"... So, that's what she said?"
Amagi looked crestfallen as she reviewed Shigure's memory, several of the ship girl carriers surrounding the destroyer as they sat in the Bird's Nest.
Kaga was there, also contemplating the situation seriously as she, too, finished listening to Unryuu's lecture in her mind and had on a look of disquiet and disapproval as she looked at the floor.
Zuikaku and Shoukaku were there, and the ones absent were Hiryu, Soryu and Akagi, both of them escorted out of the room by Akagi whom Kaga promised to review the meeting with later when she came back from chaperoning the two carriers to dinner.
Zuikaku was livid, stamping around as she thought back about the doctrine as a whole, before exploding,
"This whole theory is bullshit! What's the point of fighting for humanity when you don't feel anything for humanity?!"
But Shoukaku was quick to point out to her fuming sister.
"But it's been proven to be an effective doctrine, and it has improved the sortieing results of the ship girls who adopted this doctrine, Zuikaku-nee."
And Zuikaku retorted.
"But what's the point of being reincarnated as ship girls when we aren't driven to win, or be more humane than our enemies?"
Kaga finally gave her input, shifting her head to look in the general direction of the Shoukaku-Class carriers as she answered.
"And what good is that, if it hinders us in combat?"
Zuikaku froze up at that, but she respectfully listened to Kaga's take on the situation, Kaga calmly assessing the situation as they all sat on the bed while Shigure sat in a respectful seiza position in the middle of the room.
"I have always been mystified as to how Unryuu was capable of being so efficient in her sorties and achieve the best possible results despite being worse than us in terms of stats and being generally weaker than most carriers, although I would like to point out that I respect her as a comrade despite the gap in ability. But after hearing this, I feel that she has divided herself into two halves of herself, the human and the weapon. While I understand myself enough to know that I am not a very emotional person and personally strive for emotional balance within myself, I personally believe that this doctrine, however effective, will only cause more despair within Unryuu. Discarding and suppressing her humanity when it suits the situation will inevitably create a conflict within herself whenever her machine and human half contradict each other over an issue on the battlefield, something that could cost her dearly."
She looked to Shigure to indirectly ask her on her opinion on the matter, and Amagi followed her gaze, finally resting her eyes on the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer and leaning in to plead as she went on her knees, eyes watering as she begged.
"Please, convince Unryuu-nee that this doctrine is detrimental to her mental health, and she needs to stop!"
But Shigure shook her head, looking Amagi in the eyes and regarding her with utmost seriousness.
"You can't control your sister like that, Amagi-san. The more you try to dissuade her, the more she will distance herself from you as you encroach on her personal space. You must instead be there for her whenever you can and help her without being intrusive, and even if you can't understand her, you must accept her."
Shigure's expression darkened as she predicted the thought patterns of the Unryuu-Class carrier and tried her best to help Amagi get closer to her sister ship without pushing her away and destroying their relationship.
"She already knows in her mind that you won't accept her way of thinking, this being one of the main reasons why she didn't want to share her thoughts with you in the first place. Things will only take a turn for the worse should you try to convince her otherwise and only serve to prove her right. Prove her wrong by respecting her right to think for herself, but convince her of its shortcomings, slowly convincing her with points that make sense and being there for her whenever she needs support.
Eventually, she will experience an internal conflict where her Theory will conflict with her humanity, and you must be there for her when this happens."
Amagi looked away and considered Shigure's words before looking back and nodding, still upset at her sister coming up with and adopting such an extreme doctrine.
Zuikaku knelt down to look down at Shigure and asked inquisitively, Shigure taking the time to note several hints of hope, fear, and desperation by her facial appearance, the stance she adopted and the tone of her voice as she asked her question.
"... But there is a loophole in this theory, right? It can't be perfect, right?"
Shigure nodded at that, looking thoughtful as she reviewed the Nirvana Theory in its entirety in her mind.
"The first thing to note, is that she advocates only suppression of emotions whenever we sortie, not the complete expunging of a ship girl's humanity to make a ship girl truly emotionless, so that isn't something we have to worry about.
Even Unryuu herself has stated that this theory is not perfect."
Shigure looked away, thinking about her personal outlook of life and how it somewhat differed from Unryuu's extreme doctrine, the Nirvana Theory being an extreme version of how Shigure personally felt a ship girl should behave in battle.
"I personally believe in something similar to this, that your should clear your mind of all worries, fear and hubris, amongst other things, before we even fire off the first shot. But where we differ is that while I understand the pitfalls of allowing my emotions to fuel my action and push me forward, to risk the possibility of letting them run rampant within my heart and losing control of them, I still allow myself to feel emotions in the midst of battle. The Nirvana Theory does not tolerate this. The first thing is the fact that ship girls can exceed their limits for a short period of time is due to the fact that we are driven to do better. But if we are to be machine-like, we are bound to hit the mechanical limit and have no desire to do better than what our material body allows us to. Eventually, when she is required to go past her physical limits, she may be forced to call upon her emotions to drive her in battle, an experience that would be foreign to her. Either that, or she would determine that the fight is lost and cut her losses."
Zuikaku piped up, now interested in the direction this conversation was going.
"B-But, we'll be there for her when that happens, to show her that emotions do have a place in battle, where they can push us on no matter how fallible they may be!"
Shigure smiled at that along with Shoukaku and Amagi, Shigure thankful that Unryuu had such understanding family and friends to help her on her path to becoming stronger.
"The second thing is that the believes in a perfect split between the human and the machine self, and that the human self can be absolutely suppressed whenever we want it to be. I personally do not agree that we can snuff out all traces of humanity within us when we fight, for we are created to be like humans. We will always have emotions. And eventually, she will experience a conflict between her humanity and her doctrine whenever a morally tough choice comes along, and she has to make a choice between which half to listen to, either the human or the machine."
Shigure noted something about the name-ship of the Unryuu-Class carrier, citing.
"However, even when it seems as if she may be acting heartlessly by making an unpopular decision in battle, I think we should try to understand the struggles that she may face. She tries to detach herself from the situation to be able to think logically and not allow familial bias, peer pressure and what others may see as the 'right' thing to do cloud her judgement in order to act in the best interests of the mission objective. But there may be times where following her doctrine may actually work against her, and we need to help correct her whenever we know for certain that what she's doing is wrong. After all, she did account for the fact that there would always be exceptions where her doctrine was inapplicable."
Kaga nodded, accepting Shigure's explanation and opinion on how to handle things as she looked to Amagi and respectfully addressed her.
"Amagi-san, rest assured that we will be on the lookout for anything wrong with Unryuu-san. I understand the concern that you would show for a sister ship. Unryuu-san is a valued comrade and also a fellow carrier, and we will do everything in our power to be there for her, no matter what she may go through while following her personal beliefs. The path she has chosen to attain strength is cold and unforgiving, but we must, and will be there for her no matter what."
Zuikaku nodded vigorously, adding.
"Yeah! We may not be able to change her mind because we respect her right to think what she wants, but if she ever feels lonely or miserable as she follows this doctrine, we'll be there to see what we can do!"
Shoukaku was more level-headed as she reassured Amagi.
"Unryuu-san is the type of girl to let her mind wander, but when it comes down to it, she can be really insightful and serious when she tries. She just doesn't want others to suffer and grieve in a manner that everyone did after the loss of Taihou.
Taihou was lost in the pursuit to find Unryuu, and seeing us all grieve for her immensely might have caused her to feel extremely guilty about Taihou giving her life to find her, and wished to do something about it. Thus, she developed this extremely utilitarian, and somewhat nihilistic doctrine to avoid feeling like this ever again and to make it up to us in her own way. Although it is not the best path she could have chosen, we will be there for her all the way, not just as carriers, but as comrades-in-arms and ultimately, friends."
Shigure was holding Amagi's hands now, leaning now to reassure a now crying Amagi, softly comforting her.
"It'll be alright. By our combined might and will, we will do everything we can to make sure she never has to suffer alone."
And Amagi nodded slowly, sniffling as the tears streaked down her cheeks, thanking everyone for their dedication to such weak carriers.
"Thank you… thank you, all of you…"