Our Bonds

A fluffy white bipedal cat-like creature carrying a basket on its head hobbled over to Vestal and Zuihou-chan.

"Thank you." (AL Vestal)

Vestal took the basket and placed it on the table in the cubicle,

"Zuihou-chan, please change into these robes. You can leave your u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r on. Come out when you are done." (AL Vestal)

Vestal drew the curtains, hiding my girl within the cubicle. The repair ship then turned around to face me,

"Admiral Keita, I will need you to answer some questions. So we can have a better understanding of Zuihou-chan's condition." (AL Vestal)

"I understand. Although, I feel that it would be better to show you."

Somehow, I have the urge to brag about my relationship with Zuihou-chan. I want to show our close we are to the world.

Vestal gave a confused look,

"O...kay... We will be running through a series of tests. All of which are to find out if there is any anomalies within her body. Rest assured, these test won't have any adverse effects on her body. It's similar to the scans you humans take during your own health check up." (AL Vestal)

"I know. Besides, if it was harmful, your Commander wouldn't have implemented it here, and neither would you."

Vestal just smiled gently,

"Geez! I take my eyes of you for a bit and you are already flirting with another shipgirl." (Zuihou-chan)

The curtains opened up and an annoyed Zuihou-chan popped out. I ruffled her hair,

"Dummy. I'm just talking to your doctor. If you want, I can prove my love to you in front of her."

"T-that's a bit..." (Zuihou-chan)

I'm going to have to do it anyway. The little girl's face turned red. Even though she is always on the offensive, in front of strangers, she reacts the same way as her older self.

This is fun.

"Enough." (AL Vestal)

Vestal slip a clipboard in between us,

"You can stop the public display of affection now. Zuihou-chan, please follow me. Admiral Keita, please head over to the observation room. The Meowfficer will lead you there." (AL Vestal)

What the heck is a Meowfficer?

"Okay. I'll be off, Admiral." (Zuihou-chan)

"See you."

As soon as the two girls exit through a blue door, I felt something soft and fluffy push against my legs. I looked down to see the same cat-like creature from before in a white nursing cap pushing against my ankle to grab my attention. So this is a Meowfficer? That's cute.

I followed the Meowfficer through a white door and into a dimly lit room with several computers and consoles. There is a glass panel which separates this room of the room with a large cylindrical machine. That thing really resembles an MRI scanner. Or maybe it is one. Ao was already inside, petting Akashi's head.

"Nyaa~~" (AL Akashi)

"Yo. We have been waiting." (Suwanto Ao)

"Take a seat nya~ We will begin once Vestal prepares Zuihou-chan nya." (AL Akashi)

"What are we doing today?"

"Basically, this machine will perform a MRI, CT and X-ray nya. A 3-in-1 package nya. We are looking out for any anomalies within her body that may explain why her body is behaving as you said. We will proceed from there afterwards nya." (AL Akashi)

"For my girls, the mental cube in them can get affected by other organs, especially the heart and brain. That's why I built this machine. In Zuihou-chan's case, since she is technically a hybrid, we can't deny the fact that her organs might be responsible for the stuff you told us." (Suwanto Ao)

I watched as Zuihou-chan climbed on top of the bed and laid down. Vestal gave a thumbs up to us, before exiting the room.

"Alright. Zuihou-chan, we are going to start the scan now. Are you ready?" (AL Akashi)

"I-I guess..." (Zuihou-chan)

"It's will be a bit loud, but you wouldn't feel a thing. Just relax. But don't fall asleep. The machine won't be" (AL Akashi)

"Okay..." (Zuihou-chan)

"I'm starting it nyow." (AL Akashi)

Akashi pressed a button and flipped a few switches as the machine came to life. The bed Zuihou-chan laid on slowly moved upwards. The bed and Zuihou-chan slowly disappeared into the cylindrical machine.

"Zuihou-chan, are you okay?" (AL Akashi)

"This is scary! It's so loud!" (Zuihou-chan)

She sounds distressed. I took the microphone from Akashi's hand,

"It's okay. The machine is designed like this. Just relax. Let's chitchat."

"O-okay." (Zuihou-chan)

"Once we are done with this, wanna explore? We can visit the buildings we saw earlier."

"Let's go! I want to ride that boat thingy."

"The gondola? Okay. We can do that later. That garden may be good spot to have our lunch. We can get some food from the pretty cafe. The one that is white and gold and with a bunch of cakes at the window."

"Nyaa. I'm getting some nyaice images." (AL Akashi)

"I want to visit that giant Sakura tree too." (Zuihou-chan)

"That's the Sakura Empire's place. There should be a lot of Japanese sweets like Dango and Anmitsu."

"Let's go there first to get some. We can eat it together with some cakes." (Zuihou-chan)

"Good idea."

"Huh? This is weird. What is this nya?" (AL Akashi)

"There's a weird shape. This isn't the full image, right?" (AL Vestal)

"Nope. But even I can tell there is something wrong." (Suwanto Ao)

That doesn't sound good. I wanted to see for myself but Ao signalled me to keep going.

Zuihou-chan and I talk for a while more. We talked about the things we want to do afterwards, where should we go, what souvenirs to buy. We ended up making plans for a date.

An alarm rang out, signalling the end of the scan.

"Hya! What's going on?" (Zuihou-chan)

Akashi took the microphone from my hand,

"It's alright nya. That alarm means we are done nya. Just stay still while we get you out." (AL Akashi)

"That was fast. I thought it would take much longer." (Zuihou-chan)

"What are you saying? It's already been a hour and twenty minutes nya." (AL Akashi)

"Are you serious?"

"Eh? You didn't realise it as well? I thought you were doing all that to calm her down." (AL Vestal)

"Yeah. That was my intention at first."

I wonder when will this checkup end. I can't wait to go on our date.

Akashi led me into another room, where she began to collate and display the images and data she captured on the various monitors while Vestal went to help Zuihou-chan out of that metal donut. Ao was dragged away by Belfast, so we are alone with the two repair sh.i.p.s. As soon as Zuihou-chan entered the room, Akashi and Vestal started to give their diagnosis,

"First off, let's start with the results of the MRI scan. As you can see here, this is a sonorous imaging of Zuihou-chan's brain. Everything is normal. Next, your internal body structure is normal. There are no anomalies within your organs. In fact, the CT scan also shows the same results. Your body is perfectly healthy. However, there is one thing which is a little concerning." (AL Vestal)

Akashi clicked the mouse, causing all four monitors to change pictures. All four monitors show a weird object at different angles, It looked like a red cube, however, the top right hand corner of it had large portions of it broken off and had became almost semi-spherical in shape. You can even see some of the shards. The bottom right side of the cube has some cracks in it. Is this...?

"This is the image of Zuihou-chan's mental cube. I don't think I need to say how weird this is." (AL Vestal)

I knew it. So it was related to her mental cube.

"We could nyot believe it a first. The MRI and CT scans showed the same thing but we wanted to confirm and get more data on it nya. So we did a scan on her mental cube and got ourselves some weird results nya." (AL Akashi)

Vestal took a pen from the table and performed a circular motion around the shards,

"From the scan, we were able to estimate when the changes happened. During the last week of May, a large chunk broke off over here. Over time, more pieces broke off and slowly formed this semi-spherical shape. After which, it slowed to a complete halt, with these cracks at the bottom forming last during the second week of July."

Wait a minute. That timeline she just described... It somehow sounds familiar. What happened during the last week of May? When did we discover Zuihou-chan's condition?

"If you can tell us what happened in the last week of May, we might be able to come up with a reason for her mental cube becoming like this and find the proper treatment." (AL Vestal)

"Admiral, do you think..." (Zuihou-chan)

Looks like we are on the same wavelength...

"I understand the changes in her body, but is that the reason for the condition I described to you?"

"We can't rule that out as a possible reason nya. But we need to know what triggers it first and how it relates to the mental cube nya." (AL Akashi)

"Is there anything you can use to get record that information in real time?"

"We have a handheld scanner. I guess it's worth a try. Oh right, I wanted to ask you some questions. It completely slipped my mind." (AL Vestal)

"No need for that. Everything should be answered when we show it to you."

"I'll go get it nya. It's just in the other room nya." (AL Akashi)

"Zuihou-chan, come here."

"Gh! Really? You are going to do it here?" (Zuihou-chan)

"We need to show them how is it like. And I believe I'm onto something. You too, right?"

"I guess so. But do we have to? It's embarrassing." (Zuihou-chan)

"What are you going to do?" (AL Vestal)

"The trigger for her condition."

"Somehow, I have a bad feeling for this..." (AL Vestal)

"I got the scanner. We can start when you are ready." (AL Akashi)

"Come on, let's not keep her waiting."

"Urgh..." (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan dragged her feet over to me and sat on my l.a.p. I can see her red ears from up here.

"Erm..." (AL Akashi)

"Come on. Let's get on with it."

"Nya. Zuihou-chan, can you loosen your robe for a bit? I need to stick these electrodes to get a reading." (AL Akashi)

"..." (Zuihou-chan)

"We are all girls here so there's no need to feel embarrassed nya. While, most of us." (AL Akashi)

Zuihou-chan bashfully opened up her robe a bit, letting Akashi pasted the electrodes on her c.h.e.s.t.

"It's cold!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Bear with it for a bit." (AL Akashi)

The machine Akashi was carrying started making beeping sounds.

"Nya. We are ready. I have a clear image of the mental cube nya. Everything looks nyormal. Aside from what we said just nyow." (AL Akashi)

"Zuihou-chan, look at me."

"Ugh... Are we really going to do this? This is really embarrassing!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Erm..." (AL Akashi)

"I am going to do something more embarrassing to you in the future. Take this as practice."

"Hey, wai-" (AL Vestal)

Ignoring their gaze and words, Zuihou-chan and I explored each other's mouth with our tongues. I massaged her c.h.e.s.t from above the robes as I stifle her m.o.a.ns with my lips. I can hear the machine beeping rapidly.

"You got to be joking nya..." (AL Akashi)

Steam begin emitting from her body and her c.h.e.s.t glowed red as usual.

Alright. I think that's enough for now.

I stopped and let the young carrier catch her breath. Akashi and Vestal stared intently with red faces.

"Got your data?"

"Ah. Y-yeah. Give us a moment to transfer it to the monitor." (AL Vestal)

The two girls scrambled to work. Zuihou-chan glared at me, panting heavily.

"Admiral, you meanie..." (Zuihou-chan)

"You are so cute."

"Hmph!" (Zuihou-chan)