Our Bonds

Since we partied till late night, the Azur Lane trio stayed over in the entertainment room. The next morning, Azur Lane's Commander called Akashi, their Akashi, over to our Arsenal and find out the reasons why Purifier was repelled so easily. I'm also curious about this.

This Akashi is really weird. She has cat ears and wears an oversized coat. She doesn't look like an auxiliary ship at all.

"This is not made of out mental cubes nya." (Cat Akashi)

Cat Akashi tried to dismantle and inspect a 12.7cm Twin Gun Mount. She only took out the gun barrel and it's outer shell, before giving her analysis.

"I know that. So?" (Commander)

"Commander, you are nyat so smart, aren't you?" (Cat Akashi)

"Wha-?" (Commander)

"What I'm saying is, the reason why our allies can do so damage to our enemy is because they are not made out of mental cubes nya. Their weapons are entirely different from ours nya." (Cat Akashi)

While their Akashi inspects our equipment, our Akashi is busy taking a QF Mk V apart. But...

"What is this? Why did it turn into a coin?" (Akashi)

"Ahh! What did you do nya? Why did you scrap it?!" (Cat Akashi)

The gun Akashi was dismantling gave out a small flash before disappearing, leaving behind a gold coin. So that's happens to their scrapped equipment. While convenient, it's sort of a waste. Ours need to be taken apart piece by piece and melted down before it can be turned into a resource.

"Scrapped it? All I just did was remove the gun from its mount!" (Akashi)

Ignoring their squabbling, the Commander continued his questions.

"Hmm... But even the weapons are different, what does it got to do with Purifier losing?" (Commander)

"I'm getting to that part. As you know, we shipgirls and our equipment are made out of mental cubes. The Sirens, who are basically our creators, have some control over our attacks because of the mental cubes in our equipment nya. That's why Purifier was able to do all that nya." (Cat Akashi)

"The reason why Purifier's abilities didn't work on us is simply because our equipment isn't made out of mental cubes. She wasn't able to take control of them." (Akashi)

I understand. So it's like using fire on an enemy with fire immunity. Using weapons made out of mental cubes against an enemy that controls said mental cubes is definitely not the best idea.

"But isn't Purifier supposed to have some sort of otherworldly powers? Why didn't she use it during the attack?"

"Like the time when she stopped time." (Commander)

Stopping time? That's crazy!

"That's... I don't know nya. Maybe I can find out if you pay me." (Cat Akashi)

Cat Akashi gave Commander a smug look and the 'pay me' sign.

"Admiral, can you return some of the gems to me?" (Commander)

"No way. I already distributed all of them to the girls. You saw me do that last night."

"Ugh..." (Commander)

"Maybe if master didn't spent that much on buying new costumes for the North Union girls, you still would have enough reserves." (???)

"Belfast?! Why are here?" (Commander)

Belfast was standing behind us. Where did she come from?

"I have come to pick you up. It's almost time for lunch." (Belfast)

"Let's continue this next time. Now we know what is stopping us from dealing any damage." (Commander)

It's lunch time already? That was fast.

"Admiral?" (Zuihou)

I saw Zuihou peeking into the Arsenal, scanning around before landing her eyes on me.

"What's up?"

Zuihou walked towards me, carrying Eldridge in her arms.

"Oh my. I thought you were playing with Shiratsuyu-san and her sisters." (Belfast)

"She was following me on the way here. Anyway, Admiral, it's noon. Let's eat lunch together." (Zuihou)

Still holding on to Eldridge, Zuihou reached into her sleeves and took out an two-tier bento box. Eldridge stared at it intently.

"Eldridge-chan, are you hungry?"

Eldridge gave a small nod.

"Belfast, I'm going to borrow Eldridge-chan for a while. Is that fine?"

"Yes. If that's what you wish." (Belfast)

I expected her to question my intentions.

"Zuihou, you don't mind, right?"

"Eh? What are you-?" (Zuihou)

Zuihou looked at Eldridge who was still staring intently at the bento box. As Zuihou moved it around, Eldridge's eyes followed.

"No. Let's eat together, Eldridge-chan!" (Zuihou)

Eldridge's eyes sparkled and gave off a few sparks, which startled Zuihou a little.

"Ah... Sorry..." (Eldridge)

lt's fine. It's fine. I just got a little startled, that's all." (Zuihou)

"But..." (Eldridge)

It took a while to calm Eldridge down when she started crying.