Shiranui was sitting with Shigure in the canteen after another grueling training session, and since the ship girls of both fleets knew that Shiranui and Shigure had found a friend in each other, they allowed the duo some space to themselves as they ate their dinner on the 6th of May after holding out against six rounds of Abyssal bots, albeit with several casualties.
Shiranui had made a mistake by getting her rigging nicked by a large-caliber shell, causing it to deform spectacularly as her HUD announced that her rigging was no longer functional after doing some calculations in its training module and simulating real-life damage.
Of course, being a training shell, she was thankfully not set aflame since it hadn't punctured her rigging like an enemy shell would, and she was simply brought out of the battle by Tone, sulking about having been taken out so easily.
Shigure had also taken some damage, a medium-caliber shell hitting her in the gut as it sent her flying back half a meter while the wind was knocked out of her early in the third round.
She had to spend the rest of the third round coughing and wheezing while solely performing evasive maneuvers to try and recover enough stamina to continue on to the fourth round, where Tone pulled her out of the training session when it was clear that Shigure had suffered some internal damage.
The Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer was hit in the solar plexus, causing her to curl up on the ocean surface as she coughed uselessly while shells whizzed past her and torpedoes narrowly missed her, and Shiranui's trembling fists and dark expression was an indicator of her genuine concern for her newfound friend as Kagerou was forced to haul her around in order to protect Shigure from enemy fire.
They were now at Mamiya's Canteen, eating their servings of steamed dumplings with a bowl of refillable mushroom soup, and Shiranui finished everything on her tray as she talked to Shigure about what they were going to do next, giving everyone an aside glance beforehand to make sure that no one would overhear their treasonous talk.
"We should listen in on the Admiral's briefing on the 8th in order to ensure that we're kept up to date on the naval base's most recent events."
Shigure nodded, Shiranui noting how the destroyer was trying to rein in a cough even after she had docked in order to repair whatever damage she had sustained, swallowing uncomfortably as she nodded and took a sip from her mushroom soup, tearing up at the corners of her eyes as she tried to put up a strong front.
Admirable, yet foolish.
"Yes… So…how are we to do that? I believe the briefing room is devoid of any electronics which can be hacked in order to listen in on the briefing. The vents around the base seem too small for anyone, even a destroyer, to squeeze into in order to prevent anyone from crawling around inside them."
Shiranui nodded, understanding that the briefing room was swept for bugs before every meeting, and while it was a little paranoid of them to assume that the Abyssals were capable of listening in on their meetings, it was common for these top-secret briefings to be conducted via pen-and-paper, before the relevant information was transferred onto their encrypted servers.
But the briefing room was where the Admiral held her meetings with her closest ship girls, only allowing the essentials to be written down by the Coordinators as whatever was discussed in there was top-secret and would only leave the room in the forms of a written note or a memory.
"There won't be any electronics in the briefing room to be hacked, and neither one of us is in the inner circle of Admiral Haru's confidantes and thus won't be invited to the meeting. But I have one way to listen in on them."
Shigure's eyes widened, and she leaned in as she munched on a dumpling, her eyes twinkling with interest at what Shiranui was about to propose.
And by the looks of her expression, she wasn't disappointed as Shiranui explained.
"We need to bug the one person which they wouldn't suspect would have a listening device on them, and respect too much to bother searching. Admiral Haru herself."
Shigure's eyes widened, but she kept her breathing steady in order not to disturb her breathing, or God forbid, cough out loud, which would draw the attention of the other ship girls at the table and interrupt their conversation, and while Shiranui disapproved of her overbearing curiosity, she did appreciate her attempts to be useful or avoid hindering her in any way.
Shiranui continued, seeing that Shigure understood how matters of espionage were her specialty and allowed her to take the stage, something else which Shiranui learnt to appreciate in others after working with various other ship girls.
"We will need to avoid ship girls and sailors who are on the night watch at the Staff Building in order to plant the listening devices tomorrow night, and we need to retrieve the devices after the meeting before any ship girls who are part of the laundry duty find it."
Shigure nodded grimly, understanding the difficulty of the task at hand and how they were to go about it, but Shiranui sought to correct something, lest Shigure get the wrong idea.
"Of course, when I say 'We', I mean me.
I'll be infiltrating Admiral Haru's quarters alone."
And there it was.
Shigure's expression dropped any of the enthusiasm it previously contained as she looked absolutely dumbfounded while she wondered what Shiranui was talking about.
She clarified, explaining how they were given a day off tomorrow in order to prevent the two fleets from overworking themselves, and Shiranui wanted Shigure to use this time to rest up.
"Tomorrow is a day off, and I need you to use every moment to rest and regain your stamina if you're not training to improve yourself. You will do this while I infiltrate the Admiral's room tomorrow night in order to bug each and every one of her blazers,
Laundry day will be near the date of our sortie. I'll enter the laundry room in order to retrieve the listening devices, since Kagerou's part of the laundry detail and I can make up an excuse to get in, but there's no getting around the fact that Admiral Haru's blazers are safely in her closet, and I'll have to enter her room in order to bug them."
Shigure's eyes lowered, Shiranui understanding that Shigure was trying to set her priorities straight, since she wasn't very experienced compared to everyone else and had to use each and every available moment to improve herself, while Shiranui would do the heavy lifting for now.
She explained this as she looked to the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer,
"Right now, I'm the one who has enough experience to carry this out by myself, and it's best that I work alone when it comes to espionage missions. Later down the road, when you become stronger, I can allow you to do the heavy lifting while I work in the shadows, as I always have.
But you need to become stronger in order to make this a reality. I will do this alone, and you need to rest up in order to attend the next training session."
She could see that Shigure wanted to protest, but knew better than to talk back to a ship girl who knew what she was doing, and Shiranui continued in order to reassure Shigure that she would be alright, since she was part of the Infiltration Fleet.
"Don't you worry. I, Shiranui, will not make a mistake while on an infiltration mission. I'm a stealth expert, and no one would expect a ship girl to spy on her own Admiral. No one would be taking their security patrols that seriously since it's Admiral Haru which we're talking about, and they certainly wouldn't expect a ship girl to be sneaking into her own Admiral's bedroom for nefarious purposes. Not if they didn't do anything to deserve it."
Shiranui's expression darkened upon uttering that last line morbidly, and she could see Shigure gulp nervously at the insinuation that there were Admirals in the past whose personalities and tactics were less-than-savory, and their ship girls had a bone or two to pick with them as a result.
But Admiral Haru was respected and loved, so in everyone's mind, no ship girl would dare to slip into her room for anything other than to sleep with her (and not always in a romantic sense, especially for destroyers), right?
Shigure looked away, Shiranui surmising that she was trying to come to terms with her lack of skill which sidelined her for now, and how she had to take the time to rest up and train in order to be of use down the road, when she attained her Kai Ni.
She was like Kagerou in that sense, Shiranui thought.
Always wanting to help others and pushing herself even further in order to do so. I suppose headstrong, overly compassionate ship girls who care more about others than themselves will always exist in almost every ship class.
But the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer turned to look back at Shiranui, looking as if she understood what needed to be done since she was mature enough to know that Shiranui would do what Shigure couldn't do, and Shigure will eventually do things Shiranui couldn't hope to do, and they should develop their own skill sets at their own pace, remarking.
"Fine. Do what you have to do, and don't get caught."
Shiranui nodded grimly, thinking about how ship girls like Kongou and Inazuma were let into the Admiral's bedroom after a cursory body search to sleep with the Admiral, the former because Kongou was Admiral Haru's lover and the latter because Inazuma often slept easier while in the presence of the Admiral.
Any ship girl who wasn't radioed through by the front door security was arrested and detained until they were acquitted several days later, and they'd receive a week of extra duty.
But she had no choice but to sneak in undetected with several listening devices on her in order to plant them in Admiral Haru's blazers, since she would be searched if she was to approach her Admiral's room in any other way and certainly arrested for attempting to bug the Admiral, facing life in military prison before God-knows-what.
Shiranui thought.
I'm not that bad of a stealth specialist myself. But that simply won't cut it anymore. To be a ghost is not enough, since being caught on the fringe of rewound surveillance footage and obscure photos is disgraceful by my standards.
I will become something more, by allowing others to see less of me. I swear it in the honor of the Kagerou-Class.