"Who made this curry? It's not bad."

Tatsuta's brow twitches a bit – that's how I know she knows I'm upset about something. Even though I tried to hide it. Damn, am I eating too hard or something? She knows me so well. "I believe it was Kongou's turn this time."

My spoon clatters. Okay, I am eating too hard. No wonder she noticed. "Huh." I don't say anything else. I don't want her to... oh, crap. She's giving me that look.

"Is something bothering you, Tenryuu?"

Before I reply, I glance around. We're the only ones still here eating. Everyone else is already back at work. Or whatever the hell most of them do when they aren't at sea – which is where I should be. Now I'm openly mad. "Why am I still here slumming around with you when I could be out there messing up the enemy?!"

Tatsuta's eyes say she's a bit insulted, but she rolls with it and shrugs lightly. "Because you're still on the mend from the ambush last week. I thought you knew that."

I pound the table and stand up – and ignore the fact that makes my leg hurt – and let loose. "I'm fine! He doesn't know what he's talking about! Akatsuki and the kids are starting to whisper, man. I see them makin' weird faces at me... they think I'm soft. I know when I'm ready to go, and I'm ready to go! He's just holding me back!"

"Hmm." She hardly even looks up from her own bowl.

"What? I do know! Why doesn't he trust me?!" It's over. I've lost control. I can't even sit down. "I oughta go get my gear and ship out myself and prove it to him!"

"Hmm." She's looking at me now, but there's a smile on her face. A real tiny one. The one she gets when... uh oh.

"What?" Her eyes dart somewhere else for an instant. My blood starts to boil. "What?"

"Hmm." There's a little bit of a sing-song inflection in this one. She glances off again. Now I figure out where she's looking: behind me. I turn around; my blood stops boiling and freezes solid instead at what I find.

There he is. The Admiral looks about as mad as I felt a minute ago. Maya is by his side. "If you have issues with the way I run my fleet, you can tell me face-to-face," he says. Oh, he is pissed. He doesn't even have to raise his voice to make that obvious.

"I didn't—I mean I just—I'm only sayin'..." Nope. No getting out of this one. I'm boned. I'm glad the kids can't see me like this. They'd laugh their asses off.

The Admiral crosses his arms and gives me a hellacious stare-down. "You think I don't trust you? Is that why you believe I'm 'holding you back'?"

"I, u-uh..." Damn. I feel like a kid now.

"I think it's time I taught you a lesson." He nods to Maya. "Show her to the room. Leave her in there for a few minutes. We'll see what she thinks afterward."

"You got it, boss." She comes over and takes me by the hand. "Come on, Tenny."

I go along mostly because I'm starting to freak out a little. "Wh-what room? The brig? He means the brig, right?" We leave the mess and take a couple of left turns. She's not taking me to the brig. We're going to opposite way. "What the he—Maya, where are we going? What room is he talking about?"

"Pff, you'll find out when you get there."

Her tone bothers me. She's so damn serious all of a sudden. I know better than to try and yank myself free because she will beat my ass, but I walk a little slower. "What room, Maya?"

She doesn't say a word. Oh, fuck. What I have gotten myself into now?

We come to a stop in some part of the base I never go through much. I have to think for a few seconds before I realize this is where most of the carriers hang out. There's a steel door here. Doesn't look like any of the other doors in this hallway. It creeps me out. I try one more time. "Maya, what's in here?"

"Find out yourself." She opens the door and gently shoves me in. "I'll see ya in a few minutes."

Before I know it, the door is shut in my face and I'm left in a completely dark room. "The hell? I'm not afraid of the dark." I fold my arms and grumble. "What's so bad about this? Is it where he sends the kids for time-outs or something? Geez." By the time I actually shut up, I feel something is off. I'm not alone in here. I'm being watched. I turn in place, afraid to walk. Still can't see. "Hello?" All the hairs on my arms are standing up. "I must be imagining stuff again."

"Wo...?"

The fuck was that? "Hey! Who said that?!" I hide being afraid by being mad. Or by sounding mad, at least. "Show yourself!" Two bluish points of light appear directly ahead. The glow starts to trail out and get wispy. It only takes me a second to figure out that the source of the light is a pair of eyes. That's about the time I lose it. "Th-th-the hell..."

"Wo?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" I start pounding on the door. "Maya! Let me out! There's a fucking Wo-class in here! Maya! Help me!" No answer. I'm going to break my fingers on this damn thing if she doesn't...

"Wo does not want to hurt you—I mean, I don't want to hurt you. Wo can't—I mean, I can't hurt you. I have no children."

"Mayaaaaaaa!" I feel her come up behind me and wrap some awful fucking things around my arms. They're cold and soft and oh god I'm gonna puke... she drags me away from the door. Slowly. Carefully?

"Sit with Wo. I mean, sit with me. Wo doesn't often get visi—I mean, I don't often get visitors." She sits me on something. A comfortable something. I'm still way too busy flipping my shit to care what.

"Let me go! I'll kill you!" With what? I don't have any of my gear on. I don't even have my sword. That fact makes me quiet real fast. "N-no, wait, I, uh... I'm sorry for yelling please don't beat me to death?" A lamp comes on. We're in chairs facing each other, with a table to my left that the lamp is sitting on. As I look around, I notice there aren't any windows. In fact, this looks kind of like a storage room that's been refurbished or something. She smiles at me, all pale and spindly and oh god that fucking black bulbous nightmare on her head with the teeth is making my stomach turn. "Wh-what do you want with me? How did you get in here?"

"Wo lives—I mean, I live here." She cross her legs and keeps on smiling. "He says I can come out when the time is right, but it's okay. The sun hurts my eyes."

"He...?" The Admiral! He knows about this! "Why in the fuck would he be keeping an enemy carrier in the base?!"

"It's okay. Wo—I gave up fighting."

"Wh-what? You can't give up. The Abyssal Fleet's just a bunch of heartless jerks that wanna destroy us. Did you have a pang of consciousness or something?" My fists clench. "You don't have souls. All you guys are are heartless killing machines." Her face drops into a frown and all of a sudden I feel awkward. My mouth stays shut, though.

"Wo isn't like all the other Wo..." She winces and rubs her forehead. "I'm not like the other... me? I'm still struggling with this language." Her smile returns. "I only fought your friends once. The one called Maya wanted to sink Wo—me—when I lagged behind my fleet as we attempted to flee. But she did not."

Since when does she show any mercy. My head spins. "Wait. Maya brought you back here? Why?"

"She did not choose. Another one with children—I mean, with planes did."

My brow raises. "You call your planes children?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

"No, we do-" I hesitate. That's not exactly true. "A few of our carriers treat their planes like kids. Maybe you're right."

"Wo has met them!" Her eyes widen. "I mean I have met them. They seem nice. Many of the ones that visit me love their children very much."

My brain shrieks in agony while trying to process all this. "How long have you been here?"

"Not sure. Wo is—I am sad. Lonely without my children. But I will wait until they trust me and give me more." She looks pleasant all of a sudden. "I did not want to fight any longer."

"I... wow." I hide my face and try to think. "I guess it makes sense that there would be prisoners of war, but... you didn't want to fight? Why?"

"I watched all my children get shot down." Her sadness is genuine – uncomfortably so. I squirm in my chair. In the lamplight I swear I see tears in her eyes. "It hurt Wo. Me."

"You guys feel pain? Emotional pain?" She nods once. Now I feel even worse. "But how can that be?"

"Wo feels it. Other Wo do not. Perhaps Wo is defective?" She taps her chin in thought. "Sorry, I mean-"

"No, no, I got you. Defective, huh?" That one hits home. Some of the other girls tease me for being so out-of-date. I've been called defective a time or two. It stings, even if I know they're joking. As I look up, the tentacle things on her black toothy nightmare hat are swaying gently. "Maybe..." Fuck it. I can't talk about this with her. "I've never been able to carry planes. What's it like?"

"Wo loves it—I mean I love it very much. Our children make us very happy. I can't explain why, but I miss them."

"That sucks, man." The door opens and scares the hell out of me. Maya pokes her head in.

"Come on. You're out. Hey, Wo."

"Hello." She tilts her head as I get up and walk away. "Wait. Wo doesn't know—I mean I don't know your name."

"Tenryuu. Nice to meet you. I think? Man, this is still pretty fucked up."

Wo smiles again and gives me a polite little wave. "Maya said that too. Goodbye."

After I get out into the hall and the door is shut, Maya looks at me funny. "Lookin' pale, tough girl. Ya scared?" She cackles.

"Oh, shut up." I cross my arms and glare.

"Pff, poor kid. Admiral wants to see you after dinner tonight. 2000 or so. Better not be late." She snaps a hand up and walks off, still chuckling.

I swallow and try to figure out what he could still want with me.

The kids call it 'being called to the principal's office', and I'll be damned if I don't suddenly see why. Even his office doors are intimidating the hell out of me. I somehow manage to knock after about a million years.

"Enter." He still sounds displeased. Maybe that's just his 'come in' volume. I hope.

His office isn't really that big, just a single rectangular room with a desk on either end. His desk has the corner with the windows. Whoever is playing timekeeper gets the one with the bookshelves. That one is empty. I make a very long, quiet show of shutting the door and walking over. I'm tiptoeing. On carpet. Sigh.

"Sit."

And I do, instantly. "About earlier, I'm really so-" He raises a hand to shut me up. I feel like I'm going to cry.

"What do you think? About Wo."

Thrown off-guard, I stare into my lap and get fidgety. "I don't know. She seems okay, but why is she here?"

"She surrendered."

"Yeah, I know, but why are you keeping her?"

He won't answer. He gives me a weird sort of one-eyed stare and frowns. "Maya said you screamed. I didn't actually mean to scare you."

I know he's trying to change the subject, but damn it, he hits me right where it hurts. I cross my arms and get defensive in a hurry. "I w-wasn't scared for a second. Don't know where she got that crap."

"Uh huh." He stands and walks to the window. "There are two lessons you should learn from this. One, I do trust you – otherwise I wouldn't have shown you Wo."

"Okay, that's nice, but—wait, how many of us know?" I stand up too. "Maya does, I do... Wo said something about a carrier being the one that brought her back. Who?"

"That's not my place to reveal." He turns to me with a sad smile. "High command doesn't know I have her, though. Not yet."

"Wh-what?! That's like, grounds for execution!" Before I know it, I'm walking over to him, ready to shake some sense into him or something. "What are you doing, man?"

"Do you know anything about the Abyssal Fleet?"

His question stops me cold. "The hell?"

He returns to his chair and motions for me to do the same. Which I do – after a minute. "You're so eager to go out after them. Did meeting Wo change your mind?"

Damn, I wish he'd let me stand. I feel seriously antsy. "Uh, no. So what if one of 'em's decent. The rest are just freaks trying to kill us."

"A fair observation." He slumps in his chair, clasps his hands on the desk, and... sighs? "You know, there's a rumor going around that the Abyssal Fleet is partially made up of the vengeful souls of lost ship girls."

"Ha! That's an old wives tale." I cackle. I cackle a lot because I'm trying to hide my anxiety. "Didn't think you believed any of that crap."

"All the same, I'd rather not risk turning any of you into one of them by sending you out before you're ready. That's lesson number two – the trust between myself and the fleet must be absolute. I trusted you with a secret that could get me killed. Trust me with your life. I only have your best interests at heart."

Sure did get sappy in here. But it relaxes me and I yield to his reasoning – in a very grumpy way. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. I guess I see the point."

"Good. Next time, talk to me if you don't like something. We'll work it out." He nods toward the door. "You'd better get some rest. I saw you limp in here."

"What—damn it." I stand up with a groan and move toward the door. Some noise outside grabs both our attention. "What is that?" My face drops after listening for a few seconds. "Oh, for... I'll go take care of it. I need to eat something anyway. Maybe Houshou's still at the pub."

He snickers and waves me out. "Thank you. Tell her I said hello."

The walk down from the hill toward the docks and the town that supports them looks a lot longer when your leg won't halfway work. I take it slow and try to clear my head. "Dead ship girls come back for their revenge?" Makes me shiver. "That shit can't be true." The noise from earlier is getting louder and louder and way more obnoxious.

"Finally! My time of day! I rule the night!" It's Sendai, leaning on the railing and howling at the moon. On the way past I smack the back of her head. "Ow! Who hit me?"

I can feel her glaring at my back as I walk on. "Shut up. People are trying to sleep." She goes on a rant that I pay no attention to whatsoever. Let her bitch. I've got too much on my mind to care. "Whatever, Sendai! Stop giving the townsfolk a headache!"

The little town on our island is usually snoring by now, but a few of the businesses still have lights on. They've been staying open later as spring gets going and more people show up from the mainland on vacation – or to get away from Abyssal Fleet attacks elsewhere. The latter waits until their homes are safe. A few of them have been here for months and had to set up shop on the island's other little mountain. I look up at those lights and frown. Makes me wanna sail again. Kill some pale white bitches.

Wondering if any of them are like Wo puts even more of a hitch in my gait. Why does this shit have to be so complicated?

Thankfully, Houshou's pub still has lights on. Must have gotten here just in time, 'cause she's the only one in there as I open the door. "Hey, you closing up?"

"I was just about to." She gives me a smile – best way I can describe it is the polar opposite of Tatsuta's smiles. Make you feel nice instead of wondering if you're about to die in some god-awful way. "What can I do for you?"

"I didn't eat with the rest of the girls. Wasn't feeling too great." Damn it, even getting on a bar stool hurts. "What was today's special?"

"A new variety of yakitori. Mamiya provided the recipe. It proved to be very popular with the evening rush."

"Oh, yeah? I'll try it. Admiral says hello, by the way." She giggles. Makes me giggle a little. Guess I'm just relieved to have a reason to laugh. "Phew."

Houshou stays quiet while she gets the skewers ready to grill, but out of nowhere she hits me with a "You seem troubled." Geez! Her mom-vision is ridiculous!

"Wha? Nah, I'm cool. Sendai annoyed me as I was coming down the hill, that's all."

I'm lying and she knows it. I'm pretty sure this is her stern face, but it's so gentle I can't be sure. "R-really! I'm fine!" A tiny little plane buzzes out of the back and around the shop. It reminds me of Wo. God damn it. "Huh. Look at that thing go."

"Yes." Wow, she's looking wistful all of a sudden. "I've been summoned to the dock tomorrow. I'm getting new aircraft."

"Really?" The plane lands on my head and sits. I get an idea. "Hey, what happens to the old planes?"

"Most of them get recycled for their bauxite." Houshou looks straight up sad now. Makes me regret asking. "But like the phoenix, they will rise again with new wings. It's all right. I don't mind."

She's lying and I know it. "What if I told you I have a, uh, friend, that could use some decommissioned planes? Just to have. She likes 'em a lot."

Her brow cocks gracefully. "None of the carrier girls lack for aircraft, Tenryuu. For whom are you asking?"

Fuck! "Uh, well, I mean, uh..." I nearly fall off my stool with nervousness. "I mean, I dunno if she really wants her name out there, ya know? Kinda sensitive subject. She just really misses her planes! And I figured if you weren't usin' yours anymore, maybe you could..."

"It's Wo, isn't it."

"What? Don't be ridiculous! It's just a—what did you say?" I slump with shock.

Her smile changes. It's a lot weirder now. "It's all right. I know."

"Oh." Of course she would. She's like, in charge of all the carriers here. Duh. "R-right. I only met her this afternoon. She really misses her kids."

"I bet. It would have to be cleared with the Admiral, but I wouldn't mind you taking them along to ask."

"Yeah! Yeah." The skewers are ready by now. I probably look like a pig eating so fast, but I don't want to keep Houshou here any longer than necessary. As she starts to clean up, she leans into the back and whistles. More planes fly out. The one on my head takes off and joins them. "Heh, look at 'em go."

"Indeed." They all fly over to her and orbit her head. "Go with Tenryuu, my children. Let us see if you get to make another mother happy."

"Aw, man..." I feel like I just got punched right in the heart. They do as ordered, settling into gentle circles around my metal headgear. "Night, Houshou. Thanks for... everything."

She's sweeping behind the bar and doesn't look at me. "Be well, dear. I hope you get better soon." There are tears in her eyes, I swear. Maybe it's just the light.

Her planes follow me all the way, circling and buzzing and getting into mock dogfights as I scale the hill. Sendai's gone – Jintsuu and Naka probably have her tied up somewhere again. Once I get back to the top and through the entrance, I see the Admiral and Zuikaku walking toward me. "Hey, sir! Can I speak to you for a second?"

He nods for her to wait; she obliges by stepping off to the side and leaning on the wall. "Of course. What's with the planes?"

I feel the need to stand on my tiptoes and whisper. "I heard that Houshou is getting new ones. Could... our guest have these?"

One of the planes flies around his hat as he thinks. "I don't see why not. But be quiet about it."

"Sure. Thanks." I whistle for the aircraft. They chase me down the hall, past the confused Zuikaku, and around the corner. It takes me a while to find that creepy door again, but after checking around to make sure nobody else is near, I knock and go in. "Hey, Wo?"

She turns on the lamp. "Wo is here—I mean I am here. I hear... I hear children?"

"Yeah. These little guys are for you." I point toward her. "Go on." They don't want to. They fly around me as if they don't understand what's happening. Don't ask me how I know this. "I get it. She looks bad. She's not, trust me. Go on." One by one they fly over to her and take up circling around her nightmare hat.

"Ch-children? For me? My children?" She reaches up and gently plucks one out of the sky. "Children for Wo—me?" It buzzes unhappily between her fingers, so she lets it go. Then she starts to cry. I cannot even begin to describe the sound. It's metallic and makes my skin crawl and I really, really just want to leave, but she's smiling. So brightly. "My children!" The planes are really getting into it now, zooming between her white droopy tentacles. "M-my children!"

I'm grinning just as wide. "Yeah, your-" Wait. Why does that sound familiar? "Never mind. Uh, I'm gonna leave you guys alone now. Y-you have fun."

"Thank you! Wo is very happy!"

I stumble out, halfway slam the door, and brace myself on the opposite wall. It can't be. It can't fucking be. "No, no, no, that's a folk tale! That's a..." Someone's coming from my right. I look up and see the admiral. "I think I'm gonna... She calls them her children, just like..."

He just nods. "Yes. Now you know why Houshou brought her home."

"I didn't know she did, actually! Holy fuck. Is she a previous Houshou?! Is... how many of me have there been?" He grabs my shoulders to try and calm me down. "I'm gonna pass out."

"You are the first and only," he says firmly.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Absolutely not."

He hugs me and I don't fight it. "I don't know if I can go out there anymore. I don't even know what I'm killing. Are... are you gonna scrap me now? Am I useless?"

"I don't scrap my girls. There is plenty for you to do around the base if you're uncomfortable with putting to sea." He walks me away from the door at a snail's pace. "Go to sleep. See how you feel in the morning. We'll talk then."

"F-fine." Like I'm going to get any sleep tonight. We part ways near the cafeteria. As I'm walking toward the dorms, some girls are coming the other way. They're all fully outfitted for combat, so they must be headed toward the docks to cast off. Tatsuta is among them.

"You must be jealous," she sings lowly. I walk right past without a word. I hear her shoes squeak as she stops. "Tenryuu-chan? No comeback? What happened to the spirit you showed me at lunch?"

"I got my eyes opened, that's what." Keep walking. Can't let them see me like this. Not even her, not even after the heart-to-heart Nagato spurred us both into having.

She sounds concerned. "Should we chat when I return? Will you be awake?"

I give her a half-hearted wave and nothing else. "I don't think you'll even want to hear it, Tatsuta. I kinda wish I hadn't, that's for damn sure."