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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 8

Bugles closed the iron door from inside the storeroom, which was a perfect soundproof space, just as Lime had expected.

As a test, Lime tried ringing the toy that she brought with her.

「………!!!」

However, Bugles was way heavier than Lime could have expected, and she started swaying left and right on the spot because of him.

「……!? ……!?」

Bugles flapped his hands anxiously in order to try and regain his balance, but somehow what he managed to accomplish was to cling to the stack of crates instead. Lime wiped the sweat off of her forehead as if she had just finished a long and hard manual labor, and walked into the storeroom with a satisfied expression present on her face.

Then the iron door closed behind her, and Bugles locked it firmly.

However, the key that was stuck in the closed lock would not come out at all for some reason.

「……!!」

Bugles continued to pull on the key in an attempt at yanking it out, clenching his teeth as hard as he could, until his hand slipped out of the box and he fell off the top of the crates towards the ground.

His round body hit the ground and bounced off of it. When he was rolling around like a small ball, even the wooden boxes that he had piled up at the same time crumbled and tumbled towards the ground, their small tower collapsing.

He hurried back up to his feet to try and turn the key inside of the lock again, and it was only then that Bugles realized what he had in his small hands at the current moment.

「……!!」

It was part of the key that had been in the lock until just a moment ago. Apparently, it broke while he was pulling it, making the entire lock unusable from now on, nothing more but a piece of junk.

Bugles’ face turned pale when he fully realized what that entailed.

In order to inform Lime that he had accidentally locked them inside of the cold and dark the storeroom,

Bugles tried to pull the iron door with all the force that his small body could muster. Then there was a small gap in between the locked door and their frame.

From there, Bugles let out a series of fast and frantic meows at Lime, letting her know what was up.

「…….., …………, …………」

At that moment all the blood drew away from Lime’s face as she sensed the perilous nature of the situation that she just managed to find herself in. She tried to imprison that nast maid Sheffield inside of the storage shed, but she never would have thought that she herself would end up becoming imprisoned inside of it.

It was also the very first time that Lime was inside of this storage room, and she just now realized just how musty and dusty it was.

「…………………….」

Before she even realized, tears began to well up in Lime’s eyes.

How did this happen?

She was just trying to get rid of those nasty intruders that dared to invade her territory, so why did she have to go through this? Why was the the one who was getting punished?

And once she would start thinking thoughts like that, the negativity and tears would just not stop flowing out.

「Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!」

While banging her small hands on the iron door over and over again, Lime cried out with large tears spilling down her cheeks one after another without stopping.

Bugles, who was so frightened that he was unable to let out even the simplest and pathetic of sounds, waited for a while outside of the storeroom, but before long he ran away from there in a hurry.

「Byeeeeeeeee??? Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???!!! BYEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!」

Seeing Bugles leave her behind like that, Lime cried even louder than ever before.

He cried for a while in a pathetic voice, and then despair rushed into Lime’s heart and gripped it tightly, refusing to let go no matter what.

「Beeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh……Byeh……」

Maybe at this rate Lime would be bound to stay here forever, with the only thing left for her being her trusty sword hanging from her waist.

She was cold and she was lonely, and thinking those negative thoughts was only causing her to become increasingly more hungry by the minute.

And just as she thought about this, her stomach roared loudly.

「…………………….」

THUMP! With that loud sound echoing across the storage shed, Lime put her butt firmly on the ground.

She was starting to grow tired from all the crying, and her eyes were becoming all swollen and red.

But even so, even though she was so tired and she did not want to cry any more, large drops of tears continued to fall from her eyes like water from a broken dam.

「——— Looks like it won’t budge no matter what.」

At that time, she heard a faint voice from the other side of the iron door to the storage shed.

Startled by it, she peeked through the gap between the doors and their frame, and there she saw Sheffield as well as Bel-chan.

「……!」

Thinking about it now, it must have been Bugles who called them over here.

Realizing that, Lime rattled on the iron door and tried to make her presence known to those who were just outside of the storage shed.

Just as Lime was about to cry the tears of joy upon learning that she would be rescued any moment now, she then heard Bel-chan’s voice coming from the other side of the iron door.

「…Please calm down a little bit, Lime-san.」

Strangely, Bel-chan’s tone of voice was really dark and unlike her normal warm and upbeat one.

As Lime was wondering what was going on outside, Sheffield’s voice soon followed with an explanation.

「Actually, you see, the lock you locked recently is the one that was deemed to be useless because the key was bent inside of the keyhole.」

Upon hearing those words, Lime thought that this must have meant one thing.

Bel-chan was the one who delivered the sad news next, sensing that Lime must have had a hard time actually understanding what Sheffield was saying here, her words being too complex and difficult for the Meowofficer to fully understand.

「Umm…… In other words, the key won’t open right now, no matter what we try to do to try and open it. So I am afraid that you are going to have to stay there just like that for the time being, Lime-san.」

Lime understood the meaning of those words right away.

The tears that had finally stopped overflowing from her eyes were about to start flowing out of them once again.

「…Byeh, Bieeeeeeeeehhhhhh……」

Just like that, Lime started sobbing once more.

But this time around tears alone were not enough, and she even had snots running down from her nose in an uncontrollable manner.

Lime’s face was now completely wet from snot and tears, and it would not seem that her situation would get any better anytime soon.

「Byeeeeeehhhhhh —— *Cough*, *cough*, c*ough*!!」

As she continued to cry, a cough suddenly appeared from her throat.

「*Cough*! *Cough*! *Cough*!」

Wondering what happened just now, Lime thought about where she was right about now.

This storeroom had been unused for a really long time.

What’s more, it was not properly cleaned or maintained, so it was covered in a thick layer of dust, on top of being all damp and musty.

「—— That’s what happens when you are going to be in a dusty place for a prolonged period of time. If you do not clean it, your room will eventually become like that, too.」

She then heard Sheffield’s voice coming through the door.

She then spoke to Lime in a serious tone.

「Now do you understand why we are here to clean up? And why is it so important?」

「*Cough*! *Cough*! Cough*!」

「…… Come to think of it, it only occurred to me just now that the Meowofficers can’t actually use proper human speech. Anyways, we did not come here to disturb or take your territory from you. Now, if you understand that, please knock onto the door.」

In response, Lime immediately banged on the door.

She was suffocating so much that right about now she thought that she was going to die from it.

「…… Sheffield-san, why don’t we just break the lock right now and be done with it?」

When she heard Bel-chan’s voice, she could also hear that Sheffield let out a loud sigh.

「Seriously…they’re the ones who did it to themselves, so why not let them suffer the consequences of their own actions?」

And then, through the door Sheffield said,

「From now on, you are going to swear that you are not going to disturb our cleaning and that you won’t try to pull any stupid pranks on us that would disturn our work. If you understand that, knock onto the door twice.」

Lime then gently knocked onto the door while still coughing.

Immediately after that, there was a sharp metallic sound, and the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

Just like that, the double iron doors slowly opened.

Lime’s eyes were blurred by tears, and what appeared in front of her was Sheffield, illuminated by the moonlight, holding a bolt cutter in both of her hands.

「 ——— Also, I don’t think it needs to be said, but you are going to obey us from now on, isn’t that right?」

Lime just nodded to her head as Sheffield was looking down on her.

「No way…… Is that how this whole hierarchy thing is being settled?」

Sheffield then turned towards Bel-chan, who was really surprised to see this sudden development, while almost rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

「Why, of course. In a sense, I just saved her life, so it’s only natural that she should submit to me completely.」

When Sheffield looked down again, Lime clung to her feet really tight.

She did not want to deal with these feelings anymore.

She wanted to spend her time in a bright, dimly lit and comfortable room while eating delicious sweets all night long instead of being trapped in a space like that.

And if those maids were to maintain such a wonderful space for them for the rest of their lives, it would not have been such a big deal if they came to clean it up for a short period of time every now and then.

And above all else, Sheffield was a very strong and dependable person.

For Lime, who had finally been freed from her fear, the warmth of her skin was truly comforting.

* * *

「It was certainly unexpected happening, but you know what they say: it’s the end that matters at the end of the day.」

Sheffield told that to Bel-chan in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

Ever since the storage shed incident, Lime became calm as if she had undergone a complete change of heart.

On the contrary, the Meowofficers also actively helped with the cleaning process, thanks to which the cleaning time was greatly reduced compared to before.

It was said that Hood was happy that the two of them had managed to tame the Meowofficers earlier than the other factions as well.

「I also asked the administration to change that lock on the storage shed’s doors. Besides, that place could really use some thorough cleaning.」

It would seem that Sheffield was already standing at the ready to clean the storage shed.

While looking at her like that, Bel-chan glanced at her own body.

Ever since she saw Sheffield’s body in the bath the other day, Bel-chan had a certain change of heart as well.

—— I have always wanted to be like Belfast-nee-sama, and I have always wanted to be just like her.

As Bel-chan stared at Sheffield’s chest area, she asked her curiously.

「What are you doing, Bel-chan? Staring so intently at me like that?」

「O-Oh! N-Nothing! It’s nothing, really, Sheffield-san!」

Bel-chan tried to deceive her by shaking her hands vigorously and then getting back to her previously stopped work.

「Umm, please wait a moment here, Bel-chan」

However, this time around it was Sheffield who spoke up to Bel-chan completely out of the blue like that.

No way! Could it be? Could it really be that Sheffield managed to find out that Bel-chan was staring at her chest just now?

It’s not something that was completely impossible, since Sheffield was someone who had extraordinarily sharp intuition when it comes to things like that.

—— I mean, it’s not like I was trying to compare Sheffield-san to Belfast-nee-sama in any regard! I just thought that Sheffield-san’s body seemed like my ideal proportions, that’s all……

Bel-chan was serious when she thought that to herself, and she was just thinking that, hoping that Sheffield would actually become a role model for her when it comes to acting and carrying yourself like an adult woman would.

She felt that way ever since she was so indebted to Sheffield for that incident with the redstart, and this time as well. Despite her cold air, she really had a kind heart, that Sheffield.

—— That is why, my intentions here are pure and professional, is all.

A bead of sweat ran down Bel-chan’s back……And it was precisely at that exact time that……

「Sheffi…… You can call me Sheffi, if you want.」

The words that Bel-chan would never imagine coming from Sheffield’s mouth were directed at her.

「Umm, well, I mean……」

Sheffield suddenly turned away from her when Bel-chan tilted her head incomprehensibly.

「I want you to call me Sheffi from now on, not Sheffield.」

She seemed to be referring to the way in which Bel-chan was calling her.

Bel-chan’s expression went completely blank there for a moment, but then the small maid immediately smiled brightly.

「Yes! Sheffi…… -san!」

Then she ran up to her and stood right next to her, lined up together and the two started mopping together in unison.

—— I knew it! Sheffi-san…… is a really kind person!

By spending the same amount of time with her over and over again, Bel-chan was hoping that she would be able to come closer and closer to Sheffield. Even more than she already was.