I, Laffey, am a good ship girl!

In fact, she had already broken down.

Ship girls who have lost their commanders often do not live alone, but at the moment of their commander's death, they will accompany their beloved commanders and be buried in the sea together.

Occasionally, faith, will and commitment will allow these ship girls to survive. For the common ideal and for the dreams they once had, they will continue to go to the battlefield until one day this vision is realized, and then they will find a deserted place and let the cold sea water cover their bodies.

Kaga has no commander. As proud as she is, she has been alone since she was born.

She would only occasionally go to a small restaurant to drink after a battle, then laugh at the young and immature owner and complain about the restaurant's taste.

By chance, someone suggested that we turn the small restaurant into a pub, which would look more pleasing to the eye.

After an expedition, the small restaurant became what it is today.

The young boss liked her, even a blind person could see that.

But Kaga didn't want him to be her commander, because the battlefield between the ship girls and the Sirens was too cruel, so cruel that she didn't know if she would suddenly sink in the next battle after just breaking through three pieces.

So, she only occasionally went to a small restaurant that had been transformed into a pub to drink and enjoy the brief peace after the battle.

In fact, she sometimes thought that if this guy took the initiative and invited her, then she might consider it.

Then she began to wait, waiting for the day when her boss's wooden head would come to her senses.

How could it be possible for a ship girl to take the initiative to pursue the commander?

She thought and waited, and after another battle, she came to the izakaya.

For KanColle, time is the most meaningless thing.

One year, two years... five years, ten years, Kaga is still the young, beautiful, proud and powerful aircraft carrier girl.

The people around me kept changing.

She didn't realize that the immature young boss had grown up and had a patchy beard on his chin. He was originally only as tall as her chest, but she didn't know when he had grown to the point where she had to look up at him.

That day, the boss walked up to her, smiled and said to her that the izakaya was going to close because many customers had moved inland due to the Sirens' attack and business was no longer possible.

So you want to leave too?

Kaga asked subconsciously, with inexplicable anxiety and uneasiness, and his tone even became a little harsh.

No, I won't leave!

The boss smiled and moved aside, allowing Kaga to see the girl hiding behind him.

It was a ship girl, wearing an exquisite rabbit ear hair accessory, and she looked drowsy, making people doubt whether she really had the fighting power that a ship girl should have.

Laffey, the seventh ship of the Benson-class destroyer, is a very rare ship girl even in this era.

I'm going to be the commander.

The boss smiled and introduced her to the little girl who was sleepy and always looked absent-minded.

In fact, as a new commander who changed career paths, how could the boss know more about ship girls than Kaga, who has been active on the battlefield for more than ten years.

But Kaga did not interrupt the boss. He listened to the boss' introduction, his future plans, and his dreams with an unknown mood.

[I want to drive the Siren out of our territory, so that everyone who used to live here can get together and drink again. ]

There is no grand ambition, but just for such a small wish, he is determined to make the whole world his enemy.

At that time, defeating the Sirens was as difficult as facing the three most powerful countries during the war at the same time.

Humans only occupy 30% of the land on this planet, while the remaining 70% is firmly in the hands of the Sirens.

Impossible to win!

Kaga wanted to say this, but when he saw the boss's determined eyes, he said nothing in the end.

Let me help you!

Even the words I wanted to say the most were buried in speechless silence.

After leaving the izakaya, she resigned from her position as leader of the assault team and went to the rear to be an instructor for three months. She coached new ship girls for a year, and in order to teach that stupid destroyer who couldn't even aim at the beginning, she asked the destroyer frigate she had experienced in the assault team many times.

[Haha, Kaga, how come you don’t even understand such a simple question? ]

【I want you to take care of it! 】

It was not until the destroyer named Rafi finally grew up that she returned to her rightful position.

At that time, she was already a legend, one of the less than ten legendary ship girls in the entire Donghuang, a powerful and proud free ship girl.

Continuous fighting, continuous attacking, forgetting the passage of time and forgetting everything except fighting.

What on earth allowed her to struggle and survive in battle after battle?

Even when she was besieged by an entire Siren fleet, even when she was besieged by several Siren ship girls at the same time, even when she was the only one left in the entire fleet, she never gave up.

[Oh, you heard

? It seems that a new commander is going to be transferred to the front line. He has more than a dozen ship girls under him, and the strongest one seems to be a destroyer named Laffey. 】

[Hey, is that Solomon's crazy rabbit? ]

[Right, I heard you're almost promoted to Legendary. It's really not easy. ]

New commander, Laffey?

Kaga was stunned when he heard the conversation between the two ship girls who were counting the resources.

Could it be him?

It's impossible, right? How long has it been? How could a destroyer that couldn't even aim be promoted to the same level as her so quickly?

She asked what year it was, how long it had been since she had last returned inland for refresher training, and when she had last been an instructor.

Then, she was surprised to find that ten years had passed quietly.

She saw the young man in her memory, but he was no longer young. His youthfulness was gone, and his resolute face showed many traces of time. A hideous burn spread from his back to the side of his face.

Later, Kaga found out that not long after she left, the boss got a second ship girl, who was randomly assigned to an unimportant place to become a mountain king and even had her own port area.

The burns were caused by the Sirens' bombing. Because he was too tired, he and his ship girl hid in the air-raid shelter in the port area to sleep after the attack. As a result, the cellar-like air-raid shelter could not withstand the bombing of the Siren carrier-based aircraft. After the cellar collapsed, a bomb exploded less than five meters away from him. If the two ship girls had not held him tightly and blocked the impact of the explosion, he would probably have died.

Even so, the hideous burns remained, the two ship girls were unable to completely protect him due to their height, and the hearing in one ear was lost because the explosion was too close.

However, the boss, who is no longer young, had a smile on his face when talking about this matter and didn't seem to care at all.

Compared to the young him, the older and more mature him seems more talkative.

Maybe when I was in my own port area, I didn't have the opportunity to confide in others like I do now, especially when the other person was the one I loved when I was young.

The boss was already married, and the object was certainly not his original ship. Although there was no gendarmerie at that time, as a firm believer in big ships and big guns, he still married the only aircraft carrier in his fleet.

When talking about this incident, the boss was full of pride, because he had salvaged the aircraft carrier after an attack, just like a bandit who went out to rob money and food and also salvaged a wife.

Although he has been awarded the rank of Rear Admiral, the boss obviously has more banditry than the military officer.

Perhaps it was because, in a world like this, it was impossible to survive the Sirens' constant attacks without some banditry.

Kaga listened quietly to the boss recounting every little thing that had happened in the past ten years. She didn't even notice that a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. By the time she noticed it, the boss had finished his story.

【What about yours, Kaga? 】

My story?

After hearing what the boss said, Kaga did not answer. She remained silent and said, "It's getting late today. Let's go back. We still have combat missions tomorrow."

The boss smiled and nodded.

Kaga watched the boss stand up, and watched an aircraft carrier girl who had been waiting at the door bring his coat. The two of them smiled gently and seemed to be talking about something.

Kaga was suddenly startled when he heard the boss coughing from afar.

It's been a long, long time.

It has been so long that the young boss can no longer stand the cold, and the diseases caused by years of fighting begin to erode his body. The boy who once admired her now has someone to accompany him.

KanColle will never grow old or change, and time has not left any trace on them.

But people will grow old.

Human beings are so fragile, so fragile that a shell or the aftermath of an explosion can take their lives.

The grown-up boss will never say that again. There are already enough people around him who need care, and he can no longer make room in his heart to accept her.

The proud girl would never take the initiative to become a ship girl for a certain commander, because she knows that there is no room for her next to the person she loves the most.

That's enough.

She thought, since we were all in the same fleet, it was actually no different from a port area.

He deceived himself with these thoughts and spent one Spring Festival after another belonging to Donghuang in a series of battles.

Normally, she would naturally disdain to attend such a festival, but it is different now. Almost every time at that time, someone would send her a portion of dumplings or Yuanxiao.

Even though she knew that every ship girl in the fleet received the same gift, she still couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

After this year ends, we start looking forward to next year. With every minute and every second of waiting, time seems to be getting longer.

She originally thought that such days would continue forever, and there was nothing wrong with fighting. After all, there were several legendary ship girls in the fleet, many quasi-legendary ship girls, and even more three-level broken ship girls.

Such a fleet can easily win even if it encounters the Siren's combined fleet.

Nothing to worry about.

The Sirens have been losing ground because of the emergence of construction machines and the increasing number of ship girls. Even the Sirens cannot stop humans' determination to regain lost territory.

all of them

Not only humans but also ship girls believe this.

The human commander in the fleet smiled and said that after the war, he would take his ship girl back to his hometown to see his parents. Since the ship girl could not give birth to children, he would adopt one. Finding a human wife would only delay her.

In the Freedom Ship Girls Night Raid, Group ⑥九.４九'３⑥①３５ began to think about where to travel after the war. Some wanted to do business, some wanted to open a flower shop... In short, there were all kinds of things.

[Kaga, where do you want to go after the war? ]

A ship girl asked her curiously, and she wanted to say that the war would never end. Even if the Sirens were repelled, once humans gained power, they would still launch a new war.

But she didn't say that, and she rarely smiled.

[If there comes a day like that, I might find a place to open an izakaya. ]

The ship girl who saw her smile was horrified and ran away, and the next day her wish spread throughout the entire fleet.

She did not blame the ship girl who spread the news to the entire fleet. After all, it was not something worth hiding.

Perhaps, it was because she still had a little expectation in her heart.

What to expect?

Kaga didn't want to say.

The final day finally arrived, and the fleet received an order to pursue the retreating Sirens.

I felt vaguely uneasy, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

The Sirens were left with only their remnants, and even if they encountered an ambush, they would be able to crush it with their strength.

There were three fleets that accepted the mission, in addition to theirs, there were two others.

These are Donghuang’s three strongest fleets, representing Donghuang’s ten years of accumulation.

The three fleets were like the trident of Poseidon, driving away the remaining Siren fleet in the inland sea.

Then, Kaga's fleet encountered a fleet of sirens, a fleet stationed at the pass, awaiting their arrival.

"Clang clang~, the one who appears here now is the gatekeeper of this game, the last obstacle for you to leave the cradle of babies and know the truth of the world, the super fierce and terrifying Siren ship girl, the purifier.

"It took you all these years to finally grow to this point, but my heart still beats hard when I think about how I'm going to blow you to pieces."

“So, you must work hard to survive.”

"You know, weakness is not an obstacle to survival, arrogance is."

The war with the Sirens has been protracted. It's not like the Ship Girls haven't encountered rational Sirens before, but never has a battle been as desperate as this one.

The white-haired warrior with shining golden eyes was hanging high in the sky, and the beams of light in the sky penetrated the entire fleet. Even the legendary ship girl named after the legend was no match for the Siren ship girl who called herself "Purifier".

As the strongest ship girl in the fleet, only she has the ability to break the Purifier's defensive force field, and only she has the possibility of defeating the Purifier.

Therefore, all the ship girls are buying time for her. They believe that as long as they defeat the Purifier, they will surely win the final victory.

In fact, everyone knows that there is no point in destroying it, because the bodies of the Siren ship girls are no more fragile than their force fields.

However, as long as she can break through the Purifier's defenses, she can convey one thing to the outside world - the enemy is not invincible.