super ktkm and ooi adventures 3

We were staring out at the sea. Was it supposed to be home? Or just our battlefield? It was a pretty calm night, with Ooi leaning on my side. We were sitting on one of the smaller piers used mostly for small boats and such, a few street lamps providing some illumination.  My mind wandered - I suppose the fleet sent out this morning would probably be returning soon.

As if she knew the topic on my mind, Ooi speaks up. “I tried to sneak a peak inside the command center, but they wouldn't let me in, even when I tried with my feminine charms.” I rolled my eyes at that. Ooichi was a pretty girl, but after the first rebuke she probably resorted to yelling. “I did catch a glimpse of the admiral though. He looked pretty stressed, but not entirely angry, so I think it's safe to say nobody was sunk.”

“Nobody important anyway, maybe a destroyer or two was lost.”

Ooi jerks a bit at my response, visibly upset.

“Would they care if we were sunk, Kitakami?”

“Of course! We're the most advanced torpedo cruisers in the fleet; nobody can match our capabilities!”

Heh. I had almost fooled myself.  We were just cruisers. Replaceable. I doubt the brass would care unless they lost a carrier or battleship. Ugh... Bullshit.

Ooi gripped me tighter.  I didn't even notice her looking right at me; my face must have been showing an awful grimace.

“You're not allowed to leave me here, alone.” Ooi whispers to me.

There weren't anymore words after that, just the sound of the sea and the local fauna.

- - - -

“Hey.”

I jolted up at that. It wasn't a particularly threatening voice - actually pretty mellow sounding. Still quite unexpected.

As usual, Ooi is quick on the defense.

“Sneaking up on others is pretty rude, it's rather strange to make no noise walking around!”

Shiranui merely shrugs. “It was not my intention.”

I'm not in the mood to get into an argument, and I've never had a problem with Shiranui. She wasn't really like the other destroyers, pretty much kept to herself.  She has a certain -  air -  of danger about her.

I open up my mouth before Ooi can try putting out fire with gasoline.

“I'm guessing you wanted something?”

“The admiral was looking for you two, he's in his office now.” Shiranui replies calmly.

She takes her leave wordlessly, her steps oddly muted as she walks off toward the dorms.

“What a creep.” Ooi remarks as her target strides out of earshot.

“Don't worry about her. I know you have enough frivolous things to worry about already, Ooichi.”

I stretch out my arms and stand up, helping Ooi onto her feet.

Let's go see what the Admiral wants this time.


–

The base is mostly quiet at this time of night. Or so I thought, as I noticed the outline of a figure skulking along the wall of a building, behind some bushes.  As we get closer I can see her black outfit and miserable looking face.

“Hey Kitakami, is something wrong?” Ooi says as she notices me lagging behind.

“Oh...  No. Just saw a dog wandering around.” I reply and quicken my pace to catch up to her.

As we enter the central command building we turn towards admiral Goto's office. Tone and Chikuma are milling about right outside the wooden door.

Tone is very outgoing, but not overbearing. Chikuma is more reserved, and does her best to support her older sister. “Kitakami-san and Ooi-san, Hail and well met!” Tone greets us, I find it hard to just brush her off.

“Yo~” I give them a little wave. Ooi greets them politely with a small bow.

“We were trying to get some information on the sortie today, but the admiral has been pretty tight lipped.” Chikuma explains their situation. “It is our duty as reconnaissance cruisers to post an update of the sortie at the barracks!”

“Oh, he didn't tell you already? I suppose I shouldn't be the one to spread that kind of information then.” The best kind of lie is one you never have to back up.

Tone doesn't miss a beat here, “Aha! I wasn't aware you had that kind of rapport with the admiral. I understand completely, we will wait for the official report!” She finishes this off with a salute, one I return with well with a smile on my face.  I grab Ooi's hand and pull her into the office before she can open her mouth and say something unfortunate.

“Ladies. Glad to see you weren't delayed.” Admiral Goto is sitting behind his desk with his back to the door, grabbing something from a low shelf. “This is yours.” He sits a can [please, no] of paint [b u l l s h i t] on his desk.

Ooi seems pleased, completely oblivious that we are being made fools of. I walk up to his desk. It's the typical, teak looking fancy officer desk, with a paper calendar taking up most of the space along with a computer. I grab the can, give a salute and begin to turn away.

“Before you leave, you should take a look at it, make sure it's the right color.”

I turn back around biting my tongue, place the can back on his desk, and begun to open the [shitty old man I bet it's gelatin or something inside] lid.

Ooi makes a little squeal as she peers at the contents of the pail. Inside are what looks like red and black paint, arranged in a checkerboard pattern.  I decide that this is not happening, and that I have fallen into a clever ruse.

“Isn't it marvelous Kitakami-san? I never knew they had stuff like this.” Ooi's eyes are lit up with excitement.

“This is just.... Ooichi, we are getting a joke played on us.” Right? Right? This isn't an actual thing. I am going to disbelieve what is in-front of me. I'm getting desperate and decide that it calls for drastic measures.  With one hand I grab Ooi's arm and pull it upwards, and in a smooth motion I dip my other hand into the paint and then swipe it on Ooi's forearm.

“K-K-Kitakami! You should have asked before trying to paint me!” I'm almost afraid to look at the result. I peer upwards at [what the fuck happened to the light fixture] Ooi's arm and it appears to be just a black and red splotch, there's no perfect angles or separations between the colors.

“Oh, what a shame," Admiral Goto says as he stands up. "I guess this batch was defective, we'll just have to order another. Let me just grab the forms.” He pulls open one of his desk drawers.

“No. That's quite all right. I never bought into your garbage anyway.” Confidence restored, I try and go back on the offensive.

Ooichi looks distraught, maybe finally realizing what an absurd idea she had bought into.

“Well, that's fine too then, but you'll have to leave the paint here so it can be properly disposed of.”

“That's fine, I need some time to think of how to dispose of you, admiral.” I poke back at him.

Admiral Gato just snorts, clearly not buying it.

“I know where you sleep!” A desperate advance, brought on mostly by anger and frustration.

“Yes, yes I have your room number too” He's rolling his eyes now.

“He thinks we sleep!” I whisper this as loud to as Ooi as possible.

Ooi nods a bit before replying. “Well I'm certain Tatsuta doesn't sleep, there's always a lot of noise coming from her room at ni-”

“WOW, THAT'S JUST WONDERFUL.” Admiral Gato jumps out of his chair and claps his hands, ready to throw us out. “Now please leave and send in Tone and c-”

I cut him off - “I also know every meeting you have, on the 16th at 1400 you have a general meeting with all the junior officers, on the 17th you have a dental appointment at 0800!” I continue on listing off all his important appointments, the color draining from his face, while Ooi looks a little stunned.

I go in for the finisher, the last appointment, it was a little obscured by the desk clutter but.. “And on the 21st you're going to violate Admiral Sette in the showers!”

“W H A T?” Ooi shrieks out.

Oh. That can't be right.

The admiral looks equally appalled, “No, that... I didn't agree to that!” He pats down his pockets, looking for something, blindly pushing things off his desk until he picks up what I think is a small phone, tapping it madly. He puts it down, his expression changing as he gets a clear view of his desk calendar.

“You almost had me there. However I expect that with this foolishness out of the way you'll be ready to give me 200% on Monday.  Both of you are dismissed.”

I feel utterly defeated.