Our Bonds

Souryuu's Saiun flew high in the sky, scouting the oceans up ahead.

"Enemy ship spotted. One Destroyer I-class." (Souryuu)

"Can you spot any others?"

"No. I don't see- wait... There is something in the water. Launching ASW planes." (Souryuu)

"It's me! I'm a friendly! Don't shoot!" (???)

An unknown voice can be heard entering the channel. A pink hair girl wearing a swimsuit appeared from under the surface and showed herself to the camera. That's U-81, an Ironbloods submarine. I heard she is a playful type.

"You guys are scouting this area?"

"Umm... Y-yeah. I'm in charge of scouting this area. I will inform-" (U-81)

A loud static cut her off, before the commanders voice came bellowing through,

"U-81! Get back her this instance! I didn't give you permission to play hide-and-seek out in the ocean!" (AL Commander)

"Eep! I'm sorry! I will come back immediately!" (U-81)

Ow. My ears.

"Sorry. That girl isn't supposed to be there." (AL Commander)

"Hide-and-seek?"

U-81 quickly dived back into the water and disappeared from sight. I had a hunch she was lying.

"My subs are playing hide-and-seek around the base. This girl decided to hide in the operation area. Anyway, I have some scouts monitoring the outer perimeter. I will inform you if anything pops up." (AL commander)

"I'll leave that to you. Souryuu, continue sweeping the area. Wait until Shioi and Shion arrive with the sea mines and sensors. Then head back with them."

"Roger. Continuing my sweep." (Souryuu)

I switched to a different channel,

"Avrora, how are things at your end?"

"Ah, Admiral-san. We are just finishing up here. We will be back soon." (Avrora)

I can hear gunfire from her end. Looks like they are still fighting. I sent Avrora's hunting fleet to take care of any small Abyssal fleets that are careless to enter our operation area. In fact, the entire area outside the base is our operations area.

"Alright. I'll be waiting."

It has been 3 days since Brunei Anchorage's fleet arrived. So far, the Abyssal Phoenix Princess has yet to show up. The submarine girls set up a bunch of sensors and sea mines at each sector to detect and possibly slow down the Abyssal Phoenix Princess before we can intercept her. That was the original plan, but these stupid Abyssal sh.i.p.s keep triggering the sensors and sea mines. I have sent some fleets to take care of them and stand guard to take out any Abyssals that come too close. Putting the girls on guard duty can help stop the Abyssals from needlessly triggering our sensors, but it's tiring for them to keep rotating shifts. What if I commission some floating turrets? Like Amatsukaze's Rensouhou-kun and Shimakaze's Rensouhou-chan. Those things can move autonomously.

"This is Shouhou. We have spotted a Carrier fleet at sector G! Permission to engage." (Shouhou)

"How close are they?"

"Close enough to kick their butts." (Maya)

"Blow them to bits."

"Understood." (Shouhou)

"Now we are talking." (Maya)

The monitor switched to an bird's-eye view of sector G, where Shouhou is. Currently, she is sortied with Maya, Choukai, Noshiro, Yukikaze, and Samidare. That's a simple Carrier fleet. Two Wo-class carriers and 4 Destroyer I-class. Shouldn't be much of a threat once Maya shoots down all of the Abyssals planes.

There it is. The Abyssal aircraft burst into tiny balls of fire and smoke like fireworks in the middle of the day. It's not pretty, but still fascinating to watch.

This is what we have been doing for the past three days. Setting up sea mines, monitoring the different sectors, sortieing fleets to patrol a certain sector and take out any Abyssals that come too close, and other boring but necessary stuff.

Yes, the girls can play on the beach during their free time, but I'm stuck in the command room monitoring the situation.

At least, Rei is here with me. But that might be a dangerous thing as well.

"Hnng... Ahh... I'm tired." (Rei)

Rei stretch her body while seated, exposing her armpits and pushing her chest outwards. Usually I wouldn't be able to notice anything since she is wearing the standard Naval uniform, but this time, she is wearing a swimsuit, indoors. She is totally influenced by the shipgirls walking around in their swimwear.

Rei was wearing a frilly white bikini with a frilly skirt. Without the uniform's interference, I can see her figure clearly now. Her body is pretty slim and toned. Her bust has always been big, but her frilly bikini seems to be making it look bigger. Or was she always this big? Her h.i.p.s are-

What am I doing? This is bad. If she finds out I'm checking her out-

"Like what you see?" (Rei)

Ah, crap.

Rei looked at me with a smirk.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

Yeah, good job on feigning ignorance. Absolutely world-class acting.

"Ufu~ You can look, you know? I don't mind." (Rei)

Rei approached closer to me. My eyes are being drawn in.

"How is my swimsuit? You like it?" (Rei)

"It's... pretty, I guess."

"Geez. What is that supposed to mean?" (Rei)

"Ge-get back to work! You can play later. In the first place, why are you walking around in a bikini?"

"It's fine, isn't it? The other girls are doing the same thing." (Rei)

"True, but that doesn't-"

"Cute. Getting fl.u.s.tered like that." (Rei)

"Any normal guy would react like that!"

"Admiral, this is Souryuu in sector A. There is a combined Abyssals fleet approaching. Permission to strike." (Souryuu)

Saved by the bell...

"Permission granted. I'm sending a torpedo squadron 3 and 4 in for support."

"Roger. We will hold them off from here." (Souryuu)

I switched to the public announcement system,

"Torpedo squadron 2

3 and 4, sortie and head to sector A. Assist Carriers Souryuu and Chiyoda in eliminating the Abyssal combined fleet."

"Found you..." (???)

There was some static in the speakers, before a familiar voice echoed through.

She is close?

"All participating sh.i.p.s, sortie immediately and head to your stations."

"This is Kaga from Azur Lane. We have spotted an unknown Abyssal. It is approaching the sector G at top speed." (AL Kaga)

"She is coming straight at us, huh? We will hold her off." (Maya)

"All participating sh.i.p.s, rendezvous at Sector G and get into formation! Stick to the plan!"

It's time...

I picked up a portable headset and set the frequencies to the battle channel and the secret channel.

"Wait! Where are you going?" (Rei)

"Sorry, Rei. I need you to hold the fort for me."

"What are you going to do?" (Rei)

Rei looked on with a concerned expression,

"Making sure to say goodbye. Don't worry. I'll still be giving orders to the fleets. The others entrusted their girls to me. I don't plan on breaking their trust."

"No way! Are you serious?" (Rei)

"See you later."

I expected her to cry and beg me not to go, but instead, she just smiled and said,

"I understand. Have a safe trip. Make sure you come back. I'm still waiting for that date." (Rei)

I love this understanding side of hers,

"I'm off."

And closed the heavy metal door behind me.

I switched to the secret channel Azur Lane and I agreed on,

"Grozny, you there?"

"Да <Yeah.> кролик and I are waiting at the far end. Comrade Zuikaku is on standby." (Grozny)

"Thank you. Hold your position until I arrive. I need to get something."

"Understood." (Grozny)

I head to my office, into my room and reached under the bed. I remember keeping it somewhere.

Ah. There it is.

I pulled out a long and heavy wooden box from under the bed. As expected, it has collected a lot of dust from over the years. Hopefully, it's not rusted.

I opened the box, causing clouds of dust to fly over the place. Argh, maybe abandoning it under my bed was a bad idea.

Resting atop of a cushion in the box was a saber and an old Nambu Pistol. This is the Navy Ceremonial Sword I received when I graduated from the academy. Looks like it's still in good shape. I don't see any rust or mold on it.

It might be a ceremonial sword, but it's still sharp enough to cause some damage. And the pistol is a nice thing to have as a ranged weapon.

I know, as a human, these weapons won't even tickle the Abyssals, but I feel that this is the only way I can say a proper goodbye.

By killing the Abyssal Zuihou myself...