Our Bonds

"Drink up, lads! There is more of where that came from!" (Hasake)

"There it is! Grand Admiral's sailor voice!" (Engineer 1)

"Drink up! Drink up!" (Engineer 2)

Grand Admiral Hasake chugged an entire cup of beer, before slamming his glass on the table,

"Missy! Fill me up! Keep the drinks flowing!" (Hasake)

"Coming right up!" (Waitress)

We are at a bar near the base. As promised, I invited Grand Admiral Hasake and his class of engineers, the ones that helped repair my base, for some drinks. We managed to book the entire bar for fifty-six people. Fifty engineer students, two Grand Admirals, Rondo and Hasake, two shipgirls, Houshou and Zuihou, one ensign and myself. I know Hasake is a beast when it comes to drinking, but not to this extent. He is already on his fifteenth bottle. And he is still going.

"Why am I here?" (Ensign Yakumo)

I invited the disabled ensign over as well. No, it is rude to call him disabled when he seems capable on his own. I don't know how prosthetics work, but his fake arm is capable of moving like a regular arm.

"What? You hate drinking parties?"

"N-no, sir. It's just that... I'm from a different vocation. This party is supposed to be for the engineering division." (Ensign Yakumo)

"Naval warfare, right? Just like me and Rondo. You have a tough life ahead of you."

"I know. Because of my arm." (Ensign Yakumo)

"Nope. Arm is fine. It might even be an advantage. The training itself is extremely tough. You will be competing with everyone to reach the top. You know that, right? The first week is already hell. And it gets worse."

"Y-yeah. I was going to say the same thing. Secretary ship Nagato is such a Spartan." (Ensign Yakumo)

"Oh. We had Kaga back then. Ninety-nine laps around the courtyard followed by three hundred push-ups. No rest. I couldn't even move a finger the next day."

"It's the same with Nagato. Why are all the fierce looking ones so tough on us trainees? At least Mutsu is there to cheer us on." (Ensign Yakumo)

Yakumo chugged his cup of beer,

"Waitress-san! Another Asahi please!" (Ensign Yakumo)

"Coming right up!" (Waitress)

"Aren't you two getting friendly?" (Rondo)

Rondo sat down next to me, beer cup in hand,

"What good way to speak to a junior other then talking about your trainee days?"

"Ah those days of hell. Now it's Nagato's turn to train the newbies." (Rondo)

I drank my own cup of beer and pour myself another one.

Wait... Where is Zuihou?

"Little girl, aren't you a little too young to be drinking? Nah. Since you are here, you should be old enough." (Drunk Engineer)

"Oi. You are already drunk. And that's..." (Engineer 3)

Over there, at another table. And of course, she is hounded by a drunk. She is ignoring him, though.

"Back off. I'm fine." (Drunk Engineer)

He shook of his friend, who knows what is about to happen if they go any further. He turned his attention back to Zuihou, who is still drinking,

"Still, you are cute. I'm an Admiral at Yokosuka Naval District. If you want, I can show you around my domain." (Drunk Engineer)

"Idiot! Don't run your mouth off like that. That's a shipgirl." (Engineer 3)

"A shipgirl? So what? It's not like she belongs to anyone here. Hey, don't ignore me. Come here." (Drunk Engineer)

"No! You don't understand. She belongs to... Don't-!" (Engineer 3)

Before that drunk engineer can touch my girl, I got to his wrist first.

"Hmm?" (Zuihou)

"Now now... It's ten years too early for you to be picking up girls. Let alone be an Admiral. And girls don't like it when you are too forceful."

"What are you talking about? And let go of me!" (Drunk Engineer)

"You...!" (Engineer 3)

I took a look at his friend while the drunkard struggled to break free. Oh,

"The crane guy. That time was rough. But thanks for your service that day."

"I-i's not a problem, sir. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble I caused. And for my friend here." (Engineer 3)

"Let me go! Do you know who I am? I'm the Admiral of Yokosuka Naval District! I can easily take you down!" (Drunk Engineer)

I'm surprised. This fellow doesn't know who he is dealing with... Another Yakumo...

I want to punch him...

I felt a tug on my shirt as I contemplate whether to hit my superior's student or lodge a formal complaint,

"You're late, Admiral." (Zuihou)

A drunk Zuihou is still a cute Zuihou. And she only noticed me now?

I looked over at her table and noticed that there is only one bottle of sake. She got drunk on the first bottle? She is drunk, so she was slow in noticing me. Yeah, let's go with that.

"Huh? Admiral?" (Drunk Engineer)

"Yes, boy?"

The drunk engineer snapped out of it. His face is the same as Yakumo from this afternoon. It was at this moment he realized, he effed up.

"Erm... I was... um..." (Drunk Engineer)

"Don't worry. I won't do anything myself."

There was this look of relief on his face. Not for long though,

"Instead, I will let the person behind deal with you."

Grand Admiral Hasake walked up to the drunk engineer and squeezed his shoulder. That looks painful, because the drunk engineer started to wince and recoil in pain,

"Oh ho... Ya want to be an Admiral, eh? Ya twenty years too early to be in that position! And what the hell?! This Admiral was kind enough to treat all of us and this is how ya repay him?! Huh?!" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

"No, Grand Admiral. I didn't know. Ow ow ow! Admiral, please forgive me. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." (Drunk engineer)

"No worries, lad. I will deal with this punk myself." (Hasake)

"I'll leave him to you, Grand Admiral. Oh, and his friend there didn't do anything wrong. So no need to punish him."

Grand Admiral Hasake stared at the crane guy for a moment, before turning back to me,

"Alright. You! Come with me!" (Hasake)

Grand Admiral dragged the sacred young man away with him. He still has that rugged sailor persona whenever he gets drunk. The crane guy bowed deeply, before running off to catch with them. Now then,

"Funyaah~" (Zuihou)

This whole time, Zuihou has been rubbing her face on my back. It's cute and all, but I'm not sure what to do with this.

"Admiral♡ Ufufu~! *hic* Where did you go?! I was waiting for so long! *hic* Ehehe~" (Zuihou)

Zuihou gets giggly when she is drunk. For now, it's easy to deal with her, but if she gets drunk any further...

"Come on. Let's go over there."

"Waitress-san! More sake!" (Zuihou)

"You still want to drink? Don't you think you already have enough?"

I led her to our table. The waitress served her order there, along with another plate of Karaage.

"Wait, I didn't order this."

"The owner says it's a freebie. For reserving the bar for the night." (Waitress)

The waitress gave a big smile, before going off to serve the other engineering students.

"Ow."

Zuihou pinched my arm, pouting.

"No looking at other girls. Only look at me!" (Zuihou)

"My bad."

I pet her head as she snuggled close to me.

"Are all shipgirls like this?" (Ensign Yakumo)

"Only if they get really drunk, or they really love you. Zuihou here is my girlfriend. So don't even think about it."

"I know. I know." (Ensign Yakumo)

"One more!" (Zuihou)

This girl is still drinking!

"Alright, you had enough."

"No! More! Ehehehe~ Admiral~" (Zuihou)

I want to stop her, but this version of Zuihou is overpowering me. Ah, whatever. I will just deal with it later.

-----------------------------------------

"There we go."

I placed the small girl onto the bed. We finally made it back to our hotel room.

We left the party shortly before midnight. Rondo and everyone else needed to be back at base before midnight. Otherwise, they would be charged with AWOL. The bill for the party was one-third of my salary. I expected the whole thing to be expensive, so I wasn't surprised. What's surprising was that Grand Admiral Hasake downed twenty-five bottles himself before passing out. How does his liver handle all that alcohol?

"Myaa~" (Zuihou)

And this girl didn't give me any less trouble. She drank two whole bottles of sake and got knocked out immediately. I carried her all the way back to the hotel. We haven't even taken a bath yet.

"Mmm..." (Zuihou)

I should at least change her clothes. They reek of alcohol. Mine too. I checked if she is awake or fast asleep. She is definitely the latter. Apart from her groans, she isn't stirring one bit.

"Zuihou, wake up. At least change out of your clothes."

"Mnh... Admiral... change me..." (Zuihou)

Oh, don't mind if I do...

I lifted Zuihou up a little to remove her jacket. I removed the ribbon on her collar, before unbuttoning her shirt. This is s.e.xy in its own way. A defenseless young girl with her shirt unbuttoned, exposing her bra and bare skin to the air... No no no. Now is not the time for this. I got to change her out of those clothes and at least wash her up a bit. After removing her top, I proceed to work on her bottom. Removing her skirt was easy. Just unzip it at the side and pull it off. I got rid of her socks and now it's time for the underwear.

"Unh..." (Zuihou)

Zuihou shifted and laid on her side, still snoozing. This position makes it easier for me. I went to work on her bra clip and removed the rest of her underwear.

Alright. Disassembling complete. Now, where are her pajamas? Or I could just leave her like this. It's not the first time she slept in the nude. It's a hassle to put on her clothes too. Plus I get to tease her when she wakes up. Oh, right... I need to pack our luggage first... We have a train to catch at noon. Zuihou may be dealing with a hangover later on so... What a pain...