"This is very concerning. If this group of META's and the Sirens are working together, then we are in big trouble. We will have no chance if both of them decide to attack here at the same time. We should be grateful that they haven't at the moment, but it won't remain that way forever. Sooner or later, they will come for us, and by what Zuikaku META was told, the META's seem to want to destroy humans. Humans that supposedly betrayed them. I admit, it's a clever move by the Sirens to recruit META's that humans betrayed in their respective timelines. They won't care about any collateral damage they cause. But who is their leader? And why have they taken the other Tsubaki? At least we know she still seems to be alive, but we need to find her before the Sirens decide to change their mind." John was trying to piece together everything that Zuikaku META had told him after the battle while sitting in his office. The man had learned a lot from the META crane, and it deeply concerned him.

The META's that were attacking human fleets were working together with the Sirens, that alone caused alarm bells to ring in his head. The Azur Lane would be utterly decimated if both groups decided to attack at the same time. The man knew he needed to think of a plan when that situation occurred, John knew it was only a matter of time before both groups decided to wipe out the Azur Lane. The man also knew he had to find the other Tsubaki, the girl did sound as if she was alive for now but that could change any day, if the Sirens wished they could decide to kill her whenever they wanted. John had to find her to prevent that from happening, but he had no idea where she was being held. Finally, John had discovered that this group of META's seemed to have a leader. John suspected that Enterprise META was the likely culprit at first, but several things quickly made John think otherwise.

Firstly, while Enterprise META had worked with the Sirens in the past, the shipgirl seemed to be looking for someone that meant a lot to her. Second, Enterprise META didn't seem to know about Tsubaki's existence, whether it was his own or the other one. Even if the META did know about the half-KANSEN's existence, she didn't seem interested in her one bit, just her own mission. Finally, the META had no reason to want to destroy humanity. Whoever she was looking for sounded like they were a human. Destroying humanity seemed to go against Enterprise META's mission. All of this made John realise that she couldn't have been the leader of this group of META's. It had to be someone else. Who it was, however, is what John wanted to find out and why they had taken his daughter from another timeline.

Sitting on the couch with her daughter on her lap was Shoukaku. The white-crane had been told by her husband what the META version of her sister had said to him earlier. She was just as disturbed by the discoveries as he was. The KANSEN feared even more for her daughters safety than she had before. The fact that META's were working together with Sirens meant her daughter could be the target of two dangerous factions now instead of just one. They already had taken one version of the Half-KANSEN and could do so again if they decided to attack the Azur Lane. The white-crane knew they wouldn't survive if the Sirens and the META's decided to attack. It would be a slaughter. Shoukaku could see John was trying to think of a way to navigate through this precarious situation by the look on his face. He was in very deep thought. "I know you will think of a way to overcome this, John. You always do." Shoukaku believed that her husband would find a way to overcome this. He had triumphed over many difficult and life-threatening circumstances in the past.

In the past, John had found a way for the Azur Lane to win no matter how hopeless it had seemed. Because of his leadership and planning, the Azur Lane had overcome nearly impossible odds, Shoukaku had faith that her husband would find a way to do so again. The white-crane believed that she just had to wait. Her husband would be able to beat the impossible once again when the time came. Tsubaki, who was in Shoukaku's lap, noticed something was wrong with her father and decided to ask her mother what was wrong with him, "What's wrong with Papa, Mama? Why is Papa so quiet?" The half-KANSEN had noticed that since her aunt had brought her back from school, her father had been very quiet. He had only spoken to her when she was back. Since then, the little girl had noticed the man was deep in thought and hadn't said a word. "Papa has a lot to deal with, sweetheart. He's been very busy today. It's best we leave him alone and not disturb him." Shoukaku gave an answer to her daughter as to why her father was quieter than he normally was.

The white-crane then looked towards her husband, who was still very deep in thought, John seemed to be in a complete work of his own. Shoukaku wanted to help him with his predicament but knew that she couldn't help him right now. She would only side track him. John also didn't need Tsubaki disturbing him either. The white-crane knew it was best that both of them left him alone for now, "John, me and Tsubaki will go and find my sister. We will see you at home later, okay?" The KANSEN informed her husband that herself and Tsubaki would look for Zuikaku. When the crane returned with the little girl earlier, she immediately left when Tsubaki was with her parents. Shoukaku knew that her sister wanted to be involved in the battle earlier but she had to collect Tsubaki from her school, they hadn't seen her since then and Shoukaku wanted to know if anything was wrong with Zuikaku and also get out of John's hair. John replied with a "Hmm." To let the white-crane know he heard her.

Shoukaku sighed before asking her daughter to get off her lap, and the half-KANSEN did as her mother asked. The two then began to leave the office. Before both of them left, the KANSEN gave one last glance at her husband before herself, and Tsubaki left the man to his own devices. Mother and daughter then left the HQ to begin looking for Zuikaku. Once outside, the white-crane looked around to see if she could spot her sister but had no success locating her. Seeing her sister wasn't outside, Shoukaku then began to ask several KANSEN in the area if they had seen Zuikaku. At first, Shoukaku wasn't successful. Some of the KANSEN replied that they hadn't seen the crane. It wasn't until Shoukaku spoke to Atago, who was in the area with her own sister Takao, that Shoukaku had learned that Zuikaku had returned to the Sakura Empire building. The pair of heavy cruisers had left the Sakura Empire building not that long ago, as they left, the two explained that they saw Zuikaku enter the building on their way out.

Shoukaku thanked the pair for telling her, and then herself and Tsubaki began to walk on over to the Sakura Empire building to see Zuikaku. The two took a steady walk before arriving at the Sakura Empire building , Shoukaku opened up the doors, and Tsubaki followed her mother inside. Looking around the entrance, the white-crane couldn't see her sister anywhere, which indicated to the KANSEN that Zuikaku must be in her room or training in the dojo. "Zuikaku is either in her room or she'll be at the dojo training. Me and Tsubaki should head to her room first. If she isn't there, then I'll know where she will be." The white-crane decided to head to her sisters room first before checking out the dojo.

Mother and daughter started to head towards their destination, while on their journey Tsubaki looked around and could see pictures and statues of famous people and ships like she had seen when she was last at the Royal Navy. Even though the half-KANSEN had seen this memorabilia before, she was always fascinated by it all. Eventually, the little girl took great interest in one particular picture. It was a picture of an aircraft carrier. Shoukaku could notice her daughter looking very intently at the picture, so she decided to she what had got the Half-KANSEN so fascinated. Shoukaku walked up to the picture that Tsubaki was staring at and was immediately hit by memories, memories that the KANSEN wished she could forget. There was a name at the bottom of the picture.

Shoukaku...

Just seeing the picture brought back memories of the great war that she had participated in. Shoukaku didn't want Tsubaki to experience the horror's of war like herself, Zuikaku, John, and the rest of the Azur Lane experienced. The white-crane wanted to protect her daughter from all of that, She wanted Tsubaki to grow up in a world where she would never have to fight. A world that knew peace, a world that was free of the Sirens. That's why she was fighting the Sirens now. If she didn't fight them now, then Tsubaki would be fighting them later on in life. Tsubaki noticed her mother was standing next to her and turned to face the white-crane, "Mama, why does this ship have your name?" The little girl wanted to know why the ship in the picture had the same name as she did.

Shoukaku couldn't let Tsubaki know the truth about what she was yet. She was too young to understand. When Tsubaki was older, the white-crane knew she would have to explain to her little girl what she and her sister truly were. "Your right, me and this ship do share the same name, Tsubaki. This ship took part in the great war. You remember being told about the great war, correct?" Shoukaku wasn't going to tell her daughter that the ship in the picture was herself. The white-crane instead told her daughter that they simply shared the same name. Tsubaki was aware that the great war happened, but the half-KANSEN wasn't aware of all the death and destruction that took place. Shoukaku wanted to protect her daughter from the truth as long as she possibly could.

"But why do you have the same name, Mama? I don't like this ship. This ship looks ugly and heavy." Tsubaki said to her mother, unknowingly being quite insensitive. "Ugly and heavy?!" Shoukaku thought when she heard what her daughter said. The white-crane all of a sudden felt very self-conscious at her daughter's words. Shoukaku had always had a problem with her self-esteem, especially when compared to some of the KANSEN of the Azur Lane. The white-crane felt inferior to some of them, especially to the ones like Akagi. The kitsune had always made Shoukaku feel worthless by constantly berating her, mocking her, and even outright bullying her. Akagi had even managed to brainwash her and caused her to fight Zuikaku. Even though Shoukaku was the one whom John had married, there was always the nagging feeling that she wasn't good enough for her husband. That other KANSEN were more deserving of that privilege than she was. That's why Shoukaku felt utterly devastated when she thought John and Enterprise were having an affair.

In the white-cranes mind, Enterprise was far more beautiful than she was. Enterprise was also the sister of John's first love, Yorktown. Yorktown was also known to be incredibly beautiful by others who had known her when she was alive. Shoukaku felt she could never measure up to either of the aircraft carriers. She expected her husband to leave her for Enterprise. Enterprise, without a shadow of a doubt, must have reminded him of her lost sister. Even though John wasn't having an affair with the aircraft carrier, Shoukaku was still very insecure about herself. Tsubaki's comment had brought all of her insecurities to the fore, even though the little girl didn't know the ship in the picture was her mother it still hurt Shoukaku that her daughter said what she said.

The KANSEN's mood shifted very negatively the more she began to think about her insecurities, a metaphorical dark cloud began to hang over her head. Shoukaku didn't want to look at the picture of herself anymore. The KANSEN simply carried on walking without saying a word to her daughter. Tsubaki could see her mother walking off and caught up to her. The half-KANSEN tried talking to her mother and asking her questions, but Shoukaku didn't reply to anything her daughter said. Eventually, the pair arrived at Zuikaku's room, the door was open, and the crane could be heard talking to someone inside. Tsubaki decided to head in first. Her mother wasn't speaking to her, so the half-KANSEN thought her aunt would like to talk instead.

Tsubaki went inside, and Shoukaku followed. The white-crane expected her daughter to be chatting away with her sister, but that wasn't what was happening. When Shoukaku entered the room, she could see Tsubaki standing very still and looking at not one but two people. Zuikaku was here and had a look of shock on her face. She clearly hadn't expected her niece and sister to come here. Next to her, however, was someone who Shoukaku didn't want Tsubaki to see, at least not yet.

"Zuikaku META..."