Hiei was with Amazon Company as they were gathered and seated in the hall on the 7th of May in order to listen to Ma'am Jackie, and even though their instructor had an excellent poker face thanks to over a decade's worth of life experience, even Hiei could tell that there was something troubling her, and that was what put everyone on edge as they sat down with no superfluous talk or even whispers to fill the silence, Ma'am Jackie standing before a movable projector screen as she started to address the ship girls.
"Well, I have good news and bad news, Amazon company.
Which one do you want to hear first?"
All she got were mumbled responses, and although Hiei pulled her head back and anticipated Ma'am Jackie yelling at them in order to demand a loud and concise answer, Ma'am Jackie instead lowered her head and scratched the bridge of her nose, and everyone knew that this had to be bad if even Ma'am Jackie was acting this shiftily.
"The good news is, you're graduating early, far earlier than even I expected.
The bad news is why you're all graduating early."
Everyone exhaled as one while several ship girls hung their heads, likely in resignation at the fact that everything was going down the drain because of Apocalypse, and the fact that things would only get worse from here on out with the Abyssals crawling onto their land and encroaching onto their territory inch by inch.
And although Hiei wanted to believe otherwise, she couldn't help but think that there wasn't much they could do to stop their onslaught.
"The Abyssals are spreading from their base of operations like a plague infection, and although all of Japan's naval bases are readying their forces in order to meet the Abyssals halfway on the ocean, we need the rest of you to back them up both at sea and on land should the need arise.
Although I would personally have preferred to continue teaching you all some more in order to prepare all of you for Apocalypse, the enemy controls the flow of battle.
Not that all hope is lost, since I will be flying with you all in order to join the front lines and coordinate our defense forces, although I won't be getting my boots wet on the ocean when I haven't done so in nearly two decades, mind you, and I'll also leave the naval tactics to the Admirals."
The portable screen lit up as the distant projector projected a map of Japan and its various islands like Okinawa on the screen, and its presence was threatened by a red blob which radiated from the Pacific Ocean with several flags marking important locations in Japan, Ma'am Jackie starting her lecture.
"According to our predictions and what we can gather from our fragmented readings of the Abyssals moving underwater, Shizuoka, Kanagawa and Chiba are the predicted areas which we'll be defending while Okinawa, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku are also areas of interest.
Our coasts are at risk of being invaded, but anywhere beyond the three neighboring prefectures are none of our business for now."
Pointing at Chiba, Ma'am Jackie highlighted the outcropping of land which shielded the Yokosuka Naval Base from the Pacific Ocean.
"This is the most likely place the Abyssals would attack first, after which they'd head left and attack Yokosuka, supporting their forces which are assaulting Shizuoka and Kanagawa in order to allow the Abyssals to encroach on our land.
Tokyo, located close to the ocean, should not be lost to the Abyssals for fear of losing a capital city and a resulting dip in morale, and even though Chiba may be lost in the first stages of Apocalypse, we have to try and stop the Abyssals from establishing a foothold here.
We'll defend its coasts with everything we've got in order to buy time for our army to work with the JGSDF to booby-trap every single square inch of land that we leave behind."
Turning their attention to Shizuoka, Hiei envisioned their ship girl and human military moving around on the map and fighting with the Abyssals while they spectated from above as if watching two armies of ants doing battle with each other, although they would soon become part of said army who would fight the Abyssals in those cities sooner or later.
"The Izu Peninsula is also an area of concern, especially since it is an outcropping of land in Shizuoka which largely consists of forests, and even if we were to lose this Peninsula, we can still try and stop them from advancing up to Mount Hakone and Fuji, assuming we can secure Suruga Bay and Oshima Island.
Oshima Island should be defended since it is still a location which the Abyssal can use as a platform to launch a more effective assault on its three neighboring prefectures, but it should not be treated as too high a priority, because if the Abyssals are about to take over that island, we should be almost finished with our preparations on land and be retreating inland with guns blazing."
Weather forecasts and a calendar then popped up in order to estimate when the next seasons, namely autumn and winter, were coming and would drastically change the nature of the war.
"Of course, right now, weather isn't a problem since we're coming to the end of spring and the start of summer.
And although hazards like dehydration and heat exhaustion might be prevalent right now, they pale in comparison to winter warfare, which is when vehicles will slow down to a crawl and when we need to dig deep and hunker down in order to survive the freezing temperatures."
"Oh god, hell is going to freeze over by then."
The Kongou-Class battleship looked down at the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer as Shigure looked rather perturbed, yet nonplussed at this turn of events as she remarked on the situation while Ma'am Jackie continued her lecture in the background of Hiei's mind.
"The Abyssals are used to the cold because of their ability to survive in the freezing depths of the deep sea, and it wouldn't be much of a surprise if they hit their stride during winter as our defense lines slow down to a painful crawl."
Hiei considered how the Abyssals would be at ease while living in temperatures which froze water in mere seconds, and this allowed them to occupy the North and South Poles along with swaths of land in Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Russia, amongst other locations, without anyone contesting their rule simply because they couldn't invade the Abyssals there without running the risk of being frozen alive.
"Hmm, that makes sense.
We'd have to find other ways to slow them down, and do you think that urban warfare would do the job, seeing how Japan's quite urbanized?"
Shigure shrugged as Hiei lifted her chin towards the map and Japan's metropolitan areas, and she listened to what the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer had to say.
"Well, much like the Battle of Stalingrad, I think that their advantage in the cold would be cancelled out by the urban areas which we would be fighting in, likely in areas like Tokyo, Yokohama and Tsukuba.
I think Ma'am Jackie is right in that the bulk of the fighting, at least where we're concerned with in the immediate future, will likely be in the Southern Chiba prefecture, where the hills and forests would be the battlefields since that's where they'd likely make their Normandy-esque landings."
Hiei nodded in agreement since Chiba was mostly surrounded by the ocean, and if they managed to cross the entire prefecture with Mount Atago as the tipping point, they'd move West in their path to Yokosuka and Tokyo if they were to cross the Tokyo Bay, making it the final area for them to defend before the Abyssals marched on Tokyo.
"However, if the Abyssals gain a foothold in Ibaraki and head South into Northern Chiba in order to press us from both sides, I think we may be forced into an early retreat so as not to be overwhelmed from the North, South and East.
Like Ma'am Jackie said, the outcropping of land in Shizuoka which leads to Mount Amagi is also another avenue of attack, but it's discouraged since it's pretty obvious that even if they take Oshima Island, we can still transport ship girls and soldiers onto the battlefield and bottleneck them by having them move down from Kanagawa or by crossing the Suruga Bay."
Hiei stared at her incredulously, holding her breath and reevaluating the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer in her mind before asking.
"You know, why haven't you signed up to be a military adviser with your level of insight?"
"Well, the military high command's gotta be composed of brilliant minds who've been around longer than I have.
I'm likely stating the obvious to them, and I wouldn't be too well-versed in the tactics used on the ground or the overarching strategy in general.
Not unless I find out more."
Hiei lifted an eyebrow at how fast Shigure was learning as the destroyer humbly lowered her head, and her protective big-sister instinct drove her to slink her right hand over her shoulders and bring Shigure in close, confusing her friend as they listened on to Ma'am Jackie's lecture about enemy movements.
" … and that's why I'll be slowly training you up to be able to either keep yourselves afloat or even be able to swim while wearing part of or even your full combat gear.
Unlike the Abyssals, you all can't breathe underwater, and we don't want to waste submarines and have them form a body recovery division where they dive underwater in order to retrieve your corpses just because you are all unable to swim while carrying your equipment.
There will be several instances where you'll come under fire when crossing large bodies of water or get knocked into the sea, and that is pretty much the only time where you're allowed to drop your firearm and discard everything on you so as not to drown.
However, nothing makes up for a lack of training, and although you may have been accustomed to swimming in swimsuits, this will be different.
Any questions?"
Several hands in Amazon company went up, and Ma'am Jackie looking at someone and lifting her chin was an indicator for that ship girl to speak, Hiei turning her head to find Abukuma asking.
"Um, should the Abyssals advance into our mainland from the coastal areas, what is our navy going to do to turn the tide since our bases would be overrun and abandoned by then?"
Ma'am Jackie nodded as the map now displayed all of Japan along with both North and South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and China with Philippines in the lower left corner, their commanding officer answering the question.
"That's simple enough.
The Koreans will sail along Kyushu's South-Western coast with the protection of the Chinese on one side and us on the other, and the Chinese shall sail up with the Filipinos while the Russians sail down from Hokkaido.
We'll crush them with a devastating pincer attack by then, although we must note that this is a simple framework of a plan, since we're not oracles and need to keep our plans flexible."
Another hand was likely raised behind Hiei since Ma'am Jackie lifted her chin towards the ship girl in question in order to allow her speak.
"Are we going to practice the scorched earth policy if we are to retreat?
I mean, we aren't fighting against humans, and I really don't think they'll bother following the Geneva Conventions, so what're we going to do against that kind of enemy?"
Ma'am Jackie tilted her head backwards, contemplating that question for a while before giving her honest answer.
"In my honest opinion?
I don't think so.
What we need to run our war machine are two things: fuel and steel.
Fuel, we'll be receiving from the world, and steel means that anything metallic in the environment, we'll be eating."
The entire crowd erupted into silent whispers of "What?" and "Huh?", and Ma'am Jackie raised her right hand in order to pacify her audience before elaborating.
"Look, you'll very likely run out of rations out there on the field, and supply lines might be cut off when you need it the most.
Like I said, if you see anything that's made of metal around you, be it a vehicle, lamppost, cutlery or unusable weapons, you had better discard whatever notion of 'decency' or 'dignity' and eat it, lest you starve to death.
If that's what it takes to to win this war, by God, I'm gonna be there to force-feed the metal down your throats in order to keep you alive."
Hiei gulped nervously at the threat along with everyone else, Ma'am Jackie looking down at her own boots as she continued.
"As I was saying, I believe the Abyssals don't eat human food for sustenance, which would mean that destroying our own means of producing food in our wake wouldn't mean a damn to them, and water would very likely be considered a precious resource on both sides, which means they likely wouldn't poison or pollute it for fear of the same thing being done to them in retaliation.
Both sides would certainly have to fight for bodies of water in order to fuel their own portable docks, which would likely mean that they'd be left alone by the Abyssals.
It must be noted though, that even if it's in our power to deny the Abyssals any usable resources, it's our land which our people live on, and even if I say that we have to do whatever it takes to win, when it comes to the livelihood of our own people, we must think twice about this."
Ma'am Jackie looked pensive about this, having seen things which few ship girls bore witness to due to their war being mostly separated from the outside world, and while it had its fair share of horrors and ordeals, the upside was that it rarely affected civilians as collateral damage save for natural disasters which Abyssals took advantage of to attack the mainland as well as the American blitzkrieg all those years ago.
Hiei knew how land combat involved far more civilian casualties as mistaken targets or as unintended collateral damage, and what was worse was that the livelihood of the civilian populace were sometimes destroyed not by the enemy but their own government and military, thanks to a twisted tactic to deny the enemy of anything useful out of spite when retreating and allowing those left behind to starve and die, AKA the scorched-earth policy.
What made this even worse was that this wasn't another country's people they were screwing over by destroying their resources; it was their own people, and the repercussion in terms of public support and morale could and would be catastrophic, especially since there was a clear limit as to what the populace was willing to endure for the sake of victory.
Their commanding officer echoed this sentiment as she explained.
"We soldiers should not hesitate to use anything and everything at our disposal and make whatever sacrifice is required of us, but if we are to sacrifice what keeps our people alive and allow them to die, then what else is left to rebuild with even if we win?
We may ask for their support and help from the sidelines, but we should should not ask them to make such extreme sacrifices, and salting the earth as we retreat renders winning moot when we're left with nothing but uninhabitable land and resentful citizens.
So, all I have to say is, yes to some extent, but definitely not beyond acceptable levels of recovery."
Her answer was met with muted silence from Amazon company, who could almost feel the depressive air seeping from her pores and forming a bleak aura around her like a miasma, her battle experience aging her by several years even after she steeled her expression and soldiered on.
"Anyway, in the most dire of circumstances, I expect you to eat anything in order to feed yourself, and trust me when I say that it will taste horrible, but we have this physical gift to be able to devour metal and fuel, something few humans can accomplish, if any.
We should not tax our resources too much if supply lines get strained, because there'll be times where you'll probably have to eat tree roots or expired food, and what I predict from my time out on the field is that any food will be scarfed down, expired or not.
Capturing enemy resources will be paramount should worst come to worst, and even if it runs the risk of poisoning us should they contaminate it or whatever, desperate times call for desperate measures."
Ship girls let out a hum of revulsion at the thought, but it was understandable that they had to secure food and resources for their troops, and since the Safety Zone would be remapped to be closer to the coast when Apocalypse rolled around, they'd have to scavenge for resources wherever possible, even if they had to steal from the enemy.
Not the most elegant of ways to win a war, but winning the war took precedence over doing so in style, and holding on too tightly to their pride and dignity in the face of imminent extinction would spell their doom, Mikuma asking the question this time.
"Um…
Engaging in urban warfare in cities like Tokyo and Nagoya would slow down the invading Abyssal forces considerably, so what do we do if the Abyssals bombard it to smithereens so as to avoid it altogether?"
Ma'am Jackie's expression was difficult as she considered the question, but she finally gave her answer.
"We've prepared for such an eventuality, and will adapt to the situation as the Abyssal War progresses."
Hiei shuddered at how callous the top brass had to be to shrug off losses like that, and the other ship girls apparently thought so as she heard Nagatsuki exclaim.
"Hey, isn't that being a little too cold?
That's like, our capital city, and if we were to lose such an important city to those blasted Abyssals, we'd - "
The Mutsuki-Class destroyer was promptly silenced by Ma'am Jackie lowering her head in order to cast a shadow over her solemn face, eyebrows furrowed disapprovingly like a stern teacher about to give a scalding lecture, and Hiei could see an eye twitching in annoyance at a seemingly ludicrous question, everyone being silenced by the aggressive air which Ma'am Jackie now exuded in lieu of her previously depressing aura, using this chance to explain herself.
"Losing Tokyo doesn't mean we lose the prefecture as a whole, much less the entire country.
It's entirely possible that they could also force their way through the urban areas since a lot of Japan is urbanized, and there's no getting around it completely.
We aren't pushovers in the forest should we go all-out with our booby traps and guerrilla tactics with foreign aid pouring in from China, Korea and Russia, so don't get attached to any one city or location out of misplaced sentiment and inappropriately deem it a priority for defense or offense."
Everyone conceded the point and nodded dumbly upon hearing that since there was no arguing with that logic as Ma'am Jackie noticed the considerable dip in their spirits, and considering the recent loss of a comrade and her confrontation with Sendai, Ma'am Jackie started to speak again as her expression softened, scratching her head and not looking entirely sure of herself for the first time while standing before them.
"Look…
Something I want to note is that a few days ago, a fellow ship girl was dragged down into the depths by some new Beast, and the navy has labelled her as missing in action, presumed dead."
Hiei didn't believe that Amazon company could get any quieter, but they did at the mention of Naka's demise at the hands of the Abyssals and yesterday's roughhousing-turned-pep-talk session shortly after Sendai's outburst, and Ma'am Jackie looked uneasy about discussing something like this likely because it wasn't her specialty, but she made a valiant effort anyway as she spoke.
"Look.
I've seen good men senselessly die left and right in my military tours, and I will say that even as a superhuman amongst men, there were many lives which I couldn't save, no matter how hard I tried.
There are going to be losses, and I'm making a positive estimate that only about two-thirds of you are going to survive this war, should we win."
Everyone finally released the breath that they'd been holding as they were extremely demoralized by that sentence, but Ma'am Jackie had something more to add in order to put a spin on her own words.
"But, I don't believe that we should stop fighting and resign ourselves to our fate, even if that's so.
Even if everyone else falls around you, fight on, because it goes against the nature of a ship girl to simply give up and throw the fight before rolling over to die.
Destroyers, battleships, carriers, whatever.
We all have that spark within us that keeps us going, and even if comrades and sister ships sink around you, you owe it not just to them, but also to yourself to keep moving forward."
Scratching the back or her head while looking bashful all of a sudden, especially when speaking about such a sensitive topic with her company in order to keep them in relatively good spirits and determined to fight on to the very end, she forged on nevertheless.
"You have to keep moving forward, not just because you'd disappoint the fallen, not just because those whom you could save in the future depend on your every action in the present, but simply because you can.
I know that it's easier said than done, but a lot of you are stronger than you think you are, and there's more than one aspect of strength in this world, one which any and all ship girl can tap into and work as one in order to fight on with the strength and ferocity of a hundred battleships."
Not exactly a positive or effective pep talk which worked its magic like in sports movies at half-time, but there was a slight swelling in the chests of the ship girls in Amazon company after listening to that monologue which came from their Demon Instructor after seeing her make a genuine attempt to talk them out of this funk.
It wasn't the most eloquent of heart-to-heart talks, but Hiei could see as a former ship girl and soldier who was in command of ship girls who were following in her footsteps as sailors conscripted as soldiers thanks to circumstances beyond anybody's control, Ma'am Jackie wanted to help them tide over this feeling of hopelessness before Apocalypse ate up their time and kept them occupied.
"Also, there's something else I'd like to note.
On land, classifications like 'destroyer' or 'light carrier' are irrelevant as actual classifications of what you're capable of and more of a footnote tacked to the life you left behind, and allow yourself to widen your gaze with this new realization in order to adopt unorthodox strategies in fighting off the Abyssal horde, because if there's one flaw I think is inherent in their modus operandi, it's that they adhere too rigidly to orders and protocol.
I mean, not that it's bad, per se, but I would certainly think that they'd stick to tried and true tactics and use sheer numbers to try and overwhelm us, but the battleground, coupled with the weather and morale, all serve as force multipliers in order to help us combat the Abyssals."
That was understandable, since the weather, morale and the battleground itself were all considerations to be taken into account even on the ocean, from freezing temperatures which forced them to burn more fuel, to the continuous battles which came one after another and piled up fatigue at the expense of morale, and was doubly true for land combat which, from what Hiei had experienced thus far, was going to be far more physically grueling and psychologically taxing than land combat.
The Abyssals were tightening the noose around them, the inadequate and harsh environments which they had to fight, sleep and live in without basic amenities was going to put a lot more stress on them, and yesterday's training in the forest gave them a taste of what that felt like, Hiei clearing her mind of such thoughts in order to focus on Ma'am Jackie continuing her lecture, looking invested in imparting whatever experience and advice she could.
"Also worth noting is that the Abyssals, most of them anyway, are about as emotive as a dead fish, which means although they are incapable of being emotionally compromised, it is also quite hard for them to be driven to win solely through emotions and grit.
They wouldn't know what it feels like to be pushed to the limits like you are in your home country, and because of that, I believe that there'll come a time where we push back hard, because a cornered rat will bite the cat."
It wasn't hard for Amazon company to see the phase hit the nail a little too accurately on the head, since the ship girls had to dig deep and scurry about underground like rats in the face of the hunters that were the Abyssals, represented as cats in that comparison.
She started to feel that the pressure to perform for the sake of her sisters and friends started to tense up her muscles and quicken her breathing even outside of battles, casting furtive glances everywhere either to burn her friend's faces into her memory or to reassure herself that they were still with her and wasn't going to be ripped from her life by the reaper's scythe.
For now.
Still feeling Shigure's demure body leaning on her, Hiei found herself hugging her tight like a security bolster which anchored her psyche as a chill raced up her steel spine and spread throughout her entire body, numbing her skin as she tried to purge the horrid memories of the Battle of Twelve Navies from her mind where she dipped her hand into the sea in order to save a comrade and instead retrieved the upper half of Naka's corpse, the damage inflicted causing her blood and insides to spill everywhere as though right out of a snuff film while her resting expression was lifeless and blank happy thoughts happy thoughts.
She brought Shigure even closer and hugged her as tightly as possible without breaking anything in her friend's body, forcing herself to flood her mind with memories of her lounging in Mamiya's canteen with the 1st Fleet along with the times she spent with her sisters and Onee-sama even before that, which strangely drove home a sense of desolation upon realizing that these moments would be lost forever in the hurricane of violence that was sure to come when Apocalypse rolled around.
Hiei felt even worse after that, and Shigure being here meant the world to her as she steadied her breathing and brought the tremors under control while hugging the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, and the quivering of her lower jaw which normally preceded a crying fit was thankfully stamped out as her teeth clacked together as a result of clenching her jaw, a wave of unbridled dread threatening to wash over her as she remained silent, tuning out Ma'am Jackie's voice for the far more reassuring presence of her destroyer comrade, a stray thought recalling her elder sister's comforting presence in her mind and how she was doing right now.
'Onee-sama…'
The 1st Fleet was sitting together in the canteen after a day of briefing and training, and Shigure was eating her dinner as she shot Hiei a shifty sideways glance, the Kongou-Class battleship hardly looking worse for the wear even after looking so devastated during Ma'am Jackie's lecture.
And while Shigure didn't have a mirror to see what she looked like while in the middle of a meltdown during the Battle of Mikura Jima Island, if she had to hazard a guess, she'd safely say that it would look like Hiei did just now, probably worse.
She supposed that this would be a recurring thing with her friends, especially when one took the recent developments and Naka's sinking into consideration, and while Shigure felt some physical pain at the battleship's hug along with being suffocated in Hiei's surprisingly sizable bosom, she could see that Hiei needed her as a mental anchor to cling onto for dear life while suffering from what Shigure assumed to be a minor, but no less serious PTSD flashback, and anyone in her position could easily snap from the stress which was piled on them.
But right now, she was doing her best to uphold her end of her partnership with Shiranui by helping the two of them get into Project Psyche, and to that end, she aimed to share her observations with the 1st Fleet during dinnertime.
Shigure knew that Tenryuu and Tatsuta were very likely briefed on the opponent's powers by those who ran Project Psyche, and had a direct connection with both the Tenryuu-Class cruisers and the members of the 2nd Fleet.
Time to make full use of them in order to position herself as a possible candidate for the next round of Project Psyche applicants.
She played around with what remained of her dinner which consisted of freeze-dried tofu which tasted like sponge in her mouth, the staple food that was rice coupled with a chicken drumstick, potatoes and green beans, speaking to her eating teammates over the sound of everyone else eating their dinners in the canteen.
"I managed to get some time alone with the corpses of the 2nd Fleet, and what I discovered piqued my interest…"
"Wait, how exactly did you do that when the Fairies and orderlies were there to take care of the corpses before reviving them?"
Junyou asked a reasonable question, and Shigure had to come up with a half-truth in order to be able to cover herself when others questioned her alibi, having already decided to withhold the information about Project Psyche and how the Abyssal who killed the 2nd Fleet was likely related to it.
Create a situation where she expressed interest in the wounds of the 2nd Fleet and what these new Abyssals were capable of, and this would force either of or even both the Tenryuu-Class cruisers to confront her in order to convince her to stop her investigation which would in turn cause her to push on, finally allowing her to be brought into the loop and pulling Shiranui in along with her.
She kissed Yuudachi on the cheek in the morgue as a personal 'get-out-of-jail-free' card to ease her conscience and to wish her sister well, but not before personally experiencing how revolting charred and waxy flesh felt and tasted on the lips, and she had to simultaneously make her deductions while suppressing her gag reflex.
Oh boy, here we go again…
Shigure inhaled and filled her lungs with oxygen while fighting down the butterflies and the food in her stomach which plotted their second uprising to leave her body through her throat in a violent eruption, finally calming herself down and bringing her own body back under her control to the point where she could answer Junyou and friends with a straight face.
"Well, I was emotionally distraught when Yuudachi was taken out in her last sortie, and I asked for some time alone with her body.
But as I struggled to pull myself together, I picked up several details which started a train of thoughts and led me to make a few intelligent guesses as to what the assailant was like and was capable of."
That was half true, she did want to visit Yuudachi and Shimakaze's corpses and wish them well on their way to recovery even if her first and foremost goal was to study their wounds, and while she did shed some genuine tears when visiting the mostly-deceased 2nd Fleet (Chitose being the exception), their recovery would erase their wounds, and with them, any possible lead regarding Apocalypse and its harbingers.
Not on her watch, playing up the 'devastated sister ship' angle for what it was worth and ignoring the sickened feeling with herself which her conscience used to convince her to stop, finally being let inside by the sympathetic orderlies (thank goodness she picked a timing where Akashi wasn't there) and was allowed to move their corpses about without disturbing or exacerbating her wounds.
And what she found out surprised her, but with Apocalypse in the backdrop of the Abyssal War, it only registered as a dull surprise at this point in time, continuing her explanation.
"Shimakaze's chest wound was what caught my attention, because of the odd angle of penetration.
Coming in from Shimakaze's chest level and judging from the girth of the wound, I theorize that the assailant was an adult, but when the assailant managed to take down Shimakaze in one shot without allowing the fastest IJN destroyer a chance to even react, I'm stumped as to who managed to pull this off.
What diminished the possibility of a cannon taking her out was how a shell spins as it is fired from the barrel and almost always tears a chunk of flesh out when exiting the body like a widening funnel, but Shimakaze's wound was roughly uniform in diameter through her torso, which is difficult to accomplish with a large or even a medium-caliber shell.
A hole was opened where Shimakaze's spine was while her front was torn out messily…"
"Oh, god."
Tenryuu placed her face in her palms with an exasperated remark escaping her lips upon hearing her young comrade talk about something so gory with such an intellectual interest, and Junyou now wore a difficult expression on her face, wanting to hear the deduction of who the assailant was which took out the 2nd Fleet; just not from the mouth of a Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer.
Regardless…
" … and while it is entirely possible for a shell to catch Shimakaze off-guard, why wasn't the supposed cannon which was firing this shell used to target other ship girls?
If it had no problem hitting the fastest ship girl on their fleet, shooting at others and scoring a hit would be a cakewalk.
Besides, the viciousness on that caliber wasn't noticed in the wounds of the others, only Shimakaze was the one to receive an attack of that caliber, since others were only punched and kicked.
It had to be personal for the assailant.
It should be…"
Shigure allowed the name of one particular Kagerou-Class destroyer to linger on the tip of her tongue, although everyone else already suspected the answer since Shimakaze's past blunder was no secret to the rest of the naval base.
She continued sharing her observations, letthing them know what they could expect in the months to come since their fleet consisted of the first two ship girls in the world with New Wave powers, and she expected them to come under heavy fire and be hunted down by stronger New Wave Abyssals once the Abyssal high command took an interest in them.
"Also, what struck me as odd were the wounds, since they were radically different from anything I had seen thus far.
Not just the splotches of first, second and third-degree burns, but several of the wounds caused by punches and kicks which had quite the twist.
Where the enemy's strike connected, the way damage was done seemed as if a heated branding iron had made contact with human flesh, roasting flesh and boiling skin on the afflicted area like sizzling meat on a burning grill."
Tenryuu inhaled sharply while Ayanami scrunched up her nose just as the destroyer was bringing her spoonful of food to her mouth, but Shigure barely paid attention to these trivial details in light of the situation at hand, observing Tatsuta and Tenryuu as they both shifted around in their seats.
'Come on, come on, talk to me already…'
Tatsuta shot a glance in her direction, making eye contact with Shigure as they both looked into each other's eyes, and she saw Tatsuta start to entertain the idea that Shigure might know more than she let on, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer deliberately breaking eye contact and looking away to fuel the light cruiser's suspicions, prompting Tatsuta to confront her in the near future, not that Shigure ever expected the Tenryuu-Class junior to believe her 'nightmare' alibi back when she sought them out in order to speak to them before Project Psyche.
"It's interesting to think about what could have inflicted those injuries, as well as the claw marks which were left on their flesh, which I assume was made by a Beast which accompanied this new Abyssal."
"New?
How do you know it wasn't an existing Princess or its Beast?"
Tenryuu spoke up and tried to derail her line of thought, and the effort was commendable as Shigure pointed out how she recalled the lessons about on the Abyssals, disseminating and enlightening them with information which was painstakingly collected throughout the two decades of constant and bitter conflict between them.
"Well, I did consider that.
I reviewed the lessons on Princesses and Demons, and a lot of their Beasts possessed human-like fingers and fingernails which wouldn't be able to leave these distinguishable claw marks on them.
And before you ask, off the top of my head, I recall the Armored Carrier, Light Cruiser, Harbor Water and Southern War Demons with the Seaplane Tender and Harbor Princess all have claws on their Beasts or on them.
But there is one thing all these suspects have in common which essentially eliminates them from my list, it's an evolutionary advantage which apes and humans possess while many animals don't."
A knowing smile graced Junyou's face, swallowing the portion of her dinner in her mouth as her eyes lit up in a moment of realization.
"Opposable thumbs."
Shigure formed her right hand into a thumbs-up gesture and raised it in Junyou's direction both to serve as a visual aid and to congratulate the Hiyou-Class light carrier before continuing.
"Exactly.
I think that this Beast didn't possess opposable thumbs, and if it did, it would have allow for more options for the Beast in combat than simply to 'scratch ship girls until dead', which was exactly what happened."
"Fair point."
Shigure looked back at Junyou as the light carrier nonchalantly accepted her reasoning and went back to eating her dinner as if her deductive skills didn't mean a damn thing to her aside from momentarily distracting her from her sumptuous meal, and Shigure sneaked the two Tenryuu-Class cruisers aside glances.
Tenryuu and Tatsuta were now looking at each other more frequently, with the former doing so more often per minute while the latter was more composed, but there was no covering up the concern they both felt even if they managed to play it cool, and Shigure continued sharing her observations both to enlighten her teammates and to aggressively move herself into a position to be accepted into Project Psyche.
"It's interesting, along with the supposed enemy Beast which took Naka out along with whatever fired that nuclear missile.
To think that there are so many Abyssals out there with unknown capabilities, and there are very likely even more out there, lying in wait until Apocalypse engulfs the world in a world war.
It's all a puzzle that just begs to be solved."
Shigure took a bite out of the sponge-like tofu, savoring its horrible texture and bland taste for what it was worth before they everything went to hell and they were forced to eat mud and delude themselves into believing that it was edible food in order to sate their growling stomachs, hearing Tenryuu ask her with a fair amount of suspicion in her voice.
"By the way, how were you capable of deducing such things when visiting a sister ship and friend?"
Shigure shrugged off the suspicion which laced question and answered truthfully, seeing no need to lie about this to her friends.
"That isn't too complicated.
When I see things that interest me, I'm just driven to think even more about them.
I just couldn't let the matter slide when observing the 2nd Fleet's wounds, and deducing what the assailant was capable of.
I mean, it is possible for anyone else to come to the same conclusions if they think hard enough about it all."
Everyone was giving her that look now, and Shigure pulled back from the looks which she was getting as she asked meekly,
"U-Um, what is it?"
Junyou shifted her head's weight onto her left arm as she teased, looking amused at how Shigure was so curious about such things, no matter how morbid or grim it could be.
"Well, it just seems so much like you to want to figure such things out.
Even if you are a child, you're just so precocious that it's actually kinda cute, to see you put on your thinking cap."
In which Hiei responded, clearly a little exasperated at seeing Shigure behave far older than she was supposed to, considering how much she had been through back in World War 2.
"Geez, would it kill you to act your age for once, to play some hide and seek and do whatever children do every once in a while?"
Shigure pouted a little at the suggestion, since they were supposed to be soldiers and they had no time to be 'acting their age', even if she appreciated the sentiment.
She pushed herself from her chair and left the table to dump her finished food tray before tucking in for the night, only barely registering a pair of boots keeping pace behind her.
"Please wait, Shigure."
Shigure slowed down as she heard a familiar Tenryuu-Class light cruiser's voice call out to her, and she turned around to see Tatsuta walk up to her with an enigmatic look in her eyes, and Shigure held her breath upon seeing the light cruiser approach her since she hadn't mentally prepared for this talk yet.
Still, she held her ground.
"Yes, Tatsuta-san?"
Tatsuta studied her silently, Shigure feeling slightly apprehensive under her scrutinizing gaze, all while the light cruiser weighed her own words before she spoke.
"You really are a bright and precocious child, to be able to come up with those theories by studying the wounds of our comrades."
Shigure looked down in embarrassment, feeling warm on the inside after hearing such a compliment from such an unexpected source, shifting around bashfully on the spot as she observed her dull-black boots.
"Oh, you know.
Anyone else could've done it if they tried…"
"But you now know what the enemy is capable of, no?"
Shigure looked up at the amount of concern which laced Tatsuta's voice, and the genuine expression on her face said volumes about how much she cared for her, and Shigure could see that Tatsuta didn't want her to be caught in the path of whatever trashed the 2nd Fleet.
Exhaling tiredly, she agreed.
"Yes, I do."
"Then you must understand how outmatched you are, am I right?"
" … Yes."
"Then I must ask you this one question, not just for your own sake but everyone else's as well.
Is it too much of me to ask of you to leave this case alone?"
"And why is that?
Is there something you're afraid I'll uncover at the end of this road?"
Tatsuta's expression darkened, leaning over her and instilling the good old 'serial killer Tatsuta' vibes in Shigure, freezing her in place while a coldly furious Tatsuta chided.
"We're facing off against something which we have no idea what its true abilities and limits are, and they're more than capable of beating trained ship girls to death.
I don't care how this started, only that this has to end now.
Stand. Down."
"Is that an order or a threat?"
"How about both?"
Shigure certainly felt threatened by Tatsuta's aggressive negotiations, but she had to stand her ground if she wanted to get anywhere in life, looking up defiantly even at a friend who wanted nothing but for her to be safe, asking Tatsuta with a straight face.
"I don't believe you would go through with your threat."
"Like how I don't believe you had a nightmare of us leaving for good when we went to participate in the research for our Kai Ni remodels, and you sought us out before we left in order to say goodbye.
Despite my best attempts to believe you."
"Hmm."
Shigure gave her comrade a million-watt smile, but deep down, she knew that this was inevitable as she hadn't quite managed to remove her emotions from the equation when she realized that Tenryuu and Tatsuta were to be the candidates for Project Psyche.
Besides, it was a case of 'I-know-that-you-know-that-I-know' situation when Tatsuta mentioned her own cover-up story with such disdain, as if she never expected Shigure to fall for it at all.
Right now, Tatsuta was exerting her influence on Shigure in order to cow her into submission, all the mirth and friendliness being expelled from every fiber of her being and leaving behind a menacing presence which towered over Shigure and stared down at her with an unblinking gaze.
And Shigure had to admit, she was pretty terrified of Tatsuta when she was like this.
But while the past her would have genuinely considered giving up this case for good and not having Tatsuta and Tenryuu constantly worrying about her while breathing down her neck, she had grown as a ship girl and had Shiranui's chances of getting into Project Psyche banking on her success right now.
No backing down.
For her own sake, and Shiranui's.
"But right now, you seem pretty determined to solve this case.
And I suppose my advice for you to abandon this case only seems to have further piqued your curiosity, no?"
Nodding enthusiastically in response, she bristled underneath Tatsuta's withering gaze as the light cruiser tried to get her to back off, but she stood her ground and looked back up at Tatsuta's terrifying and hollow gaze, which were inexplicably capable of boring through her skull with the ease of a hot knife through butter.
The searing intensity of Tatsuta's gaze never wavered, questioning Shigure one last time with the tone a victorious commander would use in order to give an ultimatum to a demoralized enemy messenger.
"Last chance.
Back off, or you'll find yourself in the morgue like the 2nd Fleet, or at the bottom of the ocean."
To which she respond with a willful shake of her head.
And after about thirty seconds of a stare-down which she struggled to endure without either blinking or tearing up while the stone-cold Tatsuta tried to strong-arm her into letting this case go, the light cruiser finally exhaled and relaxed, a resigned smile growing on her face in contrast to her deflating demeanor, and her reply was all but defeated in tone as her gaze and expression defrosted.
"Damn.
Well then, I suppose if you're not going to stop in spite of the danger and my warnings, I suppose the best I can ask for is for you to excel at what you're doing."
"Hmm, if to 'excel' means to be a precocious little kid who's also a magnet for trouble, I believe I'm unmatched in that regard.
Four sorties in two months, three of which were against a submersible battleship, a Princess and an invading Abyssal armada, and I'm here now, preparing for what is essentially the end of the world as we know it, aptly called Apocalypse.
No pressure."
She said it all with a faux-carefree tone as if everything which happened to her thus far was simply a hurricane which she waltzed into and came out the other side completely unscathed, but her slightly strained voice betrayed how it all took its toll on her, and was instead taking its time in winding her up for the next spectacular meltdown.
Turning away in order to walk off to their bunks, she flashed Tatsuta one last smile behind her as she remarked.
"Oh well, I'll be counting on you in the future, Tatsuta-san.
With what's coming next, we'll need all the help we can get, and I know that despite what you make yourself out to be, I know that you have your heart in the right place.
See you around!"
"Artificial aging."
"Hmm?"
Shigure's head snapped back as she came to a halt, Tatsuta giving her a knowing smile as the light cruiser filled in the last puzzle piece in Shigure's deduced profile of the assailant.
"Amatsukaze was artificially aged into an adult form as part of the Abyssalization process.
Her Beast was a cheetah, and that's all that I'll say in order to fuel your sharp little mind."
Cheetah, possess claws of a feline, hence the deep shredding wounds.
Amatsukaze, very likely personal vendetta against Shimakaze for past sinking, possible reason for particularly violent and fatal attack to her heart.
Artificial aging, explains enhanced mobility and capability to attack Shimakaze from such an angle.
Fire, possible New Wave power, either that or super-speed, require more information for more accurate analysis, likely one of many Apocalypse harbingers after being granted New Wave powers.
Snapping out of her thoughts in order to look up at Tatsuta with a bewildered gaze, her gaze demanded answers and found one as Tatsuta gave her a serene smile before answering.
"You're a good friend, Shigure, and I know that you have a brilliant future ahead of you, even if you tangle with death more times than anyone else is comfortable with in your quest to fulfill it.
And right now, instead of stopping you, I'm trusting you not to be a complete idiot with this information and do what you feel is right.
Because God knows I can't either trust or convince you to do the smart thing and leave this dangerous business well alone."
Tatsuta lost her smile as she rolled her eyes derisively, but Shigure could tell that this was one way for her to vent her frustrations regarding Shigure's stubbornness, and how it couldn't be confronted head-on.
"I think that when when it comes to your inquisitiveness, much like a river, it can't be stopped, but I should be able to direct it towards the right ends, and that's why I'll observe your progress from here on out before making my next choice.
I'm telling you this in confidence, Shigure-chan.
If word gets out about this…"
Tatsuta formed a gun with her right hand's index finger and thumb, pointing it right at Shigure's head and shutting one eye to mimic aiming down its sights, firing it as she sang in a singsong tone.
"I won't forgive you ~ "
Before turning away coyly, slinking off as her army uniform did nothing to hide her shapely figure, humming all the while as she joined the 1st Fleet back in the canteen.
Shigure gulped nervously at the unsaid but undoubtedly fatal implications of betraying Tatsuta's trust, keeping her voice as steady as possible in her valiant attempt to convince both Tatsuta and herself of her resolve.
"I-I won't!
You can count on me!"
Tatsuta kept walking away while raising her left hand to give her a wave before rounding the corner, disappearing from Shigure's sight and allowing her to finally let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding the entire time, precious oxygen entering and filling her lungs as she grimly thought to herself.
'Just what have I gotten myself into?'
It was bright.
Was it daytime - no, her natural reaction was to turn on her HUD in order check the date and time even with her eyes closed.
'8th May 2015
3.35 a.m.'
It was nighttime, so why was the incandescent light illuminating her retinas through her eyelids?
Naka's mind was swimming as she struggled to think, her mind a mess of jumbled thoughts as she pried open her eyes, a bright light shining through the arcs of her eye slits which momentarily made her believe that this might be heaven.
But as Naka widened her eyes, she realized that the supposed 'heavenly' light was really an operating lamp composed of several light bulbs arranged in a circular pattern as it shone down on her, and any attempts to lift herself up from a supine position was met with failure, chains and belts holding her down on a cold, metallic table.
Even her head was strapped down by a belt which rested on her forehead and stopped herself from looking to her side, Naka straining her eyes to notice something which laid beyond the glaring light above her.
The light reflecting off of her and the table she laid on was caught by the tools which hung behind the operating lamp, her eyes widening in horror at the operating drills, scalpels, tweezers, clamps, scissors and syringes attached to an overhead machine with its weaponized 'fingers' pointing down at her, as if Edward Scissorhands himself was itching to gut her like a fish.
Oh, no no nononono.
This had to be the other place, and the possibility that she was stuck several hundred kilometers below the ocean surface only served to let the gravity of the situation sink in, now starting to remember how she ended up here.
The Infiltration Fleet was on the run from some sort of giant underwater Beast of an unprecedented size, and they had been dropping depth charges at various intervals in order to discourage any attack from below.
Kagerou was about to get screwed from below by one such Beast, and in her haste, Naka pushed her away and allowed herself to be bitten by the whale-sized Beast, the last dredges of her memory banks filled with the horror that was being drowned by the crushing, frigid seawater and losing consciousness just as the pitch-black void that was the abyss swallowed her, blanking out after that…
She began to hyperventilate despite her futile attempts to keep calm while her thunderous heartbeat resounded in her ears, desperately struggling against her restraints in order to escape while she heard approaching footsteps.
Warily calling out,
"Who's there?
Please, help!"
She was instead greeted with silence along with the continued footsteps which got louder and closer, finally coming face to face with an Abyssal who eclipsed the operating lamp's light with her head while a fluorescent white circle was glowing just above her cleavage, glowing red eyes piercing her own as Naka struggled to identify who it was.
The unknown Abyssal speaking up helped to clue her in,
[So you finally woke up, pyon!]
As everything fell into place, recognizing it as a fellow light cruiser.
"I-Is that you, Sakawa-san?
It's me, Naka!
Please get me out of these restraints!"
And she was greeted with a lyrical,
[Nope ~ !]
"What?
Wha-Wha… Why?"
Sakawa moved away and began circling the table, Naka hearing the clack of her heels as a metronome to lull her into a false sense of security while the Abyssalized light cruiser explained.
[Well, we used to kidnap your doppelgangers since end of the First Decade in order to be Abyssalized, spacing out these kidnappings between intervals so as not to arouse any suspicion.
And back then, Yuubari was an engineer and not a surgeon, so we conducted hands-on biology sessions on a ship girl…
Hint hint, that's you.
We'd study how the Abyssalization process changed a ship girl's body, and how to best adapt it to New Wave powers, and you'll understand what that is soon enough.
Of course, it was quite difficult at first and extremely messy, since we fudged up the vivisection enough to cause them to faint quite often.
If not from the excessive blood loss, then it was from the hellish pain due to overloading their nervous system, and I remember that one time when I accidentally shifted my weight onto my elbow which was resting on an exposed nerve, and it's best to note that we never used anesthetic in order to accurately determine a subject's response to pain, amongst other sensations.
Oh, I remember how she squirmed and screamed at that…]
"H-How many…?"
Sakawa pulled back from Naka's view, the light cruiser blinking rapidly in order to clear her watering vision while Sakawa teased.
[Oh, instead of simply telling you right now, let me turn down the brightness of this lamp and move it away so that you can see the fruits of our labors…]
The operating tools folded in and moved beyond her field of vision along with the dimmed operating lamp in order to plunge the space above her into relative darkness after becoming accustomed to the bright light, and she activated her night vision mode while blinking rapidly in order to look up at the pitch black ceiling.
Her breath stopped, and as did her heart upon witnessing the sight above her.
Hanging above them like limp, lifeless rain dolls were the bodies of past Naka doppelgangers who had been experimented on, their throats and mouths covered by jagged steel pieces which seemed to be welded to their pale skin as a pseudo-throat guard.
They still possessed pigtail buns with the one difference being that the corpses had theirs held together by steel rings, wearing a bastardized version of her uniform with steel gloves and boots, unfocused and dull blue eyes being lit up from within like the luminescent tails of fireflies in the dark.
And as if on cue, they all shifted their gazes onto her, unblinking and unwavering as they looked down upon what was to become the latest addition to their ranks, Sakawa coming back into view with her red pupils boring through a panicking Naka's skull along with a false smile stretching out her cheeks.
[Exactly forty-seven of them.
You'll be number forty-eight, and I'd like to share the good news that we've developed our surgical skills to the point where we know how to keep you alive while making you suffer as much as possible.
And you know what the best part is?
The one who's going to be operating on you. Will. Be. Me ~ ]
"Pl…Please…
You don't ha-have to do this…"
Naka was doing her best to not break down into a sobbing wreck upon seeing what was to become of her, and Sakawa's gaze softened as she leaned in to caress her temple with a gloved hand, cooing in an attempt to comfort the Sendai-Class cruiser in her final moments.
[Oh, don't you worry.
I was in your shoes once and was also from Yokosuka, I know exactly how you feel.]
"R-Really?"
Sakawa's expression and smile brightened for all the wrong reasons, and although Naka thought she saw a glimmer of hope upon hearing that Sakawa was trying to connect with and relate to her, the enthusiasm reflected in her eyes meant that there was no talking her way out of this.
[Well, how else do you think I got this?]
Sakawa leaned forward and allowed Naka to see the white circle on her chest which shone while being contained inside some sort of steel ring, and knowing of Yokosuka's Sakawa helped her to deduce that the hole in her chest, caused by a Princess's shell punching through her chest, was now used to house this device which kept her alive and powered her, likely installed via the same surgical procedure which was about to be performed on her, if Sakawa was to be believed.
Something which almost escaped her notice was the presence of a tattoo inked in black, looking to be the top profile of a lotus flower drawn to resemble a sun, hidden by Sakawa tucking her uniform back in place before speaking.
[When I'm done you, well, not to sound cliche, but you'd likely wish you were dead by then, because it's a sad truth of our world that passing on is the luckiest thing to happen to you when the alternative is to end up where you are right now.
Although, spoiler alert, after performing the exact same procedure on your clones about a dozen or so times, I daresay that you won't be thinking too much after this.]
The Abyssalized light cruiser cooed as she brought her face in close as a lover would, holding Naka's trembling face close while Naka felt her face contort from the horror of it all, that she was about to go under the knife to become the enemy, and her light cruiser strength was of no use in a situation which negated her strength, and Sakawa's reassurances weren't doing a thing to make her feel any better.
In fact, it made her feel worse due to how serene and even excited Sakawa seemed even when she was about to operate on a fellow ship girl.
[Don't you worry, dear.
With us, you'll be able to indulge in your passion of idol singing full-time, even if you have to work with 47 other clones of yourself to be noticed on the world stage.
Besides, you'll be noticed by so many people and become a superstar, shining bright like a diamond amidst the darkness of war just like the night sky…
Doesn't it all sound positively grand?]
The surgical tools swiveled back above her head as did the operating lamp, powering up as they drew closer to her strained face and tear-streaked cheeks as Naka fought to break free from her restraints with a renewed vigor while tears streaked down full-force, her hyperventilating breath gasping in tune with her heaving chest while her constricted pupils belied her terror at what was to come.
Her trembling lips failed to form any words in time and could only form a horrified grimace in contrast to Sakawa's grin which stretched out in an uncannily wide and eager smile, holding the operating tools in her hands and bringing them close to Naka's tearing cheeks to allow her to witness her own horrified eyes be reflected on their surface, the unholy odor of blood stinging her nose as Sakawa whispered eagerly.
[Chop chop.]
"No, no, please, pleaaAAAHHHH!
AHHHH!"
The operating hall echoed with the shrill screams of the Sendai-Class light cruiser, not for the first but certainly the last time as the grisly operation was spectated by her own doppelgangers who w ere once in her position, blank stares a sign of their remodeled nature as unfeeling and unthinking pawns, their final member undergoing the excruciating rite of passage that was basically torture in order to become a full-fledged J.O.A.N. Abyssal unit.