Chapter Text
Amagi was enjoying her day so far, she had the pleasant opportunity to run into the Admiral and Commander as they toured the base. During their brief chat she learned that they had successfully brought Blücher to life at long last. The Admiral surprised Amagi by telling her that her resurrection was not known to many outside of the base yet, unfortunately she wouldn’t elaborate further. After chatting for a bit more Amagi bid them both a good day and returned to her morning stroll. The weather was beautiful, a gentle wind blowing her hair around as she made her way towards Akashi’s shop.
Unbeknownst to the kitsune, Akashi was up to her usual shenanigans in the shop.
“Nyaa! Shiranui come help meee!” Whined the minty kitty, “I need a test subject nya~”
“Idiot cat, Shikikan is going to kill you if you play with that in here.” Shiranui replied, floating away to the back room.
“Shikikan loves me nya, and all the good work I do, he won’t kill me.” Akashi said as she continued tinkering with an odd looking rifle she recently received.
Fleets One, Four and Seven had recently attacked a Siren base and found the weapon still intact. It looked similar to what Omitter had used on Zieten but there were too many differences to be certain it worked the same. Sure the Commander had told her and the rest of the R&D team to not test anything outside of the lab or armoury, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt.
“Nya, what to test this on.” Muttered Akashi looking around. “I guess the door is safe, no one has ever been beaten by a door before!”
Akashi set the rifle up on the counter and pointed it at the door, she ducked down behind it and grabbed the cord she rigged up to pull the trigger safely. And because life enjoys being cruel, Akashi did not notice that Amagi had entered the shop and was making her way to the counter. The minty cat pulled the cord and the rifle fired directly at Amagi, who didn’t even have time to react before a loud explosion rocked the shop and knocked her back aways.
The room was completely silent, Amagi could nearly hear herself blink. Akashi peeked her head over the counter she hid behind, staring ahead. Shiranui floated up from the back to check on the disturbance, stopping in midair to stare as well. Amagi looked as well, staring at something that shouldn't be possible.
A small girl stood in the middle of the room, nine brown tails fanning out behind her. A cute outfit of red and purple adorned her while her brown ears twitched as she stared around the room.
"Um, hello? Is anyone here?" Said the small girl.
Amagi finally stood up and dusted herself off. The small girl noticed and walked up to her, staring back and forth at Amagi's tails and her own.
"Are you my mother? You look a lot like me." Asked the mystery girl.
Amagi chuckled at that, "I suppose in a way I am your mother. If I understand correctly, you are a younger version of me."
The small girl tilted her head to the side, pondering what she had heard. After a moment she nodded, seemingly satisfied for now.
"If I'm you, do I have a name?" She asked.
"Hmm, you do need one, how about Amagi-chan, since you're so adorable."
The small girl thought it over and nodded. She faced Amagi and gave a small bow, "Hello, I am Amagi-chan, it's nice to meet you."
Amagi smiled and returned the bow, "Hello, Amagi-chan, I am Amagi. It is nice to meet you as well."
Amagi-chan beamed, a smile that Amagi returned as she gave her younger self a head pat. Akashi came over from behind the counter, looking the small girl up and down. Shiranui floated next to Akashi and introduced herself to Amagi-chan.
"I am Shiranui, one of the owners of this shop. The weird cat circling you is Akashi, the other owner."
Amagi-chan looked up at Shiranui, "Hello Shiranui, are you a ghost?"
The floating shipgirl laughed, "Sort of, I can float but I can't pass through objects."
Amagi-chan nodded and watched Akashi still looking her over. She looked back to her older self. "Why is she still looking at me?"
"I'm making sure nothing weird happened, we didn't expect you to appear here, nya." Said the minty cat, "If nothing is wrong Shikikan won't kill me."
"Oh he's going to kill you regardless, idiot cat." Said Shiranui with a smug tone.
"Nya? Why would he? There's another cute fox here!"
"Because I told you to aim those weapons away from the door." Came a voice from the shop doorway.
Akashi froze up and looked towards the door, fear in her eyes. "N-nya, what are you doing here, Shikikan?"
"I radioed him as soon as I heard the explosion." Explained Shiranui, completely smug.
The Commander shook his head and turned to the base's newest arrival. "Hello there, I am Commander Davidson, I am in charge of this base. What might your name be?"
Amagi-chan looked up at her older self who nodded. The small battlecruiser faced the Commander and bowed. "Hello Shikikan, I am called Amagi-chan. It's nice to meet you."
The Commander smiled, "Amagi-chan, you are very polite, I am looking forward to getting to know you."
He turned to the elder Amagi, "Hipper was going to take Blücher on a tour of the base after lunch, they might be all right with you two joining them."
Amagi nodded, "That would be perfect, thanks for letting me know, Shikikan."
She looked down at her younger self, "Let's go pay Vestal a visit and get you a proper check up."
Amagi-chan nodded, then looked back up at the Commander, "Do you want to be called Shikikan or Commander?"
"I don’t care what you call me as long as it's not late for dinner." Several sighs could be heard with that quip.
After the Amagi duo left the shop, the Commander turned to the resident dead cat. “Akashi.”
“Nya?”
“You’re on potato peeling duty for the next two weeks.”
“Nya…”
“Under King George’s direct supervision.”
“...Nya…”
“I believe she’s doing some cooking with the C class destroyers for lunch today, you better make sure they have enough potatoes.”
The downcast cat nodded and left the shop, Shiranui floated next to the Commander, reading over his shoulder as he pulled out his phone and fired off a text. “You’re too lenient with that idiot cat, idiot Shikikan.”
He cast a side eye at her, “Do you want to run the shop on your own for longer than two weeks?”
“I have several sisters I can replace her with.”
The Commander chuckled at that, “Well I can’t fire her, I’m only the military leader not the business leader.”
“Then please go back to your tour with the Admiral and take that weapon with you, idiot Shikikan.” Said the ghost girl.
“Hai hai, sayōnara.”
A satisfied smile broke out across Shiranui’s face as he left, she now had the entire store to herself and a vacation from Akashi’s antics. She used her spirits to pull out her phone and called her eldest sister.
“Nee-san, can you help me with the shop for the next two weeks?”