Chapter 66: A Crane's Favour
"Liar! You're not Zuikaku!" (Zuihou)
"What are you on about? I am Zuikaku!" (RA Zuikaku)
"No you ain't! Zuikaku is a flatty like us. Not some busty cow like you!" (Ryuujou)
"That's right!" (Zuihou)
"Huh?!" (RA Zuikaku)
Of all the things to get mad at, that's what they chose?
"Admiral..." (Ooyodo)
"Handle them in my stead please."
"Understood." (Ooyodo)
As the three girls squabbled, Ooyodo silently went to the two smaller one and awarded both of them a head chop.
"Cut it out!" (Ooyodo)
"Ouch!" (Zuihou & Ryuujou)
As the two carriers clutch their head in pain, Ooyodo approached Zuikaku and bowed.
"Thank you for saving us." (Ooyodo)
"Y-your welcome. Hmm... What is this nostalgic feeling? Have we met before? But I could have sworn this is the first time I met you. And you too." (RA Zuikaku)
She pointed at Zuihou, who is still rubbing the bump Ooyodo gave her.
"Technically, we did fought together in the past." (Ooyodo)
"Do the words Cape Engano or Leyte Gulf mean anything to you?" (Zuihou)
"Cape Engano... Leyte Gulf... Ugh! I never heard of those words before but my heads and I'm getting chills all of a sudden." (RA Zuikaku)
I can see Zuikaku rubbed her head and wince in pain on the monitor.
"Guys, once you get the chance, incapacitate her and return to the base. She might just be one person but none of you are in any condition to fight her."
"Relax. I'm not here to fight or anything. Hell, in fact you owe me for saving your shipgirls. Or is this really how you treat your benefactor?" (RA Zuikaku)
Okay...but I still don't trust her. Wait, hold on. Did she just...???
"You can hear me?"
The others are surprised as well, especially Ooyodo.
"Yep. Tapping onto your communication signal is easy. The signal is an outdated version of the one we used to have. I supposed the technology in this world hasn't advanced that far yet." (RA Zuikaku)
"Admiral, what should we do?" (Shioi)
"Relax. Calm down. I'm not here for a fight. If I wanted to kill you guys, we wouldn't be having this conversation." (RA Zuikaku)
That makes sense.
"Thank you for saving my girls. But I don't suppose you did it for free, right?"
"You are quick on the uptake. That makes it easier. First, I heard about you guys being allies with Azur Lane, but I rather you keep our meeting a secret from them for now." (RA Zuikaku)
"Done. What's next?"
"Admiral, we are helping her?" (Zuihou)
"I don't see why not. She has a point. If she was an enemy, she wouldn't be talking to us. Moreover, she is desperate enough to seek help from us."
"Kh. I kind of hate people with good instincts like you." (RA Zuikaku)
"I will take that as a compliment, thank you very much. This is no place to talk. Let's discuss what you want further back at our base."
"You can take my ship. It's not that fast but it provides shelter, some armour and most importantly, a place for all of you to rest." (RA Zuikaku)
"You have a ship?" (Zuihou)
"She is Kansen, just like the other Shigure and everyone else from the other world."
Zuikaku snapped her fingers and the equipment she had on her body broke into blue cubes. The cubes multiplied and form a large aircraft carrier behind her.
I got to admit. That is pretty cool.
"Woah." (Shigure)
"<That's impressive.>" (Victorious)
"So cool! Are there planes inside? Do you have Tenzens? Suiseis? Type 99s? Zero Fighters?" (Zuihou)
There it is. Zuihou's plane-freak mode. Zuihou got close to Zuikaku has she fired off her questions rapidly.
"Wh-what has gotten into you?" (RA Zuikaku)
"It has started." (Ryuujou)
"Ahaha... Sorry about my sister." (Shouhou)
"Give me a sec." (RA Zuikaku)
Zuikaku leapt... Holy shit! She can jump that high?! Is that like some innate superpower all these girls have or is it just her?! She just leapt from the bottom of the ship all the up onto it's superstructure.
A Jacob's ladder fell from the ships superstructure.
"Climb on up." (RA Zuikaku)
"Should we?" (Ryuuhou)
"Can we?" (Zuihou)
"Admiral, your orders?" (Ooyodo)
"Go ahead. Zuikaku-san, my girls are injured and need medical attention. How long will it take to bring them home?"
"At full speed, I can bring them back by morning. They can use the infirmary in my ship to patch themselves up first and get some food from the mess hall. I have Night planes so leave the night patrol to me." (RA Zuikaku)
"Night planes?! I want to see them!" (Zuihou)
"Is she always like this?" (RA Zuikaku)
"Yeah. She kind of has an obsession with planes." (Shouhou)
The twelve of them had climbed up the ship rather quickly. Shouhou held an excited Zuihou in place, lest she runs off.
"Alright. I will leave them in your care. Once you bring them back, we will discuss what kind of assistance you need."
"You can trust me on that. So I'm trusting you to uphold the first part of our deal." (RA Zuikaku)
"Not reporting certain events is my forte."
"Which is not something to be proud of, Admiral." (Ooyodo)
"That's right." (Shioi)
Let's ignore them.
"You can rest assure that I won't inform Azur Lane about your presence for now. Ooyodo, keep in an eye on them. "
"Leave it to me." (Ooyodo)
"Can I explore the ship? Where is your hanger?" (Zuihou)
"I would like to see your hanger too." (Victorious)
"That's a little..." (RA Zuikaku)
"Let's explore the ship, everyone!" (Yuudachi)
"Amatsukaze, let's race! The finish point is the end of the flight deck." (Shimakazze)
"See you guys back home. Admiral, signing off."
I switched off the monitor and radio. Shioi took off her headphones and rubbed her ears.
"Can we really trust her?" (Shioi)
"I want to. But just in case, inform Fusou, Yamshiro, Prinz Eugen, Zara Hiryuu and Souryuu to meet them halfway and escort them back."
Pola would have drunk herself to sleep by then. Her older, tenacious sister will be a better fit for this job.
"Now?" (Shioi)
"Let them take a short nap first. They are not going to be happy about being deployed at night, but this is kind of an emergency."
"Got it." (Shioi)
Shioi went ahead to issue the order. I can expect an angry complaint from them later.
Will Zuihou be alright? Shouhou and Ryuujou are with her so she should be fine. It's not like she was damaged. Her vitals are still in the green. Heck, she is the only one in the green. The rest are in the yellow and orange zones. Thankfully, none of them are in the red.
If that Zuikaku hadn't swooped in to save them, the whole thing might have ended differently and badly. I really owe her for that.
Still, I'm worried.
"Admiral, what's wrong?" (Shioi)
Shioi looked at me with a troubled expression. I pet her head,
"It's alright. They will be fine. Ooyodo is with them. She will know what to do."
"Mmh..." (Shioi)
Her expression softens as I stroked her head.
"Let's get some dinner. I think they are serving seafood curry today."
"I heard they caught some octopi this morning. So today's seafood curry is special." (Shioi)
"Sounds delicious."
Zuihou will be fine. She will definitely come back to me tomorrow safe and sound.