At the moment, Hikaru's main task was to find a place to stay near the academy.
While the academy did provide dorm-style suites, Hikaru figured—wasn't he going to have a lot of shipgirls soon? It'd be much more convenient to live outside.
Thanks to the many well-off Admirals and shipgirls, Windridge's economy was booming—but so were the living costs. If you didn't have at least several hundred thousand on hand, buying property was out of the question. After carrying Glowworm around for most of the day visiting listings, Hikaru finally settled on a traditional courtyard house—three hundred square meters, three bedrooms, two living rooms, two bathrooms. He could house ten more shipgirls in there with no issue.
The rent was 30,000 a month, and Hikaru signed for six months upfront to avoid future hassle.
It really felt like money was flowing out of his hands like water, but as an Admiral, Hikaru knew it wouldn't be hard to earn it back.
Especially for unaffiliated free agents like him and Masaki—plenty of businesses and elites wanted to invest in them. By contrast, military school cadets on government-sponsored tracks didn't have as many opportunities.
Once everything was finally settled, Hikaru sat at the stone table in the courtyard, listening to the sea breeze rustle through the bamboo leaves. For a moment, he found himself lost in thought.
Honestly, the fact that the naval base from the game had become reality—and that the shipgirls truly remembered living with him as their Admiral—was something Hikaru still couldn't wrap his head around.
Glowworm, for example, remembered his favorite fruits, remembered his complaints after failed sorties, remembered how he used to flip Ōyodo's skirt or poke Helena's chest. He just didn't give them rings, and so Helena and the others spent a long time moping around.
Could it be that he really had lived in such a naval base? Or had his gaming experience simply become reality?
"Glowworm, do you remember anything else I used to do?"
Glowworm was slumped over a stone stool nearby, resting her chin on the table and grinning at Hikaru. "I remember Commander called Le Fantasque to the command room and licked her feet. He also licked Yat Sen-oneechan's legs. Commander, you're such a pervert!"
Hikaru's face twisted with embarrassment.
Licking feet? That was too degenerate—but it was a game, okay? The skirt-flipping and chest-poking were just because the animations triggered them! The game started it!
Yeah. This was the world's fault.
He tried asking Glowworm for more details, but her memory was divided into two fragments: a hazy, fragmented recollection before Hikaru's disappearance, and a clear, detailed memory of the base gradually falling into silence after that.
"But Little Glowworm always remembered how Commander used to pat my head with his big warm hand," she said, hugging Hikaru's arm, her eyes sparkling like stars. "That warmth gave me the courage to keep going even after you disappeared. Hehe, Commander, when will you summon everyone else to this world? We'll build the best base ever!"
"You little rascal…" Hikaru paused, then gently patted her head. "That warmth will always be there, I promise. And I'm working on getting everyone back together."
Glowworm rubbed her head against his hand like a little puppy and snuggled close. "Commander's the best. Tell me a story today too?"
"It's already late, and we've had a long day…"
"I love you the most~ Mua~! Please?"
"Ugh, I really can't say no to you. What story do you want to hear?"
"Yesterday's one! The one where that cricket Bismarck gets beaten in three punches by De De-chan!"
"Isn't Hood your Royal Navy flagship? Is it really okay for you to enjoy her getting trashed so much?"
"Hood-oneechan's super nice! Super easy to bully too. Just like our old Northern Princess. None of us are scared of her."
"Fine, fine. So it goes: upon seeing Hood struck down by Bismarck in three blows, Prince of Wales was filled with fury. Heart ablaze, she launched a desperate charge at both Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, determined to go down fighting. Seeing her madness, and feeling the pain of her own injuries, Bismarck hesitated—fearing a mutual kill—grabbed Eugen and bolted. As they fled, she pointed back at Hood's body and shouted, 'Faking death, are you? I'll deal with you later!' Then off she ran…"
"Amid the mists of the Denmark Strait, Prince of Wales cradled Hood's dying form in her arms, weeping bitter tears. Hood, with the last of her strength, touched her comrade's face, blood on her lips, and gasped: 'Cricket Bismarck…' Prince of Wales howled to the heavens and swore a blood oath of revenge. Her oath echoed through the seas, and lo! It summoned a hero of the Royal Navy—a giant of a woman, eight feet tall, leopard eyes and tiger's jaw, booming voice and unstoppable might! Her name: the bloodthirsty berserker, Rodney!"
Glowworm giggled nonstop. "I'm gonna tell Rodney-oneechan! Heeheehee! Leopard-face Rodney, signing up to sell her head for De De-chan!"
…
The sea wind blew through the night. When Hikaru woke up, Glowworm had—at some point—crawled under the covers again.
"Up and at 'em, sleepyhead. Today we're restocking your resources and checking on sortie procedures."
After washing up and grabbing yogurt and bread for breakfast, the little duo flagged down a taxi and headed for the academy.
Technically, the house had just been rented and still needed a deep clean, not to mention stocking up on daily necessities. But Glowworm kept talking about summoning her comrades from the base, and Hikaru was eager to complete his mission, so domestic chores could wait.
The academy had a dedicated resource warehouse. Thanks to his newly issued student ID, Hikaru bought a 1++ standard resource card at half price—500,000 credits.
Resources could be stored in the depot and retrieved by scanning the card. Glowworm's consumption was actually quite low. Just 25 ammo and 10 fuel would fully replenish her. According to her, that was enough to sustain her through four to five days of high-intensity combat. And since her main attack was headbutts, her ammo usage was practically zero.
To find Hikaru, the shipgirls of his base had gone wild with sorties. They'd used up their entire stockpile and even scavenged the last of Glowworm's personal resources. Now that she was full again, she was brimming with confidence, yelling about sortieing and blowing up Abyssals.
The purchase left Hikaru nearly broke, but he wasn't worried. Holding Glowworm's hand, he went straight to look for Elizabeth.
Yesterday, Elizabeth had left him her contact information. When she wasn't in the administration office, Hikaru asked around and eventually found her dorm.
It was in the faculty housing building—an older red-brick apartment.
He knocked. There was a long pause before Elizabeth finally answered the door, her hair still dripping wet.
"Uh… were you in the bath?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and stepped aside. "Come in."
Naturally, she wasn't about to tell him that it was precisely because she'd taken a critical hit from Glowworm yesterday that she'd spent the whole night soaking in the tub to heal—battlecruisers took hours to recover from a major hit. Due to their historical ties, shipgirls tended to recover faster when they bathed in good spirits—after all, injured warships were historically towed to drydock to "soak."
And so, post-battle healing for shipgirls was simply called "taking a bath."