Our Bonds

Asashio waved her... I don't know... wand? Antenna? Radar? She is wearing her cute witch costume so I guess I can call it a wand. Asashio waved her wand and a torpedo appeared out of thin air. She grabbed the materialized torpedo and flung it into the ocean. The single torpedo suddenly split into four, and flew straight into the side of a Destroyer Ni-class, sinking it.

Shigure-chan fired her napalm she'll at another Destroyer Ni-class, burning it and spreading a flaming orange jelly onto a Destroyer Na-class that got too close. The Ni-class exploded anf the Na-class retreated into the water to put out its flames. It popped out again to fire at the three-man fleet.

"Evade!" (Asashio)

The three girls scattered, evading the shells fired from that grotesque fish.

"We will decide the battle with long range attacks!" (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan launched a air fleet of Tenzens. And she isn't done,

"Let's get to work." (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan raised her right hand as six portals appeared behind her. When she pointed at the Na-class, six Abyssal Cat Fighters, one from each portal, shot out and rained hell fire from above. Combined with the torpedos launched from her Tenzens, the Na-class turned into a fiery mess as it disappeared beneath the surface.

I'm impressed. Within three days, these two managed to make this much progress. Shigure-chan's napalm didn't have a 'spread' effect before. Before, the napalm effect was a jelly coated around the shell. Upon impact, it sets the target on fire. Now, it still retains the same effect, but upon impact, some of the jelly jumps to nearby targets.

Zuihou-chan made the most progress these three days. Before we left, she could only summon one, and it could only follow simple orders like 'fly' and 'land'. Now she can summon six of them, and control them alongside her normal aircrafts. So many things happened these past three days and I missed them!

"Good job you three. Come on back." (Rei)

Rei ordered a retreat, and look at me like a proud parent,

"So, how were they?" (Rei)

"Awesome. Shigure-chan improved her Napalm skill. I still can't believe Zuihou-chan was able to call out so many Cat Fighters at once."

"Hehe. I was the one that gave her that idea. Not bad, right? Shinano helped to train her summoning and control though." (Rei)

It's strangely similar to a certain king from a famous mobile game. Nonetheless, it's still awesome to her summoning Abyssals aircraft like that. I need to thank Shinano for training her.

"One thing though, when did Asashio get the power to make torpedos appear out of thin air?"

"Oh, it was Yuubari's idea. She fragmented a mental cube and infused it into Asashio-chan's Halloween costume. It fits her witch motif, doesn't it?" (Rei)

I expected that much. It's good that Yuubari is doing research on ways to utilize the mental cubes. Apart from the North Union girls here and our two hybrids, none of us knew how to use them until now. We need to invest more into researching these blue blocks.

"I'll go out to greet them first. Oh right, thank you for handling the doc.u.ments these few days."

"Your welcome. It wasn't much anyway. Just some resource reports and small skirmishes." (Rei)

So it was business as usual.

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"Ehehe~ Wooo!" (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan rolled around on my bed. She wanted to spent the night with me, alone. Right now, she is like a child who is excited to sleep with her parent. Although, I doubt she sees me that way. I gave the same reward to Shigure-chan and Asashio as well. I will be sleeping with each of them the next two days. Zuihou was reluctant to leave me with them. No surprises there. And we just got back from our trip.

"Come on. Stop bouncing around. It's not the first time you slept here."

"It's been a long time since we were alone together. Of course I'm excited." (Zuihou-chan)

"Who is excited to sleep with-"

Never mind. The other girls are the same...

"Have you brushed your teeth? Taken a bath?"

"Yeah!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Then, I'm turning off the lights."

With only the dim light from the moon, I felt my way through the darkness. Until I kicked the edge of my bed,

"What was that?" (Zuihou-chan)

"Don't... worry about it..."

Damn! That hurt. I got onto my bed and laid beside the smaller light aircraft carrier. Without missing a beat, she immediately rolled to her side and hugged my arm,

"Remember our first night? The first time we actually slept together on this bed." (Zuihou-chan)

Why would she bring up a memory from long ago? To be honest, I can't really remember the events leading up to that, but that was what started this whole trend of me comforting the girls at night.

"Back then, I was already head over heels for you, so I gathered my courage to spent the night with you. I half-expected you to jump me that night. Even now, I still love you. So... Can you make me yours?" (Zuihou-chan)

This is confession... Whatever I say now will either make or break your current relationship. But, I already know my answer,

"I'm sorry. To be honest, I saw you as a child back then. No, I still see you as a child. You are so small, so delicate. A little lewd sometimes."

I can feel her glaring at me throught the darkness,

"But you are strong. When I first saw you taking down the Abyssals, I admired your strength. I was surprise that such a small girl can do so much. Even now, you continue to surpirse me. Coming back as an Abyssal, then coming home to me. And now, you got yourself some kind of power that is hard to replicate naturally."

I turned to face Zuihou-chan. The dim moonlight wasn't very helpful with the illumination, but I can see her eyes and lips glistening in the dark,

"Thank you, for being my strength. For loving me. For coming back to me."

I kissed her on the forehead,

"But I'm sorry. I'm in love with the other Zuihou. I can't betray her trust. I love and respect all of you equally, but the other Zuihou is the only one for me. I'm willing to do anything for you, but I can't give you my heart."

I feel her body quivering against my skin. She is crying, isn't she? I feel guilty about doing this to her, but I have my own morals. I can betray my partner. Zuihou-chan may have loved me first, but right now my heart belongs to someone else. If Zuihou-chan hates me from now on, I can understand. But I don't want that.

"Geez. I already expected this, but... It still hurts..." (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan started sobbing. I hugged her close to my chest.

"If only I had confessed sooner... Maybe... *sniff* Maybe I could *hic* have stayed by Admiral's side just a little longer... Maybe... I could feel the same way Onee-chan feels everyday..." (Zuihou-chan)

"I'm so sorry."

What should I do? There is one solution, which is to create a harem and love everyone equally, like what the Admiral of Bruneri Anchorage is doing. But is that really the right solution? Are his girls truly happy about this arrangement?

I held onto her, as she cried herself to sleep...