Chapter 3: "Repetitive Hell"

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Nakazato Kei. Once a former commander, where he was once loved and respected by all around him.

Is now a prisoner of a false crime, shackled in a damp, abandoned and dark warehouse.

A warehouse filled with scrap and junk.

Their days became repetitive, day in day out. All they experienced was torture.

And the only way they can tell the passing of time was thanks to the PA system.

Kei counted that they have been in here for at least a month now, however they had no plans nor hope to escape.

Bound by three shackles, one on the left arm, on the right leg and their neck. All of the shackles were made of 3 inches of solid steel and the chains were at least an inch and a half.

Their body is always left weakened by abuse, the amount of instant repair fluids splashed at them were just enough to prevent them from dying. But it still left them reeling in from the pain, while shackled on the cold concrete floor.

Their body is only covered by their tattered and stained officer's uniform, ill fitted and in shambles.

But one day the PA system wasn't heard due to it finally breaking and no one even dared to bother on replacing it.

And the torture continues with increasing sadism from their tormentors.

From the lack of a way to keep track of time, the constant torture and isolation resulted in the slow decay of their mental health.

Everyday they begged their tormentors to please stop, desperation dripping with each of their words.

However it all fell on deaf ears as they relished in their demise.

Day by day, fragments of their past broke from them as their body was pushed at it's limit.

Always crying, staining their cheeks with an almost permanent streak of tears.

Not even sleep could help them, the cold concrete stained with their blood and these shackles made it difficult to sleep.

However even the mere thought of sleep haunts them. Every time they close their eyes, the vision of Hiburi and Daitou's scared stares appear within their dreams.

The voices of the two coastal defense ships saying "stay away from us", breaks their heart, they've done nothing but treat the two almost like daughters, but now they are afraid of them.

How many months has it been since they have been turned into this form?

A month? Maybe two or three? At this point they don't even know anymore.

By this point the darkness that surrounds them in this abandoned warehouse, filled with abandoned scraps and junk. Junk like them.

The darkness that envelopes them is so vast that it feels like they're in a borderless world of darkness.

A world of darkness where a fleeting light peeks in, however the light was blinding and is nothing to be yearned for.

For which every time light comes, pain comes afterwards.And this new body, it continuously serves as a reminder why they are even in this mess.

They once prayed to whatever God that's out there to help them. To help them prove their innocnce. To prove that they weren't a criminal.

Lately their dreams become affected the words of her tormentors.

Her dreams start to gaslight them as well to the point where they start to believe that they actually committed the crime.

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A few more months passed as the war against the abyssals finally came to a close.

People cheered and those who were active members during the war can finally go home and live their days out with their families.

The shipgirls that were brought to life during the war live their lives however they wished to, some remained within their respective naval bases.

Some took up a much calmer civilian life, where they would still occasionally visit the naval base from time to time.

A few of them, especially those who had their actual ships as museum ships became tour guides and told their stories.

In the JMSDF's headquarters the air felt much calmer now since the wat is now over.

And the only ones there were just rearranging paperwork and documents, while others welcomed some of their American counterparts since some of the American shipgirls would like to be stationed here at Japan just like the 7th fleet.

The Commander that is representing the US' shipgirl fleet is Peter Wilson.

He is with the shipgirls USS Laffey DD-725, USS Samuel B. Roberts DE-413, USS Johnston DD-557, USS Heerman DD-532, USS Hoel DD-533 and Escort carrier Gambier Bay CVE-73.

They are welcomed with open arms especially from the Rear Admiral of the JMSDF, Fujihara Daigo. An older gentlemen at 62. An outer appearance that exudes a great calm, but he was once nicknamed at The Strategic Monk, due to his immense knowledge over the battle plans.

Wilson continued the discussion with Rear Admiral Fujihara regarding where his shipgirls and him will get stationed to.

And he got his answer just after a short while, the name of that naval sounded familiar to him.

"Mr. Fujihara, if you don't mind me asking. Isn't that the same base where a former commander is accused of sexually assaulting their own shipgirls?"

The Rear Admiral could only lower his head in shame.

"Unfortunately it is, as of now the place is under new management so there is no need to worry."

"Oh, I am not worried sir...but... I've read the reports from that day and something isn't adding up."

Rear Admiral Fujihara looks up at the American while raising an eyebrow.

"It's odd, since that commander filed leave for that day when he committed the crime and the yet the documents also say he was AWOL that day"

This catches Fujihara's attention.

"Leave? That's odd, the documents that Commander Suzuki sent here is that Nakazato Kei went AWOL that day"

"I suspect one of two things. One is that was just a mistype or Two. There's foul play involved here."

The American commander's words made the Rear Admiral wonder about the situation.

But steering back to the original conversation, the Rear Admiral already gave Commander Wilson the green light for the transfer of him and his shipgirls and they shook hands as they parted ways.

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Rear Admiral Fujihara sat in his office as he kept pondering on Commander Wilson's words.

After looking at a lot of the documents from that naval base, there were a lot of discrepancies and conflicting paperwork, it all started a few days before Nakazato Kei was arrested and death.

He decided to launch a private investigation with a group of investigators he had close ties with thus reopening Nakazato Kei's case once more.

What was really going on with that naval base?

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