=================
It has been a week since the encounter and the first win of Azur Lane's fleet against the Sakura Empire. And since then, the morale has been up. Efficiency was even better than last time. And about the disappearance and teleportation events that happened to Caster, he talked about it with Hood. In which she got surprised and knows about the white Wisdom Cube's power to... Teleport in random intervals?
The cube really needed more research into it. But on the other hand, Hood also told Caster on how did they got more powerful in a blink of an eye. And she also mentioned it's because of the power boost they got it made the Sakura Empire patrols go back to their base.
Caster was... Unsurprisingly confused. Maybe it had to do with the Wisdom Cube and then he remembered that the cube glowed and did something but Caster was hiding inside the building because he thought he's going to get teleported again.
It was an awful explanation but Hood was such an alpha that she actually got what he was saying after all of the blabberings. And Hood correctly assessed that Caster is horrible in explaining.
"I got weirdly nervous while explaining the events that happened to me." Caster said. Hood smiled and giggled afterward.
Anyway, enough of that... About the hip injury that Caster suffered. It wasn't as bad as the girls said it to be. But it was necessary. Because if Caster keeps getting injured, he'll basically turn into another Yorktown type of situation. So Caster taking care of himself. But the paperwork from the last 4 days can be put into one word. 'Suffering'. It made Caster more sleep-deprived, and his stress problems are going into a downward spiral.
But 3 days ago, he announced to the fleet that as the fleet grows, he will issue more scheduled patrols, missions, and larger commissions. Caster was finally getting the hang of being a Navy Commander.
=================
The scene was a very familiar one. The mysterious person who was on the edge of the aircraft carrier. Still was singing the song. And the moon illuminating the dark, dark skies.
But this time, the voice was so enchanting, that it made her come near to the mysterious person.
"You need to pick me up... I'll be here on 25..."
"You've been here this whole time?" The mysterious paused singing. "It's rude to be sneaking up on a person like that." The person turned around.
It was Caster. And he was smirking at her.
The smirk made her look away from him and blood rushed to her face.
"Y-your... Voice. And that song. I-I wanna hear that again." As she sat down next to him.
He smiled. And moved dangerously close to her.
Breathing on her neck. "I won't disappoint."
=================
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Enterprise shouted as she shooting out of her bed. Panting heavily.
'W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-what... Just h-happened?' She thought as she touched her neck. And she only realized that it was only a dream. She put her palms on her face as she was flustered.
"It's... Only a dream right?" She muttered. And she wiped off the sweat of her forehead. "But why am I dreaming about him?"
=================
Caster was in his office. He already finished his morning routine. He was reading some commission confirmation papers. But Caster didn't look like himself. He was wearing something that wasn't there before. Eyeglasses. He had requested reading glasses and he got it in a timely manner.
But it was getting boring in the office. He finally finished signing the confirmation papers. As he laid down his reading glasses on the table. And fortunately, it was the last of the papers for now. And he got bored.
He turned his head to the guitar. Thinking that he might wanna use it.
"Hm... Should I..." Caster stared at the guitar for a solid minute. But he finally got to a decision that he isn't gonna play it today for now. Instead, he had a better idea.
=================
The docks. Illustrious was outside with Unicorn and she was holding an umbrella to protect them from the sun. It seemed they were waiting for someone.
Waiting... Waiting... And the 2 saw a car going towards them. Illustrious smiled, ready to meet up on one of her best friends.
Finally, the car stopped in front of them and one of the doors opened.
"Sorry, I got here very late."
"Don't worry Wales. Waiting is just a small price for your arrival." Illustrious giggled.
She is Prince of Wales. She's also one of the most infamous British ships in their history. Right up there with Hood in terms of significance.
"Where is Hood?" She said. As the car she was just in was speeding away now.
"Oh, I don't know either," said Illustrious, looking behind at Unicorn in which she was shy of Wales.
"Come on now, Unicorn. You know me right?" Wales smiled and waved at Unicorn.
The girls talked some more and finally, they got to the topic of the new Commander of Azur Lane.
"Is the new Commander like last time?" Wales said awaiting a response. She was also here when the last Commander was here.
"Don't worry. We got a really trustworthy Commander." Illustrious answered. "And you don't have to leave anymore. You can stay here indefinitely."
"Okay... I trust you on that one." Wales looked at the ground. Remembering what the former Commander did back then.
One of the many reasons why the former Commander of Azur Lane was ousted from the base is not just he was very incapable of Commanding a very large fleet. He was very... Creepy. Among the girls. The person would do "indecent" things to many of the girls and even destroyers. The kids. Yes, you heard that correctly.
And it got to the point that some of the girls just left the fleet. Like Wales did to not get more harassment from the former Commander. And it kept happening until Enterprise just had enough and kicked him out.
Wales is still worried though. And she really hopes that what Illustrious was saying about the new Commander was right. Because back in the Royal Navy, she really didn't have many people to talk to. Hood and Illustrious were on the Azur Lane base. The only one she could talk to on an everyday basis is Queen Elizabeth. But sometimes she would be loud and when she talks to her, the atmosphere of the room gets tense for some reason.
And she just came back to the Azur Lane base just to get to talk with her good friends again.
"Shall I get you to the Commander?" Illustrious suggested. Making Wales worry.
Wales didn't answer. And Illustrious knew what this meant. But Unicorn stepped in.
"U-um... Wales. Big brother is very nice." Unicorn stuttering in her words, but Wales got the message nonetheless.
=================
"Commander! Take this!" Thatcher said as she gave Caster a toy.
Caster smiled. "What should I do with this?"
Caster is having fun with the kids in the base. They were roleplaying. It consisted of Caster, Thatcher, Fletcher, and Spence. Caster had no idea what they were doing but he just played along.
But the 4 weren't alone per se... Javelin, Laffey, Ayanami for some reason. And Z23 was in the room. They were just having their daily fun with the Commander. Except for Nimi. She really wasn't having it.
"I, Thatcher. Princess of the Waves shall give this bear as a welcoming gift!" Thatcher pointed at Caster. Making him smile.
"Okay. I'll take this and keep it somewhere safe. Is that good?" Caster asked.
"Of course! Don't lose it!" Thatcher said.
Z23 really wants the kids to go back to their classrooms and learn again. She's basically a workaholic.
"Come on now, let's get back to class." Z23 sternly said to the kids.
As she was saying this, Laffey just... Climbed on the back of Caster and just stayed there... And started to get sleepy...
"What..." Caster said as he looked at Laffey.
"Go... Sleep. Here..." Laffey lazily mumbles as she is dozing off on his shoulder now.
"I'm sorry, Commander." Javelin nervously smiles but she was sneakily getting closer and closer to Caster.
Ayanami was in striking distance of Caster but she couldn't muster up the courage to get near him.
Z23 was still telling the kids to go back to the classroom but to no avail. And at this time, Enterprise opened the door into the room. In which her eyes just gravitated to Caster who was looking he is going to custody on what he's doing right now.
"Excuse me," Enterprise said. "What's going on?"
"Boo! I don't wanna go back to class! Play!" stated Thatcher.
"Can't we play a little longer?" Spence pleaded.
"Classes are really boring now..." said Flecther.
"Boo..." Caster sarcastically said as he was doing the thumbs down gesture. Laughing slightly in the process.
"Oh, I'm fine you 4 playing some more. But do you think Yorktown will be okay with that?" Z23 turned serious real quick.
The kids froze. Color draining from their faces. Yorktown already lectured them about playing too much. And the kids don't wanna make her mad again. So the kids followed Z23 out of the classroom.
"She doesn't really like fun sometimes." Caster chuckled a little bit. "Oh, shoot. The time isn't on my side right now. I'll get going for now."
"Okay, Commander." Javelin said as she took Laffey off Caster's shoulders.
"Oh, yeah. Enterprise. What are you doing here?" Caster asked Enterprise in which she looked away from him a little bit. Remembering the steamy dream she had a few hours ago.
"Oh, nothing... I was just checking around the rooms..." Enterprise said.
"Okay... Have you took out the daily patrols now?" Caster asked Enterprise.
"Of course."
"Okay. I think that's it. I'll take my daily walk around the base." Caster left the room.
He was outside walking taking his "daily" walk. But this time, Belfast, wasn't here to accompany him. And it made Caster think about it while walking. But he saw some girls looking up. On a tree. He went there to check it out. I mean, he had nothing to do. If Belfast were here, she would give Caster some extra-curricular things while walking.
He finally got there and asked what's the deal.
There were 3 girls. And they turned around and he saw Oklahoma. Caster knows her already, but the other 2, wasn't so much.
Portland.
Saratoga. This girl will be a handful for Caster. Since she really likes pranks. Not to mention, Saratoga and Portland, this will be their first encounter with Caster.
"Commander! Can you help us here?" Oklahoma stated. As she pointed to the coconut tree.
Caster squinted his eyes trying to see what the hell is up there... And he finally got to see what's up there. A ball. Stuck between the leaves.
Portland and Saratoga froze because of the memory of the former Commander of Azur Lane.
"Alright... I see it now." He nonchalantly said. "Step back. And give me a minute."
Without even thinking about it, Caster leaped onto the tree and climbed it. The girls weren't expecting it. The plan they had in mind is to get something tall enough to poke it off the tree. In nervousness, Oklahoma and Portland told Caster to get down from the tree. But to no avail.
For Caster, he remembered this climb because of his one obstacle course that he had. The "confidence" course. It's to test their skills and face their fears. Especially the rope drop thing. Back then, he had a fear of heights. And in doing what he is doing right now, climbing the coconut tree and stuff, he can face this fear of his again. But as the name suggests, he had confidence in his skills now.
He finally got to the top and the girls were shocked. They didn't believe in him and he proved them wrong. He threw the ball to them and he jumped down and did a safety roll. (You know like people do when they land and they don't want their feet destroyed.)
The girls were dazzled by his courage to climb up that tall tree and confidence to jump back down without getting hurt.
"That was it?" Caster sighed in boredom. "I'll be going now... I guess you can play volleyball now." As he started to walk away.
"Thank you!" Portland thanked Caster in which he raised his hand up. Giving a thumb up.
Caster walked away with more boredom than last time. He contemplated going back since he had no one to talk to. And he finally made a decision to go back to the office.
But as he was walking back, he saw... Petals. Petals falling from the sky. He got confused. Thinking that it was unnatural, he got to his replacement communicator, in which he paid again a really high price from Akashi.
=================
Most of the important girls came to Caster as he all called them to check out what's happening with the pink petals falling from the sky.
He called Hood, Belfast, (She got back.) Z23, Hornet, Illustrious, and Enterprise. Though she was late...
=================
"I've been feeling restless Vestal... I don't know why." Enterprise told Vestal. Tapping her finger on the table.
"Restless? Really? Are you sure that you're not debilitating yourself?" Vestal looked at Enterprise with a stern look.
"I don't think so. I have been following what you're saying to me. Eating healthy, sleeping at the right time, but I still feel like this." Enterprise's tone got more worried.
"I think you should just sleep right now in a comfortable environment. If that doesn't work, just tell me and I'll change up your routine. Are we clear on that?" Vestal told Enterprise as she poked her nose.
=================
'Okay... Why am I here now?' Enterprise was standing outside a door. Not just any door. The door to Caster's office.
She came into the office and noticed that there was no one here.
'Should I really do this?' She thought. Thinking back to what Vestal said to her.
But she finally got the courage to sleep in the room. On the sofa. Not as comfortable as a big bed, but this is a place where the atmosphere made her more relaxed.
"Maybe just a few minutes..." As she finally dozed off.
=================
At 5 PM, Enterprise finally woke up from her not-so-short nap. She let out a huge yawn and stretched a couple of times.
Then she looked in front of her, there was a table. There were newspapers, a small vase, but there's one thing that she got her eyes on. Eyeglasses. Not just anybody's eyeglasses. The same glasses that Caster was using earlier.
She looked on the desk if someone is there. No one is there. She looked on the door if someone is going to come in. No one is planning to go to the office.
Now she was sure that she was alone. She took the eyeglasses off the table and decided to wear the eyeglasses. And it looked good on Enterprise as she looked into a mirror.
She smiled knowing that Caster's eyeglasses looked good on her also. She has been eyeing these glasses since he got it 2 days ago. But her communicator suddenly rang.
But she looked outside and she saw the flower petal going around. And she knew what this meant. She didn't need the communicator to tell her what's going on.
So she scurried outside of the building in which she saw Hood, Illustrious, Hornet, Belfast, and Z23 looking up at the petals falling.
"This isn't natural at all. Does this happen sometimes?" Caster asked if someone here knows about this.
"No." Enterprise stepped in. "This is her doing."
And she timed it so perfectly as two figures emerge from the petals.
A-kun: Too lazy to get their individual pictures. So why not put them in one?
Caster knew that the 2 are probably enemies. And the girls formed their weapons in anticipation of an attack.
"Akagi... Never thought you would come here without your bodyguards," Enterprise walked in front of Caster told the red fox-girl.
"I am strong by myself. I can take you all at once." She retorted.
Caster's expression turned serious as his aura of authority has been released. The girls beside him and felt the aura and they know now Caster is not fooling around.
"Me and my sister will crush all of you. So, don't even try." The white fox-girl said. Trying to scare them.
"You sure like barging in even though you're not relevant to the discussion." Belfast stepped forward.
The white fox immediately got angry at those words and almost attack Belfast but not before Akagi stopped her.
"Sister..." She told Akagi.
"Kaga. We're not here to make a fuss with them." She looked at Caster. "Just the opposite in fact." As she walked past Enterprise and Belfast to get close to Caster. The 4 girls behind him, Illustrious, Hornet, Nimi, and Hood were preparing for combat.
Caster sighed. "Don't worry. Let's hear them." As he raised his hand and the girls obliged.
"You're the 2nd "otherworlder" in this world..." Akagi looked at Caster with a slight look of disappointment. "And just as bad as the last one."
With the knowledge of the former Commander being an incapable leader, he took offense with the words she said.
"I've heard that a lot. Can you be so sure of that?" He said smiling. But it did little to hide his anger.
"Comedy," Akagi said. Looking down on him.
"I'll keep this brief. Submit to me, and your merry little fleet will go unscathed."
Caster laughed at the idea of surrender. And it made Akagi mad.
"Who do you think you are laughing at me?!" Akagi said. But Caster is undeterred.
"Then why did you come here to negotiate? When you already know the answer?" Caster asked Akagi. Their auras colliding the other girls felt the mood get tenser by the second.
To keep the situation more volatile, Kaga calmed her sister down. And she smirked.
"3 days... I'll give you 3 days to make a response. I'll crush you all nonetheless." Akagi said to Caster who just smiled.
She was getting super irritated that a person would disrespect her like that.
"Come Kaga." As the 2 were engulfed by Sakura rose petals and the petals scatter. Leaving no one in sight.
The girls were all looking at Caster who was still smiling almost arrogantly.
"I know what you're all thinking girls. And don't worry. I have experienced this before. Come on. I don't plan to lose." Caster said turning around to go back to the office.
And lastly, he mumbled. In confidence that he's going to beat them.
"3 days is all I need..."
A-kun: Wooo... I need to keep the writer's flame ablaze. I'm slowly running out. I'll watch more Azur Lane stuff and probably started focusing. And by the way, in the next chapter, I'll announce something important. Anyway, I think that's it. See you all next chapter readers! Bye!
Word Count: 3299 Words.
10:47 PM
4/16/20