A Tale of a New Commander

Chapter 2: Arrival of a recent friend

Ronin's POV

CJ and I entered what seemed to be a small cafe, a stark contrast to the large cat and meowficcer petting cafe just a few blocks past. I'm sure Cooper is having the time of her life now and I hope the other girls are enjoying their playtime with the cats.

"So...you think they'll be ok after what happened earlier?" CJ asked with a worried expression on his face, his eyes acting a bit shifty. I could tell he was nervous, but I'm sure they'll be fine. "Yeah, they sure would be. I can imagine Long Island rolling up beside a cat alongside Cooper, that's for sure." I replied, chuckling when I imagined the scenario. I kind of wished we went with them now, primarily because I want to take some cute pictures of London trying to play with the cats.

"Yeah, that's right!" He replied cheerily when we were approached by a cute lady who wore a maid outfit. She held a pen and a clipboard, ready to take our orders. "Good afternoon master, may I take your orders?" She said, bowing at us while handing us the menu.

"Thanks for the great service, anyways I'd like a fermented tea, something along the lines of Kombucha. For the food, I'd like some cheesecake." CJ said, responding quickly as he could. It seems like he made up his mind fairly quickly. I took a few seconds to look at the menu which was lined with a lot of confectionaries and desserts. In the midst of things, I spotted that Earl Gray iced tea was served, and due to my curiosity, I decided to order it.

"I'd take the Iced Earl Gray tea with an order of Pain Au Chocolat" I said, looking at the waiter who jotted down my order on a piece of paper. "Would that be all Master?" She said, looking at me and CJ. I took a glance at CJ who shook his head in reply, I guess that parfait for North Carolina and Shoukaku would have to wait for take out. "That'd be all miss." I replied to the waitress who simply took a bow and left.

"So, where in the Philippines do you live?" I asked CJ, curious as to where he came from. "I live in a city in Davao, studied for a couple of years in a Naval Academy, well that's before I accidentally watched a video about the sirens over on YouTube." He said, completely shocking me with the last detail of his statement. That video, was it the same video I saw about the Sirens?!

"Don't tell me that a lot of people became instant commanders for these ships once they saw the video!" I exclaimed, garnering the attention of the people who dined inside the cafe. CJ's eyes quickly darted to them, checking if anyone was about to make a fuss out of it and after a few moments, they all resumed eating as CJ sighed in relief. "Well, yes...but you can't go around and screaming it ok? We don't want the moral of our Navy to be damaged, wouldn't we?" He replied, pressing up a finger to his lips while I nodded in understanding.

I felt a bit guilty for attracting everyone's attention now. I don't want anyone having any doubts about us, especially with our very shady origin stories. "Well since you've asked me, I take that it's my turn to ask you a question, right?" He said, smiling at me while I simply nodded in response to his question. "Ok, I won't beat around the bush...How does it feel dating the ships of your fleet?" CJ said, catching me completely off guard. What was I supposed to say! Was it that obvious?!

I quickly pulled him close to me with CJ flinching a bit from the sudden pull. "How'd you find out?" I whispered into his ear, releasing him as he chuckled softly once he sat down in his seat. "It was painfully obvious, London placed all her confidence in you, even Cooper gave me a piece of your experiences back then, at least something that helped me understand your outburst even more." CJ replied while my heart pounded heavily, feeling the cold air as my palms got sweaty. How would I explain this to him?

"Alright...don't tell anyone. Dating them is like dating a normal girl...I mean that's what they are, despite the differences, they still act and move like normal people, in fact I don't think they're any different from us. I'm sure you've noticed how hurt Prince of Wales was, didn't you?" I replied with CJ simply nodding in understanding, as if contemplating my response.