Author's note: Writer's block. Real Life Assignment. Many other things. I am sorry that this one is pretty much ended up prematurely. tbh I am not satisfied at all, but I guess this will do for now... Thank you very much for your continuous support. Thank you for liking and reading this fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kantai Collection or any of the song I used in this fic. I did translate Japanese lyrics into English myself.
Underneath the corset of your mystery
Piece by piece undress you from your history
I'm sleeping with seclusion in sweet disarray
Heavy - Holly Brook
"What do you think of Ai, Kagerou? Has been doing her work fine?"
The destroyer smiled jovially, holding her beloved pup as she sat by the grass. Kuro tried to lick her face while she held him tenderly. Half laughing thanks to her dog's gleeful reaction, she answered.
"Admiral Tendouji is a good Admiral. Ahahahaha Kuro-chan,come on. I think she did good."
What an extremely neutral answer.
With no eye contact.
"Really? Glad to know. Airi can be really naive and emotional."
"I see."
~Protocol 8~
"Seriously, why don't we just report him and ditch all of his orders already?" Kagerou grumbled, the pain of several hits from Abyssal destroyers days ago made her body sore. A bespectacled woman, the last of Kongou class, sailed beside her as flagship. She looked at the destroyer.
"Based on my calculation, he does make a lot of ridiculous measures," She said correcting her glasses. As she did so, a ring gleamed on her right hand's finger. She should have taken it off. Their old Admiral had passed away many months ago, replaced by their current Admiral. However she did not take that off. "But he still thinks for this nation."
She smiled.
"Kagerou, although we might hate this Admiral, we shall not betray our nation. That is what makes us Kanmusu."
XXX
She still chose to stand near his desk, as if saying that she could walk through that door at any time. As if she had not fully surrender to her own decision of talking to him.
Heishi waited patiently by his place, resting one of his big hand on his working table. One gun fairy stared at Shiranui, tilting her head. She then jumped onto Heishi's hand and climbed to his shoulder. Shiranui's eyes flew to the door then back to Heishi, seemingly thinking of just cutting the talk off and go away. She also had not really answer if she would like to talk about it or not.
"Talk if you feel like it, Shiranui. You can even stop in the middle of everything if you feel like you are not ready to talk about it. I won't push you to it."
She seemed to really think about it. A while later she shook her head. Her dark eyes looked a bit more emotional than usual when she said in a low tone,
"Shiranui will. For Kagerou."
Heishi smiled.
"And for yourself?"
"..."
A rather amused smile appeared on her face.
"... Kagerou's happiness is Shiranui's happiness as well."
Her eyes turned distant again. She looked at the window, staring into something far away in her past. When her eyes moved back to Heishi, she added quietly.
"If Kagerou finds her answer, maybe Shiranui will as well."
XXX
"Did Ai tell you anything about dog keeping?"
"Hmmm~~ not at all. She only told me to take care of him."
Kurogane rolled on the ground. His wagging tail and overall round body spread the feeling of both relaxation and serenity.
Today's sun was bright and the clouds spread thin over the sky. Kanon took a deep breath and looked up. Still a bit more time until lunch... and she did not make any progress with Kagerou, she knew.
At the corner of her eyes, she saw the destroyer started rubbing the little dog's belly.
"How are you, Kagerou?"
"Eh?" the destroyer looked up, at the scientist. Amused, although confused, smile appeared on her friendly expression and she said, "I am fine? Is there anything wrong?"
Oh, yes.
"Oh, naaaaah~~ I just wonder about Kanmusu job. Aren't they supposed to be pretty heavy? You seem to be in a holiday."
"Hahahahaha~ No, no, not really. Admiral Tendouji gives holiday regularly to each of us after missions."
Are you really fine?
XXX
"This siege will be the biggest siege this small base has ever done in years."
A man of his mid thirties, Admiral Jiro is a tall, rather muscular man. His hair was cropped on the side, his facial hair shaved clean. He had that habit in him to tap his right fingers by his pants when he was impatient. That same hand could easily flew to someone's face in the form of a slap or a punch.
Whichever, Kagerou had tasted them all.
"You midget brains understand what that means?"
He always gave them condescending nicknames. They silently took it most of the time, even though Maya or Kongou would snark at him once or twice.
"That means, you have to win. I don't care who will sink, I NEED that win."
He pointed straight at them.
"Fighting for me is why you are born. If you can't do even that, I can just scrap the shit outta you."
XXX
"The winter siege was a part of the military's large operation. During that time, Admiral Jiro was promised a promotion if he was able to stall the northern enemy long enough for the south squad commanded by Admiral Fukumoto managed to destroy an Abyssal base."
Kaga began with a rather long introduction. Her eyes remained placid when she returned Airi's gaze.
"Admiral Jiro had been using the destroyers for continuous expedition to gather resources for this specific siege. He also sortied the cruisers to gather resources. Most of the ships in the base were fatigued. By the time of the siege, there had been many destroyers casualties. That is why Admiral Jiro constructed destroyers almost constantly at the very end of his working days."
Airi remembered Inazuma and Ikazuchi, Ayanami, Mutsuki... they were the destroyers that had just finished constructing when she came. The only "older destroyer" who had really went through much of Admiral Jiro's commanding days were only three: Shigure, Kagerou, and Shiranui. Being close with Shigure was much easier than it was with the two Kagerou class, for some reason. The only difference between the three was that the Kagerou class was in the winter siege, while Shigure did not. There was something different about the Kagerou class and Shigure. Although Shigure evidently disliked night battle and seemed to have the melancholy of "departure" in her, those personality more or less persisted in her every recreation. Kagerou-class, however, somehow the two destroyers seemed to be way more distant than the others.
Something must have happened during the sinking of the two Kongou class and Michishio. Kaga dropped her gaze on the folder in front of the admiral.
"Hiei-san and Kirishima-san were picked as the flagship of the two sortie fleet, because Haruna-san, Kongou-san, and Nagato-san were to be deployed under the command of Admiral Fukumoto and joined the southern forces. During the siege, many of the ships were drained of their stamina and suffered damages because of fatigue. At night, after they sunk their supposed objective, Abyssal reinforcement came."
xxx
"Michishio, hang in there!"
Pain. Kagerou remembered shocking pain all over her body as she draged Michishio up from the water. They were all exhausted and Michishio was badly injured. She lost her right arm. Kagerou could feel Michishio stirred, then her rather weak, "This is nothing. You worry too much."
Blood gushing out of her cut off right hand did not seem like something to just brush away as mere flesh wound.
Kirishima beside her breathed heavily. She steadied her cracked glasses, calculating the presence of lights far away. Choukai, grimacing, circled their perimeters. Her main machine started to hum rather too loudly.
They were edging at the brink of their limit.
"... A Light cruiser demon princess is with them, Kirishima-san. What should we do?"
The cracked glasses hid Kirishima's eyes with its glint. The transmission with Admiral Jiro happened quietly. The reply, however, was not.
"How many times should I repeat your mission? Stop contacting for every single goddamn shit, you will reveal loads of thing, can't you even digest that much?"
"We need your permission to retreat, Admiral, we—"
"There is NO retreat until everything is over!"
"Most of us are critically damaged, Admiral, if we continue..."
"Are the stupid destroyers and cruisers damaged again?"
Kirishima visibly gritted her teeth. Tenryuu spat to the sea while Takao and Choukai were visibly upset. Michishio, however, was way too annoyed to hold her tongue anymore.
"It is your goddamn fault, you asshole!"
"Michishio!"
Tears welled up in her eyes and she shouted at the transmission.
"Stop calling us idiot, moron, stupid, weakass... you are the one who don't fucking know how to use your ships!"
"How dare you talk back to me like that! While getting your own ass killed you blame ME?! Blame yourself for being born flimsy destroyer! Now go stop those forces like you used too and make yourself useful rather than merely using up my precious resources! It's cruisers and destroyers like you who take up my space and being useless everytime!"
"WE ARE NOT-"
"Michishio."
Kirishima sounded tired, but in her words, and her grip on Michishio's shoulder, stopped the destroyer's words.
"Admiral, the base will lose much of the firepower if we sink here. According to my calculation, it is better in the long run for us to retreat for now."
It really did not matter.
"Which of the word "no" you don't understand, idiot?"
To this man, whether they lived or die it really did not...
"Fight until Tenryuu, Michishio, and Kagerou sunk. After that,Kirishima, Choukai, and Takao you go back to base."
Kirishima visibly gritted her teeth. Choukai's face turned dark. Takao sighed and hit her own transmission button.
"Admiral, they are as valuable as—"
"I DON'T NEED weak ships."
Choukai closed her eyes.
"The only thing they are good as is meat shield. They aren't even worth scrapping."
XXX
"Sacrifice yourself for the battleship, Admiral Jiro said."
Her purple eyes turned dim.
"No matter the state of our damage, the only important thing was for the mission to succeed and the battleship to go back."
XXX
Haaaa... haaaaaaa...
It hurt. Everything hurt.
Michishio's weight turned heavier in her shoulder. Kagerou had busted her own gun, so Michishio who could no longer sail with her main machine, used hers as propellers. She saw Choukai came out of black smokes after shielding Tenryuu, gritting her teeth in pain but said nothing. An explosion a while ago blew her glasses off and hurt her face but, again, she said nothing. She had been silent the whole while, taking blow after blow without a word.
Takao did the same.
She sailed without saying anything, circling around Kirishima as they tried as hard as they could to shoot down enemy's Wo class's rampaging bombers.
Kirishima, also, said nothing.
No one needed to, actually.
They were losing. Everyone knew.
Sink.
The Light Cruiser Demon also said it, with grin and glowing eyes.
Sink.
"You shits are better sinking than wasting my bucket."
Is that... their only worth?
Wet tears started to roll down her cheeks.
Their hardwork, their sailing, all of these experiences... were all of this... for nothing? Did they mean nothing? Their presence was nothing but dust compared to the battleships? Then why were they born?
The night... was unusually silent, even with all the explosions.
"... Based on my calculations..."
Kirishima's voice suddenly came up.
"The Admiral's decision is faulty."
Her back looked so distant. Her Miko clothes fluttered in the wind. She stood strong, despite smoking funnel an burnt clothes. She looked back, half smiling. Choukai moved closer, breathing heavily, but was silent. So were Takao.
Tenryuu folded her arms.
"I am ready either way you pick."
Eitherway? Kagerou looked up. Kirishima smiled gently.
"I missed him dearly."
The destroyer blinked.
"Kirishima-san, what..."
"It is better... if the highest firepower is the one holding them back. There will be better chance of stalling the enemy force and for the rest to run away. I will stay. All of you, please go back safely."
XXX
"If there is anything Admiral Jiro hated the most, it would be if he lost his firepower," Shiranui said slowly. "Hiei-san dropped the original plan and went against his wishes. She stayed while the rest of us go back because she knows it would be what the Admiral be most angry of."
The dark eyes turned impenetrable, seemingly drowning in her own memories. It seemed she had been burying the memory for so long and so deep, and letting them to resurface made her fall to an almost trance-like state.
"Hiei-san also said, she had enough of having her friends sinking for her."
The voice dropped lower.
"'This is my selfish wish and I am sorry,' she said. 'Let me do this for you.'"
The purple eyes moved to meet Lieutenant Kouseki's. Deep and dark. Then something else, Heishi realized, was contained in the destroyer's eyes.
"But it was not her fault."
Anger. Pain.
"It was not Hiei-san's fault."
Hatred.
No. Heishi curled his hand into fists. No, Shiranui.
"Shiranu—"
"It's the human's fault."
XXX
Kurogane jumped to the grass, standing up straight. He barked loudly. Kanon raised her eyebrows. Kagerou herself stopped what she was doing (fiddling with a grass flower) and looked at the condition of her little dog.
"Kuro-chan?"
The dog suddenly snarled.
"Kuro?"
… and ran away.
"Kuro-chan!"
For some reason he did not heed his mistress's voice and keep running away. Kagerou eventually had to bolt after him. And Kanon after them.
"KURO-CHAAAAN!"
XXX
His breath stuck in his throat. What stared back at him were two different eyes of one destroyer he thought he knew well. One eye gray while her other ones remained purple, Shiranui returned his gaze emotionlessly. The fairy on Heishi's shoulder started to jump up and down, panicking. The other fairy seemed to stuck stunned on the table.
Taking deep breath to keep his voice composed, Heishi called her slowly.
"Shiranui."
Her gaze answered. She was still herself, at least partially. Or perhaps she really was still herself, Heishi did not know which. Those eyes however, clearly answered her. Saying something silently he did not understand. Did she ask him to listen? Or ask him for help? For understanding? Or just simply telling him that it was HER in front of him? … or all other way around?
"It was Admiral's fault. It was his orders."
No. No, stop. But he could not say that. He knew that her voice was his only cue to know just how much she had changed. The foreign change in her voice, the sudden change of pitch in her syllables... He could use that as an indicator.
Yet recalling the past was what brought her storm of emotions and caused her this change. He did not know if agreeing or making her talk about it would be the best way.
Those mismatched eyes watched his movement and Heishi could see at the very same time the destroyer was judging him, measuring him. They both gauged each other, if they were still friends or foe to each other. Or none of that at all.
Finding him slowly rising up, Shiranui, not moving, continued her statements.
"Human continue to litter the sea with their greed."
Heishi took a deep breath.
"Shiranui..."
"It was not Hiei-san's fault. It was not Kirishima-san's or Michishio's."
"Shiranui, please."
"It was his. So our lives are his punishment."
The greyish color now spread to both of her eyes. Slowly, really slowly, Heishi could see tendrils of black crept into her irises.
"We live for our hatred."
XXX
"I see, so that was what happened."
Kaga solemnly nodded, finally ending perhaps the longest ever monologue in her entire career. Airi pushed her fist to her lips, thinking. She had a pretty clear picture of why things were the way they were at the moment. Although she did not know exactly what could be running in the mind of the survivors of the failed winter siege's fleet. Especially Kagerou. Or Shiranui.
"Is there anything in your mind, Admiral?"
Kaga's brown eyes brimmed golden. Airi looked back at her, finding the carrier silently analyzing her. She smiled.
"Why would you say that?"
"It has been one year since your placement. If you would like to only inquire about the incident, you could have just asked me when you transferred."
But you didn't.
Airi smiled. As always, in her calm, silent composure Kaga was extremely perceptive.
"Well... I have several reasons," Airi began. She smiled. "One of them is about the base. I have plans on my own."
She raised her index finger.
"I would like... to construct Hiei and Kirishima again."
XXX
A bark broke their silent battle.
Shiranui turned back, towards the door. Right there, barking loudly, stood Kurogane. The dog did not lounge at her, it just barked. And barked. Its bark echoed throughout the factory. Heishi knew in a minute the other engineers would come and that would mean really bad. He knew exactly Protocol 8 on Containment would commence and...
"Kuro-chan! How many times should I... huh?"
Heaving from exertion, what came into view next was Kagerou. Her breath came to a halt when she saw her little sister, golden eyes widening. Blood drained from her face when she saw the gray eye stared at her back, and also the familiar purple eye.
"Shiranui?"
The gaze answered hers silently, much akin to what she did when Heishi called her. Kagerou's expression, however, turned into a mixture of so many thing it was hard to make out. She only stood there by the door, with Kurogane barking by her leg. Behind Kagerou, Heishi saw Hakurei-sensei. They met eyes, but he could see what she meant in hers.
Protocol 8 on Containment. Especially when the engineers, attracted by the relentless barking of Kurogane, came. Beyond Kagerou's shoulder, he could see her ordering them, whipping out her ID card she kept hidden in her pocket most of the time. As much as Heishi wanted to stop her...
He had both Shiranui and Kagerou between him and Hakurei-sensei. Whether the Protocol would commence or not, Shiranui was still only partially changed...and she still communicated. But Kagerou's presence for some reason strengthened whatever it was in her, that Heishi could see even her shadow started to shift.
"We only sailed to hate him."
Kagerou's mouth closed into a thin, tight line. Her lips trembled.
She, however, did not object what her sister said.
"We lived to prove him wrong for our hate."
The first ship of Kagerou class destroyer closed her eyes tightly, curling her hands into fists. She gritted her teeth. A while later she opened them, and she looked back at her little sister. She seemed to have bitten her inner lips, containing emotions of her own. Slowly she answered her sister firmly.
"We did."
Kagerou closed her eyes again tightly.
"Yes, we did."
She agreed. That they both hate.
XXX
"He hurt us."
"He did."
"He hurt you."
"... Yes, he did."
She had been slapped, with hand, with belt, she had it all, sometimes for reasons as simple as a mere success expedition or if they did not manage to bring back buckets because the station was empty that time. She knew she was not the only one who gone through it. She was not the only one facing all the pain, the unfairness, the abuse.
Shiranui had been there all the time as well like her.
They all hurt. They all had their loss.
And she did, one and a half year ago, said that very same words. Perhaps with the very same... expression.
"We were born to sink. And reborn to sink again."
"I can just scrap you then."
Kagerou closed her eyes tightly, feeling all the storm of memories came to her.
"Everything is his fault."
"It is."
She opened her eyes eventually, watching how her vision blurred with tears.
"They didn't see it as fault."
Kagerou's fist trembled. Her breathing turned harsh and fast. She knew these lines.
"They promised him promotion. We sink, and he got promoted."
These were hers.
"This is their fault. Human's fault."
These were the very same words she said when she got back from that campaign. The very same word she talked to Shiranui.
Black tendrils now almost completely enveloped Shiranui's sclera.
"Human... is always the cause."
A step forward from Shiranui, towards her. Kagerou recognized those eyes, she had seen them before. Those eyes stared back at her when she looked at the mirror, at times golden, at times grey.. When they were grey she would smash the mirror to smithereens. She knew of this perhaps better than anyone.
She saw the same tendrils of black when she watched Ashigara trotting to hit Admiral Tendouji. She identifiied them, recognized them very well. The simple reasoning of why she informed Ashigara of Haguro's first sail was simply because she identified the same pulse. They were hurt... and they hate.
Hate, so much. So much it fueled them life.
"I hate him. I hate him so much I live for that."
So much, she repressed them to live. And to continue hating. That was literally, the only real fuel for her existence.
"... and then I was lost."
Shiranui stopped her steps. She stared back at Kagerou, her eyes questioning silently.
The older sister looked up straight now, firmly, her fists curled tighter.
"I hate him. And I hate those behind him."
Lieutenant Kouseki stared at her and she replied him.
"I hate how no one say anything. Their silence said he was right. That he was right to hit us, to sink us as he pleased and construct us as he pleased. Everyone's sinking was right. Kirishima-san, Hiei-san, Michishio, Nattori-san, Wakaba, Hatsuzuki, Hayashimo, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Kuroshio, Yura-san... Their sinking was right. No one said it was wrong. No one make a voice. I always. Always. Hate human."
Shiranui stirred. Grey eyes lit up. Kagerou knew something behind her move. Perhaps a crowd came. Perhaps the other staff came, but that was not it.
By the leg, Kurogane barked.
"You are right, Shiranui. Yes. Those are my words and those are exactly what I said."
Tears fell from Kagerou's eyes, and along with it, everything she had contained.
"But I was wrong."
The eyes lit up.
"You were not."
"I was."
Kagerou turned to look at Lieutenant Kouseki, standing near his working table. His big burly body, yet gentle heart. The sight of him working very late at night to take care of all of their armor, faking equipment malfunction to grant them a day off, marshmallow and hot chocolate at night, and that sofa he bought but never used because it was always, always used by one of them when they were exhausted. His gentle smile, and genuine kindness.
Kagerou remembered the weight of the book when he pushed them to her chest that day.
"... It was not... the fault of Lieutenant Kouseki."
Shiranui stirred, but now not from the same reasoning.
"That was enough of a reason to stop calling it all humanity's fault."
XXX
"They... did not exactly confide to anyone, that's why."
"And Kagerou is different?"
"She has you."
He never did anything worth noting, or anything worth mentioning, but Kagerou's words touched his heart more than anything. To be a reason of change, it was not just what anyone could hope to be involved as.
The destroyer turned to her little sister, whose shadow now somehow crept to her soles, and smiled.
"You are here because you believed he will listen. You trust him."
"She...does not exactly talk to me, Admiral."
"She is comfortable with you enough to not deny how she has worries."
"Is he not a human?"
Shiranui did not reply.
"I just thought, Shiranui, that maybe... maybe I was wrong," The destroyer continued slowly. "Maybe we were wrong. And seeing you like this, seeing the Lieutenant like this... I... I realized I was wrong. I am not sure what is right but... but hating was wrong. It burdens you, corrupts you... It makes you live miserably. That is all I know."
"Your hate was true."
"It was."
The tears streamed down now, and Kagerou did nothing to brush them off.
"I hate him so much. The only reason why I did not want him die was that he was the reason for me living. I want him to suffer every pain possible. That was the only reason I lived. I was dead after that mission. I sank with Michishio and Kirishima-san. When he was gone, I was at a loss. My existence... I have nothing to hold onto anymore. My hatred was short lived. I was loss... Now I sailed only because I sailed. I am too in pain to sink,yet too burdened to live. I hate too much to love, and too distrustful to believe."
The destroyer brushed her tears briskly with her arm, smearing tears all over her face. She struggled, but she continued.
"... Had we been wrong, Shiranui? Is it possible, to find meaning in living as Kanmusu?"
Kagerou's eyes fell on her dog, then back to her sister again.
"I don't know how life will be, I don't know anything other than fight and be sunk. But as I got Kurogane, and those books... I realized that maybe, Shiranui, maybe we can find something else to hold onto. Something other than hate."
Shiranui stirred. Her eyes gleamed, but Heishi did not know what it meant. She was not back into her former self and she said nothing as Kagerou talked. However, it must meant something. The words, must have moved her. To which gradient, he did not know.
Kagerou moved forward.
"I am sorry... I did not listen to you, Shiranui. I am sorry I was never there for you."
"No."
Shiranui moved back. The grayish hue in her eyes flickered.
"I was so occupied by my own hate that I did not ask you how you felt after that time. I did not realized that I was not the only one hurting. I did not think that I was not the only one having nightmares. You woke up because you never slept, didn't you? But I never asked you. I never talked to you."
Kagerou extended one of her hands... Which Shiranui avoided. The former stopped, and looked into her little sister. The tendrils of her shadows pulsated.
They looked into each other when Shiranui said, slowly,
"Has my feelings been wrong, Kagerou?'
Kagerou's firm answer made Heishi felt his heart sank.
"No. Your feelings will never be wrong."
"I hate him."
"I know."
"I hate human."
"...I know too."
A drop of tear fell from Shiranui's eye, and finally, Kagerou reached her. Her big sister squeezed her arm gently. She smiled.
"Shiranui, I choose to give them a chance. I don't know how it will turn out and I don't even know what to life for from now on... but I... I decided to... to believe, even for a bit.. that maybe..."
Kagerou slowly turned around. She immediately saw blue guns of numerous officers pointed her and her little sister, and the Admiral that stood in front of them. Her raised hand and her body were the only things between the gunshot and them both.
"... maybe human... aren't all bad, and that our hatred are misplaced."
XXX
Airi stood there in front of her staff, staring right back at Kagerou and Shiranui. All the guns were ready to fire, she was the only reason they did not. If she were to abide to Protocol 8 on Containment, she would have eliminated both destroyers. It was compulsory. All conduct taken on Protocol 8 would be deemed as military necessity.
Yet upon arrival, Airi told them to hold. Even now, she did not say fire. From the conversation, it was clear that both had fallen. Both destroyers merely housed their Abyssal tendency. Even Kagerou, despite her words, could potentially only hide her infections. She was the one who confessed how it was in her already. She was the one who confessed that she, too, had broken her conditioning.
Kanon did not need a magician to tell her what Airi would do, however.
"Lower your guns."
"But Admiral, it's—"
"She was right."
Airi lowered her hand. Her back was straight and she looked right into Kagerou's golden eyes.
"Silence kills. Silence hurts. Everyone of us that stay silent despite the knowledge of his undoing, are responsible. We tolerate it, turning it into a norm. We are a part of the society that build the problem. We criminalized those in pain because of that, but did not point gun at ourselves. We should be ashamed."
Silence came. Airi took a deep breath and looked into Shiranui.
"Shiranui, dear, you have two choices. If you completely convert, I will have no choice but to put you down, regardless of any other judgment I might have. Or, you can revert back. I know you have the ability to. You haven't completely gone yet."
Shiranui's eyes glimmered.
"You can hate me, if you must."
The destroyer's eyes widened.
"I cannot tell you what to live for, but I will be willing to help you find it."
Shiranuie, however, and she looked straight at the Admiral.
"I do not trust you."
Her words did not seem to reflect any kind of complete reversal. Yet Airi nodded.
"I acknowledged. If you have anything you disagree, tell us."
"I might betray you."
"The fact is that you have not. That is all I need to know."
One eye turned purple.
"Why?"
Airi smiled.
"Because I trust you."
What a strange answer, especially in the face of betrayal. From her eyes, it was clear that the destroyer thought the same.
"I can't hope for you to trust me back, if I don't trust you first. You have my back. If you deem me unworthy of it, I am willing to take your hate."
Silence came, long and tense, and Shiranui closed her eyes.
when they opened again, they were purple. Clearer than how they used to be.
"Very well."
XXX
"How am I not surprised."
Kanon yawned, taking her glass of beer. Around them, other people passed as if nothing had happened a while before. Just as Airi hoped for.
When Shiranui's case happened, a staff quickly informed the Admiral. Every other private took the blue gun special for Containment and had readied themselves for shooting had Lieutenant Kouseki or Kanon herself gave the command. In Protocol 8, every elimination were to be done quick and quietly. Every single Kanmusu present must be eliminated as well, or scrapped after interrogation. It was supposed to be the procedure of the containment. However, none of those happened.
Airi repelled the Protocol. Although she sterilized the vicinity and asked for Shiranui to be attended to a bit longer, she did not allow anyone to touch both Kagerou and Shiranui. Everything should be kept secret between the staffs—although this was mere formality rather than something that Airi believed would happen, and she took all responsibility of the decision. Kanon knew even for now, perhaps her best friend had her head full with a dozen kind of excuses if she were to face the court.
They were now having a regular meal. A "feast" like Airi had said, at the cafetaria. As if nothing happened. As if they had not betrayed the law.
Airi raised her eyebrows at Kanon's words. She chuckled, taking her share of soba.
"You haven't finished, Kanon."
"I haven't. I need to drink first. That is how much I am in disbelief at how predictable you are."
"Hmmm~~~ Really now."
The researcher drank with a gulp. She put down her can with a clank then continued to eye her friend, who sat composed in front of her.
She might have already known. She might have already assumed both Kagerou and Shiranui had broken their condition many long times ago. Perhaps even the dog was merely a preventive measure.
Still, releasing Shiranui even after that...
Kanon could not help but to grin.
"Ai."
"Yes?"
With the Admiral now facing her, the researcher raised her beer.
"I look forward to researching those data you have for me."
Nothing like obtaining data no people had seen before. Nothing like discovering knew facts. Nothing like it at all.
Her best friend's base sure was more interesting than she previously thought.
Airi's eyes glimmered at her words. Her smile, however, as cunning she always was.
"For some dinner?"
Seriously, goddamn it, I actually wanted to it for free. If you hadn't said that.
"Deal. Tonight? Yakiniku? Full course?"
The admiral laughed.
"You pick the menu."
"THIS is why you're my friend, Ai. You're the awesomest."
And this why I stick with you.
Your road is way too risky to be left alone. Please don't die soon.
~~~ To be Continued ~~~