Commander's Rounds

Entry 4: Slumber Party for 2

It didn't make sense.

The commander kicked a seashell into the water.

The new commander of the special joint strategic naval command known as Azur Lane had been there for two weeks, and still didn't know how it had happened. He was a fresh junior officer with no record to speak of other than academic, and yet, he was the one who received a "Four eyes"-level secret message assigning him the command of one of the most crucial military posts ever known. Plenty of experienced admirals with deep connections and prestigious families were passed over in favor of him, whose family had no prestige, and he had barely any connection even to his own blood relatives.

Sure, it seemed nice enough, and Z23 had been patient and helpful in explaining his duties to him, but in these first couple of weeks he felt he had made a bit of a fool of himself.

Like how he tried to be the cool guy and learn everything by pulling all-nighters, but ended up falling asleep and waking up in a maid's lap- Belfast, who was technically one of his subordinates.

It was warm and comfortable, and she didn't seem to mind letting him rest there, but...

...Well, that's not the image of an important naval commander, is it?

These questions frustrated him so much that he couldn't get any work done, so he decided to go for a walk on the pretext of doing inspection rounds. He was pretty sure that Z23 didn't buy it, but she let him go anyway.

Still, being assigned to this command did have the advantage of being close to the ocean, so he at least had the steady rolling of the ocean waves to help calm him down, at least in part, and so he just wandered around the port, almost aimlessly- until he encountered someone in white.

"My, My~ Are you lost, darling?"

That tight, short skirt, white uniform jacket pulled over proportions that could make anything snug, dark stockings, and long, dark hair with fuzzy, canine ears pointing up from it She gave him a warm, peaceful smile. He knew from his files that this had to be the heavy cruiser Atago. "No- Just... For a walk!" Her ...friendliness was a bit intimidating.

The was a pause, and she seemed to inspect him. "Oh...! Ah, Takao said something about a new administrator... But I didn't think that they'd sent us such a cute commander. Well, I'm Atago, myself."

He took a deep breath. Keeping composure was difficult, especially in his state. "So, what did Takao tell you about me?"

She giggled. "She said you looked like a person who might go to pieces in an actual battle and so I shouldn't bother to talk to you... But she has her opinions, and I have mine."

The commander finally had something he could hang some words on. "All right. So... what do you think?"

"You want to know what I think?" She paused and those ears of hers twitched. "My... you really are a different kind of commander. I'll tell you what I'm going to do, then. From now on, I'm going to be like a big sister for you, all right?"

He paused. "Wait... What does that even mean?"

She put her hands behind her back, and leaned in a bit. "It means that whatever happens- if you have questions, or something specific is bothering you, or you just need someone to be close, you can come to me and dive right into big sister's arms, and she'll take care of everything~."

He blinked. "I'm not sure how appropriate that is?"

She kept her smile, undeterred. "This is a different sort of place, commander." She held out her arms. "Won't you at least give it a try? You look like you need a hug from someone, at any rate." She probably wasn't going to stop until he did and... Well... This didn't look like a prank, and she seemed so earnest about it- so there probably wasn't any harm in indulging this once. So, she stepped forward into her reach, and she pulled him in tight against her.