Junyou's eye twitched in annoyance, but not at the company of the carriers in her presence.
Oh no.
She was annoyed at their presence in her room.
Her smelly, relatively untidy room which was where she could be truly alone.
Although ever since she was selected by Admiral Haru to be in the 1st Fleet, this was looking to be less and less the case, thinking back on how Shigure and Hiei had barged into her room, the fast battleship dragging her ass to practice.
Beside her, Akagi was munching on some sweets and snacks merrily, the crumbs bouncing off of her flight deck apron to hit the floor, Soryu and Hiryu chatting merrily about something or another while seated on the other side of the room.
Zuikaku was discussing something with Shoukaku and the calm and mature light carrier Chitose, who both had their serene smiles on and were politely listening to Zuikaku's concerns.
Hiei was politely but urgently ushered out of the room by the carriers upon waking up, Junyou promising to make things up to the confused fast battleship over the chatter of the carriers as her room was now made into the impromptu base of operations.
Junyou raised her hands, vein bulging out of her forehead as she shouted in exasperation.
"THE HELL YOU BITCHES DOING IN MY ROOM, OF ALL PLACES?!"
Everyone unanimously turned to shush her, Junyou feeling her cheeks coloring because of her outburst and waved her hands about wildly to express her frustration.
Akagi patted her on the back, an air of understanding around her as she offered a cookie to the distraught light carrier.
She opened her mouth to speak, but that only served to make the cookie crumbs spill out of her mouth as she consoled Junyou.
"Ift's Fouhay, fhe phwon't be phere lawung."
But Junyou was quick to retort, chiding with tears at the edge of her eyes.
"Stop spilling crumbs all over my floor! I'm the one who has to clean that up later!"
Hiryu continued where Akagi left off, explaining their reason for choosing Junyou's room to meet up in secret.
"Well, the Bird Nest is also occupied by Kaga, and we don't want her to walk in on our planning session. We don't want to inconvenience those who aren't in the planning committee, and you occupy a room all by yourself due to your alcoholism, so it's more convenient than Chitose's room which is shared with Ryuujou and Zuihou."
Junyou had nothing to say to that and resorted to simply putting her face in her palms, accepting the fact that everyone was going to be coming and going from her room to plan, and that her privacy during the day was likely going to be non-existent from now on.
But Zuikaku silenced everyone by raising her hand and took the spotlight as she briefed everyone on the reason for being here, if they didn't already know.
"Everyone, we're gathered here today to discuss how I'm going to…"
Zuikaku blushed, but Shoukaku's reassuring pat on her shoulder bolstered her courage and allowed her to finish her sentence.
" … to form a romantic relationship with Kaga-san."
Hiryu raised her hand, asking innocently.
"Just asking, but aren't you moving a little too fast here?"
But Chitose assuaged such concerns by speaking up for Zuikaku.
"We understand that this isn't something that can't be rushed, since Kaga-san isn't the type of person who likes relationships to develop too quickly. Akagi-san knows that Kaga-san is also a little old-fashioned in terms of love and interpersonal relations, so for now, we're here to discuss our strategy for the upcoming month, and even longer if need be to ensure the highest chance of success."
Hiryu nodded, Soryu piping up and asking.
"But is a possibility of a relationship even possible? I mean, most of us are girls, so it wouldn't be surprising if we were attracted to other ship girls, but Kaga-san doesn't seem like the person to be inclined to start a relationship in the midst of fighting a war…"
Zuikaku flinched and looked down in disappointment, but Akagi, now having swallowed her food and wiped her mouth at the cost of further dirtying Junyou's floor and earning her short-lived ire, she raised her hand to get everyone's attention.
"On the contrary, I believe this is exactly what she needs right now. Despite our best efforts, we are currently unable to craft the name-ship of the Tosa-Class battleship to serve as a sister ship to Kaga, which I feel might be a little unfair to her, as I have Amagi with me…"
Akagi looked a little ashamed at feeling happy that her sister ship Amagi existed and was here in this base while Kaga was alone with no Tosa to be with her.
"I also understand that she isn't the friendliest of ship girls to approach, which means that other than the more powerful ship girls that she associates with often for mission purposes and us carriers, she's actually quite introverted as a person, and unnaturally so for a girl. I believe that this relationship will do wonders for her, and I'm here to make sure that it succeeds for her sake as well as Zuikaku's."
Soryu seemed satisfied with the explanation, Shoukaku nodding in encouragement as she tried to push her sister on.
"Zuikaku-san, you can do this.
Not just for yourself, but to also be there for Kaga-san whenever Akagi-san can't be there for her. Despite your rivalry with the 1st Carrier Division, you want to be with her. And secretly, I also know that you want to surpass Kaga-san so that she'd be proud of you…"
Zuikaku sputtered at that, trying to deny the last allegation, but Shoukaku wasn't backpedaling as she encouraged Zuikaku.
"Don't be ashamed or shy to admit your feelings. That's one of the most important things to keep in mind, although it's also important to know the right thing to say at the right time. Kaga-san seems like the person to shoulder the burden by herself, and despite how close Akagi-san is to her, Akagi-san is also her own person and can't be there for her all the time. You should make it about you two and how you can depend on each other on the battlefield and in life despite your rivalry."
Zuikaku nodded in acknowledgement, but her next question stumped everyone.
"So who has a plan to take the first step?"
The entire room lapsed into uncomfortable silence as none of them had actually thought about just exactly how they were going to get the ball rolling.
Everyone looked at each other, expecting someone to have thought of something to bring to the table and they would give their suggestions.
But Junyou raised her right hand in an almost tired fashion, and not just from the hangover that still made her head buzz and feel that the room was a little too hot despite the air conditioner being turned on, but also from having to deal with simply thinking so soon while being hungover.
If experience had taught her one thing, it was that you should never exert your mind too much during a hangover, lest you get a headache.
But heck, this was a friend that she was talking about.
And not just a friend, this was a fellow carrier and a maiden in distress. She wasn't so much of a douche to turn off her mind and tune everyone out just because of her drinking habits.
"So if this relationship works, will you all stop gathering in my room like it's some kind of secret base?"
Everyone nodded, awaiting Junyou's response which they hoped was a positive one and hopefully contributed to the discussion.
Luckily for them, despite her hangover, Junyou was feeling charitable today as she sighed, holding the index finger of her clenched right fist to her forehead and closing her eyes as she thought about the situation and how they were going to go about their predicament and brainstormed.
She felt the buzz of the hangover threatening to split her mind, but she was a professional drinker, damn it.
She had dealt with many things while being hungover, including sending herself halfway across the world several times, blacklisted by the airport authorities that banned her from boarding any more commercial planes, more than a dozen arrests for disturbance of the peace and was somehow still employed as a ship girl and not simply exiled by being sentenced to a few years of community service.
"Well, I'm not wholly unsympathetic to your plight, so I guess I'll help out a fellow bird-carrier by playing Cupid, although I want this on record that I just want you all out of my room."
After a short while, Junyou's eyes peeked open as she asked Zuikaku.
"Zuikaku, how lucky do you feel right now?"