Our Bonds

With the typhoon still raging on, there is nothing we can do. No sorties, no expeditions, let alone patrolling the District waters. Everyone is holed up in the Dorms and can only use the sheltered walkways to make their way to the other facilities, though they would still get wet. In other words, we are grounded. If an Abyssal fleet were to attack now, we can only rely on our naval mines and land-based cannons. None of the shipgirls can deploy in this weather, not even the submarine unit and the land-based aircrafts.

I have quite a few guests in my office. Sitting on my sofa is Akatsuki, wearing earplugs and reading some Manga. Where did she get those from? On the floor with me is Shigure. Shigure is afraid of thunder, so I'm patting her while she lays on my lap to calm her down. I think she has already fallen asleep. Zuihou is playing by herself, imagining her hand as a plane and moving it around like one. I think she is bored.

"Hey, Admiral... Let's do some work..." (Zuihou)

Zuihou stopped and leaned against my back. Yep, she is bored. There really isn't anything to do now. Shortly after I ended my call with the commander, we discovered that the typhoon is affecting our communication tower, meaning we are not receiving signals from other districts, let alone a telegram or work doc.u.ments. So, there isn't any work to be done.

"Come on. You know that we cut off from the rest. If there are no doc.u.ments to do, means there's no work."

"But I'm bored! There must be something we can do!" (Zuihou)

She is just like a child who can't go out to play. I'm bored as well but with these two other girls, I can't really do much. Akatsuki is just doing her own thing. So long as she doesn't wonder off and cause trouble, I'm fine with letting her be. I don't want to wake Shigure up after she has gotten so comfortable on my lap but at the same time, my legs are getting numb. Sorry, Shigure.

I lifted Shigure's head from my lap and slipped a pillow underneath. It's a little hard getting up but I should be fine after a while. I dragged myself back to my table. I thought of drawing up some plans for any future matches with Azur Lane but...

Zuihou just propped herself on my lap.

"Erm... Zuihou-san? What are you doing?"

"Heehee. Resting on Admiral's lap~!" (Zuihou)

"I can see that. My legs are still numb and can you please move away a little?"

"Hmm...?" (Zuihou)

She looked at me with a mischievous smile. She is going to do some- Owowow!! I knew it!

Zuihou started bouncing in my lap. Each time she lands, the prickling sensation reverberates through my legs. This girl-

"Zuihou! Stop- WOAH!!!"

"Wahh?!" (Zuihou)

I must have leaned backwards a bit too much, as the both of us couldn't fight against gravity and fell backwards. It wasn't really painful, it just felt like someone punched my back lightly. Probably because the chair helped softeded the impact. Wait! That's not the point!

"Zuihou, you all right?"

Lying on my chest was the culprit that landed both of us in this mess. There she is, posing like a cat, with her hands and head tucked into my chest and legs on the side. She looks cute like this.

"Fuee~ That was scary." (Zuihou)

"Whose fault was it?"

"Ehehe~ Sorry. You are not hurt, are you?" (Zuihou)

She looked at me with those amber eyes of hers. Those seems to be some sort charm, because I find myself being unable to stare away from them. Whenever Zuihou is nearby, my eyes always lock onto her. Is this...?

"What have you two been doing from just now?" (Akatsuki)

"!!!" (Zuihou)

"A-akatsuki? H-how long have you been there?!"

Akatsuki was apparently squatting beside us, observing our actions.

"After the both of you fall over spectacularly. Seriously, if you want to play, at least try not to make so much noise!" (Akatsuki)

"Umm..." (Shigure)

"See! You woke the other one up!" (Akatsuki)

Akatsuki went back to her reading. Shigure had woken up, and is looking around, probably for me. Zuihou got off me and I put the chair back upright.

"Admiral?" (Shigure)

"I'm over here."

Shigure spun around. The worried and confused expression she had turned into relief.

"Thank goodness..." (Shigure)

The typhoon outside seems like it would move away by tomorrow. The winds are not as strong as before. If it was stronger, Shigure would have ran to me immediately.

"Zuihou,"

"Hmm?" (Zuihou)

"Come to my room in your nightwear later. That's an order."

"Ehhh?!" (Zuihou)