The Betrayed Commander and The Abandoned Tsundere (Azur Lane: Origins 1)

Chapter 29: Birthday

Sora was chilling in one of the chairs in the common room. He was awake really early- well for him anyway. But this was because he was waiting for someone.

Admiral Hipper wandered into the common room from the hallway that led to her bedroom.

'Yo. Happy birthday. Or would it be happy launch-day?'

Hipper laughed. 'Birthday is fine. Why are you up so early?'

'I wanted to be the first to say 'happy birthday'.'

'You're not first.'

'Who-'

'Bismarck and I opened our doors right after each other. She wished me happy birthday then.'

'Dang it- uh, er, breakfast is ready if you're hungry.'

'Did you make it?'

'You know that I can't cook. C'mon, let's go.'

Admiral Hipper and the commander were eating breakfast when they heard a loud CLANG!

'What was tha-'

'Ah. They must be here.' Hipper gave Sora a look of confusion. 'Follow me.'

'Whoa.' Sora had led Hipper to one of the piers at the Outpost. Anchored at the pier was the Admiral Hipper. But it was different.

A man in white with messy black hair, blue eyes and glasses walked over to them. 'Good morning Commander Kaiyo, Admiral Hipper,' he said, nodding at them. The man stood beside them, facing the Admiral Hipper.

'Happy birthday. This is from all of us here and at the Main Base.'

'But how... I thought my Rigging was too damaged to be repaired.'

'Your Rigging hasn't been repaired. We completely rebuilt your Rigging but with some improvements. First, all of the armour has been upgraded, including the turret amour. We added a fifth turret in the middle of the ship, raised above the torpedo tubes. Since it's not the same as the original Admiral Hipper, we had to give it a new name.'

'Which is...?'

'Admiral Hipper Muse.'

Before Hipper could question this, the man spoke again. 'We have something for you as well, Sora.'

'Huh?'

'Yeah, Sora we have a present for you as well. Ah, your birthday is the 10th of February isn't it?'

'Yeah, it's tomorrow.'

'Good, because we're celebrating your birthday today as well.'

'Why?'

'Because we don't want to drag one ship out here, go back to the base, and drag another one out here,' said the man.

It was at this moment that Sora noticed the Yamato-sized battleship docked at the pier next to the Admiral Hipper Muse. 'How did I not notice that?'

'Happy birthday.'

Before Sora could respond, the man started talking about the battleship. 'This ship is a Yamato-class battle ship, the Kii. The original Kii was never completed so we had more freedom with it than the Admiral Hipper Muse. It has better armour under the front turret and an extra turret at the rear. Other than that, it's pretty much a clone of the Yamato.'

After standing and staring at their new ships for several minutes, Hipper asked the man, 'Can we activate our Rigging?'

The man nodded. 'You can activate it. Admiral Hipper, your clothes will change though because you have different Rigging. Sora, yours will stay the same because we have just constructed a ship to fit your Rigging.'

Hipper seemed to ignore the man and proceeded to activate her Rigging. Just like the man had said, her clothes changed. Now she was wearing a white button-up shirt, a black skirt and a black jacket. She summed up her new outfit perfectly with the next thing she said.

'I look like an idol!'