When I turned around at the surge of murderous intent, Roon was standing there, perfectly still.
"Commander..."
"Roon...?"
Roon slowly walked toward me.
"W-what is it...?"
I felt an inexplicable unease as she approached at that measured pace.
It was the kind of fear stored deep in instinct itself.
Then Roon took my hand and brought it to her chest.
Soft... A different kind of warmth than the engine room.
No, wait.
"Haa... Commander... I was the one who saved you, so why are you paying attention to everyone else first?"
"When I see you like that... this chest of mine starts boiling over. Violently. Violently. Violently...? And yet whenever you hold me, it usually goes away..."
Roon looked up at me as she spoke.
"For some reason, today... it just won’t calm down so easily...?"
Her eyes were slightly wet.
"So today, could you hold me a little longer?"
"Ah... y-yeah..."
Uneasy at this different side of Roon, I pulled her into my arms.
For a while, she buried her face against my chest.
"Um... Roon...?"
Even when I called her name, she showed no sign of letting go.
After staying in my arms a little longer, Roon gently pushed me away and said,
"That’s enough now~ I’ll release the Commander back into the wild. You can go now~"
Still dazed, I looked back at Roon and started on my way. When I glanced over my shoulder again, she was gone.
She vanished in that short a time...? She really thinks she’s good at hiding, huh!
...
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Roon was smashing through the practice targets like a madwoman.
"Grrr...!"
It wasn’t enough.
And it was confusing.
For Roon, who was tasting this feeling for the first time, only crushing enemies brought her peace and a sense of fulfillment.
She had been created from a newly built hull with no prior ship history, and her self was formed only to the extent that it could function as a weapon. The emotions missing from Roon only deepened her confusion.
To prevent that sense of dissonance from growing any worse, Roon filed a sortie report to headquarters and immediately went off to smash the enemy.
"Still not enough..."
Even after tearing her enemies apart and reducing them to rags, the empty space inside Roon’s heart still wasn’t filled.
Then someone with a dangerous scent appeared before her.
"Oh? What’s a little moth flying all the way out here for?"
"You are..."
Roon remembered that face from a manual she had read not long ago.
"Purifier..."
Roon’s eyes began to gleam.
Maybe if I catch her, the emptiness in my heart will be filled.
The moment Roon saw Purifier, she fired every main gun she had.
"You crazy bitch! Who attacks without even saying hello?!"
Hit by the sudden strike, Purifier shouted in outrage.
"My, but don’t you Sirens like to make things difficult for us without warning?"
"Huh...? W-well, yeah, but..."
Purifier was left speechless by Roon’s direct rebuttal.
"Then we’re the same, aren’t we~"
Roon’s face turned vicious as she kept firing.
"Break!"
Purifier retaliated in kind, bringing her own weapons to bear against Roon.
"Tch... this crazy bitch, seriously..!"
Roon attacked with ferocity, but there was nothing she could do about the difference in ship class.
She kept taking more and more damage, and Purifier began to gain the upper hand.
"Haa... haa..."
"Ugh, you crazy bitch. Just go down already!"
Roon’s vision began to blur.
Ah... so in the end, I’m going to sink without solving a single thing.
"Can’t... forgive..."
"Huh?"
"Can’t... forgive... can’t forgive... can’t forgive..."
"W-what...?"
"Can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive can’t forgive!!!"
"W-wha... Mom?!"
Thinking she had collapsed, Purifier stepped closer, only for Roon to suddenly spring back up and start spewing those bizarre words. It nearly stopped her heart.
"Grr..! Just go down already!!"
Purifier was about to strike again when—
"But what is that sound?"
A noise she had never heard before rang out overhead, like a siren mixed with a scream.
"Huh?"
Purifier looked up.
Above her, countless aircraft were diving straight at her while shrieking like maniacs.
"Wha..."
Boom—
Black smoke rose with the explosion.
"Direct hit, Commander."
"Good! Main force, lay down smoke right now and get Roon out of there!"
At my order, the destroyers moved in perfect coordination, throwing up a smoke screen and closing in on Roon.
"Roon! Snap out of it!"
But Roon had already passed out. There was no way she could answer.
"Commander! We succeeded in rescuing Roon! But... I think she’s unconscious!"
"What...?"
We were going to lose a newly built ship here, just like that?
I thought back on the days I had spent with Roon.
She had been a little strange, sure, but she always worried about me and treated even someone she had just met kindly.
"R-run back as quickly as possible. Over."
I dropped the radio and sank onto the sofa as if I’d collapsed into it.
I had never lost a shipgirl before.
Not even the death of someone close to me had ever happened yet.
My hands started shaking uncontrollably.
I shouldn’t have let her go out alone back then.
For the first time, and because of my own mistake, I might be about to witness a shipgirl’s death. My heart clenched painfully in my chest.
"Ah... ahh...!"
"Commander, are you all right?"
Graf Zeppelin checked my expression.
"Haa... haa..."
"Commander, your condition seems very serious. You need to calm down right now..."
"Commander! We have returned to the base! I’ll begin Roon’s overhaul immediately!"
The moment the report came in, I headed straight for the repair bay.
"Commander! Your condition is even more critical! Your body..."
"Move, Graf Zeppelin."
".........."
After looking at my face, Zeppelin silently stepped aside.
"...If that is your wish, then..."
...
Watching the Commander stagger away, Graf Zeppelin felt as though a nail had been driven straight through her chest.
"...Why?"
She was someone who hated the world and had turned her back on it.
And yet she had finally met someone who acknowledged her.
Someone who listened carefully to her story and discussed it with her.
Her achievements were surely something no one else could ever understand.
She had never met anyone like that before.
For the first time, she had looked forward to speaking with someone.
And yet she was someone who hated the world and had turned her back on it.
Even if the Commander turned away from her and left, it should not have mattered.
But...
"If the Commander does that... why does my chest hurt so much...?"
And then a spark of jealousy began to flicker deep in her heart.
"Hah. So I still had embers of jealousy left in this heart of mine?"
She wondered whether the Commander would treat her that way too, and she envied the attention he was giving Roon, rushing off to check on her even after the fleet had taken losses.
"Tch... for me to be lost in such trivial thoughts. I haven’t even finished hating the world, let alone avenging myself."
Graf Zeppelin shook her head and brushed away those sticky thoughts.
But black, viscous ink had already begun seeping into her blank white page.
...
"How about attacking the Iron Blood?"
New Jersey offered her opinion.
But Enterprise immediately rejected the suggestion.
"Look at what happened with Belfast. Forcing the Commander to come back isn’t the right move."
"We can just persuade the Commander properly. In Belfast’s case, she provoked him..."
"To the Commander, we’ll all be treated the same. We’re only comforting ourselves by making distinctions between us and the Royal Navy. From the Commander’s point of view, we and the Royal Navy probably look no different. And are you confident you can withstand the Commander’s own criticism if it comes from his mouth?"
"......"
New Jersey let out a sigh.
Now that they had confirmed the Commander’s location, she desperately wanted to bring him back, but the situation was far from simple.
They were certain they would welcome him with open arms if he came home, but the Commander’s heart, colder than ice, showed no sign of melting.
Maybe if their message could reach him, but the Commander was in enemy territory.
Setting aside whether he would even look at their message, if they sent anything like that into hostile territory and got caught, it would be instant punishment.
Then maybe I should just defect too...?
New Jersey shook off that silly thought and went back to brainstorming.
"Then... what if we keep clearing out the Sirens ourselves?"
"...Go on."
Enterprise seemed to sense something in New Jersey’s idea and listened closely.
"We ignore the other factions and just keep wiping out the Sirens. The Commander always wanted a peaceful world without Sirens, right?"
"That’s true..."
Enterprise closed her eyes and recalled the past.
"Hey, Enterprise. When the war ends, what do you want to do?"
"When the war ends...?"
Enterprise lifted her head and looked up at the sky.
Every day, she woke up, washed, ate, walked along the shore, went out when sortie orders came in, celebrated victory when they won, and took a step back before claiming victory again when they lost.
Come to think of it, there was one person who was always part of that life.
The Commander, standing beside her and looking at the sky with her.
Could she even imagine a life without him?
That was what she had thought back then.
"I... would probably follow you. If it’s anywhere outside the battlefield, being by your side feels safest."
"Oh? That’s unexpected. I thought you’d say you’d bury your bones in this sea or something."
"Commander... I do have a brain, you know."
"Haha. Right, right."
Enterprise glanced at the Commander, who was laughing lightly.
"If... that time ever comes... could you take me with you?"
The Commander looked at Enterprise with wide eyes.
"Wow... hearing that from you is really new... All right. If that time comes, I’ll protect everyone’s everyday lives, not just yours."
"Can I take that as a yes...?"
"Yeah."
Enterprise looked at the setting sun, her cheeks faintly red.
It was such a happy memory.
...
The feeling of sinking deep into the sea.
The light that had been visible was fading, and she was descending into a cold, dark ocean.
Then, far away, many air bubbles appeared.
"I... don’t want... to die... like this..."
The girl opened her eyes.
Far off in the distance, a black silhouette was writhing as it approached her.
And when that black shape reached her, it held out a hand.
Instinctively, the girl reached out to take it.
The moment she grasped that hand, an oddly familiar feeling washed over her.
"Ah...?"
The black silhouette pulled with all its might, struggling to drag her back up toward the surface.
Then.
The girl yanked the hand she had taken with all her strength.
The thing looked clearly flustered.
"You’re not going anywhere now. I’m not letting you go anywhere else. Stay here with me. Forever—"
The silhouette started pulling back with all its strength.
"Hehehehe, did you think you could run away? I won’t forgive you. After making me suffer like this, did you really think you could just go somewhere else? I can never forgive you."
The girl yanked on it again with everything she had.
Then the black silhouette tried to let go of her hand and rise upward instead.
"Hehehehehehe, you’re just going to abandon me and leave? I really can’t forgive that. I promised to devote my whole life to you, and now you’re ignoring that promise and leaving?! I can’t forgive you!!!"
The girl clamped down on its ankle with desperate force.
At first it struggled violently, but little by little its movements began to weaken.
And soon it stopped moving altogether, slowly sinking back toward her.
The girl hugged it tightly.
"There, you’ve finally calmed down. Fufu, from now on, forever. You’re going to live here with me."
Locked in each other’s arms, the two of them sank endlessly into the cold depths of the sea.
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