Our Bonds

I took in the soothing sound of the waves, the salty scent of the ocean and the cool sea breeze as the sand crunches below my feet. It's already way past midnight and I couldn't sleep for some reason. Since Shigure is already fast asleep, I decided to leave her on the bed as I take a leisure walk along the beach. Although it's going to be August very soon, tomorrow in fact, the summer nights still remain cool. Probably because of the sea breeze.

The beach is almost completely dark, with my only source of light coming from the full moon and the floodlights which dimly illuminate and reflect off the water. They are on power saving mode now. Unless there are signs of an enemy attack, these lights won't bother to do a proper job lighting up the place. No, there are no fairies manning them. It's all automated. Just like our new turrets and electric fences. Once Akashi and Yuubari figure out how to produce the alloy I ordered, we can create a proper defense system. Even if they figure it out now, we can only start the initial implementation stage after completing the next operation HQ has in stores for us. The operation will be lead by Brunei Anchorage and it's a rather small one, compared to the recent ones we have been dealing with.

As I continue my leisure stroll, I spotted something lying on the sand.

"Who left their clothes here?"

And this towel. But more importantly, why is it here? Is there some pervert walking around n.a.k.e.d? An intruder? No. These are clearly pajamas robes for girls. A standard issue pink robe for sleeping. So it's not an intruder. But now the question is, who does belong to?

Suddenly, my question was answer.

I saw something move in my peripheral vision. I turned to look at the ocean and saw a rather magnificent sight. A n.a.k.e.d girl with medium flowing hair leapt out of the water, like a mermaid under the moonlight. Beautiful...

Eh? Isn't that Shioi? Or is Shion? Her hair is too short to be Shion, so it's Shioi. That means this pajamas robe is hers.

I watched as Shioi leapt out of the water and dived back in a few more times. I have never seen her move like this. I have only seen her, and the other submarine girls, swim normally during missions and practice but never leisurely and like this. Usually it's either a butterfly kick or a flutter kick depending on their speed. Right now, I'm seeing a mermaid gracefully enjoying herself in the water.

Wait. Why am I staring at her? If she sees me, she is going to freak out. Gotta hide.

I placed her stuff back like how I found them, or close enough at least, and quickly walked off. I better not let her know I was here.

I continued my stroll. My mind still fixated on the beautiful scene I just saw.

"Was she always this beautiful?"

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Ah. Crap. I totally forgot about today's online Alliance Meeting. I shouldn't have wandered the beach till so late. And it didn't help that I was thinking about Shioi. It's taking me a lot of effort to stay awake.

"On the 5th, 12th and 20th of July, there have been three encounters with a shark-like creature. You should be able to see it in the file I just sent." (Suwanto Ao)

It was a picture of a large shark with hands and feet. It's the same one that cause a commotion a few weeks ago.

"For simplicity sake, we will call this monster Blue. During both encounters, Blue was highly aggressive. It would let out a loud screech before rushing the girls who encountered it. It has been noted that Blue is impervious to our attacks. Or rather, it is reflecting them." (Suwanto Ao)

"What do you mean by that?" (Sasebo)

"It's exactly what it means. Any kind of attacks, be it torpedoes, cannon fire or bombs, will be thrown back at us. An retreat was order during the initial encounter. Since then, we have engaged it twice, and both times we suffered heavy casualties." (Vestal)

"On top of that, it likes to engage us in close combat." (Suwanto Ao)

"So how did you guys get away without losing anyone? Or were there any fatalities?" (Kure)

"None. Everyone in the fleet was injured but luckily, no one sank. As my girls retreat, Blue would give chase. However, for reasons unknown, it would stop after a while and submerge itself. Maybe it's territorial or maybe it doesn't want to leave it's hunting ground. We still don't have enough intel on it to come up with anything solid." (Suwanto Ao)

"Admiral Keita, you have encountered this creature before. Any input?" (Rondo)

Even if you ask me... Ah. There is one.

"Hmm... Have you seen it eat? More specifically, was it eating a Re-class?"

"During the third encounter, there were mass-produced Siren sh.i.p.s around it. All of which were reduced to rubble. I remember Hornet reporting that there was a headless Abyssal body slowly dissipating into dust when they encountered it. It had a hood so I'm guessing that it was a Re-class." (Suwanto Ao)

"As you said, we can't come up with anything solid yet. However, can we add the possibility that it's favourite food are Battleship Re-classes? Since it has happened twice."

"Right. You did mention in the report that it ate the head of a Re-class while the rest were just torn apart and thrown to you." (Grand Admiral Hasake)

"Yes. That's why I feel that we can label the Re-class as it's main source of food."

"Why Re-classes though? Those things are extremely tough. It could just eat the other weaker ones." (Yokosuka)

"Maybe they are tastier?"

"I doubt Abyssals taste any good. Or even have any kind of flavor." (Sasebo)

"Sharks eat anything. Unless it's poisonous, I don't think they care about taste." (Brunei Anchorage)

"They don't really taste their food. They will smell and decide if their prey is palatable or not." (Rei)

"We are getting off topic. Everyone shut up! That was an interesting shark fact, Rei-chan~ Azur Lane Commander, please continue." (Grand Admiral Akihito)

Geez. Calm down, old man.

"Dummy..." (Rei)

"Er... Moving on. On the 11th of July, during our usual run in Operation Siren, Sora captured this image." (Suwanto Ao)

The screen switched to an aerial image of several black tentacles with a purple hue sticking out of the ocean. There is a large shadow underneath those tentacles, which might be it's main body.

"That's one large octopus." (Brunei Anchorage)

"And? Apart from it's size, what can it do?" (Grand Admiral Akihito)

"It was attacking the Sirens in the area. Helena META wasn't even able to stand a chance against it." (Suwanto Ao)

"You found another META?"

"Yeah. She is a Light Cruiser. Anyway, in Sora's report, the tentacles are not that strong but are extremely agile and have high speed regeneration. Even Helena META could barely keep up with it's speed. After Helena META was thrown away, literally, Sora's fleet engaged it. That's how we figured out that it has high speed regeneration. The tentacles can be shot off or cut apart easily, but it will regenerate almost immediately. If it's a normal octopus which just got way too big, I won't even talk about it here. But since it was able to take on a META shipgirl and possess such abilities, I have to consider it as a threat. Especially since there is evidence that this is clearly a Siren Construct." (Suwanto Ao)

Ao zoomed in on one of the tentacles. I immediately understood why he said that this monster is a Siren construct. I bet the others got it too. The tentacle that was zoomed in was made out of copious amounts of mental cubes stuck together. There were both black and blue mental cubes forming the tentacle itself.

"I see. This is a cause for concern." (Rondo)

"We aren't sure whether it's hostile or simply reactive to attacks, considering the fact that Vampire panicked and shot it despite Sora's orders to do the exact opposite. She ordered a retreat after realizing that the battle might turn into a battle of attrition, with them losing." (Rondo)

"Does it only stay at one spot? Or will it move around?" (Brunei Anchorage)

"We don't know. That's why I'm sharing this with you. Just like Blue, you guys might encounter this creature else where during your sorties and whatnot. This is just a heads-up." (Suwanto Ao)

There was a loud banging sound in the background. I can hear a door slam open, followed by a panicked voice just off screen.

"Commander. This is bad!" (???)

"What's wrong, Javelin? I'm in the middle of a meeting." (Suwanto Ao)

"The heat caused Ayame-chan to split into eleven clones. She fed some sort of shaved ice to Shirakami-san and one of our sheeps in the farm and now they are frozen solid. Two of the Ayame-chans ate the same thing and froze themselves too. Now the remaining nine Ayame-chans are fighting amongst themselves and rampaging about the base!" (Javelin)

...Eh?

"What kind of weird item did that oni come up with this time? What about her mother? Where is she?" (Suwanto Ao)

"Mio-san is in Japan making preparations for her concert. Sora-san is also running her errands in Japan." (Javelin)

"Alright. I will be there shortly." (Suwanto Ao)

What the hell is going on over there? I can hear a lot of background noise.

"Sorry. I have to cut short this meeting." (Suwanto Ao)

"That's alright. Taking care of 400 over girls on your own is quite a feat. We will let you know if we find anything." (Rondo)

"Thank you. Likewise, I will notify you guys any additional information we managed to gather." (Suwanto Ao)

"Alright. So, meeting adjourned." (Grand Admiral Hasake)

I immediately left the meeting room. I'm not going to let myself get caught by any of them. Looks like Rei has also left the room, seeing as she slammed her laptop shut.

Phew. Finally, I can take a nap. I will do my best at work later.

"Admiral," (Rei)

"Yes?"

"I need to take an off on this Saturday." (Rei)

"Sure. But what for?"

"It's that irritating Sawada-san and my father. I can't postpone it any longer." (Rei)

Somehow, I got a bad feeling about this...