The adventures of the young engineer and Prinz Eugen Volume 2.

No. 7 Chapter 2

The young engineer had gotten used to his new line of work quickly. He enjoyed what he did a lot. Ever since he first got his hands on naval blueprints he loved working with them. Creating said blueprints was even more fulfilling than just using them to fix parts.

On his way out of Kure naval base, he thought a bit about his circumstances. Even though most of the people he worked with did not speak a bit of Ironblood and barely any conversational Royal, he had no issue getting along with them at the drawing room. He mostly kept to himself and so did the other drawers. Whenever they had an issue or needed to communicate, they mostly just showed each other their issues on the blueprints and forms. What turned out to be more of an issue was that he had to figure out a way to feed himself. The base had no human personnel on station except for the commander and therefore all the infrastructure set up for former personnel was dismantled. So was the canteen. The young engineer therefore went out every now and then to go shopping for food. While on these errands, he did enjoy looking around the city. It was fascinating to him to see how the people of the Sakura Empire lived. Their grocery and convenience stores looked relatively similar to those he knew from Ironblood. The difference in food and products did surprise him though, but also gave him the opportunity to try many new things he had never cooked or eaten before.

He silently paid the cashier the amount he was due for this trip and left one of these stores with his shopping bag full of interesting looking foods. On his way back the young engineer made it a point to avoid the many Shipgirls that strolled through the city as well. The reasons were twofold. For once, most of the ships of the Sakura Empire made him uncomfortable due to their apparent quirks. The other was that he knew far better by now that these beings were more than capable of just simply ending him. The combination of these two matters ensured that the young engineer tried his best to only stick around the two cruisers that were tasked to help him and watch out for him. So far he therefore only really interacted with Kumano and Atago.
Walking through the city and naval base back to his dorm room, he stored all of his bought foods into the small fridge and pantry before he left his dorm again to go to his workplace. He grabbed his headphones and phone as well before locking the door.
His working day passed just like the last couple of weeks had. He listened to his music while working for multiple hours on the blueprints of the engine rooms and propulsion systems.

He was interrupted in his work on the turbine rooms by a tap on his shoulder. Jolting to action and taking his headphones off, he turned to see who was asking for his attention. He directly stared into the smile of sharp teeth that Kumano displayed on her face. Staggering back from the cruiser, the young engineer found his words. "Kumano. How may I help you?" He asked in the language of the royal navy. "Hey. How are ya doin?" The cruiser asked in return. Before the young engineer could answer the cruiser continued on. "So anyways. I was like told to go get you because some of the others want to talk to you." She informed him. "Isn't that totally boring? Why do they send me to get you? If they wanted to talk to you they could have just go by themselves and not bother me. Now I am getting behind schedule, that is totally unfair." Kumano complained while informing the young engineer why she was here. "Would you be so kind as to tell me who wants to see me?" The young engineer asked, trying to get Kumano to stay on topic. "Uhh, it was like the base commander and his secretaries that wanted to talk to you. No idea why though." Kumano obliged to tell the young engineer. "So are we going soon? I don't wana to waste even more on my time. Suzuya and I want to go to the city soon." She hurried the young engineer. The latter quickly finished the last portion of the line he was drawing before he marked the part he stopped working at. Afterwards he nodded towards Kumano and the two walked off. "I am sorry I did not stay longer yesterday." The young engineer apologized to the cruiser. "Na, don't worry about it. My bestie told me that sometimes I can be overbearing, especially for someone who is not used to us. There are no bad feelings between us." Kumano countered with a bright smile. "But you have to come around more often and for longer the next couple of times. That was a totally awesome evening yesterday." Kumano invited him. "Perhaps I will oblige your offer." The young engineer agreed and caused the smile on Kumanos face to widen even more. "Awesome." The cruiser cheered while turning into another floor in the direction of the base headquarters office.

"Does the commander want to talk to me?" The young engineer asked as he and Kumano walked into an elevator leading to the office floor of the base. "Nope. He is not here today. He is at some brass meeting in Tokyo. His secretaries want to have a chit chat with you though. They asked me to get you." The cruiser explained. "Secretaries? So there are more than one?" The young engineer asked. "Yes. Akagi and Taihou are the commanders secretaries and trusted advisors for his task forces of the combined fleet." She explained. Hearing the mention of two carriers wanting to talk to him, the young engineer felt uneasy. "Would there be any chance I could avoid a meeting with the two until the commander is back?" The young engineer asked Kumano in an uneasy tone. "I am afraid not. If you were to let the two wait, all you would achieve with that is that you would like really upset them." Kumano explained. "So if you don't want to meet them under like normal circumstances, you totally don't want to meet them when they are in a bad mood." Kumano assured him. "I suppose you are right." He agreed and took a deep breath before opening the door to the commander's office, they arrived in front of. Bracing himself for what was to come, the young engineer took a deep breath before knocking on the door. He waited a couple of seconds before he opened the door.