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By the way this story is in Aoba's perspective, so I'll give you a background on the story and who she is. Aoba is a fellow student at Azur Lane High. She's part of the Writers/Publishers Club, which take in the most interesting stories provided to them by either fellow students of the school or otherwise and write about it for all to read. Mostly they do gossip and rumors, but they keep it to a high standard of no bullying or anything like that: since Princeton (the schools principle) will not tolerate this. For example one of the articles she published spoke about the schools cafeteria's secret lunch menu if you line up for the vegan only line. Titled from the Aoba Article: " Are Greens Good? The Secret Sauce." Which she explained in her article that she found out that every 3rd Tuesday of the month the dishes have a special white sauce used for dipping the veggies (which is uncommon for all the other days given basically no sauce at all). This of course got a lot of reads and a lot of ship girls lining up to try that secret sauce. See? No harm done in these rumor/gossip articles done.
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It was like any other day. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. You could smell the sweet scent of lovely Sakura Empire peddles falling from the beautiful cherry blossom trees.
However...
All is not well when in High School.
--- entry 1 starts below--
Today was a mess! We just took a big test today, it's supposedly suppose to class us based on how well you did on it. We don't get to choose teams, instead this test does it for you. Princeton thought that there should be a change up (as in previous years we got to choose who we wanted to sortie with and they stuck with us until the end of school) and this new switch up was the outcome. Oh... I hope I get nice and friendly team mates. I don't really care if they're good in battle, I just want a team who's motto is we did our best! No hard feelings! oh I hope they're not competitive..
Anyway... there's a girl I like in this school. She's super pretty but... she doesn't seem to notice me and I'm too afraid to go talk to her. Am I scared of rejection? Obviously. Argh! I better get some sleep... Tomorrow I'll know who my team mates are...
--- end entry---
--- events that took place earlier below---
Aoba woke up late! Argh! Not again!- she thought.
Her alarm that was suppose to wake her up, didn't. Because phone battery died. That's what you get when your on social media all the time.
Aoba rushed downstairs, skipping taking a shower. There was literally no time. Her very light almost neon blue hair was a mess. It was all out of place. Her cat ears ruffled. It was not one of her good days. She had an test today and couldn't be late! Luckily for her she knew her teacher Wichita always shows up to class 10 mins later than when the class is suppose to start.
Aoba practically jumped over the chain wire fence into the school yard. The doors of course were locked. For security reasons, and to deter tardiness.
Aoba used her cat like abilities and climbed up a nearby tree. Jumping from the tree branch through an open window. Just before Wichita walked in class.
" sup class, today's the test. I hope ya studied because I didn't make these questions" Wichita said, passing out SAT papers. They were used to test how smart a person/ship is. Whether that be in combat or in some convoluted ridiculous way. Princeton thought it was a good way to evaluate each ship, despite disregarding other things they have be better at.
Wichita: " guys to help you relax more, I'm gonna put on this music"
" uh this isn't helping our concentration, if anything it's making it worse" Houston said, making Wichita say " SHUT UP! NO TALKING!" as the class had to suffer listening to this.
Aoba was not having a good time on this test. She thought that she'd probably score really low on it. I mean who knows the circumference of (fill in whatever math thing you're thinking about).
Not to mention supposedly common sense questions, these are not common sense!
-example on test: " your team mate broke a leg, and Sirens are quickly approaching what do you do?" I mean... Aoba started to think were this biased questions? clearly if you wanna look good on the test than you're gonna say "help them escape but risk getting injured, killed, or caught" or "stay and fight but risk getting injured, killed or caught" and of course there's always that venomous answer of " leave them behind and save yourself"
This music wasn't helping either. I mean some of the ship girls were rocking their heads to the beat and enjoying it. Others well it was clearly annoying them.
Wichita: " times up! STOP!" announcing the end. Everyone put their pencils down.
The class was dismissed.
The next day was upon Aoba, this time she woke up on time. Getting to shower, do her hair, brush her teeth, etc. Make herself look good to meet her new team mates. She had missed working with Gridley, Maury, San Diego, Columbia, and Portland. After all, they were all friends, all part of the Writing Club and were a sortie team for 3 years of High School. The four year they thought they'd all be together again but this was not to be as Princeton's new announcement shifted their whole dynamic.
Of course there was protest about this new move, but Princeton wasn't having any. She informed all the Faction leaders that despite many ships arguments and complaints that this is beneficial for all factions because they get to experience being partnered up with random ships and make do with it. After all, life isn't always that easy when you get to be with whoever you want. That's not how battles at sea work, where you have to make do with what and who you have. Even if you don't like them, personality wise or battle wise.
Aoba checked the matching board the first thing when she arrived to school. After fighting through a whole crowd of ships who we're also viewing the board to see who they're teamed up with.
Aoba: " no way..." thinking she would've preferred to have the same level or weaker on her team but...
" really? paired up with you? You've got to be joking" Vanguard said, scoffing. Thinking this is some sort of sick mistake.
" you said it..." Roon said, not liking these girls at all. Thinking that Vanguard is too stuck up, and Aoba is too weak.
" let's all just get along ok?" Impero said, talking to a tree. She was informed at the front gate to look for Vanguard, Aoba, Suruga, Roon, and Sirius. Since she cannot see they just told her right there who she'll look for or uh... listen for.
" ughhh and of course we get the blind one.. hey! we're over here you dope!" Suruga said, crossing her arms. She had little patience for Impero to find her way to them, grabbing her wrist and yanking them into their inner circle of a group.
" hey that's not very nice" Aoba said, already not liking how these girls are talking in addition, how they're presenting themselves already.
Sirius: " oops! sorry I'm late! But I brought everyone a snaaaa---ackkkk!" tripping. Spilling whatever crapes and stuff she had made for them onto them.
" I see... you want to die.." Roon said, looking at her black top all covered in white sticky cream.
" uhhh! I- I'm really sorry! I didn't mean-" Sirius said, feeling really bad that she made a mess of things already.
" Of course! You never mean anything! Do you know how much these pair of shoes costed?! Uh of course we get the screw up of a maid on our team. You're more useless than her" Vanguard said, comparing her to Impero who's blind but at least didn't trip on anything yet. Seeing Sirius apologize to her and try to wipe her shoes which she had dirtied up. Causing Vanguard to up kick her in the face.
Vanguard: " did I give you permission to touch my shoes?" in a very nasty tone. Not even caring she hurt Sirius.
Sirius: " n-no.. s-sorry Miss" looking down on the ground in shame. Her face red with the hit mark.
" WOAH WHAT THE FUCK?!" Aoba said, out loud. Seeing what Vanguard did was extreme. Sure you may not like a person, but that doesn't mean you attack them after they genuinely apologized to you. That's just not right.
" what? what happening?" Impero said, confused. Not seeing what just took place. Since... blind... tugging on Suruga's arm.
Suruga: " ugh! don't touch me!" pulling her arm away from Impero and pushing her back. Causing her to bump into Roon.
Roon: " oh?..." as this unnerving feeling started to wash over Impero that she had done something to upset her.
Vanguard: " first things first, do not speak until you are spoken to. Second-" getting cut off by Aoba saying "she isn't your maid just because she's dressed like one" thinking Vanguard does enough maids already and this isn't right ordering Sirius around like that since she doesn't belong to her. She belongs to Duke. And second, seeing how she's already taking away Sirius's rights to be treated fairly in the group.
" hmph, maids like her are below me. And I already have a sufficient amount of competent maids working for me. I most certainly don't need this one. However, since you don't understand the Royal Navy or how our class system works. So I'd personally advise you to keep your mouth shut and stay out of it or else I can't promise you what'll happen if you keep speaking to me in this disrespectful manner." Vanguard said, already talking down to one of her team mates. In addition, telling Aoba to butt out and shut it before she gets onto her bad side.
Aoba took a deep breath and sighed. Thinking she's got a lot of work to do ahead of her. Clearly these ships all have their own troubles and problems they gotta deal with or have but surely they have to get along right?- Aoba thought. As the school announced they're gonna do a practice team bonding exercise.
" oh goody" Vanguard said, sarcastically. She wasn't looking forward to it.
" stand aside. I'll carry us" Suruga said, cockily.
" yeah sure" Vanguard said, shrugging not too fond of fighting. Caring more about other things.
" good luck everyone!" Impero said, happily. She was standing with another team.
" hey! idiot! we're over here!" Suruga shouted, seeing Impero have a embarrassed look on her face than started to make her way over.
" sheesh... i feel bad for you Aoba.." San Diego said, as she was on another team but was talking to her friend on the side since their teams are pretty close to each other.
Aoba sighed than smiled and said " no worries, surely we can all be friends" thinking it'll just some time. But it'll be worth it- Aoba thought. Thinking once they start to get to know each other better than maybe they'll treat each other better.
However... already it's not turning out to be like that...
" ugh! Sirius get your fat ass outta the way!" Vanguard shouted to the front line. Thinking Sirius always seems to be in bad positions and get hit from the backline.
" Sirius don't you have awareness of your basic surroundings?" Aoba asked, as her and Roon we're doing well not getting hit at all by any of the back liners.
Believe me it was a big fight for who's gonna be the flag ship and have that flag ship position. In the end, Impero would get the flag ship position since it's the optimal view of the battle field and attack spot. Unfortunately since she can't see that really put a damper on letting her be placed there but the latter helped more since they had two battleships and so it fit more to the rear side areas better than having two battle ships argue who's gonna be the flag ship. So, in the end it's a really good thing Impero is the flag ship. But that didn't mean she was the leader, on how it usually goes. Vanguard and Suruga argued a lot about being the leader of the team. And it's still not settled yet.
Vanguard eventually did back down, because Suruga brung up that she knows she isn't that fond of fighting or cares much about it. Even though Vanguard likes the power to boss others around and not be bossed around. So, Vanguard let Suruga be the leader. But of course doesn't always follow her orders like Roon who both of them did their own thing despite putting the whole team in danger.
" rank 4?" Suruga said, so upset. Despite other teams who got lower than theres were all happy and celebrating.
" well what did you expect? Look at our team" Vanguard said, expecting them not get a high score from the beginning. Their team is a mix between highish damage, somewhat medium evasion, and a little bit of medium to high tanking. The real damage comes from the backline, while the tanking and evasion comes from the front. Sure Sirius did good damage but it's not the best compared to other ships. Roon did good damage too but it's not as high as Sirius. And Aoba... well.. she's basically none existent. So, technically they have a 3 by 2 formation if you wanna put it harshly...
Impero: " I think that's pretty good!" not sure why everyone is so upset at that score.
" hah, I always get rank 1" Suruga said, thinking if she had her old team with her it would've been the same outcome for the past 3 years.
" really? are you a rainbow ship?" Impero asked, curiously since she cannot see frames.
" no. I'm a gold frame ship. But the reason why my team keeps getting rank 1 is because we all strive for being the best and do a lot of training to make it there. The other rainbow ships either don't really care about getting a score that high or are too inexperienced to get it" Suruga explained.
I'd like to say to the whole team that we should all be proud of getting that score, since we only knew each other briefly and this was our first times working together. But I felt like I had no say since I'm not a high frame like the rest of my team so I wouldn't know which rank is bad or good. Although it makes me feel bad because they could've gotten a higher score without me... since I'm a no frame ship.. I'm the lowest of the low. No frame... it's on the very bottom of the strength of a ship class.
It goes like this:
Rainbow frame is the top (practically they're like gods) and (scarcely any ship is like this).
Priority frame (which is like gold frames but has these weird little designs on the side) is second. Also even though they have these weird little designs on the side the strength difference is big. (rarely any ship is like this).
Gold frame is third ( little ships have it).
Purple frame is fourth ( few ships have this).
Blue frame is fifth ( some ships are like this).
No frame is sixth (most ships are this class).
" we could've gotten 3rd place if you'd tried harder though" Suruga commented, speaking to Vanguard who scoffed and said " and what would be the point? It's just a stupid little game" clearly showing that she's not like the gold frames who strive to be stronger or better. Because she knows she's perfect already. Although that charisma could use some toning down...
" Roon you're awfully quiet. What do you think about our rank?" Suruga asked, wanting to hear what she saids since she's a Priority Frame.
" hhmmm hhmmm huh? Did you say something?" Roon said, off in her own little world. Humming.
Suruga groaned and said " yeah I did! I said what do you think of our teams score?!" upset.
" it's fine~" Roon said, with a happy smile. Not complaining.
" yeah, I bet your super upset since you usually get rank 2 or 3" Suruga said, thinking the old team Roon was on had monsters. I mean they're ruthless. But when you lack restrain you lack strategy and that is why they were never rank 1.
--- start of entry 2 ---
The day ended, and it got me thinking if I should continue going to Writing Club since I'm the only one who dislikes the team I got. I mean, I know some of them are worse than others but still... seeing all my friends get team mates who are really nice and kind made me really jealous and I think my negative and somewhat nasty and mean attitude of having a bad day affected me and how I spoke to them because they tried their best to cheer me up and say that it'll get better which I still hope will be. Anyway, I'm the one who started the club! Of course I should still be going! But still... I feel like I need a break from it. I think I'll put San Diego in charge for a while... I hope that isn't a mistake.
Although my friends didn't even begin to score anywhere near where my team scored I think they had scored the best. Since they all enjoyed who they were with. Not me though. I feel like I should do a daily blog page on the schools newspaper about my daily endeavors with my new team. But than again.. I'd need permission to do it from my other team mates. Who I can already imagine telling me "no" and turning it down because they don't want their personal lives or how I feel about them or what happens within our team getting out and being read by other ships or teams.
Ugh! Today was just so terrible! I'm teamed up with Vanguard, Roon, Impero, Suruga, and Sirius. Starting off Impero and Sirius aren't so bad, sure they have their flaws but who doesn't? Can't blame Impero being blind but as for Sirius I really wished that she would try harder not to mess up. I mean I know she's not doing it on purpose but it's getting really annoying and frustrating seeing her fuck up. I wouldn't care but since she's on our team and we gotta work with her I care.
Despite the lack luster performance, and by lack luster I mean my own performance out there compared to my team mates, our team did good I guess. Well actually we got the ranking of 4 out of the 200 team groups, which is no easy stretch but I guess that's the good thing about having a rainbow frame ship on your team as well as strong and experienced ships who love to battle and fight. I mean Suruga and Vanguard did most of the carrying. Impero was a good support, despite being blind, she did a good job covering the front line from being too overwhelmed with enemies. At first it was unnverving to know a blind aircraft carrier is gonna start dropping bombs and knowing that all aircraft carriers have excellent eyesight. I wonder how she does it... I think tomorrow I'll ask her.
On the topic of comfort, I'm still not comfortable in the front line with Roon to your side... I mean.. she's mental... I'm really trying not to judge her but... it's really hard not to. She saids scary things in such an innocent way but it's totally evil! I mean I swear if you're not careful enough she'll strangle you in your sleep and say " oh dear! is she ok? I just thought putting a pillow over your face would help you sleep better..." yeah... it sure does make you SLEEP better...
Not to mention she breaks formation like crazy! She's a tanker but she can do some real damage.. her reload is crazy. I guess I shouldn't complain, she kept me and Sirius from taking a lot of damage. From the enemy that is, can't help Sirius from getting in the way of taking back line damage from our own team mates.
Still Sirius is okay in battle, I mean she's better at that than being a maid that's for sure. It's like a switch clicks in her. But I think she's holding back or letting her self-esteem get in the way of fighting. I think she second guesses herself a lot, and she awaits every order Suruga gives her to know what to do next. But Suruga can't always give the orders because she's gotta focus on other ships too to tell them what to do but Sirius just stands there and waits. It's like she can't think for herself or doesn't want to. It made her take a lot of unnecessary hits because she's waiting for Suruga to tell her what to do. Which I can see is pissing Suruga off a lot, where she's getting frustrated with seeing Sirius not being able to handle herself in battle and need more of her attention to function.
I kinda wished she had more confidence in herself and actually do what she thinks she should do in battle. But this kind of talking would definitely cause conflict with Suruga and Vanguard who want complete obedience from Sirius. I can just image telling her to have more confidence in herself and this coming back to bite me in the ass when Suruga comes yelling at me for some kind of decision Sirius makes in battle that was a mistake and she telling Suruga that I told her to think more for herself. But probably not in the context of a battle and vice versa if Sirius somehow gets in trouble with Vanguard it would be in the context outside battle which would all lead problems back to me and me telling her this. So, maybe it's better if I did keep my mouth shut for a while until things die down and I get to know them better to actually say these things.
Vanguard and Suruga are really bossy. It's like they're challenging each other but Vanguard seems to be more passive since she doesn't seem to care about battle yet she's a rainbow ship! So???!!! WHAT??!! this really gets me off on a tangent! that I think I'll waste up one page of my diary just writing about it! I don't understand how a ship like her who's so god awfully strong doesn't care about fighting?! I mean she can practically destroy not well enough equipped teams by herself in an instant of just firing one of her guns and it doesn't even need to be activated with a special ability which she has 3 bullshit ones that are totally sick and broken and even highly skilled teams too without breaking as much as a sweat! So I really don't understand why she doesn't want to go on missions or sorties, I know she hardly feels pain since she's so heavily armored so pain isn't a factor. I know she's not scared of sailing anywhere based on her attitude, so than why?- hmm maybe I should ask her. Suruga seems to know how rainbow ships tend to act and be, is it because they're so strong already they don't need to prove it or show off like gold ships? but I still don't get it... I really want to ask Vanguard. I bet I could post this in the daily schools paper too! it sure is a big mystery! but.. I'd have to get her consent... oh the woes of being a journalist.
Oh before I end it, I almost forgot to mention what I think of Suruga. I think that she's a bit battle heavy, meaning she cares more about fighting and less about anything else. I think that she somewhat takes into consideration her team but in battle analytics. I think she see's us more as tools to use than as people. I can't tell if she cares about our safety or not since she always seems so angry. I can see that she doesn't like be close to anyone on the team, because she keeps her distance from us. At least Vanguard has the decency to sit with us on the lunch table but Suruga doesn't. It kinda makes me almost hate her as much as Vanguard but I can't seem to compare since both of them are just as bad. Sheesh! I should quit writing and thinking like this! I want to help our team get better and grow! and this type of mindset isn't gonna do it!
--- end of entry---
The next day was upon me as I made my way to school. I met up with my team and we all had the same class together. Since that's how Princeton fixed our schedules to be, that all team members will have the same periods of class together to strength the bond. It makes sense, expect when you really don't like some of your team members... it becomes a big problem..
" hurry up! you've been in the showers for over 20 mins now!" I called out, thinking Vanguard is taking forever.
" oh miss here's your soap" Sirius said, becoming like a personal maid for Vanguard despite being Duke's maid. She ends up cutting out more time for her than Duke.
" don't drop it like last time" Vanguard said, extending her hand from the shower to take it. As I casually get ignored. ugh..
Sadly, Sirius dropped it.
Vanguard sighed as Sirius was gonna bend down and pick it up, Vanguard did something that surprised me. She stopped Sirius and picked it up herself. I had a nice look at her upper deck out of the shower... it made me blush and I quickly turned my head around. Sheesh... she's got a great body though...
Vanguard seemed to noticed that I had taken a glance at her and of course had to comment " what a bloody pervert"
I want to scratch her eyes out! ME A PERVERT?! I JUST HAPPEN TO BE LOOKING IN THAT DIRECTION!
" don't worry I'm not interested in you so" I said, in a sassy like way of mine.
" whatever you say" Vanguard said, through the showers. Ugh she always thinks that she's better than everyone, and that everyone wants her. But guess what! I don't! I have my eyes on someone else. But...
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Enjoy! Sorry I published it late :( I needed more time to type :'( Surely tomorrow I'll make it up to you ;) mmm