Commander's Rounds

Entry 21: Daughter of Two Islands

The commander was back at work again, though with a bit of a change, as he wasn't up for hiding things anymore. Aside from the usual clutter, the commander had now stood a framed photo on his desk, a copy of the one he took the first time that King George V came over to cook for him because she felt he wasn't eating well enough. As with all matters involving food, she was completely correct at the time.

Today, however, he had an unexpected guest. He just looked up from his work for a moment to see Javelin sitting on the opposite side, with her elbows on the desk, cheeks in her hands, smiling at him. He had to accept that destroyers and submarines were essentially Azur Lane's living smoke test- any time there was some nook or cranny they could sneak through, they found it and used it. Javelin wasn't the worst sudden guest to have- she was generally well-behaved, and even the mischief she got into was harmless and never really needed his intervention.

And he had a feeling he knew why he might have attracted her attention, which was confirmed as soon as she opened her mouth.

"The commander is in love~. It's really obvious."

The commander looked up from his work. "I'm not really trying to hide it, you know. It wouldn't be fair to King George V, and if I didn't admit it to myself I'd be delusional."

She put her hands on the desk. "Well, why isn't she here with you right now?"

The commander continued to read over the latest exercise reports while answering Javelin. "Because I have my work, and she has duties of her own to her majesty, so we can't be together all the time every day."

"You need to do something, then!"

He responded quickly. "All right, Javelin. For a moment, let us say that you found your own prince or princess charming. What would you want them to do?"

Javelin put her hands on the desk. "What I'd want them to do, aside from confess to me under the legendary tree like in Glasgow's comics, is that every morning I'd want them to sweep me up into their arms and tell me they loved me."

The commander paused in his reading. It wasn't the worst suggestion he could've received, but there were practical problems, considering King George V was taller than he was. So his ability to do that was somewhat limited. Still, he did appreciate having a more innocent perspective on this sort of thing on hand. "That's not the easiest thing to do with King George V, but I'll keep that in mind."

She giggled. "Perfect~"

And the commander decided to have some fun with that. "So, why do you say that- has anyone done something like that to you?"

Javelin wasn't expecting that response. "Huh...? Well... No, it just seems like something I'd like."

The commander went back to reading. "You should probably make sure of that. So, why don't you ask Nimi to do that to you sometime and see how it feels for real."

"Ehhhh!? N-N-N-Nimi!?" She turned tomato red and started poking her fingers together. "Ah... I mean... but... Asking Zed... Could I...? ...If it doesn't work... But what if it does...? Aaah....! It's... It's...!" And she went on like this for some time, leaving him plenty of room to read over the reports and write in his recommendations. Javelin had an unusual relationship with three other girls in the fleet- Z23, Laffey, and Ayanami. They weren't family, but they were closer than friends, but not in a romantic way, as far as he could tell. According to Houshou, they would have sleepovers where all four of them would sleep together in the same bed and think nothing of it in the morning. He was pretty sure there was some Sakura word for that, but he would be damned if he could think of it at the moment.