As they approached the dark waters of the Black Sea, Fletcher glanced back uneasily. "Commander, are we really letting that girl follow us?"
Trailing them from ten nautical miles back was a persistent shadow — Blücher, the same shipgirl they'd encountered before.
This girl had an odd sort of confidence. Even after being thoroughly beaten by Yamato, it had only taken her a couple of days to reappear, begging to bring Tirpitz to their tavern for a visit and asking her, "Big Sis Boss," to give them guidance in life and work.
Tirpitz, who could barely manage her own life without Hikaru's help, naturally refused. But Blücher was relentless. She'd pop out of bushes near their home, roadside hedges, school gardens — ambushing them with increasingly creative forms of pestering. Eventually, Tirpitz had enough and gave her a solid thrashing.
But to everyone's surprise, Blücher only showed up more often after the beating, proudly claiming to have awakened as a full-on masochistic stalker. She had no issue with any of it.
Historically, the heavy cruiser Blücher once arranged her gun turrets in a straight line to provoke Norwegian coastal defenses (made by her own country). She basically screamed, "Come on, shoot me if you can!" And they did — on the very first day of Operation Weserübung, she was sunk by her own nation's coastal cannons. That kind of reckless bravado had clearly carried over into the soul of this shipgirl.
Hikaru nudged Tirpitz in the waist. "Hey, she's followed us for hundreds of miles now. Are you just going to let that go?"
Without even turning around, Tirpitz activated her rigging and fired a shell backward.
The round arced over ten nautical miles and exploded on the ocean surface with terrifying force, creating a cyclone several kilometers wide that whipped up millions of tons of seawater into a violent sea storm.
"She won't be following us after that."
Tirpitz calmly deactivated her rigging and yawned lazily.
Hikaru clicked his tongue. "That didn't injure her, did it? Hurting someone over this would be a bit much."
Lexington, observing everything through her carrier aircraft, gave a soft laugh. "She's fine. She didn't catch up."
Hikaru looked suspicious. "Why are you smiling like that? You're hiding something, I can tell. Spill it."
Lexington shook her head quickly.
"Don't make me get rough. Tonight we're sharing a bed…"
"She peed herself." Lexington turned red as she blurted it out, then swatted Hikaru playfully. "Bad Commander. Always teasing me."
Tsk. She peed herself? Somehow that made Hikaru really want to see it for himself.
Grinning, he muttered, "Blücher springing a leak... honestly, that's pretty historically accurate."
Tirpitz looked up and blinked. "What history?"
"The Blücher kept leaking oil for over fifty years after she sank, polluting the sea," Hikaru chuckled wickedly. "You could say it was leaking… other things?"
Tirpitz's eyes lit up — she suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She'd been working on a doujin lately. Naturally, it starred her sister and her sister's husband. It was her first time drawing a male lead, and Hikaru had even modeled for her a few times.
Lexington protested. "You can't slander people like that! Next time Blücher shows up, I'm telling her what you said."
"Then you'd be stabbing her right in the heart." Hikaru looked up at the sky. "Let's just find a small island and make camp."
It was a hassle to lodge at someone else's naval base — too many favors and pleasantries to deal with. Besides, as the admiral of Lexington, Fletcher, and Tirpitz, Hikaru's fame had skyrocketed in the past two months. Any base he visited would treat him like a giant panda on exhibit. Camping was just easier.
They picked a small island in the Black Sea. California sighed as she opened her field pack and pulled out the tent. She hadn't gotten a chance to test her new gear on any Abyssals today, and her trigger finger was itching.
Fletcher was more efficient. She'd already cleared a patch of land and laid out the inner tent.
She looked a bit worried. "I hope Glowworm isn't scared holding down the fort alone…"
"I asked Elizabeth to keep her company. She'll be fine."
Hikaru stretched and tugged on Tirpitz's sleeve. "Come on, set up your tent."
Tirpitz didn't even look up. "I'm sleeping with you."
"Let's all squeeze in—" Lexington began, then suddenly stopped. Her expression changed as she turned toward the south. "Did you feel that?"
The others all shook their heads.
(End of Chapter)
[+50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]