Our Bonds

"Finally, we are back."

"Those 5 days went by so fast" (Zuihou)

"Yeah. It's been 5 days but the place looks cleaner than before."

"In a blink of an eye, it's already the year end. Let's do our best with the spring cleaning. I'll go grab the brooms." (Zuihou)

"Ugh..."

After 2 and a half hours of riding and changing trains, we finally returned to our home. For an Onsen town, there were surprisingly plenty of activities to do, although most of them are in the outskirts of the town. There's a basalt cave and a museum in a place called Genbudo park, a stork sanctuary, and an nearby snow mountain which is perfect for Snowshoeing. Everyone had their fill of fun and excitement these 5 days. Now, in preparation for the new year, we are going to clean the district. Everyone else have started to get the mops and brooms. For some reason, everything looks neater and not as dusty as I thought. We were gone for 5 days after all. I expected the place to be dusty and dirty. On the contrary, it's like we never left.

"Commander!" (Tokitsukaze)

Tokitsukaze ran up to me as I was pondering on the situation. She looks frightened.

"What is it?"

"I found are some long red hairs in cafeteria!" (Tokitsukaze)

Long red hairs? Could it be that someone infiltrated the district?

"Admiral! Look what we found!" (Etorofu)

The Etorofu sisters ran up to me, proudly presenting a few strands of long brown hair.

"Where did you find this?"

"In the hallway. They were sitting on the window sill." (Etorofu)

"Aren't the pretty?" (Matsuwa)

Red and brown hairs in random areas. There were 2 intruders? I walked into my office, ready to check if any important doc.u.ments have been stolen.

"Oh my. Welcome back. How was your Onsen trip?" (???)

"It was great. Now we have a problem. Looks like there was an intruder."

"An intruder? *cough* *cough* That's bad." (???)

"Yeah... Eh?"

Who have I been talking to? I was so focused on looking for any lost doc.u.ments that I didn't noticed the lady standing at the corner of my office. That lady had long, silky brown hair and fluffy brown tails. A pair of long fox ears stood atop her head. She was wearing a purple kimono with crane patterns and a red haori. Her voice was gentle and frail. Who is she? A shipgirl?

"By the way, I took the liberty of cleaning your room. Don't worry. Apart from cleaning, I didn't do anything." (???)

"Thank you. That's not it. Who are you? And why are you here?"

"Pardon my late introduction. I am the name ship of the Amagi-class, Amagi. I was originally scheduled to be remodeled into a carrier along with Akagi but… I fell in that natural disaster. Cough cough… As you can tell, I am of weak constitution, but please pay it no mind…" (Amagi)

Amagi? The only Amagi I know is the Unryuu-class Aircraft Carrier in Kure, the busty and skimpy idl-looking one. At least, that's she looks like to me. From what I know, Amagi was badly damaged and moored on land after the Great Kanto Earthquake. If our Amagi became an Aircraft Carrier, this Amagi must be the one that remained in her original Battlecruiser form. That might explain her frail body.

"Nice to meet you, Amagi-san. Tell me, why and how did you enter this Naval District? I was sure locked up the gates and all the other entrances."

"Our commander made a request to Yokosuka Naval HQ to let us enter and clean the place as an apology for the trouble our girls caused. An Grand Admiral by the name of Takamori Rondo-sama approved this request and hand us the Master key." (Amagi)

Rondo... You could have at least informed me about this.

Amagi suddenly knelt down and took a Dogeza stance.

"On behalf of Azur Lane and Sakura Empire, I sincerely apologize for the recent actions of my juniors. Please, forgive us." (Amagi)

Eh?! What is with this development? If you do something like that, I have no idea how to react!

"F-for now, please lift your head. The whole incident wasn't your fault."

"It is our fault. If only we taught and brought them up properly, Zuikaku-chan and Shoukaku-chan wouldn't have ended up like that." (Amagi)

I crouched down beside her and lifted her chin.

"Please stand up. Your body is frail, right? It is bad to remain like this."

"But..." (Amagi)

"Please..."

"I understand." (Amagi)

As Amagi tried to stand, she started coughing violently.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm- *cough* *cough* I'll be fine. This is normal." (Amagi)

I started patting her back gently. I'm not sure how this can help, but my parents used to do it to me once I was young. It helped me feel better back then. It works till even now.

"Admiral. I brought the mop and brooms. Shall we start cleaning your- ah..." (Zuihou)

Zuihou walked in as I was treating Amagi, who is still coughing. I'm not sure what was going through her head, but she looks confused and shocked.

"Amagi-nee-sama, where are you? Huh? Zuihou-chan! Did you see- What were you doing to my dearest sister?!" (Akagi)

Akagi, who noticed Zuihou at the door, entered the room as well. For the first time in a while, I felt my life was in danger.