"Morning, Javelin. Seeing you and Z23 has replenished my energy for the whole day!"
"...You said the same thing when you saw Ruyue just now." Little Zeppelin added, then raised his leg to say goodbye, "Then I'll leave first, see you after school."
"Okay, bye~ Nimi-chan, you should say goodbye to me too!"
Z23, who was wearing glasses and arranging today's teaching content, was stunned. "Ah... Sorry, I was thinking about something. Um... As usual, see you after school at noon."
"See you."
After leaving school, little Zeppelin had nothing to do and no particular place to go, so he found a bench in the harbor and sat down.
In fact, there were only three teachers in the office and many desks were empty, so she could stay there until school was over at noon and play on the computer or use her phone during that time.
But she always felt that it was not appropriate for her to stay there. She had an uneasy feeling that everyone else was doing something important. Instead of sitting there in agony, she might as well go out and find a place to be alone.
It might be a good choice to find Su Xin to pass the time, but she was a little resistant to it.
Because little Qi Peilin felt guilty, he couldn't treat the other party as a friend, and he didn't want Su Xin's impression of her to remain in the past.
Rather than having frequent and frank interactions and letting the little commander get completely accustomed to her way of getting along with her, it would be better to reduce the encounters, at least to maintain some room for ambiguity.
As for returning home...
Ever since Frederick the Great appeared, she didn't dare to go back to the Iron Blood Castle.
To be honest, although she is a little childish, she has experienced life and death. It is really painful for her to be treated like a child all the time.
If you say “I want to be alone”, the other person will yell at you in a drowning tone “Don’t be afraid, kid”.
If you say “I’m not used to being hugged”, the other person will naturally think that you lack love and calcium and will hug you even tighter.
Although little Zeppelin does lack love and calcium, this is not a problem that can be solved by kissing, hugging and lifting him high. At least buy him a can of Lego, right? What's the point of just reading stories?
For little Zeppelin, who had been abandoned and had come to hate the Iron Blood camp, the sudden appearance of such an overly caring person made her begin to waver.
After all, no matter how unaccustomed one is, Frederick the Great's love for her is genuine, and no one would hate such a "real mother", even if she might be a little nagging occasionally.
"Oh...really, how about we go hide in Kisaragi's room first, and figure out what gift to give Susu?"
"...I can only think of books."
"And she can tell so many stories and so much content, what on earth is there that she hasn't seen?"
Little Zeppelin, who had been thinking hard for a long time but couldn't get the answer, felt a little frustrated. She jumped off the bench and planned to go to Ruyue's room to search with her mobile phone.
Unfortunately, I heard that scary voice when I was halfway there.
"Ah, my child, it seems like I haven't seen you for a long time. You always go out so early every day. What do you do?"
Little Zeppelin's body froze. She had no choice but to accept the reality. She was about to turn around and speak to make excuses, but she saw two people sitting on the emperor's arms, one on the left and one on the right. She was stunned.
The malicious little commander swung his tail and took credit for it directly, "Hey, I told you she would definitely go to Ruyue's place to rest. How about it, we can catch her every time, right?"
U-47 had a look of despair on her face, and she looked at little Zeppelin as if she were a sister in the same boat, and it was obvious that she no longer thought that the other party could get away with it.
Frederick the Great looked very happy, but he had no more space in his hands, so he stood there in a bit of embarrassment.
Little Zeppelin felt that he could still be saved. "Uh... Ruyue forgot to get her homework. I have to go back and get it for her. Otherwise, I will be criticized if I can't hand it in, so..."
"Nonsense, don't believe her, Dadi Mama. Last night, Lafei clearly said she didn't have homework, but she came to my room and rolled around for a long time. Come on, take her with you!"
"...But there is no place for me, right?" Little Zeppelin struggled desperately.
The increasingly cunning little commander smiled with narrowed eyes, "It doesn't matter, the Great Emperor's mother is strong enough, she holds me, I hold you, isn't there a place?"
Little Zeppelin: …It doesn’t seem impossible.
Chapter 776 Thank You (Together
After helping the emperor capture the two little cuties, the cat-headed military strategist Su Xin immediately retired.
She declined Frederick the Great's offer to accompany her on the grounds that she was "out to investigate the store's operations" and asked him to take good care of the two good children of Iron Blood.
U-47 and little Zeppelin were held in the arms of the Great Emperor's mother with a look of despair. They felt the weight on their heads and cast envious glances at Su Xin who was leaving leisurely.
"Okay, so today... um... why don't we read the story of One Thousand and One Nights?"
The two people who were treated like children looked at each other, knowing that they could not escape, so they answered in unison: "...Okay."
Commander Su Xiao was quite satisfied with himself for dragging two people into the water and successfully escaping.
After all, when she was with Frederick the Great, she was always forced to listen to content that was not very nutritious. With her memory, she could recite fairy tales backwards without any lag, and listening to them again would be like hypnosis.
Instead of huddling in the emperor's arms like a chicken pecking at rice with them, she might as well run out. At least two people would definitely provide more space for dozing off than three.
Besides, she did have something to do today, so it wouldn't be a lie to say she was going to investigate.
Harman had just sent her a message, saying that the coffee shop staff had arrived at the station and that he and Yorktown were going to pick them up.
There was no mention of words like "go together" or "go together" in his conversation, but given the other party's tsundere personality, he definitely had the idea of inviting her to go with him.
But Su Xin thought about it and felt that she was not really familiar with Nelson and Rodney.
When Amagi, Helena and others went to the other side's port to make trouble, she was still at home fighting wits and courage with Akagi. She always felt that it would be embarrassing to follow them rashly.
Therefore, the young commander did not follow Harman's wishes, but replied to her that he would go to the cafe to take a look at the layout first and wait for them to come back.
In Harman's opinion, this proposal was not too satisfactory, because Su Xin only received a "humph" and nothing else, which probably meant that she agreed.
So Su Xin really had to go and check out the situation today. Before leaving the port area, she asked Dido to help her change her hairstyle.
"Well... just comb your bangs up and put them on top of your head. A ponytail is fine."
"I, I understand." Dido was very gentle, fearing that she would pull out the little master's hair. "Will it hurt?"
"No, don't worry, Sister Dido. I'm not that fragile. Just use a hairpin to clip it."
"How can I be so careless about my master's affairs?" The maid complained in her heart and asked softly, "Why do you suddenly want to comb your hair back? Did Dido comb it too badly this morning?!"
"Eh? No, no, I used to work in my sister's store in York City. She has opened another store now. If I don't change my hairstyle, what will happen if someone finds out?"
In fact, this was just a precaution. After all, people who look alike are everywhere, and photography was prohibited in the coffee shop at the time. As long as she insisted that it was not her, no one could prove that "Pirated Ye" and "Su Xin" were the same person.
But it would be nice to change her hairstyle. She doesn't take care of it usually, and basically just ties it up. When her bangs grow longer, she just parts them in the middle to save the trouble of trimming them.
Once the long, thick black hair becomes thick, a person will appear gloomy and listless. Tying a high ponytail is one of the solutions, but the bangs in the front are more difficult to deal with.
The little conductor who doesn't like to dress up hardly ever uses any hair accessories. If her hair is messy, she basically just combs it with her hands. Her face looks round and childish against the backdrop of her bangs.
Now that her forehead is full and her hair is tied up like this, she looks full of energy and has the grace and elegance of a young girl.
"How is it? Will it be ugly?"
Dido blinked and shook her head slowly, feeling that her master had suddenly gone from the second year of junior high school to high school, and the lines on her face had become much more obvious.
"Good, nice looking..."
"That's good." The soft smile in the past changed into a youthful charm, "Then let's go?"
"I, I understand, Master!"
"Haaaa... Why haven't the common people come to see me yet..."
Elizabeth, who was sitting on the counter, muttered with a pursed mouth, "It's been... um, how many days? It's really abominable that I have been waiting for so long..."
Without the reminder from the Royal Ship Girl, Her Majesty the Queen became more and more unruly. She picked up the ballpoint pen on the table and started clicking it non-stop.
Although the work at the bathhouse was indeed easy and the pay was good, Queen Elizabeth was a willful person and naturally wanted to play after slacking off for a long time.
In this city, the only person who has a good relationship with her is Su Xiaozhihui, besides Ye, Haiqi and Tianhou who work in the bathhouse.
Logically speaking, Su Xin should be her immediate superior, but Elizabeth unconsciously treated the other party as a good friend, and even wanted to give her a fiefdom.
But for now, her territory is probably only the rented room and the counter where she is sitting. If she wants to divide it, the front desk can belong to Su Xin.
"Hmph~ Come on, come on... It's not impossible to reward you with some gold and silver..."
"Hmm? Are you going to give me something from the royal treasury?"
The voice that she had been thinking about sounded from above her head. Elizabeth was stunned and sat up abruptly, which resulted in a head-on collision with the little conductor who had leaned in to eavesdrop.
"Eh? When did you-Ouch!!"
"Well!"
Elizabeth covered her head in frustration, "Commoner! You are assassinating! You are murdering the royal family! You, you, you—
"I'm a human, how can I possibly kill you? You should worry about my jaw instead. If it gets broken or my tongue gets bitten off, I won't be able to speak anymore."
The Queen, who was slow to react, let go and looked up. She was surprised by the girl rubbing her chin. "You...how did you suddenly grow up!?"
The little commander was stunned, humming and puffing out his chest proudly, "Really? I told you that Sister Beifa didn't lie to me, are you envious?"
"Huh? I was talking about your face, not--wait, what do you mean? You commoner!!"
"Oh, don't hit me, don't hit me. I brought you a gift. It would be bad if it was broken." Su Xin pretended to put her hand into her pocket.
Seeing this, Elizabeth was easily coaxed into calming down. "... Humph~ You know how to please me now? Well... It's not too late, hurry up and take it out!"
Su Xin approached with her hands covering her pockets mysteriously, and when Silly Bai curiously looked over, she quickly reached out and pinched Battleship's face, "Hey hey... I'll go to the coffee shop across the street, see you later, Silly Bai~"
After saying that, the little commander turned around and ran, pulling the maid to the other side with extremely fast movements, opened the door, went in and blocked her ears.
"...?"
"That's it? Where's the gift? Common people! Where's the gift you want to offer as an offering?!"
"common people!!!!"
The decoration of the coffee shop remains the same as before. The tables and chairs are mostly made of brown wood. Since the store is not as big as before, the decoration is also much simpler.
But in addition to books for people to read, there are also dried flowers provided by the owner of the flower shop next door as decoration.
Dried flowers are easier to preserve than fresh flowers, and their appearance matches the sweetness of pastries and has the dry and mellow image of coffee beans. The effect is quite good if they are used as a slight embellishment in the store.
Since the cafe is a merger of two shops, the original lounge was moved to the second floor due to lack of space. Except for the bathroom and the kitchen, it is basically full of tables, chairs and benches.
Yorktown will still be in charge of the large counter, where coffee, drinks and the like will be made, while the three little destroyers will be responsible for taking orders and serving meals.
As for pastry chefs and the like... Nelson and Rodney are fully capable of doing the job. After all, the Royal Navy's skills in non-staple dishes are reassuring.
The cafe and the flower shop are not completely separated, but there is a door-sized opening, which brings some traffic to the Queen and facilitates daily interaction between the two parties.
After touring the first floor, the young commander took the maid to the second floor with great satisfaction.
The space on the second floor is smaller than that on the first floor and is divided into four rooms. The largest room is used as a warehouse to store raw materials such as coffee beans and flour.
Of the remaining three rooms, one is used as a dressing room, one is used as a lounge, and the other has a very long wooden table with many chairs. I don't know if it is a meeting room or a chat room.
It is obviously not realistic for so many people to live in the store. Su Xin heard that Quan Ye introduced accommodation to Yorktown and others, and now the ship girls from the three stores all live in the same community.
She really didn't know where exactly it was. After all, there didn't seem to be many residential buildings near the port area. She guessed they had to take a taxi or rely on ride-sharing to go to work.
"...It's a bit hard to imagine a KanColle riding a shared bicycle to work."
Su Xin always felt that this kind of scene was a bit humorous, but when she thought of a certain Siren leader who would slam the table when he lost a game, she suddenly felt balanced.
"Master, what do you want to do now?" The maid saw her little commander staring at the bed in the corner for a long time, feeling a little nervous. "Do you need Dido to do anything?"
"Ah? No need to clean, they will do it themselves. It's too tiring for you to help them all the time. We can just go downstairs and wait."
"?Oh...ok, okay."
"What's wrong? You sound disappointed."
"No! Absolutely...no!"
It does take some time to pick someone up at the station, and the round trip by taxi takes more than half an hour. Su Xin arrived early and got bored after sitting for a while, so she ran to the flower shop to see the Queen.
Now the bathhouse business is not as good as before, so she doesn't have to work as a temporary employee to help with the labor, and she finally has time to take care of her own "little garden".
Su Xin entered the flower shop from that entrance and found the pink-haired destroyer humming a tune while watering the flowers and plants.
The kettle is not big and it stays on each plant for a different amount of time, which shows that he has a good understanding of the growth characteristics of plants.
The queen obviously didn't expect someone to come out of the coffee shop at this time. When she turned around and suddenly saw the two of them, she was really scared.
After coming to his senses, he greeted her in a somewhat intimate manner, "Ah, it's Commander Su, you came over suddenly...Ah, is the coffee shop opening soon?"
"Hmm? Probably not yet. The quilts in the lounge haven't been made yet. I guess it will take another two days to clean it."
"Oh... So why are you here today...?"
Su Xin glanced around the flower shop and said, "I came out to meet you and the two employees of York City Sister. I haven't seen them before, so I have to say hello."
The Queen was not quite clear about the twists and turns of the grudges, but she was very happy that the little conductor came to see her. She immediately put down the kettle and moved two high stools from the corner.
