Chapter 24

The Empress heads to the cafeteria to have a night snack because she couldn't sleep properly, tomorrow was the day of the tournament. Yamato arrived outside of the cafeteria, she let herself enter inside because the doors weren't locked, surprisingly. She wondered if the shipgirls got assigned the cafeteria duty, and forgot to lock the door.

But that wasn't the case, inside the cafeteria Yamato saw the Admiral laying down his head on the table while 5 or 6 empty bottles of whiskey were on the table beside him with one half empty. If a killer entered inside the cafeteria instead of Yamato, they wouldn't have a hard time trying to find the Admiral because he's right there.

Behind a large window with the moon's light shining through like the Admiral is the male drunk version of sleeping beauty or something, Yamato slowly closed the door, but the sound was just enough for the Admiral to be alerted. And pulled his handgun out as he drunkenly aimed at Yamato, the Empress raised her hands up without a second thought.

"Woah! Ally, ally!" Yamato said.

"Yamato…?" Justin said, looking at Yamato for a few moments before he realized. "Ah, sorry about that, Empress."

The Admiral puts his handgun back to its holster on his leg, Yamato approaches the drunk Admiral without worries of getting shot by a 50 Action Express (AE, 12.7×33mmRB) because that bullet hurts a lot. The Empress sat down across from the Admiral drinking another glass of whiskey.

"Admiral, why are you here so late at night drinking many bottles of whiskey? Tomorrow is the tournament day! You should be resting, and preparing tactics!" Yamato said.

"Heh… You sound like my wife right now…" Justin said, taking another drink. "She likes to tell me that whenever I get home… "

"I see… Umm, uh do you want some ramen? I was going to eat some food because I can't sleep properly due to the tournament being tomorrow. I got nervous." Yamato said.

"Actually… Yeah, I'm pretty hungry since I didn't eat dinner." Justin said.

"Huh!? Why!? Didn't Enterprise bring you some dinner earlier?" Yamato asked.

"Eh… Enterprise knows I have a habit of not eating for 1 or 2 days…" Justin admitted.

"The hell?! Why!? That is really not a healthy habit!" Yamato shouted, fully concerned with the Admiral's habit.

"... I want to remind myself that I'm grateful that I'm privileged enough to have food on my table, a shelter, warm clothes… While many people around the world don't have the same privilege…" Justin said, looking down on the whiskey glass.

"I see… I will prepare the ramen…" Yamato said.

The Empress heads to the kitchen, and starts preparing the ingredients for the ramen dish. Yamato wore an apron before she started making the ramen, thanks to her previous life being a part of the cooking club in her old highschool because she wanted to cook for her boyfriend, and wanted to make the same foods she has seen in many anime, especially Food Wars. Cooking was easy for her.

Yamato takes some glances at the Admiral, who's just staring at the table with a blank expression on his face like he was thinking deeply or he was able to fall asleep with his eyes wide open. The Empress skillfully made the ramen that is similar to the ramen in the anime series, Naruto. Yamato heads back to the table with the two bowls of ramen.

Yamato, placed in front of the Admiral, was trying her best not to kiss him on his forehead like he was a small child that got injured on his bike. She went to her side of the table, and began to eat the ramen. The Empress, and the Admiral ate the bowls of ramen together in complete silence while the only noise was the leaves rustling due to the wind.

"This is very tasty. Yamato. I didn't know you knew how to cook, I have always thought you order around shipgirls to cook for you." Justin said.

"Heh, I teached myself how to cook… Because of you…" Yamato said, muttering the last words.

"Come again? I didn't hear the last words." Justin said.

"Forget about it, the words aren't important anyways. Just enjoy the ramen, you might not be able to taste it again." Yamato said.

"If you were my wife… I will spoil you everyday if you cook food for me like this." Justin said.

Yamato blushes hearing those words, she remembered those words said by her old boyfriend minus the "If you were my wife" part. Yamato envisioned a nice peaceful life with the Admiral, and their children in the countryside after the war against the Sirens. But she knows that might take a long time since the war has been going on for a hundred years now.

"Admiral, what was your wife like?" Yamato asked.

"Well… She was beautiful that's for sure, but she wasn't the "love of my life" material why? Heh… She cheated on me during my Academy days." Justin said with a smile.

"Huh!? Why!? You seemed the perfect husband material, but there's few things needed to be fixed like your eating habit." Yamato said.

"She was also trying to be an Admiral too, I didn't know at the time that she was having sex with the professors in the Academy to get high scores. How naive was I to believe that she spends most of the time "studying" when I found out her secret, and I started getting evidence." Justin said. "Days, weeks, and months have passed by so fast. My cheating wife still doesn't know that I have enough evidence to ruin her life, and the lives of the professors. I'm far from a nice person."

"When did you expose her secret?" Yamato asked, resulting in Justin forming a smirk.

"I exposed her secret during the graduation where everyone, students, my cheating wife's family, the professors' families, high ranking officials, hell, even the Azur Lane Organization President was there to witness everything." Justin said. "I divorced my cheating wife on the spot, she got disowned by her own family, and cut ties with her. The professors got fired, and got divorced by their wives meanwhile I was having the time of my life. After that graduation event, I believed I had rented a Lamborghini, and drove around the city picking up many girls."

"Wow… I… I didn't know you went through that, and got the perfect revenge." Yamato said.

"Let me tell you something Yamato." Justin said, leaning closer to the Empress. "Revenge has many different forms, but in the end. If your revenge worked as planned, it's pure satisfaction."

"I understand why you didn't have any pictures of your ex-wife in your dorm room, what was her name?" Yamato asked. "[Please, don't be Alice!]"

"Angela Sargent." Justin replied.

"[Phew, wait? Angela Sargent!? My former highschool bully!? Nani—!?]" Yamato thought. "The name has the word angel in it, but she wasn't even an angel to begin with."