Just as Hikaru was wondering if he'd failed, a petite, blonde girl suddenly emerged from behind him, soft and dainty.
The moment he laid eyes on her, something inside him stirred. If he had to describe it using poetry, it was like his soul trembled and his spirit shivered—a sense that he'd found his missing half.
This kind of soul-deep connection left no doubt in Hikaru's heart: the girl before him was his shipgirl.
With tears welling up in her big blue eyes, the little girl met Hikaru's gaze, puffed out her tiny chest, and waved a magic wand with both hands. "Commander is awake! G-class destroyer, Little Glow reporting for duty!"
Glow...? Which shipgirl was named Glow?
He recalled the image he'd seen during construction, and suddenly the pieces clicked into place—G-class destroyer… could it be HMS Glowworm? He'd just given a lecture about her yesterday. Was it really that much of a coincidence?
Hikaru crouched down so he was eye-level with the twin-tailed little girl. "You're… Glowworm?"
The girl blinked in confusion for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Commander, I'm Glowworm! You gave me the name Little Glow, remember? Ehehe, it's kinda embarrassing."
As Glow looked at him with those expectant eyes, Hikaru found himself wondering if he was losing his memory.
He named her Little Glow? What nonsense—he was meeting her for the first time!
Glow must have sensed his confusion. She grabbed his hand and tugged insistently. "Commander, did you forget Glowworm? I'm your starter ship, remember? Just pat my head and you'll remember, I'm sure!"
She placed his hand on her small head and rubbed up against his palm like a kitten. To be honest, it was kind of nice.
"Hehehe, Glowworm loves when Commander pats her head. Remember now?"
Hikaru hesitantly ruffled her hair. …Nope. Nothing came back.
He was just about to speak when Glow suddenly narrowed her eyes and stepped in front of him, arms outstretched in a protective stance.
"What do you want?! Glowworm's not afraid of anyone! No matter how strong the enemy—if Commander is behind me, I won't lose!"
Hikaru stood and turned to see Wilhelmina and her commander approaching. He recognized the man from a photo—it was Kamizawa, the Junior Marshal.
Kamizawa, huh. Even the name sounded like a man cursed with bad luck.
Hikaru glanced at his greasy, half-messy hair with subtle disdain. Could that be a wig? Honestly, it wouldn't surprise him.
Kamizawa coughed into his hand and placed a pocket watch on top of Wilhelmina's head. "Construction time: twenty minutes. But looks like we don't need further verification. Your starter ship is Glowworm, right? She may be just a common destroyer, but she carries the legacy of fearless spirit. You've got potential."
Hikaru looked around the plaza. Most participants were still struggling with their resources, gritting their teeth in frustration. They hadn't yet touched the memory of steel. A few, like Saitou Takao in the distance, had their eyes closed—already immersed in visions of battles from three thousand years ago.
Shiraha was nowhere to be seen. The resources at Station 778 were still untouched.
"Marshal Kamizawa, what about the girl at 778?"
Kamizawa shrugged. "She failed. She's already been escorted out. That's how it goes with ship construction—it's a gamble."
Hikaru exhaled quietly. He didn't know what to say.
It was true that awakening a shipgirl was largely left to fate. But still—he succeeded, and Shiraha failed. It left a strange heaviness in his heart.
Still, Hikaru quickly composed himself. He had already endured worse failures in his previous life. Victories and defeats no longer shook him so easily.
Maybe this was for the best. He would soon enroll in the Commander Academy, and distance and time would eventually ease everything. Perhaps Shiraha would come to terms with it too.
Kamizawa, meanwhile, was squinting at Glow with increasing interest.
"Usually, shipgirls are born with basic knowledge and fixed personality traits, but your Glowworm seems... different from what I expected."
Hikaru eyed him warily. "Different how?"
Kamizawa was about to reply when a sudden flash of violet light burst across the plaza. His face instantly changed.
Hikaru followed his gaze and saw a small figure emerge from the light—tiny, barely the size of a child.
As much as he hated to say it… the red-haired girl looked like she'd arrived on a metal toilet.
"A toilet drop?! Damn lucky bastards! A European again! That's a submarine, for sure—I've gotta check it out!"
Submarines weren't necessarily powerful, but they were incredibly rare. Even a three-star blue-grade K1 submarine was more rare than a five-star gold battlecruiser like Hood.
Some commanders lived their whole lives without ever speaking to a live submarine shipgirl.
Kamizawa turned on his heel and ran off, shouting that he'd follow up later.
Wilhelmina left with him, but not before giving Hikaru a long, curious stare.
"Your Glowworm was born in violet light too. That's so strange… I thought I was seeing things."
Shipgirls and their gear were categorized by rarity, using equipment-grade colors and stars: black (common), green, blue, violet, gold/orange, and rainbow—ranging from one to six stars.
There were exceptions—some gold-grade shipgirls were weaker or more common than violet ones—but overall, the rarity system was reliable.
According to the compendium, Glowworm should've been a two-star green-grade destroyer. Not rare, not powerful.
Despite being known as the infamous "walking disaster," Wilhelmina was still gold-grade. In terms of speed, firepower, armor, durability, ASW, torpedo rating, AA, evasion, and detection, she outclassed Glowworm in nearly every category.
The only stats where Glowworm surpassed her were luck and detection. Even though Glowworm had historically been part of the "Unlucky E" club, Wilhelmina had an abysmal 2 points in luck and only 1 in detection—dead last among all shipgirls.
But a violet-grade Glowworm? Something was off.
Once Kamizawa left, a staff member came over to register Hikaru's construction result. He wasn't allowed to leave yet—there would be a follow-up session for those who had successfully awakened shipgirls—but he could wait in the auditorium for now.
The waiting time varied based on construction results. The more powerful the shipgirl, the longer it usually took. Battleships and fleet carriers could take up to seven hours. Still, in a small city like this, no one expected a true European Lord. Anyone who summoned a shipgirl with a 6+ hour build time would be known across the entire human world and the Shipgirl Command.
Hikaru decided to use the downtime to clear up some confusion.
He followed the staff into a spacious auditorium and found a quiet corner to sit. There was no one else there yet—he was the first to finish construction.
Each table was covered with drinks and snacks, and the back of the room had a long buffet table with cold dishes. Hikaru pointed to a platter of lobster and clams. "Want something, Glow?"
Glow clung to the hem of his jacket and pointed her wand at a tray of blueberry mousse cake. "Little Glow wants that."
So she liked sweets, huh? Hikaru brought over a plate and cut her a big slice, then poured himself a glass of red wine. He sat back and studied the little shipgirl who nibbled daintily at her dessert like a hamster.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, twin tails tied with sailboat-shaped ribbons. She wore a blue-and-white British-style sweater that looked far too warm for the weather. Her legs were clad in sheer black tights, and she wore shiny little black shoes—she was every bit the energetic British loli.
But there was one thing about her that couldn't be ignored: the bold black letters H92 printed on the upper part of her smooth right thigh.
That was her hull number. Historically, Glowworm's full designation had been HMS Glowworm, hull number H92.
It was proof of her identity. Many shipgirls bore their hull numbers as physical markings. Some believed these were remnants of the honor and legacy their namesakes had earned on the battlefield, carried over into their new lives.
But Hikaru's real concern wasn't that.
He took a slow sip of wine, trying to mask the nervous tension in his chest.
"Glowworm… I've heard that shipgirls can share their strength with their commander. Can you do that?"
He stared at her intently.
Because compared to everything else—that was the question that truly mattered.