Even then, Illustrious had looked at Azuma with a love she'd never shown the others, whose glances held only familial affection.
"Azuma, you're so lucky," Ayanami murmured, envy and admiration in her eyes.
"Admiral, you won't escape so easily. Your life is mine—I won't let you throw it away." Unmoved by Illustrious's suicide, Ayanami pressed the Night Blood pendant at her neck.
Sensing its presence, she drew the ship-slaying sword from her rigging space and set it to her own throat.
The ship device Night Blood pendant could rewind time by twenty-four hours; the trigger was simple—her own death.
Illustrious had not yet killed herself, and the attack on the base had happened barely an hour ago. By dying now, Ayanami would return to twenty-four hours earlier; she could warn Illustrious to rush back and kill the attacker, saving every Ship Girl stationed at the base.
Clearing her mind and making her plan, Ayanami slashed hard; blood spurted from her neck.
Ayanami swayed and collapsed. Behind her, the Aircraft Carrier, Laffey, and Haman—who had been weeping beside Illustrious—heard the thud and rushed over.
"We have to save Ayanami now, or she'll die like the Admiral did!" Haman cried.
"Why does everyone keep trying to kill themselves? First the Admiral, now Ayanami." Laffey's little head couldn't grasp it.
"Ayanami, why so reckless! Still… you really must love your big sister." The Aircraft Carrier checked the wound; it was far too deep.
Ayanami, sprawled on the deck, couldn't answer. The blood loss was massive; her eyes slowly closed.
With her death, the Night-Blood Pendant triggered a rewind. Time froze; the world bleached to black-and-white, every object locked in place.
Waves stilled mid-crest, gulls hung motionless, clouds stopped drifting. The pendant at Ayanami's throat blazed crimson.
A huge blood-red clock appeared five meters above her. Its hand spun backward—two full turns from ten o'clock—then halted.
BOOM!
The clock exploded in red light that swallowed the world… Ayanami opened her eyes to find Illustrious before her. The Admiral lived again. She checked her phone: March 16. She had leapt back twenty-four hours, to the day before her own suicide.
Eyeing her, Illustrious said skeptically, "Ayanami, you're not dragging us to that Arcade just because you want to play, are you?"
Hearing that, Ayanami remembered: right now she and the Admiral were only discussing a day at the Arcade; Azuma's ambush would come tomorrow. She had to cancel the outing and race back to the Naval Base.
But first she needed to know: in the Admiral's heart, what was she worth?
She had to ask. Illustrious had nearly killed herself over Azuma—would she do the same for Ayanami?
"Ayanami, what's wrong? You're spacing out," Illustrious said, puzzled.
Ayanami's face turned grave. "Admiral, answer me honestly—no lies."
We were just talking about the Arcade—why so serious? Illustrious shrugged. "Ask away. You're my Ship Girl; I'll tell you the truth."
"Admiral, hypothetically—if I died, would you grieve enough to kill yourself?" Ayanami waited, hopeful.
Illustrious hesitated. Ayanami was her Ship Girl; she'd mourn, avenge her, remember her—but suicide? No. She liked Ayanami, she didn't love her. The favorability hadn't reached that threshold.
She met Ayanami's gaze and chose her words. "I won't let you die. Trust my strength; stop dwelling on such gloom and live positively."
Illustrious had dodged; she couldn't say, "Your death wouldn't drive me to suicide."
The truth would wound her, so she changed the subject.
"Admiral, you evaded me! I love you so much, yet you'd be unmoved if I died. How cruel! What does Azuma have that I lack? We're both your Ship Girls—why favor her so?" Tears slid down Ayanami's cheeks.
The moment Illustrious hesitated, Ayanami knew: if she died, the Admiral would not follow. The evasion cut her deeper.
"Don't cry—if Haman hears, she'll think I bullied you." Illustrious panicked; girls' tears undid her.
Had her answer disappointed Ayanami that much?
Should she confess? "I wouldn't kill myself; you're not indispensable to me."
No—those words would only hurt more. Yet why had Ayanami brought up Azuma? Had she guessed the secret—that Illustrious loved Azuma and wanted her as Wife Ship?
Panic flared; if Azuma found out and refused her, what then?
Illustrious trusted her own charms not at all. Sixteen years as a Ship Girl and still she felt the old otaku insecurities.
In her past life she'd been rejected right up to her accidental death at twenty-one—utterly romance-less.
Her first confession: freshman year, falling for a gentle sophomore girl.
She'd bumped into her, accidentally groped her chest; instead of anger the girl smiled—so kind, so beautiful.
That smile made her heart race: Mom, I'm in love.
All night the upperclassman filled her thoughts. Next day she slipped her a love letter, asking her to meet beneath the sakura after school.
He arrived early beneath the cherry tree, just as they'd agreed, heart pounding while he waited for his senior. But eight o'clock came and went, and she never appeared. He sank to his knees. Why hadn't she come? If she couldn't accept his confession, the least she could do was show up and say, "Sorry! You're a great guy!" so he could move on.
The next day his classmates whispered behind his back, calling him a toad lusting after a swan, saying he had the gall to chase the campus beauty—didn't he know his place?
The campus beauty? He was stunned, then quickly calmed down. No wonder she was so gorgeous—she was the school queen.
If she was the campus queen, then a plain student like him really had no right to chase her.
Did you think he'd say that? This was just a small setback; it couldn't stop him.
He confronted his senior, demanding to know why she hadn't shown up yesterday to hear his confession.
In the music room he spotted her, but as he stepped forward he saw someone else with her—a man—and it was his best buddy Zhang Tianyou.
He crouched and hid, quietly spying from the shadows to see what was going on.
Why was Zhang Tianyou with her? Were they in some special relationship—could they actually be lovers?
"Darling, you're finally here. Just like you asked, I bumped into him. He looked like a clueless fool—easy pickings. The plan's going perfectly. Now about my reward…?" She stretched languidly, her voice sultry.
"Good, good, obedient girl. But why didn't you accept his confession? If you had, the rest of the plan would've gone off without a hitch," Zhang Tianyou said, puzzled.
"Of course I have my reasons. I'm playing hard-to-get—if I accepted him too easily, I wouldn't be able to control him," she said with a light laugh.
"Brilliant! Once the plan succeeds, we'll get every cent from his biological father," Zhang Tianyou grinned, sinister.
"I want you right now—can you give it to me here?" She slipped off her top, her voice enticing.
"This is the music room! But for all your hard work, you deserve a reward." Zhang Tianyou scooped her slender waist.
The music room filled with the sounds of their tryst—disgusting noises. Disgusting! How could she like Zhang Tianyou? The guy was a famous playboy!
And Zhang Tianyou—his best friend—how could he steal the girl he liked? Unforgivable.
But what did Zhang mean by "biological father's property"? Three years ago his parents had died in a crash and left nothing. The only asset was a shabby house worth nothing.
Money shouldn't matter to Zhang Tianyou. Even if he were broke, why covet that rundown house? He was the heir to Jiangshan Group—he had cash to burn.
He didn't get it. After listening a while he walked away, sick to his stomach. Part of him wanted to burst in and hack the pair to pieces, but one look at his average frame against Zhang Tianyou's muscular build and he gave up—no point getting himself killed.
From then on he stopped chasing his senior and cut Zhang Tianyou out of his life—second-hand goods and false friends weren't worth it.
After that he kept confessing to girls—ninety-eight times in total—and every single attempt failed. Confidence crumbled into self-loathing until he finally gave up.
In the end he died, killed in a traffic accident at twenty-one. He reincarnated into another world as the Ship Girl Illustrious, poor guy losing the only part of him that had never seen action—he hadn't wanted to lose it.
"Admiral! Even a lie would've been kinder—why be so cruel? You didn't have to kill yourself for me, but did you never like me at all?" Ayanami spoke again, staring at Illustrious.
"Of course I like you, Ayanami—you're adorable." Denying it would be a lie, but a man could only have one Wife Ship, and Illustrious would give that title to the Ship Girl she loved most.
"Really? Then I'll do my best! Azuma may be winning now, but one day I'll replace her and become the one you love most," Ayanami declared, spirits lifted.
Illustrious flushed at Ayanami's love-struck vow. To make amends she decided to stop teasing her. "Ayanami, let's hit the Arcade—my apology for making you cry."
"Admiral! Forget the Arcade. Tomorrow the Naval Base will be destroyed and Azuma and the others will be sunk. We have to get back—now," Ayanami said, shaking her head.
"Ayanami, are you feverish? The Naval Base is deep in the rear, not the front line. What enemy attack? Even if a few Abyssals show up, they're just small fry—Azuma and the others will swat them aside," Illustrious replied, unconcerned.
"Admiral, I'll be blunt: I'm Ayanami from the future. Using this Nightfall Pendant I rewound time from 10 p.m. on the 17th to 10 p.m. on the 16th—twenty-four hours," Ayanami explained, handing over the pendant.
"You actually rolled something like this? A temporal ship device that can twist causality—too bad your level's too low. Because it meddles with world rules, it's single-use only," Illustrious said, inspecting the pendant.
"Single-use… meaning it's gone after one go," Ayanami sighed, understanding perfectly—and hating the loss of her highest-grade device.
Crack!
The red crystal in the Nightfall Pendant split, spider-web fractures racing outward until it shattered into glittering scarlet motes that vanished into the air.
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