Glowworm put down her cake and tilted her head up. "Of course I can, Commander! Would you like me to cast a courage spell on you?"
"If it's not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it."
At his words, Glowworm beamed with joy. She raised her little wand and tapped Hikaru's forehead with it. "Close your eyes, Commander. Now, Little Glow's going to cast her spell of courage!"
Hikaru did as she asked and shut his eyes—only to feel the light touch of a kiss on his cheek from the little girl who had stepped close.
"Heehee~ I finally touched Commander's skin. Glowworm up-up!"
Hikaru let out a helpless laugh and was about to say something—when a cool stream of light swept through his mind. At the same time, a system interface suddenly appeared in his consciousness.
He recognized it immediately. The UI looked almost identical to the one from the old shipgirl game he used to play.
The camera hovered above a mountain slope by the sea, looking down at a cluster of Western-style buildings nestled near a bright blue coastline. There was a lighthouse, an amusement park, warehouses, a cafeteria, an academy—and in the distance, docks and a harbor.
Small silhouettes moved across the plaza—young women of all kinds, from graceful teens to giggling little girls chasing cats.
Hikaru shifted his gaze to the flashing mission icon below and imagined selecting it.
A new task list popped up:
[Completed: Starter Ship]
[Beginner Mission: First Sortie – Launch a mission. Reward: 1 Instant Repair, Random DD Shipgirl.]
[Main Quest: Manifest the Guard Base – Current Requirement: Acquire 10,000 of each resource to unlock further facility functions.]
He tried interacting with other parts of the interface, but nothing else responded. He could only view the base from a high, floating perspective.
Despite the many girls present, the entire place felt… lonely. And now, something seemed to be happening. More and more girls were running toward the main building at the plaza's center.
One particularly impulsive girl even leapt out of a dorm window, soared over a hundred meters through the air, and smashed through a window of the twenty-meter-tall building.
That black-uniformed girl was surprisingly fierce.
Despite the lack of instructions, Hikaru instinctively summoned another interface—his admiral's dog tag.
[Kuramoto Hikaru – Admiral (Lv.143)]
Shipgirls Owned: 172/500
Equipment Owned: 2400/500
Compendium Completion: 434/???
EXP: 221,570/257,560
Sortie Victories: 59,100
Total Sorties: 60,195
Drill Victories: 5,027...
Hikaru froze.
There was no need to ask Glowworm why she knew him. This was… his game base.
The shipgirls from the game had come to life. Even for someone as battle-hardened as Hikaru, the shock was too much.
Then his eyes swept over the resources—and froze again. Why were all of them at zero?
Sure, he wasn't one of those hoarding maniacs, but he used to have at least a few hundred thousand of each!
...Forget it. That wasn't important. Hikaru stared greedily at the base below him. This was his closest connection to the Old World.
Everyone he knew, everything he loved or hated—it was all gone. Only he remained, stumbling alone as a failure.
Three thousand years… time was cruel. Survival had become punishment. He had waited so long, hoping solitude would be broken—like a stifling afternoon with a promise that never came.
Suddenly, Hikaru snapped out of his thoughts and let out a silent scream.
"I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I mod the game before all this?! If I'd just edited the data, I'd have had full compendium, all gear, infinite resources! I hate myself!!"
Elsewhere, inside the base's main building, a fierce argument had just ended in a Mediterranean-style admiral's office.
A gleaming axe had been buried in the coffee table. A white-haired girl in a lawyer's suit—but looking like a mafia heiress—stood with arms crossed, face icy cold.
Beside her were a tan-skinned, chubby girl; a red-haired wild girl with a mad grin; a curvy bossy type in leather; and a dozen more girls—all radiating intense auras.
Across from them stood a smaller group of seven or eight. At the front was a cool-looking girl with short gray hair styled like cat ears. She was the one Hikaru had seen earlier flying out the dorm window. Flanking her were a lazy, pink-haired, red-eyed girl with headphones, and a flat-chested white-haired loli with a sour expression.
That loli, absurdly enough, wore an outfit fit for a gangster queen: suspenders, black stockings, sheer gloves, a tailored blazer, red heels, and a veiled hat. And yet, her presence was just as fierce as any of the others.
The rest of the base was packed with girls standing in the hallway, arms crossed or nervously wringing their hands. A few little ones peeked out from behind taller girls' legs, their faces full of hope—like lost children searching for their parents.
By the desk, a girl in a white wedding dress finally broke the silence.
"Enough bickering. What are you doing?"
The suited girl scoffed and looked away. "Lexington-onee-san, that room has to be mine. I want to ask that two-faced bastard why he disappeared for so many years!"
The chubby girl chimed in. "Yeah! I want to ask too!"
Her voice sparked an uproar—everyone behind her began shouting that they should go too. A civil war nearly broke out on the spot.
The lawyer girl frowned. "Who let SoDak (USS South Dakota) in here? Keep that idiot out! Onee-sama, throw her out!"
The red-haired fighter girl was already moving. The girl called SoDak panicked and clutched her mouth, shaking her head. "North Carolina, don't throw me out! I'll be quiet!"
"We're not here to watch you American girls fight among yourselves," the cat-eared girl growled, slamming the table. "By logic and emotion, the married shipgirls should go first. My sister and I are both married—and we're strong. We deserve to go."
The white-haired loli beside her grimaced. She was powerful—but not married.
That man always favored Kantai Collection types and catgirls!
Honestly, American ships were supposed to be the enemy—and German ones weren't exactly friendly either.
The white-haired loli seriously considered defecting.
But Lexington's voice rang out, cutting through the chaos. "Enough. What matters now is figuring out how Glowworm got to the Commander. Trust, you were with her at the time. Tell us again—everything, no detail too small."
A gray-haired loli wearing a white naval cap emerged from the crowd and began recounting the story for the Nth time. Despite the repetition, she spoke carefully, word by word.
"At the time, Glowworm and I were sleeping in the dorm. Suddenly, she said she could feel the Commander calling her. I felt it too and froze up. Then… Glowworm vanished—like she walked through an invisible door."
Lexington nodded. "Where exactly was she? What position, what part of the room?"
…
In a quiet corner of the office, a red-haired girl nudged the black-haired fox-eared girl beside her.
"Akagi-nee, is it really true? Did the Commander come back?"
The girl she called Akagi looked no older than a junior high student, dressed in a red and black archery uniform. She was absentmindedly rubbing a brilliant diamond ring on her left ring finger. Only when nudged did she return to herself.
"There's no mistake. A commander and his shipgirls share an eternal vow. You felt it too, didn't you, Taihou?"
Taihou rested her chin on her notebook and grumbled, "Whatever. He didn't say anything. He disappears forever, then just reappears like nothing happened. I don't even remember what he looks like anymore."
Akagi shook her head slowly. "Neither do I. Only fragments remain. There's no photo of him in the base. Not even a shirt left behind. I remember arriving early—but marrying late. We conquered so many seas together. I've sunk tens of thousands of enemies. But did we ever go on a date? Did I ever cook for him? I can't recall. Only the ring proves he existed."
Taihou stared at the ring and puffed out her cheeks. "Such a reckless Commander. He's vanished before, but this time it's been over ten years. If we hadn't sensed he was still alive, so many of us would've turned into seafoam by now. And yet—even though he's such a jerk, the moment we sensed him again, everyone acted like they'd been reborn. Even Washington started picking on SoDak again. She'd been dead inside for years!"
Akagi nodded. "He's a terrible man. Even if he maxed out our bond scores… when I see him again, I'm going to punch him. Then I'll make him cook for me for ten days straight. No, a lifetime!"
Taihou curled into herself, hugging her knees. Akagi has a ring, she thought. I have nothing.
Her affection might only be capped at 100, but even if it was only 100—if she had to lose him, she would never accept it.
"Akagi-nee, remember that poem the Commander once quoted? I changed it a little. Want to hear?"
"Go ahead."
"Deserted base, red petals lonely bloom.
Old shipgirls remain, idly speaking of the Commander."
Akagi ran her fingers through her waist-length black hair and smiled softly. "We shipgirls… as long as the Commander lives, we don't grow old. Maybe it sounds sad—to entrust your life and soul to one man. But for shipgirls, it's also a kind of happiness."
Nearby, a white-haired shipgirl silently drank her sake. She wiped her lips and smiled faintly, moved by something deep inside.
"Longing eternal, memory unbroken.
Though short, the ache is endless.
My dear Commander, I have never once regretted—
I am only grateful.
Grateful to fate…
For letting me meet you, in all seven of my lifetimes."
Seven lifetimes—three before, three after, and this one. An oath to never part.
The argument flared again. Lexington, wielding her authority as secretary ship, was trying to claim Glowworm's room. After all, it was from that room that the Commander had summoned her.
Everyone knew Glowworm wasn't particularly strong, nor was she a married shipgirl. The Commander's favorite had always been Akagi, not her.
So the others figured the room itself must be special—maybe the Commander would appear there again next time?
Normally, the secretary ship managed all base affairs during the Commander's absence. But on this matter—not even Lexington, the supposed "first wife," could convince anyone.