"You wish to what?"
Akashi, Unryuu and Shigure were standing outside the canteen, in a side alley where Shigure had directed the two members of the 8th Fleet to after breakfast in order to ask them about the sortie that the 8th Fleet was rumored to go on, especially since people had started to talk and say that an Abyssal Princess was en route to Japan.
And that the 8th Fleet of Yokosuka was going to fight her and her Elite Abyssals.
Akashi was looking down at the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer with a perplexed expression while Unryuu was dumbly munching down on a rice cake that was served at dinner, the repair ship trying her best to figure out her intentions as she clarified the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer's request.
"Let me get this straight.
You want to sortie with us, the 8th Fleet, and observe how we fight the Elites and the Southern War Princess?"
Shigure nodded, eager to get in on the action as she explained herself to her seniors.
"Look, if a fleet that's filled with auxiliary ships is being tasked with fighting a Princess, it's either a suicide mission, or you're doing something right.
Admiral Mako isn't the type of Admiral to pointlessly throw the lives of her ship girls away, so it's obviously the latter, and I want to know what it is.
Even if I can't fight like you all, I want to know just how powerful you are as a team, since no matter how skilled you all may be to be able to exceed your mediocre stats, you couldn't have gotten this far on individual skill alone.
Please?"
Unryuu, upon heartily swallowing the rice and considering Shigure's proposal with a blank stare, gave Akashi an aside glance as she tried to play devil's advocate and oppose Akashi's blatant expression of disapproval as she meekly suggested.
"Well, it's not like she'll be with our fleet.
We can dump her with the backup fleet, and she'll be someone else's responsibility, not ours, right?"
Akashi's gaze shifted as she turned to look the Unryu-Class carrier in the eye, scathingly remarking.
"You just don't want to feel responsible for her should she ... get in trouble, right?"
Unryuu looked away, a few bits of rice stuck to the sides of her mouth as she responded aloofly.
"Hey, if it's her time to go, she'll go regardless of whether we let her go on the sortie or not."
"Yeah, but if we let her go on this sortie, her chances of dying will increase..."
"And you're saying that as if she doesn't know the risks?"
Akashi turned to look Unryuu accusingly, asking bluntly.
"And if she does die should a stray shell kill her, who's the one who has to break the news to her teammates and sisters?"
Shigure paused at that, wondering if this was indeed the right thing to do after having a talk with her sisters yesterday about keeping themselves safe despite wanting to get stronger.
But she mentally dug her heels in, absolutely convinced that she was capable of handling herself, especially when she would be in the backup fleet and would only be tasked with providing cover fire for the 8th Fleet.
She would be relatively far away from the action, close enough to provide support but far enough so that she could safely kite her opponents should they attempt to target her.
Still, it was rather chilling for Unryuu to coolly talk about the lives of ship girls in a fatalistic sense, saying that she was unable to change her fate should some higher power determine that she was going to die at a particular date and time, the white-haired carrier barely hiding the fact that she was trying not to roll her eyes as she stayed silent while Akashi asked Shigure.
"Did you learn nothing from the Battle at Mikura Jima Island?
Do you have a death wish?"
The warmth went out of Shigure's expression upon hearing that, trying to get the point across that she wanted to go on this sortie in order to learn something, not to die.
"No.
I understand that it'll be dangerous, but I want to see what we're going up against.
If I want to get stronger, I need to know how powerful our opponents are, and how even auxiliary ship of this day and age are able to go up against them, and try to learn everything I can from the best."
It was now Akashi's turn to roll her eyes, placing her hands in her skirt pockets as she commented on how Shigure was trying to suck up to them.
"Please.
If you asked any one of our members, we'd use many words to describe our own team, but we'd never consider ourselves anywhere near the best.
Flowery language and praising words are lost on us, but if there's one thing the 8th Fleet understands, it's ship girls who know what they're doing, who can really put their money where their mouth is and achieve victory at all costs.
Besides, why us?"
Shigure looked away, being truthful with her part-friend-part-psychologist as she muttered abashedly.
"Well, you all are going to sortie tomorrow on the 17th, and that's rather convenient.
And although I'm loathe to use this phrase, I believe I got lucky...?"
Shigure raised an eyebrow as she scrunched up her face, unable to determine what kind of expression she was supposed to make when saying this, and she could see Akashi develop a bit of an eye twitch upon seeing events line up in Shigure's favor, and to see the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer be able to find another opportunity to sortie immediately after exiting the docks.
Unryuu looked down at Shigure, commenting idly.
"Well, you're a smart little destroyer who knows what you're doing, so I'll be counting on you to watch my back in battle."
Akashi brought out a hand to lightly karate-chop Unryuu on the head, Unryuu hanging her head as she lazily leaned forward like a tree swaying in the wind, Akashi retorting when seeing Unryuu act as though Shigure had already been accepted into the backup fleet and was going to sortie with them without her approval.
"Don't assume that little Shigure here's going to be sortieing without my say-so, and since I'm the flagship of the Combined Fleet, I have the final say.
Even if I allow her to be in the backup fleet, I don't want her to slow us down by getting injured, and I'll have to repair her..."
"U-Um..."
Shigure tried her best to try and convince Akashi that not only did she want to come back alive from this sortie, she wasn't going to get in the way of the 8th Fleet or allow herself to be a burden to anyone as she was prepared to pull her own weight.
"You don't have to worry about me.
I'll stay far away from the main battle and keep myself safe as I observe and support you all in battle, so please allow me in the backup fleet.
Please?"
Unryuu and Shigure both looked at the repair ship with pleading eyes, the repair ship now feeling the pressure being shifted onto her as she was now faced with the final decision of whether Shigure would be allowed to participate in the upcoming battle, albeit playing a supporting role.
Akashi finally relented, Shigure seeing that the repair genuinely had her best interests in mind, but also understood that she had to learn as much as possible in a short span of time and gain experience quickly.
The Akashi-Class repair scratched the back of her head whilst keeping her other hand in her pocket, trying to agree to a compromise as she laid down some conditions.
"Well, if you're going to go on such a dangerous sortie, I need to lay down some conditions to make sure that you don't come out any worse for the wear.
First, after the sortie, I want to have another counselling session with you to make sure that you're recovering from these two recent sorties.
Second, you're not to disobey any orders given to you by your seniors, especially if they're asking you to retreat.
Third, don't die."
Shigure nodded in order to accept Akashi's conditions,understanding if Akashi would get really tired of dealing her if she actively tried to get herself killed in a battle that was already fraught with peril.
Akashi was trusting her to be able to handle herself in battle and keep her wits about her in order to keep herself alive, and she couldn't let her down.
Unryuu turned to look at her flagship as Akashi muttered something to her, their body expressions relaxing as they were both close friends and didn't mind sharing their thoughts freely with each other.
"Well, the counselling session is to let her angst a little and get it out of her system at regular intervals, lest it build up and makes her turn emo..."
Shigure tensed up a little upon hearing that, raising her clenched fists to waist level as she retorted.
"I-I don't angst, Akashi-san!
And I'm standing right here, I can hear you!"
The tables were now turned on her, both members of the 8th Fleet now shifting their bodies to look down at her, Akashi raising an eyebrow at that statement while Unryuu, normally a bored-looking carrier who didn't express much emotion save for her default bored expression, now looked ready to smile as the edges of her mouth threatened to curve upwards, slowly raising a hand to pat Shigure on the crown of her head as though humoring a child.
She was left temporarily speechless by the gesture, unsure of how to convince her seniors that she didn't angst, but Akashi cut her some slack as she drew back, notifying her about the time which they had to assemble at the harbor in order to make it to the battlefield on time in order to intercept the Southern War Princess's fleet.
"Well, our fleet is comprised of ship girls with slow speed, so we need to sortie early in the morning to reach our destinations by afternoon or evening.
"Meet me at the canteen around 8.15 tomorrow for breakfast.
We'll sortie at 10, so that leaves us some time to conclude whatever unfinished business you may have before then."
Shigure thought about it, and understood if some of the slower auxiliary ships as well as the Ise-Class battleships had low top speeds, and needed to sortie earlier in the day in order to get to their destinations in time.
She nodded, exhaling as she tried to mentally psyche herself up for the battle that was to come, how she was now officially a part of it and was responsible for the safety of her teammates, herself and the 8th Fleet.
But now, she was a supporting player in this battle, and that meant that she wasn't supposed to throw herself into the fray and was only had to back the main fleet up.
No heroics, no stupid moves.
Shigure believed she could do that.
'17th April 2015
8.47 a.m.'
Shigure blinked as she turned off her HUD after checking the time and noting the date, having woken up the next day to get some breakfast before the sortie.
She sat with Akashi at the breakfast table after a sumptuous breakfast specially made by Mamiya to help fill their stomachs before fighting a Princess, Shigure now wondering about her next course of action.
Shigure had been exercising yesterday in order to make sure that her restored body was indeed capable of withstanding the physical strain of battle, and had went to bed early at night to make sure that she got enough rest, now feeling rather refreshed and was ready to face the battle later today.
Waking up early in the morning meant that she could quickly eat her breakfast and check up on her teammates and sisters before sortieing so as to reassure them again that she was going to come back alive from this sortie, and only wanted to participate in this battle in order to learn how to improve herself.
Shigure had an idea to visit her teammates in the hospital before she sortied, but Akashi then explained her friends' condition to her and how she might not have enough time to visit them all.
"Your teammates suffered injuries that take time to heal, seeing that both Junyou and Hiei were blinded by the Flying Dutchman's searchlights, and I need to operate on their eyes to prevent complications.
Hiei also suffered some damage, so she's not going to be out on the ocean anytime soon.
Tatsuta will probably wake up sometime tonight, so your presence isn't going to change things."
Shigure sighed, understanding that the eyes of the ship girl, despite being extremely powerful, were also one of the most delicate organs in their bodies that required intensive care to make sure there weren't any hiccups in the healing process.
Hiei would have been heavily injured in the battle of Mikura Jima Island after holding back the Flying Dutchman and the Abyssals that it spawned, and she would be out of commission for a while.
Junyou would also require some time to recover, her eyes having suffered extensive damage as her night-vision eyes were meant to take in low amounts of ambient light to see in the dark, but was instantly blinded by the spotlights blinding her, and Akashi would have to perform extensive surgery on their eyes.
But she knew of two other ship girls on her fleet who were likely training in order to perform better next time, and she wanted to at least meet them before going off on another sortie.
She knew of the all-too-real possibility of being sunk while on a sortie even when playing a supporting role, and she wanted to at least say something to them on the off-chance that happened to her.
So when she told Akashi of her plan, the repair ship nodded after considering Shigure's choice and remarked on the status of the last two members of the Fast Response Fleet and her sisters.
"Ayanami's going to go train with Jintsuu later, but you can talk to her right now.
Tenryuu's in the sports hall training with Abukuma to keep her body in shape, and your sisters should be at the Shinsengumi.
You can visit all of them before the sortie, but we'll have to move quickly."
Shigure nodded as she saw the name-ship of the Ayanami-Class sitting with her sisters at a table, the tray in front of her displaying today's breakfast which was a serving of a sunny side-up egg with pepper sprinkled on it, jam on toast and two strips of bacon, a Western-style breakfast cooked to serve an entire base.
Shigure left her table to approach her teammate as Ayanami noticed the both of them nearing her table, not that Akashi was someone that one could deliberately ignore due to her distinct pink hair that was a relatively uncommon trait despite the wide variety of ship girls in the base.
Shigure noted the two other Ayanami-Class destroyers sitting beside her, both digging into their breakfast while speaking to each other, respecting Ayanami's silent plea to talk to Shigure alone.
Shikinami looked a lot like Ayanami, along with similar brown-white sailor uniforms, although Shikinami had dull brown eyes compared to Ayanami's, which had a slight tinge of green in it.
Shikinami's hair was reddish brown, and her bangs were parted above her right eye while her short ponytail was held together by a black ribbon.
She was the relatively quiet one of the group, though she still proactive enough to maintain a conversation with others despite not being as energetic as, say, Sendai during the night.
Shikinami also seemed to be quite doting of her sister ships as Shigure could detect slightly dilated pupils, and was rather proactive when speaking with Ushio, who was seated beside her.
Ushio was the really quiet and shy one, although Shigure could see the kindness bleeding through her demeanor as she was gentle and soft spoken while responding kindly to Shikinami's conversation prompts in order to form a consistent conversation between sisters.
Her sailor uniform was slightly different in that instead of the brown-white color scheme of the two Ayanami-Class destroyers beside her, her uniform was a distinct navy blue and white, and upon coming closer, Shigure could see two knee-high socks peek out from underneath the table along with her brown shoes.
Her long, silky black hair fell down to around shoulder length with the fringes curling inwards, and there was a tuft of hair curling out from her right temple.
But the most noticeable thing about her weren't any of the stated traits.
Her uniform, and by extension, her bra, failed to cover up the fact that she was far more well-endowed than most of the destroyers in the base, and the human side of Shigure felt a slight pang of jealousy before her analytical mind shot it down and tried to remain focused on the task at hand.
Akashi stopped in her tracks, allowing her to approach the Ayanami-Class trio alone as she spotted a spare seat and sat down, Ayanami breaking out into a relieved smile after seeing her up and about so soon.
Shigure nodded towards the nearby Ayanami-Class sisters, and they reciprocated the motion to greet each other without saying a word as Ayanami expressed her concern regarding Shigure's state of mind.
"Are you alright, Shigure?
After the Battle of Mikura Jima Island..."
Shigure nodded resolutely, her expression calm but determined to get through the day safely as she answered understandingly.
"I understand your concern, Ayanami-san.
But I'm... mostly alright now.
There's no guarantee that I won't have a relapse again, but I can say for sure that I'm back in action."
Ayanami's expression softened, morphing from one of concern into one that was now somewhat convinced by Shigure's reassuring words, noting the repair ship standing conspicuously beside them, politely asking about her reason for being with the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer.
"Ah, Shigure-san...
Is Akashi-san following you around to check up on you?"
Shigure shook her head, understanding why Ayanami would see things that way as she corrected the Ayanami-Class destroyer.
"It's the opposite, really.
Akashi-san's 8th Fleet is going on a sortie to fight the Southern War Princess, and I've been invited onto their backup fleet."
Shikinami and Ushio's attention were drawn to their conversation immediately after Shigure name-dropped an Abyssal Princess, the both of them turning to look at Shigure along with Ayanami, who now resumed her concerned expression, gravely addressing Shigure about the dangers of fighting the strongest Abyssals.
"Shigure-san.
I'm not sure if you should go ahead with this.
You do understand that an Abyssal Princess is far more powerful than anything we've faced thus far..."
"And that's why I need this.
I want to gain experience quickly and get stronger in order to protect us, and I have to go on as many sorties as possible.
And besides, I'm only a supporting player in this battle, which means that it's very unlikely for me to sink."
Shigure regarded everyone at the table seriously as she answered.
"But I understand that 'unlikely' doesn't mean 'impossible', and I wanted to talk to you, Tenryuu and my sisters before I leave.
I can't visit those who are still hospitalized, but I suppose it provides some incentive for me to strive to come back alive."
Ayanami's expression changed as she contemplated Shigure's words for a while before nodding reluctantly, but Shigure was swarmed by Shikinami and Ushio stuffing their faces into Shigure's as they raised their voices in concern.
"Y-Y-You're going to take on an Abyssal Princess?!
Are you going to be alright?"
"You haven't received your Kai remodel, right?
You shouldn't push yourself like this!"
But Ayanami placed her hands on the shoulders of her sister ships, looking at her two sisters serenely as she addressed their concerns.
"She'll come back."
This seemed to calm her sisters down as Shigure looked at her teammate, interested in how she seemed so sure about her own statement.
"How are you so sure about that?"
"You're part of the 1st Fleet.
Our fleet.
You have to."
Shigure blinked in surprise, seeing that the Ayanami-Class ship girl was confident of her survival in the upcoming sortie.
But Ushio seemed unconvinced as she voiced her concerns, causing her bosom to shift around distractingly in her tight uniform.
"B-But that's a Princess and her fleet they're going up against!
What if…"
But Ayanami turned to look at her in a way that Shigure recognized as the 'elder sister' look, where it was meant to convey a look of reassurance, likely to alleviate their unease as she answered her sister without a second thought.
"There is no point distracting ourselves with thinking about what could happen, Ushio.
It does nothing but prevent us from preparing for what will happen.
Shigure-san will come back alive, because she now has too much to lose."
"W-What's that?"
"Us. All of us."
Ushio attempted to say something, but faltered in the face of Ayanami's words as she nodded meekly, Ayanami looking back at Shigure and meeting her gaze.
Shigure could see Ayanami's confidence in her skills and how she could handle herself in dangerous situations.
Shigure, feeling a little uplifted after seeing how her teammate trusted her to be able to hold her own in a fight, hardened her gaze and gave her a small nod as she stood up, Ayanami returning the motion with a sagely expression on her face.
And as she got up to leave while pushing her chair back, Shikinami looked to her and bid her farewell.
"I'd say good luck to you, but you don't need it.
Stay safe out there."
Shigure nodded to them, thankful for her support as she stood up to join Akashi and leave the canteen to talk to the others before she left.
Finding Tenryuu was next, and seeing that she was training with the Nagara-Class light cruiser to improve her mobility in a one-on-one training session.
Seeing that Abukuma was a light cruiser who had trained to earn her Kai remodel, she figured that the Tenryuu-Class light cruiser felt that she could learn something from her, and one way for them to do that was to train up their physical strength in the sports hall, where the sports equipment were.
Tenryuu had shed her mechanical ears and eye patch, was clad in a basketball uniform and likely wore a sports bra, seeing that she was rather well-endowed and her chest might hinder her during training, while Abukuma had her hair tied up in Chinese ox buns to prevent her hair from interfering with her training.
Akashi revealed that Tenryuu had wanted to hit the ocean in order to train herself, but was finally convinced by Akashi and Kiso that it currently wasn't a matter of skill, but simply physical conditioning.
Learning techniques as a ship girl granted them eidetic memory, superhuman stamina and enhanced healing in order to allow them to learn and recover quickly, allowing them to take their techniques to the next level without fear of permanent self harm.
But in terms of physical conditioning, training as humans made things easier as they were pushed to their physical limits more often than they would as ship girls, since turning on their ship girl modes boosted their physical stats and stamina to the next level.
In extremely simplified terms, if a ship girl trained as a human to lift tens of kilograms in order to improve herself physically, it was no different than a ship girl turning on her ship girl mode and using the same amount of strength to lift hundreds or perhaps even thousands of kilograms to achieve the same amount of improvement.
To improve one's physical condition as a ship girl was significantly harder, as improvements could only be made as the body trained itself to exhaustion in trying to reach and overcome its limits.
But since they were capable of superhuman feats in ship girl mode, they required special training equipment to train themselves up, equipment which they didn't have enough resources to spend on.
That was why she was training the old-fashioned way with Abukuma, Tenryuu up in the air with Abukuma but failing to stop the Nagara-Class light cruiser from dunking over her, causing the reinforced backboard to shudder from the sheer physical force behind the move.
Tenryuu fumbled the landing a little, landing on her heel and stumbling a little, Shigure seeing that the name-ship of the Tenryuu-Class was rather shocked at the difference in physical strength, Abukuma holding onto the rim for a little while to allow Tenryuu to clear the area before letting go and landing on her feet.
Shigure could see the sweat that permeated their clothes and covered the skin of the two light cruisers, both of them panting heavily and caused their shoulders and chest to heave with great effort, each exhaled breath moistening in the air-conditioned sports hall while their hair stuck to their skin.
Having seen the way the light cruisers fought, it was understandable that agility and finesse would be their specialty on the battlefield.
She appreciated the skill shown in the dunk, the Nagara-Class light cruiser having swung her arms in an accelerating outward arc to circumvent Tenryuu's defense when she realized that Tenryuu was blocking her too well from the inside.
The light cruiser's body was limber enough to swiftly swivel her body and change its orientation mid-air, something that was difficult for destroyers to do due to their small body frame, and heavy cruisers were slightly slower when mimicking the move due to their larger body frame, often using their strength to compensate for the difference in speed.
This was also reflected in battle where light cruisers used their agility to complement their speed that was only second to the destroyers, and yet were incapable of the strength of the heavy cruisers and battleships.
Shigure started clapping for the both of them, noting the level of skill required to play at that level, Abukuma amiably discussing something with Tenryuu in order to give her some tips on her performance and how it could be improved via physical drills.
And upon finishing the small discussion, Tenryuu walked over to the assortment of physical training equipment that was pushed to the side of the court.
She picked up a skip rope and started skipping with it, closing her eyes to focus on the task while hopping with the ball of her feet, springing up and down to the rhythm of the tough skip rope hitting the floor.
It was an exercise that seemed rather simple on the surface, but required precise coordination of the feet and arms, and was a good way to train up your lower body as it put considerable stress on the hips, knees and ankles and kept them in motion.
She noted the various equipment laid out and arranged to ensure that they wouldn't roll anywhere, which included weights, a bouncy ball, a hula hoop and a few punching bags, amongst others.
There were also a dozen water bottles, chilled fuel bottles and high-calorie snacks for them to quickly consume so as not to run out of steam too quickly.
Akashi picked up two water bottles, greeting Abukuma by lightly tossing one towards her in a way that the light cruiser could easily snatch it mid-air, which she did with a resounding smack on the plastic bottle as she shot the repair ship a thankful look.
Shigure noted the look of slight concern in Abukuma's eyes as their eyes met, and Shigure nodded towards her in acknowledgement as she lowered her gaze.
Abukuma kept her gaze for a while before looking away and ripping off the cap of the water bottle with her superhuman strength, taking big gulps to replenish the fluids she had lost via sweat.
Shigure looked towards Tenryuu, who had likely finished about 100 skips in under a minute, accepting Akashi's second bottle that was offered to her as she placed the skipping rope on the floor and sat down on the sports hall floor.
She approached the seated Tenryuu who was hungrily gulping down the cooling water, Shigure noting the light cruiser's throat heave with each gulp as individual beads of sweat rolled down her sweaty and glossy skin, her drenched uniform accentuating her chest and figure as she finished the bottle.
She crushed the water bottle after most of its contents were emptied, squeezing whatever was left out of it as she stuck her tongue out to catch the drops of water dripping from the bottle before flinging the bottle towards the trash can on the other end of the court.
Shigure followed its trajectory as she tore her eyes away from the light cruiser, and was almost certain of it going into the generously-sized mouth of the trash can, noting how everyone's attention was drawn to the bottle that spun in a slight flip while flying in a wide arc towards its target.
It entered the bin without even grazing the rim, their excellent aiming skills coming in clutch as Abukuma turned back to Shigure, asking her about her reason for being here as her squeaky voice maintained its high-pitched tone,
"So Shigure, what're you doing here?"
Shigure blinked as she looked at her senior, not missing a beat as she replied coolly.
"I wanted to say goodbye before I sortie."
Tenryuu raised her head at that, making an effort to push herself off the floor and join the company of ship girls who were all standing up as she noted.
"A-Are you going on another sortie, Shigure?
I don't want you to push yourself too hard…"
But Akashi put a reassuring hand on Shigure's shoulder as the two members of the Fast Response Fleet looked at her, the repair ship confident of the Shiratsuyu-Class's odds as she stated.
"We'll be doing the heavy lifting, so all she has to do is be a good girl and stand by the sidelines as backup."
Akashi's eyes hardened as she met Shigure's eyes, her glare unyielding as her palm tightened on Shigure's shoulder menacingly while her voice took on a colder tone.
"Doctor's orders."
Shigure felt a major chill go down her spine at the harsh glare of a friend who did not take kindly to her martyrdom tendencies as she meekly nodded and averted Akashi's intense gaze.
Likewise, nobody decided to question the repair ship's order to the destroyer as Akashi visibly relaxed, looking at a slightly scared Abukuma who was wiping away her sweat with her sports singlet, asking.
"After this training match, I'm guessing that you two are hitting the gym, am I right?"
Abukuma nodded at the repair ship's guess as she notified the two of them about their plan.
"Well, after a few more best-out-of-ten matches here, we'll hit the gym before going for lunch."
Akashi nodded at that, releasing her hold on Shigure's shoulder as she pointed out some things for Tenryuu to note, being a medic and was thus more knowledgeable about the ship girl body.
"Good.
Techniques might be effective, but it doesn't hurt to bulk up and put some strength behind your strikes.
You're light cruisers, and your acrobatics and agility-based skills are only going to serve you well so long as your stamina doesn't run out in the middle of a battle, so remember that."
Shigure piped up with a question of hers about the situation.
"Seeing that the loser of this match likely has to do a penalty like skipping 100 times with the skip-rope, how many matches have you played?"
Abukuma cringed a little at that, revealing the outcomes of these matches.
"Five.
And I won them all, albeit with quite a bit of difficulty."
Tenryuu sputtered at that, pointing at the Kai light cruiser as she declared.
"Hey!
I came close that last match, alright?"
But Akashi, having stepped forward a little to stand by Shigure on the court, looked at Shigure and made a little gesture with her head, Shigure noticing it as she replied with a nod of her own, wrapping up the conversation by looking Tenryuu in the eye and reassuring her.
"I'll be back, Tenryuu.
You can count on that."
Tenryuu's gaze met Shigure's, and she could see that Tenryuu was slowly becoming more and more convinced of her determination to make it back alive, Shigure now back in control of her life and now felt driven to improve herself.
Tenryuu's eyes widened before narrowing as her expression hardened, Shigure feeling thankful for the light cruiser allowing her to participate in this sortie, noting that the Nagara-Class cruiser also picked up on her new-found confidence as they both nodded.
After talking to her fleet, or at least part of it, she felt a little more reassured about the upcoming battle as she had their blessings and support, and knew that everyone was trying to improve themselves after the fiasco at Mikura Jima Island.
Giving everyone one last reassuring nod to give them some peace of mind and allowing them to focus on their own tasks, she turned to follow Akashi out the sliding doors of the sports hall as she heard the sharp squeak of sports shoes and the rhythmic thump of the basketball hitting the floor start resounding through the hall before she exited the sports hall.
Meeting her sisters was the last thing on her agenda before she left, the repair ship having spotted them heading the Shinsengumi, likely in order to get something cool to drink in this summer heat.
Shigure had talked to them previously, but she truly wanted to be closer with her sisters this time round, thinking about how they had become more and more estranged from each other the longer the previous war went on, and how it hurt despite understanding the need for her to carry on like a soldier.
The fact that she had such a colorful past didn't help one bit, wanting to notify and reassure them before she left.
She saw that the three of them were sitting at a wooden table with another red-haired ship girl, but when Akashi notified her about her identity, Shigure's eyes widened at the revelation before struggling to contain her smile as she approached them, Akashi walking to the bar counter where Houshou patiently stood to order something before the sortie.
Shigure observed the newcomer sitting with her sisters, before kicking herself mentally and reminding herself that the newcomer was also her sister.
Kawakaze was a fiery ship girl who was much like Yuudachi, seeing that they were leaning towards each other despite sitting opposite each other, and despite Kawakaze's larger-than-life personality, she tried her best to include all of her sisters in the conversation, making sure that Samidare and Murasame could give their opinion on things.
Her hair was red like a burning inferno, complementing her personality to a tee as she used quite a bit of hand gesturing to get her point across, her expressions animated as she had the perfect balance of being a veteran that had fought many battles, and yet retained a fair amount of her indomitable spirit that was likely from her pre-Kai Ni days.
Her striking golden-yellow eyes added to her entire 'fiery ship girl' persona, and it was a nice aesthetic choice to accentuate her features with complementing colors in order to make her stand out as a Kai Ni ship girl, Shigure moving into position while noting that her red hair stuck out behind her and resembled a fox, remembering from her studies that most of the Shiratsuyu-Class's Kai Ni forms had hair that resembled dog ears.
The tip of the hair flaps were grey-tipped, and her uniform was unique in that she had on something resembling a sleeveless version of Shigure's black uniform that exposed her shoulders, along with a sick-looking black and white scarf around her neck, the spot on the scarf near her chin sporting the upper half of a golden four-leaf clover that acted as a throat guard.
Her uniform had red and gold trimmings along with primarily black finger-less elbow gloves, and on her uniform was a red neck handkerchief worn as a decorative ornament, her sleeveless uniform flaring out at the ends as it was unbuttoned, a large white stripe running down the length of the front zipper and continuing around her uniform along the flaps.
She wore a black miniskirt that revealed her toned thighs that were thankfully covered by similarly black pantyhose that ended with her dull red loafer shoes that were shaking about restlessly, no doubt eager to sortie.
Her hair had two long strands beside her face, reaching down to her stomach and were swishing around freely as she moved, and behind her head were two red ribbons that held up her twin braids with green beads at the end to prevent the whole thing from unraveling.
Along with a red-white hair-band to hold back her hair (although it failed to contain her ahoge) and with her bangs parted above her right eye, she looked significantly older than everyone, as a Kai Ni remodel also meant a physical maturation as well.
Shigure greeted them with a wave, which got their attention as they stopped their conversation to look at her as she approached them, sitting herself down on a free chair.
Kawakaze piped up with a greeting as her energetic voice sounded out with a touch of familiarity due to their past together.
"Yo, Shigure!
Kawakaze here, I guess we'll be sortieing later today in the same fleet, right?!"
Shigure nodded, unfortunately remembering the Battle of Vella Gulf as her confidence deflated somewhat and she looked away abashedly.
Feeling a little ashamed at being the sole survivor of the disastrous battle that sank her sister and several other ships then just made things awkward between them.
Picking up on the uncomfortable atmosphere between them, Samidare asked Shigure about her battle with the Abyssal Elites and Princess.
"Um, Shigure...
I just want you to be careful out there, alright?
Abyssal Princesses are extremely dangerous..."
But Shigure nodded, understanding why they would be worried about her safety in a battle like this, because her high luck was never going to be something that they would rely on to get her back in one piece, and wanted nothing more than for her to be safe regardless of whether they won or lost.
She had indeed faltered before this, after seeing comrades dying and sinking so violently and had a meltdown in the midst of battle, but that was why everyone was there to support her.
The ship girl spirit, despite being immensely powerful and capable of withstanding adversity, was also unpredictably fragile in that it could be broken by the death of a close one, a traumatizing event, or extended periods of extreme stress.
But that was why friends and family were there, to help you up whenever you fell.
And even though her spirit had deflated a bit from remembering unpleasant memories, looking at her sisters sitting beside her and were more than happy to help her out made all the difference in the world to her.
"I will do my best to come back here and be with you all again.
We're all back together again after so long, and it would be irresponsible of me to leave you all when we've been granted a second chance at life as the reunited Shiratsuyu-Class, right?"
Her sisters all nodded, Yuudachi reaching out to grab Shigure's arm to reassure her.
"Don't worry, Shigure!
We'll be here if you have any troubles on your mind, Poi!"
Murasame nodded at Shigure's reassurance, remarking as she leaned forwards to face Shigure.
"Shigure, we'll always be here for you.
And even though I'm an expedition ship, I won't hesitate to take your place on the 1st Fleet if you feel like you need to take a break from the action!"
Shigure raised an eyebrow at that and wanted to retort, but Kawakaze tried to stand up for her by putting a hand on their shoulders and explained on Shigure's behalf.
"Now, now.
I know that you all mean well, but I'm sure Shigure-Aneki doesn't want you to take her place in battle and get injured as a result.
That's why she pushes herself so hard, you know?
To get stronger so that she can protect you all."
Samidare politely objected to this, turning to face her Kai Ni sister ship as she responded questioningly.
"And why should she feel obliged to do so?
We are warships, and we can hold our own in battle, having all been through the same war.
I will admit that we may be the weaker ships of the Shiratsuyu-Class, but I must say that even though we may allow our stronger sisters to bear our burdens with us, we do not wish to them to bear our burdens for us."
Kawakaze conceded the point, but still tried to convince everyone that Shigure meant well as she started.
"Well, you're right about that, but-"
"No.
I understand."
Shigure cut Kawakaze off, and she turned to face them all as she explained how she couldn't suffocate and bury her own siblings with her protectiveness.
"I understand that I can't protect everyone from everything under the sun, so I won't bother trying.
Just like how I want you all to trust me when I say that I can take care of myself, I have to do the same for you all when the time comes, and can only offer my help and protection when you need it."
She then shifted her gaze to her redhead sister, smiling as she officially greeted her.
"But I digress.
It's good to see you again, Kawakaze.
And if you don't mind me asking, where were you this past month?"
Yuudachi piped up at that, proudly proclaiming her redhead sister's accomplishments after obtaining her Kai Ni remodel.
"Oh you wouldn't believe it!
Kawakaze nee-san sailed down to New Zealand to fend off an Abyssal invasion!
She's been back for a few days, and she visited you when you were still unconscious in the hospital."
Kawakaze nodded at that, looking at Shigure and puffing out her chest as she explained herself.
"I visited you in hospital when you were unconscious, so it's completely understandable if you didn't remember my visit.
I needed some rest because of the time zone difference, and I had to set sail in the middle of the night in order to intercept the Abyssal fleet in time."
Shigure's eyebrow raised at that, asking with a touch of concern about her sister's well-being.
"Are you sure you should be going for another sortie so soon?"
But Kawakaze thumped her chest in a manner that inspired confidence with an assuring grin on her face, boasting.
"Don't worry, Shigure-aneki!
I've been through worse than this, and your sister's a Kai Ni ship girl!
I was fine after a dip in the docks and few days' rest!"
Yuudachi then innocently asked a question about her own words.
"But what's worse than fighting two Princesses back-to-back?
Three Princesses, Poi?"
Kawakaze's smile drooped a little at that and her eyes struggled to remain calm in the face of bitter memories, but she still kept up her heroic smile as she turned to Yuudachi and answered truthfully whilst rubbing the blonde's head with a gloved hand.
"Well of course, Yuudachi-chan!
I've fought many Princesses, like most of the seniors in this base!
This won't be hard for me, so don't you worry!"
Yuudachi nodded affectionately in response to Kawakaze's confident answer, Shigure noting that Samidare and Murasame remained silent upon hearing Yuudachi's question.
Excluding Kawakaze and herself, she remembered that Samidare was the oldest and had already achieved her Kai remodel via sorties, and Murasame was the second Shiratsuyu-Class who arrived here, being quite active on expeditions while Samidare allowed other, stronger ship girls to take her place in the 4th Fleet as the base grew in manpower.
Yuudachi arrived before Shigure, which would explain her more laid back and innocent attitude when compared to her other sisters, Samidare, Murasame and Kawakaze being the mature foils to the blonde destroyer.
This would mean that Kawakaze, likely being as old as Samidare since a Kai Ni remodel needed months or even years to achieve, had been the heavy hitter of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers and had participated in several Princess battles before this, Shigure's heart feeling a little heavy at that realization and respectfully remained silent.
Kawakaze then noticed someone behind Shigure as she stood up and pushed her chair back, the chair legs scraping on the floor of the bar as she nodded in Shigure's direction.
Shigure got the message that Akashi was behind her, also pushing her chair back to leave the Shinsengumi while looking at her sisters, giving them her winning smile as she nodded and reassured them one last time.
"Don't worry, sisters.
I shall return."
Samidare's expression softened, sighing as she gave a tired smile and expressed her support.
"I believe you.
Please be safe out there on the battlefield, and watch each other's backs."
Murasame didn't seem like she had anything to say, but her eyes hardened as she gave Shigure a tight smile and nodded, to which Shigure returned the gesture gratefully.
Yuudachi was the most vocal one of the seated trio, waving her clenched hands about and exclaiming as Kawakaze feebly gestured for her to calm down.
Shigure couldn't help but allow her smile to widen at Yuudachi's energetic demeanor as she voiced her support.
"Go, Kawakaze and Shigure!
Go and kick the Abyssal Princess's ass for us!"
Shigure turned to exit the bar with a smile on her face as Kawakaze walked beside her and followed Akashi out the front door while Houshou gave them a small wave, to which they both reciprocated out of respect for the senior light carrier as they left.
"So, it seems that you have quite a few things you want to ask me."
Kawakaze gave Shigure an aside glance, and Shigure nodded slowly as they both walked towards the harbor while keeping a distance from Akashi, the repair ship respecting their privacy and led the way, keeping silent as Shigure and Kawakaze spoke in hushed voices behind her.
Shigure knew that there was the issue of the Battle of Vella Gulf hanging between them as she lowered her gaze and responded quietly, a slight feeling of guilt starting to build up within her.
"I just want to know if you feel anything towards me for surviving the Battle of Vella Gulf."
Kawakaze silently contemplated the question shortly before answering with a honest and simple,
"No."
Shigure looked towards her sister as the trio walked towards the harbor, crossing the barracks along the way as she saw some of the ship girls coming and going on their way to who-knows-where, and the sun today was slightly harsher than usual with a bit of cloud cover to prevent today's temperature from becoming too hot as summer was coming.
She saw Musashi with Mutsu out of her peripheral vision, and she shuddered upon remembering the sight of a bloody Mutsu in the rain and punching through the head of a Ta-Class Abyssal without a second thought, a far cry from her cheery demeanor as she talked to the uptight and proud Yamato-Class battleship.
But those thoughts were pushed out of Shigure's mind as she gave Kawakaze a confused look, trying to explain her point of view.
"B-But I survived a dud torpedo, and you all were sunk while I lived.
So why…"
But Kawakaze shook her head slowly as she gave Shigure an understanding look, her eyes containing the kindness of an elder sister that had matured over the years.
"So what?
Could you control the fact that it was a dud that failed to detonate?"
Shigure couldn't reply to that, and could only listen in stunned silence to her sister as Kawakaze explained herself to the confounded Shigure.
"I understand if you might feel guilty for surviving, but let me tell you, Shigure.
These are things that you can't control.
And even if the torpedoes that hit you weren't duds, so what?"
Shigure's mouth opened in an attempt to respond, but came up empty and failed to think of anything as she became slightly conscious of her open mouth and closed it, choosing to listen to her sister's point of view.
Kawakaze nodded at Shigure's lack of answers and tried her best to fill the silence between them as they walked towards the harbor, trying to give Shigure a second perspective on a battle that had sunk her whilst leaving Shigure alive.
"Look, Shigure, these things happen, and if you're prone to having things turn out favorably for you all the time, no amount of complaining from me or self-loathing on your end is going to change that.
I've already come to terms with it a long time ago."
Shigure nodded meekly, understanding her sister's reasoning as she tried to explain herself and how she saw things.
"I know.
It's just that whenever I see someone who sank in my wake, it just makes me feel a little bad about surviving, even though I know that I can't go back in time to change things."
Kawakaze nodded upon hearing that, looking at her and allowing Shigure to see the maturity in her eyes, and the weariness that was displayed after moving from battlefield to battlefield.
"I know how it feels, Shigure.
But we're here now, and I'm here now.
I'm not going anywhere."
Shigure faltered upon seeing Kawakaze expressing such brutal honesty with her and allowing her to glimpse into her weary heart, but Kawakaze's eyes hardened as she looked right into Shigure's uncomfortable, shifty eyes as the Kai Ni destroyer addressed her seriously.
"Shigure.
Just like how you want us to trust you to come back in one piece, you have to trust me when I say that I'm not sinking."
Shigure looked Kawakaze in the eye, and she could see the 'hardened veteran' look in her eyes, being a ship girl that had seen her fair share of death and destruction. And seeing that she had friends and family here in Yokosuka, she wasn't allowing herself to go down anytime soon.
Shigure sighed as she nodded in agreement, deciding to believe in her sister's strength and allowed her to lead the way, looking at the backs of her two seniors, shoulders slightly slouched as though perpetually tired from their experiences, but their backs straightened to exude seniority and confidence in their skills that had been developed and refined throughout years of combat against a never ending stream of Abyssals.
She wondered if it was inevitable for every senior to eventually look like that.
But there was no time to entertain such thoughts upon seeing a crowd of ship girls standing at the harbor, along with a familiar white-uniformed Admiral standing with them.
Shigure noted Admiral Mako's glance in their direction as they approached, and Admiral Mako's gaze lingered on Akashi for a while as though wordlessly communicating something, Shigure making a mental note of that before observing the ship girls gathered there.
Unryuu and Kiso were there, and there were a few more ship girls there that she had never seen before in public.
Hayasui the fleet oiler was there, with her short raven-black hair along with a long-sleeved black and white exercise sweater.
She saw that the fleet oiler was somewhat well-endowed despite hiding it behind her exercise sweater, and she had on a black miniskirt underneath her sweater which ended slightly beneath her hips, and a black collar with metal parts guarding it.
Her thighs were bare, but she had on black knee socks with brown school shoes, and she was also carrying some sort of rectangular baggage that was slung over her left shoulder via a sling connected to it, and her mild-green eyes were vibrant as she looked around with a friendly and amiable expression, a stark contrast from her teammates as Unryuu looked bored while Kiso looked serious with her arms folded beneath her bosom.
The monochrome ship girl standing next to her was the IJA ship girl Akitsu Maru, the pale ship girl looking somewhat embarrassed at the attention Hayasui was showering her with.
She wore a black military uniform top and dark miniskirt while carrying a red backpack with various unidentified weapons attached to its sides, something that was very unusual for a ship girl seeing that their weapons were given to them after they had entered the ocean and not before.
Her skin was unnaturally pale and contrasted with her dark eyes, likely because of the makeup that she put on before this, and she also wore white gloves that carried two things:
A summoning scroll similar to the scrolls carried by the Hiyou and Ryuujou-Class light carriers in her left hand, and a sheathed katana in her right.
The katana itself had a dull brown sheath with gold ornamental designs etched onto its surface, and the handle had a lighter shade of brown as its handle wrap with a gold-colored metal butt-cap, guard and collar, the golden guard kissing the similarly colored scabbard mouth.
The buttons on her uniform were a similar color of gold, as was the chrysanthemum symbol on the center of her jet black, peaked officer's cap that she wore.
Her hair was dark like Hayasui's and also of similar length, flowing straight down yet barely reaching the collar, oddly making her hair look a bit like a waterfall.
Along with her black thigh-highs and white sports shoes, she was the IJA ship girl that was strangely never seen around other ship girls, Shigure assuming that her katana was essential in helping her fight Abyssals.
Hatsuzuki was standing next to Unryuu, predictably so seeing that she had on pretty much the same bored expression as the Unryu-Class carrier.
Her yellowish eyes were half-lidded as she stared listlessly at nothing in particular, and her dark brown hair was styled in a way that would resemble horns, being held up by the black hair band that read with a gold font,
'61st Destroyer Division'.
And with an armored corset of sorts with a monochrome uniform top with a black neck handkerchief and a black miniskirt beneath said corset, her metallic tall boots/high heels providing further protection.
The Akizuki-Class destroyer wore some kind of dark skin suit underneath her clothes, blanketing her arms, thighs and even partially covered her neck.
She wore some sort of contraption on her right wrist that Shigure eventually identified as a fire director that was styled like a watch, and she was carrying two Rensouhou-Chans in each hand, looking rather different as they both had white spirals for eyes and were obviously more mechanical in appearance with square plates outlining their faces and had paddle-like hands that flapped about uselessly.
The two turrets sticking out their forehead meant that they were to be used in combat, and Hatsuzuki held affectionately.
The backup fleet stood to the side as the Ise-Class aviation battleships led them, Ise being the comical one and Hyuga the deadpan one, their contrasting personalities managing to somehow complement each other as they chatted with each other while the rest of the fleet stood nearby.
Hatsuharu was the most conspicuous one present, being a ship girl that had an extremely large ponytail swirling around behind her and swishing about gracefully with every turn of her head.
Her uniform was a sleeveless sailor school uniform, the uniform's color scheme being an even mix of black and white that formed sectioned stripes across her uniform that resembled black-and-white roads.
She had silver buttons on one side of her uniform as her uniform was the kind that was something akin to a bathrobe as she wore a brown and silver belt around her waist, and she had on a few long strands of diamond-shaped ribbons lined up diagonally, reaching around her body and head.
She had on child-tailored high heels and her legs were bare as she flaunted them proudly, wearing white gloves that held a folded traditional Japanese fan in her left hand that had golden petals etched into it, gently waving it around in a graceful motion as she talked to Maya, who was on her team.
Shigure could see that her hair line had a distinct widow's peak as her hair parted to flow down the sides of her face, and a red rope held her gigantic purple ponytail up.
Her eyebrows were pronounced, perhaps owing to the fact that she styled herself in a manner reminiscent to that of the aristocratic women of a bygone age, what with the way she conducted herself, talking to others in a dignified yet polite manner whilst using her black fan to help cover her face and fan herself whenever the moment seemed appropriate.
There was some sort of mechanical arrow hovering above her head, somewhat similar to Tatsuta's mechanical halo in that it had yellow LED lights, was shaped in a 'V' shape and pointed wherever Hatsuharu was facing.
She did seem to be genuinely interested in the conversation with Maya despite the heavy cruiser somehow finding the opportunity to flex her muscles in the middle of the conversation, and Maya's thick muscles were either the topic of the conversation, or were a quirk that the Hatsuharu-Class destroyer learnt to take in stride.
Shigure could see that everyone was here and they all looked ready to sortie, but something that made her worry a little about her prospects of survival was the grim look on everyone's face, one that accepted the very real possibility of them not returning despite years of combat experience.
Suddenly, saying goodbye to her teammates and sisters seemed like the right thing to do, otherwise she would have been distracted with never having done so at this point in time.
The backup fleet noticed her presence and greeted her with a chorus of greetings, Shigure waving at them meekly but was unsure of how to approach any one of them since she didn't know anybody personally.
But Kawakaze came to her rescue as she patted Shigure on the back and gave her a slight push forward as she introduced her sister to her teammates.
"Yo, everyone!
This here's my sister, Shigure!
She's been in quite a few battles despite been constructed recently, and even though she can handle herself, it's her first time fighting an Abyssal Princess.
So help her out, alright?"
Shigure bowed towards everyone out of respect for them, as they were senior ship girls who were strong enough to be entrusted with the task of taking on an Abyssal Princess, albeit being the backup fleet.
Maya raised her right arm and brought it down on Shigure's small back, which knocked the wind out of her and made her stumble forward as she struggled to breathe in while trying not to cringe and writhe at the stinging sensation along her spine as Maya heartily welcomed her with a winning smile.
"Yo, Shigure!
I know you're relatively new here, but stay with us and we'll get through this, no problem!"
Shigure's started to sweat as she gave Maya a weak, twitching smile, but the purple-haired destroyer of the group opened up her fan to cover her face in a ladylike manner as she approached Shigure, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer doing her best to get up and face her senior at her full height.
The Hatsuharu-Class destroyer chided Maya for her action that clearly hurt the little destroyer, her bushy brows creasing a touch, her mouth hidden behind the spread fan as she spoke disapprovingly.
"Maya-san, have you not learnt anything about the moderation of your strength in relation to our fellow comrades?
The poor destroyer seems to be in pain."
To which the heavy cruiser sheepishly scratched her head, apologetically regarding Shigure as her look softened from a battle-hungry leer to a concerned look upon seeing Shigure's slightly pained expression.
"Maa, sorry, man!
I know that I sometimes fail to moderate my strength, and it takes me a while to understand that not everyone is as tough as me!"
Shigure raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to acknowledge her apology as she looked to Hatsuharu, the Hatsuharu-Class destroyer snapping back her fan to close it before introducing herself.
"Welcome, Shigure-san.
We are Hatsuharu, and we are pleased to make you acquaintance.
It is undeniable that you possess prior experience in doing battle against the dreaded Abyssals, but it be best if you follow our lead this time, for our opponents will be unlike anything you have encountered thus far."
Shigure blinked twice while keeping on a poker face, taking a second to decipher her archaic way of speaking before understanding her words, nodding while giving her an awkward smile.
She gave Kawakaze an aside glance, to which her sister ship returned her glance and gave her 'the look' which meant that even as a backup fleet, they were still a bunch of ship girls with colorful personalities that needed some getting used to.
Hyuga and Ise then came up to introduce themselves, their expressions soft yet mature as Ise raised a hand with her elbow bent in a 90-degree as she smiled radiantly, while Hyuga simply gave her a nod to greet her as Ise cheered.
"Yooo, Shigure!
You ready to kick some Abyssal ass?"
Shigure nodded in agreement, and Ise softly patted her on the back, showing considerably more restraint and control over her physical strength as she felt a slight pang of pain that she shrugged off easily, Hyuga's expression softening as Ise expressed their concern.
"How's everyone?"
Shigure blinked, but understood the question as her expression hardened and she nodded energetically in response to that, Ise adding,
"And Hiei?"
Shigure looked away at that, knowing that she had no reason to lie to them about the condition of her teammates, but couldn't tell them what she didn't know herself.
"I haven't met everyone yet, because I want to give myself a reason to keep myself alive in battle and return to check up on them."
Hyuga tilted her head questioningly at that, clarifying Shigure's actions in her mind as she asked.
"Interesting.
So you don't wish to bid farewell to everyone and make it sound like a final goodbye of sorts, am I right?"
Shigure nodded, explaining herself as she saw the Admiral and Akashi silently communicating something between themselves.
"I want to come back here, and the thing I know that one of the things I hate the most is never getting the chance to say goodbye.
It's quite an unusual reason to drive myself with, and it is quite a big risk, but I hope you can understand…"
But Hyuga slowly raised a hand in order to stop Shigure, politely interrupting.
"It's your personal reason, and it matters not what we think about it."
Shigure blinked before nodding thankfully, noting Admiral Mako and Akashi walk away together from the main group as though going off somewhere to discuss something private.
She looked up to the two aviation battleships, making up a textbook excuse to excuse herself from the conversation and leave, her curiosity starting to kick in as she spoke up.
"I'd like to go to the toilet.
To, you know…"
She gave them an awkward smile, feeling guilty inside for deceiving them and trying to listen in on the conversations of her friends, but this curiosity was going to gnaw away at her from the inside unless she knew what they were talking about, and how it would affect her friends.
She felt the hearty yet painful palm-slap of Ise's hand on her back as Ise's smile widened, speaking in a conspiratorial tone whilst giving her a reassuring wink.
"Alright, we got it.
We won't be sortieing for another ten minutes, so knock yourself out!"
Shigure coughed and tried to clear her throat as she tried her best to shrug off the stinging impact on her back and the slight numbness around the affected area, made worse by the fact that it was the second time someone did this, and not even three minutes in between the two incidents.
Hyuga's eyebrows creased upon seeing Ise be so insensitive to Shigure's plight as she used her fist to softly bump Ise on the crown of her head, to which Ise's eyes brightened a little from the realization, holding up a vertical palm up in front of her face to apologize quietly.
"Sorry."
Shigure nodded weakly as she left, relaxing her stance as she kept her distance from the two women in front of her.
She wondered if she was going to be court-martialled for this, and eventually decided that it was worth the risk of learning something important.
Shigure wasn't an enemy spy, and she could simply say that she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, although she knew that Admiral Mako or Akashi wouldn't believe her for a second.
And besides, if they were going to talk about something personal instead of something important in terms of worthwhile intelligence, she would instantly walk away and leave them be.
Not that it would weigh any less on her conscience for listening in to the Admiral's important conversation with the repair ship, but it was all for the sake of keeping her friends safe with important knowledge, right?
Right?
She shook her mind in order to erase these doubts as she saw the the pink wooden door of the sole toilet coming up, which struck Shigure as a little odd as there was only a female toilet here despite the base housing a significant number of male sailors that maintained this base, and likened it to having only a few boy's toilets in an all-girl's school, since ship girls frequented this area more often than sailors did.
She remembered the group of ship girls behind her, deciding to walk into the toilet and exit it from one of the windows at the top corners on the wall at the far end of the room on the off chance that someone saw her bypass the toilet and decided to question her alibi, pushing open the squeaky, color-coded door to enter the toilet.
The toilet had well-maintained white tiles covering the room along with soft-pink walls for the four toilet cubicles available, Shigure feeling thankful that there was no one in here to notice the slight commotion she would cause, spotting the window that she knew would be there.
The room slightly smelled of ammonia, but there was also a nullifying agent dispersed into the air to negate the ammonia stench, striding towards the window that was unlocked and seeing that there was no point in locking them when ship girls could punch through them with ease and force it open.
And in the case of an emergency, it provided a quick escape for any average-sized ship girl like destroyers, light cruisers and light carriers.
Not that the ship girls of other ship classes couldn't get through it, the window being quite generous in size, it would just take a little longer seeing that they had more pronounced body parts which might prove cumbersome.
Shigure hopped up and slapped her palms on the cool wall while tapping into her training to utilize her arm strength to pull herself up, using the soles of her feet to push herself up.
No need to exhaust herself before the important battle.
Thankfully, her training sessions and exercises paid off as she easily hoisted herself up and harmlessly tumbled out of the window, Shigure noting that the window was one of those one-pane windows designed to open up with its hinge hanging above the window frame to allow easy access.
She dusted herself off, and was grateful for the fact that she bought compression shorts that prevented her underwear from getting dirtied upon landing as she got up into a crouching stance and tried her best to catch up to the duo.
She knew that fully activating her ship girl mode at this distance would give her away, and knew that she had to follow them whilst keeping her ship girl mode turned off, sacrificing enhanced hearing for the sake of a lowered chance of being detected as she did something resembling a cross between a duck walk and a side shuffle while keeping a low profile, spotting the white blazer of her Admiral as it flared up due to the wind.
Shigure strained her ears to listen in on the conversation between the duo, keeping her hands out to maintain her balance and making sure not to step on any fallen tree branches, having heard of that classic cover-blowing move too many times to count.
She could finally make out some words spoken between the duo, seeing them stop as they met up with the name-ship of the Aoba-Class, the heavy cruiser wearing her signature helmet in the middle of the woods, Shigure mentally tuning out the background noise to focus on the three of them as she heard.
" … You don't really…"
"I think..."
She moved in closer as the three of them stopped in their tracks, feeling conscious of the perilous distance between herself and Akashi and noting that this was the distance where Akashi might notice her, but she'd have to be intently looking for Shigure in order to identify her presence.
Something that benefited her was the fact that the repair ship was an auxiliary ship that wasn't meant to fight in battles, and likely wasn't specifically created to detect the presence of others around her while Aoba had her helmet on and likely took her signal-cancelling medication before heading out, which meant that she was oblivious to her presence, almost entirely eliminating the chances of her being detected by the heavy cruiser.
This gave Shigure some breathing room as she took cover behind a tree to further mask her presence.
It was possible for her to crawl forward while prone in order to get closer, but she couldn't risk it when she had to rendezvous with her fleet later, and didn't want others asking about the dirt or leaves she would get on her uniform.
But this was an acceptable distance for her, seeing that her status as a destroyer would mean that she had a weaker presence than a battleship, who would have her work cut out for her if someone that large and possessed such a prominent signature wanted to stealth things.
Ahh, sometimes it paid to be a weakling.
She listened in on the conversation between the three women before her, and heard their concerned voices.
"... keep our coastal cities on 'orange alert' and be ready to evacuate at the drop of a hat.
We'll get the JASDF to help ... the Dutchman.
If the Flying Dutchman tries to rear its ugly head anywhere in the Safety Zone, we mobilize fighter jets to try and sink it.
Ship girls are discouraged from attempting to go up against the Flying Dutchman as it's carrying heavy firepower, missiles and planes along ... Abyssal fleet."
"So we're doing this old-school?"
Admiral Mako grimaced, but nodded her head as her peaked officer's cap cast a long shadows over her face as she stated the facts.
"Our ship girl battleships and carriers can't exactly ... fight it since it can pick its fights while travelling underwater, and the cannons that the ship girls carry are calibrated to scale with the size of the ship girl, not real-life warships.
So ... got a good idea of how to sink it, we're gonna need the help of fighter jets to deter it should it try to attack our fleets.
I'll come up with something ... until we get more evidence of what they're up to and come up with better plans to face them, I got nothing."
Shigure strained to hear the conversation, leaning in to try and hear the rest of the conversation, piecing together whatever scraps of information she could hear now in order to research more on them after the sortie.
But the next sentence that came out of the Admiral's mouth made her blood run cold with the possible implications and ramifications.
"But we have to consider the ... the Abyssals may be plotting a land invasion for years now... 'Apocalypse'.
... how could they destroy an entire island?"
"U-Um..."
Aoba's meek voice sounded out, trying to give some possible answers to enigmatic questions as the wind finally died down, allowing Shigure to clearly hear everything they said.
"M-Maybe it's not a weapon destroying an island, but they're testing a weapon on said island, and the fallout can't be easily covered up.
So instead of covering their tracks, they erased everything to make sure that we found nothing.
I mean, we found evidence of their 'Apocalypse' plans even when they thought they could cover that up..."
Admiral Mako nodded, pointing a friendly finger at the heavy cruiser as she commented.
"You may be right.
It's possible that the weapon they tested on that island was powerful enough to produce those energy readings back in 2013, and they now know for sure that the weapon is hella powerful.
But the downside of testing such a potent weapon is that we'd detect its use and send ship girls to investigate, and instead of trying to cover up the damage caused by the weapon, they probably decided to just level the island.
After all, no more island, no more evidence, right?"
Akashi nodded, adding.
"Well, they had a lot of Princesses on scene, so it wouldn't be out of the question if they decided to move the weapon after the test and get the Princesses to annihilate the island when they were finished.
And since they went to such lengths to hide this weapon from us, it's possible that it's a part of 'Apocalypse'.
But the question is, what would destroy the island to such an extent that would justify destroying the island rather than covering up the damage?"
Everyone went silent upon hearing that, and Shigure spent about a minute trying to pick up anything in the silence, fearing for the future if anything they said here was true.
But Admiral Mako finally decided to break up the conversation as she faced Aoba, placing a comforting hand on the unnaturally meek heavy cruiser as she responded.
"Maa, the two of you can't be worrying about such things at this point in time.
Aoba, you need to focus on Project Psyche, and Akashi, you need to focus on your sortie."
Giving Aoba a confident nod, she then turn to seriously regard Akashi as she gave the repair ship a second objective to be carried out after putting down the Southern War Princess.
"Akashi, you're to kick the Abyssal Princess's ass, ask her about 'Apocalypse' and try to confirm as many theories as possible before she sinks, and report back to me.
Just leave the thinking to me."
Aoba lowered her head and nodded, but Akashi looked unconvinced as she coolly pointed out something as a repair ship and was responsible for the well-being of the ship girls and workers of this base.
"I do believe that there's something you might forget to think about."
"And what's that, Akashi?"
"Your health."
Akashi didn't even hesitate to point out how tired the Admiral looked, Shigure now noting the slightly hunched figure of the Admiral, and Akashi pointed to Admiral Mako as she pointed out something as a repair ship who was in charge of everyone's health and well-being.
"You're not infallible, and your work is starting to take a toll on you, even more so when you're human and not a ship girl.
You need to rest."
Admiral Mako's tone then changed, the bitterness and exhaustion starting to creep into her voice as she defended herself.
"I can't.
I need to think about the Abyssals' movements and what their plans might be.
There's no time to rest, I'm afraid."
But Akashi wasn't having any of that as she shook her head slowly and pointed out what she could do to the Admiral with the best intentions in mind, Aoba turning to look at her Admiral with a concerned look in her eyes, although her helmet did a good job in hiding the fact that she was slightly tearing up.
"You don't want to fall sick from fatigue again like back in '09 and put us at risk just because you thought you could 'tough it out' for another day, something I blame myself for and would not want to repeat.
You know that I can put you under with chloroform or whatever and say it's to make sure you get enough rest, right?"
" … Can you really do that?"
"You wanna put it to the test?
I am the medic, after all."
Admiral Mako hung her head and nodded in acceptance, reluctantly concurring.
"Alright, alright, I guess I can afford to get some sleep after this.
No point exhausting myself while trying to come up with half-assed plans that'd be dangerous for you all who have to carry them out."
Shigure took that as her cue to leave, and slowly backtracked as she took extra care not to give away her position by stepping on anything that would give her position away.
But her mind was a whirlpool of disturbed thoughts and fears, making her truly fearful for the future of this war as she considered key points like 'Apocalypse', 'Psyche', The Flying Dutchman, disappearing islands and Abyssal Princesses.
She would never dream that the Abyssals were preparing for another land assault like the American Blitzkrieg of 2007, especially since everyone wouldn't expect another land assault after eight years had passed without so much as a hint of another assault being planned.
No one could keep their guard up for an attack that seemed more and more unlikely to repeat itself no matter how devastating it might be if it actually happened, as they needed to focus their attention and resources on more current events instead of preparing for every possible scenario.
Aoba seemed to be working on some sort of Project that Akashi was certainly privy to, Shigure hypothesizing that the heavy cruiser's unique condition and having changed something within herself to achieve a double-edged power contributed to her being chosen to participate in Project Psyche with Akashi.
As to what this Project was about, Shigure wasn't too sure about that, but she intended to find out after this sortie.
She eventually forced herself to push those distracting thoughts out of her mind, forcibly suppressing them in order to keep herself focused on the important things at hand, which was the operation she was to participate in.
Shigure exhaled softly as she began backtracking while still squatting down on the off chance that they could spot her silhouette amidst the trees, suppressing the morbid and pessimistic thoughts that were beginning to surface in her mind while reminding herself that these things could wait until after the sortie, Shigure spotting the open window that she left open to allow herself to climb back into the toilet.
Standing back up and hopping back up to the ledge, she pulled herself up as she saw that the interior of the toilet was dark, not surprising since most of the toilets here, upon not detecting any movement inside for several minutes, would turn themselves off after a while to conserve electricity.
She couldn't see much of the interior because her body, in trying to fit through the only window in the room, blocked her source of illumination as she stared into the darkness, seeing the shadows shift around in her field of vision as she wriggled in order to fit into the window that was in the open position.
In times of crisis, the adjustable window pane could be punched out and made escape/ entry easier for them since the window wouldn't pose a major obstacle. But Shigure wanted to leave as little trace of her presence as possible, the sensors in the toilet likely picking up some movement, the lights somehow clicking on as she faced the wall she was on, fitting her legs through the window opening and feeling herself start to tumble forward as she leaned in to enter the toilet.
'Wait.
I'm not even through the window, so my presence wouldn't be able to trigger the sensors.
So why…'
She failed to finish that thought as she felt her center of gravity shift at the most inopportune time, and she felt herself fall forward into the toilet, gasping as she felt her grip loosen on the sleek toilet walls.
Her bum hit the cold toilet floor first as she winced at the impact, feeling somewhat disoriented at the 180 degree spin and felt her hair become messed up by the tumble, Shigure feeling the pain dissipate through her hips as her left elbow throbbed in pain from hitting something in the room, blinking at the ominous sight before her.
The first thing she saw other than the incandescent glow of the halo-like fixture affixed to the ceiling of the toilet was a figure clothed in darkness, towering above her and preventing the light from directly reaching her eyes, inadvertently overshadowing the mystery figure's features and leaving her identity an enigma.
The blur of cold steel rushed down towards her face before she even had a chance to react, the blade bursting into flames as it severed the air in front of Shigure's face.