Laughter and cheers filled the air as the Mutsuki class Destroyer play with... well smaller versions of themselves in front of Mamiya's shop. Azur Lane's Commander, Suwanto Ao, is here to visit, and he brought 11 children, a famous Aircraft Carrier that has many names throughout history and still scares the crap out of the girls who encountered her, and a maid. He did tell me he was coming this morning. I just did not expect him to bring children along.
I did not think the Mutsuki-class from another world were children. They are almost as tall as the Coastal Defence Girls.
Belfast stood by his side, as expected of a maid. Enterprise is chatting with Victorious at another table while eating some snacks. Since both of them are Americans and were survivors of the war, they must have lots to talk about.
Meanwhile, Zuihou is sitting beside me. Or should I saying, hiding. She keeps taking nervous glances at Enterprise, who is at the other table.
Right now, we are at Mamiya's cafe, having a discussion about Azur Lane's current condition and the war situation. He has been going to each base to form contingency plans with each Admiral. He is basically giving us information on the most dangerous Red Axis girls. I already had a run-in with 4 of them, one of which became a turn-coat.
It has been a week since our holiday and our... night activity. Everything has been normal so far. Apart from sleeping on the same bed, Zuihou and I haven't really done anything else so far. It makes that night feel like a dream. Of course, I don't expect us to have sex everyday.
An expressionless little girl with long blonde hair and a long ahoge sits on Commander Suwanto's lap, trying her best to stay awake. She is dressed rather lightly and scantily. She is wearing a white leotard-like open-sided dress with black linings, a furred choker, white puffy detached sleeves, bands and cuffs. White thigh-high legwear with blue & black bands covered her thin legs. Her outfit has a rather futuristic and sci-fi theme to it, with black and blue patches, and blue-coloured electric designs all around. Her long blonde hair is tied into twintails, albeit a little messy.
"Master, I will carry Eldridge for you." (AL Belfast)
"Unnn!" (AL Eldridge)
Like a baby refusing to leave her parents arm, Eldridge made a weird noise and gripped onto her Commander's uniform tightly. Blue sparks flew and I could've sworn her ahoge stood on its end as she protested being carried by another person. It was as though she was emitting electricity and her ahoge is alive.
"It's all right. She doesn't want to let go." (Commander Suwanto)
Eldridge glanced at me. No, her eyes are fixed on the girl beside me. There it is again. Her ahoge just formed a heart before returning back to normal when the Commander stroked her head.
"Now. Where were we?" (Commander Suwanto)
"Hm? Oh. About your island."
"Oh, right. With some help from the US government, facility construction is going swimmingly. About 85% of our buildings are fully operational. Give it a month or so and we can finally conduct a large-scale operation against the Sirens." (Commander Suwanto)
That's fast.
"Wow. That's fast!" (Zuihou)
"Yes. It was a good thing our technology was capable of working in this world. Since the materials were cubic-shaped, it took some time for us to create an anchoring device before we could move on to the foundation and subsequently, the base of the island." (AL Belfast)
"Next was terra-forming parts of the island to beautify it and establish the locations of the facilities we want to build. We have a limited stock of wisdom cubes and I'm not keen on converting them into building materials. As part of the protection deal, we managed to procure military-grade materials for a cheap price and used those to build our facilities. Once the whole team is back together, we are looking to create a shopping district. An area where the girls can relax and unwind after a long day of battling Sirens." (Commander Suwanto)
"So it's like building a city. I'm still surprised the US agreed to all these."
"President Armstrong may look and sound like a madman, but he is quite easy to please. A little racist, but that's not a problem for me. It's all just business. Though, if for some reason he pissed me off, I can make my own version of what you guys call 'Liberty Down'. That will teach them." (Commander Suwanto)
"Please don't. The last we need is for them to launch their nuclear warheads all over the place."
"Anyway, have you had anymore run-ins with the Sirens or Red Axis Kansen recently?" (Commander Suwanto)
"We did meet Fusou, Yamashiro and two Destroyers. The case which I talked to you about. Aside from that, that's it."
"Do you have some kind of magnet which attracts the Red Axis girls to you? You have more run-ins with them more than us. And we are the ones that are supposed to deal with them." (Commadner Suwanto)
"I don't know. You tell me. Our hands are already full with the Abyssals and I have my own things to worry about."
"I feel you there. Things were already hard enough as it is back in our original world. Now, we are thrown here and have another list of enemies to deal with." (Commander Suwanto)
The two of us let out a sigh.
"Anyway, take a look at this. Belfast, if you would." (Commander Suwanto)
"As you command." (AL Belfast)
Belfast took out 3 folders from the bag she was carrying and passed it to Suwanto.
"I passed these folders to every base in the IJN. This one is about the red Axis girls that you should look out for, this one is about the ones who are still missing from Azur Lane, and this is a contingency plan should you ever meet an Elite Siren." (Commander Suwanto)
I took the files and look through them. The one I'm more interested in is the contingency plan. It's a little too thin for a contingency plan.
"So we can't just shoot our way through those things?"
"If they are just mass-produced ones, sure. The Executor class are a little tougher and smarter so we need to be more careful. The Elites are the problem. They can hack into you comms channel and battle net to learn about your plans and strategies." (Commadner Suwanto)
"That's... going to be problem..."
"Yep. It is a huge problem. Since you guys don't have the same level of anti-hacking and firewall technology we have, you are going to have to be creative. This are just some which I came up with and used before we figured out and implemented the anti-hacking technology. You have to be creative." (Commander Suwanto)
Arbitrary Symphony. That's a cool sounding name... The way it's executed is... interesting?
"Well. That's all I came here for. If you have anymore encounters with them, let me know. I will also inform you of any new developments with the Abyssals." (Commander Suwanto)
I closed the Contingency plan folder,
"Thank you. You can stay here a little longer. Maybe tour around the base or visit the nearby cities."
"I appreciate the offer. Hmm..." (Commander Suwanto)
"Master, we still have quite some time before night falls. I suggest you take a break. Master has been working non-stop ever since the island started construction." (AL Belfast)
"I concur. Commander, you need to take breaks." (AL Enterprise)
Zuihou gripped my sleeve as she hid behind me. I glanced around to make sure no one is looking before holding her hand. I looked at her and gave a small nod.
"I got it. I also want to see what this worlds version of Sakura looks like. What are the tourist spots you recommend?" (Commander Suwanto)
"If you are into temples and religious stuff, Kyoto is just right outside. If you want shopping, head to Osaka. It's just 2 hours from here. You can take a bus or a train."
"Osaka sounds more interesting." (Commander Suwanto)
"Good choice. You should visit Umeda. They have a plethora of things there. Shin-sekai is interesting. It more of a scenic spot rather than shopping. Here, I will list out the interesting place and you can just pick some."
I made a small list of the shopping and tourist spots that might interest them. It's all the ones that are nearby and aren't too far away from the centre. They still have a long journey home. Unless they want to stay for the night. I don't mind that as well.
Belfast looked through the list I had created.
"I understand. Master, I suggest going to Tenjinbashi-suji and Honmachi first. If we can get food and kitchenware, the maid corps will be able to create even more delicious food." (AL Belfast)
"No. Umeda is better. It's an all-rounder, so we can get more things from there." (AL Enterprise)
"We can decide this along the way. Admiral Keita, can I entrust you with the small ones?" (Commander Suwanto)
"You are not going to bring them along?"
"I doubt they would want to follow me. Those little ones are having too much fun to notice I'm going out. And this one is already falling asleep." (Commander Suwanto)
Eldridge eyes are half-closed and her head is bobbing up and down.
"Erm... Can I carry her?" (Zuihou)
Zuihou finally said something in a while.
Eldridge groggily opened her eyes and looked at Zuihou.
"If she allows you to. This girl can be really picky with who carries her. What do you say, Eldridge?" (Commander Suwanto)
Eldridge rubbed her eyes and stretched her hands towards Zuihou from across the table.
"Hug hug." (AL Eldridge)
"Huh. That's unexpected. Here. She is all yours." (Commander Suwanto)
Suwanto held Eldridge and passed her to Zuihou, who nervously took the little girl and craddled her in her arms.
"Support her butt and place her close to your chest." (Commander Suwanto)
"Li-like this?" (ZUihou)
"Yes. Just like that." (Commander Suwanto)
Zuihou's holding Eldridge like how a mother would hold a baby. Another cute memory saved inside my head.
"H-how is it?" (Zuihou)
"Unnn~ Comfy~ Sleepy~" (AL Eldridge)
Her ahoge once again formed a heart-shape before closing her eyes.
"Haa~ah~aa~ah~... Ad-Adm-Admiral, l-l-lo-look!" (Zuihou)
She is making such a weird and excited face as Eldridge seemingly fell asleep in her arms.
"Calm down. You might wake her up."
"She is so cute~" (Zuihou)
"Then, we will leave the small one to you." (AL Enterprise)
"Yeah. Go out and have fun."
The three of them left the base to catch the bus to the train station. I tasked Mutsuki and Agano who to look after the smaller Mutsuki class destroyers and told them to use the entertainment room as a nap room for the kids. Victorious also joined in the fun and entertained the small ones.
Zuihou, still giddy with Eldridge in her arms, decided to walk around the base for a while before heading back to her room to put the little girl on the bed. She really loves kids.
Makes me wonder...
Should we have children of our own? I will have to wait till she hits her potential threshold before I can get a ring and conduct the ceremony. A pregnant Zuihou... It's exciting if you think about it, in more ways than one.
Originally, Shipgirls can't get pregnant. This was confirmed by a certain Admiral Akiyama and his then-girlfriend Kongou. No matter what they did, Kongou couldn't get pregnant. At that time, Kongou's strength and potential had already peaked and she was one of the strongest battleships in the entire IJN. It was only after the creation of a certain device known as a 'Wedding Ring' and marriage ceremony then Kongou managed to get her first child. It was with this new creation and ritual that two new interesting things were discovered.
The first one was obvious; apart from being pronounced husband and wife as all wedding ceremonies do, the wedding ring and ceremony grants a shipgirl the ability to conceive. The magic behind it remains a mystery as further testing was rightfully deemed unethical by the Internal ethics committee. The second was far more subtle but has a huge impact; the cap on the shipgirl's potential has been removed. Kongou, and subsequently Ise and Houshou, have commented that they felt stronger after their respective marriages. They continued to grow with every sortie. This was evident during battles, where Kongou and Ise each took down an Abyssal Princess on their own, a feat which would have required an entire fleet to achieve.
Zuihou still has a long way to go. But time is something we have. We still have many years to spend together. Once she is ready, we will make a family.