"Look! Look!" (Matsuwa)
"That's cute." (Tsushima)
Matsuwa held onto a Min*on doll in a Santa outfit.
"I want to buy this one!" (Etorafu)
Etorafu waved around a Piranha Plant doll with a Christmas hat. The other girls are getting too excited and were about to queue up at the counter to make their purchase.
"The guys from Kure are here already. Alright come on. Don't start spending your money here. Put those back. You can get those inside as well. Plus, we have three full days here. Those merch ain't going anywhere."
"Okay~" (All)
"Let's get inside."
I stood at the door to make sure everyone who has entered the store left and re-joined the others at the turnstile. A pity we have to leave the warm store and back into the cold though. Even before we got here, a long queue had already formed at the turnstiles and ticket booths. Good thing we already got our tickets. The girls from Kure took a little while to reach but since they are here, we can start with a small briefing before letting the girls loose in the park.
It's already getting a little noisy...
"Kotobuki, you do it."
"Hell no. I just got here. You are the one that's better a rallying." (Kotobuki)
"That's a goddamn lie and you know it."
"Admiral, Grand Admiral Rondo already designated you as the PiC for this ." (Ooyodo)
"That bastard! Fine..."
I took the megaphone from Ooyodo and climbed onto that little stool placed in front of this large group of shipgirls. Most, if not all, of them are wearing thick winter clothes. A few of them are wearing the IJN standard issue winter poncho. Maybe they didn't have time to buy a new outfit or they are not too concerned with fashion. Like Tama and Kuma.
"Ahh. Ahh. Attention. Can everyone hear me?"
"YES!" (All)
Holy crap. That was loud. And we have caught the attention of other parkgoers.
"I know you girls are excited so I will keep this short and sweet. First of all, good job on the recent major operation! All of you did well to complete it. There were some unforeseen circumstances but nonetheless we managed to be victorious."
Everyone started cheering and clapping. There are more eyes on us...
"Just a couple of rules. Don't get into trouble. Follow the park rules and behave yourselves. And most importantly, have fun!"
The girls started to cheer even louder. They have been working and waiting for this for a long while now.
The girls scattered and joined the queue to enter the gate leading to the first themed area; Hollywood. It was a bit of a rush, but we managed to complete our mission reports just in time for the company trip to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. Obviously, not every district went in a the same time. Each naval district only spent three days in the park and hotel. Yokosuka was first, followed by Brunei and Sasebo, and lastly, Maizuru and Kure. After storing our luggage with the hotel receptionist of The Singulari Hotel & Skyspa, the girls gathered at the entrance of the park. Once everyone is here, we will go in.
Our naval district were lucky to enter and enjoy the park on Christmas eve. Or maybe not that lucky. It's so crowded here! I feel bad for the staff that have to work through the holidays like this...
"Oh? So this is a theme park. Kind of like those shrine festivals. No? Everyone is excited, yeah?" (???)
A small girl speaking in a archaic manner and accent while wearing a standard issue IJN winter poncho looked around excitedly. Her extremely long, black hair is tied in a multi-tied high ponytail with a red ribbon and two hair ties between each segment. short, thick eyebrows and brown eyes. Her eyebrows are short and thick eyebrows, giving her a rather unique appearance for her small statue.
"Of course. They were waiting for this."
"Is this what everyone is into nowadays?" (???)
"I won't say everyone. Some people enjoy theme parks, some don't. You know what I mean?"
"Yes yes. Everybody has their preference, yes? On another topic, did Spring come early? I don't remember it being this warm in the Winter. (???)
"Are you serious? Nisshin, It's freezing. I don't know how cold it was back in 1942 though."
This weird little girl I'm speaking to is Nisshin Class Seaplane Tender; Nisshin, our new comrade that we retrieved after defeating the Abyssal Sun Princess a few days back. The higher-ups decided to post her to my base, seeing as we are lacking a Seaplane Tender. She is the same size as Ryuujou and Zuihou, so the two of them lent and coordinated her outfit for this trip. Her usual outfit consists of a red and white miko outfit with a white suikan over a red kosode and a slitted red hakama, showing off a white underlayer. Her footwear are essentially elongated okobo which are twice her feet length. She also wears white tabi knee-highs.
"You don't have a smartphone yet, so stay close with the others, all right?"
"What is this smartphone you speak of?" (Nisshin)
There it is. The same question every shipgirl asks when I introduce them to this piece of technology.
"Think of it as a radio. The girls can teach you about once we get you one. Now, go on. Join the queue."
"A little pushy, aren't you?" (Nisshin)
"Yeah yeah."
I placed my hands on her shoulder and gently push her into the queue.
"Ryuujou, Shouhou, please look after her. Make sure she doesn't get lost."
"Why are you treating me like a child?!" (Nisshin)
"Uooh~ Leave it ta' me." (Ryuujou)
"Ehehe~ We will take care of her." (Shouhou)
"Nisshin, take this."
I passed her s small pouch,
"What's this?" (Nisshin)
"Some spending money. Since you're new, you haven't got an allowance yet. It's not much but it should be enough for you buy a few souvenirs."
"10...? 20...?! 50,000?! Isn't this too much?!" (Nisshin)
"Nah. It's actually too little in this era. Come on, Admiral, throw in a little more, would ya?" (Ryuujou)
"Don't teach the new girl bad things."
I poked the flatty's forehead. Ryuujou glared at me while rubbing her head.
"I have never laid eyes on this much money before..." (Nisshin)
"Then you will be in for a ton of surprises." (Shouhou)
"Anyway, don't ya have some place else ta be? Will ya be alright?" 9Ryuujou)
Ryuujou moved her head to her right, as if trying to tell me something. I looked to my left.
Zuihou is in another line, chatting with Shigure, Prinz Eugen and Shioi. As much as I want to use this chance to go on a theme park date with my girlfriend, we are still keeping our relationship a secret from the rest. I will have to hold back for now.
Besides, we can come here again on our own in the future.
"Do you need us to create an opportunity for you two?" (Shouhou)
I shook my head,
"it's alright. I can handle it."
"What are you talking about?" (Nisshin)
"Nothing. Come on. Keep moving. Go have fun."
Thanks to the attendants at the ticket gantry, we passed through the gate relatively quickly. The sound of Christmas music quickly entered my ears. The whole theme area is in Christmas spirit, with decorations hanging from the lamp posts and shophouses.
Even the mascots are in Christmas mode.
"Wow. It's a Minion!" (Etorofu)
"So cute!" (Matsuwa)
"It's totes cute! What is this?! I can't take it~!" (Suzuya)
"Suzuya, calm down. You are going to collide with everyone else." (Mogami)
The Coastal Defense girls. and Suzuya, are all enamoured with the Minion mascots wearing Santa hats that are there greeting them. I know it's cold out here but it must be sweltering in there. Thank you for your service. But what are these mascots doing here? I know there is a Minions Park, so shouldn't they be at their own area?
"Admiral~♪" (Zuihou)
I turned around just in time to see Zuihou hopping cutely to me. Shigure, Shioi and Prinz Eugen followed closely behind her.
"Shall we go together?" (Shioi)
I glanced at Zuihou. She is smiling happily, as if saying it's okay for them to join.
"Sure. Where should we go first?"
Shigure unfolded the park map, revealing nine themed areas,
"Clockwise or anti-clockwise?" (Shigure)
"I heard the 'Hairy Poteru' area is good." (Zuihou)
"What is that?" (Prinz Eugen)
"You mean this one?" (Shioi)
Shioi pointed at 'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter' area on the map.
"Harry Potter. Let's save the best for last. So we take this route?"
I traced my finger around the park in a clockwise direction, from 'Hollywood' to 'New York to 'Minion Park' and so on.
"Let's!" (Zuihou)
"That's fine." (Shigure)
"I wanna go on this one!" (Prinz Eugen)
"That sounds good." (Shioi)
"Should we buy an express pass? The queues are going to be long."
"Are you treating?" (Shioi)
"Fine fine. I'm feeling generous."
"Really? Yay!" (Zuihou)
"Yay! Admiral, you're the best!" (Shioi)
Before Zuihou could do so, Shioi pounced and hugged me from behind. Zuihou was already in position until the submarine girl stole her thunder. She doesn't seem to happy about it, seeing how she turned into a hamster momentarily.
"Thank you, Admiral." (Shigure)
I pet Shigure's head,
"Don't mention it. All of you did well during the operation."
The other girls were staring at me expectantly, so I gave them their share of head pats. Is getting petted really that good?
The five of us made our way to 'New York'. Along the way, we met some of the Mustuki and Shiratsuyu class, who were enjoying the Sesame Street show. It featured Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, and Ernie along with two other dancers performing with instruments as they sing and dance. What a nostalgic scene.
We then went around taking photos with the various mascots that came out to greet us, before going to the one ride in this area. The Spiderman Ride was a blast. Not just because Spiderman is my childhood hero, but the ride is seriously fun. We sat in this twelve seater carriage and had to put on this pair of glasses. It was a 4D ride. We followed Spidey around the dark alleys as he webs up villains such as Doc Oct, Goblin, Electro and others while 'protecting' us from danger. The whole experience felt as if we were swinging around with Spidey. The express pass really saved us a lot of time.
As the three girls walked in front, I whispered to Zuihou,
"I didn't expect you to let them join us."
"If I didn't, we would get suspected, right? It's a little unfortunate we can't have a Theme Park date, but this is still fun in its own way." (Zuihou)
"Next time, should we go to one with just the two of us?"
She beamed at me,
"Yeah! Let's!" (Zuihou)
"Oiii~! Admiral, Zuihou! What are you doing?" (Shioi)
"My bad. There was a pebble in my shoe."
Zuihou and I caught up with the others.
"Did you managed to get it out?" (Prinz Eugen)
"Yep. Let's go."
Next, we went to 'Minion Park'. We were surprised to find Tenryuu and Tatsuta along with some Mustuki Class Destroyers in the Minions signature blue overalls. Tenryuu was so embarrassed and kept insisting that the Destroyers forced her to wear it. Tatsuta just laughed and casually revealed that her sister was the one that roped the Destroyers to join her in costume, much to Tenryuu's chagrin.
After snacking along 'San Francisco', we reached 'Jurassic Park', where Zuihou and Shioi seem to enjoy the most. Aside from being amazed by the dinosaurs scattered around the park, the rides were fun and thrilling. Jurassic Park: The Ride was essentially a boat tour, with the operator getting into the character of a tour guide and explaining about the dinosaurs scattered around the ride, before things get a little exciting and ended with us being little soaked at the climax of the ride. Good thing we bought the disposable rain coats. While I needed to take a break after the 'Flying Dinosaur' ride, Zuihou and Shioi rode it thrice. I think they enjoyed it because it gives them the feeling of flying in the air. In fact, as I took a break, I see a number of Carriers going multiple rounds on that ride It was a high-speed roller coaster, but instead of sitting in a carriage, you are restrained in a prone position. The rest of it was self-explanatory. When you get older, thrilling rides like this are kind of bad for the heart and stomach. At least in my case. We bought some toys and fossils as well.
After watching 'Water World' twice, because the girls enjoyed the explosions and pyrotechnics, we went to Amity Village, where the 'Jaws' ride is located. Too bad it's under maintenance today. Though, we managed to take some nice photos.
'Super Nintendo World' was way too crowded. Even the Express Lanes were too long. Not surprising, since this is still a newly opened area. Since we have a lot of time here, we decided to skip this area and move on to the next. We can visit this area tomorrow.
So we proceeded to the Harry Potter area, which in my opinion has the nicest scenery out of all of them. The roof of the medieval buildings are covered in a layer of fake snow, which is probably made out if plastic, but it fits so we'll into the atmosphere. Even the ground has layers of fake snow scattered about. The last time I came here was during Spring, so there was no such decorations. But that was years ago when I was a young boy. After having to take a break once the 'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' was over, gosh the twisting and turning along with the visuals made my stomach churn, we participated in this show at 'Ollivanders', I believe that's how you pronounce it. There, a bearded englishman explains about wands and chose a participant to be 'chosen by a wand'. Prinz Eugen was lucky to be chosen. Her eyes instantly lit up when she was picked from the crowd. After the show, we were escorted into the man store and Prinz bought the wand that 'chose her' during the show. Of course, we bought our own set of wands as well. I can't resist the urge. We went around trying out our wands, after which we had a very late lunch at Hogs Head, a restaurant that offers the legendary ButterBeer. Although it has beer in it's name, it doesn't have any alcohol in it all. It was foamy and very sweet. Of course, we met the drunken duo, Junyou and Hiyou, there, chugging the alcoholic beer that was offered there. I even spotted and overheard Mamiya asking the chef how did they make this ButterBeer. Looks like she found some inspiration for a new menu offering.
The next area was the family-friendly 'Wonderland', which featured series such as Hello Kitty, Peanuts, and Sesame Street. The rides and attractions were catered more to children, but the girls enjoyed it nonetheless. I even saw Fusou and Yamashiro enjoying themselves in the ball pit. There were the classical attractions such as the cup ride, GoKarts, boat rides, a dance show which Zuihou and Shigure enjoyed very much, and several others. I spent most of them in this area recording the girl's smiles with my smartphone instead.
It was starting to get dark, but still too early for the Night Parade. So we backtracked to catch some of the shows we hadn't watched and take pictures with the mascots during the meet-and-greet sessions. There were quite a few limited shows which were only available during this season.
"Ah. We better get back to 'Hollywood'. Otherwise, we won't be able to get a good spot."
We made our way to the Parade area. Some of the girls have already gathered and the park attendants have already set up for the parade, putting up rope barricades along the streets of 'Hollywood'. The lamps lit up the area as the rest of the girls begin to gather. There was a lot of chattering around as we waited for the event to start. The lights switched off for a brief moment and fanfare begin to play, signalling the start of the parade. All of the park mascots showed up on floats, dancing and acting out their roles. It was an amazing sight. The parade was different from what I remembered. It has been years, of course they would change things up a bit. Everyone was equally excited and in high spirits.
"Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."
Though, no one can hear me in the midst of the excitement.