Tatsuta was sitting down with Tenryuu, Aoba and Akashi in the Engineering Block on the 16th of May, having listened to Akashi talking about and informing them of Shigure's injury in the sortie to Aogashima Island and current condition, and she was currently talking Aoba out of going to Shigure's ward right now in order to check up on her, Aoba still sounding rather unsure of Akashi's attempts at reassurance.
"Are you sure I shouldn't visit Shigure, Akashi?
I mean, she's my friend, and I just want to drop in make sure she's ok—"
"Which you can do in your free time.
Right now, we need to focus on making sure that Tatsuta and Tenryuu survive Project Psyche. I mean, they are your friends too, right?"
Aoba looked away and shifted her head in order to concede the point, looking as if she wanted to scratch her head, but her fingernails scratched the surface of her copper helmet as she looked exasperated at her inability to scratch her head without exposing herself to the radio waves emitted by the machines in the Engineering Block, shrugging and lowering her head as she simply remarked.
"Touche."
And Akashi leaned in as she tried to soften her stance by trying to reassure Aoba of how she had already guaranteed Shigure's full recovery by personally operating on her.
"Look, I operated on Shigure, so she's out of the woods now. Trust me when I say that your company would be much appreciated by her, because she can also make sure that you're been alright during these few weeks. But we need to focus on keeping Tenryuu and Tatsuta alive right now, so that Shigure can see them again. That takes higher priority right now, yes?"
Aoba nodded resignedly as she was now convinced to see things from Akashi's point of view, Tenryuu patting Aoba on the shoulder as and Tatsuta could see that even though Tenryuu shared the Aoba-Class cruiser's concerns, she bit down and accepted the fact that her little destroyer friend was going to eventually get hurt anyway out on the battlefield, and could only pray for her safe return as she explained.
"I feel your pain, Aoba. But she's alive and Akashi's stabilized her condition, so what we can do right now is focus on Project Psyche. This way, I can become stronger and protect Shigure in your stead. So let's do our best, alright?"
Aoba nodded, looking at both Tenryuu and Tatsuta as she flashed them a genuine smile which Tatsuta was somewhat surprised to find that the heavy cruiser was still capable of despite everything that happened to her, but she listened to Aoba as she expressed her relief at being able to help everyone in her own way.
"Thank you, all of you. I knew I made a mistake all those years ago, but I must thank you all for being so patient with me and helping me turn a mistake into an opportunity to help others. To learn from my experimental blunder and allow me the chance to apply myself despite being…"
Knocking on her helmet in order to indicate her debilitating condition, her smile never wavered as she continued her sentence.
" … what I am today, and—"
"Who."
Everyone turned to Tatsuta after hearing her interruption, who surprised herself by speaking up in order to correct her friend and comrade, Tatsuta taking the chance to clarify herself as she spoke.
"It's always been 'Who I am', and it'll remain that way forever. Even if an accident changed you on the inside and made you a recluse, we'll never change our description of you to 'what'.
So please, do not see yourself that way."
Everyone blinked in surprise before they turned back to see Aoba's smile as it became radiant, almost as if she had returned to the Aoba of old as she continued.
"Thank you, Tatsuta-san. As I said, I want to be of use to everyone despite being crippled in some way, and this is my chance to help you become stronger by applying what I learnt from my research into a different field."
Tenryuu nodded, and she turned back to look at Akashi, her expression darkening a little as she asked for more details about Shigure's hospitalization.
"And how long until Shigure will fully recover? She's a destroyer, so I believe that she isn't going to take too long in the docks, right?"
Akashi nodded, turning back to her work on the medical chair in order to work on and finish the preparations to Project Psyche shortly before the two Tenryuu-Class cruisers sat in them and underwent the first-of-its-kind procedure, sounding extremely confident about her medical skills.
"Well, you're not exactly wrong there. I won't be surprised if she's up and walking right now, and her burns will only hurt as much as a harsh sunburn by tomorrow. I've brought ship girls back from the dead even after their teammates brought back nothing but their brain matter."
Before paraphrasing a certain quote from a famous book to double as a boast regarding her skills.
"I am fully capable of operating on and resurrecting the dead, to breathe life back into them under the correct circumstances. Those who believe in my skills and expertise as a medic will live on, even after death. So long as the right body parts are brought back to me intact, I can and will revive you."
Aoba feigned a surprised expression as she raised her hands in mock-surrender and leaned away from Akashi while muttering, "Alright, alright, we just went there…"
While Tatsuta, unsure of how appropriate it was for Akashi to believe in herself to such a ridiculous extent, piped up with a genuine question about the repair ship.
"Do you really believe in yourself to such an extent, Akashi-san? To confidently say that you can revive everyone who lies down on your operating table?"
And Akashi's answer was direct, temporarily stopping her work as she looked into Tatsuta's eyes and spoke.
"Yes. My thoughts and my actions are my own, and if I can't believe in my own skills and knowledge despite being in full control of myself, then how can I expect the patient to do that in my stead? If I say it's possible to revive you, I'll do everything in my power to do so. The uncertain variables lie in how much of your corpse your teammates can bring back to me, and where I'm doing the surgery; a battlefield isn't ideal, but I've pulled it off before."
Holding her hands out, she continued on about how she was the one chosen to be the repair ship of Yokosuka, amongst her other clones.
"Besides, I'm in charge of all of you, which is already a testament to my skill which is comparable to only a handful of repair ships around the world. If a human doctor is only capable of so much due to his limits, shouldn't I be capable of doing so much more, to the point where it's nigh-impossible for you to die at my hands as a patient? If you say that I'm building my own hype up too much, I'd like to remind you that I am the hype; that's why I'm here, in Yokosuka."
Nodding, Tatsuta asked her about how Akashi couldn't guarantee their safety in Project Psyche, although she had an inkling of what the answer would be.
"So you can guarantee our revival on the operating table, but not in Project Psyche?"
Akashi shrugged as she pointed out how this procedure was different from others, and how it involved tinkering with unknown variables.
"Project Psyche attempts to access and utilize technology which is almost beyond our understanding, if not for the help of the Fairies. This is no longer just a medical issue pertaining to the ship girl body, it's also a psychological and higher-level engineering problem which is, in some parts, beyond my field of expertise. I can deal with the medical issues of Project Psyche in order to keep you alive while 'diving', but I can't protect you from every single threat in this procedure."
Aoba joined Akashi in their work on the medical chair as Tenryuu asked, and Tatsuta could see that despite desiring strength through the procedure that was Project Psyche, she was becoming a little nervous about the possibility of an error killing either or both of them.
"Um… Not that I'm nervous or anything…"
Tatsuta snorted at the blatant lie, Tenryuu giving her the stink eye via an aside glance before she continued her question.
"But on the off chance that we do die, how will it feel like? Will it hurt?"
Aoba looked up, explaining to them how this was going to go.
"Well, it'll hurt as much as falling asleep in a wink, since this is going to take place in something akin to a dreamworld which the both of you will share, like users interacting with each other on a shared platform, hosted by our electronic servers. And even if you die for real, you'll simply flat-line upon falling unconscious before you find yourself being activated as another summoned ship girl with no memory of this procedure or this life, so there's no pain involved. The phenomenon Kyoka Suigetsu is a near-death experience, but the cause of 'near-death' in this case is simply us putting your body to sleep and invoking the phenomenon while keeping your material body on the knife's edge between life and death. However, if you haven't died when you wake up in the dreamworld, we can keep your physical body alive, which is what Akashi-san does, while I keep this dreamworld intact with the help of the human engineers and Fairies."
Giving an aside nod towards Akio, Kousuke and the Fairies quietly going about their business in the same hangar Tenryuu and Tatsuta nodded as they now understood what everyone's roles were in this procedure, and Akashi wanted to let the duo know of what would happen should they survive this procedure.
"Well, if you are to survive this procedure, I'd like to let you know that we believe subsequent dives would be made significantly easier since first contact has been made. Your psyche and body would be more comfortable with arriving at the threshold which differentiates the living and the dead without accidentally killing you, and we theorize that it's highly unlikely for you to die in the subsequent dives."
Lifting her arm after hitting the "Enter" key, Aoba chirped in order to address the Tenryuu-Class light cruisers.
"Well, I'd say that we're almost ready to start the procedure, so would you two like to take a seat?"
Tatsuta gulped, looking at Tenryuu and meeting her gaze as her elder sister tried to reassure her about the odds of their survival.
"Well, it's now or never. It's not as if waiting is going to improve our odds in any way, unless you have another failsafe to put in place, girls…?"
Turning back to Aoba and Akashi, the both of them shook their heads as Akashi looked up at Tatsuta, her hardened gaze softening as the repair ship did her best to reassure Tatsuta about taking one for the team.
"It'll be like falling asleep."
Nodding, Tatsuta accepted her odds as she tucked her hair behind her left ear as she sat down on the medical chair positioned beside Tenryuu's, swinging her shapely legs up to place them on the leg rest as she allowed Aoba to fastened her to the seat via the restraints and attach the nodes to the sides of her head, feeling the thump of her nervous heart within her chest as she started sweating a little.
The Engineering Block was now silent as opposed to the quietness before, almost as if everyone now held their breath while working at their stations, almost like silent prayer for their safe return.
A stifling atmosphere, and their fears expressed through the false tranquility was slowly getting to her.
She had to admit, she was still human and was thus a little afraid of dying, and since Tatsuta now had more to live for in this life, it was harder for her to accept death as an acceptable outcome, and she shut her eyes while hoping against hope that they would both make it.
She wouldn't settle for anything less.
Her eyelids became heavy, and she closed her eyes as a wave of sleepiness overtook her, and she listened to the rhythmic pace… of her breathing and heart… beat as everything faded… to black…