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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 4 Chapter 3 Part 2

「But then, you did not have to come all the way to the kitchen just for this one thing, isn’t that right?」

「Yes, I am well aware of that fact. And honestly speaking, it was just a pretext on my part. I just wanted to see the faces of my beloved sister ships, that is all there is to it.」

In response to Southampton’s huge grin, Sheffield stamped her card once again, and then she put it away while letting out a sigh filled with exasperation.

「Even though you may be of the same Class as ships, aren’t your sisters maids, and you are not?」

Looking at Southampton, Bel-chan tilted her head in puzzlement.

「That may indeed be so, but I have always thought that being a Knight under the command of King George V-sama suits me far better than being a mere maid…… But still, with the coming of the School Festival, the Maid Corps looks to be as busy as ever, I see?」

Southampton took the stamp card from Shieffield’s hands and turned around, apparently getting ready to walk away.

「Well then, I think it’s high time for me to go back to the Costume Team. Earlier, King Goerge V-sama told me to go to the Casting Team and start taking their measurements for the costumes, so I’d better get to that, pronto.」

After Southampton waved her hand and went away, Formidable put her hand on the door as well.

「Come to think of it, where is the storage place for your maid outfits, I wonder? As a reference for the costume, you were asked by Nee-san to borrow one of those.」

「Well then, in that case, let me show you to the storage. Please follow me.」

Saying so, Newcastle left the kitchen with Formidable following closely behind.

When the door closed behind the two of them with a loud sound, Sheffield glanced at Belfast and the others.

「…… So, as I was saying before I was interrupted like that, at the rate in which things are going, I don’t think that we are going to expect any kind of delays. At least not for the time being.」

Hearing her words with such implications, Belfast could only smile vaguely.

* * *

After that, there were no teams with any significant delays to their assigned tasks, and the remaining days until the School Festival were all spent in feverishly working towards making the stage play into the best performance ever that it was supposed to be.

All kinds of work was progressing smoothly and without interruptions or setbacks, and finally on the day right before the School Festival ——

A few days ago, the Casting Team started practicing the actual stage play in earnest, so instead of the meeting room in the Royal Navy’s dormitory, they switched to practicing at the actual theater where the play would take place.

Since it was the last rehearsal before the actual performance, Belfast had to stay behind in order to make sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be, and Curacoa was left with handling the debriefing meetings with the other groups, after which she was pretty much done.

「—— I-I want to go, too! Please, let me sortie as well ,so that I can go to the place where Rei-san went!」

At the current moment, it was already way past dinner time.

On top of the stage, Cygnet, who played the role of Boo-san, stood right in the center, right in the spotlight. The content they were currently practicing was a scene in which Boo-san was informed that Rei-san had gone missing, and Boo-san herself volunteered to join the Grand Fleet in order to retaliate against the Sirens. .

In the front row of the audience were Belfast, King George V, and Hood, who had now faded from the stage, watching Cygnet’s performance with serious expression.

「But Boo-san…… You might die as well if you go with the Fleet.」

It was Emile Bertin, a Light Cruiser of the Emile Bertin Class from Iris Libre, who came out onto the stage after saying that.

Emile played the role of a gentle senior character who was concerned about Boo-san from the bottom of her heart. When Belfast did not know she was going to be a part of the cast, she was really surprised to see her making an appearance.

In response to the words of Emile Bertin, who played her senior role very seriously, Cygnet said the following lines ——

「——- I’m sorry. I forgot my lines again……」

After a brief pause, King George V waved her hand at the shipgirls who were still on top of the stage.

「I know that some of you might still be nervous because the actual performance is so close at hand. For the time being, let us all catch a short break.」

This was the reason why the practice continued until so late into the night. Cygnet, who should have already memorized her lines little by little until yesterday, was not actually doing so well.

「Ugh…… I’m so hungry~.」

Belfast overheard Cygnet’s words, who was about to return to the waiting room for the time being while muttering to herself like that all the time.

While it was true that because of the practice everyone from the stage crew ate their meals way earlier than usual so that they would not have any distractions, it was around the time that not only Cygnet but also everyone else was starting to become increasingly hungry.

Belfast then looked at her wrist watch with concern painted all over her face.

「We could give everyone some sweets to give them more energy…… But it’s so late right now, and we also need to take the sugar content into account……」

「I wonder what happened to Cygnet-chan to become like that……?」

Then Hood murmured those words while sounding all uneasy as she descended into the audience and stood side by side with Belfast and the rest of the overseers.

「…… At this rate, we won’t make it in time for tomorrow’s performance, as bad as it sounds.」

Said King George V as she let out a resigned sigh, approaching Belfast and Hood.

「We have been practicing since this morning, but were still unable to bring the play to the ending part. This is starting to become really concerning.」

Then, Emile Bertin, who should have taken a rest alongside everyone else, came back from the waiting room and approached Belfast and the company.

「Hey guys, excuse me. Do you think that you could come with me for a moment?」

Wondering what’s going on, everyone followed after Emile Bertin, just like she asked them to.

After arriving at the waiting room, Emile Bertin tried to turn the doorknob, but it would not budge even a little bit for some reason.

「As you can clearly see, Cygnet-san seemed to have locked the door behind her, and she refuses to open it no matter what.」

「Cygnet-chan!? Is everything alright!?」

Hood knocks onto the waiting room’s door in a hurry, but there was no response from Cygnet at all.

「What the heck is going on, Cygnet……?」

At that moment, Cygnet’s stomach throbbed and thundered so loud that everyone could hear it coming from across the door..

「…… My stomach… its…… its……」

Cygnet mumbled those words in a faint voice.

「I’m so hungry…… And because of that all the lines in my head basically flew away, and……」

At that time, everyone present fell silent for a moment.

Then Cygnet suddenly started crying.

「I-I knew it! It’s impossible for someone like me! I can’t be the main character! I can’t star in a play such as this……!」

「C-Cygnet-chan? What are you even talking about?」

Cygnet would then respond in a panicked voice to Hood’s question.

「T-That’s because…… I have been doing my best for so long to make it all work out somehow…… But I am still not good at acting! Not even a little bit! I’m forgetting my lines all the time…… And now the rumbling of my stomach is making everything even worse……!」

「It’s a little bit too late for you to be saying that, especially with how the actual performance is tomorrow……」

Even though King George V calmly told her so, Cygnet’s depression did not stop there. Quite the opposite, it even grew worse.

「I-I know, but…… This is way too heavy of a burden to me……」

King George V looked at Belfast with a sign of pity in her eyes.

「Belfast, do we have some snacks ready here? If not, please go procure some. I think that as long as we manage to fill her stomach with something to eat, this problem will be as good as solved.

「That’s fine with me, but……」

Belfast thought for a moment out there before eventually telling to King George V.

「I don’t think that this particular line of reasoning is going to help us solve this problem right here and right now.」