Seeing Hikaru, Takao looked like he had just spotted a savior. He shoved Myoukou toward the store to pick out clothes and flopped onto the seat in front of Hikaru with a long sigh.
"Women… so terrifying!"
Hikaru teased him, "Come on, you and your shipgirl seem to be getting along fine. If she started with 50 favor points when she was first summoned, is she at… 70 now?"
Shipgirls would never betray their Admirals, but their favor could drop if the Admiral did something truly unforgivable. A shipgirl with 100 favor would follow you through life and death; 50 meant nothing special. But if favor ever dropped to zero… that meant total despair. Shipgirls wouldn't defect—no, they'd either fall to the Abyss or cut their Admiral to pieces and vanish into nothingness.
Despite how easily shipgirls grew attached to their Admirals, raising favor was crucial. It was a bigger subject than combat training itself, because while battles didn't happen every day, shipgirls and their Admirals spent every day together.
"Yeah, right. I'd say she's barely at 55," Takao groaned. "She keeps nagging me that I'm out of shape. You have no idea the hell I've been living through. She's got me on a training schedule that even professional athletes would cry over."
Hikaru smirked, "You're pretty fat. A little exercise won't kill you."
Takao's cheeks jiggled as he winced at the memory. "Enough about that. I've been looking for you these past few days but heard you and Elizabeth went out to sea and never came back. It was just one sortie, right? Why'd it take so long?"
"We stayed a little longer to train. Why were you looking for me?"
"To share some big news! You've heard about the academy handing out 3++ resource packs to new students for construction, right?"
"Yeah, and I heard they give extra rewards if you build a rare ship."
"But do you know about the Leopard Flex-Off and the Golden Spear Showdown?"
Hikaru blinked. "What the heck are those?"
"They're extra events organized by the students with backing from alumni and corporate sponsors. It's like a bonus welcome gift for newcomers."
"Go on."
"The Leopard Flex-Off is similar to the academy's reward system. It evaluates your first three builds in the first month, ranking them, and the top-ranked builder gets the Emperor of Luck title and extra resources."
"And the Golden Spear Showdown is a combat tournament for destroyers. New students send their shipgirls into mock battles, and the winner gets some pretty juicy prizes."
Takao leaned in, waggling his eyebrows. "So, what do you think, big shot? The Spear Showdown is practically yours for the taking."
Hikaru chuckled. "Is there betting involved?"
Takao snorted, "Do you take me for some low-level gambler? I'm telling you this out of friendship! If your Glowworm takes the title, we'll all bask in your glory as fellow Windridge students!"
Hikaru leaned back, smiling. "Forget it. I'm not signing up for either. Wouldn't that just be bullying? Thanks for the info, though."
Takao slammed his hand on the table in frustration. "Of course the big boss can afford to turn up his nose at such scraps. Fine, enough of that. Got any juicy news from your time at sea?"
"Oh, I've got a whole basket of them," Hikaru crossed his legs, grinning. "Ever heard of Saint George?"
…
While they were chatting, Fletcher and Glowworm finally emerged from the store, arms full of shopping bags. They looked like they were smuggling goods for resale.
"Commander, we're done shopping," Fletcher reported.
Hikaru stood up and pointed to Takao. "This is my friend Takao. You met his shipgirl, Myoukou, right?"
Fletcher greeted Takao politely.
Takao's jaw dropped. "You've got another one? What is she, a light cruiser? A heavy cruiser?"
"She's a destroyer—Fletcher. Built her on a lucky pull. Anyway, we're heading off. See you next time. Here's my address if you need to find me."
Takao watched the smiling Hikaru walk off with his two shipgirls, practically glowing with jealousy.
No wonder he's skipping the tournaments. If he flaunts Fletcher, those poor unlucky newbies will probably jump him on the spot.
Standing frozen, Takao stared as the trio walked away happily. The note with Hikaru's address slipped from his fingers and fluttered to the ground as the world seemed to drain of color.
Myoukou came out of the store and teased, "You won't believe who I just saw. Fletcher—the legendary strongest destroyer."
Takao's face turned pale. "There's no such thing. Fletcher doesn't exist. Never heard of her."
Myoukou rolled her eyes, picked up the note, and commented, "Hey, isn't this that Commander Hikaru's address? Why'd you drop it? Aren't you two friends?"
Takao muttered, "Forget it. I don't have a friend like him anymore."
Myoukou seemed to understand and smiled, "So Fletcher is his shipgirl, huh? Well, he's strong, his shipgirls are powerful, and he's even better looking than you. No wonder you're feeling down. But don't give up, Commander. If you work twice as hard, you might still catch up to him someday. I'll be here pushing you every step of the way."
"You're too sweet, Myoukou… but honestly, I feel even worse after hearing that."
…
Though Takao's misery wasn't exactly what Hikaru had intended, he knew life wasn't always fair. So he quickly put aside his sympathy and suggested they find a place to eat.
"No way, no way!" Fletcher shook her head. "Now that I'm here, how can I let the Commander eat out at some shady restaurant? Their food's dirty. They use frozen chicken pumped with who knows what hormones. You'll get sick!"
Hikaru blinked. "Where'd you hear that nonsense?"
"I just know it."
"That can't be right. You've been fighting at sea almost the whole time you've been here. Shipgirls are born knowing a lot, but I doubt you'd know about hormone-injected chicken."
Fletcher batted her eyes innocently. "We had TV at the dorm, you know. TV shows, video games, books, newspapers, radio… After you left, and the outside world slowly disappeared, all we had left were those things."
"Wait, where did those shows and programs come from?"
Fletcher's expression grew serious. "That's what's weird, Commander. The stuff we watched and read… it all looked like it came from this world. I even saw Windridge Academy in magazines."
Hikaru's face darkened. "That makes no sense at all."