Azur Lane: Under Development

Chapter 15: Reprise

As the evenings became colder and windier, Unicorn had taken to spending more time indoors rather than outdoors. The usual sundress she wore was replaced with something warmer complete with a thick fur-lined coat. While plenty of people were still perfectly fine with the cold, she found herself lying on the floor in front of the blazing fireplace, turning pages of books while occasionally looking through the window to see the lethargic gray sky. It may have been warm by the fire, but all Unicorn had to do to remind herself of the cold was to press her palms against the window glass and see her breath fog up the clear panes.

Some people would knock and enter, but it was either Illustrious wondering what she was doing or one of the maids reminding her that it was suppertime.

The usual tea times were moved from the gardens back inside, but Unicorn found herself leaving earlier and earlier: part of the reason was because there were no interesting plants and bugs she could observe indoors, but also because the commander stopped coming to them. It seemed as if all the usual members didn't pay much attention to his absence either, and it was easy enough to, given how little he actually participated in conversations.

The commander. That last meeting with him was still fresh on her mind, despite it being more than a week ago. It wasn't her first time being so coldly scorned, but it was the first from someone she cared about. Unicorn could think of half a dozen reasons why he did it, but it didn't change the fact that his distant response made her bite her lower lip until it bled.

She asked Yuni a million times already why. And this time, her closest friend could offer no good answer. It confused her. She didn't think the commander was a bad person, but she didn't feel welcome in his presence anymore.

So that's how she spent her time. Flipping through pages of historied prose and poetry in front of the fireplace, with just her and U-chan. Thinking of what her friends were up to. Thinking of what the commander was doing. There was no fireplace in his office from what she remembered. Wouldn't he be cold? The sky outside only turned darker shades of grey, now looking more threatening than ever. And Unicorn was fast running out of books that she could read comfortably. Illustrious was too busy to explain every single hard word she came across, and Unicorn was getting tense from staying inside all the time.

So she put on the thickest parka she could find in her closet, and ventured outside after getting explicit permission from Illustrious.

The wind was howling, and Unicorn had trouble closing the door after her. The gale seemed to cut straight past her bulky snow jacket and chill her entire body. Clutched against her chest was A Tale of Two Cities, a book that Victorious had recommended but Unicorn had great trouble reading. She originally wanted to go to the Iron Blood dorms to seek out Z23, who probably could help. Unicorn could always remember that Z23 worked in the library quite often, and was always reading tough books.

But the Iron Blood dorms were quite far away. Despite it being quite a while since international conflict, the dorms were constructed explicitly so to limit interactions with bitter rivals. A good move at the time, but Unicorn was feeling quite daunted by all the distance she'd have to cover.

An idea slipped into her mind: benign but dangerous. How about the commander? Last she remembered, he was wrestling with difficult and hard words for work. But she had not forgotten the last time she had gone to him. She didn't want to bother him again with her inane request to help get through a book.

So Unicorn stood there, in front of the turned-off water fountain, shivering as another gust passed. There was nobody in sight in the normally clustered plaza save for herself. She'd catch cold quick if she stayed out like this for much longer, like sister Illustrious had warned. But she didn't know where to go.