Shigure was sitting in a hall on the 2nd of May along with (almost) the entire population of Yokosuka's ship girls and sailors save for some ship girls, like the hidden away Tenryuu and Tatsuta, the entire 8th Fleet as well as Aoba, amongst others.
Her worst fears were already coming true, having predicted with Shiranui that Admiral Mako was likely going to take this chance to come clean and recruit ship girls to fight in the army, an uphill battle which required sacrificial pawns to clear the path before allowing the stronger pieces to take the stage.
And judging from the oppressive atmosphere of the hall in the aftermath of a hydrogen bomb going off in Japanese waters, everyone was pretty much expecting the executioner's axe to come down anytime soon, with hushed whispers asking for details and coming up short on answers but full of guesses.
Admiral Mako herself didn't look pleased at all about speaking to her ship girls about Apocalypse, and letting them know that their brightened prospects of victory immediately following the Battle of Twelve Navies had been a red herring to lure them into a false sense of security, and that they were now in for the rudest wake-up call of their lives.
Upon reaching the podium, the Admiral exhaled deeply through her nose before addressing the silenced crowd with a stoic expression, the weariness and hopelessness of it all seemingly unable to faze her as it fooled no one; their Admiral was just as fallible and human as the rest of them, in fact even more so, and this facade was merely a formality in order for the naval base to center themselves around in these tumultuous times.
And for the most part, it worked.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Yokosuka.
It has come to my attention that several rumors have been floating about, that the Abyssals intend to strike beyond their usual hunting grounds and take the fight to us, on land and in the air.
Today, I shall put them to rest once and for all.
Those rumors... are sadly true."
Several voices gasped in horror, others broke out into whispers of disappointed and bitter,
"I knew it!"
While the rest either sighed in resignation or remained respectfully silent, and in Shigure's case, it was the latter since she saw this coming from a mile away.
Her friends and sister ship in the 2nd Fleet getting decimated and outright killed after being sent out into the Pacific Ocean to witness a thermonuclear explosion was unfortunate enough, but even in her horror and sorrow when being by Yuudachi and Shimakaze's side, she managed to discern that their injuries were inflicted with an incensed fury powering them, not cold, Abyssal-like inhumanity.
Their bodies were also plagued with bite marks which didn't fit any existing Beast's set of teeth along with claw marks which were made by a Beast which didn't possess opposable thumbs like most Beasts did with their humanoid arms, she suspected that whoever attacked the 2nd Fleet was in possession of a Beast unlike any other existing naval Beasts.
And with such radical developments coming their way, Admiral Mako finally decided to spill the beans and allow everyone to know of just what was going on, simply not the full picture which she alone could see at the top, and although she certainly didn't want to bring their spirits down at a time like this, she simply couldn't in good conscience allow them to enter the next stage of battle completely oblivious to the situation at hand as well as and the plan for a counteroffensive.
"The Abyssals are planning to invade the land and air with their modern tanks and jet fighter knockoffs, the latter having been observed in the Battle of Twelve Navies.
And after so many strange occurrences around the world, we decided to come out and inform you all of this, having recently discovered this ourselves.
I never wanted to lie to any of you, and that's why I'm coming out with this right now before the other shoe drops; so that you all can mentally prepare yourselves for the worst, instead of stepping onto the battlefield without the faintest of ideas as to what's going on.
And there's one other thing I'd like to address…"
Amidst the concerned whispers amongst the ship girls about their increasingly dim prospects of victory, Shigure managed to see the distinction between telling a lie and lying by omission, that the Admiral was simply withholding important information instead of twisting the truth into lies and feeding it to them, and Shigure understood the need for such a measure when it came to such earth-shattering matters.
Admiral Mako continued as her words moved the crowd to silence, hanging onto each and every word as it had the power to lift their hopes or crush it completely, and it seemed that the Admiral knew about this all too well as she spoke.
"Along with new Abyssal plans to invade the various countries of the world, we've also received reports of new Abyssal boss units being manufactured in advance in order to lead this invasion.
Details are sketchy…"
Shigure took note of how Admiral Mako used a non-descriptive and incredibly vague term to generalize the situation in order to grant herself some wriggle room in her 'no lying' policy, where the truth was rephrased such that someone who wasn't in on the loop wouldn't understand its true meaning.
And regarding enemy units who possessed New Wave powers, they had to utilize the chaotic situation caused by the nuke in order to cover up sensitive information regarding said boss units, because they might prove to be too demoralizing should all their abilities be revealed.
" … but to my understanding, they've received upgrades in order to boost their potency beyond that which any ship girl can hope to defeat alone.
Some of their Beasts are also modified to be able to transform into vehicle forms in order to facilitate faster movement across the land and skies, although the drawback is that they possess far less armor and weapons than naval Beasts as a result."
Shigure nodded, understanding the logic behind revamping the technology behind an existing weapon in order to be deployed a new battlefield, since the Beasts of existing Princesses had far too many issues while moving on land to be of use on a radically different battlefield other than naval gunfire support.
But the fact that Abyssal units already have access to New Wave powers which could wipe out entire fleets (as evidenced by the hospitalized 2nd Fleet) was disturbing in and of itself, and even though the massacre of the 2nd Fleet could probably be chalked up to inexperience and the lack of their riggings and weapons in order to defend themselves, others possessed Beasts which were capable of launching ICBMs wherever they desired, and this terrifying capacity for destruction was what truly disturbed the ship girls all around the world.
These upgrades were nothing to sneeze at, and would very likely require the combined effort of several dozen ship girls in order to take these new Abyssals down.
She heard her Admiral explain their situation and how they had to act now by enlisting their help in order to fight on an entirely different battlefield, her tone expertly masking the anxiety which was felt by almost every ship girl and sailor present.
"And I know that this might be too much to ask of you all, but I need to transfer a great number of ship girls from this naval base to a ship girl army which we're currently forming and training up in order to mount a counteroffensive should the Abyssals ever decide to pull off their invasion named Apocalypse."
The entire hall lapsed into an uncomfortable silence upon hearing that news, and Shigure could feel everyone's spirits sinking along with that grim announcement.
Admiral Mako did her best to reassure them by speaking up and sharing their plans about how they were to best go about planning and executing their counteroffensive.
"L-Look, we're not going to just roll over and die, alright?
The world governments have ordered that along with creating as many new ship girl units as possible to make up an infantry corps, we are to conscript as many ship girls as we can provide from each and every naval base in order to form an elite battalion of our own.
Of course, we'd have to do so without compromising our naval combat capabilities beyond salvageable margins, because we are the first line of defense against the Abyssals before they hit land.
All of you possess significantly more battle experience in the modern world than a newly crafted ship girl does, and we need you to utilize that experience on land in order to fight off the incoming land invasion."
Shigure wasn't exactly sure how that was going to work, but she did admit that newly crafted units would suffer from future shock and had to be taught how to use firearms and modern weapons, all while getting used to their humanoid bodies and the fact that they had to work with the ship girls of other countries, specifically the Americans.
Existing ship girls, on the other hand, were used to modern naval tactics and had a rapport with other countries (most ship girls, anyway), leading to better teamwork and results on the battlefield.
In theory, anyway.
Shigure then heard someone ask a question regarding how they were to be chosen.
"Um, how are we to be selected?"
Admiral Mako looked down at her audience as she responded truthfully, now looking very uneasy about having to share the selection process with them as well as the reasoning behind it, which made Shigure suspect that it was extremely pragmatic and utilitarian in order to ensure the greatest odds of success.
And she wasn't wrong.
"Well, we had to choose the unremodeled or the Kai ship girls to be sent to the army in order to be deployed on land to stabilize the situation first, and the seasoned veterans will stay back in order to help to train the newly crafted ship girls in this base.
We've secured ship girls who are experts in land combat and possess firearms experience to train you all at Camp Itazuma, so you're in good hands."
An unidentifiable voice called out in a derisive manner,
"Yeah, like that makes us feel any better when we're getting shot at!
Cannon fodder much?!"
Admiral Mako's expression contorted with the fury of a drill sergeant as she yelled into the microphone, clearly incensed at the insinuation in the voice's accusatory tone.
"Oi, who said that?!
Come up here and say it to my fucking face, if you dare!"
Everyone in the hall held their breath at the sight of Admiral Mako flaring up at her own ship girls, and the Admiral had to stop the address in order to lower her head and close her eyes, holding the bridge of her nose in her slender fingers while taking deep, meditative breaths.
Everyone remained silent out of respect and fear of Admiral Mako and her mood swings, because while she could be nice to everyone, Shigure had no doubts that Admiral Mako could be really nasty if she tried, and she was already doing her best not to crack from the considerable stress and the threat of mass extinction looming over them, if the deafening silence was any indication.
Finally, Admiral Mako lowered her hand and raised her head in order to face them all as she continued, looking a little more worse for the wear as her dark expression was clouded by the shadow of mortality which hung over the heads workers whose professions dealt with life and death matters.
"Look, I don't have time to sugarcoat the truth, and time's running out until the other shoe drops on us.
I don't want any of you to be sent out there if I had a choice, but the circumstances of this war are far beyond my control.
If we don't do this, we'll be swept up by the Abyssals as they take the fight to us, and every second we waste arguing about this is one more second we could be using to train ourselves up in order to repel their attack!
It's not a matter of whether we want to or not, we simply have to!"
Shigure felt the weight of those words as a full-fledged soldier, reminding them that they could dislike how this war was developing, and it was beyond even Admiral Mako's power to influence these decisive factors whose control was mostly in the hands of the Abyssals; all she could do was react as quickly as possible by mobilizing her ship girls where they would be of most use and hope for the best.
Everyone settled down upon hearing that, Admiral Mako exhaling in relief at having calmed them down somewhat before elaborating further as to how this was going to work.
"Look, splitting up this base's ship girls into army and navy factions will no doubt affect our capabilities, but we're in the process of crafting more ship girls to make up for the drop in naval power.
These newly crafted ship girls as well as the ship girls who will be assigned to make up the infantry and the elites in the army are going to be put through a much harsher training regimen than what you're all used to because there's just so much we need to get you all acquainted with; the newly crafted ship girls needed to be trained in modern naval combat from the ground up while you elites are going to be thoroughly trained in land-based combat.
The human military will focus their attention on their own air forces so as not to stretch our ship girl forces too thin, and we'll begin ferrying the following ship girls to the newly acquired training camp tomorrow."
The hall's occupants started whispering in hushed voices again, and even Shigure was starting to feel her hopes drop at the number of ship girls who had to go, noting several familiar names amongst the myriad of listed ship girls.
'SHIP GIRL ARMY CONSCRIPTION LIST
1st Fleet: Shigure, Tenryuu, Tatsuta, Hiei, Junyou, Ayanami
2nd Fleet: Sendai, Hatsushimo (delayed)
3rd Fleet: Abukuma, Amagi
4th Fleet: Nachi, Shiranui, I-58
5th Fleet: Zuikaku, Chikuma, Mutsuki, Jintsuu
6th Fleet: Kisaragi, Chitose,
7th Fleet: Atago, Bismarck
8th Fleet: Hatsuzuki, Akashi (Advisor)
Unsorted:
Destroyers
Hayashimo, Arare, Oboro, Inazuma, Ikazuchi, Kuroshio, Asashimo, Kamikaze, Harukaze, Akebono, Shikinami, Maikaze, Urakaze, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Miyuki, Yuugumo, Akigumo, Naganami, Yayoi, Kasumi, Satsuki, Kikuzuchi, Hagikaze, Fumizuki, Kiyoshimo, Murasame, Shiratsuyu, Fubuki, Arashi, Samidare, Nagatsuki, Akizuki,
Light Cruisers
Nagara, Yahagi, Natori, Kitakami, Isuzu, Agano, Noshiro, Yura, Kuma, Tama, Kinu
Heavy Cruisers
Suzuya, Mikuma, Kinugasa, Choukai, Aoba (Admin)
Bird Carriers
Saratoga, Zuihou, Chiyoda, Houshou
Battleships
Hyuga, Haruna, Mutsu, Musashi
Others
Maru-yu, I-19, I-401, Ro-500, I-8, I-26, Taigei, Akitsushima
Shigure realized that the entire 1st Fleet was thrown into the army boot camp, and the 2nd Fleet only had Sendai and Hatsushimo sent there at a later date after recovering from their injures while Naka likely took Sendai's place in the 2nd and the Infiltration Fleet, although Shigure was quite conflicted about how things turned out since she wouldn't be by Yuudachi and Shimakaze's sides, the both of them enough possessing potential and talent respectively to be retained in Yokosuka as assets while Shigure was too green compared to her blonde sister, who was already Kai.
But something she realized was just how many of them were either unremodeled or only possessed Kai remodels, which lowered their worth as an asset to the base to the point where they'd be thrown into the army in order to stabilize the situation, possibly losing their lives for the sake of the higher-valued pieces being secured, like pretty much any ship girl who's received a Kai Ni remodel.
Admiral spoke up as her booming voice in the hall cast a blanket of silence upon the ship girls,
"All these ship girls whose names are shown, meet up at the parking lot of Yokosuka near the entrance tomorrow at 0800 hours, and bring a bag with only your bare essentials like toiletries, phone and IC.
There will be no need to bring spare uniforms; we'll be issuing the uniforms which you'll be wearing every day and night in-camp, and into combat as well."
That was a first.
The ship girls wore uniforms that were unique to their ship class on the seas, and the most 'uniformity' they ever had was probably when they needed to go on night operations and required darker clothes so as not to get spotted from a mile away.
But on land, there was the environment to consider, and camouflage patterns on clothes, a seemingly laughable disguise tactic against the enhanced sight of ship girls and Abyssals alike, could buy precious seconds as the enemy would be forced to do a double take, potentially saving lives in the process than if they were to wear their flashy and attention-grabbing clothes and heels in the jungle, desert or snow.
Admiral Mako leaned forward, more of her maternal concern for her own ship girls seeping into her tone and demeanor as she ordered into the microphone.
"I hereby state that today shall be an off day for everyone, and consider this a reward of sorts for your stellar performance at the Battle of Twelve Navies.
Take this time to settle any unresolved matters, because tomorrow will be a brand new day for some of you as you all start the next phase of your training to prepare yourselves for the next stage of this war, and although I can't guarantee that you'll be able to see your separated sister ships during this training period, I'll certainly try to arrange something, you can count on that.
Dismissed."
No one clapped as Admiral Mako walked off the stage, the Admiral pulling down the visor of her naval officer cap as if she was ashamed to even try to meet their gazes, and Shigure couldn't exactly fault her for that.
She essentially had to quell the rumors by either confirming or denying them, and given the severity of the situation, she made the hard choice to drop the hard truth on them and have them simply learn to deal with it, because in the end, they had a war to fight and she had no time to make the truth sound any less unpleasant.
The fate of mankind was at stake, and right now, the sullen ship girls got up from their seats and started filing out of the hall in an orderly fashion, even more so than usual as everyone was too wrapped up in their own concerns and anxieties to say anything to one another, the heavy silence which was weighing down on everyone barely being filled by the increased volume of their shuffling footsteps, which belied their inner turmoil as no one had the presence of mind to lift their feet off the ground.
Their worst fears were all coming true, that the entire world really was going to hell in a hand-basket, and a large number of ship girls were about to be sent to the front lines in order to stop the hordes of Abyssals who wanted nothing other than the complete annihilation of human civilization, and there was little chance of getting to meet their sister ships and comrades who were either leaving for the army or were staying behind to hold the fort.
And that wasn't even including the hydrogen bomb detonation in their waters, which eerily reminded everyone of the last war they fought in, where the prospects of winning the war against the Americans continuously dimmed as the enemy inched ever so closer to their country's coast before they ended it with a historically unmatched bang, everyone now unable to shake the intense feeling of deja vu which plagued them all.
Was it any wonder that everyone needed some time to digest the hopelessness of the situation at hand?
Junyou was sitting with Zuikaku in the canteen on the night of May 2nd, being more deserted than usual as everyone likely wanted to spend the day with their sisters after that demoralizing briefing in the morning, and Junyou was sitting with Zuikaku after the 5th Division carrier spent the entire day with Shoukaku, and since Junyou didn't have a sister to share the day with, Zuikaku decided to return the favor which Junyou had racked up by helping her so much in her quest to win Kaga's heart.
Right now, a major obstacle to her plans of romance had presented itself in the form of the army, how she was conscripted without prior knowledge or consent, and how this was going to tear her and Kaga apart.
" … and I'm just afraid that all the progress I've managed to rack up with Kaga-san is going to go to waste.
Why did Admiral Mako even throw me in the army, anyway?
I'm a proud carrier of the 5th Carrier Division, I should be out there fighting alongside the 1st and 2nd Carrier Division, not dig trenches and fight on land with firearms!"
Zuikaku downed the last of her fruit juice as Junyou considered the situation, how it could be turned to benefit Zuikaku and how to best go about it.
Ultimately, she had this to say.
"Well, I don't think that you doing the chasing all the time works too well in the long run.
If you are to chase, she will flee, and if you flee, she'll chase.
I think that being on the offensive too often makes you look as you're trying too hard to win her over; see this as a chance to take a break in your pursuit of her."
Junyou held out her hands to better illustrate her point to a slightly confused but interested Zuikaku, speaking up in a knowing tone as she roughly knew the science behind love (as well as watching a lot of Korean/ Taiwanese/ Japanese/ Hong Kong love dramas during her many hangovers) to know how to approach situations like these.
"Think about it.
All this progress is good, but the both of you are ultimately fighting a war, and you two still need some time away from each other before you two become a thing.
If the distance between you two grows while the bond between the two of you, as rivals, comrades and perhaps something more, if that stays strong, it should theoretically act as a psychological rubber band and make her fly back to your side.
After all, the other main carriers from the 1st, 2nd and 5th Division are staying here while you alone are conscripted into the army.
Kaga sure as hell doesn't dislike you, and I daresay that she might be warming up to you, so I'd say it's very likely for her to shower you with a senior's affection the only way she knows how when you come back."
Zuikaku nodded, still looking very concerned about their immediate future as a naval base as she spoke up and was clearly working herself into a fervor.
"I mean, I don't know.
The future looks bleak, especially what we've seen, with Beasts that transform and others which rival a frigging blue whale in size…
Everything's going downhill so quickly, and with that hydrogen bomb explosion, I thought that we were going to die, and…"
Junyou saw that Zuikaku was starting to shiver uncontrollably without being aware of it, and a shadow was clouding her expression as she began to ramble, the carrier's pale knuckles wrapped around her cup as she retreated into herself.
The Hiyou-Class light carrier wasn't entirely sure if these were the precursors to a post-traumatic flashback which might in turn lead into a full-blown panic attack, but she knew that being so close to an explosion of such a yield and witnessing every second of it would mentally and psychologically scar just about anyone.
So she did the only thing she knew how after watching so much anime.
She grabbed the back of Zuikaku's head and shoved her face into her own ample bosom, silencing the surprised carrier as she cooed, unable to simply spectate any longer.
"Look, don't think about anything, and don't say anything.
Just enjoy being squished in Junyou nee-san's big soft titties, hmm?"
Despite Zuikaku being stronger than her, the element of surprise as well as the awkward position of two ship girls sitting side by side severely diminished her strength, and as Zuikaku's struggling became a lot more frantic, she felt up Junyou's hand and slapped the side of Junyou's arm to signal giving up, prompting Junyou to let go.
And upon release, the Shoukaku-Class carrier's head shot up while her mouth hung open and inhaled a lungful of oxygen as if it were the last thing she'd ever get to do, leaning away from a grinning Junyou as her expression soured comically, a faux-caustic tone lining her voice as she spoke.
"Ugh, another big-tittied monster!
A mortal enemy of the Flat-Chesters Association!"
Junyou broke out into a soft bout of laughter and attracted the passing attention of the ship girls who sat next to them, speaking up in relief about how Zuikaku's spirits were lifted, even if it was just for a moment.
"Hey, at least I got your mind out of that cesspool of negative thoughts you were previously drowning yourself in, alright?"
Zuikaku was in the middle of shooting back with a remark before she caught herself as she slouched and looked back down at her steel cup, which had started to deform a little under the carrier's strength as Zuikaku sighed, and this one was fatigued from the constant stress of war bearing down on them as well as the ever-present paranoia of the Abyssals and their nefarious plans which now transformed into outright terror of what was to come, and the Shoukaku-Class carrier was worn out from being on edge all the time as she held her head in her hands.
"I don't know.
Everyone's in mortal danger, and with this new development in the war, it's like living through the introduction of the Abyssal Princesses to the Abyssal War, with far-reaching consequences which will change the world forever.
The hydrogen bombs act as a Sword of Damocles on the entire world where everyone is afraid of being wiped from the face of this planet, and as the Abyssals plan to invade the land and skies, nowhere on Earth is safe from their reach.
Everything's moving so quickly when we just hit our stride, and I'm here suffering from the whiplash of it all.
I don't want Shoukaku to worry too much about me when shit's going to hit the fan, but… "
Junyou looked down at her, before she sidled up beside the carrier and pulled her in for a comforting hug, understanding Zuikaku's concerns as she uttered.
"No need to explain.
Just relax…"
Rubbing Zuikaku's arm while pulling her close, she felt the tension which plagued Zuikaku's muscles and body slowly seep out of her as the carrier used her bosom as a pillow, Junyou revealing her own concerns to Zuikaku.
"Actually, don't you tell any of the other bird carriers or my fleet this, but I'm pretty scared too, and I appreciate you being here with me tonight.
I worry about Shigure and how she thinks so much even in battle, that she might walk into her own death without a second thought, and her troubled past and martyrdom tendencies doesn't alleviate matters any.
Hiei, I'm worried that she might try to carry the fleet by by herself since she sees herself as the heavy lifter of the fleet, and is eager to shoulder the burden on her own in order to prove her worth.
They're the two comrades I worry about the most, and since our fleet is being carted off to boot camp tomorrow, the incoming world war is only going to pile more stress on them, and I count myself lucky that I can be there to help them all should they require it.
Better than holding the fort here and have half a mind preoccupied with the well-being of the members of your fleet who's been sent off to who-knows-where in order to play soldier."
Zuikaku looked up at Junyou with her eyes wide open, now looking extremely curious to know just how Junyou managed to stay strong in times like these.
"Then… then how do you cope with all the stress?"
Junyou shrugged and looked away as she thought about her own situation and how she chose to face it in her own special way, using an analogy she thought up of on the spot.
"I think it's like carbon and iron, you know?
Iron by itself is relatively soft, and even though it can bend easily, it can form back into its original shape given enough effort and time.
On the other hand, steel, which is metal with a dash of carbon, is tough and can resist any impact, but in my personal opinion, being too strong can have its drawbacks.
The strongest steel which contains the most carbon are also the most brittle, and um…
Maybe I should have gone with the 'pliable yet flexible blade of grass' and contrast it with the 'sturdy yet collapsible tree'?
I guess what you can take away from it is that being strong all the time isn't all it's cracked up to be, and that sometimes it's better to allow yourself to be weak and flexible and be able to roll with life's punches than to keep your guard up all the time, before eventually cracking from the stress."
Zuikaku gave her a deadpan look as she surmised.
"You really had no idea where that 'iron and carbon' analogy was going to go, huh?"
Junyou looked back down at Zuikaku as she fired back,
"Well, I had a general idea, but forgive me if it slipped my mind at a time like this, hmm?
And anyway, you got the idea behind it, right?"
Zuikaku made a noise of agreement as she buried her face back in Junyou's breasts, speaking up about how the light carrier was quite reliable in times like these.
"You know, I already have Shoukaku as an older sister, but I kinda feel that you could make an excellent older sister if you really tried.
I mean, I love Shoukaku as my sister, but there are some things I need to take my time to open up to her about.
Now that I have you here and will be with me in the army, I see you as a second sister ship who can give me love advice and is a lovable drunk."
Junyou felt something upon hearing that statement, something she hadn't felt before in either of her lives since she never had a younger ship sister to guide and be a role model to, and right now, Zuikaku explicitly admitted that she did indeed choose to rely on her like an elder sister for things she might not be willing to share with Shoukaku.
It made her feel like a changed woman, one who was a far cry from her past self who was hedonistic and only sought to maximize her own pleasure without a care in the world.
But she was now worried for everyone whom she knew, especially since a lot of them were sent off to the army to fight on a battlefield which they were unused to fighting on.
They wouldn't sink, sure, but their obliterated corpses would be on show for everyone to witness and collect long after their deaths, and…
Junyou felt a chill run down her spine as she imagined everyone she knew lying dead on the battlefield, strewn about with some of them losing their limbs, others being run over by vehicles as it left track marks on their body while the rest were shot to death, puddles of blood filling the pits and potholes on the land while she alone survived…
Suddenly feeling that all the clothing in the world couldn't protect her from this sinking feeling which chilled her to the bone, she resorted to hugging Zuikaku tighter and clinging onto her for dear life like a drowning sailor would to a piece of flotsam in a tropical storm.
She was now really grateful for Zuikaku being here with her, because she hadn't had those flashes of gruesome images involving the corpses of all her friends lying around her ever since the first few weeks after she was crafted, all but confirmed to stem from her own pangs of survivor's guilt.
That was when she began indulging in drinking and never stopped, because getting plastered was one surefire way to get herself kicked off of the active roster, which minimized the chances of exacerbating her survivor's guilt to 0%, and losing herself to drink in order to numb and even outright forget the pain made life tolerable at the very least.
Now that she had teammates to protect, the world was thrown into chaos once again, and this flash of the Apocalypse (aptly named) evolved with it.
Before, everyone's corpses were equally decimated as they were slowly and surely consumed by the ocean, but now, the inability to sink meant that their corpses would be on full display on land for them to find and revive, balancing the scales with long-term psychological trauma which would haunt them long after the war.
She wondered if this was what being a big sister was all about, remaining strong and allowing others to lean on you for support, but also allowing yourself to rely on others in order to remain relatable as well as to vent your own frustrations and prevent a complete emotional meltdown, much like adding too much carbon to steel and making it stronger, but far more brittle as a result.
She was afraid, but unlike others, she found that it was easier for her to confront it if she spoke about it with others who felt similarly, because it gave her some comfort to know that she wasn't the only one to feel this way, and it sure did wonders for others who were more insecure about their odds of winning than she was.
Hiei was sitting with Ayanami inside a chartered bus in the Shizuoka prefecture on the 3rd of May, along with the entire 1st Fleet as they had gathered back together today.
The Admiral was finished with remodeling them or whatever, Hiei wasn't too keen on knowing the specifics so long as her friends were returned to her safe and sound.
Especially since she was notified that it was possible for either of them to die since they were willing test subjects for a Kai Ni remodel, she had half a mind to give Admiral Mako what-for despite knowing full wekk that the Tenryuu sisters had volunteered for the project.
She said her goodbyes to her sisters, and Kongou shed tears as she enveloped both her and Haruna in a passionate hug, Kirishima nodding solemnly in their direction while Kongou embraced them, Hiei nodding back at her younger sister as her heart broke.
And as Kongou pulled them into a hug, although Hiei's heart jumped a little at the intimate action, the dire situation at hand made her unable to enjoy the body contact between her and her beloved elder sister, her moving lips finally settling into a thin line as she meekly patted Kongou on the back, Haruna herself on the verge of tears as the most empathetic member of the Kongou Sisters.
Everyone around her was either doing their best not to cry or were spectacularly failing to do so, and sister ships were being torn apart by this new development which was no doubt causing many of their doppelgangers of other naval bases to go through the same experience at this very moment.
Shit.
Kirishima wasn't the kind of person to express her emotions as an intellectual, but Hiei could see that the atmosphere was weighing down on her psyche and was leaving its mark on her through the stress lines and eye bags which were expertly hidden by her glasses, and Kirishima settled for an exhausted but firm nod in her direction with a concerned glance in her eyes, and although Hiei didn't hang out too often with Kirishima in order to get to know her better on a personal level, she appreciated the display of sisterly affection as she reciprocated the gesture.
After the Yokosuka ship girls were done with their painful farewells, which Hiei wanted to forget due to how depressed everyone was behaving, they then took chartered buses to the local airport, after which everyone meekly followed the given instructions to check their bags in before boarding their respective flights in order to reach the city of Gotemba in the neighboring prefecture of Shizuoka, after which they split up and took chartered buses to get to their training camp in groups, where they currently were.
The eerie thing was that unlike other times where Hiei had heard that a vehicle filled to the brim with ship girls was always lively to the point of being chaotic, but this time, it was different.
Words of comfort had been spoken before getting on the bus, and anyone who didn't have anything to add or simply wanted to make small talk instead remained silent out of courtesy and respect, making the entire bus ride to the airport feel completely awkward and ominous in the process.
It was strange, to know that ship girls were usually so rambunctious and lively when on trips like this, but right now, this oppressive air hung above everyone and silenced them with horrific images of what their end would entail, their overactive imaginations doing more than the enemy did to fuel their own fears at this point in time as Hiei felt desolated by the news of the enemy possessing thermonuclear strike capabilities, and to see all of mankind go about their daily lives while blissfully unaware of the nuclear threat which plagued all of mankind and could wipe out entire cities…
It really messed with them as the ship girls were ordered not to talk to anyone about what they knew, and despite the threat level resting at medium, it barely affected business as the civilian populace were still all smiles and were long desensitized to the Abyssal threat after entrusting their future to the ship girls and the military, and Hiei understood how this peace was what they were tasked with protecting, how it was so delicate and pristine in their war-weary eyes while the looming threat was overwhelming and calamitous, like a growing tidal wave in the distance.
The ship girls weren't too sure of how to deal with their own morbid thoughts and issues regarding the sudden occupation change and exodus, so they just remained silent since they had no more brainpower to spare in order to maintain a conversation, and since most of the crying ship girls had already calmed down by now, everyone now had nothing left to say to each other on the bus.
Everyone was dead silent and muttered halfhearted sentences to one another so as not to go insane from their own morbid thoughts threatening to break them from within, the fact that all the humans whom they met at the airport and the interchange were kept blissfully unaware of the thermonuclear threat despite being put on medium alert (which didn't affect the mood of the civilian populace due to its common occurrence) made the contrast all the jarring.
Right now, they had boarded a bus after disembarking the chartered plane, and Hiei looked down at the name-ship of the Ayanami-Class as she looked very crestfallen about leaving some of her sisters behind in order to hold the fort that was Yokosuka.
Hiei looked down at Ayanami as she wanted to make absolutely sure that her fleet mate was alright, especially since she looked concerned the entire time they were travelling either by bus or plane, and even though she knew that the destroyer was precocious enough to know how to lead her sisters as a name-ship, she was still a child and needed someone to lean on eventually.
She chose to start the conversation by asking,
"Hey, you alright?
I see that you're looking quite worried about something, is it about your sisters?"
Ayanami nodded, looking up at the Kongou-Class fast battleship as she shared her woes, understanding that a second opinion might be useful.
"That's the understatement of the year.
Perhaps you might possess some of the answers I seek, and it's about this war and how my sisters are, or rather, aren't adapting to it fast enough."
Hiei made herself comfortable as Ayanami looked down and continued, a forlorn look in her eyes as she clearly lost sleep over things no child her age should even know about, highlighting the cruelty of their war-torn world in the back of Hiei's mind.
"I can't help but get this feeling, you know, that things are going to go downhill from here.
For us, I mean.
And I only began to see it yesterday.
When we, the Ayanami-Class destroyers, were having our gathering yesterday, Ushio suddenly broke down and started to cry, and I've never seen anything like it."
Hiei's eyebrows creased upon hearing that, the shadow which clouded Ayanami's expression darkening upon reminiscing on her sister ship's breakdown, something which Hiei never expected to see from the relatively carefree child of the two little destroyers on her fleet, asking out of concern for both Ayanami and Ushio.
"How bad was it?
I mean, ship girls do break down emotionally and psychologically under prolonged periods of high stress, but…"
Ayanami shrugged and retorted,
"Well, when I said 'bad', I meant catastrophic.
And forgive me when I don't wish to share the memory of the breakdown, but I feel that this one's personal."
Hiei nodded, understanding the need to keep such an exposed and vulnerable moment within their own class of sisters, and it was too heartbreaking to allow it to be shared.
"She was recently discharged from the docks, you see, so when she attended the briefing and heard the news, she didn't react at all.
Thinking back on it, maybe that was the red flag which should have alerted me to her mental condition, because after dinner, we were sitting in our room and were chatting about nothing, and…"
Ayanami then lowered her face into her palms as she sighed, one of untold emotional fatigue after a titanic disaster as the life seeped out of her with an exhaling breath and left her a mess.
"She just started to curl up and cover her head as she cried, screaming that there was nowhere left to run, that everything was hopeless, and many other things I sadly remember but are stuck on the tip of my tongue due to how heartbreaking they were.
None of us went to reassure or comfort her, partially because of how spontaneous it was and how we simply couldn't come up with anything to assuage those fears.
Do you know how it feels, to have your own sister curl up in a corner in the midst of a psychological meltdown due to the inevitability of our doom and not be able to convince her otherwise?"
Hiei looked down as she answered meekly, and since that never happened to any of her sisters, there really only was one answer she could honestly give.
" … No."
Ayanami lifted an eyebrow in defeat, reassuring Hiei as best she could.
"Well, I don't blame you for not having all the answers.
I just don't know what to do in this situation, and I see it as a failure on my part as a name-ship and her sister."
Hiei considered both Ayanami and Ushio's situation, and especially the latter's past before answering.
"I think… the reason why she might be so afraid is because of her past.
I won't claim to understand how the minds of those who survived World War 2 work like, but I think it's safe to say that with the recent thermonuclear explosion and the news that the enemy will be marching up to our doorstep, as well as how desperate we're becoming to enlist ship girls in the army…
They may see this as the past repeating itself and how Imperial Japan was put on the ropes by the steadily advancing Americans in World War 2."
Hiei remembered how pitiable Haruna looked whenever she thought no one was looking, the wizened look in her eyes revealing itself from beneath her motherly personality as she watched her own sisters, and Hiei could see the pain of loss which plagued the Kongou-Class wallflower's heart and soul, and how their revival filled that hole up, but never fully helped her to heal since the past was set in stone, leaving its scars on her psyche.
"We can't understand what they must have felt back then, what with everyone, including their sisters, dropping like flies around them.
Especially the hydrogen bomb explosion by the Abyssals, it must have triggered some bad memories due to the haunting similarities with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or even Operation Crossroads.
I mean, did you see how Saratoga looked when we gathered at the entrance?"
The Lexington-Class carrier was a psychological wreck after witnessing the thermonuclear explosion and had a spectacular psychological meltdown, and being pulled out of the psyche ward early in order to be thrown on a bus and carted off to another military camp didn't do anything to help her along with her recovery, looking pretty much catatonic as she mindlessly followed the herd for the entire day.
Ayanami shared her sentiments as she looked back at Shigure accompanying the sullen and withdrawn American carrier, commenting.
"Yes, it certainly seems to have accomplished what it was designed to do, and Nagato-san also seemed to be in quite the sullen mood nowadays.
As it brightens the day and the mushroom cloud rises, our moods darken as our hopes fall, no?"
Hiei lifted an eyebrow as she suppressed a chuckle at the morbid thought, wondering just what the hell was wrong with her to be able to find the humor in such a strange line.
"Well, that is true.
Those who survived would certainly connect the dots in their mind and see parallels with World War 2, adding to the stress and paranoia we already face.
But I think that it's understandable why you and your sisters couldn't do anything in the heat of the moment."
She recounted her memories of Haruna and how the survivors of World War 2 have that something inside them which was just broken, and while that might not be the most accurate word to describe it, but it was certainly the closest.
"Witnessing your sister ships and comrades sinking in battle all around you really takes a toll on your psyche no matter who you are, and is something that cannot be forgotten no matter where or when we are brought back into this world.
And as sentient beings who can understand our past experiences, no less.
I think this is something only war survivors will understand, that feeling of desolation after having survived everything that the world has thrown at us.
That sliver of happiness at having survived it all is drowned out by the flood of sadness upon realizing everything one has lost in the process, and you spend the rest of your life wondering if it was all worth it.
I think that something within them will always stay damaged even if we're all reincarnated as ship girls, and I don't think any medicine or therapy can heal it, because one war has already torn everyone from their lives and left them alive after the end in order to suffer once; this second one might choose to do so again and reopen that wound.
Those haunting possibilities can drive ship girls with a weaker mental fortitude mad from the pressure, and as much as we want to help, I can't see anyone other than another survivor helping her out with her issues."
Hiei's expression darkened as she used her own feelings to try and illustrate an example for Ayanami's sake.
"I sometimes see Haruna looking wistful whenever we, the Kongou Sisters, hang out.
Perhaps it's her feeling glad that everyone's back together again after having sunk in World War 2, and she was sadly the one who lasted the longest amongst the four of us.
Sometimes, I want to share her pain, to ask her to transfer her memories of the war to me so that I can understand her better, but…
A part of me is afraid to understand.
Not because I don't want to be closer to her, don't get me wrong, but…"
Ayanami seemed to understand her message as she helped to finish the sentence.
" … but you're afraid that you're not strong enough to endure the pain?"
Hiei nodded,
"Yes.
I was the first to sink while Haruna was the last, and while I like to think that I'm strong, by virtue of surviving the longest in the war, she is technically the strongest.
I can tell she's secretly stronger than any of us in spirit, and I can't definitively say that experiencing what she experienced wouldn't cause me to go into a meltdown, especially since I've never personally experienced the loss of a sister ship in either lives."
Ayanami nodded sagely as she completely understood where Hiei was coming from, and the Kongou-Class battleship looked quite sheepish as she turned to look down at Ayanami in order to apologize.
"Ah, but I digress.
You were saying?"
But Ayanami shook her head softly as she looked up at Hiei, having found something she could work with.
"No, I see where you come from.
I did go through some rough patches as sister ships began sinking in World War 2, but Ushio must've been through so much more than I did.
I wanted to share my sisters' burden in order to lighten her load, but I suppose there are some things that you have to shoulder all by yourself, no matter what the time and age.
Ushio has Oboro and Sazanami as well as our other comrades by her side, and right now, I can only pray that their combined capabilities are enough to help her through this."
Hiei nodded, although her expression still rested in a scowl as she move onto the next topic.
"Aye.
But what do you think about the Abyssals moving onto land?
Even if every naval base sends out ship girls to be converted into elites while Central crafts ship girl infantry units and the military mobilizes all its foot soldiers in order to stop the Abyssals from gaining ground, how are we going to stop an entire horde of Abyssals?"
Ayanami's spirits similarly dimmed as she suggested a very practical solution.
"Well, I suppose we can always settle for guerilla warfare in order to balance the scales.
Luckily, the government and military are open-minded enough this time to not allow pride and ego to tangle up the equation like it did last time, and we'll likely be resorting to turtling tactics which'll slow down the Abyssals' advance.
Cities, mountains and jungles are easy locations to force the Abyssals to clear the city room by room and street by street while jungles and mountains naturally slow down enemy invaders with the weather and terrain, because those two factors, amongst several others, do not take sides in a battle or a war."
Hiei wondered out loud,
"Hmm, being the defenders on the home field does give us an advantage, but I'm just worried that we might be the Germans fighting off a Soviet advance, that their numbers will eventually overwhelm us like an army of ants no matter how hard we fight and no matter what we try."
Ayanami lifted an eyebrow as she teased,
"Well, we're not being attacked from the front and back from two fronts, are we?
Although I admit that the Abyssals are capable of fielding far more soldiers than Russia and America combined, so…"
Hiei nodded, mentally forcing herself to stop this train of negative thoughts so as not to spiral into depression.
"Yeah, but the future's uncertain, and as soldiers, we were always supposed to be concerned with the threat before us, not the looming threat in the grand scheme of things.
It's just that with this new development in the Abyssal war and how I'm one of the few battleships sent to become an army soldier, I want to protect all of you with my armor and every fiber of my body.
It's in the nature of a Kongou-Class battleship to be tenacious and unyielding, so I shall entrust the ocean to Kirishima and Kongou Onee-sama, and I'll look forward to fighting on a different battlefield with you!"
Ayanami seemed taken aback by the sudden burst of enthusiasm, but her expression morphed into one of serenity, thankful that she had a comrade watching her back so fervently as Ayanami broke out into a smile for the first time today.
"Thank you, Hiei."
The bus dropped them off at a military camp near the base of Mount Fuji, evidenced by the world-famous mountain looming in the distance like a monolithic pyramid of snow and dirt, a sight to behold no matter what the time and age as the ship girls disembarked the buses in order to allow them to leave the crowded premises, having had a few more busloads of ship girls from smaller, neighboring naval bases joining them.
Camp Itazuma was a rather utilitarian location where little consideration was paid to convenience and comfort, and they were now standing in the parade square as buildings walled them in on all sides.
The bustle of human activity sounded out all around them as a platoon of male Japanese soldiers were all jogging in the distance while chanting something as a unified voice to the timing of their steps, and the droning engines of land vehicles were being heard all around, chainsaw-like in their intensity since a lot of them were heavy-duty combat vehicles, most of which were familiar to the newly-arrived ship girls as the sights and sounds of an active military base.
One ship girl land combat specialist was there to greet them to the camp on the elevated platform, and realizing who that trainer was made everyone freeze in their tracks.
Standing on the platform with the Japanese Rising Sun flag (the one with the red rays on it) hoisted on a flagpole behind her was Jintsuu, except that this doppelganger's hair was cut shorter in accordance with military regulations and also to distinguish herself from her other doppelgangers, standing before them with her hands behind her back as she looked down at the arriving ship girls who mostly hailed from Yokosuka.
She was definitely long-lived since she stood as tall as any particularly tall heavy cruiser and was lean enough to take on a battleship, the Sendai-Class light cruiser now practically a full-grown adult who had clearly seen her fair share of bloodshed in her lifetime.
She was wearing the JGSDF uniform which contained splotches of desert green, jungle green, beige and black to serve as camouflage while she wore black combat boots, and on her two collars which were flattened on her collarbones were sewn-on rectangles which reflected her rank, one star above two horizontal stripes as it was all sewn in black.
On her left breast were several rectangular patches of what Hiei assumed to be Ranger and Parachutist patches (from her limited knowledge on the JSDF) above her Kanji name tag which read '神通', and above her right breast pocket was her name in English, 'Jintsuu' as well as a belt wrapped round her waist, her long sleeves folded up into short sleeves which barely reached down to her elbows with a vocational badge pasted onto the Velcro patch on her right arm.
Everyone was silenced by the sight as hopes fell, since if Apocalypse was the death sentence, the sight of the Demon Instructor Jintsuu standing on an elevated platform and was in charge of their training regimen was essentially the executioner waiting for them at the chopping block.
And the Demon Instructor didn't disappoint.
She had that look in her eyes which was a clear indicator that she was in her dreaded instructor mode, and Jintsuu exuded a dark and commanding aura which guaranteed nothing less than absolute agony in the weeks to come, striving to milk every drop of performance from them all to prepare for Apocalypse, uttering her next words darkly not as an exaggeration, a boast or even a threat.
It was a cold, hard fact.
"Hello, ladies.
Welcome to your first day of Hell."