Having sailed in the direction of Yokosuka Naval Base for a while, Shigure was pretty much sleepwalking as her body was on autopilot, her mind on "Sleep" mode while she was standing up on the ocean and her boat slippers were propelling her forwards, trying to take a quick nap so as not to wear herself out after her second night operation, the first being the disastrous battle of Mikura Jima Island.
These operations interfered with her sleep cycle, and she really didn't want to suffer from fatigue after going on two night operations in a row.
But everyone else here were experienced ship girls and knew how to stay awake to make sure that they weren't ambushed on the way back home, understanding that out here on the ocean, despite being in the Safety Zone, there was still an element of danger and uncertainty that should never be overlooked, and the last thing they needed was to sail into another Abyssal patrol fleet in their weakened state, and it was wiser for them to evade said Abyssal fleets in their current condition.
But a hand on Shigure's shoulder gently shook her awake, Kawakaze whispering into her ear in order to warn the sleepy Shigure as she awoke with a start.
"Shigure-Aneki. We've got company."
Waking up and immediately swiveling her head around to scan for threats, Shigure blanched as she instinctively reached for her 12 Cm cannon, asking worriedly.
"A-Are we going to have to fight more Abyssals…?"
Shaking her head, Kawakaze jutted her thumb out towards Unryuu, the carrier who possessed the radar with the longest range, and explained the situation to her sister.
"Nope. We believe it's another drop after a battle with the Abyssals."
A blank stare was what Kawakaze received, and she tried to explain a very unusual mechanic of their world, where the death of Abyssals could potentially spawn a fellow ship girl, likely as a reward for their efforts.
"Sometimes, when we defeat some Abyssal fleets, a ship girl is spawned on the ocean as a 'reward', you see. We ship girls and humans theorize that this 'reward spawning' system is connected to the 'Abyssal/ship girl reincarnation' theory and how life and death is closely intertwined such that the deaths of Abyssals could result in a ship spawning in order to balance the scales. It's mostly luck-based, certain ship girls can only be found in certain locations, and most of the time, they only spawn if we score a decisive victory against the Abyssals, like our battle against the Southern War Princess. And Unryuu-san detected that another ship girl's been following us for a while now."
Nodding along with Kawakaze's explanation, Shigure asked about how this system worked, and how it was somewhat karmic, in a sense.
"Interesting. Much like how a sunk ship girl who possesses regrets can be corrupted into being an Abyssal, can we theoretically say that the death of Abyssals would help them pass on, and they can potentially be reborn as ship girls who then spawn on the ocean?"
Unryuu sailed up to them in order to discuss about the subject at hand, having regained her humanity as her voice was no longer empty and focused, and her expression was a neutral bored look which was preferable to her heartless and utilitarian expression which prioritized efficiency and stoicism over everything else.
"Well, this is all theory since we have no concrete way of proving that the 'reincarnation theory' is true, but people see ship girls and Abyssals as essentially two sides of the same coin. If you wish to get philosophical, should a ship girl sink, she slips into the darkness of the ocean and is reincarnated as an Abyssal, and if a Abyssal were to be reborn as a ship girl, she rises from the darkness and floats towards the surface, towards the light. Comparisons have been made to the lotus flower, which rises from the mud before blossoming, unstained and untouched. The Abyssals may thrive in the dark, but death, to them, is the catalyst which helps them to pass on, be reborn and rise from the dark ocean to be reborn as ship girls again."
Shigure turned to her, remembering the fact that Unryuu also spawned from the bottom of the ocean, after a hard-fought battle which claimed the life of Taihou and allowed Unryuu to enter this world.
"Unryuu-san, you were also spawned as a reward after a battle, right?"
Kawakaze elbowed her in the side, but it was too late as Unryuu blinked after hearing that sentence and was reminded of her past, looking away as her expression darkened and she nodded in agreement while continuing her explanation.
"Yes.For us, life and death are intertwined in a cycle. And in a sense, I suppose killing an Abyssal is to cleanse them of their hatred and pain, and a ship girl spawning may be seen as the one positive thing that may come out of all the bloodshed and death."
Kawakaze nodded sagely, asking about the new ship girl who had risen from the depths and was to be brought back to their base as a comrade.
"Hate to cut this philosophical session short, but who's the ship girl on your radar, Unryuu-san? Heavy cruiser? Destroyer?"
Unryuu shook her head as she corrected her concerning the mysterious signature.
"It's actually a carrier."
Kawakaze raised an eyebrow, whistling in an impressed tone and idly remarking.
"Looks like we got lucky today, eh?"
Before letting her sister in on just how rare a carrier drop was when compared to a rank-and-file destroyer or cruiser drop,
"Carriers, like battleships and certain light cruisers, are extremely rare drops, since they're either categorized as large or rare ships. Nagato-san, Kaga-san and Zuikaku-san, amongst others, are sorted into the former while Akitsu Maru-san and Yahagi-san are in the latter. They require a lot more resources and time to craft and are thus considered a very lucky drop since we can bypass the construction phase to immediately get an operational carrier or battleship."
"Or amphibious assault ship."
Akitsu Maru took this as the chance to attempt to get a word in edgewise in order to insert herself into the conversation, and got three blank looks in return.
She lowered her bloody gloved finger as she commented meekly,
"You don't care. I got it. I'll shut up."
And proceeded to walk over to where a bloody Kiso was and pretended to cry on her shoulder and used her cape as a tissue, unknowingly earning her the stink eye from the cranky torpedo cruiser who was tired of her theatrics so early in the morning.
Unryuu also rolled her eyes after seeing her friend react so dramatically to their lack of reaction, Shigure sweat-dropping as she realized that close to each other the 8th Fleet may be, perhaps their annoyance with each other's antics 24/7 was also an integral part of their fleet dynamic.
But Unryuu revealed something else which seemed to put everyone on edge, simply due to how unexpected it was.
"There's something else I should add. The carrier signature… It's American."
Everyone went silent and gave Unryuu aside glances, Shigure feeling the tension rise again as she asked.
"U-Um… We're friendly with the Americans, right? So why's everyone so on edge?"
Kawakaze tilted her head, jaw muscles taut as she nervously replied.
"Maa, Shigure-Aneki. It ain't about the friendliness thing, we don't have any beef with the Yanks. It's just that we might expect some resistance in getting her to come with us."
Shigure blinked, before connecting the dots in her mind as she physically tensed up as well, following in her teammates' lead in keeping a hand close to her holstered 12 Cm Single Gun cannon.
A ship girl who was spawned in her own country's waters while only retaining memories of her World War 2 days would be easily convinced into coming back to the mainland with the fleet and would then be brought up to date on recent events.
However, a ship girl who spawned in "enemy waters" while retaining her memories of World War 2 would likely resist should ship girls whom she immediately designates "the enemy" try to "capture" her, regardless of how they tried to convince otherwise.
Akashi slowed down, turning and performing a 180 as she coolly ordered.
"Everyone. Get the American carrier to come back with us. Non-lethal force only. That's an order."
Akitsu Maru unsheathed her katana as she had a gleeful grin on her face, ready for another fight as she remarked.
"But we can threaten her with lethal force, right?"
Akashi scoffed as she broke out into a run, her fleet following behind as she commented on how she couldn't care less.
"I don't care. Disarm her, and she'll be harmless enough. We won't hurt her, but she doesn't need to know that."
Shigure could only express a disapproving,
"Akashi-san!"
Before everyone rushed towards where Unryuu was headed, Shigure gawking at how they were going to threaten the American into following them back to Yokosuka.
But deep down, she knew that if they didn't force her to come with them, she'd probably put up a fight and refuse to be captured, and since she would have to sail across the Pacific while not knowing about the Abyssal threat, it was essentially a death wish if they left her out here alone.
Straining her bionic eyes in order to see who it was, she heard Kawakaze shout behind her in order to let her know who it was.
"It's Saratoga! CV-3!"
Saratoga was a tall woman with brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and her hair reached down to shoulder length.
She wore a red ribbon with white and yellow highlights around her neck and was dressed in a white, short-sleeved long dress, her rigging secured around her waist like most of the Japanese light carriers Shigure knew and had two Anti-Air cannons to protect herself, the words "S A R A" printed on it in large white fonts.
She had bountiful breasts that were barely hidden away by her uniform, and her red-black belt was secured her dress to her waist while her red stockings were held up by what Shigure assumed was a garter belt, several extra drum magazines hidden within the insides of her skirt as it barely flared up due to the wind, and several straight magazines strapped to her thighs as she, much like Japanese battleships, had rudders as the heels in her boat slippers.
She was wearing her smoke stack as a beret or a lopsided hat of sorts as it had the "E" symbol stamped on it, and in her left hand was a Thompson submachine gun with her flight deck positioned horizontally above said submachine gun, with a straight magazine to feed "ammunition" into the firearm in order to launch warplanes from her flight deck with drum magazines available for larger capacity.
The American carrier seemed shocked upon being found out and seeing several bloody Japanese ship girls sprinting towards her, something Shigure could understand since she had also suffered from the same misconception before, and at one point didn't think that being reincarnated into human bodies meant that they could use their legs and boat slippers to sprint and jump and spin and…
Well, you got the idea.
Saratoga looked panicked as she stopped before trying to put her boat slippers into reverse, speaking concernedly into her wireless radio in order to send a distress signal in English.
"... Does anyone read me? This is CV-3, Saratoga! I'm stranded in Japanese waters, and I require assistance! I'm outnumbered, mayday, mayday!"
She raised her Thompson submachine gun in order to try and send out some planes in order to stave off the inevitable as she fumbled with the weapon, but Kiso was already in the air as she performed a Flying Thunder God with surgical precision, splitting the firearm horizontally in a spinning splash before landing on the ocean.
Kiso and Saratoga's gaze met, the carrier sensing the faux-killing intent which was left over from her battle with the Southern War Princess, cutting her losses as she scrambled away from the torpedo cruiser before she got hurt by a torpedo or cannon shell.
Akitsu Maru brandished her katana Kagutsuchi, and let loose a streak of flames as she slashed downwards while making sure to deliberately miss the Lexington-Class carrier, Saratoga stumbling out of the path of the flames before they could scorch her, not that the amphibious assault ship was aiming to kill her anyway.
Everyone was panting as they caught up to the duo, surrounding the American carrier as they brandished their weapons, Kiso picking up the cleanly sheared-off portion of Saratoga's submachine gun, Akashi raising an eyebrow as she looked at the destroyed weapon.
"Well, when I said 'disarm her', that's one way of going about things…"
"Well, did you want me to 'disarm' her entire bloody arm from her body?"
Kiso cheekily stuck out a tongue while giving Akashi the middle finger with her left hand which was still holding her cutlass with the flight deck cradled underneath her right arm, Akashi chuckling before addressing Saratoga seriously in English, Shigure feeling extremely confused all the while since she was unable to understand a single word of it.
"Well, now… You're outnumbered, and your homeland is an entire ocean away. Trust me when we say this, you do not want to be out here in the dead of night."
Saratoga looked rather surprised upon seeing an IJN ship girl speak English, but recovered and asked warily.
"... And am I right in assuming that you want me to come back to your base as a prisoner of war?"
"Well, the war's already over, so we don't really have any beef with you Yanks. We just want you to come quietly with us. But if you want to resist our peaceful attempts to convince you to come with us, know that you're missing a submachine gun, and despite being weakened, we're fully capable of taking you down."
Kiso explained the situation to Saratoga, and despite knowing she was outnumbered, Saratoga dared to ask about why an amphibious assault ship, a repair ship and a fleet oiler was on the front lines, the backup fleet being a far more logical choice to be placed up front and center.
"If I may ask, why are auxiliary ships out here? You're weaker than traditional warships, and you're never meant for front-line combat, so do you all look as though you've been through Hell's Highway?"
The 8th Fleet looked at each other, sighing collectively as Akashi explained the basics of being a ship girl and how it differed from being a conventional warship.
"You see, we're no longer just warships, we're ship girls, y'know, ships taking the form of human girls? We have these now?"
Using both her arms to cup her breasts as she pushed them up, and only now was a slightly embarrassed Saratoga made aware of the fact that she was a woman instead of a ship, taking a second to study her arms and her body while Akashi leaned in to explain to an extremely lost Shigure.
"I told her that she was a ship girl, and that she now has a body of a human. This is the first thing you should tell them upon meeting a ship girl after they've been spawned, since they'll mostly act on instinct and may sail for a while without realizing that they've been reincarnated into human bodies. Because as a warship, 'common sense' would dictate that you sail while staying still, so why would you ever realize what your new body feels and acts like until it's time to use it in battle?"
Shigure's eyes lit up in understanding, realizing that this was why Saratoga hesitated in using a human firearm to send her planes out, since despite being created with an innate knowledge about how a Thompson submachine gun worked in order to use it in battle, the "future shock" from having to use to a human hand and a human firearm to send her planes out was too much for her, causing her to fumble with her submachine gun and allowed Kiso the chance to 'disarm' her.
Turning back to address the Lexington-Class carrier in English, she gave the Saratoga an ultimatum as she flicked her scalpels out of her wrists in order to threaten her with what Shigure knew were idle threats, but like she said, Saratoga didn't need to know that.
"Allow me to put this in simpler terms. We don't want to fight you, but we just got back from one hell of a battle. So forgive us if we aren't in the mood for diplomacy. When I said that you're coming quietly with us, whether it's as a prisoner of war or as a corpse, we don't care either way. I'm a repair ship, so I can resuscitate you with the medical equipment back in our base. Your choice."
Brandishing her Anti-Abyssal scalpels that were sticking out through the webs of her fingers like claws, Akashi's demeanor hardened as she explained.
"And despite being a 'weak repair ship', these scalpels were created to easily pierce the armor of a battleship in order to allow me to operate on them. So would you like to see how your armor holds up against these blades?"
Blanching at Akashi's threat with her sharp medical scalpels, Saratoga looked around and noted that Kiso sliced through her weapon with ease, and could easily do the same to her.
She was a fast-speed carrier, but she no longer possessed her submachine gun and the flight deck attachment that came with it, the remnants of her weapon in Kiso's hands as she silently contemplated the situation.
And finally, everyone exhaled a little as she raised her hands in surrender, clearly expecting the worst as the life went out of her body as she probably expected them to treat her cruelly, like what IJA soldiers did in World War 2.
Fortunately for her, the IJN ship girls of this day and age wanted nothing to do with their old shame, Akashi, Akitsu Maru and Kiso sheathing their weapons as they turned away and continued sailing back to Yokosuka, Maya gruffly ordering her as she looked as if she was trying not to let the pain of her broken bones escape her tough demeanor.
"Move.;We should be able to make it back to Yokosuka by morning if we go at full speed."
Everyone was quiet as they began shifting their boat slippers to full speed and began sailing back home, Saratoga in the middle of the formation both as a means of making sure she didn't break formation and try to escape, and to protect her against any potential Abyssal threats that may see her as an easy target should she be placed at the flank or the rear of the formation.
Shigure heard Kawakaze try to get her attention, whispering to her in a hushed tone as she tried to get her to talk to the new ship girl.
"Yo, Shigure-Aneki.;I think we should try and talk to Saratoga-san to try and get to know her better. I can't deal with this awkward silence for the entirety of the damn journey. And to be honest, I don't want to be the only one to talk to her, since I'm not sure if I have much to talk to her about."
Shigure considered the notion, before nodding in acceptance, noticing Saratoga glancing in their direction after they mentioned her name, and Shigure was pretty sure that a newly spawned ship girl really wouldn't want to speak with someone who was drenched in the blood of her enemies, which eliminated about 80% of the ship girls present.
Shigure asked Kawakaze about how she was going to talk to Saratoga when she didn't speak English, and Saratoga didn't speak Japanese.
"Um, I don't speak English, and Saratoga-san doesn't speak Japanese, so how're we going to communicate with each other?"
Kawakaze gave her a generous grin upon hearing that, Shigure noting a torrent request pop up on her HUD as her sister ship explained.
"Well, don't worry about that, Shigure-Aneki!
As ship girls, we can learn entire languages in mere seconds, and all we have to do is to torrent our language modules with each other and extract the files within to learn the language instantly!"
Accepting the request, Kawakaze turned to a genuinely curious Saratoga as Shigure felt her mind get flooded with knowledge of the English language, hearing how the English words which came out of Kawakaze's mouth went from "undecipherable language" to comprehensible sentences in her mind.
"Yo, Saratoga-san! How would… learn the… language in several seconds?"
Saratoga seemed a little apprehensive upon hearing that, a little skeptical about such advanced technology existing as she responded doubtfully in English, and Shigure could now understand her words.
"Um, I'm not sure if such advanced technology exists. I mean—"
She was interrupted by Shigure attempting to speak English for the first time, articulating the English words with a Japanese accent.
"Um, Saratoga-san… We… are created with advanced technology… far beyond… anything we can ever hope to imagine. So for us… it's… not impossible."
Saratoga looked surprised upon hearing that, wondering out loud.
"Hmm? I was certain that you looked absolutely lost when we were using English to communicate with each other, so how?"
Kawakaze likely sent Saratoga a torrent request, because the Lexington-Class carrier suddenly looked rather surprised at the request popping up in her vision as she waved her hand around in order to try and manually press the "Accept" button, Kawakaze and Shigure raising their arms to try and calm the American carrier down while Kawakaze explained.
"U-Um, Saratoga-san?! You don't have to press the 'Accept' button with your hands, you just need to allow it into your mind!"
And eventually, Saratoga winced as the knowledge of the Japanese language seeped into her mind, and she attempted to speak in Japanese for the first time.
"A-Am I speaking Japanese….correctly?"
Shigure visibly relaxed as she comforted the carrier, and used her native language to try and get Saratoga acquainted with the Japanese language, since she was likely going to be speaking it for the entirety of her time in Yokosuka.
"Yes, yes you are. My name is Shigure, and this is my sister ship Kawakaze."
Saratoga blinked, likely remembering something from her memory archives as she confirmed with the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer.
"So you're Shigure of Sasebo, am I right?"
Shigure nodded, Kawakaze puffing her cheeks out as she remarked.
"Hey! What am I then, chopped liver?"
Saratoga looked a little bemused at Kawakaze pretending to throw a tantrum, but was still rather hesitant to open up to them as she cautiously asked.
"Um, if it's not too much to ask, what date is it? I would like to synchronize my clock since my clock's stuck at..."
Saratoga's expression darkened as she lowered her head, and Shigure dared to lightly pull on the hem of her skirt to get her to focus on the present, asking meekly.
"Since when, Saratoga-san? U-Um, if you don't mind me asking…"
But Saratoga gave her a weak smile as she grasped the two halves of her Thompson submachine gun as she revealed.
"It's alright. If I'm not mistaken, you and I aren't supposed to be enemies in this day and age since the war's already over, so there's no need to keep things from each other. My clock's stopped on the 25th of July, 1946."
Shigure mentally ran through the history books she had read thus far, and finally remembered that the stated date was the date of the Baker Test, during Operation Crossroads.
The same thing happened to her when she was summoned, and her clock had stopped on the 24th of January, 1945, which was the day she sank in battle, before she recalibrated her calendar and clock to display the right time and date.
She had read up on this, and most theoreticians compared this extremely common phenomena to a plane crash, and how the watches that were retrieved from the crash site all displayed the same time to show the same date and time immediately before impact.
A warship's last recorded date would hypothetically be the date of her sinking during or after the war, and every incarnation in the present age would have their clocks stopped at the exact date and time when they sank.
Kawakaze nodded understandingly before giving her the information needed.
"Well, today's date is the 18th April 2015. The time right now is 2.49 a.m."
Saratoga nodded, taking note as she looked down at the Fairies manning her rigging.
And Shigure was surprised to see that the American Fairies had painted on a banner and hung it on the outside of Saratoga's rigging to keep Japanese Fairies out, although it wasn't so much out of genuine malice and more "little boys keeping girls out because of cooties", the banner crudely displaying.
WARNING!
}:-(
NO JAPZ ALLOWED!
While Kawakaze's Fairies were visibly booing and held up signs that said,
"Learn to spell!", and
"HAHA OWNED!"
Amongst others.
Saratoga was interested in these little technicians as she studied them at a distance, watching them maintain her rigging and going about their business, asking.
"These little critters…
What are they, to be able to function while possessing such deformed limbs and such small bodies?"
Kawakaze shrugged as she simply commented.
"No one really knows where they came from, despite our studies and attempts to understand their origins. Just know that we can understand each other, and are integral in keeping our weapons, riggings and bodies in working order."
Nodding in acceptance, Saratoga looked down at Shigure as she asked about what had occurred after her sinking in order to catch up on recent events.
"I'd like to ask. What happened between World War 2 and the modern age?"
Shigure wracked her mind to try and simplify almost 70 years of history into the span of a few minutes, before Kawakaze raised her hand to calm Shigure down as her face started to feel hot and her mind started to overload after going through all the historical events of the world.
"Maa, we can do the history lesson when we're back at Yokosuka, where we can get in touch with the Americans to get you up to date on recent events."
Shigure exhaled as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, Kawakaze raising a finger as she sent her a torrent request and showing her their most recent battle.
And after Saratoga reviewed Kawakaze's experiences in the battle against the Elites and the Abyssal Princess in the span of fifteen seconds, all she could muster was a creeped out,
"Who… or what, was that? Those pale beings..."
Kawakaze shrugged as she shared with Saratoga what she knew about their sworn enemies.
"They're what you call the Abyssals, and we fight to defend mankind from them, and you can think of us as two sides of the same coin. They don't differ too much from us other than our appearance, humanity and our prime directives, since like what you saw, they look… different. Unlike us ship girls who possess feelings and a working personality, the Abyssals don't bother too much with these things and are mostly machine-like and efficient. And unlike us, who want to protect mankind, they want to wipe everyone out, and when I say 'everyone', I mean all seven billion of us."
Saratoga blinked, and took a second to take in the fact that there were so many humans that depended on them, wondering out loud.
"Seven billion… Has it been that long, I wonder?"
"Of course."
Akashi slowed down to meet their pace, looking towards Saratoga as she introduced herself and explained to her what she was supposed to do for her.
"My name's Akashi, the repair ship of Yokosuka. As the one who's responsible for the well-being of everyone in my base, I want to have a talk with you after this. Because right now I'm…"
Gesturing to her bloody uniform, headband and rigging, Saratoga nodded meekly as Akashi continued on.
"Look, I feel like apologizing for our blunt attitude back there…"
But Saratoga was quick to respond, shaking her head as she reassured the repair ship.
"No, I understand. I got the memory file from Shigure here about the enemies that you fought, and that one Abyssal with the two weapon stacks…"
Shivering in dread upon recalling the Southern War Princess' murderous aura, Shigure waited for her to calm down before continuing.
"And you engaged them in the dead of night, so I understand if you might be cranky—"
"No."
Akashi politely interrupted Saratoga's speech, stating things from her point of view.
"You're right, I'm tired, weakened, and my day's been ruined in more ways than one. But I shouldn't have allowed that to influence my judgement and make me resort to threats to get you to come with us at the end of the day. Although I explicitly ordered that nobody was to use lethal force on you, I didn't say a thing about threats, and I think that as a repair ship, I should have handled that situation better by forbidding that too."
Meeting Saratoga's gaze, Akashi deadpanned as she was serious about apologizing to her so as not to start their relationship on the wrong foot, especially since she needed to check up on Saratoga.
"You'll eventually learn that I don't say this very often because I don't make a lot of mistakes, but I'll say it now. I'm sorry."
Saratoga blinked, before lowering her eyes and nodding in acceptance, Shigure silently listening as Akashi continued.
"Anyway, I need to have several sessions with you, primarily because you weren't supposed to spawn here. And before you ask…"
Raising a hand, Shigure patiently waited for Akashi to explain herself instead of interrupting her with a question.
"The battle we fought with was with an Abyssal who was supposed to be anywhere but here. She moved from Savo Island, and formed an armada on the way here which we wiped out before engaging her. The thing is, moving from her designated location likely screwed up the spawn system, and us winning the battle must've screwed up the spawn system enough to drop you here instead of some random IJN ship girl. So you're an error drop, since you were a foreign ship which wasn't supposed to be dropped here."
Shigure quietly asked her red-haired sister a question, asking about foreign ship girls in their base and how they came about.
"What about Z1 and Bismarck? They're also foreign ships, but I heard that they can be constructed or obtained under special circumstances…"
Kawakaze answered her question since she was the senior sister here, and thus knew more about Yokosuka's ship girls and their histories.
"Oh, Z1 and Bismarck came from Germany, after Bismarck survived the disastrous Battle of the Indian Ocean in 2004, and Germany sent Lebe to inform Bismarck that she was reassigned to Yokosuka as they both made their way here. You're right about the 'constructed or obtained under special circumstances', and in this case, it's the latter since Z1 was obtained after our ships completed a special mission for the Germans in order to obtain Z1, and Bismarck was sent as the cherry on top."
Furrowing her brows, Shigure asked how a battleship would be considered the "cherry on top" in an overseas transfer of ship girls when compared to a destroyer.
But the answer was part intriguing and heartbreaking, Kawakaze answering her with a hushed tone so as not to interrupt Saratoga and Akashi's conversation.
"Oh, it's quite sad, really. She was from the Bremerhaven Naval Base in Germany, but she's known for being an omen of death, despite not having a history as colorful as, well...you, Shigure-Aneki. She caused the death of HMS Hood, French cruiser Montcalm, Z3, an entire armada's worth of ship girls in '04, and recently Z1. Her being sent here indefinitely is the same as her homeland exiling her and getting rid of her for good, especially since I last heard that they crafted another Bismarck in Bremerhaven in order to replace her. Practically sent her over for free, like they wanted nothing to do with her."
Shigure nodded solemnly as she noted Akashi discussing several matters with a serious and attentive Saratoga concerning what she wanted to discuss with her in the near future.
"Well, several topics that most summoned or spawned Saratoga need to talk about are their past war experiences and Operation Crossroads, because we want to make sure that you've properly come to terms with your past and are comfortable with sharing it with others. Something else which we might have to help you get used to is the fact that you're the first American ship girl in Yokosuka, and we need to help you get used to the possible loneliness that might arise as a result."
Kawakaze nodded as she tried to counter-argue against that last point.
"Well, we're Sara-chan's first friends, so I don't think she's really alone in that sense, you know?"
But Shigure pointed something out that an American being stuck in Japan certainly isolated her in more ways than one.
"Um, Kawakaze? I think that while being stuck in another country certainly means that you need to make some friends in order to survive, it can never help you get over the homesickness and longing for your friends, and I'm certain that Saratoga-san would want to see her sister, Lexington…"
Giving the American carrier a look, Saratoga nodded sadly as Shigure continued.
"... And her friends, Enterprise and Iowa, amongst many others. I'm certain that she doesn't dislike us unlike other, more emotional American ship girls, but she would certainly come under fire from a few ship girls whom she attacked or sank in the war, possibly resulting in tensions rising in the base. And polite she may be, I do believe that our Japanese culture may clash with her American traits, and it may result in a culture clash which would, in turn—"
Akashi raised a hand to stop her just as Kawakaze and Saratoga lowered their heads, their spirits dropping as they were being given one harsh reality check, the repair ship interrupting Shigure brusquely.
"Alright, alright.;As much as I understand that you like to be quite a Debbie Downer with your observations and reality checks, understand that these are ultimately predictions. We should try to make sure that these predictions don't come true, since this is a new age, and as much as it makes me cringe to say this, frien—"
Akashi's face scrunched up in an undecipherable expression as it almost seemed as if it took a physical toll on her to say the following sentence due to how cheesy it was, and how it hurt to hear it from the most cynical ship girl present.
"Friendship… will help us overcome all obstacles ohmyfuckinggod I never want to say that cancerous shit ever again."
Saratoga sweatdropped as Akashi turned away, heaving as she pretended to hurl while her fleet teased her for using such a word in their bleak, blood-stained world.
Akitsu Maru formed an "L" with her gloved right hand, holding it up to her forehead as she stuck her tongue out at Akashi and mocked.
"So that's it, huh? We're some kind of Mane Six?"
Kiso raised her hand to stop Akitsu Maru, her expression deadpan as she remarked.
"I really don't like the sound of that, you know? Sounds like the one-liner line to a short-lived meme that everyone's gonna overuse and kill prematurely. But if you wanna make that comparison..."
Raising an eyebrow in her flagship's direction, Kiso didn't even bother masking her smile as she commented.
"I guess Akashi's gotta be Pinkie Pie, huh? I mean, everyone knows she's the most fabulous one amongst us, what with her lovely pink hair and oh-so-endearing personality…"
Akashi got up as she used both hands to flip the both of them off while giving them the widest and most sarcastic smile she could muster, Hayasui snickering and snorting out the beer that she was drinking on her blazer while Maya and Ise couldn't contain their grins upon hearing the 8th Fleet's banter, Shigure sighing as she really wanted to get back home and hit the hay.