"To a successful sortie!" Javelin cheered, clinking her glass against the others.
"Every day at this base is a battle against boredom," Laffey murmured, leaning her head on Z23’s shoulder. "We won today."
"The Commander is currently being chased by Akagi and Taihou around the central fountain," Laffey interjected, appearing out of thin air as she often did. She was already halfway through a strawberry popsicle, her eyelids drooping at their usual sleepy angle. "The base is… technically… on standby." Azur Lane: Bisoku Zenshin!
The walk to the canteen was a quintessential Azur Lane afternoon. They passed Agano teasing a flustered Sendai, and nearly tripped over a group of Manjuus trying to transport a beach ball three times their size. When they finally reached the stand, the "specialty" was a neon-blue concoction served in a glass shaped like a naval mine.
Z23 pushed her glasses up her nose, her brow furrowing as she looked at the stack of destroyer class performance reviews. "Javelin, efficiency doesn't take a summer break. If we don't finish these logs, the Commander will—" "To a successful sortie
Ayanami nodded silently, her gaze fixed on a handheld gaming console. "The boss fight requires high frame rates. Heat causes thermal throttling. We must seek the juice stand for the sake of the high score."
As the four of them sat there—the energetic Javelin, the studious Z23, the drifting Laffey, and the quiet Ayanami—the grand war of the oceans felt like a distant memory. Here, in the quiet "Bisoku Zenshin" pace of life, the only thing that mattered was the ice in their cups and the friends by their side. She was already halfway through a strawberry popsicle,
Defeated by the combined logic of a sleepyhead and a gamer, Z23 sighed and closed her book. "Fine. But we walk in formation. No running."