“Hoo... Since the shipgirls and the personnel who aren’t part of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces are visiting, we’ve been told they can’t be brought inside the unit. So, Platoon Leader, you’re going to have to do a little extra work.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be back, Company Commander.”
The platoon leader finished his conversation with the company commander in front of the barracks, with Jinseong and Jiwoong standing behind him. In a rare occurrence, the platoon leader was wearing a crisp Army dress uniform; after rummaging through his pockets, he turned around.
“We’re taking my car. You both brought your wallets, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, Platoon Leader.”
“Sigh... Right. Let’s go...”
The platoon leader’s car, which would normally be in the officers’ housing parking lot, was parked on the parade ground in front of the barracks. He opened the car door, looked them over for a moment, then motioned to Jinseong.
“Hey, Jinseong, you sit in the front.”
“Understood.”
The car carrying the three of them passed through the guard post and headed out of the unit.
“Wow... Coming out like this, the air really is nice.”
“You didn’t even open the window. How can you feel the air? Honestly, it’s a relief I didn’t put that Lee Jiwoong bastard in the seat next to me. Just thinking about him yapping nonstop the whole ride...”
Jinseong was looking out the window from the passenger seat when he turned his head and glanced at the platoon leader driving.
“We’re in a car... But Platoon Leader, where are we going?”
The platoon leader wore a strange expression for a moment at Jinseong’s question, then gave a short snort of a laugh.
“Hm... The sea?”
“...Huh?”
“...?”
-------------
“Welcome to the Republic of Korea’s special maritime training facility.”
“Thank you for the warm welcome. I am Shokaku, an aircraft carrier of the Sakura Empire, and elder sister of Zuikaku of the Fifth Carrier Division.”
As the words “maritime training facility” suggested, Shokaku lightly stepped onto the dock, which looked like a miniature version of a home port. It seemed they had exchanged enough advance contact, because Shokaku’s approach was easily permitted with only a brief communication check and identification. The Republic of Korea Navy and the Azur Lane Navy waiting at the facility also welcomed her without any sign of resistance, which actually made Shokaku a little wary.
“Um... Where is the shipgirl from the Eagle Union?”
“Ah, she’s waiting in the inner lounge of the facility. I’ll guide you there.”
“Thank you.”
She had arrived in Korea while repeatedly telling herself that she absolutely could not be looked down on, as she was essentially standing alone in a place packed with the opposing side. Keeping her posture formal, Shokaku dismissed the escort with a restrained gesture and followed the guide.
Who was the shipgirl from the Eagle Union? They said she was an aircraft carrier... Could she be the one Zuikaku and Senior Akagi talked about until they were blue in the face? If it really is her, I need to be even more careful.
“Platoon Leader! I need to use the restroom!”
As her thoughts piled up and Shokaku’s pace slowed, leaving her a little behind, a voice suddenly pierced her ears.
“...Huh?”
Without meaning to, Shokaku turned her head toward the hallway inside the building, past the door. At the end of the corridor, a man was walking toward her. His head was lowered, and he didn’t look very happy.
“Oh? Oh, right! You know where Waiting Room 3 is, right? Go on over there!”
Though she couldn’t see him, another man’s voice rang out, and the man walking down the corridor drew closer and closer to Shokaku.
The clothes he wore were very different from those of the people escorting Shokaku, consisting of a dull, almost drab color. Heavy combat boots and the rank insignia on his chest told her he was in uniform.
“...Hm?”
The man must have sensed her presence too, because he lifted his head from its deep bow. With his pure white silver hair and airy clothing impossible to miss, his eyes naturally met Shokaku’s.
Of course, the startled man stopped dead in his tracks, but as if drawn by something, Shokaku slowly approached him.
“Uh... Ah... Crane...?”
She didn’t know what he was saying, but it was somehow a pleasant-sounding word. Whether or not she could hear him properly, Shokaku extended a slightly trembling hand and gently touched the chest where his name tag was pinned.
“Yoo... Jin... Seong...”
“Eek...!”
Jinseong, who had already been flailing his hands in the air, panicked and recoiled when Shokaku’s hand touched his chest. Shokaku seemed to come to her senses at the same time, and after looking back and forth between Jinseong’s face and her own hand on his chest, her face quickly turned bright red.
“Ah...! S-sorry...! I... I touched another man’s body so carelessly... I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Shokaku hurriedly scampered away, her clothes fluttering like feathers as she fled toward the stairs the Navy personnel had gone to. Jinseong, left behind, froze solid.
“K-Korean... Huh...? She’s, s-she’s good at it...??”
-------------
Click.
The sound of the waiting room door opening. In the room lined with chairs, the platoon leader and Jiwoong looked over at Jinseong as he entered.
“Hey~ Why’d you take so long? I sent you in alone because I thought you’d be back right away... Was it that big?”
“No, I mean... It’s not...”
“...Why does he look like that?”
“Does Sergeant Yoo Jinseong have a stomachache?”
“No. I’m fine.”
The platoon leader and Jiwoong, who seemed to have been watching something together on a phone screen, turned their heads back down. Jinseong flopped down in a seat a little farther away.
That girl just now... That shipgirl... She was a shipgirl... What the hell did I even say to her the first time we met?
It had been a terrible first meeting in every possible way. What if I get punished for this? They’re not going to delay my discharge, right? Jinseong’s thoughts kept colliding, but in the end, all he could do was rub his face with both hands.
Knock knock. Creak...
The waiting room door opened, and a person in a Navy uniform poked their head in.
“All three of you have been waiting, I see. Everything’s ready. Please follow me. Ah, or rather, the escort? You can wait freely if you’d like.”
“Ah, is that all right? I was told these guys wouldn’t be able to stay by my side until the end anyway...”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Phew... Then you two go get your measurements done properly, all right? Yesterday I was so tense because there were one or two things I really had to report and check... Now that I’ve brought you here, I’m exhausted.”
“Uh... Understood.”
“Rest well, Platoon Leader.”
“Yeah, yeah~ I’ll be in the car~”
As the platoon leader passed them and headed down the corridor, the Navy guide nodded and gestured for them to follow. Jinseong and Jiwoong followed him and began walking across the facility.
“Um... Where exactly are we going right now?”
“Ah, I was only ordered to guide the two of you to separate rooms... All I know is that you’ll be going to two smaller rooms than the waiting room you were just in.”
“Ahhh...”
“Looks like the two of us are getting measured separately? I’m kind of worried...”
“Seriously, this is like a group blind date followed by a one-on-one afterparty or something. I can’t predict a single thing.”
Even with Jiwoong’s question, they couldn’t get a proper answer. All Jinseong and Jiwoong could do was whisper to each other and make pointless guesses about what was coming next.
“We’ve arrived. Sergeant Yoo Jinseong, please go into the room on the left. Corporal Lee Jiwoong, please go into the room on the right.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“Sergeant Yoo, I’m looking forward to your amazing performance. Ninety-eight! Ninety-eight!”
“That bastard can’t sit still for a second... You should do better too! I’m nervous being alone!”
And so the two of them opened the doors to their assigned rooms. Inside was a plain room with white wallpaper, two chairs with no table, and a woman sitting in one of those chairs.
“Ah, you’re he... re? Huh?”
“Ah... Hello.”
The woman confirmed Jinseong had entered and gave a very gentle smile. At a glance, it was obvious she was a shipgirl.
She had the same pure silver-white hair as the shipgirl he had met in the hallway, but this one was completely different, wearing a white-and-black dress, black stockings, and clothing that gave off a distinctly Western feel.
“Um... Ahem! First, please sit down. I’ll explain everything.”
As Jinseong awkwardly moved to the chair and sat facing her, the shipgirl in the Western-style dress placed a hand over her chest, took one deep breath, and continued.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Yorktown, an aircraft carrier of the Eagle Union.”
“...I’m Sergeant Yoo Jinseong of the Army.”
She was clearly Western, and moreover a shipgirl who seemed much closer to the Navy. Not knowing whether she would understand him, Jinseong kept his introduction very simple.
His head was already full of one question: Why on earth can shipgirls speak Korean so well? But he shook it off and forced the thought away.
“First, we’ll be having a light conversation like this. Any kind of conversation is fine. And at the same time, we’ll also do light contact, like holding hands or touching a shoulder? Um... It’s all for the purpose of ‘communication,’ in whatever form works best.”
“Ah... Yes...”
Hold hands? How exactly is that supposed to help with a measurement?
“This window here, the one with the sea view, is a real window. But this big mirror over here is a magic mirror. People on the other side will keep helping us with the measurement, so you don’t need to be nervous.”
So basically, they’re spying on a live feed of a male soldier’s black history.
“....”
Jinseong’s mind was struggling just to keep up with the situation. Everything was new, everything was something he’d never seen or experienced before. He needed time to accept it, but the situation gave him absolutely no time to do so. On top of that, the woman in front of him was, shipgirl or not, so beautiful he had never seen anyone like her in his life. It would have been stranger if he wasn’t nervous.
“Then... Shall we start by holding hands?”
“Pardon?”
“Hehe. The longer the contact time, the easier it is for me to understand you and measure things.”
Yorktown spoke softly as she extended her hand across her knee in a brushing motion. A white, delicate hand. It was hard to believe that hand had enough strength to send a person flying.
As Jinseong hesitantly pulled his chair closer, Yorktown deliberately turned her head and looked out at the sea through the window, partly to ease the atmosphere.
“Hoo... I was out in the North Pacific on a small mission, but I never expected to be suddenly dispatched to Korea like this. Still, covering that distance in just two days isn’t easy...”
“The North Pacific? You mean the North Pacific I know? Th-that... You got to Korea from there in two days?”
“Of course~ Shipgirls are amazing, aren’t we?”
Jinseong stared at Yorktown’s outstretched hand for a moment, then clung to the thought that making her wait would be rude and carefully reached out to take it.
“So, don’t... Eep?!”
Yorktown let out a startled cry, and Jinseong was startled too, trying to pull his hand back, but she refused to let go.
“Y-you... You really...”
Jinseong forced an awkward smile, but inside he was on the verge of tears.
That shipgirl who looked like a crane earlier, and this Yorktown shipgirl too... I guess I’m hated or something... Is my aptitude score bugged or what? Isn’t this like negative 98%...
“Ah, ah...! No! I didn’t mean I hate you, Commander...! Hngh!”
Yorktown seemed to realize she had said something wrong, and only then did she let go of Jinseong’s hand and cover her mouth.
“S-sorry! I didn’t mean I really hated you! I’ll take a little break...!”
Yorktown, who had seemed like a quiet young lady, turned bright red and hurried out of the room, flinging the door open. Jinseong stared blankly at the door she had disappeared through, then slowly turned his head toward the mirror she had called a magic mirror.
A single tear rolled down Jinseong’s heart.
“I... think she hates me...”
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