Chapter 36: Hipper's Room

Hipper sounded incredulous.

Lin Lan, however, brightened up and immediately agreed to Eugen's suggestion. He looked at Hipper and said with a smile:

"I've heard that Iron Blood's Hipper is great at flower arranging and has a lot of ship model collections. If you don't mind, I'd love to see them today."

Lin Lan clearly remembered Hipper's five major hobbies: music, flower arranging, mechanics, models, and Iron Blood beer.

"Hah? Are you an idiot? Just because Eugen says something, you believe it? Well, I'll say it up front—if you really want to come, it's fine, but don't get your hopes up."

As expected, the tsundere Hipper was not going to refuse.

After saying goodbye to the Z-class ship girls, Lin Lan followed the Hipper sisters into the third-floor area, which resembled a commercial street.

The layout of this indoor commercial street in the Iron Blood fortress fragmented the space significantly. Each room along the street had different functions.

As Lin Lan walked along the path, he saw several familiar faces.

The Sharn sisters were reading in a room that had been converted into a library, and Count Spee was chatting with Z1 and Z2.

When they saw Lin Lan, they all greeted him with smiles.

However, with Blücher hugging his left arm and Eugen hugging his right, Lin Lan couldn't wave back and could only respond with an awkward smile.

Looking at the two heavy cruisers on either side of him, Lin Lan felt a sudden curiosity and compared their bust sizes.

After a few seconds, Lin Lan concluded that among the Hipper-class sisters, Eugen was indeed the largest, with Blücher not quite matching up.

This might also be due to historical reasons, as Eugen had undergone more modifications than her two sisters.

Given this, it made sense that Hipper, as the eldest sister, would have...

"Oops."

Lost in his thoughts, Lin Lan didn't notice Hipper suddenly stopping in front of him, causing him to bump into her.

Lin Lan's heart skipped a beat—could Hipper read minds?

"You two, we're already here. How long are you planning to keep hugging the Commander?"

Lin Lan then noticed a locked room next to them, marked with the name Hipper-class.

"Hehe, if you're envious, just say so. I'll give up my spot for you," Eugen said with a smile as Hipper opened the door.

"Hah? Who, who would want to hug this idiot?"

Okay, Lin Lan felt unreasonably targeted again.

Opening the door, he followed the Hipper sisters into the room.

The entrance of the room seemed small, but once inside, the space was surprisingly large, making Lin Lan admire the fortress's design.

The room's decoration was very much in Hipper's style.

Black and red wallpaper, neatly arranged musical instruments, a whole cabinet of ship models and figurines, and an open balcony filled with various flowers.

Curious, Lin Lan walked over to the balcony and looked out at the sunlight approaching noon.

It turned out this was the side of the fortress, with a direct view of the vast ocean.

"Commander, if you like any flowers, Hipper can arrange them for you. She's quite skilled."

Eugen cheerfully sat on the sofa by the coffee table, her signature smile on her face, and spoke to Lin Lan standing by the balcony.

"Yes, yes! Big sis will definitely make the best arrangement for the Commander. She's amazing!"

Blücher also lay down on the other sofa as if she were at home.

"Hah? Who, who wants to arrange flowers for this guy?"

Hipper, taking out some chilled sodas from the fridge, came over just in time to hear this and threw the sodas at Eugen and Blücher with a scowl.

"Yes, yes~ It's fine if you don't do it. It's not like I'm the one getting upset."

Eugen cheerfully caught the sodas and placed them on the coffee table.

Blücher, however, prepared to open the sodas she received.

"Seriously, don't open the soda that was thrown at you right away. Just set it aside for now!"

Lin Lan knew Blücher would do something like that. To prevent this love-struck fool from getting soda all over her face, he moved to her side as she received the drinks.

"Commander, are you worried about me? Hmph, but it's not soda, it's just regular orange juice!"

Blücher happily hugged Lin Lan.

At that moment, Lin Lan realized that the can Hipper threw to Blücher wasn't soda like Eugen's, but orange juice with a similar color.

Lin Lan patted Blücher's head and then told Hipper the names of the two flowers he had seen by the balcony.

Hipper's tsundere remarks were to be taken with a grain of salt.

"Idiot, who said they'd arrange flowers for you..."

As expected, while Hipper complained verbally, she honestly went to the balcony to pull open the glass door and start looking for the flowers Lin Lan had mentioned.

Under the sunlight, the blushing blonde girl's emerald eyes were filled with serious determination.

Lin Lan turned his attention to Hipper's collection cabinet.

He approached the cabinet and admired the neatly arranged, unique ship models and lifelike ship girl figurines.

He remembered how, as a child, he would see anime figurines and models on display in stores and wished for a collection of his own.

Unfortunately, after his mother passed away, he no longer had the means for such things.

Even as an adult, he saw online that high-end ship models and figurines were very expensive, not something someone like him could easily afford.

Moreover, due to work, even if he could afford them, he had no place to store them.

"Stop just staring like an idiot. If you want to see them up close, just take them. I never said you couldn't touch them."

As Lin Lan daydreamed, Hipper's tsundere voice came through.

Carrying a basket of flowers, Hipper returned to the room, placed the basket on the coffee table, and walked over to Lin Lan to open the cabinet doors.

"Seeing you like this, I'll take pity on you and give you a tour of each item."

"These are just a part of the collection. Most of it is still in the port area. I didn't bring it all out."

"If you want to look at something, feel free to take it. You're so clumsy, it's normal if you break something."

"Look, this is our Iron Blood flagship, Bismarck, and this is her sister, Tirpitz..."

The red-faced, trying-to-appear indifferent blonde girl in front of Lin Lan made him suddenly feel that his childhood regrets were being fulfilled at this moment.

"This is the model of our Hipper-class. If you like it, you could ask me to give it to you. Hmm?"

As Hipper explained each ship model, she suddenly felt a warm body press against her back.

"Commander... you, you..."

Realizing what was happening, Hipper's ears turned red, and her whole body tensed up like a startled little rabbit.

Lin Lan gently hugged Hipper's shoulders from behind. As Hipper looked up, her face flushed and she tried to speak, Lin Lan kissed her directly.

"Mmm, congratulations, Commander, for finally making a move! So happy for you!"

"Wow, why did the Commander get taken by Big Sis Hipper again? I tried hard too!"

Eugen and Blücher watched the whole scene from the side, like spectators.

Lin Lan felt Hipper's attempt to resist, but her strength was quite weak.

After a token struggle, the blonde tsundere girl completely gave up resisting.

Indeed, it's an unchanging rule that blonde tsunderes are easy to topple.