Several Days Later

JMSDF Fleet Headquarters

Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

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"BUUURNIIING LOOOVE~"

First impressions last. And when your first impression of a fellow ship-girl is a glorified battlecruiser in a rather... ahem, 'brief' miko outfit trying to 'cross the D' (or was it 'T'? Sister Iku was still fitting her pretty blue-haired head around naval terms) of her superior officer...

Wrapped around the upper torso of the hapless Yokosuka Admiral, the ever-ebullient Kongou began lathering kisses upon her objecting object of affection.

"Chuu! Chuu!"

Sister Iku crossed herself before clasping her hands together. "Oh, Lord," she prayed to the ceiling. "Please forgive my Admiral for lusting after the miko-san, for he does not know what he is doing."

"You have it completely backwards, Sister-san!" The Admiral tried to pry the overly affectionate Kongou off him to no avail. "A little help here!"

"Please save yourself for your wedding," she advised. "Abstinence is not just good for the soul. It's also good for the body."

"Not that kind of help! Get her off me!"

"Unfortunately, Admiral-san, Kongou-san is Shinto, not Christian. I would not presume to dictate to a follower of a different religion, more so to a priestess of said religion. That would be unprofessional and rude," Sister Iku pointed out.

"How can you be politically correct at a time like this?"

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x=x=x

SISTER IKU

Disclaimer: Kantai Collection belongs to Kadokawa Games and DMM. Please support the official release.

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part 02

"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." - John 10:16

x=x=x

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After prying himself free of Kongou's clutches, the Admiral presented his newest ship-girl with her service uniform.

"What's that?" squeaked the beet red Sister Iku.

"It's a swimsuit, the standard issue outfit for our submarines," replied the Admiral.

"But it's lewd."

The Admiral did a double take. So did Kongou.

"Pardon me?" the former asked.

"WHAT?" went the latter.

"It clings to the wearer's body and shows off her limbs." Sister Iku hugged her arms, which were fully covered by long sleeves that reached down to her wrists. Her shoes shuffled nervously beneath the long skirt of her habit, which concealed her body. "It's indecent."

Her refusal netted an exchange of baffled glances between the Admiral, Kongou, and the dark blue mizugi labeled I-19.

"Surely you've worn a swimsuit before?" asked the Admiral.

"No," Sister Iku averred.

"Not even during junior high school? This is a junior high school swimsuit, you know. You did go to junior high?"

The Admiral wisely did not bring up the fact that said swimwear had been highly sexualized over the years. No sense in discouraging Sister Iku, who was apparently the wallflower type of nun.

"My Catholic school doesn't have a swimming pool," she replied. "Neither does the Our Lady of Imari Abbey."

"Then how do you know how to swim?" the Admiral had to ask.

"A wealthy churchgoer donated an expensive swim spa to the Abbey. He said he wanted to give us a way to relax and exercise in between our good work. Reverend Mother-sama couldn't find it in her heart to refuse him. She allowed us to use it so long as we didn't abuse the privilege. The spa has really strong water jets that let you exercise by swimming against their flow..."

A long beat of silence later, the Admiral put two and two together. "So... you've never worn a swimsuit, but you know how to swim thanks to a swim spa... you swim naked?"

Sister Iku's glowing face could have been mistaken for a volcano lamp. "Admiral-san!" she squeaked. "Kuuuhhh! How cheeky!"

"Yooowww!" went the Admiral as Kongou pinched his cheeks.

"I told you to keep your eyes on me!" whined the battlecruiser who claimed to be a fast battleship.

The Admiral flailed about. His left hand seized something round, warm, and soft.

"Kuh!" yelped Sister Iku. "Is that the one targeting me?"

Kongou's fingers squeezed. "Admiral, just what are you doing?!"

"Sorry! My bad!" he frantically apologized.

"Sister Iku... is sinking?"

"Don't sound so misleading!"

Eventually the Admiral was persuaded to pry his hand off Sister Iku's, ah, ballast tank. He failed to convince Kongou to release his face, though the battlecruiser did decrease the pressure.

"Just try it on," he groaned in what he hoped was Sister Iku's direction, but this time keeping his hands to himself. "Please."

"V-v-very well..."

The timid Sister Iku pinched the right-side strap of the sukumizu and pried it from the Admiral's gloved fingers.

"Don't peek," she warned.

"He won't," Kongou assured the hesitant nun in a singsong voice while clamping her hands upon the Admiral's eyes.

"Owowow!" He flailed in panic and a little bit of pain. "Kongou! You're going to claw my eyeballs out!"

"I'll do even better," she promised him, "So don't look away!"

"How can I look if you're covering my eyes in the first place?"

A quarter of an hour later, Sister Iku tiptoed out of the Admiral's bathroom. "W-w-well? H-h-how do I look?" she mumbled.

"Kongou?" asked the Admiral.

"GOOD JOB!" answered the battlecruiser.

"I meant to ask you to take your hands off my eyes," her commander clarified.

"No~"

Left with no other choice, the Admiral reached around him and tickled Kongou's exposed armpits.

"Kyahahaha! Aaadmiiiraaal!"

Kongou was forced to defend her sensitive spots, the one true erogenous zone known to her class that they shared with a certain Hakurei miko.

The swimsuit turned out to be a perfect fit on the blushing Sister Iku. It revealed and emphasized the full figure that had been hiding underneath her loose black tunic.

"Please don't stare," she pleaded with her Admiral.

Of course he stared at her, but for a very different reason than the milky white limbs, curvy figure, and lolling ballast tanks currently on display.

"Why are you still wearing your veil?" he asked while pointing at the white headgear that completely clashed with her sukumizu.

"I feel strange if I don't have it on," she admitted while fidgeting nervously.

"But you'll lose it if you dive underwater."

"I'll just make sure to tie it on..."

Her insistence on retaining her modest headgear piqued the Admiral's interest. Suspecting something fishy behind her reluctance, he snagged Sister Iku's veil.

"Ah!"

"So you tie your hair under this," said the Admiral as he studied the bun of blue hair atop her head. Not exactly the secret he expected to uncover.

"Admiral-san! What are you doing…"

Sister Iku trailed off. Her brown eyes glazed. Her eyelids drooped.

"Hmmm?"

To the Admiral and Kongou's alarm, the nun abruptly dropped onto her knees.

"Sister Iku! What's wrong?"

Her hands shot upward. Deft fingers undid her bun and freed her hair. A flick of her wrists sent her mane flying towards the ceiling. Her hands continued working their magic. By the time her hair came down, the blue mass had been divided and secured into three ponytails using white ribbons and what appeared to be small metal submarine parts.

Her eyelids fluttered open. The round black pupils of her red-brown eyes had taken on the very unnatural shape of five-pointed stars.

The blush drained from her face. Her expression, body language, and gaze shifted from modest and embarrassed to WEEETTT and flaunting it.

"I'm the submarine I-19," she tittered in a singsong voice. "Yes, Iku~!"

The Admiral closed his disbelieving black eyes, counted to ten, and opened them, expecting to see this hallucination dismissed and Sister Iku returned to her normal blushing self.

Nope. She was still undulating like a plate of Jell-O held by a sleep-deprived captain who was running on navy DESS- err, navy death coffee.

"Did she just transform?" he asked Kongou in all seriousness.

His likewise befuddled secretary ship found herself at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

"Admiral~" cooed the sub.

"Ah? Yes, Sister Iku? What is it?"

Her pink tongue ran across her lips, wetting them, whetting her already immense appetite.

"You're not allowed to look away from Iku!"

Her lush body wriggled like live bait that made a fishing hook such a tempting bite for many a game fish.

"Did you think you'd back me into a corner?"

Literally starry eyes glittered.

"It gets me fired up instead!" Iku moaned out.

"What have I done?" The horrified Admiral clutched his head. "I've turned Sister Iku into a nymphomaniac!"

Seeing her commander in despair spurred Kongou into action. "Sister-san," she called out. "That's enough! I will be the one who wins over the Admiral's heart!"

Iku glanced at the battlecruiser almost lazily. Her lips form a knowing smirk.

"Sea Lion," she murmured.

Kongou lurched as if she had been torpedoed twice in her bow. "W-w-what," she stammered. "H-h-how?"

"Sea Lion, Sea Lion, Sea Lion~"

"Aah! Admiral~!"

The repeated mention of the Balao class submarine brought the battlecruiser down to her trembling hands and shaking knees.

"Oh," Kongou whispered. "Seems like my exertions are catching up to me…"

Sister Iku let out a titter at having added another fast battleship to her killsheet. She padded towards the Admiral like a hungry cat regarding a bowl of cream, her ponytails swishing and certain parts of her swelling like the tides.

"Admiral Goto is going to kill me," bemoaned her target, who hadn't noticed her approach.

At her wit's end, Kongou looked up to the ceiling for a sign. "Kami-sama! What should I do?" she begged any deity who might be listening in on her.

Outside, the sky shed its mantle of clouds. A ray of sunshine shone through the window. The light fell upon the veil that the Admiral had taken off Iku.

Kongou felt like her doused boilers had been reignited by the divine inspiration. "You think I'm finished?" she spoke up. "Think again!"

She lunged for the abandoned headgear. Snagging it from the floor, Kongou slam-dunked the nice hat back atop of the triple-tailed girl's head.

"BUUURNIIING VEEEIIILLL!"

"Ehehe. What's that equipment supposed to do…"

The shifting submarine stopped swaying. She squinted at Kongou, who blockaded the path to their beleaguered Admiral.

"Huh? What is it, miko-san?"

No longer did her tone drip innuendo with every syllable. Her healthy body also ceased its erotic oscillations. Instead she adopted a prim and proper kneeling posture as if she was about to pray.

"Sister-san?" asked the wary Kongou, still not sure if her heaven-inspired tactic worked.

"Yes, miko-san? How can I help you?"

"What do you think about showing off your super hot body to the Admiral while talking in a lascivious tone of voice?"

The question mortified Sister Iku. "What? No! Never! That's a mortal sin!" She clasped her hands together and began praying fervently. "Oh, Lord, please protect me against such temptations…"

The Admiral let out the breath he had been holding in. "She's back to normal," he sighed in relief.

"The battle results are in!" Kongou flicked an errant lock of hair away from her face. She produced two cups of Earl Grey tea to celebrate her victory. "Did you see my exploits?"

"Yes, thank you, Kongou, well done. Now stop aping Mami Tomoe. You know how that ended."

While Kongou handed a cuppa to Sister Iku to calm her down and mend fences, the Admiral considered the recent weirdness with a concerned eye.

"I didn't know our sukumizu were so terrifying," he thought aloud.

"Terrifying?" Sister Iku saw her costume under a new and disconcerting light.

"Maybe that explains why the other subs are so weird," the thick-headed Admiral continued to muse.

"Other subs? Weird?"

The door opened.

"Good day, Admiral. We heard there was a new submarine, so we came to pay our respects."

The utterly rigid Sister Iku slowly brought her creaking hull around to scope out the terror from the deep.

"Good day. I'm I-401. Just call me Shioi."

"I'm I-168. Just call me Imuya! Nice to meet you!"

"Guten Tag. I'm I-8. Please call me Hacchi."

"Hello! I-58 here! You can call me Goya, decchi!"

"Welcome to Yokosuka, I-19!" they greeted.

The nun's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Weird girls in terrifying swimsuits!" Sister Iku exclaimed.

"Excuse us?" Shioi asked.

"(What?)" Hacchi said in German.

"Why does she have a veil on her head?" Imuya thought aloud.

"Take that silly thing off, decchi," Goya suggested.

Sister Iku backpedaled away from the lewdmarines. "Someone save me!" she begged.

"Kongou," sighed the Admiral.

"Roger! BURNING-"

From then on, Sister Iku always wore her habit over her swimsuit. Any attempts to divest her of the garments merited a barrage of 14-inch shells.

On the flip side, U-511 was never brainwashed into Ro-500. And thus the JMSDF never fought there in Germany, having narrowly avoided the 'YuuGate' casus belli that would have driven U-511's Admiral, one Abel Dessler, into such rage that his face would go blue from lack of oxygen as he launched a war to avenge his darling Fünf Elf. That scenario ends in Yamato actually getting deployed and Shioi sent to America carrying the designs for a secret weapon that could turn the tide of the war.

Oh, and Maru-yu got forgotten, haha.

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to be continued / itutuloy / つづく