12 Parting

The moment Viltus, Houshou, and Taihou comes back to the party room, the three of them are really surprised to see additional people there. They are Ashigara, Myoko, and Shiro. Shiro, that already sits down with the other Ship Girl, looks at Viltus and then she giggles a bit. After that, she says,

"Now, I know the reason why the Ship Girl aren't joining me at all. Of course, it is something normal for all of you joining these handsome man, right?"

Kimura, Haruto, and Viltus look at each other and Viltus says,

"Big Sis... Why are you here?"

"You should know the reason, Viltus," answer Shiro

"Are you always doing this, Admiral Yanagi?" ask Kimura

"You don't need to be formal right that, Kimura. Just call me Shiro."

"A.. All right."

"Then, my answer is yes. I always do this so many times with the two of them," says Shiro as she looks at Myoko and Ashigara

She observes around her and sees Taihou and Houshou. She immediately says,

"I can't believe you could invite Taihou and Houshou here."

"Eh?"

"Three of you are really good at doing this. Then, I think there is no such problem here," says Shiro as she smiles at three of them

Shiro then calls Viltus and ask him to sits beside him. The other Ship Girl looks really surprised when Viltus suddenly calls Shiro as 'Big Sis'. Especially Taihou, as she knows Viltus' origin. After he sits beside her, both of them pour alcohol on each other glass and drink it together. Seeing that, Kimura feels that this party could continue without any problem, with Taihou still not quite sure about all of that after being scolded by Houshou.

When all of them are drinking to their heart content, Shiro suddenly says,

"You know the transfer document already done and I will be transferred next week."

"Huh? Are you going there next week? That's really fast." says Haruto

"Ahahahahaha... Oh, Ashigara, Myoko, this will become our last party together here."

"We know about that. Just don't cry there because you miss us," jokes Ashigara

The three of them laughs together and pour some sake into each other glass. After they drink that, Shiro calls the other Admiral to near her and asks them,

"So, who is the one that is responsible to create this party?"

"That's me," answer Kimura as he raises his hand

"Ashigara, Myoko. If both of you want to hold this party, just go and meet this guy. I believe he could make a wilder party than mine."

Ashigara and Myoko then chuckle a little bit and both of them introduce themselves to Kimura. Shiro then continues,

"I hope all of you could become a friend here while I'm away."

"You don't need to worry about that," says Aoba

"And please look after my idiot brother here."

"Big Sis!" shouts Viltus

Everyone laughs after hearing that and that makes Viltus really mad. Until all of them stay there until midnight and now the four of them already walks to the dormitory. When they walking there, Shiro says,

"Viltus, what did you do that make Houshou scolded both you and Taihou?"

Viltus look really distant and hears Shiro ask him again,

"Did both of you fighting?"

"Yes..." answer Viltus

"Ahahahahaha... That really reminds me of when you are fighting with Kaede."

"Ahahaha..."

Both Kimura and Haruto could hear sad laughs from Viltus, but none of them dare to ask who the one that mentioned by Shiro. Shiro then looks at Kimura and Haruto for a while and then she says,

"Kimura, Haruto! Please look after my stupid brother, ok? Don't let him fight Taihou again."

Kimura and Haruto nods after hearing that and they hear Viltus says,

"Then, Big Sis. When you are at Kure please don't eat too many sweets and do a lot of all-nighters! You are the one that will lead Kure, so look after your own health while I didn't look after you. I don't want to hear a news that you are unconscious there. So, please."

"Of course, I will do that," answer Shiro

Shiro looks at Viltus and she could see his concerned face about her. So, she pats Viltus' head and then says,

"Then, Viltus... Please don't lead your emotion to consume you, especially during those months. That's the one that will hold you from your position."

"I know..." says Viltus as she hugs Shiro

Kimura and Haruto walks to them and they also hear Shiro says,

"Please, look after him. I believe you."

Both of them nods to Shiro to assure her that they will do it. Then they continue to walk to the dormitory with Shiro tells them some secret at Yokosuka. When they approach the dormitory, Shiro says,

"I just remember this. But, there is a lot of Abyssal activity recently. And looking at the current state, I believe Admiral Ichijo will commence a large scale operation with three of you inside it."

Haruto, Viltus, and Kimura listen to Shiro and then they hear,

"I hope all of you alright at that operation."

"You don't need to worry, Shiro! We will alright because we always come back here without any problem!"

Shiro smiles at them and then ask them to walk back to their room. After the three of them leave her, she looks at the outside and says,

"This feeling... I hope nothing happens to them... Please, I beg you..."

Meanwhile at Ship Girl dormitory, most of the Ship Girl that joined the party already back at their room. Except some of them that tried to wake up other Ship Girl that asleep because of too much drinking. And some of them also gathers the bottle and throws it away at the bin.

Aoba looking at the picture that she takes and shows it someone around her. Some of them are asking for her to print it and some of it wants her to delete it. Until Houshou scolds her a bit and she starts to help to gather all bottle there. When she doing that, Taihou walks near her and says,

"Aoba, it seems you are really close with your Admiral."

"He is Aoba's Admiral at Aoba's unit. Of course Aoba really close with him," answer Aoba

"Then, could I ask you about all of those Admiral names? Except for Admiral Yanagi and your Admiral."

"Are you going to report them to Military Police?"

"No, I'm not. It just I quite interested with them."

"Hooo..."

Aoba then points Kimura's camera at Taihou and immediately snaps a photo of her. Taihou really surprised with that and says,

"Why did you do that?"

"Ummm... Aoba thinks that becomes a habit," answer Aoba

"Really..."

"But, Aoba will tell you the name. The first Admiral that always with Sendai-Class is Admiral Kouga Haruto. He really loves to slack off, but he is really reliable in doing anything. And the one that fighting with you is Admiral Viltus Amarov."

"Viltus Amarov... That name is really weird when they called each other brother and sister. Are you sure that they are siblings?"

"Between Viltus and Shiro?"

"Yes."

"Well... They are siblings... Yes, they are siblings."

"Huh? Then, what about the name that Admiral Okazaki tried to say to me? If I remember correctly, there is one word, Ka..."

Taihou suddenly falls silent and she feels something odd about those name. Aoba only smiles a little bit as she knows what happen between both of them. Aoba then says,

"Isn't it better if you ask him by yourself? I believe he will answer it if you ask him directly."

"You know that's impossible!" shouts Taihou

"It seems you still angry at him," says Aoba

"Of course."

After that, Aoba hears everything that Taihou says about what happens when Taihou and Viltus being scolded by Houshou back then. Until Houshou calls them to stop talking and ask them to take a rest now. Aoba immediately walks to her room, leaving Houshou and Taihouthere. After she arrived at her room, she could see Kinugasa that already asleep.

Aoba smiles a little bit and then change her cloth. When she checks all of her pockets, she could see one note stated,

'Could you give back my camera one day before Shiro go? I will give it back to you when everything already was done.'

Aoba really surprised to see that note and then laughs a little bit. She then says,

"You are really silly, Kimura. Why don't you ask Aoba yourself? Or maybe he only wants to touch Aoba."

She then laughs again and then walks towards her bed and take some rest.

And today, one week already passed since then. Shiro seems ready to leave Yokosuka. But, before she leaves Kimura took one photo of her that smiling at him. And after some chat, she leaves Yokosuka to Kure.

After Shiro leaves, Kimura, Viltus, and Haruto gathers again and have a little chat about Shiro and the last party. And then Viltus asks Kimura,

"Could I look at the picture that being taken by Aoba before?"

"Of course you could," answer Kimura

Haruto and Viltus look around the gallery and both of them looks really satisfied with it. After that, Haruto praise Aoba,

"Aoba looks really good for taking a lot of pictures."

"Of course, she is," says Kimura

"She is indeed your counterpart, Kimura." jokes Viltus

Viltus and Haruto looking at Kimura and they could see Kimura that really embarrassed with that. Viltus then gives back Kimura's camera and then says,

"Thank you very much, Kimura. But, right now I have something else to do. So, I will leave first. See you at the canteen."

"So do I. I have one training that I couldn't miss. See you later," says Haruto

Viltus and Haruto then leave Kimura there. Kimura then looks at the picture that is taken by Aoba and then says,

"I really happy about this, Aoba."

He then starts to walks towards his office while thinking about giving his camera to Aoba and confess his feeling to him. And by thinking about that really embarrass him a lot. After he regains his composure, he looks above him and says

"Is it just me, or it is already hotter than before?"

He then sighs a little bit and says,

"It seems the spring will end soon. And with that, summer will come. Hopefully, I could cope again with the heat this year."

Kimura closes his eyes for a while and then he says,

"Why must I worried about that. As long as Aoba with me, I could fight this heat."