Rule courtesy of the BudgieAdmiral!

9824: Following recent events involving the website "ShindanMaker", the Admiralty has learned of the gossip newsletter Aoba is running (see rule 9790). The Admiral has decided to tolerate this as long as the content is safe for destroyers and does not break any rules/laws.

Ooyodo let out an exhausted sigh as she went over the damage reports of the last week. Wolf-Fubuki and her definitely-not-a-harem had prowled through the entire base in an attempt track down Aoba. Unfortunately, they seemingly had completely forgotten about the existence of walls, and so half the base's walls now featured destroyer-shaped holes. You could even tell which one had made which hole, because Yuudachi's hair tufts were distinctly recognizable.

Anyways, she had seen worse. Such as the time the Yubari twins had tried to create solid hydrogen. Urgh. She shuddered at the memory.

Anyways, the repair crews were working dual shifts again, Yuudachi, Mutsuki and Fubuki were kindly helping them, and the base should be as good as new by the end of the week. Which was good. The hole in the administration building's toilet walls was a major issue. Male and female toilets being side-by-side and all.

However, there was more to this than just repair work: After hours of prowling, the Fubuki wolfpack had eventually located Aoba in the basement, in an out-of-use storage closet. As far as hiding places go, it had been a good choice. What was worrying was the kind of hardware Aoba had locked herself in with: A computer and five old laser printers. There had also been stacks upon stacks of freshly printed newsletters in the room, discussing various topics but showing a clear preference for gossip and relationship updates.

Some had featured headlines such as "YamaPrise in trouble! Website unveils private information about their sex life!" or "Destroyer harem uncovered! Fubuki secretly a dominatrix?". Needless to say, Aoba was now docked up for a month.

And that was why Ooyodo had asked to speak to Admiral Goto.

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"You had asked to speak to me?" Admiral Goto was sitting behind his desk, Admiral-of-my-heart coffee mug in hand, with a stack of paperwork in front of him.

"Yes." Ooyodo said, closing the door and stepping forward to face the Admiral before saluting. "Sir, I'd like to request Aoba be punished for her actions."

"Stand easy. Actually, scratch that, take a seat." Goto responded, smiling. Secretly, Ooyodo liked him for that. He almost never pondered on rank and proper etiquette, and that did wonders for morale on base. "What actions do you refer to specifically?" he asked as his secretary sat in the chair across from him.

"Her newsletter. The sort of gossip in there is unbecoming of a Japanese officer, if I may say so, sir. It's also detrimental to morale, so I think we should crack down hard on her, considering she had been punished for this sort of behavior before." Goto leaned back in his chair, his gaze studying his secretary cruiser. By himself, the Admiral thought she was a mysterious character. How she managed to deal with all the shenanigans his subordinates got up to would puzzle him forever.

After a few seconds of silence, he answered. "Nope, I decided to tolerate this for now." Ooyodo looked puzzled.

"But, sir… Why? She broke the rules with what she did, did she not?"

"Sure she did, and she will receive an adequate punishment, however I will not stop her writing." Goto's coffee mug landed smoothly on the table, and he grabbed a can from a sideboard and filled the cup with more steaming-hot black liquid. "You see, if we prohibit it again, she'll just find another way to undermine the rules. She has plenty of time to be creative and a very active mind. She'll find a way. Meanwhile, we're overworked as we are already and can't afford to constantly keep her in check."

"However, if we allow her to work, with certain restrictions imposed, I think she might just be satisfied with it. Then she'd stop trying to circumvent the rules and the problem would be solved."

Ooyodo's face was still doubtful. "Are you sure about this, Admiral?"

"I weighed the options for a while, and now I'm convinced it's worth a try, if nothing else. So yes, I am certain."

"Sir, I am still not convinced. I think she will just fall back to her old, destructive style of storytelling. Consider the effects on the morale around the base if that were to happen! I'm skeptical, to say the least, sir."

"Allright, I can live with skepticism, as long as you execute my orders." Goto blew over the coffee, tendrils of steam weaving and dancing over the cup on his desk. "Listen, let's make this a bet. If you're right, I'll find another aide for you. If I am right, you go on a week-long vacation." Ooyodo's face paled as she tried to interrupt.

"B-but Admiral, I-"

"You hate vacations, I know. But you need them. Time away from all this mess can only be good. And I could not deal with you going down the deep end. You're way too important."

"T-thank you sir…" Ooyodo said, cheeks red with an embarrassed blush.

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