Fuji

The light around Fuji's hull had faded by this point, and everyone could see what the dead hull had become. 

She was larger than Yamato, Hasegawa somehow knew that the difference was 63 meters in length, but he didn't know how. She had fifteen 18-inch guns in triple turrets, three in the forward position and two in the aft position. Her two funnels curved to meet each other in the middle of her superstructure, and they were surrounded by rows of anti-aircraft guns. 

Under her full weight, the supports at the bottom of the slipway began to break, and Fuji's hull unceremoniously rolled forward in the harbour, colliding with a gunboat. 

Yamato sighed. "The new ones are always tricky at first."

She said something else, but Hasegawa couldn't hear it. His eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

***

When Hasegawa woke up, the first thing that he saw was the face of a young woman. She had a a round face, bracketed by flowing, black hair, and bright red eyes. Her face was childish, and her expression was one of curiosity. A large bruise covered most of her forehead.

"He's awake now!" she called out in a happy tone.

Myōkō walked over to Hasegawa and knelt beside him. 

"Are you all right?" she asked, a look of concern on her face. "You scared us."

Hasegawa sat up and put one hand on his forehead. "I feel fine, just a bit tired. I don't know what happened back there." 

He paused, thinking.

"How long was I out?"

"About three hours," Myōkō smiled, "Yamato has been touring Fuji's weaponry and machinery. She left you in the Admiral's cabin to rest, and assigned Yukikaze to watch over you. Since I'm your bodyguard, I stayed here, and Fuji refused to leave you."

She pointed to the woman who had been watching over him. "That's Fuji. She wouldn't leave your side the entire time you were unconscious."

"How'd she get the bruise on her head?"

"That's from when she hit Hashidate in the harbour."

She turned back to look at him. "Any damage to a hull reflects itself on the shipgirl, and vice versa."

Hasegawa remembered how he had seen her hull in one of the slipways undergoing repair, and felt a flash of concern. 

"What about you? Your hull was being repaired. Are you all right?"

Myōkō smiled again. "Relax, I'm fine. One of my anti-aircraft guns got hit by an enemy shell in Eastasia. It just gave me a little cut, see?"

She rolled up her sleeve, showing me a small cut on her forearm that had almost completely faded. Hasegawa breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Hasegawa-san," a voice said from behind, startling him.

He quickly turned around to see Yukikaze, with another woman in a hooded cloak behind her. 

"What is it?" he asked.

"This," said Yukikaze, gesturing behind her, "is Mikasa-sama, the former Empress and the only shipgirl in the Empire who was created by Marcus Schumer. She would like to speak with you."

The former Empress? What was she doing hiding herself, sneaking around on the island she had once ruled a whole Empire from? 

"Of course, I would love to. I had wanted to speak with the only shipgirl in the country created by a Builder."

Mikasa took off her hood and sat down in front of him, Yukikaze standing behind her. She was a small woman, with long, rich brown hair and pale green eyes, but her confident presence filled the room. It was clear that she had been royalty; Hasegawa might have even guessed that she was the Empress if he didn't know otherwise.

"I'm not the only one in the country anymore," said Mikasa, gesturing towards Fuji, "you've created a second."

At that, Fuji turned around to look at them.

"Second? I thought I was the first one!" she pouted, clearly upset by the idea.

Mikasa smiled. "You are the first one created by Hasegawa, and I was created by someone else."

That seemed to put Fuji at ease, and she walked over to a display model of her hull and started investigating it.

Mikasa turned to face Hasegawa. 

"Now then Hasegawa-san," she said, a grave expression on her face, "there are some important things we need to talk about, regarding Yamato, your abilities, and the fate of all Shipgirls."