Kagerou, Batsubyoushimasu! Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 1

Chapter 3: Fire

Part 1

　The next morning. 

　Kagerou crawled out of her bed before the first call reveille^[1] sounded. 

　As it has been mentioned before, every destroyer lives in the destroyer dormitory. A room is shared between two or three destroyer shipgirls. Each of them is provided with a bed and a locker. As a side note, the battleships and carriers are provided with a large 3.6 square meters room^[2] on top of it being a private quarter, which is also a subject of jealousy at times.

　Generally, a destroyer division consists of four ships, but the 14th Destroyer Division consisted of six ships which is also the maximum limit. Therefore, they used three rooms. The rooms are as small as a submarine crew compartment, with bunk beds and curtains to block the view as the only means to ensure privacy. It forced them to form close relationships with the other shipgirls whether they're willing or not. 

　Kagerou shared a room with Satsuki. She thought that she wouldn’t get bored since that girl had a cheerful personality, but Satsuki always kept her curtain closed. It’s not like there’s a wartime blackout, so she felt that closing the curtain was unnecessary. Even when Kagerou entered the room for the first time and muttered ‘Well now, I guess I’ll sleep,’ Satsuki didn't even try to open her curtain. She let out some noises from time to time, but it seemed like she was doing push-ups.

　Does she really not want to interact with other people that much? And it’s not just her, it seems like it’s the same for everyone else in the 14th Destroyer Division.

(This is depressing…)

　Back in Kure, the relationship was much more intimate. As a destroyer division, they would be close to each other no matter what happened. When she dressed herself, she also checked Shiranui's clothes. Of course, Shiranui would also check hers too, and there wasn’t anything that could be called a dangerous relationship.

　This ‘somewhat depressing feeling’ continued even during their first training session.

　The 14th Destroyer Division gathered at the naval district pier. All of a sudden, Kagerou was ordered by Takao.

“Lead the exercise.”

　That was what Takao replied with the moment Kagerou said, “We will look forward to your guidance.”

　Kagerou blurted out “Eh?!” and that's understandable. Normally, a training would be carried out under the guidance of the light cruisers or the heavy cruisers. Especially the light cruisers, which also would play the role of imaginary enemy in surface combat drills.

“Why me?”

“You're the lead ship, aren’t you?”

“I'm a destroyer though?!”

“There’s no rule saying a destroyer can’t lead a training session, you know.”

“That’s not what I mean, I've never done it before!”

“It’s the first time for everyone when they started too.” After telling them that, Takao left them while saying “I have training with Choukai, after all.”

　Kagerou was left stunned. She had hoped that perhaps Takao would come back, but her figure had disappeared. To make the matter worse, not a single soul was passing by.

　She had no choice but to turn around. The members of the 14th Destroyer Division were lined up there.

　Being ‘lined up’ was the only positive side to express it. Indeed, they were lined up, but there’s a lack of uniformity from them, since they looked just like illegally parked cars on the street. Nagatsuki was glaring at Kagerou as if she had just found her mortal enemy, Arare next to her was staring somewhere in the wrong direction, Satsuki kept repeating “Muscle training, muscle training!” while Ushio was cowering in worry about the person next to her. And then there’s Akebono, who was blatantly looking away.

　As for Kagerou, she had to lead these girls in their training.

（How am I supposed to lead the training with them as my companion?!)

　She didn’t voice out her lamentations, but she unreservedly cried out inside her mind. I’m a destroyer, not a light cruiser or heavy cruiser. I have never heard of a destroyer leading a training session. There are mountains of things I want to learn. And I don't even have the confidence to be a lead ship.

　Several shipgirls passed by. Each time, she could hear voices such as “There's Akebono,” “Satsuki too,” and “It’s only the leftovers.”

　This is the worst feeling ever. Oh God, if you are there, then please, listen to my wish. I wouldn't ask for something excessive like to be reborn as an aircraft carrier, but if I could be born again, next time, please let me be a submarine chaser, or an auxiliary patrol boat, even if that means being converted from a fishing boat, or anything. I beg of you please just don't force me to carry these burdens. Ah, as I thought, I still prefer being an armed merchant cruiser. It's kind of cool.

　She looked up to the heavens and blinked a couple of times. She managed to somehow get rid of her misery with that.

“Well, let's do cruising training.”

“What did you say?” Nagatsuki replied with a question tinged with hostility. “A cruise training at this point? Are you saying that we are children who can't even swim?”

“Cruising is the basis of everything. We are ships because we're advancing on the sea surface. Well then, let's do it.”

　Kagerou clapped her hands.

　Though, it was natural for Nagatsuki to question it, she thought. It was the most basic of the basics, and she’d been repeatedly doing it ever since she had become a shipgirl to the point of it being incredibly tedious. It didn’t get to the point where she wouldn’t want to do it, but she also understood Nagatsuki feeling of ‘Right at this point? Are you serious?’

　It’s just that, Kagerou didn't know the other kind of training they should be doing. That’s why she decided to do something she herself knew very well, and she clapped her hands to urge them so that they wouldn’t realize her anxiety.

　They all went together to pick up their riggings.

　Shipgirls basically spent most of their day wearing their riggings. Of course, they would wear it during training, but they wouldn’t take it off even during break. They only removed it during meals, baths, and sleeps, where then they would leave it to the maintenance personnels. Some shipgirls wanted to do their own maintenance because their lives depended on it, and so sometimes it was loaned to such girls.

　The riggings were stored inside the Munitions Department vault, so they had to ask for permission to receive them.

　Kagerou was relieved to see the riggings marked with [Kure→Yokosuka] inside. It would have been a disaster if it hadn’t been there.

　Since everyone is a destroyer, all of their weapons were guns and torpedoes. The rest were communication devices and two main engines, which aren’t to be forgotten.

　Kagerou's gun turrets were the 12.7cm twin gun mounts, however, Satsuki and Nagatsuki had the 12cm single gun mounts. In order to fight against the Abyssal Fleet, strengthening the armament was the top priority, but it wasn’t easy to do so for the destroyers. Though, torpedo tube launchers were available for all destroyers. That was apparently the result of the Admiral's strong desire to have them all equipped with torpedoes.

　The shape of the armament would differ according to the destroyer classes. Specifically, if there’s a difference in the shape of the clasp, the part to which it would be attached also changed. This was due to the compatibility of the shipgirls, which was assigned according to the results of aptitude tests. 

　This aptitude test was a quite complicated thing to discuss, since the result of the test took precedence over everything else, regardless of whether the girl wanted to be a battleship or an aircraft carrier. Exceptionally charming maidens^[3] had their body measurements taken, blood and urine collected as samples, and every nook and cranny in their bodies examined, and then they were put in a headgear that looked like a new species of life form because it had countless cables extending out of it, which then would project images of mysterious CG onto their retinas, then they would be asked with questions like ‘Is it above? ‘Or is it below? ‘Is it red?’ ‘Or is it blue?’ or ‘Does this person look like someone you want to kill?’ to which they had to answer with a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No.’ 

　The results of the test would be duly notified, but the process was never made public. There’s once a shipgirl who filed an information disclosure lawsuit^[4], suspecting ‘The questions were made into paper airplanes and only determined in the order of which flew the furthest!’ but was refused because of the special confidentiality status of the information.

　Kagerou didn’t regret being selected as a destroyer. However, she had a doubt that perhaps the aptitude test didn’t work properly sometimes, especially since she met a shipgirl like Akebono.

　Even now, inside the vault, Akebono was looking away and refusing to move.

“Hey, put on your riggings.”

　She paid no heed to Kagerou’s instruction.

“Akebono, we can’t train unless we all cruise together.”.

“It’s meaningless,” Akebono scowled at Kagerou. “After all, you guys are hopeless, you can’t even form up a formation or do fleet maneuvers, so it's just a waste of time to even try.”

“There's no such thing as a waste of time! It's the basics, of course everyone can do it.”

　Akebono snickered.

“Coming from Kure must've made you naive, eh. Do you really think that all destroyers can cruise properly?”

“Isn’t it a given?”

“Then you should try seeing it for yourself.”

　After saying those words, Akebono also put on her riggings.

　They returned to the pier. They did not use the pool for cruising training except for a brief period when they had just become a shipgirl. Since they would fight on the sea, it was only natural that they would also train on the sea.

　Kagerou took the initiative to step off the pier and to put her feet on the sea surface. She lost her balance a little, but soon stabilized herself. The surroundings sensation didn’t change even since her time at Kure.

　The two main engines they wore on both feet supported the shipgirls to stand on the sea. They looked like shoes by all appearances, and in fact they were as comfortable as any real shoes when being worn, but the shipgirls called them “main engines.” The propulsive power was generated from the soles and heels of the main engines to propel them forward.

　In a sense, the main engines were more important than the armaments. Those main engines and the unit they carried on their back (also known as the ‘boiler’) were the two sources that provided propulsion power to them, so if those were to be lost, they wouldn’t be able to move. If the boiler was destroyed, the shipgirls would simply be brought to a halt, but if the main engines were damaged, they would lose their buoyancy and sink.

　Just to be sure, she looked back and saw that everyone else was also standing on the sea surface as well.

　Kagerou felt a little relieved, then said to Akebono.

“See? They can do it, can't they?”

“Only for now.”

　Akebono replied mockingly.

　After advancing for a while, Kagerou ordered them to form a single line.

“Uh, shall we form a line ahead?”

　It was a method of cruising in a single vertical line. It was the most basic formation and said to be the easiest. It was suitable for shipgirls who only had been assigned for a short period of time because they could get it right as long as they pay their attention to the shipgirl in front of them.

　The lead ship, Kagerou, took the front position. She looked back several times to make sure they were in line.

“Alright, let’s go. Standard ahead on both sides.”

　Kagerou started to advance. When she looked back, she saw that everyone was following her.

　She was relieved. Look at that, there's nothing to worry about.

“Standard ahead on both sides, black 10.”

　She adjusted the speed by only increasing the rotational speed of the main engines. She didn’t forget to send the signal from her back at the same time as she said the order.

　She looked back once more. She felt that they were a bit separated.

　This is strange, am I going too fast? She thought, so she gave another order.

“Standard ahead on both sides, red 15.”

　Thud, there was an impact, something had bumped against her back. Kagerou almost pitched forward.

　When she turned around, she saw Satsuki holding her head down.

“Ouch…”

“Hey, I’ve said ‘standard ahead’, didn’t I? How come you bumped into me like that?”

“Eh? But I’m going standard ahead?” 

“Not the original standard ahead, I've sent the red signal. You should’ve decreased your rotational speed.”

“Red signal?”

　Satsuki tilted her head. Kagerou was momentarily stupefied.

“The rotational speed! Black for increase, red for decrease! Shouldn’t you have understood it immediately?!”

“Ah, well, me, I don't like the theoretical class.”

　Sasaki was proud of herself for some reason.

“I'd rather do muscle training and improve my physical strength after all. Besides, I get injured rather easily even on expeditions, so I'm always in the dock, therefore I never attended theoretical class that much.”

　She laughed Hahhahha. Kagerou felt dizzy for a moment.

“So you don’t even know the fundamentals?! You did well considering you went on expeditions like that.”

“Well, all I have to do is to go there, get the job done, and go back after all.”

“How did you get hurt then?”

“I always went full power on both sides, so I got hurt from the waves when my main engines broke.”

　Satsuki said unapologetically.

　This muscle training idiot, Kagerou thought. It's only natural that you’re more likely to get injured if you’re always going full speed. I wanted to curse myself for thinking that she was docked because she fought against the Abyssal Fleet.

“Is there even a shipgirl who can't even form fleet formation…?”

“I'm not the only one, you know?”

　Satsuki turned around. There, the other shipgirls were cruising in a jumbled mess.

“Kyaaa! Arare-san, please move a bit further!”

“Ignore her, Arare, I'll protect you.”

“……” 

　The three shipgirls were heading together to their position. Rather than forming a line, it’s more like they were in a furball.^[5] Ushio was only waving her hands in confusion, Nagatsuki was wrapping herself around Arare's arm tightly and not letting her go. Arare was so quiet you'd wonder if she was even conscious.

　The girls were tangled up as they were, and it looked as if they were about to capsize.

　Akebono was watching the scene from a distance with cold eyes.

　She approached Kagerou.

“I told you already, didn't I? Look at them.”

　For the time being, Kagerou tried to refute.

“I-I’m sure it’s just because they’re inexperienced!”

“Inexperienced with the basic things? Isn't that just the worst?”

“Sometimes it just slipped in your mind. I'm sure they’ll get it right when we do battle formation.”

“Hmph. Then just try it.”

　Her tone was as if she was ridiculing her. Kagerou fell for the provocation.

"All members, line abreast! Think of when you fight the Abyssal Fleet!”

　In combat, shipgirls often formed a horizontal line to attack.

　And that was the hardest part. They had to align themselves front to back and left to right with their fellow shipgirls, moreover they had to do that in the midst of battle. If someone went ahead of the rest or if someone lagged behind, the torpedo launch timing would be off. It was possible to make adjustments each time they fired their guns, but there’s nothing that could be done once they had launched the torpedoes, so they couldn't mess the timing. 

“Adjust the horizontal distance properly!”

　Kagerou conveyed the instruction. The distance was another important thing, since if they poorly stretched too far, they wouldn’t be able to hear the instructions, and if they were too close, they could collide with each other.

“Both sides first battle speed ahead!”

　Kagerou yelled, and along with that, they advanced at once.

　However, their formation immediately started to fall apart. Ushio lagged behind, while Satsuki went ahead of Kagerou.

“B-both sides second battle speed ahead!”

　As they increased their speed, the formation became even more disorganized. If it was just that, then it wasn’t much of a problem, but even the spacing and their direction was starting to become out of order.

“Ugh, come on! Form a line properly!”

　She didn’t know whether her voice reached them or not. Satsuki dashed swiftly ahead while saying something like “Yeaaaaay!” Nagatsuki was nestling herself against Arare as usual. Ushio was still moving at a sluggish pace.

　Nagatsuki was clutching Arare's left arm. Perhaps because of that, Arare was gradually turning to the left and crossed into Ushio’s travel course.

　Ushio—as often is the case with shipgirls who are not good at cruising—was only paying attention to her own footing. Therefore she didn't notice that Arare and Nagatsuki had crossed into her course.

“…Ah, kyaaah!”

　Thump. Ushio collided with Nagatsuki. The reason it wasn't with Arare was because Nagatsuki was protecting her.

　The two of them toppled over on the sea surface. Kagerou hurriedly went back to them.

“Hey, are you guys okay?!”

　Nagatsuki picked herself up first then said to Arare instead of answering Kagerou.

“Are you hurt, Arare? I’ve protected you.”

“Thank you…”

　Nagatsuki was relieved and took Arare's hand. She was saying things like, “Thank goodness…” and even seemed to have tears in her eyes.

　Kagerou didn't have time to watch their dramatic exchange.

“Ushio, how about you?!”

　Ushio was lying face up with her eyes spinning around.

“Mpwaah…”

“I'm going to get you up now, okay?”

　Kagerou grabbed Ushio's hand and pulled her to her feet. Ushio was conscious but seemed disoriented. The collision happened while they were going second battle speed. She was lucky to survive such a collision.

“Are you hurt?”

“No…”

　Ushio shook her head a few times to clear her mind. Kagerou was relieved.

“Phew… I’m glad you’re lucky…”

“I think, it has always been like this, I've never been hurt before… It's strange for me to say this, but perhaps I have good luck…”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

　Many people cited luck as a necessary ability to survive as a shipgirl. Sometimes, some shipgirls themselves would even claim such. There were cases where a mere single shell could sink a shipgirl, while other times a shipgirl could stay afloat even after taking countless shots, then returned to the Naval District on her own. Nevertheless, if that occurred repeatedly, they could no longer just say, “I survived because I’m just lucky.”

“And thanks to your good luck, everyone is also getting dragged into this mess.”

　The one who said that wasn’t Kagerou. It was Akebono who had approached them without anyone noticing.

“Are you still trying to cause trouble by colliding into others? Cut it out, won't you?"

“……”

“If there’s a shipgirl in your course, the common sense is to go astern, am I wrong?”

“……”

　Ushio didn't say anything back, she hanged her head down dispiritedly.

　It felt so depressing, Kagerou couldn’t endure it, so she interjected.

“Everyone makes mistakes.” 

“Can you say the same if it turns into a big problem like the one with Inazuma and Miyuki?”^[6]

“Ugh…”

　As expected, that would be hard to argue. A mistake like this could easily be fatal on the sea. Especially in the middle of battle against the Abyssal Fleet, it would be irreversible.

　Even so, Kagerou still retorted.

“Then, can you do a fleet maneuver in a line abreast formation?”

“Of course I can.”

　Akebono declared without hesitation. Kagerou was annoyed.

“Then let’s prove it.”

“Fine. You and me, right?”

　It was a retaliation for her provocation before. They decided that both of them would perform a fleet maneuver. The rest of them would rest and be the spectators.

　Akebono occupied the position to the right of Kagerou. “I’m ready anytime,” she said.

“…Full standard ahead on both sides.”

　Kagerou activated her main engine. She increased it out of the blue instead of going standard ahead. She glanced to her right and saw that Akebono was following her with a nonchalant look on her face.

“Maximum battle speed on both sides.”

　The Kagerou-class prided themselves with their speed, and she was confident that she could easily outrun most ships as long it wasn’t Shimakaze, but Akebono was still following her as expected.

　A feeling of awe was born inside Kagerou’s heart.

“Full engine ahead!”

　She didn’t look to her side anymore, because she knew that Akebono would be there. Kagerou changed their course.

“Hou 3!”

　A thirty degrees turn to the right. She went portside at the same time as she gave the signal. She thought, Perhaps this time we’re going to collide, but they didn't. Akebono was in the exact right position.

“Q Hou!”

　This time, she turned forty-five degrees to the left. Akebono was still following her as she expected.

“Hou 1! Half astern on both sides!”

　She changed direction ten degrees to the right then went backward after slowing down. Akebono remained in her position. 

“First battle speed on both sides! Hou 2! 4 Hou! Sei 130!”^[7]

　After increasing the speed, she made a twenty degrees turn to the right and then a forty degrees turn to the left. And lastly, the true course was a nasty simultaneous one hundred and thirty degrees turn to the right, but there’s completely no sign of Akebono falling behind.

　After that, they performed numerous fleet maneuvers, but Akebono maintained their distance and never lost bearings until the end.

　They returned to the place where the other girls were watching. For some reason, there was applause.

　Kagerou, who was half amazed and half astounded, said to Akebono, “You’re… surprisingly good.” .

“Hmph.”

　Akebono looked bored.

“A destroyer can’t afford to lag behind in fleet maneuvers, isn’t that a given?”

“But this is the first time I'm working with Akebono, you know. Normally, no matter what you do, there will still be a mistake. Not even Kure's girls are able to do it like you on the first try.”

“That must be because they don’t have any talents.”

“… Hey Akebono, why don't you work with us together? With your ability, the 14th Destroyer Division won't be made fun of anymore.”

“Nah, I don't want to hang out with destroyers.”

　After saying that, Akebono told them “I’m leaving now,” and quickly left.

　Kagerou and the other four were the only ones left on the sea.

“Are we going home too?”

　Satsuki carefreely said that, but Kagerou shook her head.

“Not yet. Let’s start doing the vertical line again.”

“Ee…”

“Isn’t it frustrating to always be criticized by Akebono? That's why let’s go train more.”

　Kagerou addressed each of them one by one.

“Satsuki, you’re only looking ahead and on top of that always going full engine, slow your speed down more. On the other hand, Ushio, you need to look ahead. You won’t fall over even if you don’t watch your footing. Nagatsuki, you need to get further away from Arare.”

“I’ve sworn to protect Arare.” 

“If you cling to her like that, both of you will capsize once you’re hit with a near miss^[8], you know. Arare… Well, for now just say something.”

　Arare only blinked a few times, she wasn’t sure whether or not Arare understood.

“I’m going to assume that everyone understands. Then, let's start from the beginning.”

　In the end, that day's training session only consisted of fleet maneuvers.

　As a result.

　The five of them suffered bruises and scratches all over their bodies and writhed in agony from muscular pain.

Note :

 [1] : Reveille ("Le Réveil" in French) is a bugle call, trumpet call, drum, fife-and-drum or pipes call most often associated with the military; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise. The name comes from réveille (or réveil), the French word for "wake up".
 [2] : The original word can be read as either Ni-ken or Futa-ma, the former means 2 ken (1 ken is roughly 1.818m, so 2 ken is around 3.6m), while the latter means 2 rooms or 2 spaces/gaps.
 [3] : The original word actually used a terms of "Young girl who put flowers into shame before her beauty."
 [4] : It's something like Freedom of Information Act, where the government has to provide the public with the right to access full or partial disclosure of unreleased information and documents they controlled upon request.
 [5] : Furball is used to refer a chaotic condition when there's aerial battle involving a lot of planes in the sky. But perhaps the author is trying to say "Rather than as straight as a thread, it's like a tangled up strand of hairs."
 [6] : This is referring to a real life incident where Inazuma collided with Miyuki on 29 June 1934 while on maneuvers off Cheju Island. The collision sank Miyuki and severed the bow of Inazuma, which was towed to Sasebo Naval Arsenal by the heavy cruiser Nachi for extensive repairs.
 [7] : Hou from Houkou is a Naval Maneuver Pennant used by the Imperial Japanese Navy that means there's a change in the Bearing/Course. According to "Japanese Navy Signal Flag" by David Dickson, a number preceeding the signal is the axis, while the number following the signal is the bearing. If no number followed the signal, that means there's no change to the course. The author probably simplified it by using the number position to determine the left/right direction for the course and ignored the axis entirely. Q Hou most likely means Quarter Houkou. While Sei from Seidou is a Naval Maneuver Pennant that means a Simultaneous Turn.
 [8] : In military language, a bomb strike that missed its intended target (usually a naval vessel) but still landed close enough to that target to cause damage was termed a near miss.