Helena didn't get an answer, but she didn't care much. Her tone was very calm, as if she was really chatting, rather than with any grievance or puzzled questions.
She turned on the radar and scanned around again and again. After finding nothing unusual, she came back to her senses and looked at Cleveland, smiling and saying, "We're done. Shall we go back?"
"Eh? Ah...Okay."
On the way back, Helena no longer looked so dull. She seemed to have returned to the state she was in before setting out. She hummed softly, walking and stepping on the water, like a child playing in the water on a rainy day.
"Well... every time I go out to sea, my shoes always get wet."
Cleveland looked at his wet knee-high socks and nodded, "Indeed, I'll just have to bear with it. I'll just refresh myself when I get to shore."
"It's so convenient..." Helena said something meaningless, and after thinking for a while, she asked again: "Oh, by the way, why did you suddenly pick up food for me that day?"
"Well...actually the commander asked me to do it..." Cleveland scratched his head, "She said you didn't seem very happy."
"I see...it seems like you are not as sensible as Su Su."
Cleveland smiled sheepishly, "I think I am indeed a little stupid. I don't even know why you are unhappy. Um... can you tell me?"
"Well..." Helena felt that she was probably upset because her best friend's time was taken up by someone else, but she didn't intend to tell the truth. "I'm just in a bad mood. There are a few days every month when I feel bad."
"...Aren't you a ship girl?"
"Yes." Helena joked, "How can a stinky man like you understand the affairs of us ship girls?"
Cleveland wrinkled his nose, pointed at his short skirt which was held down by his hands and said, "Why do you think I look like a man? I am obviously a girl too."
Seeing that Cleveland seemed to really care, Helena stopped teasing him and thought about it seriously for a while before answering Cleveland in a serious tone:
"Maybe it's because... you're reliable?"
The sudden compliment made Cleveland blush slightly, which made Helena next to him feel extremely novel. She put her hands behind her back, tilted her head, and looked at Cleveland like a lively girl.
Cleveland couldn't stand Helena's look the most, so she had to take two quick steps with a hot face. Hearing the slightly dissatisfied "Wait for me" behind her, her face became even redder.
Helena sped up and caught up, muttering softly, "You are so weak in praise..."
"Ahem...why...why do you think I'm reliable? Miss Hood and Amagi are much stronger than me, right? You're not weaker than me either."
"Don't underestimate yourself." Helena counted on her fingers, "Look, you can fix light bulbs, teach little yellow chickens how to do construction, patch cement, and repair electrical boxes...ah, you're just a little slow at learning to cook."
Cleveland buried his face in his collar again and muttered softly, "I just wanted to make it more perfect before letting you eat it..."
"Huh? What did you say? It's so windy when you're on the road, can't you speak louder?"
"Nothing to say, let's go back."
Cleveland and Helena approached the shore again, but found that there was a person waiting there not far away. When he saw them returning to the port, he hurried over.
"Big sister, you're back!"
"Ah... Montpellier, why are you here? Are you waiting for me?"
Montpelier took a quick look at Cleveland who had just returned from the attack, and was relieved to see that he was intact. Then he said proudly, "You are worthy of being the big sister."
Cleveland smiled, patted Montpelier on the shoulder, and pointed at Helena, "Your sister Helena."
"Welcome back." Montpellier nodded politely to Helena, and then turned his gaze back to Cleveland. "Big sister, didn't you say you would cook the dishes I like? Can I watch you cook?"
"Ah...of course you can, but I'm just learning how to make it, so it might not taste very good."
"It doesn't matter!" Montpelier looked at Cleveland with trust in his eyes, "The big sister must be the best!"
Helena watched the embarrassed Cleveland and the admiring Montpellier gradually walk away, and her mood became more or less uncertain again.
But she knew that what she did was wrong, so she began to actively think about the reasons. After all, Helena felt that she should not be so petty.
Just as she lowered her head in thought and felt that she seemed to have taken Cleveland too seriously, three small flowers suddenly appeared in front of her.
Helena was stunned, and looked up at Cleveland who had come back at some point, "Didn't you leave?"
"Well... seeing that you seemed unhappy, I came back to cheer you up. How about it? This time there was no commander to remind me."
Helena looked at Montpelier who was waiting for Cleveland not far away, and smiled helplessly, "It's nothing, go over quickly, Montpelier is still waiting for you."
"Very quickly." Cleveland held the flower branch in his left hand and placed his right hand over the flower. "Look, I'll perform a magic trick for you."
Helena's curiosity was aroused by this, and she stared at Cleveland's hand intently.
Cleveland held the flower in his right hand and shook it twice, then folded all the branches and pressed them into his palm. He threw his hand away and nothing was left.
Just when Helena wanted to complain about the other party cheating with the ship space, Cleveland snapped his fingers with his right hand again, and took out a bouquet of roses from behind his empty back with his left hand.
"Don't be unhappy. These are all for you, our little princess of White Eagle."
The words were corny, but at that moment, Helena was truly dazzled by the bright red roses and the sunny and confident smile of the person in front of her, so much so that she was afraid to look directly at Cleveland's face.
Cleveland handed the rose bouquet to Helena, "Well... be happy, I'll go back and study it and make something more powerful for you. I'm leaving first. I'll make ribs for lunch, remember to eat more, bye~"
Helena stood in the wind holding the flowers. She waited until Cleveland ran out of sight before she raised her head. Her face, which had previously been slightly sad, was now covered with a blush.
She gently touched her cheek with the back of her hand and it felt hot.
"...Huh?" she said, "So strange..."
"Why is my heart beating so fast...?"
Chapter 295 I Want to Pat Your Head Too
"...It seems like we haven't appeared in a long time." A girl sitting in the dark room with her chin propped up said in a heavy tone.
"Yes... yes, it's been a long time..." Another girl with a younger voice answered. After a long silence, she took out her phone to check the time, "It seems like it's been almost... almost half a month..."
"It's been half a month... Doesn't the author know how we've been spending the past half a month?!"
The younger girl paused and asked, "Who is the author?"
The girl who was propping up her chin was also stunned when she heard this, "...I don't know, I just suddenly wanted to scold him."
“I see…” The younger girl didn’t understand, but still nodded, “Xiang is right, the author is a bad author…”
Xiang rubbed his head, "That... that's not that serious... just not letting me... uh, us, not letting us play for half a month is too much. Hasn't Kisaragi played with the Commander for a long time?"
Kisaragi nodded slightly, "Yes... yes, the commander seems... to be very busy... he didn't give me the new backpack he promised me..."
How could Xiang believe it? She immediately questioned, "How can she be busy? Isn't she being chased by Atago and Akagi every day?"
"Then... Xiang, what should we do..."
Xiang nodded seriously, then pondered for a long time, and finally spoke in Kisaragi's expectant eyes: "What do you think, Rafi?"
"..."
Xiang was puzzled and called out twice, "Lafite, Lafite? Wasn't he here just now?"
"Hmm... She seems to be asleep..." Ruyue raised her hand and pointed at a bulge on the bed not far away, "From the beginning..."
"Huh? So soon?! Didn't we agree to discuss it together in her room? How come she ended it on her own before we even started?"
"Actually... Eldridge also..."
Xiang was startled and hurried to Lafite's bed, only to find that the two children were sleeping soundly facing each other on the bed, and they didn't take this combat meeting seriously at all.
This made Xiang very angry. Although she was a new ship girl who had just arrived, she had already become thoroughly familiar with the destroyers in the port during the past half month. Therefore, she did not hesitate at this moment and started to lift the quilt directly.
"Wake up! Our combat meeting hasn't started yet!"
Rafi's sweet dream was suddenly disturbed. He was dazed, but not annoyed. He just pushed Eldridge hanging on his body aside, then sat up rubbing his eyes.
When Xiang saw that it worked, he was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly urged, "Are you awake? Hurry up, our combat meeting has to begin."
Rafi paused for a moment, "...What meeting?"
"Just...just to get the commander to turn his attention back to our combat meeting? I haven't gotten along well with her yet, um...you are the same."
Lafite was not in a hurry at all. He covered his mouth and yawned loudly, then he slowly replied: "There is a reason for this. I am waiting..."
"How can we just wait?" Xiang didn't quite understand. "I waited for a long time, but I only met with the commander three times in half a month..."
Ruyue raised her hand silently, "But we eat every day... and... we see each other..."
"Oh, that's different. When I say meeting, I mean the kind of meeting where we talk and play together. We don't have that, do we?"
Xiang put his hands on his hips and said confidently, "So we need to hold a combat meeting and find a way to make the commander pay attention to us!"
"Yin...but Ruyue feels that the commander has been very good to everyone..." Ruyue lowered her head and pointed at her fingers, "We can't blame her..."
Xiang, who had been in Beilian for quite some time, was very dissatisfied with Ruyue's weak attitude. He pounced on her and pressed Ruyue, who could not resist, on the sofa and began to tickle her.
“Hahahahahahahaha… stop scratching me, hahahahahaha…”
"Hurry up and say you support me and say the commander is bad!"
“Uh—no…hahahahaha…don’t say it!”
Xiang was like a naughty little devil, showing his little tiger teeth and threatening and tempting, "If you don't tell me, I will keep tickling you, tell me now!"
“Ugh—lift…hahahaha…lift it up high~save…hahahahaha save me…”
Eldridge, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly reached out from under the quilt when he heard the sound, and then controlled a coin, which flew to Xiang's head. Then it fell freely and gently hit Xiang who was doing the evil.
"Attsu!"
"Ouch!" Xiang covered his head and climbed down from Ruzuki, watching Ruzuki jump to Eldridge's side with a red face. The soft mattress made the destroyer with electrical powers jump.
With little Ruyue wiping her tears with her clothes beside him, Eldridge couldn't fall asleep, so he just got up. The few of them just looked at each other, and no one spoke.
Rafi waited for a long time, and finally checked the time, "...Javelin and Z23 asked me to go out and play, I'm leaving first, remember to close the door when you leave."
"?" Xiang couldn't believe it. "Are you just leaving like that? The meeting hasn't even started yet!"
Rafi didn't care about that. Meetings and the like were all about his own words. This Sakura Empire destroyer, who was always straightforward in doing things, often did what he wanted to do. Before they came, they thought this was just a simple
Just some snacks.
Besides, the commander was not the kind of person who would take the initiative to come to her house. She was deliberately giving him space, while Kisaragi was busy making new friends. What Xiang said about "the commander ignoring people" was just that Xiang herself didn't dare to take the initiative to find him.
Su Xiao is just giving orders.
Seeing Laffy open the door and leave, Xiang had no choice but to turn his attention to the remaining two destroyers, "What about you? The three of us can also open it."
Kisaragi was still frightened by the tickling attack just now, so she hid behind Eldridge, who usually only slept but was very reliable at critical moments, and muttered quietly: "No... No, it will cause trouble for the commander..."
Xiang sighed, feeling very disappointed with the inaction of her teammates. Since her teammates were unreliable, she could only rely on herself.
So Xiang stopped paying attention to the two little ones who were whispering to each other and concentrated on thinking of a countermeasure.
"My sister went out to the city to look for thunder and lightning. She won't be back until the afternoon."
"Those battleship and carrier sisters don't seem to care much about this. They just drink tea every day."
"The elder sisters from the Sakura Empire...it seems like the Commander has been avoiding them."
"The three light cruisers from Donghuang seem to have a good relationship with the commander... Is it because they are from the same place as the commander?"
"Then what should I do? I'm from Sakura Empire!"
"….In the end, I haven't had a proper talk with the Commander yet. They all say that the Commander is a very nice person, but I just don't dare to…"
"It would be great if the Commander could be as enthusiastic and talkative as those uncles in the Northern Alliance..."
Xiang pondered for a long time but didn't come up with a plan, but she completely changed the image of the little commander. Just when she was about to share her views with the two kids opposite, there was a sudden knock on Lafite's door.
"Ju Gaogao? Ruyue? Are you there?"
Ru Yue, who was talking to Eldridge unilaterally, was very happy to hear the voice. She called out "Commander" happily, stepped on the carpet barefoot, and ran over to open the door for the little commander.
The black-haired girl walked in with a smile, hugged Ruyue who fell into her arms, and turned on the lights in the room.
Then he carried Ruyue, who was not wearing slippers, to the bed, put shoes on the silly little Ruyue, and turned around to touch Eldridge's head.
"Here are the snacks I brought for you." Commander Su Xiao took out a small plate of cookies and cakes, and then took out a black cat-shaped crossbody bag. "This is for Ru Yue. I'm sorry that it's so late."
Kisaragi hugged the same crossbody bag she had given out before, feeling extremely satisfied. "No... no, thank you, Commander!"
Xiang pouted, wanting it very much, so he mustered up the courage to ask directly: "Commander... Commander... don't you have mine?"
Su Xin was stunned for a moment, then walked forward and took out another bag. "Well... I don't know what color you like, so I made it black too. If you don't like it, I can make another one."
Xiang didn't expect that she would actually get her share. She took the well-made cross-body bag hesitantly, paused, and suddenly buried her head in the little conductor's arms, then raised her head and smiled happily with her little fangs showing.
"Commander! I want a pat on the head, too!"
Chapter 296 Royal Ark? Who?
