The First Fleet (Azurlane Fanfiction)

ch. 19.2, Falling Petals

{thinking}
"talking"
*action*
(additional info)

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3rd POV:

As Nagato and her advisors left the shinden-zukuri, they greeted a cruiser as she practiced her sword in the relative silence of the front yard. As she stood motionless with closed eyes beneath the petals of a cherry blossom tree, with a twitch and a silvery flash, she instantly grabbed her sword and swung forward, slicing cleanly through a pettal as it fell.

Zuikaku: *clapping* "タカオ君は相変わらずレーダーサイトの練習に励んでいるようだね" 
(I see your practicing you radar sight as hard as always, Takao)

Takao: "瑞鶴！戻ってきてくれて嬉しいよ"
(Zuikaku! glad to see you've returned)

Zuikaku: "ええ...でもうまくできたとは言えません..." 
(yeah... but i can't say I did well...)

Takao: "ああ…じゃあ、散歩しながら話さない?" 
(oh.. Well, wanna take a walk and talk?)

With a nod, Zuikaku followed Takao's lead as they took their stroll, talking about battle pointers and recent events in their life's as they admired the base's scenary. From the rocky rolling hills of the island to the green filled plantations of the base, the 2 look their time, even greeting and petting a wandering fox spirit as they passed through the bamboo forest.

After about an hour of walking, they stopped their stroll on a grassy hill that overlooked the housing district, resting on a nearby bench that made them face the setting sun.

Takao: "それで、えーと、どうしたの？「何もない」なんて言わないで。誰かが何か考えているときはわかるよ"
(so.. uh.. What's wrong? And don't say 'Nothing'. I know when someone's got something on their mind)

Ther was silence for a moment. Zuikaku thought about it for a bit before looking at the busy district below.

Zuikaku: "前回の戦いで灰色の幽霊に遭遇しました"
(i-... We encountered the grey ghost in our last battle)

Takao: "エンタープライズ！？大西洋に駐留していると思っていたのですが?"
(Enterprise!? I thought she was stationed in the Atlantic?)

Zuikaku: "運でしょうか？運命でしょうか？分かりません。でも、この戦いで、なぜ彼女の名前がそんなに有名なのかが分かりました。私がスピードと正確さなら、彼女はパワーと敏捷性でした。彼女は私の攻撃をかわし、かわせないものはブロックした"
(perhaps luck? Perhaps fate? I don't know. But in our fight, I realized why her name is so wellknown. If I was speed and precision, she was power and agility. She dodged my strikes and blocked what she couldn't dodge)

As she remembered, Zuikaku's hand slowly clenched tight with frustration.

Zuikaku: "ついに私は彼女を限界まで追い詰め、武器を壊してしまいました。邪魔されなければ、彼女を殺せたと確信しています。いや、殺せたはずです。...でも...そのとき「彼女」が来ました"
(eventually I pushed her to her limit, even broke her weapon. Had I not been interrupted, I'm confident-, no, I know I could have ended her!... But... Then 'she' came..)

Takao: "彼女？"
(she?)

Zuikaku: "背が高く、肌は黒く、髪はプラチナブロンドの北部出身者。北部議会が太平洋で何の目的で活動していたのかは分かりません。しかし、彼女は強かった。彼女の剣とぶつかったとき、私は山とぶつかる小枝のように感じました。私は...比較することすらできませんでした..."
(a tall, dark skinned, and platinum blonde haired Northerner. For what purpose was northern parliament was doing in the Pacific, I don't know. But she was strong. When I clashed with her sword, i felt like a twig clashing with a mountain. I... couldn't even compare... "