=================
It has been a week since the last time.
If the Commander was still stubborn, he surely wouldn't change a bit. But somehow and someway, he finally listened to something that is for his own good.
Wow! A changed man he is now.
He has been subservient more to the maids now and listening to their every command. Since you know... If he misbehaves, he's getting the 'chop'.
A-kun: I'll leave you that for deliberation.
And so far, it's going very well for him, WHO COULD HAVE THOUGHT? Not being a hard-headed idiot has resulted in him recovering faster than he could have.
And about the 5 secretary harem Caster just unintentionally made, they all made an agreement in which they will be no conflict between the girls.
It was a schedule like any other. Each girl will get their own time with the Commander except when it's work hours with a lot of papers.
Isn't perfect, but the best they can do for now.
For some of the girls, it was like trying to cheer Caster up from the 2 destroyers... (You know.)
But a predictable caveat. Since some of the girls have already well... "Fallen". For the Commander, they wanted some of their allotted time to be as much and private as possible.
Which was impossible with the amount of girls Caster has around him at all times. But they're clever. Roon once just walked out of a closet out of nowhere it won't be long for someone to steal it.
As for the condition of the island where Caster is commanding its members. One of the largest factions that he's gotten, the Sakura Empire, has almost moved all of its members to Caster's base.
But some girls opted to be left behind for a place for 'secondary' purposes in case the island was decimated. Good call.
As for how well they all fit? Being almost 100 ship girls? Will be enough docks to store all those ships? Enough dorms to house them all?
Slowly but surely, in the last few months, the girls in the Sakura Empire, with Akashi's financial help and some debt, were able to build houses relatively quickly to house all members and incoming to the island.
And all of this was done... With almost no consent from the Commander.
As for him... He was on a bench. With Yorktown and sister duo of Edinburgh and Belfast.
"Yorktown, you had it harder than me. No need to feel that bad."
"Commander... Stop with that attitude. I bet everyone in the fleet cares about you more than you care about them. That's how powerful your impact has been."
He gave Yorktown a stare.
"That doesn't matter. Besides, if I was a bit faster in my response to that attack, you wouldn't even have to fight."
As soon as he said it, he couldn't feel it directly, he felt something... Off-putting right after his statement.
He kept his head down and ignored the sudden atmosphere change. Then a little cough from Belfast beside him got his attention.
"Commander. Don't give us that. What happened, happened. And I think Yorktown understood that. So if you're still lamenting about that and Ms. Yorktown moved on from it, I think you have some problems to resolve."
"Oh..." He turned to Yorktown and Edinburgh giving him a stare. And doesn't seem to be favorable.
After thinking about it... He understood the maid's point of view and reasoning. He also noticed that he wasn't being 'himself'.
He knows that the girls are willing to do all the work themselves to help him to get back to speed. But his intuition makes him uneasy for quite a bit now. He needs to fix something, but he doesn't know what the hell it is.
Caster shook his head. 'I'll figure this out.'
His former officers always told him that he is always indecisive when it comes to his problems. Of course, in his long, long tenure with the military, Private, to being a Commander, he became much better at this department. He's leading human lives to a life or death situation, after all.
But like anyone, he hasn't completely removed this indecisive mindset. And he often overthinks and panics in a situation that isn't favorable to him. And he thinks that his indecisiveness still didn't change one bit. It's just as bad as before.
Born from his fear of the omnipotent presence of failure. A lot of things shaped him with that concept of him mostly losing starting off in the military.
His obsession with being 'prepared', His thirst for a 'perfect victory', and his unableness to keep himself intact in the face of a bad situation.
But that last part works a little bit differently. With his gifted mind that can guess correctly what's gonna happen to a battle using his intuition, environmental sense, and knowledge of the enemy, he can scheme any plan for any situation. He rarely loses when he's given time to prepare.
And it comes back to his indecisiveness. That's the one thing that will trip Caster over and over again. He lacks the ingenuity that made his other Commanders in his military tenure stand out.
=================
The 4 of them already moved on and started walking somewhere else. As the heat was getting to the 4 and they the maids didn't bring any umbrellas with them.
The heat was making all 4 of them look down at the ground as they can't bear to keep looking at the sun.
But for some reason, Caster tried to look forward. Aside from the road, he saw something blinding.
After the walk, and after the sun was finally covered by the clouds, Caster told them to look at what he was seeing.
"Hey, look-"
The 4 gazed at such a large structure that they sat there for a minute.
After the awe-inspiring structure that they have seen, the problem is, the thing was massive, but they couldn't make it out what it is.
Covered by the clouds, and filled with curiosity, all of them had the same idea.
Belfast looked at the Commander, which she saw an awed face. "Wanna go there?"
"Wait..." He looked down at the ground. "How come I haven't seen THAT?"
"Commander, you haven't been outside for 10 weeks now. In between your recent operation." Yorktown told Caster.
He froze at the statement...
"And the real last time you left was 12 weeks ago. When we were at the beaches." Yorktown just kept piling on.
And while just processes the things that Yorktown just said, Edinburgh tapped Yorktown's shoulder just indirectly telling her to 'stop, he's already dead.'
"Wait so... When I met the 1st Commander, what direction was it then?" Caster reminded himself of that event at the start of his Azur Lane tenure.
"Oh, that was nearby the school, yes?" Belfast replied. He nodded.
"I believe that it was north. So... Behind us."
"Huh, I see... I'm now actually curious what that area was where that guy tried to mug me was."
"Master, I believe that area was a conservation area set up by Shangri-la. She's on a journey around the world with her own team."
"Now that I have been reminded by it, I think she might have done this to get away from the 1st Commander..." Yorktown pondered. As she saw Shangri-La and her other members leave herself. But faded from memory.
"Interesting. Say, whoever she is, if you can contact her once again, convince her to return. She and her team, we could use their collective help."
"Noted, Master." Belfast took out her phone.
Now, there's nothing to talk about, FINALLY, just collectively agree that they should go to where the statue was
And it didn't take long on planning what they going to do to get to that place since that huge unknown statue.
Belfast bolted right after the plans were made, and after finding some shade from the blazing sun, Belfast came back with a limo right in front of them.
Caster was the first one to go inside, Yorktown was helped by Edinburgh to get into the vehicle. As her mobility is nearly wiped off of existence. So she more or less just carried inside the limo lying down.
And as Belfast's older sister folded the wheelchair to be carried inside, the limo took off towards their destination.
The view looked even better as they were getting closer and closer. Turns out, it wasn't as far as they first thought. Guess the statue they saw was just that massive.
"We're here, everybody. Commander, can you assist Yorktown out?" asked Belfast. Considering he doesn't get a lot of chores because of his position, he decided to take up the offer. He's still a 'worker man' at heart.
A-kun: I don't quite get what is that supposed to mean lol.
Edinburgh took out the wheelchair and Caster took out Yorktown to put her in her wheelchair. And since Belfast's a badass, just locked the door to the limo and just left it there. Going immediately with their adventures in this new, civilised area of the base.
And surprise, surprise, it's a lot of Japanese-style huts and houses all around them. The town was pretty crowded, see. As little destroyer children were out and about with their business, Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers were mingling as usual, and the grown-ups were staying indoors.
This very town made Caster smile a lot at what he saw most of the time. One could say: "Commander just can't stop smiling."
"Am I?"
"Yes. Yes, you are." Yorktown held his right hand. Returning a smile back at him.
"Well, I see this a lot, but I never appreciated it. Maybe because I'm in this state, that I'm not taking this for granted anymore."
"Are you quite old, Commander?" She pressed.
"I don't wanna disclose it. I'm still in this daunting state. Don't wanna add more baggage into it." He looked at Yorktown. Giving a look that pleads to not keep going anymore.
As they were walking, they weren't realizing it, (excluding the maids) but nearly every Sakura Empire member were just staring at the 4 foreign visitors. As no one other than them knows this place yet.
Well, the huge, finished statue is a clear indication something's there but nonetheless, most S.E members were happy to see their Commander to be at least well. Though still, most of the girls from that same faction still answer to Akagi and Nagato.
They haven't eaten lunch yet, the suns is peaking through the clouds again, they decided to find somewhere to hide from the sun, and to eat at.
Conveniently enough, beside them where they were cooling off from the sun, was a ramen shop. And Caster was very excited. He hasn't tasted 'real' ramen before. Stating that before this, he was eating instant ramen. Completely different.
He was the first to walk into the store. Who he met Hiei and some other girl in the kitchen. Possibly cooking something.
"Commander?! You're the last person that I would expect to be here. But please, suit yourself." She pointed on one of the seats, and Caster obliged.
"Pardon our intrusion." Belfast and Edinburgh both bowed before Hiei with Yorktown coming in last.
"Oh! Seems you brought friends, Commander. Come on, suit yourselves also."
The girl who was in the kitchen popped her head out to see what's the commotion. It was Shoukaku.
"Commander! You came! It was a matter of time... Do you like this place that we've built?" Shoukaku shot a sweet smile to Caster.
"The place is really well made. How long did it take to get this town to be what it is today?"
"If you're talking about the town, the houses here were built in a month. And the statue that you probably have seen already is one and a half months," said Shoukaku.
Caster, Yorktown, and the Edinburgh sisters were absolutely stunned, and how just Shoukaku just said all of that so casually.. And Hiei caught their expressions.
"It was just a combination of technology, the simple architecture of our houses, and girl-power." Hiei proudly proclaimed.
He was impressed by their abilities and showed him what the Sakura Empire can do outside of battle. He took note of this in his head.
"Anyway, I'm sure you're hungry from the sun, would you like some cold drinks before the ramen?" Hiei offered.
"Sure. We haven't eaten lunch yet also." Caster nodded along.
"How do you like your ramen, everyone?" said Hiei with a notepad & pen in her hand.
=================
After telling what they wanted in their ramen, not too long after that, the ramen they requested was finally served on their tables.
There was also a bit of whispering from Belfast to Hiei stating that this is Caster's first-ever 'real' ramen. So suffice to say Shoukaku tried extra hard to make Caster's 1st time with ramen the best he'll get.
"Wow... Smells amazing already." Yorktown applauded as she got the chopsticks.
Edinburgh and Belfast were also using chopsticks...
Well... Caster over here...
Can't use chopsticks.
And it didn't help when every girl was looking at Caster while also he's looking at them.
"Guys... Is it bad if I use something other than chopsticks? I can't use them." He hesitantly asked. Fearing something bad would come out of this question.
"Commander, go right ahead. Here." Hiei understood the problem and gave him a spoon and fork for his ramen.
"Thank you so much!" He thanked with a big smile. Made Hiei turn around but missed where he finally took the first slurps of his ramen noodles.
...
...
...
Speechless.
And even better he followed that up with more slurping. He's basically in love with the dish.
Every girl looking at him and his reaction was particularly cute. Which made the girls also finally eat their respective ramen.
Then Caster stopped for a second.
"I believe... You're gonna charge us with this, correct?" Caster asked Hiei, surprising her. As she didn't expect Caster to be reminded by that.
"Well... I would, but you're in pretty bad shape, Commander. I can't just do that without feeling bad about it." She threw a very worried look to Caster and his still injured arm.
"Miss me with that nonsense, I'll pay," said Caster before slurping more noodles. "Besides, the experience you have given me, I should and will pay. I'll also pay for their ramen too."
He still had his now per usual, poker face, but Hiei saw the emotion.
"Master, your selflessness hasn't changed one bit." Belfast complimented his resolve not breaking yet.
"I only get to do this rarely, girls. So don't worry about it. I want to impact you girls so I can make up that gap that I can't fill." He smiled as he reached into his pocket.
"What is it?" Yorktown asked.
"Your kindness." He smiled. "I'm just so lucky that I well, *inherited* this fleet. that I've been surrounded with such caring people."
"Commander... With that 1st Commander being a creep to all of us, you really didn't have to do much to make us all like you as our leader." Yorktown commented on Caster's line.
"I second Yorktown's statement. The bar has been set extremely low before you came in. But we can't take you for granted. THAT'S why we're doing all of these things to you." Belfast said as she *metaphorically* pounced on the wholesome train.
Those words, well, were enough to make Caster's face twitch a little bit. But he distracted himself but eating more ramen and getting a second serving. Though the girls noticed the little droplets falling into the ramen.
So after a little while, and as the sun was closing to sunset, the 4 finally take their leave. With Caster paying all for the food.
"Arigato u go za i mashi ta!" He blurted out. His tone was very hesitant, but the message got across nonetheless.
All of the girls were taken by surprise but this move.
"Shi ha ryokou naka ni nihongo o manabi mashi ta. Soreha ima yakunitatsu you desuka?" He spoke once more.
"It sure helped, Shikikan. Though your knowledge is a bit suspect." Hiei responded back.
The 3 could only stand there and watch in awe. They watched him take a bow and he turned around to look at them.
"Commander, don't start flexing on us like that." Yorktown joked.
"Well, I got to relearn some of my Japanese from Ayanami and Yamashiro, my secretaries. It still needs some work but I think I got to them."
"Okay, anyway. Time to go up there. What are we waiting for? The sun is about to set." Caster pointed at the stairs going up towards the statue.
As the 4 started their mini-hike towards the summit, back at the ramen shop. Both Shoukaku and Hiei were still dumbfounded by Caster's gesture of speaking in their native language.
And they were not alone this time, because of Caster staying in the shop as long as he did, almost every Sakura Empire member present in the town were all gathered inside the shop. Making it a bit crowded.
The girls were gossiping and it's very much making the shop noisy too.
"I didn't know that he was bilingual. This is a very pleasant surprise." Shoukaku said to the surprise of also everyone in the shop also. Almost all of them took kindly to the good news. As she walked out of the kitchen to also chat with Hiei and everyone.
"Is he really the Commander? He looks so fragile right now." Hiei asked Shoukaku. Having never seen him before but a few rare instances.
"Hiei, you should have seen him before he got injured. Aggressive and a genius in disguise. And apparently very lucky." Shoukaku described her experiences on the field with Caster.
A-kun: Ironic. Just. Ironic.
"Shoukaku-neesan, is he always like this?"
"He is. And also...
"I must say, He's very, *very sweet*."
The loud talking and some whispering from the girls were already noisy, after Shoukaku said what she said, the shop's volume turned to 'noise-complaint worthy' mode. As everyone was just losing it.
Away from the noise and back with peace, the 4 of them finally got on top of the hill and saw the statue towering above them. The girls weren't tired at all, aside from Caster whose breathing is getting very heavy.
=================
"Master, I'm going to accompany Yorktown and my sister. I do hope that you can stay there and not go too far off?" said Belfast.
"It was a tiring climb, so you can bet your life that I will not go anywhere." He stated in exhaustion.
"I apologize, but I'll be brief." And after that, the maid left Caster to go help Edinburgh.
A stare at Belfast as she walked away, and then he hears some water dripping nearby. He swiveled his head around trying to locate where was the thing he's hearing. After a stroll around the area, he finally found the place.
He found a bamboo water fountain. Happy with his discovery, he stood there.
The ambiance of the water was putting his mind in 'zen'. In the calmness of his surroundings, his gaze just stared at the water dripping down.
"Is this whole experience... A gift?" He murmured.
"Was it worth this arm?"
He broke the gaze to look at his still injured right arm.
"The battle isn't even close to over yet."
He snapped back to his senses as the wind started picking up. And it was pushing the Commander to the balcony edge. Where a good portion of the island that he commands can be seen.
And although his vision is a bit blurry, he also saw the spot where they first saw the statue. The same bench hours ago.
He turned around...
=================
A small yelp can be heard from the distance. Belfast instinctively turned around and ran. Leaving Yorktown and Edinburgh confused about what that yelp was.
"Master!?" She went back to the last spot she saw him. Gone. "Oh, dear."
She went further, the balcony, no one there either, and she just irrationally went to the edge and look for him down below for some reason.
"Sir!" A cadet yelled.
"Give me all the steps on assembling a rifle, NOW!!!" The man yelled straight at the cadet's face.
The yelling made Belfast yelp and turn around. She saw a Drill Sergeant yelling at a cadet. She was appalled by the lack of decency and mannerisms as the cadet started answering loudly and more shouts can be heard throughout the... Cafeteria?
She only got to the conclusion because she was next to a woman cadet and some chefs visible in the kitchen. She gave a stare at her. She looks completely different from her, that it didn't make any sense in her mind. But she went on with it.
"Miss?" Belfast waved a hand at the woman.
In response, she was given a tray filled with... Not so stellar food. Well, for Belfast's standards at least.
A stare of confusion only filled the Royal Maid's face. But she saw a hand rise up, her maid instincts made her walk towards the person and give the tray. The cadet gives a smile.
But she couldn't send it back. Because she's in a situation where she had no idea or control over. No one's reacting to her violently, nonetheless, she's still trying to find him.
She politely walked out of the cafeteria without anyone noticing, and started walking around, with the people passing by her, not noticing her...
'This is so unsettling... Where are you, Commander?' Belfast thought, all the while being visibly nervous.
She passes by multiple rooms, with no luck, all the while seeing more people passing her just made her more and more uncomfortable. Not for the fact they look so weird, but no one would bat an eye back at her. It just... Creeped her out.
And it did not take long to see a door to the outside world, she peeked through the window. She didn't see much, but she heard chatter. Multiple voices.
With prior knowledge that no one would notice her at all, she nervously walked outside to see who it was.
There were 2 people talking, one was leaning on the wall and sitting down, and one other looking down at the 1st person.
"Everyone has been berating you lately. You know I have to intervene. What's happening?" The man standing up said. To where the other person just looked away from the man's gaze.
"I've been growing distant with everyone. What do you think?" The other person spoke with a response filled with spite.
"You never seem to understand, you signed up for this. And this is one of the things you'll get from here." The man tried to reason with the spiteful guy. Being empathetic. Which is very rare in this branch of work.
"I'm willing to let this slide and hear you out, but you have to change or they'll go even harder at you."
"Look here, old man." The tone giving off the signs the guy has snapped. "I've been groomed, I get that, but what the actual *bleep* is with the Sergeants giving such lofty standards, huh? Can't just you give me a break for ONCE?!" The guy stood up and met the man eye-to-eye.
The man really can't get mad at his statements as they were true to an extent.
"And don't get me even started on this culture that my platoon is having. All males in here, yet no considerate one to be seen nor heard." He continued.
"They're literally telling me that if they see a female in their platoon, they're going to do god damn knows what?!" He lowered his voice and looked away once again. Just appalled that he take that disgusting sentence out of his mouth.
"And if that isn't toxic masculinity, I really don't know what is..." He took a deep breath...
"I grew up in a terrible situation. So don't tell me I haven't seen anything yet. Excuse me." The guy walked away, leaving the man there.
The guy walked by Belfast with his head down. She noticed the hair, and she remembered someone who has exactly that same hairstyle.
"Commander...?"
=================
"Where's our Commander?"
His ears perked up, he raised his head and turned.
"Normally, he would be here so early than us. And he didn't say anything about him being late."
He couldn't make out who they were, but the voices sure sounded familiar.
"This exercise is now gonna be a lot harder if he's not here. Any other leader than him is just a pain to deal with."
He stood up and got closer to see, they were a pack of men. Standing around each other. He tried scoping into their faces.
His pupils dilated, as he can't believe what he's seeing.
"G-guys...?"
He really can't tell if this is a memory or not. It felt so much more real than usual.
After hearing them talk for another minute, he finally got to realize what situation he's in.
"I left them..."
He stood up, making himself visible to everyone, "Guys! I'm here!"
The men turned their heads in his direction, His nervousness has doubled.
They started walking towards him. He reached his arms out for an embrace, he closed his eyes.
Nothing.
He opened his eyes to see what happened, they were gone. But still heard their voices, so he turned around.
They were meeting with their families. Their children.
His head started ringing. His body started shivering, and his eyes started to get blurry.
And all of a sudden, his body started giving up on him. He was down on his knees, and everything seemed to be hurting him.
"Seems that you were never strong in the first place."
The voice came from behind him. He raised his head a little bit, everything now is pitch black, but he saw the white Wisdom Cube in front of him.
The echo of this voice made it weird, yet its tone made it sound like a normal human.
But he grabbed the cube and turned around to see who it was.
By the time he looked, he was already instinctively crawling back away from 'it'.
"Why are you backing up? I'm your friend."
"No, you're not. No, YOU'RE NO-"
thump.
=================
"MASTER!"
Belfast looked horrified. Caster is on the floor fainted.
Judging from the sound, she thought Caster bumped his head on her iron boots and incapacitated him.
She immediately got down to his level and laid his head on her lap. All the while trying to think of something to wake him up.
As she was still thinking, Caster suddenly woke up.
"Master!" She hugged him tightly.
"Belfast..."
"Y-yes...?"
"What if. I lost?"
The orange tint of the sunset is now getting replaced by darkness...
A-kun: Did you guys wait for 10 years for the next chapter? Did it felt like it? Anyway, jokes aside, Since this BURDEN of a chapter is finally off me, I can finally try to get more consistency when I'm writing. Expect new chapters again semi-frequently.
Word Count: 4581 Words.
12:28 AM
3/23/2021