After years of silence, they were finally hearing from their Admiral again.
Messages continued to pour in:
Tirpitz:
Admiral, my sister and I miss you dearly.
Saratoga:
Brother-in-law, I miss you and my sister so much.
L'Opiniâtre (Fantasque-class):
Admiral, when are we going for another run together?
Sovietsky Soyuz:
Admiral, I had a nightmare last night… a world without you, so cold.
Sukhbaatar:
Admiral, it's lonely being undefeated all the time. —Sukhbaatar the Great
Lion:
Admiral, if you're dating Helena, I demand the same treatment.
Ulrich von Hutten:
Salute to you, Commander.
Javelin:
Take good care of Glowworm, please.
Braine:
My sister… she really likes you. Please don't let her down.
…
…
After reading them all, Hikaru wrote back:
I have to go for now. I'll set aside one hour every night to talk with you all. I'll try to keep it at night since I don't know the time difference between our worlds.
I'm honored to have met you all in this life. —Hikaru.
Meanwhile, back in the physical world, Hikaru woke up to Lexington, Fletcher, and Glowworm by his side. California, holding a beer, commented in surprise:
"It's already 7 or 8 p.m. How are you still holding on?"
The mind-link had drained her after barely an hour, yet they had lasted much longer.
Lexington gently supported Hikaru as he began to collapse from exhaustion.
"Help me get him to bed," she told California, who obeyed and carried him princess-style to the bedroom.
As she laid him down, California thought back to their first meeting.
I called him "kid" back then, didn't I?
Leaning down, she sneakily pecked him on the lips.
Hmm, nothing special.
Then, Fletcher's chilling voice came from behind her.
"You'll die if the others find out you did that."
After that day, life fell into a new, busy routine. School, training, studying, and nightly talks with the shipgirls at the base. His schedule was packed, leaving little time for anything else.
Despite this, Hikaru made time to check in on California, trying to raise her happiness level. Though he struggled, she and Fletcher had become close friends.
At dinner one night, Hikaru asked Elizabeth to help clear things with the academy since he would need to take a week off every month for combat deployments.
Elizabeth agreed, eager for another excuse to freeload meals.
"But why do you need a week off every month?"
"To fight. You can't just learn on paper—you have to do it for real."
California nervously scanned the horizon on their first deployment together. Hikaru lounged lazily on an air-sofa conjured by Lexington, munching on watermelon.
Fletcher stayed back to guard the house, while Glowworm accompanied them, armed with borrowed sonar and depth charges.
As Hikaru watched the sea, he reviewed the monthly missions he had accepted:
Come to Me (Special):
Achieve 100 battle victories to earn 1–7 shipgirl summons.
Enemy Suppression:
Sink 100 Abyssals to earn blueprints, repair tools, and damage control items.
Battleship Core:
Sink 100 Abyssals of the same type to earn upgrade cores.
More the Better:
Sink 100 Abyssals for a diamond reward.
These simple missions were based on quantity, but the rewards scaled with the quality of the defeated enemies.
Hikaru's real interest lay in the construction and development blueprints, which could guarantee success in ship and equipment building—a priceless commodity.
He was already plotting how to market these without raising suspicion. Perhaps claiming they were spoils from Abyssals?
As he thought this over, he knew the coming battles would be his real test.
[End of Chapter]
[50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]