The flotilla was on its way again once morning dawned, moving with the sun in the back.
Churchgrim was enjoying its warmth openly, lying in the sunlight, while Zeitwächter sat on the railing, choosing the places thrown into shadow by her superstructure.
Kongō, for her part, was slinking around the piano on her deck as if fighting with herself whether she should play it or not.
It was a sensitive topic, Zeitwächter knew that, but she pitied the blonde immensely.
She heaved herself up, the damaged structure of her knee turning the action into a real effort: "Kon-chama!", she switched to the cheery voice and waved happily, "can we start with the piano today? It's such a long and boring way~"
The blonde's head had snapped up when she'd heard her name, the corners of her lips concealing a smile, most likely well aware of what her friend was doing.
"I see you're eager. Come over."
Zeitwächter jumped over with a shout of "Yay!" and then stood there, prim and proper, while waiting for orders.
Kongō gave off an amused huff and led the other over to the instrument, sitting down on the bench together: "How much do you already know?"
It wouldn't do to bore her with knowledge she already possessed, after all.
"Not much", the battleship looked sheepish, "I can't read music sheets, but I do know that one normally begins with the right hand and also that it goes ' h'. Ah! I think… this one is c?", she hesitantly pointed towards a key.
"That's right", Kongō nodded, "well done."
Zeitwächter beamed in an insecure manner (that that was even possible…) and explained: "Parasite taught me. Onē-chan still remembers quite a bit…"
Right, her sister was Parasite.
It felt so natural to be with Zeitwächter, that Kongō sometimes caught herself forgetting other people existed – that numbed the pain to a certain amount, but it was still something she would need to get under control.
"We'll start with something easy", she made a few pieces of blank paper and a pen out of nanomaterial, using it to write a simple melody in letters instead of notes and put it up, "try playing that, don't worry about the speed."
But the speed wasn't the problem.
Shifting around a bit to get her hand into a comfortable position, her eyes rushed over the white keys almost in a panic and she repeated ' h' in her head various times.
She felt her right begin to shake, clenching the hand into a fist various times before finally lowering it together with her head: "I don't know…"
Kongō wore a schooled expression; while the reaction itself didn't surprise her, its strength sure did.
Though, when thinking back, as Fatum she used to be shy and quiet, but everytime she showed emotion it was strong. Back then Kongō didn't have a Mental Model yet, so her perception could very well just be altered, but that was her interpretation.
What's more, whatever altered Zeitwächter's body so badly had taken a heavy blow on her processor, so the ship's inability to connect the keys with the notes might also very well be influenced by that.
"Hey, don't worry, that's nothing bad", her pale hand grabbed the other's fist and moved it back up, "here, try it now. Is that better?"
The keys had letters on them now and Zeitwächter's widened eyes met Kongō's: "You don't need to alter your piano for me! It's a keepsake, right!? I-"
"It's fine."
That made Zeitwächter stop in her path.
"If I want to, I'll just change them back."
"But…", she stopped.
Arguing with Kongō was a senseless activity as she was proud and headstrong – arguing with a wall would get you more results because you could use force to just break through.
"With the right, right?"
"Yes."
Zeitwächter played the same melody a few times, Kongō adding new lines once her student could play the next, slowly adding a second hand and soon it had transformed into an actual song.
When her current playthrough ended, Zeitwächter finally allowed herself a breathing break: "Phew… what song is that?"
Kongō, who had stopped supervising with her eyes a while ago and instead taking to scribbling on the still blank papers from before, didn't look up: "It's called Dawning Light, but I gave you a simplified version."
"Dawning Light?", she blinked, "I never heard of it."
"I wonder why."
"Did you write it?"
"No", she said, you know, like a liar.
A different Zeitwächter might have been able to sniff out the lie, but this one was just ready to accept it: "Oh, okay. In any case, it's a very nice song."
Thank you, Kongō thought and then put her things away to pay full attention to the other: "I'm glad you like it. Where are we going, by the way?"
"Ironbottom Sound!", the battleship beamed.
"...Thank you…"
"Ahaha, don't be mad! At the very least, I would have told you before actually entering the area!"
"I do hope so, it's sacred after all."
"Oh", that brat looked genuinely surprised, "you know that?"
Kongō sighed heavily, forehead in her hand: "Zeitwächter, I had enough time to read various books, why are you surprised that I know something like that?"
"...Oh, right, supercomputer."
"Please don't tell me you forgot that you're one yourself."
The sheepish grin really was answer enough.
A small part of Kongō wished that she would get money every time she had to actively suppress a sigh or eyeroll.
A/N: Friendly reminder that Maya had to google "jam" for this woman (who was able to quote Sun Tzu or something)