Seeing the docks coming into view, Apocrypha wasn't sure what to feel. Relief that there had been relatively calm weather on the trip from Kure? Or worry about being back in San Diego? The chances that she would run into anyone who recognized her aside from the shipgirls was slim to none, but it would only take one person to ruin everything. After all, she'd disappeared without a word. Not that she was delusional enough to believe that any search for her, if there even was one, would be well-intentioned. A chill went down her spine at the mere thought of being found; what would happen to her in such a case. It was a chill that had permeated her being ever since leaving Kure, and it had effectively made her forget the fear of possible Siren attack, stormy weather, or even a Mirror Sea.

Behind her, she could feel Vercingetorix's watchful eye. A reassurance for sure, but only a marginal one against her thoughts. She knew without a doubt that any member of her fleet would step in to defend her if it came down to it, but that was another problem in itself. What would be the consequences for whatever shipgirl turned against a human, however deserved it might be? And what might that spell for the future of the other shipgirls? It was one thing to do so at an isolated base where everyone else was a shipgirl and ranks could be closed. It was entirely another in public like this, dealing with civilians everywhere.

Rather than letting herself dwell on what-ifs, she turned her attention to the docking area and listening to the radio traffic as the girls tried to sort out who would dock where, patrol schedules for the next week, and arrangements for resupply and rest. She hadn't missed how her fleet had started to get snippy amongst each other - unsurprisingly worst between Mackensen and Zuihou - during the nearly four week journey from Kure to San Diego. She didn't want to make another two week push to New York until tempers had evened back out. Especially not when she was adding Mobile into the mix.

With everyone safely docked, Apocrypha leaned back in the chair she'd once again taken to occupying within the control room of Vercingetorix's ship, hoping to get a moment of rest before dealing with everything else. As far as she was concerned, she was still safe until the moment she stepped off of the ship, so she could afford a moment to calm and steel herself. Unfortunately for her, she heard the crackle of the radio coming to life just as she was starting to drift off into a quick nap, Midway's voice filling the room.

"Forgive the bother after a long trip, everyone, but allow me to welcome you to Naval Base San Diego. For those of you who have been living under a rock, I am the Eagle Union's largest warship - Midway. To celebrate your safe return from the Mirror Sea and Sakura Empire, I would like to invite everyone to join me for dinner this evening. Dinner will be served at 1900 hours in the central mess hall aboard my ship."

"Additionally," Midway continued after a brief moment of chatter erupted from the other shipgirls, as if anticipating such a reaction "I will be hosting breakfast each morning at 0700 at the same location. Tours of the ship begin at 1000 each day, and I would be happy to personally lead a tour for anyone here who may be interested. Just let me know beforehand if you choose to."

Apocrypha had reached for the radio to answer, but Vercingetorix had already stepped up to take the device.

"Go rest for a while, Commander. I will wake you when it's time or if anything requiring your attention arises."

Apocrypha nodded, managing to mumble out a thanks as she got up. Her mind was still racing, trying to find ways to go unnoticed for the next week, but there was no use arguing against Vercingetorix, and no harm could come from at least lying down for some time even if she couldn't sleep. And if she could sleep, that would be all the better.

Closing the heavy steel door behind her, she let out a sigh of relief at laying eyes on the bed within the room. This was safe. Her own little haven for the time being where no one would bother her.

Collapsing onto the bed while still wearing her regular clothes, she reflected on how different it had been living on Mobile's ship before, with the light cruiser coming and going as she pleased and Apocrypha hardly having a moment to herself. Vercingetorix, by contrast, would only knock at her door to invite her for meals or if she was directly called. Yet Apocrypha found she missed Mobile's constant pestering. She was sure she'd be experiencing that again soon enough, what with Mobile having been assigned to Midway's fleet. She couldn't discount Mobile learning Apocrypha was onboard Vercingetorix, barge right past the shipgirl, and kick open the door to jump on Apocrypha as a welcome.


Apocrypha wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep or how long she had been out, but she was woken by Vercingetorix knocking at the door. To her surprise, the cruiser wasn't wearing her usual knight attire, instead wearing a simple olive green long-sleeved shirt and white tennis skirt with brown wedge sandals.

"When did you change clothes?" Apocrypha asked sleepily, dragging herself out of bed and finding where she'd kicked off her shoes before following Vercingetorix towards Midway's ship further down the piers. "Oh. Not that that doesn't look good on you. I'm just surprised to see you… Y'know."

Vercingetorix laughed, shaking her head. "Midway insisted. Something about expecting us to blend in and act casual while here, or it would reflect poorly on her. I fail to see how maintaining order for the week we're here is any sort of negative, but this is her domain and she wouldn't take no for an answer."

Apocrypha made a humming sound of acknowledgement. That seemed in line with what little she knew of the carrier as a person. "How are the others settling in, then?"

Vercingetorix shrugged. "Better than when we stopped at the Sakura Empire's Kure base. Biloxi has been spending her time with the rest of Midway's fleet. Dunkerque tried to help with dinner and Midway wasted no time kicking her out. But everyone seems to be doing fine at the moment. That said, Mobile has been out running a few last errands to prepare for the evening, and Zuihou has kept to herself mostly. As they say, though, il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué."

"I haven't heard that one before."

"My apologies, then. 'Don't sell the bearskin before you've killed the bear.' There is still time for events to turn for the worse."

"I'd rather they didn't. I don't need more on my plate than already being here brings."

"Whatever enemies you may have here, I will ensure they're dealt with. Nothing and no one will get past me that you do not wish to concern yourself with," Vercingetorix promised. "You have nothing to fear here."

Apocrypha shook her head. "It's not something you can solve with your cannons and sword." No matter how much I wish it was so simple.

The two fell into silence as they continued to walk until they reached Midway's ship, the shipgirl entrusted with the ship waiting above on the deck to greet them. Apocrypha found her hands suddenly clasped by Midway's, barely resisting the instinctual urge to pull away from the unexpected touch.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you properly, Commander. Welcome aboard the USS Midway. It's good to see that Mobile actually completed an escort with some success."

"I can hear you, y'know!" Mobile called from a table. "'Sides, I escorted you just fine during Crossfire, didn't I?"

"Oh, yes, because the few stragglers we mopped up were such big threats to me," Midway replied, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Crossfire was a bust. They saw us coming and everyone knows it."

"Everyone returned safely. For the moment, that's all that matters," Franklin interrupted. "Now isn't the time to debate whether the operation was a success to anybody but us."

Midway released Apocrypha's hands, gesturing toward the tables and chairs set out on the flight deck. "Take a seat wherever you'd like, Commander. I'll join once I've brought out the food and drinks for everyone."

As if she ever intended to give Apocrypha a choice.

As if given her some cue, Mobile bounded over to drag Apocrypha to the table where she had been sitting with a number of other Eagle Union girls. She felt herself pushed into a seat, finding that she'd been put between Mobile and Biloxi and had all eyes at the table focused on her. Well, all eyes but one set.

Towards the other end of the table, a girl with her white hair tied in twintails was face-first on the table and snoring. Or had she been asleep already and Apocrypha hadn't noticed?

"Is she okay?" Apocrypha asked, pointing toward the girl.

"You mean Laffey?" Mobile asked, leaning forward in her seat to look where Apocrypha had pointed and then shrugging. "Yeah, she's fine. She just sleeps a lot. Don't worry about it."

The conversation shifted again, returning to whatever the group had been discussing before. Apocrypha only caught snippets of it as she scanned the tables to see if everyone had come out.

Vercingetorix and Exeter had claimed a table to themselves not too far away from her own, and to her surprise she could see Carabiniere and Dunkerque with them. Mackensen joined them after a moment, though not before a hushed exchange that ended with Vercingetorix throwing her hands up when Mackensen sat at the same table with a smugly victorious smile.

Another scan confirmed that Zuihou was nowhere to be seen, but the arrival of food and drinks prevented her from making any inquiry into her whereabouts. Anything she might have said would have been drowned out by the various loud demands for Midway to serve them first or shouts of astonishment as the carts bearing the trays maneuvered about as if with a sentience of their own. Had she not seen the silver wand wielded by Midway, Apocrypha would have thought the same. Not that the expert subtlety the carrier wielded the wand with, such that her commands were imperceptible if not observed closely, was any less impressive.

It wasn't long before only a single crystal glass remained on a tray that rested on the cart beside Midway, accompanied only by a crystal bowl holding a few ice cubes. With a set of small silver tongs, Midway picked up the ice cubes and carefully dropped them into the soda glass, and something about the way she held up each cube to study it briefly struck suspicion into Apocrypha's mind.

Her suspicions were confirmed when, trying to get a glimpse of the ice cubes in the glass as Midway passed by on her way over to Dunkerque, she was given a warning look from the carrier. Whatever she was up to, it couldn't be any good. But she couldn't risk causing a scene and finding out she was wrong in her assumption. Hearing Midway thanking Dunkerque for something, she felt a wave of relief that she hadn't jumped to interfere.

Her stomach grumbled, demanding she stop ignoring the plate of food in front of her, which she gladly gave into. Even the newly encountered food of Sakura Empire eaten at Kure seemed like a distant memory, and weeks on the waves had created quite the craving for non-ration food.

A few minutes into the meal, Biloxi broke the silence to ask the same question she had been thinking every time she scanned the gathering for the one person missing.

"Has anyone seen Zuihou?"

Mobile took another bite of cioppino and shrugged, not seeming particularly concerned. "Why does it matter to you? Why ruin a good meal with bad company?"

Biloxi made to answer, but shouting and the clatter of a chair being knocked backwards erupted from the table Dunkerque and the others had been sitting at.

Everyone turned to look, curious as to what had caused the sudden commotion. Foamy bubbles of soda erupted and spilled over the side of the glass Midway had presented to Dunkerque at the beginning of the meal, creeping to the edge of the table where it spilled off and, presumably, onto Dunkerque's dress.

Apocrypha could hear Mobile snickering behind her and shot the cruiser a disapproving look despite the scattered laughter from the other Eagle Union girls. At the same time, she noticed Franklin trying to silence the laughter around her, too, hoping the carrier would see the silent thanks when they briefly caught each other's eyes.

That also reminded her of the other problem she needed to address, and the war between her wanting to step in for Dunkerque and her desire to check on Zuihou froze her in place. Whichever one she went to, it felt like a betrayal to the other. It would have been easier if either of them had someone else from their faction here, but that would have gone against Mackensen's entire point with the fleet of forcing the members to work with those outside their own factions.

It felt like an eternity before the gentle weight of a hand on her shoulder pulled her out of the spiral of her warring thoughts. The voice that accompanied that hand served to further ground her.

"Help Dunkerque. I'll go talk to Zuihou," Franklin offered.

Apocrypha wanted to balk, to insist that it was her job, but something in Franklin's expression when she turned her head to look at her made the words die in her throat before she could express them. Some deep sadness and guilt that made Apocrypha wonder what had happened between the two. A nagging feeling in her mind told her she already knew; something about reading an engraved brass plate below the scaled-down figure of another carrier.

Finally, she nodded. "Thank you, Franklin."

She grabbed a handful of napkins from a table she passed by on her way to Dunkerque, offering some to her to dry the dress while she mopped up the liquid that spilled over the table. While pausing to grab another handful of napkins, she shot a warning look in Midway's direction.

"I hope you have a good explanation for this."

Midway smiled, raising a hand to cover up another small bout of laughter. "It's some harmless fun. Relax~"

"Then why did you go after Dunkerque and not one of the dozen Eagle Union shipgirls that are here?"

"I tried to offer to help her cook," Dunkerque spoke up. "I'll make sure not to make that mistake twice. Excuse me."

"Well, Midway, I hope you're happy. Talk about a disproportionate response to somebody who was just asking if she could help," Apocrypha huffed, more in frustration with Midway than Dunkerque's choice to make a retreat. Hopefully Franklin was having better luck with Zuihou. She shot Midway one last look and went to follow Dunkerque.


Zuihou had heard the footsteps approaching behind her, heard the hesitation in them before they closed the last of the distance to stand beside her. That was enough to answer who it was. "Why are you here?"

"You weren't at dinner. I wanted to make sure you were okay," Franklin answered, holding a bowl out for her to take. "I thought you might want some, even if you don't want to be around the others."

Zuihou snorted, but accepted the bowl, taking a moment to enjoy the warmth in her hands. "I'm not welcome here. That was made abundantly clear by the treatment of us Sakurans in New York. Perhaps it would have been better if -"

"If we were still at war? Whatever that sentence is, don't finish it," Franklin interrupted, a deep frown pulling at her lips. "You and I know how that ends for us. And for the record, the Commander and Biloxi both asked after you at dinner. I have no issue with you either, regardless of the histories written in our hulls."

Zuihou didn't answer, choosing instead to take a few bites of the stew she held. She couldn't argue that she knew the end that would have awaited her if the war amongst the factions had continued. The icy fingers of the sea still sometimes grasped at her if she let her mind wander into the memories carved into the hull of her ship, like ghosts reaching back from a particular night. "Mobile wouldn't like knowing you're here. You should get back to the rest."

Franklin shook her head. "Midway caused a bit of trouble with Dunkerque, so the Commander went to make sure she was alright. I'd guess the rest of your fleet will probably retreat for the night while the Eagle Union girls drink themselves stupid. I don't feel the need to participate in all of that, at least not tonight."

"Don't pretend you don't drink."

Franklin laughed. "I never said I'm a role model. But I drink for different reasons than they do. It's funny. My own near-death isn't the thing that bothers me. I have no doubt that even now, in this form, I would be proud to die for the sake of the Eagle Union. But then there was everyone who feared for my life, and I realized that you would have had the same. I'm not sure how to handle the guilt of what I did to you, so I drown it instead."

Zuihou lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "That wasn't us, in these forms. Even if it had been, we were at war. You were doing your duty. You were a better ship than Zuikaku and me, and you proved it."

"Doesn't mean I'm not still sorry about it. And doesn't mean I have to see you as a bad person. Just someone with different ideals."

"And what makes you think that?" Zuihou countered, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Let me ask a question of my own to answer that. If another Sakura Empire shipgirl had attacked the Commander or Biloxi in your presence while you were over there, what would you have done?" Franklin posed.

"I would have intervened. They were guests. I wouldn't have stood for an unprovoked attack against them," Zuihou answered without hesitation. "Regardless of who it was."

Franklin nodded, smiling as if she had expected that exact answer. "And that's why I believe you're not a bad person. The rest of TF 58 can disagree with me, and it's likely that they would. But I can't consider you evil when you'd be willing to stand against your sisters-in-arms to defend those who would have been your enemy in the not-too-distant past. Or that you would be so quick to defend those from this past enemy because they were guests under more peaceful circumstances."

"If you insist," Zuihou said with a roll of her eyes. "Thank you, though. For coming to check on me."

"You can come talk to me if any of the Eagle Union girls give you trouble. Consider it my thanks for keeping an eye out for the Commander and Biloxi while in the Sakura Empire."

Zuihou dipped her chin slightly in acknowledgement, and a moment later she heard Franklin's footsteps retreating, leaving her to return to gaze out across the sea. It wasn't too long ago that she would have rebuffed Franklin coming to talk to her, but then it wasn't like that was the only thing that had changed. She briefly looked in the direction of Midway's ship, the deck still lit up and figures milling about on it. For a brief moment, she indulged herself in the question of whether Apocrypha really could bridge the yawning chasms that divided the factions of Azur Lane.

The absurdity of the thought was enough to make her laugh, but it was nice to imagine it was possible.


By all logic, Apocrypha knew it was a slow day for Midway, but what crowds there already were on the ship was already more than enough to make it hard to breathe. Too many people. Too many eyes that could potentially recognize her. It was the reason she'd been arguing the last few days when asked to go with some of the other shipgirls on a tour of the carrier, but with this being the last full day before their departure, she hadn't been allowed to say no this time. So she settled for staying close behind Midway, keeping her head down and wishing she could be completely invisible.

It helped that Essex and Zuihou had both tagged along and kept up a steady stream of questions about the aircraft displayed across Midway's flight deck - a few helicopters and jets mixed among the more familiar planes like the ones they themselves carried. As long as they kept Midway happy with their intrigue, she could focus her attention on minding her surroundings. Even if they hadn't been pelting Midway with questions, she wouldn't have been able to get a word in edgewise, she realized. Another carrier, who had introduced herself as Hornet, would jump in any time conversation started to lull.

Suddenly, she realized someone was talking to her, shaking her head to try and clear her head. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Are you alright?" Midway asked. "You've been awfully quiet."

Mobile, who herself had been quiet up until now, was quick to step in for Apocrypha. "I told y'all to just let her be here but no, you just had to insist that she comes along on this stupid tour. Humans are nasty enough toward us. How do you think they treat each other? Have you been living under a rock?"

Midway crossed her arms over her chest, golden eyes sizing up the significantly smaller light cruiser in front of her. "What do you want me to do about it? Come up with some elaborate disguise on the fly?"

"More like ahead of time, but yes!" Mobile argued, determined to hold her ground and get the last word in. "If you haven't seen how uncomfortable she is this whole time, you're blind."

"I don't think that's really necessary," Apocrypha said, reaching out to touch Mobile's arm to get her attention. While she appreciated Mobile's worry, she didn't exactly trust what her idea of a good disguise might be. "Sunglasses and a hat should be enough."

Midway barely had the chance to open her mouth, let alone form a response, before Hornet had already placed her black cowboy hat on Apocrypha's head.

"There! That's the hat taken care of. Midway, explain those planes with the propeller on top again? Heli-whatchamacallits?"

Apocrypha lapsed back into silence while Midway launched into what had to be her fifth explanation of the helicopters nearby, reaching up to pull the brim of the hat down low. Somehow, wearing it made her feel even more exposed, like everyone was staring at her. It wasn't quite the hat that would seem inconspicuous amongst a crowd of civilians.

"Sorry if Hornet made you uncomfortable," came a new voice. "She means well, but she can be a little… much. Don't feel like you have to hang onto the hat."

Apocrypha gave a slight shake of her head. "I'll try it for a little bit. I don't want to offend her…"

The woman laughed at the idea. "You'd have to really try to offend her."

"Gotcha…" Apocrypha mumbled, not all that convinced. "Um, actually… I'm not sure we got a chance to meet at that dinner party. I'm -"

"Apocrypha. Augusta's told me about you. Name's Northampton."

"As in the nameship of Augusta's class?" Apocrypha confirmed, trying to piece together how it was possible the two could be related and yet near-complete opposites.

Northampton nodded, barely letting a smile slip through seeing the confusion in Apocrypha's expression. "Hard to imagine we're the same class, I know. But I should probably go save Midway from Hornet."

Apocrypha nodded, following at a bit of a distance to rejoin the group. She still stayed silent, trying to hide amongst the rest, but she felt a little better with Mobile sticking close, and finally feeling like she blended in once she had the chance to trade Hornet's cowboy hat for a cap out of the room that had been converted into a gift shop. The feeling of being invisible within the crowd now made it easier to breathe and truly enjoy the tour.

She was surprised to see Mackensen out on the flight deck when they returned after exploring the lower levels of the carrier, but it didn't take long for something far more alarming to grab her attention.

A young boy had climbed on the railing erected around the perimeter of the flight deck, apparently trying to clamber on the nearby plane. He stood on top of the railing, trying to reach for the plane as he teetered precariously. One wrong move and he'd fall - either onto the deck or over the side of the ship and into the water below.

Apocrypha quickly scanned the deck for any sign of the child's parents, but she couldn't begin to fathom a guess at who it might be. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zuihou start in that direction, but she knew the carrier couldn't make it in time if the boy lost his footing. Mackensen was closer, and now Apocrypha could see her watching the situation, but she couldn't be sure if the battlecruiser would step in to help. And if she didn't…

She wasn't given the chance to finish the thought.

The boy tried to change his footing and lost his balance, overcorrecting from falling forward and toppling backwards from the rail. But there was no splash that followed, no cries for help or the sounds of a desperate struggle in the water.

Instead, a familiar rust red beast held the back of the child's shirt in its jaws, lifting him over the rail and depositing him back on the deck of the ship where Mackensen waited. Apocrypha watched for a moment longer until satisfied Mackensen had that aspect of the situation under control before searching the deck for Zuihou.

The carrier wasn't far from Mackensen, speaking with an older couple. By the way the woman was gesturing in the direction of Mackensen and the boy, Apocrypha guessed that she must have been the boy's mother and the man behind her his father. From where she stood, she couldn't make out what was being said, but the woman's body language suggested she was less than pleased that Mackensen had saved the child, and the rigidness held by Zuihou was indicating how much restraint she was trying to exert over herself.

Apocrypha cast a quick glance at the rest of her group, barely needing a moment to decide what she needed to do. Zuihou's patience was only going to go so far, and with her origin, Apocrypha could only imagine what sort of verbal abuse was being directed at her. As much as the prospect created a secondhand knot in her stomach, she wasn't going to stand by and allow it. Zuihou was entrusted to her as a member of her fleet, and was somebody she owed a lot to.

"You all stay put. Mobile, that especially means you."

Mobile rolled her eyes at the order, but Apocrypha had to accept the lack of argument to be good enough. With that out of the way, she jogged across the deck toward the trio. She could hear the argument now and the growing frustration in Zuihou's voice, every instinct in Apocrypha's body screaming that she needed to get away, worst case scenarios battling to present themselves in her mind, telling her to freeze in place and be as inconspicuous as possible.

But the sight of the man stepping forward to strike Zuihou across the face with the back of his hand in an effort to get her out of the way was enough to shatter any thoughts Apocrypha had of retreating.

She could see Mackensen hurrying over, too, realizing she needed to get there first. Angry as Apocrypha was, she trusted herself not to stoop to the man's level. On the other hand, the bloodstain in her office, even if it had long since been cleaned up since her arrival, was a stark reminder that the shipgirls weren't afraid to resort to violence in what they saw as defense of their own.

As she drew near, she opened her mouth to speak, but another voice called out before she could muster her own.

"Sir, I'm going to have to have you collect your party and leave immediately," Midway stated, her voice lacking any of her usual playfulness and replaced instead with the icy politeness of someone who was holding herself back from using some choice language. "I will only ask nicely once. Should you refuse, I will have the military police remove you by force if necessary. I think we can all agree that you've caused enough of a scene already by assaulting another guest. You're lucky I don't have you arrested here and now."

The man looked like he wanted to argue before thinking better of it, brushing rudely past Zuihou to grab his son's arm and drag him away from Mackensen.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Midway took her phone from her pocket, dialing a number and speaking as soon as the line was picked up. "This is Midway. A guest was just assaulted." A moment of silence, followed by her description of the man and his family. With a final confirmation that she would like the man to be taken into custody, she hung up.

"I thought you said you were letting him go?" Apocrypha asked, furrowing her brow. "Not that he doesn't deserve being arrested."

Midway lifted one shoulder nonchalantly. "It's bad for PR to have police coming storming here and arresting a guest. Things are a little more complicated when civilians get involved."

Apocrypha sighed, looking instead over at Zuihou. "Are you alright? It looked like he hit you pretty hard…"

Zuihou carefully touched her fingertips to her cheek, wincing slightly. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Just stings a little. As a warship, I'm used to much worse. Please don't worry."

"Why did you get involved in the first place?" Mackensen asked, her arms folded over her chest. "That had nothing to do with you, and it isn't exactly as if we're friends. I would have handled it fine by myself."

"A thank you would be nice," Zuihou countered, turning so that she could face Mackensen. "You're right, I didn't have to save your ass and make myself the bad guy. I did it because, shockingly, you did the right thing for once and I didn't think it was right that someone should attack you for that. And no matter how little I may like someone, I will not stand idly by while they're condemned for doing the right thing."

Zuihou turned to Midway and Apocrypha, bowing briefly. "Midway, Shikikan, I apologize for the mess here. I think I'll be going back to my ship for now. Perhaps, Midway, there will be another time we can discuss the jets and helicopters more in-depth. Thank you for the tour."

An awkward silence hung in the air before being broken by equally awkward parting words as the group slowly dispersed. Apocrypha lingered, but it wasn't long before Midway sent her off.

It wasn't much of a surprise to her when Mobile eventually fell into step beside her to walk along the docks. They had only gone a few feet before Mobile spoke.

"What happened between you and Biloxi while you were in Kure?"

Apocrypha's steps faltered, the question taking her by surprise. She knew she should have been expecting it, and she'd wondered if she'd offended Biloxi somehow when she'd woken up and she was already gone. "I don't really know," she admitted, sighing. "I thought everything was fine. We watched a movie, tried to enjoy the hot tub for a while, and we were both tired so I invited her to stay the night. If I overstepped, then -"

"Y'know, don't take this the wrong way," Mobile interrupted, "but somewhere out there, a village is missin' its idiot and I think I'm talkin' to her."

"Okay, so explain. What did I do wrong?"

Mobile couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're not just pretendin' to be this clueless. You asked Biloxi for a date and, intentional or not, led her on to think somethin' was gonna happen between you two."

Apocrypha's cheeks rapidly turned red as she reflected on the last night in Kure, realizing that she'd been completely blind to what the implications would be to anyone else dawning on her. But then, she also realized that she wouldn't have been against it even if she'd held those intentions. Regardless, she'd been too bold, whether she had meant it or not. The blunder was only made worse by the fact that she had done it to the sister of one of the only shipgirls she felt confident and safe enough to call her friend, and she had no clue how to explain the muddled thoughts in her head.

"You're right. I'm an idiot," she relented after a long silence, unsure of how else to respond without just digging her hole deeper. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. Let alone trying to explain that without making things worse with her."

"Uh-huh… Welp. I just remembered I've got some stuff to do. Last bit of advice, though - sooner or later, you're gonna have to crap or get off the pot."

Apocrypha let out a heaving sigh, watching Mobile head in the opposite direction along the dock while she tried to sort out what her next move would be. Already thoughts of Mobile no longer interacting with her swirled through her mind. But as if her body had decided it needed no directive, she once again began the trek along the dock, passing by Vercingetorix's ship and past others until she reached the ship she was searching for: a hull painted with a bright white eighty. Briefly, she considered calling out, but a sudden wave of anxiety killed any thoughts of doing so.

She watched the ship for a moment longer in hopes of even briefly catching a glimpse of her human counterpart, as an excuse to push herself further, but after a few more moments with no sightings, she reluctantly retreated back towards Vercingetorix's ship. She could try again tomorrow. The trip back was unlikely to risk anything heart-pounding or dangerous due to its proximity to land, so that would be plenty of time to think and act.


Exactly one 'tomorrow' later, Apocrypha found herself sitting on the captain's chair of Vercingetorix's bridge, her feet nervously tapping out an irregular rhythm of echoes on the metal-plated floor. The bridge was empty, as it more or less always was. Only the various beeps, whirrs, and the ringing of the sonars and radar scanning for aircraft or submarines was audible alongside Apocrypha's impromptu metal drum solo.

Vercingetorix was off doing who knew what, only directing Apocrypha to use the central communicator to call her from anywhere in the ship if need be. And it was only for that communicator that Apocrypha had moved a muscle other than her nervous tap dancing. Several times she had reached over to call Vercingetorix to make the request Apocrypha knew she had to make, that she had sworn yesterday that the Apocrypha of the next day - the very day she was now in - would honor. Yet every time, she withdrew out of hesitation and returned to her chair.

Apocrypha's gaze was locked forward, staring at the gently lapping waves stretching out in front of the bow of the ship, and ahead she could see the ships of several others sailing in formation, including the one that bore the same bright-white eighty Apocrypha had hesitated from approaching at dock. At least, that's where her eyes were oriented and had remained since landing there. Despite that, Apocrypha's true visual focus might as well have been the inside of her own mind with how much she had been swimming through it.

Apocrypha let out a small groan of helplessness, directed more at herself than anything else in the world. She had only figured out the truth behind what Biloxi had taken from their night together for about twenty-four hours, but Biloxi had carried that frustration since Kure. An invitation that was meant to be a step forward in individually approaching a shipgirl that had been nothing but cooperative and helpful since they first met had been completely ignorant as to what said shipgirl would have seen in the specifics of the invitation. If the movie and hot tub didn't cut it, the request to sleep in the same room for the night would have seemed irrefutable proof, yet it had turned out to be refutable.

Apocrypha gave her head a quick shake and levered herself up using her hands on the seat of her chair. Sitting there wasn't going to change anything, and Apocrypha knew all too well the paralysis that would come with making no decision for fear of being misinformed. Was that truly something she was willing to risk? Would picking no option actually be the worst option?

The scraping open of the bridge's main door was soon followed by the clatter of a hatch as the sole inhabitant of the bridge climbed her way down to the main deck. This wasn't a matter that only concerned whether she could finish the day without receiving a verbal lashing from the people she miraculously was able to not encounter that day while visiting Midway. It was a question of hurt feelings and a misunderstanding of a broken expectation. It involved somebody else that Apocrypha cared about, and had had guilt gnawing through every fiber of her being from the moment she learned of how Biloxi had interpreted the last night at Kure.

And stepping out into the sudden blast and salty smell of a strong sea wind as she felt the metal of the deck clacking underneath her boots was a technique that had yielded rather peculiar results the last time Apocrypha had tried that.

Of course, in this case, there was only one person that could be encountered, and it was the same person that Apocrypha had sought the dragon's advice for approaching in order to apologize: Vercingetorix. Apocrypha wasn't sure whether she wanted to talk to Vercingetorix about this, even if vaguely, but if she were simply taking a walk to clear her mind and serendipitously ran into somebody to talk to, then that could be considered a bonus.

Wasn't random chance and random encounters so liberating because of that? There was nothing to do but shrug and accept that things can just happen, good or bad, in a universe with no reason to stick to reasonability all the time. Even if it might cause an incident if anybody found it, it was never Apocrypha's fault that she ran into the dragon-featured shipgirl in the garden at Kure. She had just wanted to step out and put some physical aimless wandering to match her mental ones.

And sure enough, it wouldn't be long before she encountered the one other person on board the ship. She had been leaning on the railing near the bow, looking at the endless blue expanse that they were sailing through. It absolutely wasn't as if Apocrypha had made an educated guess that that was where Vercingetorix might be and had made a rough beeline in subconscious hope of meeting her; it was just a coincidence.

"Stretching your legs, Commander?" came Vercingetorix's greeting without her turning around. "I thought you'd long since fused yourself to the captain's seat."

"Well, it's not my fault that usually you'd be the one getting a blowtorch and doing it yourself in the name of keeping me safe," Apocrypha quipped, smiling despite the anxiety that had been swirling around her. "Did something happen?"

"No, I just found it comforting to be sailing close to a place where humankind still holds sway. Where shipgirls need not depend only on themselves. You could even say I am indeed relaxed." Vercingetorix pushed herself back from the railing and turned to meet Apocrypha's gaze. "But I cannot say the same about you, Commander. You have something on your mind. Something far more personal than your burdens as our leader. Did something happen at the Midway museum?"

"I- Well, yes, but it wasn't what you think. It goes a little further than that," Apocrypha replied, tamping down her desire to cut the question off or change the subject. She owed that much to Vercingetorix. "I think… you could even say I'm in a similar position that I was in when trying to figure out how to apologize to you back at Kure after I said what I did."

Vercingetorix raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me for assuming, but that seems to imply that you received external input in regards to approaching me to give an apology, Commander. Is that what you sought to do by stepping out of the bridge?"

Apocrypha shrugged in defeat. "More or less, but this time it's more that I need to clear up a misunderstanding that I didn't know occurred until yesterday."

"Who? And when?"

"Biloxi. During our stay at Kure," came the prompt response.

"Then such indecision should be easy to fix," Vercingetorix replied as she reached for her radio. Before Apocrypha could react, she had already turned it on and was speaking into it.

"Biloxi, break formation and pull up starboard side to me. The Commander has requested a transfer of flagship."

Apocrypha's jaw dropped. "What are you doing, Verci?!"

Vercingetorix flashed the barest hint of a smirk. "I don't know who you talked to when indecisive about how to apologize to me, but I will hazard a guess that they encouraged you to simply go without overthinking. Make things happen and simply react. Biloxi is already orienting her ship; best take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts."

A sigh escaped Apocrypha's lips despite herself. "You're really taking things into your own hands, aren't you?"

Vercingetorix smirked again, far more visibly this time. "Who do you think I learned it from? Welding you to the captain's chair never seemed like an implausible option with you, Commander."


"Of course it couldn't have been that easy…" Apocrypha muttered as she turned her back on the empty room she first headed to. She couldn't say that she didn't expect it. Biloxi had not verbally responded to the transmission, even as her ship slowed and reoriented itself to maneuver itself parallel to Vercingetorix for Apocrypha to head over. As soon as Apocrypha was onboard, the ship had pulled further away, and Apocrypha would be able to see the ship she had come from sailing behind.

Yet despite this, the bridge had been empty, its main radio turned off for what must have been a few hours at the very least. The upper decks and various gun turrets were all devoid of life, as were what would have been the officer's quarters. The mess was empty, storeroom after storeroom were all (understandably) locked, and various department stores around the ship were all closed and non-operational, not that they were likely to be when in use by a shipgirl. Any place that Biloxi might have chosen to be in only turned up empty.

Thus, the sun traced its way across the sky as Apocrypha continued searching, creating colors from blue to a vibrant red-orange as it neared the horizon. The long corridors and multiple layers meant multiple laps across the length of the 185-meter ship. Through it all, Apocrypha received no communications or hints from Biloxi on where she was, not so much as a third party report from Vercingetorix should Biloxi have told her to relay the message.

The only reason Apocrypha would find Biloxi at all was the one thing she hadn't encountered once during her entire time pacing the ship: an open door in the endless line of doors near the bottom of the ship: the crew quarters. And even then it was only slightly ajar, as if somebody had walked in and closed the door behind them but hadn't done it with enough force, but as they had moved onto other things or simply didn't notice, the additional bit of force required to completely close the door was never applied.

Taking a deep breath that matched the one made before stepping into the bridge expecting to see Biloxi, Apocrypha pulled open the door and peered in. Inside was a set of ten double-layer bunk beds, five against each wall, all in pristine condition and fully made. Which included the one lower bunk on the far corner of the room that just so happened to have the human manifestation of the ship that Apocrypha was currently standing on lying on her back on top of the mattress sheet wearing all her regular clothes.

Biloxi made no reaction as Apocrypha approached, staring blankly at the bottom of the bunk above her. But as Apocrypha passed the bunk adjacent to the one she was on, Apocrypha could feel her gaze shifting slightly as if to see who had just walked in despite being the only other person on board the ship.

"Um… Can I sit down?" Apocrypha asked, unsure of how to start the conversation but her legs begging for mercy after all the walking and her sleeves moist to the touch from repeated wiping of a sweaty brow from the exertion.

"Sure," came a completely flat response. "In fact, why don't you lie down? These are beds after all and I'm fairly sure that it's rather late. Maybe you could even roll off the bed during the night, somehow climb onto mine, and end up with your hands all over me just like last time."

Apocrypha let out a sigh as she did sit down, unsure if the resulting squeak was the bed's springs or her leg joints. "At least that puts us on the same page about what I'm here to talk about."

Biloxi let out an exasperated snort. "Oh sure, call out your choice to suddenly make me the flagship because you're coming over to everybody in the entire fleet. Even a comatose patient would be able to tell when all I could do was pull my ship out of formation so that I could pick you up. I'm sure that leaves plenty of ambiguity regarding your intent."

"Biloxi, I -"

"Maybe I should just set this radio to universal broadcast and have this entire conversation open for anybody with a fifty-cent walkie-talkie to listen in on. I don't care at this point."

"Biloxi, I know you're upset, but -"

"Damn right I am. Never thought that being played for a fool in something so completely unrelated from the combat I was built for would somehow piss me off more than 'most anything. I thought the goal was to see the undertones of certain requests as they're being made, and I got played like a fiddle for doing that. What kinda innocent girls' out involves both of us getting naked in a tub or sleeping in the same room, huh?"

"Biloxi! Can I please talk?!" Apocrypha snapped, her annoyance at Biloxi's ranting overwhelming her initial anxiety and hesitation on how to approach the topic. Given it was met with silence as Biloxi resumed her blank stare at the bottom side of the mattress above her, it seemed to have done the trick.

Apocrypha let out a shaky breath, the annoyance now receding like a beach wave to reveal the sand of hesitation once again. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened in Kure. I promise that I legitimately had no idea those activities would be associated with romantic relationships. I was just trying to use what I had on hand or was able to get on short notice. I knew you were in your room the entire time we were at Kure while I was able to go around and meet people, so it was to make it up to you."

Biloxi snorted again. "What do you mean 'you had no idea'? Sun doesn't rise in the west. What else is inviting somebody that isn't your family to a room to get naked in a tub and sleep side-by-side meant to be? Have you ever had a lover in your life that wasn't some child's fling when you were four where you promised to marry a friend when you grew up because you had no idea what marriage even entailed?"

Apocrypha opened her mouth to respond, but the words caught in her throat, requiring a quick swallow in order to continue. "No. I never have. Not even the 'child's fling' you mentioned."

"...What?"

"Mobile is probably the one person that knows best besides me. I don't know how much she told you, if anything, but I legitimately did not know. That's why I offered what I did at Kure."

Biloxi's expression didn't shift, but she turned her head ever so slightly to meet Apocrypha's gaze. "Mobile hasn't told me anything. I tried asking about why you seemed so nervous yesterday despite returning to your hometown. She said I shouldn't ask her, even though she's the only other person to know besides you."

"A-Ah…" Apocrypha replied, the dread of having to put her experiences to words starting to fill up inside her, her heartbeat starting to speed up and her breaths coming out slightly ragged despite no physical exertion. "Well…I…"

"My family…they…"

Apocrypha's hands started to raise themselves to wrap around her head in an instinctual attempt to hide from the words she had to take initiative to say, her mouth opening but her vocal chords repeatedly refusing to manifest her experiences in any coherent way.

Eyebrows furrowed on Biloxi's face as she sat herself up on the bed, looking at an Apocrypha that was increasingly curling her body into a fetal position. It wasn't like the Commander that she had known up to this point. Even if she had been content to let others talk over her, it wasn't like her to be completely helpless in something as ordinarily innocuous as explaining past context to her behavior.

"...Commander, if that's your reaction, then that tells me about enough. You don't have to explain."

"N-No, I owe it to you after what I did," Apocrypha managed. "I need to explain it myself. Mobile probably refused to tell you for that reason."

Apocrypha took another deep breath to steady herself before speaking. "I've never been allowed any opportunity for romance. Anybody I tried to talk to and meet would be scrutinized and basically intimidated into turning down any and all potential attempts to be anything more than friends, and…well, end of the day, if you asked me back then, I would have just thought I'd be alone forever. The thought wasn't allowed to cross my mind, so it didn't. Anything I could do with another person, especially if it was anything fun…it was all just the same for me. I thought I could give you a little bit of fun after being stuck in your room all day because of Sakura Empire, and…"

Apocrypha slowly worked to loosen herself from the subconscious curling-up of her body, consciously returning to a regular sitting position on the edge of the bed and looking at Biloxi directly.

"I can at least say I know with absolute certainty now. I don't know if there's any way I can make up for the emotions you felt then, but I promise that if I were to ever do that again, it would be with full intention. I'll do everything I can to make sure neither you nor anybody else misunderstands about that again."

Biloxi was silent for a bit, taking some time to roll the information around in her head, and then responded. "But that still means you made me miss out on a night of time."

"Well, yes, but -"

"So if you want to make it up for real, then invite me to another night out. But properly this time, like you promised. Pull out all the stops and we'll call it square."

"I promise. I'll do everything I can to get you the perfect night out. After all…" Apocrypha rubbed a hand on a rapidly warming cheek now that the anxiety of what she had to say had faded. "It's not as if I would have been against making a legitimate invitation if I had known better…"

Biloxi raised an eyebrow in surprise, then let out a laugh. "You sure are nothing but surprises. I look forward to it," she said with a casual wink and a joking toss of her braid over her shoulder.

Apocrypha was able to manage a genuine smile this time. "I'm looking forward to it, too."