Otto sat in one of the Pelican's seats, the seats beside him left unoccupied, as the other Kansen clearly avoided him. His breath was uneven, Takao's blood dripped from his knuckles, his eyes misty, and his leg wouldn't stop shaking. He didn't want to kill Z25. She was one of his people's fellow countrymen, and he had killed her, and he'd never felt so guilty about anything in his admittedly short life.

As he sat there, almost having a panic attack, he felt an arm wrap around him and pull him close. He recognized them; it was Nevada. She laid his head on her lap and stroked his hair like a mother comforting her son. She whispered words of comfort, and her voice was like silk to his ears. He began to cry softly, and mumble apologies, but Nevada just kept comforting him. As the flight continued, the other girls began to look at Otto with sympathy. It's not as if he had meant to kill the destroyer; he was aiming for a much larger foe, and she had jumped in the way. Plus, they had all moments of pure rage before. He's just happened to be during a battle, and it does happen.

Once the Pelican landed, the girls all shifted off. Nevada gently nudged Otto and got him to stand up before wrapping her arm around him and leading him away from the Pelican and towards the unoccupied canteen. She led him inside, sat him down at one of the benches, and walked off to grab a few things. Within his mind, various thoughts still ran through his skull. It wasn't long before Nevada returned, draping a blanket over his shoulders and placing a mug of hot chocolate in front of him before taking a seat across from him. "Hey," she spoke softly as he looked up at her, "it's okay. You were only doing your job, and we all have moments of rage when in battle or even not in some cases."

"But I didn't want to kill her."

"What about Atago? Did you mean to kill her?"

Otto squirmed uncomfortably at the question. "yes? No? I-I don't know..."

"why not?"

"I don't really want to kill anyone, but I also feel like I have to, to end the war, bring peace to my people."

"an end to justify the means as you would?"

"yeah, I think so, at least. I'm just so confused about everything. I don't know who I am or even supposed to be. I was built to be the leader of Iron Blood, but I was replaced, and now I fight the people I was supposed to rule. I do not know what I'm supposed to be."

Nevada nodded and sat for a moment to think of how to respond: "I can't say I understand, but you do remind me of someone. A person who was also conflicted with what he wanted to be."

"who's that?"

"My husband was in a similar situation to you. he wanted to help as many people as possible, but he also felt like killing his enemies was the way forward. It used to drive him crazy, and sometimes, after he returned from a battle, he would start crying just like you had."

Otto gave her a look of surprise. "How did he get over it?"

"he rationalized that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. that to kill his enemies was only helping bring peace just that bit closer. He felt bad, sure, but understood that he was doing so to protect and maybe give peace a chance."

Otto sat silently for a moment before he smiled and thanked her. Nevada smiled back and nodded in response. "if you'd like, you can help me set up the kitchen for dinner." Otto stood and removed the blanket from his shoulder. "I'd like that."

Nevada led him to the kitchen, and they began to cook together. Otto was not the best, as he had never cooked before. He made many mistakes and burned many things, but with Nevada's patience and help, he learned and got better at it. By the time dinner for the other Kansen rolled in, all the food was cooked, and being served by Otto.

"I can see why you like cooking; it's very therapeutic," Otto said as he served one of the Kansen."it is, and you've got a knack for it. You certainly learned better than my husband."

"Really?"Nevada laughed as she cooked some custom orders. "He burned down our kitchen stove when I was teaching him how to cook eggs. For some reason, he could never cook on a stove or in an oven."

"he burned the stove, Jesus; how did he do that?"

"I'm not sure, but I whacked him over the head a few times with my pan. he may or may not have been in the infirmary for a day or so."

"Jesus, remind me not to mess with you."

Nevada laughed as she seared a steak. "best remember that, but surprisingly, he could grill, and by god, could he bake."

"wait, bake? Like cakes and stuff?"

"oh yeah, he was the best baker on the base. He said it was because baking was more structured, with no major improvisation, and you had to follow the recipe or it would be fucked"

"Oh, are we talking about Dad's baking? Also, hi Mom," a Kansen called out from the pickup line, waving at Nevada. Nevada waved back with a smile, "Hi Maryland sweetie." Otto looked between both of them, "Mom? Dad?"

"I'm adopted; Kansen can't really reproduce. Also, are my crab legs almost done, Mom?" Nevada waved her hand dismissively as she began to plate the steak she was cooking. "Yes, yes, dear, they've almost stopped screaming." Maryland smiled, thanked her mother, and skipped off to what seemed to be her friends.

"You adopted her?"

"and a few others, it was mostly my husband's idea. He wanted to give some Kansen a home and teach them from when they were launched to when they were commissioned; his brother did it with his wife, too."

"that's actually really sweet."

"yeah, he was a very nice man."

"was?"

"I don't like to talk about it."

Otto nodded and didn't push further as Dinner wrapped up, and the last Kansen left. Otto and Nevada left the kitchen, locking the door behind them as they exited the building. "thank you for being so kind," Otto said as they stood by the door. "no issue, sweetie, don't be afraid to come back around, or even help in the kitchen again if you want." Nevada said as she walked away and wished him a good night. Otto stayed next to the door, staring at the night sky before walking towards his dorm.

Later the next day, the admirals called each faction's available flagships. They all stood around the Black cube retrieved from yesterday and were deciding what to do with it. Almost everyone was throwing suggestions. Mons wanted to store it deep in his ship but was shot down by the admirals. Queen Elizabeth Wished to bring it back to England, but Enterprise wanted it to remain near the bulk of the combined fleet. Eventually, they conceded that it would remain on base in the vault.But Otto was not participating in the discussion; he was staring at the cube. It was calling to him, not in any language he could understand, but he knew it was calling to him. Slowly, he reached his hand out, and before anyone could stop him, he grabbed the cube.Flashes ran through his head, scenes of oil burning on the sea. Broken husks of ships in a harbor, bodies covered in blood, large vessels in space, a creature with no unified jaw. and a figure who had rigging that was deep purple and colored smoke pouring from its barrels as it stood before a burning Azur Lane HQ. It opened its mouth and spoke, "Soon, you'll understand," and then everything went black