Our Bonds

I watched as Zuihou checked herself in the mirror, making sure her hair is in good shape. She isn't wearing her usual outfit. Instead, she is wearing a peach turtleneck sweater with black flared skirt. She had put on a pair of black knee high socks and camel high top sneakers. Since it's cold in the morning, she brought along her green jacket just in case. For me, I wore a simple blue polo shirt with black jeans and an green jacket. Yes. I brought one to match Zuihou's just for this occasion. Today, we are going on a trip to celebrate our first anniversary. And to make up for not giving her any attention these past few days. I have already applied for leave and packed our luggage.

"I'm ready." (Zuihou)

"Wow. You look great."

"Ehehe~ Really?" (Zuihou)

"Yep. You are cute and pretty. My perfect girlfriend."

Cute. Cute. Cute.

"Girlfriend... Ehehe~" (Zuihou)

Even the way she blush is cute.

"Shall we go?"

"Uun!" (Zuihou)

I turned to Shouhou who was waiting outside the door. She was holding onto Zuihou-chan, who is sulking,

"We will be back next week."

"Understood. Have a-" (Shouhou)

"No fair! I want to go out too!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Come on. You still have lessons. And you need to practice your aircraft creation." (Shouhou)

"No! I want to go on a date with Admiral too!" (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan flailed her arms as she protested.

"I got it. We will bring back a souvenir for you. How does that sounds?"

"When we get back, you can show Admiral how much progress you made today." (Zuihou)

We are totally treating her as a child...

"Don't treat me like a child!" (Zuihou-chan)

Ah. She said it.

"Fine. We will bring you out in the future. So just wait patiently, okay?" (Zuihou)

"That right."

Wait, what?

"Promise?" (Zuihou-chan)

"Promise. Admiral, you too." (Zuihou)

I guess this is the only way to appease her for now. I stick my pinky out and she lock hers with mine.

"Pinky swear."

"Geez. You're treating me like a child again. But, that's fine. If you lie, I will make you swallow a thousand needles and stuff Cat Fighters down your mouth." (Zuihou-chan)

She gave a sweet smile as she threatened me. That's scary!

"We off!"

"Have a safe trip!" (Shouhou & Zuihou-chan)

We exited the base through the gate. The guard fairies were surprised to see Zuihou with her hair down. They almost couldn't recognize her.

"Where are we going?" (Zuihou-chan)

"Let's see... We have already been to an aquarium, an amus.e.m.e.nt park, an Onsen town... Hmm..."

"Don't tell me... You haven't planned anything yet?!" (Zuihou)

"I'm just joking. We are going to your hometown."

"Eh?" (Zuihou)

"Why do you think you are up this early? We are going to Yokosuka. I already bought the train tickets."

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The entire train ride took us more than five hours. By the time we reached Yokosuka naval base, it was already noon. That was a very long train ride.

We stood at the pier, admire the scenary

"This is a nice breeze." (Zuihou)

"Yeah. I have been here a few times but never got the chance to relax like this."

Whenever I go to Yokosuka, it's always for meetings, training and other troublesome stuff. This is the first time I got to enjoy the view of the sea and the sea breeze.

"Are you going to pay the Yokosuka Admiral a visit?" (Zuihou)

"I could, but I definitely be swarmed by the other Grand Admirals nearby. We are technically the center of attention lately."

And if I announced my presence, who knows how long I would get stuck there. So I better not inform that I'm here.

"Oh, I'm not sure if this is the appropriate time to say this,"

"Hmm?" (Zuihou)

"Welcome home, Zuihou."

"Right... This place has changed a lot. But..." (Zuihou)

Zuihou gazed towards the base and smiled,

"Zuihou has returned." (Zuihou)

It's already noon, so we decided to have oir lunch. We ate at a place called Yokosuka Navy Curry Hoppo, which is basically a curry place. Their curry rice tasted pretty normal, like the ones served back in base. There wasn't anything special about it, at least to me. When Zuihou ate it, however, she actually cried. The waitress and I thought the food was bad, but she claims otherwise. She said it was a nostalgic taste, one that she never thought to taste again. I wonder, is there anything special between their curry and ours? We bought some souvenirs like Sake and the curry snack from them. The chef even gave us the recipe and free beef croquettes, after realising that Zuihou is a shipgirl. Apparently, the only people that cried after tasting his food are shipgirls.

The restaurant is usually patronized by sailors and shipgirls from Yokosuka naval base. So there were quite a number of them when we were there, which is an oversight on my part. I didn't think we would bump into Yamato and Musashi. Putting aside the fact that they were treated like celebrities in the restaurant, I can't believe they instantly recognized Zuihou. We had a chat for a while, but when Yamato mentioned that she would call their Admiral over, I politely declined and made a run for it. I'm supposed to be incognito these few days.

"That was a bit rude of you." (Zuihou)

"I told you, I didn't want to meet him."

We visited the Memorial Warship Mikasa. I have been here once, during my ensign days. The Mikasa battleship was one of the oldest battlesh.i.p.s belonging to IJN. Not the current one, I'm talking about the one from even before the Great War. The memorial tour was a history lesson on what sailors did and their daily lives on the ship. Zuihou was fascinated about the insides of the warship, despite technically being one herself. Speaking of which, isn't there a Mikasa in Azur Lane. I should inform their Commander and her about this place.

"Umikaze? Umikaze park?" (Zuihou)

At the end of the tour, we were figuring out where to go next. Zuihou noticed a familiar name.

"I guess we can see if there's anything interesting there."

And so we made our way to Umikaze Park. It's convenient that the places of interest are all nearby. I can't really see anything special about this place. There are some pretty floral, a nice relaxing atmosphere for families. It's just a normal- okay, this is not what I expected. It's just a statue but there is a large T-Rex here. That's not something you see in a normal park.

"A big lizard! I read about this. It's called a dinosaur, right?" (Zuihou)

"Yeah. This is surprising. I thought these sort of statues only appear in theme parks."

"It's so big." (Zuihou)

While Zuihou is excited about seeing the statue, I can feel the gazes of other people.

"Oh my. How cute." (Old lady 1)

"Is that a parent and his child?" (Old lady 2)

"Or maybe a age-gap couple." (Old lady 3)

"So, a lolicon? Should we call the cops?" (Old lady 2)

"She might just be a small girl. Even my twenty year old granddaughter is around that height." (Old lady 1)

Shut your trap, hags!

"Onee-chan, over here!" (Boy)

"I going to catch you." (Zuihou)

"Run away!" (Girl)

Zuihou was playing tag with a couple of small children around the dinosaur's legs. Where did those kids come from? Why is Zuihou playing with them?

I just sat at a nearby bench and waited for Zuihou to finish playing. A few minutes later, a woman, probably in her forties, came to pick her children up. They exchanged bows and finally, my Zuihou was returned to me.

"Sorry, I just couldn't leave those kids alone." (Zuihou)

"Do you love children?"

"Yes. They are so cute and bubbly." (Zuihou)

I see. It may good to get kids of our own. But that's a thought for the future.

Zuihou took off her green cardigan and sat beside me. It's getting warmer. In addition, she had been running around for a while, so she is sweating.

"Let's rest here for a while. You ran quite a bit."

"They are so energetic and fast. But if it's on water, I could be faster." (Zuihou)

"Don't compete with kids."

Zuihou rest her head upon my shoulder,

"Admiral, what are we going to do later?" (Zuihou)

"Today, we are just going to explore around the area. After that, we will drop off our luggage at the hotel before going for dinner. Tomorrow, we are going for a Sarushima Island tour. And if there's time, we will go to Kamukura. The third day... we will just find something to do then. We are going to play our hearts out these three days. These three days are just for the two of us."

"That sounds nice." (Zuihou)

Zuihou intertwined her fingers with mine,

"I love you, Admiral." (Zuihou)

"Me too. I love you, Zuihou."

We sat at the bench, watching the sky turn orange as the sun sets.