Kaga gave a reluctant nod. "That's more like it."
Akagi spoke up. "I want to join too."
Then came a chorus of shipgirls eagerly asking to participate, mixed with Hood shouting about how unfair it was.
Since the inner base and the real-world base were linked as two sides of the same coin, plenty of strange tricks had become possible. For example, a single bottle of wine at the real base could also be accessed inside the dream base—meaning they could actually share a drink across the two worlds.
With Akagi and the others wanting in, Hikaru thought for a moment. "Then it'll have to be checkers. Losers get punished. Aside from Akagi and Kaga, the rest of you will need to use a 'Play Voucher.'"
He deliberately stressed the words Play Voucher.
These had been compensation prizes from a previous lottery—a total of ten, each granting a full day of the Commander's time to play with the holder.
Most of them had ended up in the hands of the J-class Destroyers, so Hikaru had been redeeming them with games of checkers.
And the girls weren't losing out—since they hadn't yet come to his side, their vouchers counted for triple time as consolation for not being able to hug their beloved Commander.
U-96 walked up, holding out an orange in her small hands, and whispered, "I want to play too."
Hikaru nearly melted from the cuteness. He had her set the orange down on the table, nodding furiously. "Of course, you're in."
Hood was fuming with jealousy. Not only had the two little thieves, Akagi and U-96, been rewarded, but even Kaga—who was only tagging along—got included.
While she got nothing.
"This is unfair! I protest! It's not that I care about playing, I just think, Commander, you're being unjust!"
Hood lifted her chin in defiance.
"Hmph, you're the biggest offender here. I haven't even punished you for developing weapons of mass destruction in the base," Hikaru shot back. "Protest rejected."
Hood puffed her cheeks, furiously kneading her poor, innocent orange cat Ginger.
Then came the next bit of business.
Missouri marched up a few culprits.
Hikaru sighed. "You again. What did you get up to this time?"
They were the base's usual troublemakers, always starting something, always giving him headaches. He had to deal with their chaos nearly every day.
Missouri, face blank, rattled off their long list of misdeeds.
After much effort, Hikaru finally dealt with it all and let out a relieved sigh.
This was, after all, one of the Commander's most important duties.
Shipgirls living together naturally had their share of quarrels, and only the Commander could play mediator and judge. His rulings might be biased at times, but the shipgirls only recognized his judgment.
Still… it was exhausting.
Missouri clicked her tongue regretfully. "If only I were at your side, I could massage your shoulders… even let you rest your head in my lap."
The girl was practically screaming with hints.
Hikaru gave her ample chest a glance and curled his lip. "No thanks. I've got Yat Sen. Let me tell you, Yat Sen is amazing."
Missouri ground her teeth, her face cycling through emotions, before lowering herself with forced sweetness. "Actually… my cooking is decent too. Don't you want to try some U.S. cuisine?"
"If I want American food, I've got Lexington." Hikaru shut her down in one sentence, then pointed at her eyes curiously. "What's this about? Yesterday you only had one, and now the first one's darker too."
Missouri sneaked a glance at Veneto and Washington, who were cracking their knuckles ominously, and shrank her neck. "I… stayed up too late."
"Then keep it up—darken both sides evenly. Otherwise one light, one dark will drive anyone with OCD insane." Hikaru quipped without a shred of sympathy. Then he suddenly remembered something. "Right, that's why I came. There'll be three summons this month. Tonight, a small ship. Tomorrow, a medium ship. The day after, a large ship. I'll notify you before each one."
All the shipgirls' eyes lit up at once.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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