Chapter 845: Festival

When the afternoon sun set westward and the afterglow of the sunset filled the horizon, the people of the Sakura Empire finally arrived at the hotel.

They brought Qin Ge and his group, who had been waiting a long time, to the harbor, boarded a relatively luxurious cruise ship, and sailed toward a nearby uninhabited island.

Although this island is not far from the Sakura Empire's main island, by the time Qin Ge's group arrived by cruise ship it was already dark. However, the island's pier had long been equipped with streetlights, and to match the festival theme they were all relatively traditional Sakura Empire lantern-style streetlights.

Under the dim night, the lanterns emitted an orange-yellow glow; looking along the road, each one resembled fireflies in the darkness, very beautiful.

"Wow, although we haven't seen the festival site yet, just being here already feels atmospheric." Since it was Jiu Xiong and Nengdai who suggested it, the two of them naturally stayed by Qin Ge's side.

Jiu Xiong wore a relatively traditional yukata today, black and pink in color, with flower petals adorning it. Dignified yet not losing a bit of liveliness, it very much matched her character setting.

As for Nengdai, it was much more complicated: she wore a red kimono on top, but a black-patterned miniskirt below, and beneath that were two legs wrapped in black stockings—cute yet hinting at a touch of allure.

However, Qin Ge admitted that as long as a person is beautiful, any clothing looks beautiful on them. Moreover, sometimes wearing relatively traditional attire better reveals a person's charm, as with Nengdai and Jiu Xiong now, and of course many other shipgirls as well.

They could be cute, mature, lively, or excited—varied and dazzling to the eye, like a flock of butterflies dancing gracefully, a hundred flowers in profuse bloom.

"Indeed, though it does seem a bit quiet." Qin Ge said with a smile.

"Hehe, thanks to Xianghe and Zuikaku for worrying, but I believe it won't be long before this place becomes lively." Tiancheng said, walking behind Qin Ge with a smile.

"That's right; since we have such a good opportunity, let everyone enjoy themselves properly and not waste the Sakura Empire's preparations here." Qin Ge smiled, turned, and said to all the shipgirls.

"Don't worry, Commander."

"Speaking of fun, Lord Xuefeng is the best at it!"

"Hehe, Yuudachi already smells the barbecue; I'm heading out first!"

"..."

The most excited were the destroyers, as Yukikaze, Yuudachi, and Shigure quickly ran forward, a crowd also chasing after them, repeatedly passing by Qin Ge's side, kicking up a hurried whirlwind?

"Ha, you guys run a bit slower, watch out for falling." Qin Ge couldn't help reminding those destroyers.

"Got it."

A uniform voice rang out, yet it did not slow the crowd at all; Qin Ge could only smile and shake his head.

"Hehe, Commander, don't worry about them; those little rascals are very agile, and even if they trip it won't hurt much. So let's go join the festival together." Tiancheng laughed.

"Mm, then let's go together."

Indeed, the majority of the mature-type shipgirls could keep their composure, knowing what was essential and what was secondary; they gathered around Qin Ge, introducing him to some Sakura Empire festival customs while walking forward.

Not far along, we saw a very Japanese-style shrine gate; passing through its doors was a very lively street, of course this liveliness was caused by our own shipgirls.

On both sides of the road were stalls that often appear at festivals, and all the stallkeepers were shipgirls; many were old acquaintances, obviously Awakened Shipgirls at a glance, and of course there were also non-Awakened shipgirls.

At this time they were warmly greeting Qin Ge's shipgirls, selling their stall goods to them, though the prices were very low, essentially giving them away for free.

Qin Ge couldn't help but laugh, walked up to a stall and stopped, saying to Zuikaku, who was fanning herself with a fan, "In just a short afternoon, did you really set this place up?"

"Hey, don't underestimate the speed of the Sakura Empire." Zuikaku laughed, saying, "How about it, does it have a festival atmosphere?"

Qin Ge said embarrassedly, "I've never participated in a Sakura Empire festival before, so I don't know either when you ask me. But it's quite lively, and they're all quite excited."

"You can tell; how about it? Want to grab a mask to wear? This thing is basically only sold at festivals, rarely elsewhere." Zuikaku said to Qin Ge with a laugh.

"Hehe, that's true; masks like this usually only appear at festivals."

A clear, lovely voice drifted over; Qin Ge turned his head and saw it was Akagi and Kaga.

"I don't usually wear masks, but I recall you, Kaga, seem to have a mask?" Qin Ge said.

"Yes." Kaga nodded, raised her hand, a blue light flashed, and a very exquisite mask appeared in her hand.

"So Akagi doesn't have one?" Qin Ge asked Akagi.

"Hehe, are you preparing to buy me a mask, Commander? If so, I'd be very happy." Akagi said while coming to Qin Ge's side, hugging his arm and leaning on his shoulder.

"Well then, what kind of mask do you like?" Being treated this way by Akagi, Qin Ge felt nothing wrong, or rather had grown accustomed to it.

"I'll like any mask you choose, Commander." Akagi laughed.

Qin Ge glanced at Zuikaku's strange expression, took a fox mask with red patterns from the counter, and said to her, "How much is this?"

Zuikaku blinked, then quickly waved her hands, "Normally if others came over we'd definitely collect a token amount, but hearing the Commander's words, it's not needed."

Qin Ge rolled his eyes, "We all came together, okay? Don't make this so special for me, or it'll be boring."

"Ha, fine, then since that's the case, just give me a hundred yen, Commander, and consider it my gift to my senior." Zuikaku laughed.

"Well, okay." Qin Ge smiled, pulled a hundred yen from his sleeve and handed it to Zuikaku, while also handing the fox mask in his hand to Akagi, "Here, try it on and see how it looks."

"Please have the Commander personally put it on me; that would feel more intimate." Akagi laughed.

"Okay." For Akagi's request, Qin Ge readily agreed, after all putting on a mask is originally a very simple matter.

He pulled the cord open, placed the mask on Akagi's face and secured it; although it covered Akagi's appearance and her expression couldn't be seen clearly, from the swaying tail one could tell she was very happy.

"Ha, this makes you look more and more like a fox." Qin Ge laughed.

"That's how it originally was..." Zuikaku whispered from the side.

"Commander, let's go to other places together." Akagi apparently heard something? She didn't object, but instead took Qin Ge's hand and said.

Good.