Slowly, Luzon pulled herself from my side. Just how much pressure was she putting on my side? It felt as if my ribs had started to contort under the strain. Still, I couldn't suppress the warm chuckle that exited my throat as she invaded my lap. Luzon was adorable like that, but at the same time, I had to worry. Being shy wasn't something I was a stranger to. But I'd be lying to myself if I tried to pass this off as simply being shy.

Because Luzon wasn't just being shy. Iowa, Vulcan, and now, South Dakota, all had her clinging to my side, doing her best to avoid them. With South Dakota and Iowa, I could accept that she simply found the larger battleships intimidating. But Vulcan? A repair ship? Sure, it wouldn't surprise me if Vulcan outgunned Luzon, American anti-aircraft guns, and all that. But being frightened by a repair ship?

Sure, I hadn't seen how she reacted around other shipgirls. However, extrapolating from what I already had wasn't painting a pleasant picture. Not only did I have to worry about her getting the proper amount of nutrients, but I now also had to worry about if she was getting enough social interaction with people besides me. So much as I'd like to be there for her at all times, the odds of that being reality were, well, I simply wouldn't be. For whatever reason, that may be. One just couldn't simply expect all of life's punches.

So at the very least, I'd like her to have some form of support network that went beyond, well. Me.

"You're being silly," I grinned, getting to work on breading her hair once again. My fingers certainly felt better than they had before. They weren't quaking at the slightest bit of excursion.

"No, you are," Luzon hummed, kicking the water, sending ripple out across the pool. Really? Who already told her about the uno-reverse card? Wait, did they still have memes? If they did, they better have revived Killroy.

"I'm talking about you eating nothing but pancakes. You're a growing girl, after all," I frowned slightly. "You need to eat. It's just not healthy otherwise."

"Everything else was just slimy and," Luzon stuck out her tongue. This was karmic judgment, wasn't it? Having to take care of a picky eater after all the things I put my parents through?

"I'll find something you'll like. Even if I have to cook a thousand recipes for you," I grinned, rocking her back slightly in the pool. Luzon let out a shriek that soon fell into a state of laughter. It didn't take long for me to join in as well, letting our voices echo across the empty room.

Then, in the mist, a door swung open.

That took the laughter out the air right quick. Was South Dakota already back? I didn't think so. It had only been a few minutes. Ten tops! Squinting, instead of there being a single figure, there were two. Had she brought Vulcan back with her?

No, that wasn't it. Both shapes looked to be around the same height through the steam, meaning the pair were likely not any of our previous visitors. Faint voice reached my ears, and while Luzon seemed to freeze up, I couldn't understand a word they said. Which, frankly, didn't tell me much if anything at all. Foreign language was always something I've struggled with, so it really could be just about any language at all.

But it wasn't like there were a whole lot of reasonable options to pick from. They'd gotten here pretty fast, or, at least, I thought so. Meaning they had to come from a fairly nearby close by. Honestly, Japan was probably the best bet. They had been one of the few large naval powers in the Pacific, after all, and we'd been allied with them since the end of the war.

That did little to answer exactly who they were, though. Or why they were here. Maybe I was reading a bit too deeply into things, but it felt like this place was one of those, get permission from whoever it was in charge, sort of deals. Just for the moment though. I doubt anyone just got an entire one of these rooms to themselves.

Given how they were trying to stay quiet. Well, I think they were trying to stay quiet, with all the whispering they were doing. Sure, the steam did wonders when it came to obscuring vision, but it wasn't that thick. I could still make out the outline of their frames. Maybe radar would be useful? But then again, I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to make use of that while inside a giant metal box.

Yeah, probably best that I don't try that and unintentionally make everyone in the room deaf. So, I was just going to have to wait until either the steam parted or they got close enough. Who knows? Maybe they just went to the wrong repair bath by mistake. Surely this couldn't be the only one on this vessel. Right? I mean, that just seemed like poor strategic planning, putting all your medical and wounded in a single location?

Luzon sunk into my body as the twisting of the mists allowed me to spot someone. That was? Kongo?

Okay, sure, I may not have been able to recognize most of the antropomorphized ships Kancolle had, but Kongo? She was either the face of the game or popular enough for that to be the impression I had of her. I couldn't quite be sure, as she was lacking her usual outfit, with a tactical towel in its place. Which left me with only a brief flash of brown hair, a strange little thing on the top of her head as the only features I could go off of.

But that contrast of yellow and brown? I was fairly certain that was Kongo who I had spotted. Her sisters didn't share that combination between their hair color, and whatever it was on their heads. Or, at least, I didn't think so.

There was a lull in the voices before I spotted two figures slip into one of the baths. Apparently, I was wrong. Another one of Kongo's sisters did have brown hair. It was much shorter though. Hiei, maybe? Kirishima had black hair, if I remembered correctly, while Haruna had silver. That left Hiei as the only option remaining.

They both continued to talk, seeming to keep their voices down to at least a polite volume. Certainly, they both had to be speaking in Japanese, meaning I understood nothing. Which was fine by me. Eavesdropping was rather rude, to be frank, so it wasn't like they affected me any. Besides, if they really wanted to talk with me, they'd well, do so.

Right? I mean, I doubt they were trying to apply so weird social treat to get me to engage them so they'd have an excuse to talk with me. That's just silly and overly complicated. And just a giant no in general. I'm not just going to approach two people holding a conversation and minding their own business with some reason to do so.

Luzon's body quaked against mine, despite the tight protective hug I'd put her in.

"It's okay," I stroked Luzon's hair as I reassured her. "They aren't going to hurt you."

I felt her head nod against my ribs, though her shaking continued.

Something told me I was going to have to interrupt their soak, if simply for Luzon's wellbeing. Confronting one's fears was good and all, but as is? This may be too much, too fast. I'd been on the receiving end that more than once, and that was for more harmless and small things. Like spiders and snakes.

Which was nothing compared to the fear of one, if not two different nations of wartime vessels now returned for the deep to fight of eldritch abominations from the deepest parts of the ocean.

"Do you want me to ask them to leave?" I did my best to keep a slight frown from showing. Not out of any sense of shame or disappointment. Rather, it's because I could have sworn the two Japan Battleships seemed to quiet down as I spoke. Eavesdropping is quite rude, and they should both know that.

Luzon looked up at me, with tears in her eyes. Then shook her head.

No.

She, wanted them to stay? I pulled Luzon into an even tighter hug. Such a brave girl! Willing to let them stay, even if she didn't want to be around them? I'm not going to tell you this is why you're getting ice cream, but I'm getting her ice cream for this. She deserved it anyway, but now she double deserves it! Deserves it squared? I don't know. All I know is she will be getting ice cream soon. That was a promise I could more than keep.

Then Luzon began to shake even more violently. I loosened my grip. Had I been holding her too tightly and accidentally hurt her? Her grip on me tightened, as she shoved her face into my stomach. Okay, so if me accidentally hurting her wasn't the problem then what was?

That was when I felt water drip onto my hair. Hair that had been very much dry up until this point. Slowly, my head turned upwards to face whoever it was that was dripping water on my face.

I would have been quite pleased if I could say my face didn't become a blushing inferno, but that would make me a lair. Luzon might not have been looking away purely out of fear, as I swiftly averted my gaze as well.

"Could you please put on a towel?" I did my best not to sound rude, almost biting my tongue in the process. Hot spring etiquette was probably different in Japan. Maybe.

"Sorry," her face backed off, much to my relief, as the shadow and water droplets retreated. She was speaking English, but I couldn't quite place the accent. Japanese, certainly, it couldn't be anything else. But there was something more. Vaguely familiar, almost nostalgic, even. A hint, a vestige of British accent, maybe? "My name is Kongo, and this is my sister, Hiei."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I saw Kongo gesture out of the corner of my eye toward the girl who remained in the bath. She waved at me, which I returned slowly, still keeping one arm around Luzon.

"I'm Isabella," I paused for a moment, before looking down. She didn't appear to want to look up, not that I blamed her. "And this is Luzon."

"She's quite shy, isn't she?" Kongo hummed, for a moment. Of course, she couldn't see it, but my eyes narrowed.

"That's. Not quite the word I would use," my voice was as neutral as possible, but I doubt it would keep the annoyance I felt from slipping through.

Before I could say anything else, Hiei cut me off, speaking a few sentences in Japanese, too which her older sister responded in kind. Each time they spoke, Luzon almost seemed to twitch. Was she doing it out of fear? Or was it something else?

"I bet you were wondering why we stopped by and bothered you?" I could not mistake the joy in Kongo's voice. I had been asking myself that, yes, but I certainly wasn't going to vocalize it. "I'm here to tell you that war is over! You have nothing to fear from us!"

I couldn't help myself. My eyes flickered over in Kongo's direction, only for them to be repelled. Not by her seeming lack of modesty, no. This time it was by the blinding light she seemed to be emitting without any explanation!

Ultimately, once my sight and sense returned to me, I bit my tongue That's what she wanted to tell me? That a war fought nearly eighty years ago was over? I almost wanted to laugh out loud, if it wasn't for the fact she appeared to be completely serious.

"And?" there was nothing else to say. Not really. Was this just another shipgirl thing I wasn't aware of? I mean, Luzon did say something about a ship with my name never being built during the war, so she at least had some knowledge about how it went. Though she never exactly told me how she knew that, but her crew had to be involved at least to some capacity.

My statement brought on a pause. One that just seemed to go on and on. One could hear a pin drop, it was that quiet. It just dragged on for what felt like minutes, in what reality was likely only seconds. This was just straight-up creepy. A stranger to silence I was not, but most certainly not like this.

"Are you okay?" At this point, I had to wonder. I don't even think she was breathing anymore. Which shouldn't even be possible, but then again, so is emitting light almost as bright as the sun. The former could at least be possible due to ship stuff, but the former? Maybe spotlights? I only really heard about those that were equipped on smaller vessels, like cruisers and destroyers.

"Nani?" Oh, that? That I understood. I understood that all too well. It was only me nearly biting down on my own tongue that stopped me from saying anything else. Explaining how exactly I knew about a viral internet meme from a famous anime wasn't exactly going to make me sound sane.

Nor would any other explanation about how I could understand that one Japanese word in particular, for that matter.

"You know?" Kongo, thankfully, had switched over to something I could respond to without my face becoming a blushing inferno.

"Yeah?" I raised my eyebrow, turning slightly, almost sighing in relief. "Why would I not?"

That was probably a stupid question. She certainly thought I didn't know, and there had to be a reason why she would think I didn't know about the end of World War Two.

"Well, it just," Kongo almost seemed a bit dejected, as if I'd taken the wind from her sails. "Most unbuilt shipgirls don't."

Ah. That explains why she was surprised. Honestly, unbuilt shipgirls not knowing made sense. At least, a little bit. Being unbuilt was akin to being Tabula Rasa, I think. A Blank Slate and all? Kind of like a baby, in a sense.

Expect said babies were unbuilt naval warships with guns ranging from a few inches to ones easily reaching if not surpassing sixteen inches. And now I'm suddenly terrified. An infant could be difficult to manage under the best of circumstances. I could only imagine how nightmarish it would be to manage one with massive guns and deck armor. Especially one that looks like a human adult.

Why do I have to scare myself like that?

"Well, I just do?" I just about bit my tongue on the spot. Really? I just do? I could have laid about it, said I found some information on one of the islands during my travels. Then again, knowing something is true, is something different than hearing something being true. Would my previous lack of reaction make that a hard sell? Probably. But something told me my answer would only lead to more people asking questions.

Questions I'm not sure I knew the answer to. Certainly questions I didn't want to answer, either. Both were kind of problematic, both in their own unique little ways.

Then, towards where I originally first heard the two enter, there was a loud slam, followed by loud, angry footsteps.

"There you two are!" That voice. South Dakota? She was back already? Though, she didn't exactly seem to happy about being back. Once the larger battleship cleared the steam, the expression on her face made that clear. It wasn't quite anger, but there was certainly some degree of frustration in her gaze.

"I thought the orders were clear that you were to wait until we told her the war is over before you could introduce yourself," South Dakota cross her arms, very much like a disciplining mother.

"She already knows," Kongo still sounded a bit dejected about the whole thing. Did she have some sort of dance number planned or something? A full-on parade she kept who knows where? Those were the only things I could think of as to why she was this down in the dumps.

"She, knows?" South Dakota frowned, eyes falling towards me for a brief moment. "Interesting. I suppose I'll pass along the news, though I doubt anything will be done on the matter."

"Thank you. I don't think Luzon would like all the additional, excitement," that was an understatement in perfect form. While I doubt all visitors would be from the Japanese navy, anything beyond a handful would likely be way too much for Luzon. I felt her face dig into my belly, and her hold on my tighten, only confirming that I was correct.

"That is, a fair point," South Dotaka paused for a moment, scratching her chin. "Unless you want them gone, I don't see any issue letting them stay."

I snickered, not at all ignoring the indigent shout that came from Kongo.

"I've already asked Luzon about that. Even though I don't think she feels comfortable, she's willing to let them stay," I looked down at Luzon's head, my view mostly obscured, but still tender all the same.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I frowned. Had I just gotten so used to wearing rags? These clothes just felt wrong. Too baggy in some places, too tight in others. It didn't help that they didn't exactly have anything in my exact size, of course. I tended to like looser-fitting clothes, but those were consistently lighter.

Which this most certainly was not. Never mind how much effort I was putting into not thinking about, well, that.

Yeah. That. I'm not thinking about that at all. Not in the slightest.

I understood why it was important, but that didn't make it any less of a pain. It wasn't helping matters that they couldn't exactly dig up something in my size, either. Everything was either too large or too small. Thus, the tightness.

This. This was too much. Could I go back to the bath, please? It was safe there. I didn't have to worry about much of anything. I didn't have to worry about my chest. I didn't have to worry about how I was now a girl. Or how my legs felt. Or how I walked Or how sure I was about that one guy trying to look at my butt. Or. Or. Or.

"Isabella? Isabella. Isabella!" the hand placed on my shoulder caused me to jump, letting out a strangled gasp of surprise.

What? What just happened?

"Isabella? Are you okay? You just seemed to freeze up for a moment there," Iowa's hand was firm on my shoulder.

No.

The answer was simple. No. I was not okay. I was nowhere near close to being okay.

But.

Luzon was looking up at me, tears beginning to form in her eyes. I wasn't just outright going to admit that I wasn't okay. Not in front of her. She was relying on me too much for that.

"I'll be fine," it was a lie. And I don't think Iowa bought it, either. But she certainly didn't press me, either.

"Okay. Just let me know if you need anything. We're almost there," Iowa nodded, running her hand through her hair. I followed after, letting the battleship lead the way, as Luzon kept pace beside me.

Luzon's hand slipped into mine, gently grasping it.

I didn't think things were okay right now. But maybe, just maybe.

Everything will be well.