Haruna was out on the ocean, equipped with her rigging and several day's worth of combat rations, steel and fuel on her body, courtesy of Mamiya who had packed these rations in a tactical combat vest and thigh utility pouches to be worn by whoever was tasked with carrying combat rations into battle.
Haruna was tasked with this responsibility since she was a fast battleship and flagship, and since being a battleship meant that your cannons did the bulk of the fighting, she was the ideal candidate to carry the bulk of the Combined Fleet's rations as the vest and pouches would hinder everyone else, who was of differing ship classes and relied on mobility to function in combat.
The Fairies were able to downsize an entire meal's worth of nutrients down to chocolate-bar sized combat rations to allow a ship girl to feed an entire fleet with rations which could be fitted into combat vests and thigh pouches, and the Fairies' specialization at miniaturization prevented them from having to haul a burlap sack full of food around to achieve the same end.
Inside her pockets were several cans of fuel which were to be used during emergencies, because even though the Admiral had allowed them to drink two days' worth of fuel before this in order to complete the sortie, she couldn't factor in every possible scenario which could occur to them.
Nobody wanted to run out of fuel during their retreat back to Yokosuka after unexpected battles caused them to burn more fuel than usual, so Haruna and Sendai, being the flagships of the two fleets, were responsible for carrying fuel cans for dire emergencies.
Haruna had previously accepted the combat ration Fairy into her rigging upon wearing the combat ration vest, a female Fairy who possessed dusty army-green hair tied up in a ponytail with a pink scrunchie, and a white gown covered her body as the food supply Fairy had rolled up her sleeves before this while she held a tied-up container full of rice.
She held a rice paddle in her minuscule hand in order to distribute the rice to other Fairies for them to eat, although Haruna wasn't exactly sure how their tiny bodies would be able to process the food within them, even if the rice grains were shrunk down in order to fit into their small mouths.
Right now, they were sailing towards Aogashima Island without any detours so far, since they had left the Yokosuka harbor a few hours ago and were headed towards Hachijou Island, whereupon they would attempt to run circles around the Abyssals, or as Admiral Haru suggested, to avoid them altogether.
Even though the 1st Fleet had trained for more than a week on how to engage hordes of Abyssal, in war, discretion truly was the better part of valor, and even stronger fleets sometimes chose to take a detour and circumvent a powerful secondary Abyssal fleet in order to deal with their primary target.
They hadn't engaged in battle with any Abyssal fleets so far, but if they had to do so, the subsequent enemy fleets would certainly be prepared for their arrival, and detours would have to be made.
To pass the time, Haruna was talking to her teammates while keeping an eye on her sonar and radar, and she had to thank her Fairies for helping to share the burden by watching her environment for any movement, allowing her to focus more on Shigure's question about her.
"I heard that when the Kongou Sisters went their separate ways, you chose to focus on being a healer. Did you train under Akashi-san?"
Haruna shivered upon recalling the repair ship, and she shook her head vigorously in vehement denial as she explained how she got her training from the hospital orderlies instead.
"Oh goodness, no. I was reluctant to train under Akashi-san because we suspected that our personalities, perspectives and standards would clash, which eventually came true as Akashi-san was unrelenting in her training and demanded perfection in learning first-aid skills, having written me off as too 'soft' to be a surgeon. I eventually had to receive training from the human orderlies in the hospital, who were admittedly less proficient than Akashi-san, but were entirely capable of teaching me first-aid, which was all I needed to stabilize the conditions of those who are wounded on the field."
Nodding in understanding, Shigure looked up at Haruna as she asked in a genuinely curious tone, wishing to know more about the Kongou-Class battleship.
"I know Akashi-san well enough to know that she's pretty demanding in her lessons. But may I ask of you to humor me and explain what part of her teachings caused you to stop learning things from her?"
"Hmm… The reason why stopped my sessions with Akashi-san was because even though she was an effective teacher, she would say certain things without any tact, and most of the time, they'd make sense. Like how surgeons need to be perfectly fine with inflicting temporary pain on someone, cut them up without feeling emotionally attached to their suffering in order to promote recovery, and after some thinking, I'd eventually see where she was coming from, but still…"
Shigure nodded sagely, looking as if she understood where Haruna was coming from as she remarked.
"But you couldn't bring yourself to think the way she does, to think of the patient as a slab of meat to cut up and stitch back without empathizing with it?"
Haruna sweat-dropped as she answered in in response to Shigure's comparison,
"Well, the thing is that I believe Akashi-san wouldn't disagree with that comparison, that the dead and dying who are put on the table to be operated on are no different than a butcher with a carcass. But unlike a butcher who kills and dissects, a surgeon is to heal the patient with her cuts and stitches. You must steel your heart in order to accomplish this, and although I may be able to do many things for the sake of winning this war, cutting up my teammates is not one of them."
Shigure cocked her head, looking rather curious as to what the reason was behind Haruna's reluctance to hold the operating knife and perform the cut.
"Is this reluctance because of your disdain for the bloody and 'icky' stuff in operations? I understand if you might have some reservations, since gore isn't for everyone…"
But Haruna gently shook her head, feeling an ocean breeze tickle her hair and cool her sweaty skin as a result of the stuffy combat vest which she wore, feeling the need to correct Shigure's assumption.
"Not exactly. I don't have much of a problem with blood and guts, because I've seen my fair share in my life as a ship girl. But I just can't bring myself to cut a teammate up, and Akashi and I both know that I empathize with others too easily to be able to operate on anyone. I eventually became more and more unnerved by how coldly Akashi-san saw everything and everyone, to the point where I was uncomfortable with learning anything from her."
Shigure now looked rather down, looking rather understanding of Haruna's plight as she shared with her how she had seen the 8th Fleet fight up close, and how it changed how Shigure saw her counselor and friend.
"Well, I can empathize with that. To see how Akashi-san is capable of such violence… I think she uses her medical and anatomical knowledge to heal allies and hurt enemies, and even though I'm appalled at how casually she treats murder…"
Haruna breathed out a little harder in an attempt at a smile as she retorted about how little the killing of Abyssals mattered to them.
"Well, technically, we're all somehow alright with killing Abyssals without question, so perhaps murder comes easily to us all, and there only lies one difference between ship girls like Akitsu Maru and Akashi-san, and us."
Shigure lifted an eyebrow and conceded the point, surprising Haruna a little as she expressed a fair bit of knowledge about what would eventually happen to every ship girl.
"Enjoying what we do. Unlike them, who let themselves go and don't pretend that they're anything other than bloodthirsty dogs of war on the battlefield who serve any purpose greater than satisfying themselves, we exercise restraint and convince ourselves that we're doing this, all for the greater good. It's sad to see them as they are, but I don't regret being their friend in order to help them out in any way I can."
Haruna lifted an eyebrow and looked at the all-encompassing ocean as she continued, thinking about the repair ship and her fleet of deplorable ship girls who were absolutely terrifying, yet somehow pitiable in their own way.
"I want to help ship girls in ways other than the battleship's way of simply destroying everything which can hurt my teammates, because if one of you gets injured in battle, I at least know what to do when the time comes rather than stand by uselessly and watch you die. But…"
Haruna cringed as she remembered how callously Akashi-san treated everyone's lives despite claiming to "care about them in her own special way", and decided to spare Shigure most of the details regarding the repair ship's misanthropy and pessimism as she continued.
"But I don't want to learn from someone who uses the medical knowledge she knows for nefarious purposes, I personally feel that it defeats the point when you cross that line. Am I too naive and idealistic to think like that, Shigure-san?"
And strangely enough, despite believing that the analytical Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer would shoot her views down as being too unrealistic or impractical for a soldier, Shigure managed to somehow agree with her in some sense but also allowed herself to view things from another perspective, answering a very curious Haruna.
"I agree with you in terms of morality, that doctors who use their medical knowledge to kill are worse than murderers, but I think we should try to see things from another point of view. I've talked to the 8th Fleet, and they say that because of their lack of natural fighting talent, they have to resort to the lowest of lows in order to stay relevant in battles, instead of being a burden to everyone outside of their respective fields of expertise. They said that ship girls like me, who are gifted not with talent but with potential, don't have to worry about such things, especially since we have Kai Ni remodels and can become far more than anything they can hope to accomplish. Despite being who they are, I suppose they want to matter as much as we do, and to see the lengths which they're willing to go to in order to accomplish that should be seen as proof of their conviction."
Haruna blinked, shifting the combat ration vest which rested on her torso as she thought of Shigure's words, and how the ship girls of the 8th Fleet were struggling in their own way.
True, she had thought of things what way, understanding that the 8th Fleet, for all of their flaws, were able to become one of, if not the highest-performing auxiliary fleet in the world, and the amount of effort they must put into maintaining that standard in spite of their less-than-stellar stats must be staggering.
And the fact that a lot of them had been through rough periods in their lives would have almost had Haruna agreeing with Shigure, but still…
She looked down at the destroyer and expressed her views on the 8th Fleet, and how their modus operandi came into conflict with her world view that ship girls shouldn't find pleasure in taking the lives of even their enemies, as it was a slippery slope down into the darkness which was depravity and even full-blown madness.
"I'm sorry. But even though I can respect the amount of effort they put in, it's the way they operate which truly disgusts me, because even though we ship girls are imbued with a somewhat apathetic attitude towards killing Abyssals, it's a far cry from the 8th Fleet, most of whom take pleasure in killing Abyssals and possess a cavalier attitude towards everything, even their own lives. They joke about killing themselves so often and so easily, I often feel uncomfortable around them as I believe many other ship girls do. And the things I hear about them…"
Haruna shook her head, knowing herself to be above sharing unconfirmed rumors as they might strain relationships regardless of whether they were true or not, and Haruna kept it to a simple discussion on the modus operandi of the 8th Fleet as she concluded this topic of conversation.
"That's all I'll say about them. I shan't talk about the rumors surrounding them, because I respect them enough as soldiers to not attack or compromise their reputations with unconfirmed rumors."
Shigure nodded, moving the conversation back on track with the next question as she asked about something which Haruna never expected.
"I'd like to ask you about something else in order to shift the focus of this conversation back to you. Why is it that people often regard Hiei-san as the Emperor's battleship, but not you? To my knowledge, you once served as the Emperor's Special Ship, ferrying him across all of Japan several times, no? Is there a reason why you relinquished that title to Hiei-san?"
To say that Haruna was surprised was a bit of an understatement; she was floored by a question which few people, even her sisters, thought to ask.
She hurriedly looked away and stared at the shifting ocean as she considered the question at hand, thinking about why she was content to allow Hiei to take the title of "The Emperor's Battleship" without putting up a fight, especially when she had a fair chance of usurping that title when she was once crowned as the Emperor's Special Ship and had also carried His Majesty across the ocean a few times.
Eventually, she turned back to look back at Shigure as she gave her answer, and how because of her personality, she was content to take a back seat and allow her sisters to take the spotlight.
"Perhaps… Perhaps it's because of my wallflower personality, which makes me reluctant to take up such a pompous title which means little in this day and age. But I also wish for Hiei to bask in the limelight as 'The Emperor's Battleship', because I'm worried that if I'm to take that title from her, she might not have much left to her name save for her love towards Kongou nee-san. And even that's…"
Haruna sighed, not having expected such a tough question from Shigure, but then again, the little destroyer was rather thoughtful and introspective, and Haruna surmised that she had done a fair bit of research on their history and wanted to ask her this after knowing that Hiei was more renowned for being the Emperor's Battleship instead of Haruna, who had received an official title as the Emperor's Special Ship.
She continued her explanation about her unconscious choice to not compete for a title and potentially strain their sisterly relationship in the ensuing fallout.
"I'm the polite, caring and empathetic one amongst my sisters, so when I was faced with the choice of being acknowledged as the Emperor's Battleship in lieu of Hiei nee-san, I didn't want to take that aspect of my sister's legacy and reputation away from her. Back then, what Hiei had going for her was her love for Kongou nee-san, her headstrong attitude and her reputation as the Emperor's Battleship. I wanted to allow her to use this title, which is admittedly a thing of the past, and build her confidence off of it in the present. And while I understand that she's outgrown the need for mere titles, I just couldn't bring myself to contest with her for the title of the Emperor's Battleship."
Shigure nodded, taking up a thoughtful look as she considered the team dynamic between the Kongou Sisters, and how Haruna was concerned about Hiei's ego as the most empathetic one amongst them in contrast to the leader Kongou, the headstrong and loyal Hiei and the analytical Kirishima.
"So you didn't want to cause a rift to tear you two apart due to the conflict caused by a contest over a title which doesn't really do much for you all save for allowing you some bragging rights about something which is no longer a thing. An interesting answer."
Haruna nodded, looking away as she explained how she saw their relationship and how perhaps separating the Kongou Sisters was for the best.
"I admit, it was sad when Kongou decided that the Kongou Sisters had to disband in order to make a name for ourselves, and I was aghast at the mere thought of it. But I suppose it was for the best, because back then, we only knew how to build off of each other's personalities and develop a sisterly dynamic to the point where we wouldn't be seen separated from each other, increasing our dependence on our sisters' company. And that was the problem which Kongou nee-san saw, that we had to grow into our own and not just be respectable battleships in our own right, but also elegant women or 'ladies' who could stand on our own two feet. Right now, we're doing our best to become stronger and specialize in different areas of expertise, like how Kirishima nee-san is working as a Coordinator, I'm working as a part-time medic while Kongou sails with the hard-hitting 7th Fleet and Hiei sails with the 1st Fleet. Although I'm standing in for Hiei nee-san, she's taking the time to train herself up in order to jump back into the fray, and she is extremely driven to protect you all. So please allow yourself to depend more on your teammates, Shigure-san. They're just as dedicated as you are when it comes to protecting everyone."
Shigure looked a little surprised at the conviction behind Hiei, and perhaps even Haruna's desire to protect her, and she looked down with a small, tired nod as she admitted how she wasn't the only ship girl who wanted to protect everyone.
"I think I understand. Everyone wants to protect their teammates, so I suppose that we sometimes need to split up in order to pursue different paths to strength, and when we regroup as a team, we'll have become stronger in unique ways. Tenryuu and Tatsuta are off somewhere getting stronger, and so are Hiei and Junyou as they train with battleships and carriers respectively… I suppose… I can try to place some faith in their abilities."
Haruna nodded as she was glad that they had come to an understanding, but was then interrupted by a red blip showing up on her radar as her Fairies warned her about a possible enemy confrontation.
Both she and Chitose tensed up and prepared for combat as she warned the Combined Fleet about the incoming threat of an approaching Abyssal fleet, and how they should go about this battle since Admiral Haru had taken this Abyssal fleet's patrol route into account and had given them two courses, to either engage or circumvent them.
"Everyone, an Abyssal fleet is approaching us. A quick vote on whether we should fight or flee? While I'm certain we can take them, they don't seem to have noticed us yet since none of the Abyssals are carriers, so rerouting our current course to preserve the element of stealth is still a possibility."
Sendai's hands hovered over her torpedo launchers in preparation for combat as she expressed how they might have to fight their way through in order to draw their attention.
"Well, we're carrying spare ammunition, so ammo shortage isn't exactly a major problem right now. And even if we're to run into complications before nighttime, our backup fleet can simply lend us more ammo and steel patches in order to reload and recover respectively. We can also try to lead them on as the Abyssals would actively search us out, after which we'll split up at night in order to distract them for a longer period of time."
And Shigure pointed out something regarding how Sendai could talk about confronting them so easily when she wasn't tasked with the tougher job.
"I'd like to point out that we're the ones tasked with distracting the Abyssals while you're the ones who get to go on Aogashima Island. So you might feel that attracting their attention wouldn't be all bad, but I respectfully disagree, since we're the ones who will come under fire at night, even though we're going to receive reinforcements later in the night."
Sendai simply raised an eyebrow in order to concede the point, and Jintsuu cast her vote in favor of being discrete, since it would allow them to preserve the element of surprise for a little longer.
"I think that it's best for us not to engage this Abyssal fleet, because the subsequent Abyssal fleets which we engage might discern our true abilities, the more we attempt to engage them in battle. If we keep to ourselves for a little while longer, they have to work with rough estimates of our capabilities based on our previous sorties, and we would be able to surprise them with our true capabilities based on our teamwork. If they learn that we can take out an Abyssal fleet which possesses an intermediate-level threat to us, they would reroute weaker Abyssal fleets and only send high-level Abyssal fleets to deal with us."
And Saratoga asked about her statement as she flicked the safety switch on her Thompson sub-machine gun, getting ready for a possible firefight.
"And how accurate are their predictions of our capabilities?"
Haruna answered that as she mentally ordered her Fairies to be on standby in the meantime, preparing herself for the worst-case scenario which was a possible firefight with the Abyssals, as did all ship girls with their respective class weapons.
"Well, from what I heard, the Abyssals maintain a mental network to make sure that even if we defeat this fleet, they would send a recording of this battle with their dying breath to their superiors in order to determine our threat level, and they'd divert fleets who're too weak to even slow us down away from us. Of course, this process is carried out extremely slowly since the ocean is just that large, and there're too many fleets being sent out every day for them to make these decisions quickly and precisely, so it'll take a while for these orders to be received and carried out. But we do catch whispers in the air for weaker Abyssal fleets to keep track of our movements the further we sail into the Pacific, because even though the Abyssals like throwing numbers at their problems, they aren't so stupid as to send out low-ranking Abyssals to be slaughtered senselessly. They prefer to let the stronger Abyssals have their chance to try to take us out, and if that fails, they'll have already gathered enough Abyssal mooks to make a difference and push us back, if not sink us outright through sheer numbers."
Inhaling deeply after reciting something which she learnt from her lessons, she understood that Saratoga was new here and might not know how the Abyssals worked, requiring a quick lesson from her before making an informed decision.
Naka became the voice of reason as she broke up the discussion by addressing her sister and explaining how it was better for them to be discrete for as long as they could.
"Well, Sendai. Even though we trained together for a while, the new 1st Fleet isn't very experienced compared to other fleets who are occupied either with training or sorties of their own, so I think it's best for us to lay low for now. That way, we can make less mistakes compared to when we engage every single Abyssal fleet in sight and become fatigued, leading to more mistakes."
Sendai muttered an understanding,
"Fine, fine, I understand. I'm itching for a fight, but I suppose not everyone can last through the day and night if we're to take everyone on."
Haruna exhaled slowly, the tension diffusing somewhat as Haruna spoke to everyone while she consulted the map on her HUD.
"Well, the Admiral and the Coordinators expected us to meet this fleet, and since we're choosing to not engage them in battle…"
She saw the HUD change to point in a direction adjacent to their original course, which allowed them to sail past the Abyssal fleet without getting within firing distance and allowing the Abyssals to open fire on them, everyone changing their course in order to sail in the direction of the pointer which directed them to a GPS checkpoint marked out by latitude and longitude.
However, everyone's tense posture and the fact that their hands were now much closer to their weapons in order to quick-draw them didn't escape Haruna's notice, understanding that everyone was on edge and knew that in this sortie, an unavoidable battle was to occur eventually.
No amount of stealth was going to keep them safe and undetected for long the further they sailed to the edge of the Safety Zone, beyond which was an ocean infested by Abyssals who wouldn't hesitate to sink them and halt their progress, and everyone was understandably wary of every single Abyssal in their vicinity as they would either serve to warn others of their presence or hunt them down, warranting their paranoia and fear in order to simply stay alive.