A familiar name was uttered by her, Kronsthadt, the large cruiser ship from Northern Parliament. The Commander still mouth agape, he shook off his head. He realized something was strange after hearing those words, no, to be exact he knows something was up before but he still don't have any clue on how did it happen.
'How did Volga appear in front of me if they are trapped inside that submarine?'
The estimation of the time during the period of their rescue was before the event of Compiler's subjugation, and they were stuck inside the waters for years. He was aware that the timeline had been altered by S.A.V.I.O.R., but the one who should not appear until the future still existed by his side. Recalling the previous encounter he had with the wisdom cubes, she was his first shipgirl personally constructed by his sole power and also his first experience using a wisdom cube.
'Are there any contributing points toward the mystery of the cubes?' He asked to himself.
He still hadn't touched a single wisdom cube since the incident with the red-colored cube, which he assumed might be an origin cube, as mentioned by Observer Alpha during her storytelling about the original timeline. He also recalled the origin cube that went inside his body. Strangely enough, he felt like he could make a wisdom cube he absorbed appear on his palm. Glancing back at her face, he caressed Volga's cheeks and told the cruiser to wake her up while he went to the toilet.
In the toilet, not far from the dormitory room, he washed his face and took a good look in the mirror. A headache caught him by surprise as he tried to suppress the agonizing pain by holding his head. Dozens of data surfaced in his brain as he could clearly see a pair of coloured strings leaking from his hand leading outside of the room, red and blue. The red coloured went in the direction of Volga's room, and the blue coloured string went toward Albacore's location outside of the dormitory area. The pain subside as he tried to blink twice to confirm he was seeing this through his own eyes.
"A string?" He tilted his head.
Trying to touch the strings using his other hand, they suddenly vanished from sight, as if the lines didn't exist in the first place. The Commander calmed down after a while, crossing out any speculation that the pair of strings coming from his hand was the work of the Siren. In the first place, it was easy to guess what the strings meant. Those two were the ones he personally constructed using the wisdom cube.
'Those two was born out of the wisdom cube that i used to create them, are there special connection with me and them?' He shook his head. 'No, the only spiritual/emotional connection that i remember was through an oath ring... wait...' In that moment he realizes something. 'Oath/Marriage connection is a shared bond between a Commander and the KANSEN that is crucial for unlocking greater power by surpassing the KANSEN limit, then if im not wrong...'
Awakening protocol required when a KANSEN is greatly stimulated not as a 「weapon」, but as a 「person」, during which a phenomenon occurs that grants them extremely great power. Greynar knows that all KANSEN could technically Awaken when the needed requirement for them to Awaken has been fulfilled. To which he remembers about one of the requirement are interactions and deepening bonds with a specific existence and it will causes significant growth in a KANSEN's humanity side.
That example of the existence is the Commander—something that could be categorized as an irregular.
But that's not all. As KANSEN grow depending on their own spiritual connection with their Commander, there could also be a possibility of them turning into a META ship—the opposite of what an Awakening should be. Something that could be reversible within a certain range once the shipgirl has undergone a META transformation, but no one has ever been able to provide the evidence of the theory.
"I wish my hypothesis about this is true, but..." He shooks his head. "Arrgghhh, nevermind, i will just ask Observer about my theory later."
After a while, the Commander returned to the room with a satisfied expression, turns out inside the toilet, coincidentally Greynar's stomach suddenly was in pain and he needed to use it for a while. Meanwhile, Volga has already awaken from her sleep and she apologized for not replying to the call. She was just that tired after an uneventful event that almost claimed their life—though their memories has been altered, their body remember.
"Im so sorry!!! I slept all the way through when i thought i will take a short nap." She repeatedly bowing to him, asking for him to just overlook it.
A wry smile adorned on his face as he glanced at Aurora. He asked Volga to stand up, "Alright alright i get it! I get it! Please stand up."
The carrier looked at him, she slowly stood up with a slight teary eyes. The Commander sighed and pulled her closer to his chest. Volga widened, her face took a form of a red colour but she smiled and accepted his embrace. "Commander..." She silently smiled and closed her eyes.
"You really are a troublesome girl, i can't get mad when you have a cute sleeping face." He chuckled, he decided to change the topic to avoid embarassment. "Anyway, do you happen to know a submarine called Suliko?"
"Suliko?" She tilted her head curiously. "I don't think that word rings a bell for me..." The Northern Parliament girl furrowed her brows, closing her eyes to think hard. "Ow..." Volga held her head, crouching down. "My head hurts..." It was as if an intense headache had attacked her.
"Are you okay? Don't force yourself too hard to remember." Worrying that Volga might remember something unpleasant he decided to drop the topics down.
"N-no, I'm okay. Thank you, Commander." Accepting his hand, she stood up again. Aurora also helped her in a panic, but she calmed down when she took a look and saw that her friend was okay.
She looked at the Commander with a questioning glance. "Commander, what is the Suliko Submarine?"
"The Suliko Submarine..." Trying to come up with an excuse he said, Greynar thought for a moment. "...I glanced at the paper i was reading, apparently there was a mention of a submarine in Northern Parliament's document so i thought Volga know something."
"Huh, i see..." Aurora nodded slowly.
"But let's forget about that, i was just asking some random question." Checking the time on his watch, he urged them to go eat. "Let's go eat, i'm hungry right now."
The three of them went outside to grab some food. While Aurora and Volga chatted about their respective stories during the commissions, the Commander beside them contemplated the recent problems silently. Greynar couldn't rest peacefully with these issues roaming around the world. Looking at the two girls, he wondered if they were aware of what they were dealing with. Even so, he wanted to protect them with all his strength. He might be physically weak, but his mental fortitude was strong, and also he got very few people he could call ally in this world, not including the shipgirls.
And if it was not enough, Observer Alpha who helped him before could be considered as an ally to him.
'Even so, how did they did not get affected by the reset? Are there something that i didn't know of?'
There was no answer for him to search, the secrets lays within the Siren program that the Magister created, or what they call him Dr. Aoste. He knows very little about him, but he was convinced that Aoste got a thing for white haired girl looking at how many Siren are white-haired girls. Fair to say, he could respect the guy for his "thing" because they are a fellow male that have some luxury taste.
After finishing their food, Greynar wanted to see how the girls have grown over the time along with their strength. So they went to the exercise field which is rare to see it was empty with no person in sight at this time. Greynar told them to take their stance as he called out several mass-produced ship to the waters.
"Alright, these will be your enemy for you to train. I wanna see how far you guys have gotten, so do your best!" He sat on a nearby chair, cheering on them.
"Okay, Commander~ Aurora let's show what we capable now." Volga turned to her friend and chuckled, she summoned her rigging and jumped to the water.
She nodded, following Volga's step. "It's been a while since we have fought side-by-side, lets see how much we improved compared to the previous battle."
Both of the girls waited for the countdown to end, preparing to dash immediately, Aurora with a swift speed going fast to the nearby ship. She launched her torpedo wave to a light cruiser ship while dodging the barrage of bullets heading towards her from above. One of the bullets scratched her rigging body but it was just a non-lethal ammunition that only scratched the body when it hits.
Next, Aurora went to the nearby destroyed without giving them a place to breath and reload their ammunition. She swiftly jumped to the ship and destroyed the deck, sinking the ship by using the water that leaked inside. She jumped again to make a distance from the rest of the enemy's fleets.
"Volga! Now!" Aurora shouted.
"On it!" Volga swiftly surfed past Aurora and went straight to the enemy, she controlled the plane to make a formation and let her rigging chomped down some ship along the way.
Both of the girls are at their peak morale and was excited to show their beloved of the result of their exercise training. Aurora went ahead and shoot her torpedo to a carrier fleet, wasting no time for the carrier to shift their target on her, Volga stepped in and put her dive bomber above the enemy 's carrier then exploded them into several pieces.
During those moment, she also freeze a nearby submarine below them. Aurora used her Anti-Submarine sonar to detect a nearby enemy, she was surprised when she realize it was below them. Without hesistation, she pulls out her anti Anti-Submarine Warfare and spread it out to the waters around them.
The water exploded as pieces of a submarine coming out from inside. After handling the submarine below, Volga's rigging sensed something coming to their direction, they opened their mouth and launched their beam to it. A suicide boat could be seen exploded as it sinking right in front of her. Before they can relax, a figure came to their location and immediately opened fire.
"Wha—!" Aurora was hit by the barrage.
"Aurora!" Volga shielded her cruiser friend using her rigging while controlled her fighter plane that was scattered above the sky to open fire on the unknown attacker.
"cough cough I'm okay! More importantly, who is it that attacked us?" Aurora checked the direction where the salvo came from.
"It's me," From the rising smoke of the wrecked mass-produced ship, Massachusetts appeared in front of them. "The Commander asked me to assess your combat ability."
Her stance was like those of a warrior, ready to attack anytime. The duo was nervous against a shipgirl like her, she is scary and intimidating, at least what it looks like on the outside perspective. They know she is a soft-hearted person but when she was fighting, they are screwed.
"Massachusetts, go easy on us okay~?" With a nervous laugh, Volga started the fight as she launched another planes to Massachusetts' location.
Aurora joining in by preparing her torpedo, cautiously circling Massachusetts who was still standing and used her anti-air to attack the plane surrounding her. She glanced at Aurora and rushed to her with a fast speed. Flinched on her sudden movement, Aurora drastically changed her attack plan by sending out several anti-submarine mid air and shoot them to create a smoke bomb.
Massachusetts stopped and shielded herself from the attack, by the time the smoke clears out, Aurora has gone from the place and moved behind her with the same speed as her. She launched several torpedo that spread widely, locking Massachusetts' movement and stepped back from her position.
Massachusetts exploded when a torpedo hit her from behind. It was one of Volga's torpedo bombers that was hiding in plain sight from her anti-air guns. The duo's combination gave Massachusetts a small disadvantage due to their smart positioning and tactics. Massachusetts counter-attacked them using her rigging and shoot a barrage of salvo to Aurora.
The rain hits her but she manage to dodge all of it using her fast agility as a light cruiser. Checking how Volga silently creeping up to Massachusetts, she changed her battle tactics from running to attacking the battleship in the distance. Rushing through the splashing water, she and Volga attacked Massachusetts.
The battleship didn't stand still and prepared to dodge their attack, she targetted the closest person she find, which is Volga behind her. Volga caught off guard with it and backed down from attacking, but it was too late, the turrets has targetted the poor carrier and she exploded.
After Volga was out of the battle, Massachusetts went for another attack. Aurora saw that Volga was cornered by Massachusetts. In a moment of panic, a buzzer sounded throughout the entire field. Aurora stepped out from the bounds, sighing, relieved to be spared from getting attacked by Massachusetts' turret.
Massachusetts stopped her track and retract her rigging to their original position. "Good work you two, it was a great battle, you have improved much in this short time."
Returning to the area, they gathered in front of Greynar with satisfied expressions. They cheered for themselves because of the combination they made, clearly showcasing pure skill and battle tactics. Especially Massachusetts, who fought the girls, was very impressed by the duo's combination.
The night came, and they held a small party to celebrate their significant improvement over the months. Volga brought out vodka from who-knows-where she had gotten it, but a small party is still a party, so Greynar didn't question it further.
"Cheers for you both!" They tossed their glass to the air, chugged down the whole drink.
Since Massachusetts had other matters to attend to, she didn't join the trio. However, she still conveyed her regards and congratulations. The Commander was immersed in his own world with them, so they didn't mind in the slightest that Massachusetts didn't join.
"It's all thanks to you Commander, we can improve in such short time."
Volga leaned on his shoulder, brushing his finger against her, she felt safe and warm around him. Looking at her cute expression, Greynar couldn't hold back and force them into a kiss. Of course, Volga was taken aback but she gradually accepted it while Aurora looking at them with an amused expression.
Soon they break apart as a string of saliva connected both of them appeared. Greynar turned around to Aurora, and soon also kissed her. The light cruiser let out a soft sigh as they kissed, they parted when he noticed he was heating up as the kiss keeps going further. Strangely, he was not under the influence of the alchohol, probably he had a resistant due having S.A.V.I.O.R and looking at both of the girls flushed in red, he knows that they need to sober up first.
After he's done with their small party, he took a small walk beside the dockyard, checking at the working Manjuu that was scattered around fixing ships. The reason for his small stroll is to let the girls sobered up before he got back to his own room. He afraid something will happen if they are still drunk, probably a lot of problems will occur if he didn't leave them be for a while. This doesn't mean he was afraid to bypass that boundary, but he want the best for them and not taking them while at their vulnerable state.
An hour has passed, he went back to his room and found two girls cuddled side by side holding each other in warmth. When he approached them slowly, he suddenly got pulled towards the bed. It was as if fate didn't let him be, the two girls still hasn't sobered up due to the alchohol strong influence.
"Commander~ Where did you went to~?" Volga, still on her drunked state tracing his uniform with her finger.
"We have been waiting for you Commander~ I have been thinking of this and that for a while." Aurora on his side curling beside his body.
"Y-you guys, he-hey stop!" Gasping for a breath he tried to move.
Their clothes begin slipping off from their shoulder, it was his own fault thinking that sobering up will be done in a mere hour. The Commander went as far as trying to stop them, but he was overpowered by them. It was also the result of his own consequences for prolonging his own approach on the girls.
Since the night is still young, the Commander gave up to his natural instinct. The door was closed tightly and since somehow there was a sound-proofing wall, nobody knows what happens inside the room.
