Our Bonds

It has been a busy morning. First, I had to reschedule all expeditions due to a sudden Squall happening in the Northern area. Then, a typhoon appeared and everyone scrambled to secure the doors and block any potential leakage points. Now, I have a girl in a Kunoichi outfit and a quarter of a oni mask all tied up like a shrimp in front of me.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Yuudachi saw some light in the vents and caught this girl sneaking around poi!" (Yuudachi)

"I see. Good job."

I gave stroke Yuudachi's hair a bit and approached the suspicious ninja. I'm surprised Yuudachi was able to tie her up like that.

"Suzuya helped me tie her up! I think she went to get more rope just in case." (Yuudachi)

Figures. Anyhow, the captive is a shipgirl isn't she? Unless she is a cosplayer, no sane human would dress up like that and sneak into a Military Naval Base like that. She has a small torchlight attached to her left arm. I think that's the one that gave away her position to Yuudachi. She looks rather embarrassed. Probably because of how she was caught so easily.

"Uuugghh... if only the lightning hadn't make me run into the vents..." (???)

She is speaking Japanese, if that's the case...

"You hid in the vents because of the lightning? In the first place, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I shall not reveal the name of my-HYAAH!" (???)

The sound of thunder erupted from outside. Damn that was loud. I even got shocked by it. Yuudachi is even covering her ears. And this girl... is crying.

*Sniff sniff* "Commander... save me...." (???)

Commander... then this girl is from Azur Lane? Most likely from the Sakura Empire. Why is the guy also giving me trouble?

"Let's just untie you first. We can talk in my office. Yuudachi, can help the others place buckets and towels at the leaking spots? I will have Akashi repair them later."

"Yes!" (Yuudachi)

"Thank you."

I untied the ninja girl and brought her into my office. Apart from her, there is another guest here.

Shigure was cowering underneath my table. Right, she is afraid of thunder, especially loud ones.

"It's okay. There's nothing to be scared of."

I stroked her head, trying to calm her down.

"Come on, we have a guest now. Do your best and pull yourself together. Okay?"

"A guest?" (Shigure)

"Yep."

Shigure peeked from under the table. The ninja girl is sitting on the sofa, unsure of what to do. Shigure cleared her throat.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the second ship of the Shiratsuyu-class, Shigure." (Shigure)

"H-hello. I'm the first ship of the Akatsuki-Class destroyers, Akatsuki. P-please to meet you." (Akatsuki)

Akatsuki, huh. Why did she come here? Is she lost like the time with the other Shigure?

"Actually I came here to deliver a message from Commander. Then the typhoon came and all my equipment got short by the lightning. After that, I found myself hiding in the vents. It's not like I turned on my light because I was scared, okay!?" (Akatsuki)

She is afraid of the dark then. She is almost like the Akatsuki from Kure Naval Base. Childish and trying to be tough. It's almost too cute.

"So, what's the message?"

"Sorry, I forgot..." (Akatsuki)

"I see. Shigure, keep an eye on her. I'll be in the command room."

"Eh? There's a sortie today?" (Shigure)

"What are you saying? Of course not. I just need to make a call."

"Oh. Then, leave her to me." (Shigure)

I make my way to the command room. Gosh, the whole place is wet. I'm going to request for waterproofing once the typhoon passes. And get rid of the moisture.

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

"Ah Admiral! Nice timing. I was about to go find you." (Ooyodo)

"What is it?"

"It that commander from Azur Lane. He says he wants to speak to you." (Ooyodo)

"What a coincidence. I was just about to call him."

Ooyodo passed the phone to me.

"Hello, Admiral?"

I can hear the distress in his voice.

"Yes, Admiral here. I was just about to call you."

"Did a small girl in a ninja outfit come to your base? That girl is called Akatsuki. I sent her there to pass along a message, but I lost contact with her midway. Is she there? Is she safe?"

Wow. he really is worried about that Akatsuki girl. Maybe I shouldn't... Nah I'm doing it.

"A girl in a ninja outfit? No, can't say I saw her. There is a typhoon here. Maybe the lightning cause a malfunction?"

"So she's lost?! Oh no! What am I going do? She gets scared whenever there's a storm. What if she gets attacked by-" (Commander)

"I'm just kidding. She is here."

If I didn't stop him, he would have continued till who knows when.

"Huh? but didn't you just... " (Commander)

"I told you I was kidding with you. She is here in my office. The girl with oni mask and searchlight right?"

"Yeah." (Commander)

"She let herself get caught after turning on her light in our vents. Don't worry, other than her equipment, she is safe with us."

"Thank god. I thought something bad happened to her." (Commander)

"So when are you going to pick her up?"

"Eh? Pick her up?" (Commander)

"Well, yeah. Don't tell me you plan to leave her here. She can stay until the typhoon is gone. After that, when can I expect you to come get her?"

"Oh er...." (Commander)

This guy obviously wants me to bring her back for me...

"You do know I have idea where your base is, right?"

"Oh right. I forgot about that..." (Commander)

"Okay. I will see you once the typhoon ends."

"W-wait..."

Without letting him finish, I placed the phone back into its stand. He was probably going to come up with some excuse as to why he can't bring Akatsuki back himself. Oh right, I forgot to ask him about the message he wanted to pass to me. Oh well, it's not important anyway. If it was, he would have mentioned it as soon as I answered the call. Now, how am I going to deal with our guest and this typhoon?