Our Bonds

The battle raged into the night. The main fleet backed off to a safe distance while Tama's escort fleet handle the remaining Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess and Heavy Cruiser Ne-class.

"Wooooooh!" (Kumano)

Kumano fired at the Ne-class while letting out her signature dolphin cry. She does that high pitched noise whenever she's fighting. Her shells hit the sides of the Ne-class. Usually, that amount of damage won't be enough to sink it, but since it's already been weakened from the previous day-battle, it sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"One left! The bombardment phase... Mi... Kuma!" (Mikuma)

"My remodeled outfit isn't just for show, nya. Nya!" (Tama)

Tama and Mikuma fired simultaneously at the Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess.

A loud explosion followed by secondary explosions and screams echoed through the speakers in the command room. Fire and smoke filled the screen for a brief second before the camera moved to get a better view on the situation. A direct hit! The Heavy Cruiser Summer princess is staggering. A bit more and she will back off so we can secure the full load of resources.

"Good! Hit it with all you got!"

"Aren't you such a problem child? Kisaragi gonna make you feel better ♪" (Kisaragi)

Kisaragi fired at guns, hitting the Princess square in the middle. More explosions occured as Shigure and Yuudachi carry out their own bombardment.

"Too bad." (Shigure)

With one final blow and a loud scream, the Heavy Crusier Summer Princess retreated back into the ocean.

We won! We managed to secure an escape route. A few more transport runs and the second phase of the mission is complete!

After clearing the first Transport Load-off mission and securing air superiority in the area, Ooyodo managed to discover the coordinates for the next resource point. For the second phase, the fleet didn't change much. The only exception is that Samidare got replaced by Yamashiro in the main fleet and the combined fleet is now a Surface Task Force. The goal of second phase is the same as the first, a Transport Load-off mission. We managed to secure quite a bit in the past three days, if we put our backs into it, we should be able to clear this part by the end of the week.

"Phew! I'm tired." (Kisaragi)

"Good work out there. It's getting... No, it's already very late. Hurry on back and get some sleep. We still need to continue this tomorrow."

"Again? We have been doing nothing but transport missions these few days." (Murasame)

"Yeah. Carrying these resources around is exhausting nyashi~" (Mutsuki)

Understandably, they are getting sick and tired of lugging those resources back to base. But we don't have a choice. Orders are orders.

"It's just a while more. After that, I'll reward everyone with a nice treat. So do your best."

"I'll hold you to that." (Murasame)

"Mutsuki wants a year-long supply of Mamiya-san's sweet!" (Mutsuki)

"That's a little too much. My wallet won't be able to take it."

As the others regrouped and head back, a loud rumbling noise startled all of them. It was so loud that I could have sworn I heard it twice.

Wait, twice?

"What was that?!" (Zuihou)

"That scared me!" (Murasame)

"Shigure, are you all right?" (Yamashiro)

Shigure was clutching onto Yamashiro's waist, obviously too scared to move.

"Poi?" (Yuudachi)

Yuudachi stuck her hand out and looked towards the sky. Water droplets begin to cover the camera lens as startled cries can be heard from the girls.

A late night storm. It's also happening back here.

"Why now?" (Mogami)

"Ugh... My hair is going to get messy again!" (Kisaragi)

"Let's hurry back " (Zuihou)

"Yeah. Shigure is at her limits." (Yamashiro)

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"There. There."

"Ughh..." (Shigure)

I sat on the bed and gently pat Shigure, who has wrapped herself up with the blankets. She doesn't handle the thunder very well and will start trembling in fear whenever she hears it. I have been trying to comfort her ever since she returned to base.

Yuudachi and Murasame are exhausted but otherwise, in good condition. So I got them to sleep first while I handle their sister. In fact, we didn't suffer any damage during this run. Everyone came back with just some light scratches that will take only a few minutes to heal in the bath.

The sound of rumbling thunder echoed from the outside once again, startling the poor girl. It's supposed to be the end of the rainy season before summer comes around. Is this it's way of saying farewell?

"Eek!" (Shigure)

"Shh~ It's fine. it's fine. The thunder can't hurt you here. Try to get some sleep."

I continued patting her gently. For the time being, I'm trying to calm her down to the point where she can sleep peacefully. This will certainly take a while. This storm is hitting us pretty hard.

Ah. There goes another one...

It took a while, but she is finally fast asleep. Just to be sure, I will stay by her side for a while. There's no telling when she will wake up because of the thunder. I could read a book for the time being. Helps me stay awake for a while.

"Admiral..." (Shigure)

"Sorry, did I-"

As I was about to get out of the bed to get a book, I heard Shigure call out to me, but she is still asleep. Perhaps she is just sleep-talking. The storm seems to be letting up as well. The pattering of the rain against my window is getting softer and the lightning and thunder combo is becoming less frequent now.

"Sleep well."

As I brushed some of Shigure's hair away from her face, she grabbed onto my hand and pressed it against her cheek. Looks like this is my position for tonight.

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*Somewhere in Cape Engano*

I want... to go home...

Where is... everyone?

Shigure-chan...

Yuudachi-chan...

Mama...

Everyone...

Admiral... Why did you leave me?