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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 1

CHAPTER 3: Bel-chan and the Little Bird

A few days after Christmas was over, those truly hectic days finally started to calm down a little bit.

After successfully surviving a long period of stress, race against time and grudgingly hard work all around the dormitory and its premises, the days of leisure finally came back to the Home Port for the members of the Maid Corps.

The loose and leisurely mood continued for a while even after the New Year, and finally, in February, various jobs and missions started pouring in once again. –––––– And just like that, on a certain night.

「–––––– Hey, Bel! Come here for a second.」

When Belfast and Bel-chan were about to return to their room, Edinburgh suddenly looked out the window and stopped in her tracks.

「Hm? What happened?」

「It’s snowing! It’s snowing outside! Snowing!」

「Ahh, so it’s about the snow, huh?」

In contrast to the very high-spirited Edinburgh, Belfast replied curtly, keeping her enthusiasm on a relatively tight leash.

After all, it was only a little bit of snow, the amount which could at best turn the ground white with a thin layer of frost for a little bit, and nothing more beside that. And besides, it was not the first time that it was snowing since the New Year, actually it was a fairly common occurrence as of late. On a side note, even the snow that fell around Christmas was unable to stay for long and accumulated to cover the entire port with a thick white blanket for a prolonged period of time. So there was no basis for hoping that this particular snow would stay for long, either.

All the snow that flickered in the middle of the night would surely melt before noon in its entirety. All that would be left of it would be a café-au-lait-colored puddle, just like any other time that has happened, and even then, even if it was to stick for a little bit longer it would be rather unusual.

During that time, Belfast would usually go back and forth outside of the Royal Navy’s dormitory many times to replenish daily necessities as the need would arise for that.

That’s why she fully understood the difficulty of walking on muddy roads after the rain or snowfall, and that’s why she could hardly help it but to react in such a way, with a moderate lack of enthusiasm.

After all, during the last two months they were able to witness only a little bit of powdered snow, and nothing more besides that.

Thinking that, Belfast approached the window just like Edinburgh did,

「Oh my, this is ––––––」

Contrary to Belfast’s expectations, the amount of snow that fell from the sky was simply unbelievable.

In a moment of sudden panic, Belfast cursed her own hubris. There was almost no wind present at the moment, but the size of the snowflakes was really huge and they would remain where they fell.

But maybe there was no need to panic just yet. However, it was not unusual for snow to fall down overnight to some extent. However, she has never seen snow like this before, so it might just be something that settles a new record around the home port for sure.

「–––––– It will be wise to prepare some snow shovels in advance.」

Closing the door and heading towards the cleaning utensils closet that was in the corner of the kitchen, Belfast took out several snow shovels that could be used for shoveling snow and set them upright near the back door.

「This should be more than enough for shoveling snow in the morning.」

「Hmm, I see, snow shoveling, huh…… Haah, just trying to imagine that makes me tired already.」

Edinburgh’s face, which had been so happy to see snow until a while ago, suddenly turned all dark and grumpy.

「If it’s only snowing for one night, it should be fine, but if it continues until a day after tomorrow, we’ll have to think about removing the snow for real this time around. And maybe think of some methods of preventing it from accumulating too much.」

「Uheeh…… Ah, that’s right. We should prepare some cold resistant gear for the maids that will be working outside. There should be more than enough of those in the warehouse to cover all of the maids that are stationed here ––––––」

At that point, Edinburgh’s gaze shifted towards a space behind Belfast.

「What’s wrong, Bel-chan? You keep on gazing out the window for some reason……」

When Belfast turned around hearing Edinburgh’s concerned voice Bel-chan was still looking out the window with her back turned to the other two maids.

「The snow, it’s so beautiful ––––––」

Neither Belfast nor Edinburgh could see just what kind of expression was painted all over Bel-chan’s face.

However, hearing her say that just now, Belfast thought that it was the voice of someone who was completely enchanted by the sight that they just happened to see, that it managed to completely ensnare her heart and would not let go that easily. That is also why she said something so uncharacteristic of her without slightest concern for her surroundings.

Belfast then gently put her hand on the shoulder of Bel-chan, who was still standing still and showed no intentions of moving anytime soon.

「Bel-chan. I know that you would like to keep on watching the snow, but the hour is already late, so how about we go to bed for now and look at the snow sometime later tomorrow?」

After Belfast said that, there was a brief moment of silence for a few seconds.

Could it be that Bel-chan was making her mind up about something? Thinking about it so deeply and so long?

「–––––– Yes, Nee-sama.」

Bell-chan slowly turned her face away from the window and faced Belfast, the expression on her face being exactly the same as usual.

* * *

It was early in the morning of the next day, but the area around the Royal Navy’s dormitory was still covered in pure white.

Belfast, who had already changed her clothes and got out of bed and gotten all ready for work, quietly went out into the hallway so as not to wake Edinburgh and others who were still sound asleep.

Quietly, as to not make even the slightest sound, she closed the door behind her –––––– And it was precisely at that moment when it happened.

Bel-chan’s eyes opened up wide all of a sudden.

She got up and jumped out of her little bed at once.

Then, in a still pitch black room with the curtains drawn, she began to change out of her pajamas.

Lately, Bel-chan has been waking up for some reason the moment her elder sister Belfast would leave the room.

When someone leaves the room, it feels like the air inside has strangely changed for some reason. With the same reasoning, if someone walks into the room, they would cause anyone who was still asleep in there to wake up.

–––––– She knew what needed to be done now. Somehow, but she was able to just know it.

While thinking that, when she was finished changing into her usual maid outfit,

「Uuuhhh, nnh, Bel-chan…… That’s not fair~. How about you feed me some as well~…… Munya~.」

Edinburgh’s sleeptalking echoed through the entire room.

Bel-chan thought that the one who she was feeding in Edinburgh’s dream must have been Belfast herself, and that the thing she was feeding her must have been some sort of a rare delicacy.

「But there is no way that Belfast-nee-sama would let someone feed her, right? Much less with an “Aaahh~” of all things.」

She muttered after looking at Edinburgh’s sleeping face while crouching in front of the fence on the lower bunk bed.

Edinburgh was always begging Bel-chan to let her hold her hand all the time, and she was the big sister type who wanted to take care of her everyday needs.

On the other hand, Belfast is an older sister type who would teach you various things very politely and gently every day, in order to raise Bel-chan to be a perfect maid.

Belfast never said, “Oh, I’m going to do everything for you, so you just sit back and relax, you don’t have to do anything at all. She just wasn’t that kind of a person.

「I saw the definition of that word in a dictionary once, but I do believe that Edinburgh-nee-san is just the kind of person who we could call being “overprotective” or “helicopter”. And it surely looks that way to me.」

“Overprotective” in a sense that she was also way too clingy with Bel-chan at all times.

On the other hand, Bel-chan knew that Edinburgh’s actions were due to her love for her little sister, so there was no way that she could actually get mad at her for being that way.