Simulated Lanes

Chapter 22 - Return to Midway, Aftermath

Few hours later, at nighttime...

Things aren't as peaceful after Azur Lane's victory against the Sakura Empire in their attempt to capture Midway once again. With the revelation that Kamen Rider Snipe is the guest (Y/n) (L/n) and his subsequent disappearance, many shipgirls are in distraught over the loss of said guest.

Javelin is seen crying in her room. Even with Laffey comforting her, it could not ease her immense sadness over the loss of her friend.

Vestal and Illustrious are struggling to keep themselves, until they eventually succumbed into sadness. Even Unicorn couldn't help but to feel sad for her sister ship.

And then there's Hood and Belfast in the former's office, with a very heavy atmosphere within the room. In there, the former is seen sulking on her desk, almost at her breaking point.

"... Please..." Hood breathed, "Please tell me that this is a joke..." She then looked up towards Belfast, who is deeply depressed. "Please, Belfast... tell me that this is a joke."

"... No, milady..." Belfast said weakly, no longer hiding the truth about Snipe. "I... witnessed him transformed into Snipe, and I could not stop him from going to Midway... I'm sorry..."

Hood has been in an emotional wreck ever since the revelation from Belfast, with many shipgirls were sailing next to her, just to keep her from having a breakdown on their way home. It's clear that the revelation hit Hood the hardest, seeing how much she cared for not only the guest, but also Snipe, despite his rough exterior.

And now, Hood fell into depression, and this is her second time in doing so. With two of her most important person now gone thanks to the Crimson Axis, it's no wonder why she can't hold her composure anymore.

"This whole time... he was fighting our enemy the whole time..." Hood muttered, referring to the boy as the moments that she had with him flashes in her mind. "Why... why are you hiding this from us?!" As Hood suffers a mental breakdown, Belfast can only watch her superior in sadness. No matter what she's going to do to help her, it won't make her superior feel better.

'... I too am asking why, milady...' Belfast thought, with tears beginning to form. '... Why, sir (Y/n)...'

Meanwhile...

Enterprise is seen walking along the shores of the beach, seemingly deep in thought. The revelation that made her initial suspicion of (Y/n) being Snipe correct, which in turn made the Carrier have conflicting thoughts about the two.

The harmless and shy (Y/n), and the cocky yet experienced Snipe... two polarizing entities that is actually the same person.

Since the revelation, the two faces overlapped in her mind. Yet her mind couldn't settle to accept the fact, especially when she was the one who first found (Y/n) back at the very same shore as she's at now...

"Enterprise?" The Grey Ghost turned around when she heard a familiar voice, which is her sister Carrier, Yorktown. "Are you alright?"

A simple question, but Enterprise knows what she meant. The Grey Ghost then looked at her sister in a perplexed gaze.

"... Tell me, sister. Was I wrong for hating Snipe?"

Enterprise's question made Yorktown confused, in which the former then elaborate. "He's an outsider that came out of nowhere and acted like he's the big shot in this war. Even with his help during the battles, it's because he has his own agenda with those virus.

I thought that he should never come here and interfere with our war. And I treated him him like an unwanted person. Yet, never once that he looked down on us. He may be rough and arrogant, but he never treated me or others like a hinderance."

Enterprise recalled the battle with the Zerstörer, in which Snipe took the leading role of defeating the monster with the help of Enterprise's plane. Then the gathering where she expressed her opinion on him, and then the infiltration mission where Snipe returned from the enemy base, albeit exhausted from whatever happened back in the island. Both of which proved that Snipe isn't as bad as she thought he was.

Then, she recalled the time where she encountered (Y/n) once by accident, and then during a breakfast where she had a talk with him.

"And with the fact that Snipe is actually (Y/n), I don't know what to think of him anymore..."

With that conflict in her mind, Enterprise stares down at the sandy ground, not knowing what to believe anymore. Yorktown meanwhile, begin walking close to her and hold her sister by the shoulder.

"I don't know much about your relationship towards Snipe, but I do know that you care for (Y/n)." Yorktown stated, in an attempt to lift her sister spirit, just a little bit. "I'm sure that he has reasons to hide the fact from you, or everyone else for that matter. 

All we can do now is to pray that he's still alive." Yorktown then pulls her sister close for a hug. Even though she's mostly seen as stoic, Enterprise didn't mind the hug from her sister. If anything, now that she's alone with Yorktown, she shed some tears over the loss of the boy she saved in the past.

"Why..." She sobbed. "Why did you hide it from us..."

Yorktown can only comfort her sister, and letting Enterprise let loose of her held back emotions...

Meanwhile... on another faction...

Prinz Eugen is seen walking through a hallway of the Ironblood HQ. Just recently, she reported her findings of the faction's newest Prisoner of War to Bismarck, and right now is going back to the cell, where said POW currently resides.

'To think that the troublesome Snipe is actually a teenager of all things...' She thought, recalling her memory of removing the Bang Bang Simulations Gashat out of Snipe. The moment it was removed, Snipe's persona disappears, revealing the now unconscious teenage boy. It's safe to say that she's surprised by the revelation.

'Though it was amusing to see Bismarck's reaction.' She then giggled to herself, in which the memory of Bismarck learning the truth about Snipe plays in her head. In that moment, Bismarck were astounded by the discovery, and even question her subordinate if she knew about it, in which Eugen herself doesn't know about it until then.

With that discovery, Bismarck ordered Eugen to watch over him before the leader interrogate him in the near future, in which Eugen happily accepts.

'Oh well, at least I have my a new 'entertainment' now~' Eugen then smiled to herself, thinking of whatever mischievous deeds that she's planning for her prisoner.

'This is going to be fun~'

(A very short interlude before the start of the next part of this story.
As always, I hope you guys enjoyed, and Peace Out!~)