Chapter 45 - 42

I know this is a practice excercise between two different Naval Bases but why are they making this into a festival?

For some reason, when Zuihou and I went to the excercise area, the entire base is in a festive mood. Even the other Azur Lane shipgirls are here. When did they arrive? Was I gone for that long?

"Oh Admiral! How do you like it? Everyone looks happy! Now we don't need to worry about raising tensions between both sides." (Yuubari)

"Yuubari... Did you plan this?"

"Admiral, sorry for doing it without informing you. I'm the one that told her organize something to keep the base morale up." (Ooyodo)

"No, I'm not angry. Just surprised. If Ooyodo was the one that allowed it, then fine. This will definitely ease some tension. Still, I'm impressed that you can get the fairies to set all this up in such a short time."

"Ahaha... Actually the fairies were itching to prepare for another festival."

Oh, so they were already prepared.

"Admiral, I will go get ready." (Zuihou)

"Alright. Go get em!"

"Yes!" (Zuihou)

Zuihou ran off to get her riggings and equipment. It seems that Yuubari and Ooyodo scheduled the excercise at 1300 hours, so I have 30 minutes to mingle around. We just had a summer festival the other day and now this. Just how much resources did the fairies use? They better make a profit out of this. I hope I don't meet that commander.

"Oh! You are here!" (Commander)

Speak of the devil.

The Commander was stuffing his face with Yakisoba while a shipgirl resembling a maid looked on. If I remember correctly, her name is Belfast, right?

"This is impressive. I was in the observation room when I heard some loud noises outside. I was surprised to see all these booths appear when I came out. It looks fun so I gathered the other girls from my base. Did you plan all these?"

"Not exactly. How far is your base from here? How are your girls able to arrive so quickly?"

"Ah about that. We got permission from your main HQ, so we made a man-made island off-shore. That's where I live now." (Commander)

He pointed towards a small structure in the distance. How much funds and resources Azur Lane have? A man-made island? And one that's close to my district too. Mire importantly, why wasn't I informed about this?"

"Master, it's about time." (Belfast)

"Hmm? Already? I haven't finished going to all the stores yet." (Commander)

"We can do it slowly after the excercise. Come on, let's go."

---------------------------------

"Hello everyone!" (???)

A rather familiar voice appeared from the PA system. Followed by one I have never heard before.

"Today is a practice excercise between IJN and Azur Lane! How exciting!"

"I know right! Ah... Before that, we should introduce ourselves!"

"Oh right! I completely forgot. Teehee."

"Nice to meet you! I am from Maizuru Naval District, I-19! Calling me 'Iku' is fine!" (iku)

"Me too. Type B submarine I-19!" (I-19)

"Today we will be your MCs!" (Both)

The whole area erupted with cheers and applause. Iku being the MC is something I never thought was possible.

"Iku- Chan, today isn't the first match between Azur Lane and Maizuru, isn't it?" (I-19)

"That's right! The first time was a few months ago. but something happened so we had to cancel halfway. For the sake of our shipgirls, I won't release the details." (Iku)

"Aww~ Now I'm curious." (I-19)

"But I heard that now, she is stronger than before. We will definitely win this round!" (Iku)

"Really? Enterprise and Yorktown are pretty strong you know?" (I-19)

"Of course! I'm the Sniper of the Ocean! I never miss my target!" (Iku)

"Hey! That's my title too! And what does that have to do with this?" (I-19)

"Now without further ado, let's introduce our teams."

"Starting with our away team, Azur Lane's mobile fleet 1! Consisting of six members, Aircraft Carriers Yorktown and Enterprise, Light Cruisers Belfast and Prinz Eugen, Destroyer Akatsuki-chan and Battleship Nagato-chan!" (I-19)

That small girl in red is Nagato!? She is almost as small as Asashio!

"From Maizuru Naval District is our very own Fleet 1! Light Cruiser Agano-san, Heavy Cruiser-"

"Light Aircraft Carrier! Geez!" (Suzuya)

"Oh sorry! Light aircraft carriers Suzuya-san and Zuihou-chan, Destroyers Shigure-chan and Yuudachi-chan, and Aviation Battleship Yamashiro-san!"

The whole area cheered once again.

"The rules of this excercise are simple. Both teams must take out the enemy flagship. The flagship will be marked with a white flag with a blue insignia. Azur Lane's flag has a bird." (I-19)

"And Maizuru's has a cat." (Iku)

"They are not allowed to received any orders from command."

"So Commander/Admiral. Please stick to the rules." (Both)

"They are in sync." (Commander)

"They are the same ship."

Now, enough talking! Let's get this excercise started! Everyone, do your best!" (Both)

The alarm rang, signalling the start of the excercise. Both teams left their starting area. From the screen, it's pretty easy to tell who is Azur Lane's flagship. The only one holding the flag is battleship Nagato, which is stuck high up on that oversized mast of hers. I still cant get over how this small loli is a battleship. As for my side, well, that's a surprise for later.

On the screen, the conversations from both teams are being broadcast to us. Of course, they can't hear it.

"Zuihou, sense anything?" (Agano)

"No. I don't think they laughed their planes yet. We can keep moving at this speed." (Zuihou)

"Roger!" (All)

"Will this plan work poi?" (Yuudachi )

"It has to work, because I don't know what to do if it doesn't." (Zuihou)

"That being said, they have Nagato on their team. I don't know if we can even damage her. Nagato is strong, you know?" (Yamashiro)

"Well, we can only find out later. Let's get into range for now." (Suzuya)

Meanwhile, on the other side... Azur Lane has stopped moving, and entered a diamond formation.

"I'm tired..." (Nagato)

"Is this the strength of the Sakura Empire? I expected more from a member of the big 7." (Enterprise, in a mocking tone)

"How dare you speak to your flagship like that?! Apologize this instance!" (Akatsuki)

"Shut it, pipsqueak!" (Enterprise)

"Sister please. this is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves." (Yorktown)

"Eagle Union and Sakura Empire still can't get along?"

"Yorktown is a rather prideful woman. Most of the Sakura Empire girls can stand her. Sorry you had to see this..." (Commander)

The Commander is trying his embarrassment.

"I don't mind. It's natural to fight against your enemies."

"Only this time, they are supposed to be allies." (Commander)

As Azur Lane continues to argue amongst themselves, Fleet 1 is moving at a steady speed forward. Iku and I-19 are, of course, describing and giving their own insights on this matter.

"Isn't this a problem?" (Iku)

"Yorktown-san is fine. But Enterprise-san is kind of annoying. Most of us don't really like her. I don't Nagato-chan though. Those cannons look really heavy." (I-19)

"Our fleet 1 is moving steadily. At this rate, the can make the opening shot on- ah! Yorktown-san just launched a plane." (Iku)

"That's just a recon plane. Similar to our Saiun." (I-19)

"Ah. An enemy aircraft is approaching. It's a little faint, since it's still far away." (Zuihou)

"What kind?" (Shigure)

"It's just one, so maybe a Recon plane? Let's take it down. Suzuya-san?" (Zuihou)

"On it!" (Suzuya)

Using her new flight deck, Suzuya launched a Reppu in front. My girls at Maizuru know about Zuihou's new found ability, but not the girls from Azur Lane.

"What is this? How did she know?"

"Hmhm. Because of that incident, our Zuihou-chan trained herself to listen out for the sounds aircrafts make. With this, she can tell what can of planes are in the air. Awesome, right?!"

A little exagaration there, Iku. I have heard reports of Zuihou intercepting enemy planes before they even show up on radar. It wasn't clear before, but now I am sure of it. She is unconsciously using Passive Acoustic Location alongside her radar.

Passive Acoustic Location uses the sound or vibration of an object to determine its location. This technique became obsolete back before the great war, when radars were invented. For some reason, Zuihou was able to use this ancient method. Since planes make a lot of noise and vibrations through the air, Zuihou made use of these vibrations in the air to determine the quantity and direction they are coming from. In short, she is just extremely sensitive to the surrounding air. And is unknowingly using it to her advantage.

"This is surprising. I didn't think i would see someone using this old method of detection. On its own, it's not as effective as a radar." (Commander)

"But if you can detect the subtle vibrations in the air, you can predict where is it coming from."

"This looks like this will be more interesting than I thought." (Commander)

Now then, who will win? Maizuru or Azur Lane?