Chapter 4: Choosing
His body felt weak, his muscles felt sore from the welcoming party. He might have had too much to drink last night. His head felt as if someone took a hammer and repeatedly whacked the top of his cranium. He tried moving his body to realize that he was in bed in a room that he doesn't realize. Tick tock tick tock went the clock as if it was in rhythm with the pounding that his head was getting. The ticking clock on the wall said that it was 7:00. The rays of sunlight were the only light source that illuminated the room that he was in. His body wanted to remain in bed, but his mind said otherwise, he'd rather remain in his bed when he was ready to embrace death. Shikikan moved his upper body to feel that it felt sore for some reason. He didn't remember doing anything that could have exhausted him during that night. He rolled his shoulders to stretch them out in order to find out where he was. Suddenly the door to his room opened up to reveal Belfast coming in.
"Ah, good morning Master, you have already woken up. Good thing too, your job as commander starts today."
"Belfast? Where am I? What happened last night?"
"You are in the commander's quarters. You had a little too much to drink last night. You ended up falling unconscious at the end of the party and us maids had to bring you to your quarter or at least that was the short version of the story," her face blossomed into a smile at the thought of the event just happened.
"Wait a minute what was the long version of the story?"
"You will find out soon enough. But for now, you have a long day ahead of you so please ready yourself for the day. Breakfast will be served at the canteen, everyone will be eating there as of today."
"Thank you for informing me, Belfast."
She curtsied in response. Shikikan sluggishly dragged his feet out of his bed to reduce the soreness in his body to only feel the pain still linger within him. He managed to reach the bathroom that is in his quarters to find a new brush, cup, and towel for him to use. He went ahead to do his morning rituals, the cold shower made his body cringe but soon felt warm after a while. Afterward, he found that another naval uniform was waiting to be put on. It was fairly similar to the design of his own but it had the words Azur Lane stitched onto it above his commander insignia placement. The letters were rather small so it didn't really matter too much to him. He put on his naval cap which was hung up on a coat rack near the doorway. As he was making his way to the canteen, a few destroyers were running down the hall.
Even though they are kids they have this much energy to be playing this early in the morning.
Shikikan continued his path towards the canteen with the occasional greeting to his subordinates to where all of them responded with a soft giggle before greeting him back.
What happened that night.
Shikikan opened up the heavy door that led to the canteen. When he entered the room, his nostrils picked up the many aromas and scents that flowed throughout the air. Inside was pretty empty but there were still a few shipgirls eating in the room. Several of the shipgirls were too busy enjoying their breakfast to even pay attention to who had come into the canteen. Today it seemed like they were serving scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, toast, fresh fruit, and some morning beverages like OJ and milk. He extended his arm to grab a large plate to help himself with a heavy portion of scrambled eggs, a slice of toast, two strips of crispy bacon, a banana, and a small yogurt cup which came with a small plastic spoon. Shikikan scanned the room for a vacant seat with nobody around until he spotted one. As he started heading to the seat, he heard a few whispers and laughs from the other girls but he didn't pay his mind to think about what they were talking about. He dropped his mountain of food on the table.
"Thank you for the food."
He started digging into his mountain of eggs, savoring the flavor with each bite he took.
"Is this table taken?"
He lost focus on his feasting to look up towards the person that spoke to him. To his surprise, it was the kitsune that helped him out when he was having trouble with Akagi and her obsessive nature.
"No, no. This table is open to anyone really. Amagi was it?"
"Yes, I'm glad that you remember who I am even though I have not given a formal introduction. I am Amagi of the Amagi class battlecruiser. I was supposed to be an aircraft carrier like my younger sister Akagi, but that was canceled due to a natural disaster."
She started coughing midway through her introduction.
"Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the med bay and have you checked out?"
"No, it's fine Shikikan-sama. As you can tell, my body isn't in the best condition, but you shouldn't let that concern you."
"No, this is a real problem if you are not in any condition to fight."
"I appreciate that you care about my health, but I can promise you that it's not much. I can just feel weak at times, it's not much to worry about. So please Shikikan-sama, don't treat me like an old woman please."
"Sorry, Amagi. So why did you decide to sit at this table?"
"Ah, I thought you needed some company. You seemed lonely sitting by yourself."
"Oh, how considerate of you. I uh… don't really know what to say."
He started itching the back of his head before resuming eating away at his eggs. It was silent between the two of them, nothing but the sound of their utensils hitting their ceramic plates for another bite of eggs. Shikikan decided to break the awkward silence since she was the one who decided to accompany him.
"So, do you know what everyone is so chipper about after you left the banquet?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry I thought someone was talking to me. I think that Mikasa told me something about what had happened after we left. She told me that out of nowhere you started singing to everyone at the banquet. But apparently, you were in a state that made your singing a bit sloppy and inaudible. Is this true Shikikan-sama?"
"Wait, that happened? God no, why did I think that it was a good idea to do such a thing in front of all of my subordinates."
His face felt hot, so he hid his expression from Amagi by slamming his face into his arms as if he was taking a nap on the canteen table. Amagi lightly patted him on the head to try to get him to get his composure back.
"You are like a child, Shikikan-sama. You need to take losses and move forward with yourself. If you are a commander, you must learn and reconvene with your mistakes to make sure they don't happen again."
He slowly raised his head from his slumbering position to be greeted with a precious motherly smile from Amagi who was still patting his head.
"Well, that's embarrassing. I am never drinking again."
"Ehehe. Shikikan-sama, you aren't usually like this are you?"
"Hmm? How do you know?"
"Well, it's pretty obvious that you didn't take such an act like you singing in a drunk state too lightly. That and your stiff attitude and your serious personality make it all clear what type of person you are on the outside. But, you obviously don't want to show people your real colors on the inside. You just laid your pieces out on the board and I just put them together like a puzzle."
"Huh, I'd never thought that anyone would understand who I am in just a few minutes. Hats off to you Amagi. I guess you are good with socializing with others then."
"No, I am just a tactician that makes the most of what I have available with me. Speaking of which, I heard that you are the youngest commander to ever exist. I can only guess that your tactics and skills are what landed you your promotion to this position."
"Yeah, that's part of it. That and the commander that I worked under, Commander Lenard was killed."
"Oh gosh, I didn't expect that you got the title that way."
"It's nothing, I would have gotten the title either way if we got into another battle."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"Well, during the war… Many of the ranks were corrupt to the core and didn't really care about who won the war. It was just about pleasure and wealth for those who were in the ranks. I was very much recognized and it would only be a matter of time till I have landed in the rank of commander."
"Well then Shikikan-sama, you seem confident in your ability to lead a fleet. If you would like to play a game of chess later, I will be in the Sakura empire dorm that is off in the sakura forest."
"I'll think about it, Amagi. But for now, I have to go off to work. Wouldn't want to be late on the first day at the office. I hope we will be able to resume this conversation again another time."
"Have a good day, Shikikan-sama."
He was breathless by the time he reached his office door to be greeted by Belfast inside who was waiting for his arrival to do his duties as the officer of Azur Lane. His throat was dried, sweat trickling down the back of his neck. He didn't realize that his office was a decent way from the canteen.
"Welcome, Master. You are five minutes late to your job, you have a long day ahead of you, so please sit down and look through all of these papers that the central command and the lab team has sent you along with signing these papers."
"Can I first catch a small break first? I just came from the canteen and I had to run all the way here on a full stomach."
"That won't do Master Shikikan. You are already late on your first day in the office. As compensation, you have to work right away."
He was still panting from the sprint that he had to make. His office was rather nice with the carpeted floor to the woodwork in the shelves that were filled with books and the stack of papers that were at head height when he sat down in his chair.
"Alright, let's get to work," he told himself as he snatched the top stack of the paper tower.
Reading through the lab notes he found some rather interesting facts about the shipgirls. After more than two hours of reading his focus started to drift away. Belfast would occasionally help him snap back into focus on his work but even that was a problem for him.
"Dammit, there is just too much work and it's only the first day in office. I'd rather die out as a navy officer in combat than die from some office work!"
"Master, why don't you appoint someone as secretary to help you out?"
"That was an option this entire time?"
"Yes."
"You should have told me sooner."
"If you request something, I will comply. All you have to do is ask, Master."
"I'll think about who to appoint as secretary by lunchtime. As of right now, I have to finish some of these documents before I decide."
"Also Master. Dr. Corrian wanted to speak with you when you are done with your work."
"Understood, did she go into any specifics on what she wanted to talk about?"
"No, she just asked me to tell you about the meeting, nothing else."
"Alright then, two more hours of this boring crap and I'll be on my way."
"So what is it that you wanted to talk or show me?"
"Ah, you're here already? Good, good. Hold on a second, I was getting some DNA and still analyzing what truly created these new biological weapons."
Her hands were full at the moment. The doctor was busy peering through a scope that he could assume is a machine that acts as an enhanced microscope. Shikikan idly stood by observing what the machine is capable of.
"Mmmm… I see. Bill, can you hand me the document?"
A gray-haired man with round glasses grabbed an office folder that was on his desk and very slowly walked toward the doctor.
"Thank you, Bill. You can go ahead and go on your lunch break. I'll call you if I need your assistance."
Bill approved of her if she ever needed to reconvene with her with a friendly vertical thumb before leaving the lab and into the break room.
"Does that guy not have a retirement plan?"
"First off, very rude of you to assume his age. Secondly, he devotes his life to science and research just like Einstein, so don't look at him like that, he is just as talented as you in the science department."
"Yesh, sorry I said anything."
"Okay, here is what we know so far. These cubes seem to have to do with human DNA and the presence of an unknown component in order to create these shipgirls. In other words, these cubes are able to resurrect or recreate things like sunken or afloat ships and turn them into a humanoid version of them. That is where you came in and touched the original cube and had many ships that were lost or afloat into physical form."
"So what you're saying is that I am able to create a new life through the touch of a wisdom cube. Isn't that what we just established?"
"Yes, but they are a brand new species or subspecies of humans. Almost like demi-humans with their animal ears, except those also exist within this category."
"So does the DNA that they have are similar to my own DNA?"
"We can test that right now. We can determine if you are the father of all of these girls that you control. Just put your hand here and this machine will analyze and compare your DNA."
The doctor pushed Shikikan to a machine that had a handprint scanner on it. The machine was a rather large filling about a fifth of the room. He placed his hand on the scanner to then hear the machine roar to life. After a brief moment of standing around, the machine ceased its cries.
"Congratulations, you are a father of an entire armada of shipgirls."
"Wait, are you serious?"
"Nah, I'm just joshing you. There aren't any signs of similarities between any of the DNA tests that I did."
"Glad that you have a good sense of humor, not as if I need any more surprises about these girls. How many did you do?"
"Uhh… about all of the girls."
"Okay, good. I'm not about to pay off child support worth more than my lifespan."
Dr. Corrian laughed hysterically at his comment, "Well, mate. I'm sure the government will cover all of them. Even still, most of them are already adults so you won't have to worry too much about them."
"Is that all doctor? If so I have to go talk with my subordinates on deciding who will help me reduce my workload to prevent my demise."
"Oh, you're appointing a secretary? That's very convenient. That brings me to the next thing that we have discovered. The shipgirls seem to get stronger the more you bond with them."
"What do you mean? This sounds absurd."
"Well, my research hasn't proven me wrong yet. Didn't get my three PHDs to make a mistake now. As I was saying, they will perform better in combat if you get them in a friendly relationship. So if you don't mind being part of my little experiment, I would like you to get as close to as many girls as possible, one if you dare pick favorites."
"So you want me to flirt with my subordinates? Is that what you want? Do you think this is a joke? Aliens have come from these cubes that we still don't know much about. For all we know, they can take over the world if they want to."
"Quit your yammering and relax. They will follow your every command as a commander. It is their purpose in life."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I've asked many of them, they all devote themselves to you as a leader. They don't really have a reason to take down humanity or any of us unless the time calls for us to create enemies."
Shikikan took a seat in the nearest chair and stared down at the ground trying to recuperate from his wild thoughts.
"Does the government know about this yet?"
"I sent them a message about this find and said if you are able to confirm, they will allow intimacy with the girls. Just be sure to be subtle about this. Also, Azur Lane will no longer be a secret to the world anymore. This organization will be announced to the world as an anti-terrorist slash naval control group that will protect countries within ocean range."
"I see. I'll see what I can do about the whole intimacy with my subordinates. Don't expect instant results like how you are able to with your research. I may be a catalyst, but I'm no lady's man."
"Perhaps you would like some training in flirting with women."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll handle this on my own accords. I'm most likely just going to fake this whole relationship thing to see if this truly works."
"Very well, but why fake the relationship when you can just have a real friendship with them?"
"I have my reasons as so do you. If that isn't enough for you, then you should be the one getting closer to me."
"Okay then, how cold of you, but I'll uncover your secrets one day. But I hope that you will be able to do it. I really think you should reconsider this faking relationship thing. What if they catch you talking behind their backs? They will lose all of their strength if they find out. They might even kill you if they were that disappointed in you."
"Have some faith, doctor. They won't suspect a thing."
"Who would I even appoint as secretary?"
Shikikan was walking towards the canteen but with the thought of juggling between a group of people that he had met up with. Belfast, Akagi, Atago, Enterprise, and Eugen, all seemed like pretty good candidates. Akagi might want to kill him if she finds out about the truth or even worse than death if she finds out. Enterprise seemed like a hard person to get friendly with but her kindness might be her downfall in letting him get close. Eugen would seem like a candidate that could yield results with the experiment and might be capable of doing secretary duties, but she seems like a snake that could trap him and manipulate him to her will to spill the truth if he wasn't careful enough. Belfast seemed good as secretary, but he had to consider the fact that she was the head maid and had to take care of other business other than helping him. Then there is Atago… He was too absorbed in thought to pay attention to his surroundings and crashed the top of his cranium into the back of someone.
"Oof. Oh sorry, I was absorbed in thought. Please forgive me for my carelessness."
He bowed his head afterward to the person that he had rudely bumped into.
"Ara, there is no need to apologize to onee-san."
"What?"
His head raised up to meet face to face with a familiar face that he had seen.
"Oh, Atago. It's you."
"Are you heading for the canteen? Should onee-san accompany you to your walk there?"
"Thanks, I'd appreciate it."
"So what were you thinking so hard about?"
"It's nothing really. I was thinking of appointing someone as secretary to help me out with the workload that I have received."
"Who do you have in mind so far?"
"Well, I wanted to give it a little more time before I confirm who will be my secretary. So far everyone I have met was great including you. I will most likely split some time between appointing a new secretary."
"If you would like. Onee-san would be more than happy to be your secretary."
"Like I said I'm still thinking about it."
As they were nearing the end of the path, Atago called out to a small group that included Takao.
"Oi, is everyone here?"
"Yes, Maya and Choukai are also with me. Commander, you are also here? Did Atago drag you into this?" Questioned Takao.
"No, I came here out of my free will. I just so happened to bump into her, literally. So who are these two?"
"Oh, right you haven't met them yet. This is Choukai, the youngest sister and this is Maya the second youngest. Are they both just adorable," said Atago with a motherly smile with her hand on her cheek.
"Sis, you don't have to dote on us, especially when the commander is here," Maya contradicted.
"Ufufu, I just can't help myself when I have such cute younger sisters."
"Anyways, what is for lunch this time?"
"I believe that we are having curry today," said Choukai.
"Oh good. One of my favorite meals is on the list," said Shikikan.
They all entered the canteen to be met with Nevada who was serving the portions of rice and curry for everyone.
"Have your fill, there is still plenty of curry left for the day if you want second helpings. Oh, hello young man. Can I interest you in some naval curry along with your group of friends?"
"Yes please."
She gave them all a good helping of curry and rice. Shikikan grabbed a pear, a small salad, and a bottle of water to go with the curry. They managed to find an open table that was close to another group of girls.
"You all seem like a great group of sisters."
"We are a great group. It's just sometimes some of us are stiff and could use a break every now and then, right Takao," said Atago.
"Atago, I devote myself to training to gain the title as the strongest. I'm sure you can understand that right Shikikan."
"I uh… well… I only got my title through bloodshed."
"What are you talking about? In your profile, it said that you devoted yourself to rise up in the ranks in order to turn the war around."
"You wouldn't understand, Takao. You might have seen battle before you were reincarnated as who you are right now, but you weren't in my shoes when the latest war broke out. Everyone that I put trust in either fell or was publicly executed by the enemy, live on television and until then I rose through the sea of blood from my own brethren."
They all broke into silence when he gave his little speech. The sisters just stared at him as he sat more frozen than an ice sculpture as if someone had chiseled one in his place.
"Sorry, bad memories still plague me… Thank you for the food," he said before scooping a spoonful of curry, "This curry is pretty good, props the chef who made this."
"Right, this curry will be able to make anyone's day no matter how bad it is," beamed Choukai.
"Right? You can't beat a good beef curry on a day like this," smiled Atago, "Speaking of being able to make anyone's day, have you seen the latest post on Juustagram by Aoba?"
"No, what is it big sis," questioned Maya.
"Here I'll send it to all of you."
"You really shouldn't be using your phone when you're eating," commented the commander.
"Don't worry, it will only take no more than a few seconds to view. There we go, I sent it to all of you."
They all brought up their phones to view whatever Atago had sent to her sisters. When they played the video, a groggy and drunk-sounding commander was singing an inaudible song. They were all trying to hold in their laughter when they heard the commander's drunken singing.
"All of you, put your phones away now!"
His yelling echoed throughout the canteen causing all eyes to be attracted to their table. Immediately afterward they withdrew their phones back to where they were released. Shikikan had his hand over his eyes with them being tightly closed, with his face flushed once again.
"Sorry Shikikan, I just thought that it would liven up your depressing thoughts, but I just made things worse…" Atago bowed her head in a polite manner.
"No, this isn't your fault. You just wanted to help me and I should be thanking you for it. I'll have to accept the fact that I have done such an embarrassing feat that I didn't want to show the world."
"Excuse me, I have to go back to training. Thank you for eating with us commander, I hope that you will join us again. If you ever need anything, I'll be in the training room."
Takao swiftly left the canteen leaving the four of them.
"Anyways, have you decided who will be your secretary? If you would like, onee-san will always be available to help out."
"I believe I did find an eligible person for the role. Starting today, Atago you are my secretary."
She sneered at his response, "Have you already had eyes for me? Onee-san thinks that is adorable."
"Trust me when I say this. I don't have time for games during work, I only establish a friendly relationship with those who are willing to work with me, that is all. When you are finished chowing down, meet me at my office. We have a job to do."
"Roger that, Shikikan."