Compared to the sympathy-seeking Lexington, Tirpitz was far more straightforward.
She straightened her back and declared, "Bring my sister over! You like her a lot, don't you? She's your wife, after all. If you don't bring her, I'll go full yandere mode!"
Was that... a threat to her husband? Really, Tirpitz?
Meanwhile, Glowworm hugged Hikaru's leg and burrowed her head against his stomach, her eyes sparkling like stars.
"Commander! Javelin, Javelin! You promised me, didn't you? Are you going to break your promise?"
A reminder of a supposed promise—but did such a promise even exist?
Hikaru didn't remember. He spoke to the girls so often that he had no idea if he'd casually agreed to something at some point.
Vampire, Yat Sen, Ella, and Fletcher also shyly made their own requests, which left Hikaru with a pounding headache.
If he'd known this would happen, he never would've asked. He'd walked straight into his own trap.
After finally managing to calm the chaos—on the verge of becoming an all-out argument—Hikaru felt like his head had grown a size larger.
Many would think that having a harem of girls was the height of earthly bliss. But at this moment, it was not the case.
Still, though the girls had quieted down, the core question remained unresolved:
Who should he bring over?
Hikaru thought hard. In the end, only one method seemed fair.
"I'll make the one I see first my secretary ship. It's just an experiment anyway."
Missouri clung to his arm pitifully. "You promised! You have to switch me back right away after! You can't let the new secretary ship take over and never return me! Or I'll cry right here!"
Feeling slightly guilty, Hikaru averted his gaze. "I already promised you, didn't I?"
With everything decided, it was time to replace the secretary ship.
He didn't know if it was possible to do this while awake in the real world. Considering that last time he appointed Missouri during a dream, Hikaru decided to play it safe and carry out the change inside the dream again.
He closed his eyes and sought that meditative sensation.
Before long, his body relaxed and slumped right into Lexington's arms.
The command room was a complete mess now.
To his great surprise, the layout of the dream-world naval base had changed significantly too.
For instance, there was now a huge hole in the wall of the command room—exactly like the one in the real world.
Looking through the breach, he could see the arrangement of buildings outside had also shifted to match the modifications he'd made in real life.
Amazing.
Hikaru couldn't help marveling. It was now clear that the real and dream versions of the naval base were two sides of the same coin.
He could see entire sections of collapsed buildings. Missouri's shell had destroyed nearly half the base, and that destruction had reflected into the dream-world naval base too.
With such major damage, the shipgirls in the base were naturally all in shock.
The command room was crowded with them. A silver-grey short-haired girl in a black military uniform stood with her arms crossed in front of the desk, wearing a stern expression.
"According to the tally," Bismarck announced, "it's not just Missouri who disappeared. Yat Sen and Instructor Ella are also missing. Any thoughts?"
The shipgirls all started chattering at once in response, each voicing her opinion.
Hikaru listened for a moment. What they were all really saying, beneath their words, was: We need to contact the Commander. Fast.
Which happened to be exactly what he was thinking.
He focused his awareness and dropped his consciousness onto the desk surface. Just as he was about to pick up a pen to write, he suddenly sensed something strange.
It felt like hundreds of eyes were burning holes into him.
A chill ran down his spine. He dropped the pen and looked up.
Bismarck was staring directly at him. Her cat-like short hair quivered slightly, and her lips were pressed so tightly they had turned pale.
Hikaru froze.
"Bismarck… can you… see me?"
"Look! It's the Commander's ghost!!"
A scream rang out, and the next moment, a horde of shipgirls swarmed toward him like a tidal wave.
Hikaru looked at his milky-white, semi-transparent arm in amazement.
He had become something like a ghost.
Back before the naval base was materialized, whenever he entered the dream, he was a drifting consciousness—able only to manipulate small objects with sheer will.
But now that the base had manifested in the real world, the connection between the two worlds had grown stronger. In this dream, Hikaru now had a ghost-like physical form.
At the very least, the girls could now see his face—and he could speak to them directly.
He was a Commander they hadn't seen in ages. Communicating through written notes had always felt distant. Now their enthusiasm exploded, and Hikaru had to endure a barrage of hands reaching out to touch him.
It felt strange.
Hikaru felt like his body was made of cool liquid, while the girls' bodies were burning hot.
They tried to touch his face, to feel his presence, but their hands often passed right through him.
It felt like dozens of scorching-hot hands were stirring around inside his body all at once—and that was indescribably bizarre.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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