Chapter 33: An Unexpected Discovery

After finishing their shopping, several people returned to school along the original route and then went straight to Mikasa's house.

As Qin Ge knocked on Mikasa's door, a confident voice soon came from inside.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and Mikasa, dressed in casual clothes, saw Qin Ge at the doorway, along with Banrenma and Nengdai, and couldn't help but show a happy expression.

"Qin Ge, good morning, are these two your shipgirls Banrenma and Nengdai?" Mikasa said to the group.

"Good morning, Mikasa Instructor, that's right, they are my shipgirls." Qin Ge said with a smile.

"Good morning, Mikasa Senior." Nengdai and Banrenma quickly nodded to this senior of the Sakura Empire.

"Hmm, they're all good kids, come on in." Mikasa said, then led everyone toward the room.

"Thank you, Mikasa Instructor." Qin Ge smiled and nodded, then followed Mikasa's steps toward the room.

Upon entering the room, a Japanese-style decoration vibe became apparent. Whether from the room's wooden floor and the small low table used to greet guests, or the decorations hung on the side, everywhere revealed the Sakura Empire's style.

"Mikasa Senior even specially decorated this room." Qin Ge took off his shoes, stepped on the wooden floor, and said.

"That's right, after all I'm an instructor at the Azure Lane Commander Academy, and I'll be staying here for a long time, so naturally I'd choose the most comfortable living environment." Mikasa smiled and said, "These materials were all obtained by Mingshi for me; I have to say she really has everything—if you're willing to spend money, she can get anything for you."

"Hehe, that really is quite convenient." Qin Ge said with a smile.

"Indeed, it's quite convenient." Mikasa said with a smile, then she sat kneeling beside the low table, picked up the teapot and teacup on it, and began brewing tea.

Thus Qin Ge, Nengdai, and Banrenma sat around the low table; Banrenma and Nengdai were kneeling, but Qin Ge plopped down and crossed his legs, as he was accustomed to sitting cross-legged from his military service.

At this moment Mikasa also finished pouring the water and placed it in front of everyone. Seeing this, Qin Ge immediately turned his head to Banrenma: "Banrenma, please take out what we just bought for Mikasa Instructor."

"Qin Ge, it's just a visit, why bring a gift?" Mikasa was about to smile and refuse, but Banrenma smiled and spoke up.

"Understood, Commander." Banrenma smiled and nodded at Qin Ge, then, with a wave of her hand over the mostly empty table, several warship models appeared on the table.

"Hah, models." Mikasa looked at the warship models on the table with surprise, instantly forgetting the words she had just said about refusing, and directly picked them up from the table, holding them up to examine closely.

"Hmm, this should be the new model that the boss near our school gate just brought in; I haven't collected it yet." Mikasa liked it more and more, so she raised her head and said to Qin Ge, "I really like this model, so I won't stand on ceremony—thank you very much for the gift you gave me."

"It's fine, no need to thank me; as long as Mikasa Instructor likes it." Qin Ge said with a smile.

"In that case, follow me; I'll show you some nice things." Mikasa smiled, held the model, stood up, and said to Qin Ge, Nengdai, and Banrenma.

"Oh, is this Mikasa Instructor's collection?" Qin Ge said with interest; after all, as a soldier he likes models of warships, as well as tanks and aircraft. Usually he mostly looks at others' model collections, but he himself has never bought any.

"That's right, my collection room." Mikasa laughed and walked toward the inner side of the room; according to the layout Qin Ge could see that it should correspond to a game room or something, but it seemed Mikasa had converted the game room into a collection room.

As Mikasa opened the collection room's door, Qin Ge involuntarily stared. What met his eyes were many warship models neatly placed on wooden shelves, each with a special label in front, looking very carefully done.

In the center of the room was a somewhat large white low table, on top of which lay some scattered model parts, appearing as if they had just been prepared for assembly but not yet worked on much.

"How is it, not bad?" Mikasa laughed proudly, "These are all the models I've accumulated over these years."

Qin Ge and Banrenma walked in to look, exclaiming in astonishment, "Mikasa Instructor, it's not just good—it's amazing. Moreover, these are extremely complex models; I'm afraid assembling one would take a long time."

Hearing Qin Ge's praise, Mikasa felt a surge of heroic emotion: "You're right, to assemble a model like this one must spend a long time before it can be completed. So I usually use my free time after class and rest periods to slowly piece it together; assembling a warship model takes about a month."

Qin Ge looked at the battleship and destroyer models, cruiser models, and aircraft carrier and submarine models on the bookshelf; most were designs from this world's model manufacturers, but when he saw a few wooden models in the innermost bookshelf, his eyes could not look away.

The Zhang Men, Biyu, Fu Sang, and Mikasa battleships, among others, had appearances exactly like the warship images deep in Qin Ge's memory—namely, the warship forms from World War II in his world.

"Mikasa Senior, this is——" Qin Ge pointed at this line of battleships and said excitedly to Mikasa.

Mikasa seemed to sense Qin Ge's excitement, stepped forward to look, and discovered it was indeed a warship model she had hand-carved from wood. She said somewhat embarrassedly, "This is something I carved from wood when I had free time; it's a prototype warship model of the Sakura Empire's juniors, possibly a bit unskilled, so it doesn't look very good."

"Prototype warship?" Qin Ge calmed himself and asked Mikasa, "I previously asked Banrenma and Nengdai, and they said their ship histories are just normal shipgirls; then what exactly is this prototype warship?"

"Oh, quite normal." Mikasa nodded and said, "When an ordinary shipgirl first appears, her memories are those granted by the restricting Cube, i. e., general memories. But as her proficiency continually increases, until after the third breakthrough and reaching level 100 proficiency, she will begin to reawaken her memories from when she was a warship."

Qin Ge's eyes widened at this point: "So, the prototype of a shipgirl is not a shipgirl, but rather a steel warship?"

"That's right." Mikasa nodded and said……