Commander's Rounds

Entry 69: For the Sake of a Single Moment

Albert knew when his time was up.

It wasn't anything bad, of course. With the various ships dispatched on their assignments, and his part in planning the operation was over, all that was really left for him was the regular grind of working out even small gains that could be made to Azur Lane's transport network. It was an exercise in analyzing even the smallest details that could wear at one's mental stamina.

One of the bright spots in working on such a thing was that he had come into contact with Kashino. She was briefly anxious when she thought he was some manner of combat officer, but once he explained that he was there to make sure that things got from point A to point B (and, for that matter avoided being lost at the bottom of the C), she became much more relaxed, and was far friendlier than any quartermaster than he had ever heard of. While he couldn't figure out for the life of him how she had drafted Saratoga into moving things around one of the warehouses, but he assumed it was none of his business, especially when he had plenty of his own to attend to.

As for the current evening, he was now in that dead zone where he was done with anything productive and when he actually felt like calling it a night. As he came to think of it, he had never actually been out and about in the later parts of the evening. Sure, he had asked the commander what he should do when being out at night, but his response was "Bring a cross and garlic?". While at other times, Albert might dismiss this as a superior having a laugh, Azur Lane was... Different.

So, he went out under the full moon. It had occurred to him that he was jumping into the deep end with both feet by going out on such a night, but it was sometimes required of an officer to see things firsthand.

It was still early enough in the evening that there were plenty of lights still on in the various dorms and other buildings of the port, but he decided it would be best to just get away from all of that and find somewhere a bit more secluded. Thankfully, the grounds of the base hadn't been entirely paved over and developed, and that seemed to have been by design. There were just places- hills and spots by the shore- where one could be out of sight of most of the port. So, Albert decided to just head to one of those.

He found that he wasn't the only one to have that idea.

As he climbed up one of the hills he found that there was someone else up there with him. It was certain that she was one of the Sakura Empire girls, as the horns and revealing red kimono gave it away, but the tall, purple-haired oni wasn't there for a simple moment of reflection. She had something else in mind.

She was there to dance.

Albert watched as she unfolded her fan, the woman closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before she began. Albert initially thought it was strange that she would practice without music, but became almost immediately clear that she didn't need it playing anywhere outside of herself. It was plainly obvious that she had memorized all she needed, and could perfectly recall it from her own mind whenever she needed to do so. He didn't realize he was staring, which would bite him not too much later.

But for now, he was enthralled.

He had considered that a kimono was not the easiest thing to move in, but seeing as how it was cut to leave quite a bit of freedom and visibility to her legs, what he saw from her seemed reasonable enough. She had started slow, calling attention to the smaller movements of her body with a touch of her bright fan, but it wasn't long until she became far more dramatic in her motion. While he had once been told that oni were somewhat brutish creatures, this one had not heard such things, nor did it seem she would have cared even if she did. She made everything that was on her a part of her dance- not just herself, not just her fan, but even the swirl and draping of her clothes across her hips and legs seemed to be a part of what she was doing. It was a combination of strength and grace that demanded the full attention of anyone who cared to see it.