Langley stood at the doorway of the drinking establiment. Apparently, this type of drinking establiment is called a Izakaya, where the alcohol is served with food. Her officer's cap reflected the light coming off from the lights outside the establiment. She was very unsure and questioning look if she should step in or go to the other establiments in the base. She then glanced to the left and first of the sidwalk before sighing. She had wonder why her guides had to take her here...
Speaking of of her guides...
"Langley-sama! Come ooooon, I don'y want to be waiting at here for you!"
"Now, now, Zuikaku dear, don't try to rush a old carrier girl like me..."
The American brunette could only sigh and look at her guide. Apparently, out of all of the carriers at the Yokosuka Naval Base, she had to get Zuikaku. Zuikaku wore her normal clothing that pretains towards her skill, Kyudo; the Japanese art of Archery. Her face showed cheeriness, but also reflected off her impatience for Langley. Langley brushed her Officer's Summer White Uniform and her cap and followed after the brash carrier. Had Zuikaku been a child of Langley, she would had gotten scolded by Langley for her rudeness and inappropriate behavior.
Langley's chocolate eyes darted and fro around the izakaya, rounded tables were placed around with comfortable lookung chairs. A few heavy cruisers and some JMSDF personnel were scattered in the establiment. Zuikaku led Langley over to a table, a favorite spot near a rather detailed painting of the Second Carrier Division. As Langley pulled up a chair, Zuikaku was already on the menu, getting ready to order for herself and Langley. Langley took a good look at the menu before she was surprised at the picture menu. There were many choices plastered on the menu that Langley couldn't catch up.
A young woman approached the table, her pink maid clothing catching Langley's eyes. The young woman carried two wet towels, or oshibori as Langley recalled, and held a very energetic and cheery aura.
"Hey Mamiya-san!" Zuikaku greeted the woman, thanking her as she took a towel. Langley remembered the name.
"So, you must be America's first carrier?" Mamiya asked, as she handed the other towel to Langley.
"Indeed, Miss Mamiya," Langley answered, taking the towel and cleaned her hands.
"Must be pretty tricky being a mother of all of your carrier girls, Langley-sama," Mamiya said, looking around the place to see if anyone needed her.
"You have no idea..." Langley muttered, shuddering a bit when she remembered the huge carrier reunion when all of the carrier girls gathered together. To say, the reunion turned into a complete disaster due to a overly-obbessed carrier girl...
"Anyway, your otoshi should be ready in a few minutes~" Mamiya sang out, walking off to serve four light cruisers. Langley then glanced back to her menu.
"You seem to be pretty confused there, Langley-sama," Zuikaku pointed out, noticing Langley's confusion.
"To be honest, I did not expect this..." Langley sighed, deciding on a simple choice. Another fine, young, friendly lady walked up to them with their appetizers.
"Isn't that Irako?" Langley asked, placing her menu down. Zuikaku nodded and only sparkled her eyes.
Irako placed down the appetizers and took a good study on Langley.
"Your Langley-san, right?" Irako asked, smiling towards the American carrier. Langley nodded, sitting up more straighter then usual. She had to make a extremely good impression on the Japanese Kanmusu.
"I heard you had to care for 30 carrier girls, Langley-sama," Irako told Langley. Langley inwardly groaned. Zuikaku stared at Langley.
"No fuc-freaking way, 30 carrier girls?" Zuikaku asked, amazed by the amount of carrier girls that Langley had to look after.
"As I said before, you have no idea how much suffering I had to go through to care for my girls," Langley described, "but I love my baby girls, even if some of them are quite rebellious..."
Irako smiled even further.
"Ah, so you are very much like Houshou-senpai," Irako said, which piqued Langley's curiosity.
"Pardon?"
"Ah, sorry. Houshou-senpai is the first actual carrier that was laid down from scratch, rather than a conversion," Irako informed her, taking out a cute little notepad she used for orders.
"Where she Miss Houshou?" Langley asked, pointing at her simple order of Sashimi.
"Did someone called my name?" a motherly tone asked. Zuikaku gestured for Langley to glance over her shoulder. Langley pivoted her head to see the origin of the motherly voice.
The woman was at age like Langley, who looked like she was in her mid-twenties. The woman wore a dark-scarlet kimono, a black hakama, and matching-colored tasuki. Her black hair was fashioned into a long ponytail. For Langley, she saw her as an angel. Langley, despite looking like a hetrosexual woman, was mainly a homosexual. This factor on her person mainly atribbuted to her origins.
"Houshou-sensei!" Zuikaku called out, standing up and bowing. Houshou was the first carrier ship girl in service of the JMSDF, and therefore had extreme mastery of Kyudo. Langley stood up from her chair and held out her hand.
"USS Langley, CV-1, first carrier of the Unites States Navy," Langley introduced herself. Houshou took the hand and shook it gently, like how a mother would do with her child.
"Houshou," Houshou introduced herself, smiling at the American carrier.
"Its quite the honor to meet the carrier who started it all," Langley told Houshou, bowing also as a extra addition to her hnadshake.
"And its also quite the honor to meet the carrier that paved the path for the world most truly greatest aircraft carriers," Houshou told Langley, which made the latter beam in proudness. In addition of that, Langley also lightly blushed. She had not expected a praise like that from the 'Mother-Of-All-Carriers.'
"Speaking of the greatest carriers, I heard a few of your children came with you," Houshou told Langley.
"Ah yes, my oldest children Lexington and Saratoga, the well-mannered children they are," Langley informed them who came with her. Around them, the customers seemed more interested in listening in than drinking. Zuikaku then suddenly spoke up.
"I heard rumors that the Grey Ghost was with you, too."
Langley pondered for a few seconds, recollection memories
"Ah, yes! Enterprise, she's mainly quiet and at sometimes, very cold," Langley described the carrier, "she's also quite a obedient and doesn't question many of the orders."
"Wait? You mean the Enterprise is here!?" Zuikaku unnecessarily shouted out. This had now fully caught the full attention of everyone in the izakaya. Langley groaned from the unwanted attention. Houhsou sighed.
"Please keep down your volume, Zuikaku-san," Houshou told Zuikaku. Zuikaku simply sat back down on the chair.
"Well, she was here, she's out in a sortie with Lexington, Saratoga, and the First Carrier Div," Langley recorrected Zuikaku. Whispers erupted among the attracted bystanders. Langley was sure she heard bets on Enterprise and Akagi..."hooking up" together. Houhsou noticed how uncomfortable Langley looked. She leaned in to Langley's ears.
"We can go somewhere private, if you want," Houshou offered. Langley nodded and Houshou smiled. Houshou thne took Langley's wrist and led her out of the door.
"Mamiya! You're in charge while I'm gone!" Houshou called out, quickly closing the door. Mamiya smiled as the two motherly figures left.
Houshou led Langley through the buildings and streets, avoiding Kanmusu's and servicemen/women. Langley felt Houshou's warm hand gently grip her wrist, which made Langley fluster in sheer embarassment.
"Where are we going?" Langley asked, looking behind them. Houshou now led her through a well-maintained dirt path.
"To a private place I mainly share with my girls," Houshou told Langley, gently pushing away some branches. What it revealed was a fairly small target pratice range with classical-styled targets placed from 10 meters to 150 meters. 50 meters north of the pratice range was a good view of the Yokosuka Naval Base from the left side.
"This is quite unexpected, again..." Langley said, walking over to the practice range. She saw multiple wooden cases with each carrier girl's name on it. Surprisingly, there was a case with her name on it.
"I prepared that case right away when I heard you and three of your chosen girls were coming," Houshou explained, gesturing to open the case. Langley kneeled down and opened the case. What she found was delightfully surprised her.
"A actual and authentic Native American bow? I-I have...no n-nothing to s-say other than t-to..." Langley stuttered, picking the bow up. She hadn't felt the weight of a bow for...she had completely forgotten how long she hadn't been in combat. In fact, Langley had heard rumors that the Brass in the USN were planning they were going to 'decommission' her. She had hoped that it wasn't true.
"Thank me?" Houshou replied. "No need to, just take the arrows and go ahead and use the range."
Langley nodded and took a handfull of arrows. As soon she touched them, she intentionally converted them from blank arrows to fighter arrows, the fletching turning into blue, red, and white coloring. She approached the firing point and took up her shortbow. She drew the bow string into a full draw and released her shot, her arrow turning into bi-plane fighters. She had remembered her equipment had not been replaced and updated by the more modern equipment, so she was stuck with bi-planes for the time being. Houshou watched at the side, watching as the old fighters weaved through, their tiny machine guns bursting in the air.
The bi-planes then pulled up, rattling the target they had peppered. The old-war machines then pivoted to return back to Langley, who watched the bi-planese turn into an arrow. As Langley took the arrow mid-air, Houshou walked up to Langley's side.
"That was well-trained shot, Langley-san," Houshou commented. Langley blushed, bunching her arms up.
"Err, t-thank you...but my daughters do a b-better job at this than me," Langley told Houshou, stuttering a little.
"Had your blade been dulled over the years?" Houshou asked. Langley raised a eyebrow to question, but stayed quiet.
"Ah sorry, you must've have not heard such saying, Langley-san," Houshou corrected herself, "I was asking that had your skills dulled over time?"
"Sadly yes, the man who runs the installation had pulled me back into a temporary 'retirement,'" Langley continued to explain, "he had good reason to do so. I nearly got killed by a heavy cruiser, and I was too slow to dodge the shot."
"Your Admiral must care alot if he was to remove a Kanmusu temporarily out of combat status," Houshou said, her eyes wondering. Langely chuckled.
"Ah, the man isn't a Admiral. He's just a O-5, a Commander," Langley corrected Houshou.
"So he isn't your Admiral? Then who is?" Houshou asked, uninformed about the American ranking system within the USN. Houshou led Langley to a table setted up with two cups of green tea.
"There a 4-Star Admiral, Vice-Admirals, a whole bunch if you ask me, Houshou," Langley explained, taking the seat opposite of Houshou.
"That's...alot of Admirals I must say..." Houshou said, gesturing for Langley to drink. Langley nodded and took the cup.
"We, the United States of America Navy Kanmusu's, are fully intergated into the ranking system of the USN. By the looks of it, you seem to have a skeleton of a ranking system," Langley commented. Houshou seemed to confused.
"I don't understand. So you follow Officers or sailors, be it a Kanmusu or human, that are higher than you?" Houshou questioned.
"Yes, Houshou. That's how our Chain-Of-Command works in the office of the USN," Langley confirmed.
"That must be quite taxing to keep it under control," Houshou said.
"For the Officers, ti's a bit easy but sometimes, they'd be wishing for retirement sooner. It's hard being a O-4, with piles of paperwork," Langley sighed, "sometimes I wished I was at the battlefields of the Pacific or the Atlantic, so I can watch and help my girls stationed there..."
"I share your wishing too, Langley-san. Our Admiral had withheld me, even from expeditions," Houshou agreeded, sipping her green tea. Langley forgotten about her green tea too and proceeded to drink the cup slowly and appropriately.
"So, Langley-san, tell me, how to do you managed to tak care of 30 girls?"
"Heh...well, you see..."
The two motherly carrier girls shared stories together under the moon, their eyes staring deep in their irises.