Our Bonds

"Did I get her?" (Enterprise)

"No. The other girl blocked it." (Yorktown)

"Tch. This is getting irritating. Hey, flagship! Their carriers were down a long time ago. What's taking you so long to finish them of?! Just take them down already!" (Enterprise)

"Don't tell me what to do! It's hard enough with that Battleship firing on me. I got hit a few times already." (Nagato)

"Argh! Fine! You just need that Battleship to be out of action, right?" (Enterprise)

Enterprise launched a squadron of Douglas Destroyers towards Yamashiro.

"It's over!" (Enterprise)

The Douglas Destroyers released their load at Yamashiro.

'Tch! Of course it has to be torpedos. Everyone, I'm counting on you to finish the rest." (Yamashiro)

Yamashiro has a weakness against torpedos since she is always unable to evade in time. And it seems that Enterprise's skill gives a attack boost to her planes. Although Yamashiro has a huge amount of armour, even she wouldn't be able to withstand an explosion that big.

"Oh no! Yamashiro-san is out!" (Iku)

"YAY! It's our win!" (I-19)

"Hmm... I knew this was the outcome. My girls are just too strong."

"You think so? It's not over yet."

"Come on. Be real. What's can a lone destroyer do against two aircraft carriers and a battleship? Not to mention, she is your flagship."

"Did I say she was the flagship?"

The remaining three Azur Lane shipgirls begin advancing upon Yuudachi. It's as though Yorktown and Enterprise have ran out for planes to launch immediately. Nagato... is tired... I think.

"Ohh! Yuudachi-chan is in danger!" (Iku)

"Now, all your friends are out of the match. Please surrender as flagship. we don't want to hurt you anymore than necessary." (Yorktown)

"Flagship? Me? No no no. You got it all wrong." (Yuudachi)

"Eh?" (Nagato)

"Huh?!" (Commander)

"I didnt say she was the flagship."

"Wait. Aren't you carrying the flag? That means you are the flagship!"

"Huh?! What are you saying poi?!" (Yuudachi)

Yuudachi spun around, showing her back to the rest.

"This is just my sail poi! It's part of my equipment poi! There isn't a cat there poi!" (Yuudachi)

"Eh? But we took all of you out." (Enterprise)

"Wait... how many names did we hear? Everytime one of us is unable to continue fighting, the MC calls out our names and status." (Yorktown)

"I don't really remember." (Enterprise)

"Erm... I heard Agano, Suzuya, Shigure and Yamashiro."

"That's four." (Yorktown)

"!!!" (All)

"The tiny green one!" (Yorktown and Enterprise)

"Oww! What?!" (Nagato)

A few bombs hit Nagato from behind. A squadron of Suisei Model 12A flew by. Another squadron of Tenzens flew in from her right, dropping their torpedos the process. Only one managed to hit.

"Sorry I'm late!" (Zuihou)

"About time poi!"

Zuihou came into view from behind. Her clothes a little burnt, but she seems fine enough. A flag with a cat insignia fluttered behind her.

"Sorry! Leave the rest to me!" (Zuihou)

"We have been had! She was the flagship all along! The flag was just small enough to hide behind her!" (Enterprise)

"I still can use my fighters." (Yorktown)

"No! That torpedo took out my rotor! I can't move!" (Nagato)

"We will decide this at long range. Attack corps, take off!" (Zuihou)

Zuihou launched all of her remaining planes. Tenzens, Suiseis, Reppu Kai, all have Nagato on their sights. Yorktown's fighters managed to intercept some, but the end results was clear.

All of Zuihou's planes launched their bombs and torpedos at the Nagato. Even though she is a battleship with strong armour, it cannot survive multiple hits from bombs and torpedos. With that...

"No way! Flagship Nagato-chan is unable to continue fighting!" (1-19)

"The winner is our Fleet 1!" (Iku)

The audience cheered loudly. I can see some of the Azur Lane girls look a bit pissed. I'm sure they will get over it soon.

"uuu... I failed everyone again... (Nagato)

"Come on, don't cry." (Zuihou)

Zuihou reached her hand out for a crying Nagato.

"That was a good match poi!" (Yuudachi)

"I got to admit, that was a smart move. You've gotten stronger the last time i saw you." (Enterprise)

"Eek!" (Zuihou)

Zuihou quickly hid behind Yuudachi. She is still afraid of them...

"Wow! How did none of us notice her? You are their Admiral. Tell me, how did they do it?" (Commander)

"Right I guess it was hard to notice."

Let me explain. At the beginning of the match, both fleets were moving at a constant speed. Zuihou was hanging out near the back, making sure that the flag does not get blown too wildly by the wind. Another reason why no one noticed that Zuihou was the flagship was because of the camera angle. The match was live-streamed and would show a close-up on the girls while the moved and talked. It only zoomed out when the fighting started. When Nagato fired at Suzuya and Zuihou, the shell would have hit the both of them if Suzuya didn't took the brunt of it. Using the smoke and Yamashiro as cover, Zuihou managed to hide from the camera's view and circled behind Azur Lane. It wasn't obvious but if you play it back, you can see the flag a Zuihou's bow moving out of frame for a split second. After that, the others just needed to stall for time. By the way, don't ask me how the camera works. Even I don't understand that.

"So when Yuudachi-chan reacted that way, it was all fake?"

"Not really. Yuudachi is rather pugnacious. She knew that Zuihou would survived that blast, but she got angry because Suzuya got hurt. After that, when Shigure covered for her, I think that was real? That last part was just her usual self though.

Although what they did can't be used in a real battle, at least it worked during a excercise.

"Thank you for the explanation,Admiral!" (Iku)

"You were broadcasting me again?!"

"Now that was a exciting match, wasn't it? I really like the part when Yuudachi-chan revealed that she wasn't the flagship. The whole interaction was just too funny." (Iku)

"It's a shame we lost, but we won't lose the next time!" (I-19)

"Well then, see you at the afterparty! Type-B Submarine I-19, signing off! Bye Bye!" (Iku & I-19)

"An afterparty? How late do they plan to stay up?"

Oh right! I almost forgot! I rushed out of the command room and head straight to the port. When I reached, the entire of Fleet 1 are already gathered, with a glowing figure at the center.

"Eh? What? What is this?" (Zuihou)

"Ooh! So it's time!" (Agano)

"What is this? What happening?" (Zuihou)

"You will know when you go to factory."

"Admiral!" (all)

"Yo! Good work out there! If you want anything, don't hesitate to tell me. It will be my treat."

"Really? Awesome!" (Suzuya)

"Thank you very much." (Yamashiro)

"Yay! A reward poi!" (Yuudachi)

"As for Zuihou,"

"Ho~e?" (Zuihou)

"You always wanted a 2nd remodel, right? Come on, lets not keep Akashi waiting."

"Fuah~!!! Awesome!!!" (Zuihou)

I bought Zuihou to the factory, where Akashi was waiting. Actually, she ran all the way there. I just chased after her. She hasn't resupplied and yet, she still has so much energy left. I waited patiently as Akashi retrieves the necessary materials and resources before carrying out the fitting process. It was a noisy process, with a lot of drilling and hammering noise.

Like Akashi promised, the whole thing took about an hour. Once the noise was gone, Zuihou re-emerged from the curtains. She still has her green outfit. This time the muneate resemble more like a flight deck. She even gained something like a kusazuri, which hangs from her waist. Her bow is brown in colour and is larger than before. A small flight deck is attached to her back. Below it is her quiver. Additionally, she has 2 small-caliber cannons on each side. Most importantly, she actually grew taller and looks older now. Lets see... Previously, she was like a 12 year old child. Now she is, like, maybe 14 or 15 years old.

"I'm Zuihou! I've gotten my major remodel! I'll do my very, very best!"

And her voice pitch is even higher now.