14 February 2021

Do you know what day it is? Of course, you do, silly~! It's Valentine's Day, of course! What a strange day. We're told that this is the day to confess and put on display your love for someone else. But if it was true love, wouldn't we do it all year round? Some traditions sort of confuse me...

Anyway! I've been thinking of what to write in here and the newspaper next since these last few weeks have been a blur. The HDSMF has been helping out in fortifying our little area from future air raids. Hopefully, we should have advance warning and ample protection to be sa~fe and sound. Not a worry in the world, they told us~ Hopefully so, especially with these past few months being hectic from all the rebuilding that we've been doing, jeez.

Anyway, on the topic of rebuilding, we're pretty much done. Just in time for Valentine's Day~ I'm glad that we pooled our efforts together to make this happen for all the Oois and Kitakamis squealing around in the streets outside the office. Man~, do they have to be this noisy?

Oh! How about some gossip from the naval base? Since I'm a reporter, I get a~ll the intel from on base. It's best that the authorities don't know about this because I'm pretty much a spy at this rate... but don't you worry! Absolutely no confidential information is here! Or, at least I hope not. Sometimes even I don't know what I've been sent.

This stuff is about the Admiral. Oh ho, the man is SO secretive! He's a master of sidestepping questions, too, and he rarely ever stays on base for more than a week. Except for when he was rather new and didn't really have any other officers he could rely on. Even then, when he would stay on base for weeks on end, I still couldn't gather what exactly he was. He's quite the nebulous character. He would always be slightly upbeat, but never showing signs of affection. Not consciously, anyway. I could tell when he slightly favored someone, but that was the full extent of his emotional range. He always kept a cool head during operations, but that's to be expected out of him. Nobody gets promoted over being hotheaded.

This all changed when I got a quaint little email from, who was it, Sendai? Here, I'll just paste a quote from the email:

So after I recovered from my fall, I was afraid that somebody would have found me out. I could not allow this, so I snuck around in the darkness to make sure nobody saw me.

Peculiarly, there were still lights on in the corridor. It was not unusual for anybody to be working this late, but I had never seen it for myself before. I decided to take a look and investigate what they were doing. What I saw next was very, very peculiar. Oh ho, you'll have to pay me for this intel!

Alright, wrong message. This should be the right one:

Thanks for the transfer. So, I'll meet up with you in person to hand you a note. Email is occasionally checked by government officials.

Funnily enough, everyone at the base is categorized as a government official, so I'm not sure if she's just blowing up the truth or thick-headed. Oh, and with that logic, why she sent that first message is beyond me.
How could I forget this? It was a written message, but I scanned it in so I can read it anywhere without damaging the note, where is it...

It should be this:

I have suspicions that the Admiral has a love for someone at base. You might not know her, but a standard carrier named Saratoga has gotten very close with the Admiral. Maybe it's because they both speak English, and that's the language that the Admiral is most comfortable with. She acts as his translator in crucial moments, so it's no wonder that they are on one wavelength together.

Late that night, I saw the Admiral working on some paperwork with Sara, as she's called, looking over his shoulder. They were discussing some sort of future plans for operations and other various boring things. I don't remember anything since it was late and it wasn't important.

As they worked, Sara drifted closer and closer. At one point, she wrapped her arms around the Admiral's neck. Not in a choking manner, as I'm too familiar with, but just in a boring, affectionate style.

What was the most peculiar was that the Admiral didn't fight back or reprimand her for doing something like that. Usually, as I'm sure you're well aware, he instantly removes himself from their presence and reminds the offender that they should not do this during work hours. He is very clear about that to the point nobody even dares touch him during the day.

It took him a moment, but the Admiral eventually suggested that she pull up a chair and sit by him since he must've thought that she was simply too tired to stand. She obliged, and they continued working.

After a short while, they decided to break for the day. I decided to leave at that time since I was afraid of being found out again, especially by the night patrol, so that's all that I saw. I haven't told aby about it yet, so this would be a nice scoop in the newspaper for ya. Best wishes! Sendai

What an interesting person she is, that Sendai. Anways~, I'm thinking of how to work this into a front-page story since this is definitely that kind of material. We'll see, we'll see.

Anyways, I'll have to visit that onsen that Houshou runs up in the mountains. I've mentioned it twice now, and I keep my promises. No more waiting, hopefully!