"Are you going back to the Commander’s office?"
"I guess I have to. I don’t even know where Laffey stays... and the only place I can think of where she can sleep comfortably is the bed in the Commander’s office."
"A-a-a bed in the Commander’s office...?!"
"Yeah, yeah. I thought there’d just be a field cot or something for taking a quick nap, but what kind of guy puts such a huge, luxury bed in the Commander’s office?"
If you go to work, you’re supposed to want to get off work as soon as possible. So why would someone buy a luxury bed for the office they work in? Did they hate going home that much? The Commander’s quarters didn’t seem that bad either....
As Jinseong tilted his head, thinking about the former Commanders’ crimes, Hermann, who had been walking beside him, trembled and jabbed a finger at him.
"P-p-pervert...! What are you planning to do to Laffey if you take her to the Commander’s office!!"
At Hermann’s shout, a snort of laughter escaped Jinseong. It was an embarrassing accusation, but not getting flustered was what mattered.
"Well.... I can see why you’d think that. But Hermann, first of all, I don’t have any such plans.... and if something did happen and Laffey deployed her rigging, I wouldn’t even have time to scream before I got blasted out of the Commander’s office."
"You could make it so she can’t deploy her rigging!"
"You can do that?"
It was the first he’d heard of it. But the idea that there was a way to weaken a shipgirl was a serious matter. Jinseong decided he’d like a chance to ask about rigging someday.
"Even if that weren’t the case, the Commander’s office has a secretary too."
"E-eh.... Ah...! Yorktown unni?"
"That’s right~"
In truth, most of the time Jinseong was alone in the Commander’s office. A Commander was supposed to always have a secretary, but given the current mood at the base, there was no way one could be assigned. So Yorktown occasionally volunteered out of kindness and helped him out.
"U-um.... A-anyway, Hermann is going to the Commander’s office later to check on Laffey too! Don’t you dare do anything weird?!"
"Sure. I’ll be waiting."
"D-don’t wait...! I’m going!"
Hermann quickly put distance between herself and Jinseong. Watching her flee without even looking back, her face bright red, he thought she was like a girl going through puberty but too kind-hearted to say anything mean, so she just ended up stammering awkwardly. That made him laugh.
Jinseong opened the Commander’s office door in a slightly awkward posture and glanced at Laffey out of the corner of his eye. Just as he was about to tilt his head for a closer look, an all-too-familiar voice came from inside.
"Commander? You’re here.... ah, is that Laffey in your arms?"
"Huh? Yorktown? Hold on, I’ll lay Laffey down first."
"Yes, this way."
As Jinseong moved toward the bed, Yorktown stepped ahead of him and lifted the blanket. Once Laffey was laid on the bed, the blanket was pulled over her. Jinseong looked at Laffey, who seemed to be squeezing her eyes shut for some reason, then lifted his head. Yorktown smiled softly at him.
"How did Laffey end up in your arms, Commander?"
"She was in the park.... looked like she was napping outside, so I thought it’d be weird to leave her out there and brought her back.... Was that wrong?"
"Not at all. You do know there’s a meeting right away, yes?"
"Ah, right. That’s why I came in at this time."
"I’ve gathered the documents you need. Shall we go?"
"Thanks, Yorktown."
Yorktown picked up the papers from the table and held them to her chest as Jinseong opened the door.
The meeting room wasn’t far. It was even in the same building. On the short walk there, Jinseong thought about the small, closed amusement park.
"It looks like the Manjuu could work more too... and nothing seems to be missing. Maybe that park could be reopened?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know, that small amusement park that’s closed now. Wasn’t it originally a place for the shipgirls to play?"
"Ah.... yes.... You mean the theme park the Manjuu built. It was a really fun place for us, since it’s hard for us to leave the base easily."
"Do you know why it was shut down?"
"The reason the former Commander gave when he closed it was the burden of maintenance costs. At some point he started going there often.... then suddenly made the decision to shut it down."
Jinseong nodded. It was yet another crime of the former Commanders, scattered all over the place. At this point, it wasn’t even surprising anymore.
"Considering the budget and supplies we’re getting, it doesn’t seem that burdensome.... If it’s for the kids playing, I guess I can help fix that."
By the time Yorktown was tilting her head at Jinseong’s muttering, the two of them had reached the meeting room. When the door opened, inside sat one shipgirl with dark blue hair and a uniform coat draped over her shoulders, one shipgirl with silver hair just like Yorktown’s and a striking service cap, and one shipgirl with pink twin tails who stood out the most but was also the shortest of the three.
Seeing Jinseong and Yorktown enter, the three shipgirls started to rise from their chairs, but Jinseong waved them back down.
"You’re here, Commander. Today, Saratoga is joining us too."
"Hello, Commander! You know my big sister Lexington, right? I’m Lexington unni’s little sister, Saratoga. As you can see, I’m an aircraft carrier, too."
Jinseong had once memorized the service numbers of his seniors back when he was a low-ranking Army private.
After becoming the Commander of Eagle Union, he had made a lot of effort to memorize the faces and names of unfamiliar shipgirls right away so he wouldn’t make mistakes. And today, once again, he felt reassured by his own efforts.
"Uh, um. Of course I know. Nice to meet you, Saratoga."
"Ooooh~ That’s unexpected. Usually people only remember the big ones, or just our big sister."
Jinseong sat down with a puzzled look. Saratoga followed suit, snickering as if Enterprise had nudged her in the side, and Enterprise, after clearing her throat along with New Jersey, who had been watching them, sat down as well.
"Then I’ll give the regular report as well."
New Jersey started things off. As with the reports they gave every two or three days, it was still the same old routine.
"No abnormalities in the nearby seas. The strange signs in the Pacific that were detected long ago are still being observed. They disappear when we get close, but they don’t feel like a good omen."
"The smaller missions and requests we’ve been handling are all progressing without any special issues. If anything comes up, I’ll report it immediately. Though for the special missions that come from higher-up requests, I’d like the Commander to accompany us when possible."
Enterprise finished with a concise summary. Jinseong, still bothered by one thing, decided to bring it up again.
"That strange sign in the Pacific... I’d still like to go along and see it. The details are just too vague."
"No. Commander, please don’t worry about it. If anything happens, it’ll become a huge problem for Eagle Union."
As expected, New Jersey cut him off immediately. Jinseong scratched his head.
"The Commander should only accompany us on missions requested by higher-ups. To be honest.... it’s too dangerous."
At Enterprise’s words, Yorktown’s expression darkened a little.
"We’ve heard about the Commander too. The Commander isn’t... from the Navy. We can’t send someone who isn’t used to the sea straight to the very front of the Pacific."
Jinseong let out a quiet sigh at Enterprise’s continued explanation. No matter how much he wasn’t a seaman, he couldn’t keep being protected forever without ever going out to sea as a Commander. A naval Commander who still hadn’t properly gone out to sea after all this time didn’t sound like a good sign.
"And.... we heard that too. That the Commander is leaving here soon.... so...."
"Enterprise...!"
At Enterprise’s words, Yorktown frowned and called her name, cutting her off sharply.
That was true. In the end, he was someone who would be leaving soon, so there was no need to get deeply involved. Just as Yorktown seemed about to say it wasn’t polite, Jinseong lightly touched her shoulder from the side. Yorktown, startled, looked at him, and with just that small contact, she seemed to understand what he was thinking and made a tearful face.
"I understand what you’re thinking well enough. Use me however you need to."
"...."
It did feel like his motivation was draining away. Maybe it really would be easier for everyone if he just stayed put, took the benefits he was entitled to as Commander, and then discharged in a few months.
Jinseong was quickly organizing his thoughts so Yorktown wouldn’t catch on when he heard a bright voice dragging out the moment.
"Umm~ The mood is way too gloomy. Then can I speak now?"
"Of course."
As Saratoga raised a hand and spoke, Jinseong immediately gave her permission. It was a perfect topic change at just the right time.
"Commander, by any chance... are we short on budget or supplies right now?"
Budget and supplies, all of a sudden? Jinseong took the documents from Yorktown and skimmed through them for a moment. The numbers weren’t wrong, nothing had been distributed too little, and nothing had been received short. He looked back at Saratoga.
"There’s nothing lacking. What’s been distributed where it should be is fine too... Did we receive something too little, or something wrong?"
"Ah, n-no! Nothing like that! Things have gotten better over the past few days since the Commander arrived. At this rate, I thought maybe we could reopen the shops...."
"The shops? Ah.... you mean the ones in the theme park?"
"That’s right! Could we reopen those shops... maybe?"
Saratoga looked a little hesitant. He’d heard she was a playful, lively shipgirl, but maybe this was because it was a more serious meeting. Jinseong thought for a moment, remembering Laffey sleeping in the Commander’s office, then nodded.
"I was actually looking around that theme park before coming here. I can help with that much."
"Really? We can operate them again?"
"Yeah. If you need anything, just let me know. I was already keeping an eye on it."
"Thank you, Commander! I’m sure all the kids will love it!"
Watching Saratoga’s delighted expression, Jinseong remembered the shipgirls who had spotted him near the closed shops in the theme park and run away. Little girls who looked like destroyers. A place for kids like that to play was worth restoring before he left. He shrugged and looked around at the other shipgirls, then met New Jersey’s eyes.
"...?"
New Jersey was staring at him with a somewhat strange expression. When their eyes met, she flinched slightly, but she didn’t look away. Jinseong stared back for a moment, then was just about to ask if she had something to say when New Jersey’s expression became even more subtle and strange, and she lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
"...Then is that all for today’s report?"
"Seems like it, Commander."
Enterprise looked between New Jersey and Saratoga, then nodded. Jinseong let out a relieved sigh and stood up from his chair.
"Good. Thanks, everyone. See you at the next meeting."
As if they still had more to say among themselves, New Jersey, Enterprise, and Saratoga all stood up, greeted Jinseong, and stayed behind in the meeting room. Only Yorktown followed him out.
"You worked hard, Commander. Did you... go to the theme park?"
"Hm? Ah, yeah. It was a decent place, but it didn’t seem like it was shut down for any particularly important reason. The Manjuu would have more places to work, and the kids having somewhere to play is the most important thing."
At Jinseong’s words, Yorktown felt her heart warm. It really did seem like only good things were ahead from here. But at the same time, the rumor that the Commander was someone who had to leave kept pressing in on her skin.
"There seem to be quite a few food shops there.... Should I hand out waffles or something?"
"Eh, yes? Waffles?"
"In Korea, where I’m from, people do all kinds of things with waffles. Ah, is ‘waffle pie’ the right way to say it?"
As Jinseong walked ahead, stroking his chin, Yorktown hurried after him.
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