which if you did, you'd feel as though you owed us something, right?"
Kaga's footsteps stopped, and Junyou, through her sharp hearing, could clearly hear the disinterest in her voice, leading her to wonder if Zuikaku was wasting her time with the cold carrier that was infamous for being stoic and professional all the damn time.
"You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment."
Zuikaku shouted, causing the hiding trio to cover their highly attuned ears to the unexpected sudden rise in volume while Houshou politely sidestepped them as she entered the kitchen with the box of Popsicles to keep in the freezer.
"BULLSHIT!"
Using her one good ear that was still listening to the headset, she took off her headset temporarily as she listened in on the conversation between Kaga and Zuikaku, the latter losing her temper and getting carried away due to their rivalry and the resulting tension between them.
"You'd refuse even food simply because I'm the one who's providing it?"
Kaga moved around on the spot, likely turning around to face the approaching Zuikaku as she stated in a matter-of-fact tone that she was known for.
"I refuse the Popsicle that you offered because you took advantage of your luck to get free food at Houshou-san's expense.
How disgraceful, for the 5th Carrier Division to resort to such petty tricks..."
Kaga was now shifting on the spot as she took on the tone of someone who was very good at letting others know of their mistakes, being blunt and direct in her observations as she chided.
"You may rely on your luck right now, but out there on the ocean, there is no telling when your luck will fail you and cause something bad to happen to you.
You have potential and may be trying to get stronger faster by asking me to coach you, but I personally think that you are not ready for the strength that you will unlock and the responsibilities that come with it.
Not that I have any right to tell you what you should and shouldn't do.
I rely on my skills, unlike you from the 5th Carrier Division, who relies on her luck to get by."
Zuikaku scoffed at that, retorting.
"I know that that's the case right now, and I currently can't possibly hope to achieve what you can do, but I'm getting there one step at a time!
I swallowed my pride to learn from you.
I tried not to retort when you coached me and pointed out my flaws.
I even tried to be nice to you by offering you this!"
Junyou could hear a whiff of air and the small crack of something hitting the floor as if something was thrown to the ground quickly.
Junyou surmised that Zuikaku threw the Popsicle stick at the floor, her dislike of Kaga's direct and harsh words outweighing her love for her.
Junyou sighed, talking into the headset and trying to pacify an irate Zuikaku at the other end of the line.
"Chill the fuck out, you're here to try to talk to her, not start another cat-fight.
Take a few deep breaths…
Inhale…
Exhale..."
Junyou could hear Zuikaku audibly trying to calm herself down by following her steps, and Kaga wasn't moving as she didn't think this conversation was over, which was a good thing.
Junyou then spoke to Zuikaku slowly, trying to get her next point across.
"Look, I understand that you want to improve yourself in order to make her proud, but I don't think she's the kind of person to like people who improve themselves for such self-serving reasons.
Don't improve yourself to try and surpass her, that'll make it sound as if you don't care about improving so long as you're better than her.
Don't improve yourself to win her over, she'll likely reject you as it sounds as if you'll be satisfied with your progress after you earn her approval and love.
You have to change your mindset and look at the bigger picture.
Improving yourself to protect everyone may be a difficult goal, but she'll at least respect you for improving yourself for such a selfless reason."
Zuikaku started speaking again after she had contemplated Junyou's advice, trying to adapt her stance and change her goals and mindset not just for her own sake, but also for the sake of the base and her comrades.
She couldn't believe that of all people to tell her this, it was the one carrier that she thought knew nothing about selflessness.
Perhaps it said volumes about how shallow she was on the inside if she was indeed trying to improve herself for such self-centered reasons.
But she communicated these thoughts to Kaga, trying to convince not just Kaga, but also herself of her own sincerity in trying to improve for the good of everyone.
"I was told that trying to improve myself for the sole purpose of surpassing you was a silly goal, as I wouldn't care about improving myself any more so long as I was better than you.
It took me a bit of thinking, but I think that she was right.
In times of war, we can't be so self-centered and get conceited whenever our strength reaches an apparent plateau.
We must try to find ways to further improve ourselves if we are to protect everyone."
Zuikaku sounded morose as she continued on, Kaga silently and respectfully listening to her motive rant.
"I know that it's a big goal following a paradigm shift, but I ultimately want to protect everyone, and not just for the sake of others praising me.
This base is my home, and despite what goes on between us, you're also a part of the Yokosuka family, and I also want to protect you.
You're my senior, and more than that, you're a fellow carrier.
I may not be as skilled as you are right now, but rest assured, I will improve and do the things that you can't do, while you do the things that I can't do."
Kaga huffed, but was sincere as she congratulated Zuikaku for learning to selflessly fight for the greater good of the base, the country and the people, which was what the ship girls were ultimately fighting for.
"It seems that you have the right idea, 5th Carrier Division.
We shouldn't be so self-centered in times of crisis.
We need to look out for one another and learn from each other when we can.
However…"
Kaga stepped forward and a ruffling sound was heard, Zuikaku yelping in surprise as she exclaimed.
"You have a long way to go, 5th Carrier Division.
Don't go thinking that you're ready for the big leagues yet."
As Junyou asked Zuikaku through the microphone about a trend that she was seeing, backed up by her memories of the various heated interactions between the duo.
"Look, alright.
I know you two got history, but you need to ask about why she isn't calling you by your name."
Junyou looked to Chitose and Shoukaku with an 'Are-you-girls-with-me?' expression, exasperatedly commenting on Kaga's seemingly-subconscious behavior to keep referring to Zuikaku as '5th Carrier Division' as though she couldn't remember her name.
"I mean, are you serious?!
Isn't anyone weirded out by this?
Does she have selective Alzheimer's when it comes to remembering Zuikaku's name, or what?"
Meanwhile, Zuikaku was audibly struggling with as the ruffling continued, squealing in exasperation.
"Don't rub my hair, Kaga-san!
You'll mess it up!"
Kaga stopped on command, seeing no point in continuing something that wasn't going to benefit anyone and commented.
"So long as you get the point, 5th Carrier Division."
But Zuikaku must have heard Junyou's question as she echoed it with a bit of hesitation, suddenly sounding almost fearful of Kaga's potential slew of answers, a lot of them negative.
" … Why do you call me '5th Carrier Division'?"
Kaga didn't get the point of the question, nonchalantly answering.
"Because you're 5th Carrier Division.
Simple."
Zuikaku, now speaking in a tone of consternation, could almost be heard holding back a choking sob as she contemplated the hidden meaning of her senior not even bothering to call her by her name, even in private.
" … I mean, why don't you call me 'Zuikaku'?
Why do you keep calling me '5th Carrier Division' instead?
I can't even remember a time when you called me by my name like a person…"
She could hear Kaga try to respond, a sound escaping the introverted carrier before it was cut off by a pause, and Kaga meant to say something again as she was more convinced of her counter-argument, but she seemed to remember something that made her stop.
Junyou could hear Zuikaku snort softly in resignation, stating solemnly.
"That's just it, hmm?
I reviewed my memory banks just now, and saw that despite knowing each other for quite a while, you've never once called me by my name, and only '5th Carrier Division' or '5thCarDiv girl' or some variant of it.
I know that outside of sorties, you call Shoukaku-nee by her name whenever you feel like it, although you call her 'Shoukaku-san' most of the time.
But you've always called me '5th Carrier Division', something that you do only to me, and it makes me feel like I'm just…
Like I'm just a thing to you instead of a living, breathing person like everyone else, and my name isn't worth remembering.
I suppose I got used to it a long time ago, but it came up as a stray thought, and I can't help but wonder if you look down on me so much that you'd single me out and do this to me and me alone…"
The ground underneath Zuikaku's feet shifted as a rustle could be heard on the ground, meaning that Zuikaku might be moving around as she picked up the fallen Popsicle stick.
And after she was done, Junyou could hear Zuikaku speaking solemnly as she addressed Kaga.
"I respect your strength and your skills, and I'm trying my best not to retort every time you point out a mistake in my shooting form in practice because I know you're looking out for me.
But I just wanted you to know, that part of the reason that I wanted to improve myself was to impress you and so that you'd admit that I'm strong enough."
Zuikaku scoffed at herself, now bitterly reflecting on her past self as she pointed out the flaw in her own thinking with Junyou's previously stated points.
"It's so shallow, simply assuming that being better than you was all that was needed to gain your approval.
Not that you'd ever approve of someone who only strives to be better than others just to show off and gain the seal of approval from others.
But I can say that I was serious in trying to impress you, because ultimately, you are my senior, and one whom I highly respect.
If I can't reach a level of strength where you think that I can adequately protect others, should you ever fall in battle, you'd die with regrets while thinking that I was too weak to protect the rest of the carriers.
And they say that a ship girl who dies with regrets is one who can be Abyssalized to become an Abyssal to haunt the living…"
Zuikaku was now speaking as she remembered painful memories, the loneliness evident in her voice as she reminisced upon the war where someone died and left her more and more alone, trying to maintain a strong front and barely succeeding.
"You, Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu were all gone after Midway.
Then, it was Shoukaku and Taihou in the Philippines Sea...
I understand that no ship can last forever in a war, and due to my high luck, I would theoretically be the last carrier standing simply because I 'got lucky'.
And if I can't protect everyone, I want to make everyone feel that they can at least pass on without regrets, because I'll be there, and I'll be strong enough to protect everyone.
But look at this…
...Perhaps this Popsicle stick is my entire shtick.
Perhaps luck is all I have, and I shouldn't think that I'll ever be able to perform up to your impossibly high standards.
At this point, I really don't care if you address me as '5th Carrier Division', since I've gotten used to you addressing me that way.
And I'm your student, so I have no right to complain about you treating me like shit if I want to learn anything.
So with that, good day."
A sound of the Popsicle stick hitting the floor was heard as Zuikaku walked back to the Shinsengumi to meet up with the trio, and Junyou was already racking her brains to try and think up of anything to help Zuikaku get back in the game.
Chitose and Shoukaku were desperately whispering into Junyou's microphone to tell Zuikaku not to give up, making things very uncomfortable for her as Junyou tried to pull away from the carriers who leaned in a little too close for comfort to speak into the mouthpiece.
But Kaga was moving around the spot where the Popsicle stick was dropped and she finally called out to Zuikaku using her name, something that nobody expected her to do when addressing the more vocal and headstrong member of the 5th Carrier Division.
"Zuikaku."
Zuikaku's footsteps instantly stopped, Junyou shushing Shoukaku and Chitose as she moved the microphone and strained her ears to listen intently to the next exchange, Shoukaku and Chitose following in her footsteps and their faces hardening in concentration to listen in on the duo as Zuikaku moved around on the spot, likely to turn around as Kaga's footsteps approached.
Kaga was trying to console Zuikaku, not just as a fellow carrier who was under her tutelage, but also as someone whom she knew well despite their rivalry.
Even when she was rather dense when it came to interpersonal relationships, Junyou knew that the stoic carrier wasn't so insensitive as to not know when she was in the wrong or when she had committed a faux pas, and this was one of the times where she was trying to correct her subconscious tic and tried to mend the relationship with the 5th Carrier Division.
"I admit that I am at fault for subconsciously calling you by your division, and not by your name even after all this time.
I realize that it was wrong of me to do so, and I apologize for that."
Zuikaku was now reacting to Kaga shifting about, exclaiming in embarrassment.
"Y-You don't need to bow to me in apology, K-Kaga-san!"
But Kaga was adamant, likely straightening up from her apologetic bowing position as she continued on in spite of Zuikaku's protests.
"I will do my best to call you by your name when we're not on sorties from now on as a form of respect and also as a sign of basic courtesy.
And this Popsicle stick…
… I'll be keeping it for next time, despite the fact that it's in poor taste to give away something that they got for free to others…"
Junyou instinctively spoke into her microphone to calm the carrier at the other end of the line down as she heard Zuikaku start a little, but still maintained a cool head in order to hear the Kaga-Class carrier out.
"Chill, chill…
Don't get triggered so easily by her comments.
Just hear her out."
However, Kaga audibly smirked, and she continued her sentence as she turned away.
" … But I appreciate you offering me this when you could have easily hogged it all to yourself.
Thank you, Zuikaku."
Junyou whispered into the microphone, instructing.
"Tell her that you want things to improve between you two despite your rivalry, and that you want to improve yourself so that she can depend on you more."
Zuikaku simply huffed in response, proclaiming embarrassedly as she paraphrased Junyou's words.
"W-Well, I know that you can't do everything by yourself, so I want to get stronger so that you don't have to carry the burden of the war by yourself.
And the way to do that is to improve things between us, not just because we can work better together, but because I really think that you deserve better from me.
I can be better, and I will be better!
You better count on it!"
Junyou could almost imagine Kaga's smirk as she barely heard Kaga whisper to herself as she left.
"I am now."
As Junyou smirked to the grinning Shoukaku and Chitose, all three of them high-fiving each other on a job well done.
Houshou approached them, squatting down to address Junyou as she asked politely, but her tone was one of maternal concern for a junior carrier.
"How did things go?
I hope it went well between them, despite the two of them storming out of the bar…"
Junyou gave her a thumbs up and flashed her winning smile at her senior, exhaling as she reassured the concerned Houshou.
"We hit a few rough patches, but it's alright.
A successful first step for the Zuikaku Romance Team!"
In the Admiral's office, Admiral Mako was looking through all of the collected information of the Abyssals' recent movements, the opened folder that was 'Apocalypse' showing several blueprints and receipts for materials used to build some sort of new Abyssal weapon to be deployed in battle.
This would likely herald a new age of warfare, and even though Admiral Mako tried her best to put the pieces together and uncover their plans, she didn't have enough puzzle pieces needed to form a credible lead.
Mutsu sat on the couch as she sorted through some of the paperwork and was fielding a call from Central, the Nagato-Class battleship called in to help divide the workload between them to finish the paperwork in half the time.
Admiral Mako looked weary after spending a whole afternoon contemplating possibilities that had gotten her nowhere except giving her a splitting headache that she could use as an excuse to get out of anything if need be.
Several things were set in motion by the Abyssals, and she was hoping that she and the Admirals of neighboring bases were prepared enough to face what was to come.
Mutsu tapped the Admiral's shoulder, urging her to relax with the following argument.
"Admiral, it's time for you to rest.
You can't keep this up forever.
Even if you were a ship girl, I would still give the same advice."
Admiral Mako sighed, nodding slowly as she tried to let go of the documents she held and tried to explain herself.
"I know, but it's just…"
Mako took off her Admiral cap, and tossed it back towards her desk, the officer's cap barely making a 'plop' sound as it landed on her laptop, Mako scratching her head as she considered the well-being of her girls.
"You girls risk your lives out there, and I can't be sitting here cooling my heels.
I have to pull my own weight and figure out the enemy's motives so as to end this war and prevent any more losses.
I won't settle for anything less."
Mutsu's face darkened, leaning in to whisper to her frustrated Admiral.
"Is it about the fallen girls?
Is that why you're pushing yourself so hard?"
Mako, now no longer regarding herself as an Admiral when addressing Mutsu, nodded solemnly, sighing resignedly.
"Look at me.
I ask for you girls to be brave in the face of losses, and here I am, barely able to face the girls that I've sunk, either directly or indirectly."
Mutsu reflected upon that, finally answering the Admiral, who slouched and suddenly looked several years older due to the stress from commanding the fleet.
"You can't protect everyone all the time, Admiral, especially when you're commanding the battle from so far away.
Besides, this is war, and I think everyone has come to terms with their own mortality.
No one can blame you for losing a few ship girls in such turbulent times.
But, if I may ask, why is it that you drive yourself beyond what a normal Admiral would do to ensure the safety of each and every ship girl?"
Mako plopped down on her seat in order to relax, Mutsu standing adjacent to her and listening to her Admiral as she explained.
"You know I was in a gang, back in my youth, right?"
Mutsu nodded, not surprised to find out that the Admiral had been a rebellious teenager, running away from home to join a biker gang.
Mako sighed and continued,
"Well, the reason why I left them to join the Navy and to serve as an Admiral was because I wanted to protect you all.
Bear with me here.
This stemmed from an encounter in my youth, back when I was maybe, like, 5?
I was in a small town, and this was back when we didn't know about you girls, when the government still thought that they could end this war without breaking the news to the world about this alien menace.
I stumbled onto a pair of ship girls in disguise as civilians in the town I lived in, and when I saw you girls, and seeing how you gave off a vibe that was different from any human's, even when you looked human…"
Mako scratched her head sheepishly, and ducked her head in embarrassment at what she was going to say next.
"I went up to you girls and asked if you were angels, seeing how beautiful you were."
Mutsu simply stared for a moment before snickering at her Admiral's revelation, Mako smiling tiredly as she tried to defend herself.
"Hey, man.
That was before I knew I liked girls, and all of you ship girls have perfect looks, so give my five-year old self a break."
She looked away, continuing.
"I remember telling one of the 'Onee-chan's that I liked her, and the other ship girl invited me to talk with them by placing me on her lap and resting her breasts atop of my head.
I used to wonder why my neck ached that particular night, and now, thinking back on it, it wasn't much of a mystery, eh?"
Mutsu gave her a winning smile, happy that her Admiral was finally opening up and relieving her stress by talking about her past.
"The ship girl who had me on her lap told me of their secret powers, like how they could walk on water and how human bullets couldn't hurt them, despite the other ship girl's insistence that such information was classified, although my look of amazement was enough to dissuade her from persisting, and they both made me swear to an oath of silence.
I suppose telling a five-year old girl wasn't much cause for alarm, since no one would believe a child.
Fast forward to when I was in a gang as a teenager, I was there watching my afternoon television when they revealed the existence of the ship girls to the world.
Amidst the uproar of the humans attending the conference, I saw the faces of two ship girls that had almost faded from my memory."
Mako looked to Mutsu, her eyes unreadable, but with hints of slight happiness with a nostalgic smile, Mutsu unsure of how to respond.
"It was you who told me of the superpowers of the ship girls, and it was Nagato whom I confessed my feelings to that day."
Mutsu's eyes widened, but when she thought about it, it wasn't so surprising seeing that she knew herself to be the type of ship girl to indulge in a child's curiosity.
The cute look of shining amazement would likely soften Nagato's heart and allow her to continue amazing Mako with their incredible abilities, since her Admiral was a child back then.
And besides, she thought.
If the Admiral had feelings for Nagato ever since she was a child, then maybe their relationship was always meant to be as it seemed to be a form of love that spanned lifetimes, Mutsu feeling rather glad that her Admiral was able to find Nagato again, even if it was not the one she met in her childhood.
She heard the Admiral continue on.
"Back then, my heart fluttered upon seeing Nagato, and I was a teenager then.
I knew I was into girls then, but I guess on that day, I thought hard about the revelation of the Abyssal threat, and I kinda came to a conclusion, y'know?
Like an epiphany.
That if angels were to exist, surely demons should exist out there in the world, you get me?"
Mutsu looked away at that, no longer sure how to face the Admiral, who sighed and reclined back into her seat and looked defeated.
"And that we were on the brink of being destroyed so many times without even knowing what hit us, it scared me.
But what made it even worse was that they revealed that the only line of defense against complete annihilation was a bunch of teenage girls, some looking barely old enough to graduate from preschool.
It scared me even more, to think that you girls had to shoulder this burden without telling anyone just because you were created by us as instruments of war.
This was a choice that you never had the privilege to choose for yourselves, which really hit me hard back then, thinking of the countless number of girls that had to live short, violent lives before dying and having no one know about and appreciate their contributions and existence, as if they were ghosts…"
Mako shuddered and inhaled sharply, as if afraid of how she would fare as a ship girl before sighing and finishing her story.
"And from then on, I took it upon myself to enlist myself in the Navy to protect you all, and lead a fleet that would end this war so that none of you would have to fight anymore.
I'd marry the girl of my dreams AKA Nagato, my teenage delusion of messiah-hood and being a grand leader pushing me on as I was accepted into the Admiral waiting list."
Mako breathed out from her nose in what was a feeble attempt at a laugh at her younger self, almost looking as if she would break down at any moment.
"Look at me now.
Several dead ship girls that are on me, no idea of our enemy's plans or movements and always having to be on defense…"
Gesturing to the 'Apocalypse' folder on the table in front of her.
"... and no end to this fucking war in sight.
Some messiah, huh?"
Mutsu stood up and walked over to her Admiral, resting her gloved hand on the Admiral's shoulder and taking extra care not to break her relatively frail human body as comforting her with a sad smile on her face.
"Like I said, none of us blame you for the mistakes you made.
You try your best to be there for every single one of us and treat us with the care a mother would forher offspring, something that goes above and beyond the call of duty.
And for that, we are eternally grateful."
Mako looked up to the caring and reflective eyes of her battleship, finally breaking out into a small smile as she nodded.
"I guess so."
Mutsu nodded in response to Admiral Mako's improvement in her attitude and stood back as Admiral Mako pushed herself back up on her Admiral chair, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself as she chirped up.
"Ahh, this is why I like talking about serious shit with you, Mutsu.
You always know how to cheer me up when I get too emotional."
Mutsu only sighed at that, replying,
"Yes, and you tease Nagato-nee because you want to 'soften her up for the marriage' as you once said, and because you love her.
You hang out with Kongou to relax, flirt with Ashigara in your free time and bring Yamato as your wing-man when going anywhere out of the base."
"Exactly.
I'm glad you know me so well."
"Regrettably so."
Mako smirked, putting on her Admiral cap as she leaned over to reach for her phone to dial the extension number to the engineer block, where Akashi and Aoba were working with the human engineer duo to create a machine that allowed a ship girl to communicate with her soul, the entire project code-named 'Psyche' for future reference.
She waited for someone at the other end of the line to pick up, finally hearing Akashi's voice through the speaker as the repair ship asked.
"Admiral, is that you?"
"Yep, just wanted to check up on the progress of Project Psyche on your end."
She could hear the voices of Akio and Kousuke in the background as Akashi's voice drowned them out, speaking up about the few problems they've encountered.
"Well, Akio and Kousuke say that the interior of a ship girl's mind may be similar to that of a human's, but we've been actively trying to determine what those differences are by checking our records and making calls to Central to confirm.
They've also been trying to simulate how to form and stabilize an 'inner world' for the mind and soul to be transported into with help of the Fairies here, a platform that won't collapse from within and can be maintained as the ship girl is in 'sleep' mode."
Admiral Mako took the time to open her laptop and check up on the weather forecast that was in her favorites tab as she clarified.
"So, like we all know, the soul is summoned and is installed in the ship girl's body as it creates a predetermined personality.
Are you saying that you're trying to draw the soul out safely and allow the ship girl reach a deeper consciousness, thereby finding a middle ground for the two to meet without complications?"
Akashi gave a huff of agreement, Admiral Mako seeing that the weather on the 12th was bad, with a very high probability of extremely heavy rain around the Kanto region and the Izu Islands.
Damn.
The Abyssals always took advantage of adverse weather conditions to utilize guerrilla tactics and strike quickly, since the effectiveness of their detection equipment would be severely limited on the field, which allowed the Abyssals to travel a little more freely beneath the ocean while the ship girls had to battle with the Abyssals as well as the weather.
"Akashi, how long do you need before being able to give me reasonable odds of surviving this procedure?"
"When you say 'reasonable', you mean..."
"I mean, at least a 30% of survival.
And I want that to be your most pessimistic estimate, not your most optimistic."
She could hear an audible sigh on the other line, but there were signs of a discussion being held as she guessed that Akashi covered the mouthpiece of her phone, Admiral Mako waiting for about fifteen seconds before Akashi spoke into the mouthpiece to give their answer.
"About the time when you fight the Abyssal armada in a few weeks."
Admiral Mako exhaled, glad that they were able to make some progress while maintaining reasonable odds of survival.
And to put it in perspective, she'd never have considered 30% remotely close to anything she'd consider 'reasonable odds' 10 or even 5 years ago.
Two things that convinced her that the first test subjects would survive the procedure was the fact that she had pulled a lot of strings to get Central to cough up relevant information pertaining to Project Psyche and anything they had learnt about the ship girl mind throughout the two decades.
The second was that Akashi, a very experienced ship girl who had lived for slightly over 16 years and was pretty much a centenarian in ship girl years, was on the case, and despite the repair ship's shady past with Central, she trusted the repair ship's expertise and knew that she would deliver.
She uttered out a simple yet genuine,
"Thanks, Akashi."
To which the repair ship only huffed in response and hung up on her, Admiral Mako tossing her phone onto her desk, sliding down to slouch in her chair as she closed her eyes and pulled her Admiral cap down to summarize things thus far.
Akashi, Aoba, Akio and Kousuke were working on Project Psyche, and the submarines were out stealthily laying the Anti-Abyssal naval mines for the large-scale battle that was to come in the near future.
She didn't know much about 'Apocalypse', but she couldn't help feel a sense of dread that this upcoming battle was but a distraction for something far more destructive than anything they had faced thus far, seeing the sheer amount of resources poured into it for so long.
This feeling of dread may be dismissed as an unfounded fear by some, but for her, there was too much riding on the line for her to dismiss anything as an unfounded fear out of hand.
This rain, too...
She leaned forward to reach for her touch-phone again, allowing her Admiral cap to fall onto her lap as she planned to call up the Admirals of the neighboring Miura and Tateyama Naval Base through both the casual and official channels, Mutsu raising her head temporarily to regard Admiral Mako before looking back down at her paperwork.
There was something big that was about to go down, and Admiral Mako wanted to make sure that her ship girls had enough strength and numbers to protect each other on the battlefield.
Fujiwara and Konishi would understand her concerns, especially if she let them in on the loop about 'Apocalypse' and had at least one fleet ready to be deployed at the drop of a hat should the Abyssals really try to attack them under the cover of heavy rain on the 12th.