Our Bonds

"Nyeah. No matter how you spin it, that is defi-nye-tely the cause." (AL Akashi)

"No no no. That can't be it. There has to be a more logical explanation. Maybe it breaks apart overtime?" (AL Vestal)

"Even so, it just means that their skinship further accelerates the erosion of her mental cube nya. And the Mental Cube breaking apart overtime like that would mean that the shipgirl doesn't have much time left nya. That is obviously not the case here." (AL Akashi)

"It's not really erosion, right? It looks to me like it just being sculptured into something."

"Whatever the case is, let's find another explanation for this. Okay?" (AL Vestal)

"What's going on? What did I miss?" (Suwanto Ao)

Ao walked up from behind us,

"Oh. Welcome back. You missed quite a bit. These two have going back and forth for a while now. Did you sneak away from Belfast?"

"Of course not. I finished up as fast as I could. On a serious note, that was a concerning report." (Suwanto Ao)

"What was it about?"

"I will tell you all at a later date. Just be prepared for an alliance meeting." (Suwanto Ao)

"So it's that serious."

"Yeah." (Suwanto Ao)

He isn't joking. He has his 'serious' face on. Could it be related to that shark creature we encountered the other day? Or other Siren-related problems that have popped up without our knowledge?

"So anyway, what happened here? What are they arguing about?" (Suwanto Ao)

"We found the cause of Zuihou-chan's condition. It is caused by-"

"Aaahhhh!" (Zuihou-chan)

Zuihou-chan immediately covered my mouth with both hands and screamed, trying to shut me up. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Why are you so open in front the other three but this shy with others?

"Commander? When did you come in?" (AL Vestal)

"Only just. So, have you found the root?" (Suwanto Ao)

"Nyeah. But Vestal insist on finding another explanation." (AL Akashi)

"I mean, the whole premise of this is extremely ridiculous! What was that? How can such an indecent action invoke such a physical change in her Mental Cube?" (AL Vestal)

Ao turned to faced us,

"Erm... What did you two do? This is the first time I've seen the coolheaded Vestal act like this." (Suwanto Ao)

I pulled Zuihou-chan's hands away from my mouth,

"Some mild skinship. It did provide the data needed though."

"You call that mild?! That was more than just 'mild'!" (AL Vestal)

"Vestal-san is a pure maiden, isn't she?"

"She isn't exposed to this kind of stuff. Anyway, you got some footage right? Let me see." (Suwanto Ao)

"Wait, Commander-san!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Alright. Calm down for a bit."

I hugged Zuihou-chan tightly. She struggled for a bit, but soon relaxed. I can feel a bit of heat coming out from her.

Ao looked at the video of the Mental Cube cracking. I feel somewhat relieved it wasn't a video of our make out sessions.

"If this happened to any of my shipgirls, it will be a major cause for concern. What is the cause?" (Suwanto Ao)

Zuihou-chan started flailing about again, but I held her tight. It's hot...

"Skinship nya. Kissing, c.a.r.e.s.sing, and whatnot seems to be the trigger nya. Because Vestal couldn't believe it, we had to repeat the same thing three more times, all with the same results nya. Kissing and c.a.r.e.s.sing will cause the Mental Cube to crack. However, the cracks seem to stop at a certain point, as you can see with these four cracks. From what I can say immediately, these are not life-threatening nya. It's being sculptured into something. If kissing and touching can cause this much, you knows what-" (AL Akashi)

"Akashi-san, please wrap it up. Zuihou-chan is getting violent."

She is just thrashing about at this point.

"Okay. I get it. Now I know why Vestal is like this." (Suwanto Ao)

"Right? We have seen a kinds of things in our lives, but this? Such a nonsensical condition and trigger is illogical and stupid." (AL Vestal)

"But we can't dismiss it as a possible reason since it's the first and only case in the world. Zuihou-chan is what we can call a hybrid shipgirl, possessing both elements of Azur Lane shipgirls and IJN shipgirls. Her condition and circ.u.mstances are unique. Unless we have the appropriate data, we can't draw any other explanations or conclusion." (Suwanto Ao)

"But... that..." (AL Vestal)

"Calm down, Vestal. True, even to me, this is rather ludicrous. But it's happening in front of us. Instead of rejecting it, we should do what we always do." (Suwanto Ao)

Vestal took a deep breath,

"Examine properly and obtain the necessary data." (AL Vestal)

"That's right." (Suwanto Ao)

Ao looked at us. Zuihou-chan managed to push herself away from me by a bit but I'm still holding her close. Both metaphorically and literally.

"For now, let's stick to the fact that your interaction with Zuihou-chan is causing a change in her Mental Cube. We know it's not life-threatening however it will be best to continue observing the situation. We don't know what type of shape it's trying to morph into so we can't estimate an end time. Like I said, we simply don't have enough data to begin with. We can only come up with an hypothesis. So here is my proposal. There are two things we can do. One, let us record and observe right here. Or two, Keita, you will do the monitoring and recording of data yourself and send it to us whenever you are done." (Suwanto Ao)

"Do you really think the former is an appropriate option? I'm not into that sort of play."

"We are not filming a video!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" (Suwanto Ao)

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

Zuihou-chan and I walked hand in hand to the island's market district.

"That was embarrassing. To think I had to do four times..." (Zuihou-chan)

"Do you hate it that much?"

"It's not that I hate it. Rather, it is just so embarrassing to do it in front of people." (Zuihou-chan)

"I see. It's shame but I really want to show how much I love you to others."

"That's... Maybe next time, when I get use to it." (Zuihou-chan)

"Then we better start soon."

"Not today. I'm already at my limit." (Zuihou-chan)

"I'm just joking. Come on, let's walk a bit faster. The cake shop is just over there."

Since the examination is done, it's time for our date. Ao gave us a large bag of coins to use on this island, in exchange for the large gems Zuihou-chan created for them. Zuihou-chan used her powers to create three, palm-sized gems as a thank you gift. One gem for each of them. That cat girl was overjoyed to see such large gems.

"Ufufu~ I'm going to brag about all this to Onee-chan and Shigure later." (Zuihou-chan)

"Please don't. They will kill me."

"Should we go to the garden first, or take the boat thing first?" (Zuihou-chan)

"The garden is a good place to start. I heard there are some interesting things there. We can save the Gondola for last. It's much more romantic when it's done at night."

"We are going to spend the whole day here?" (Zuihou-chan)

"Yeah. We are going to have a whole of fun today."

Zuihou-chan immediately jumped on me and squeeze tightly,

"Admiral, I love you!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Woah. Be careful."

I let out a small chuckle,

"I love you too."

And pecked her on the cheek.