Mobile Game Wife Comes Knocking

The little girl drew out her words, "Or maybe we should dip Laffey in chocolate and eat her up~"

ps: Recommend that Azur Lane players check out the anime Micchiri Sailing—it's pretty good.

Chapter 10: Opening Torpedo Strike

Little Laffey, clearly making dangerous gestures and saying dangerous lines, yet her small face wore a dazed expression, so innocent that Ye Ming felt no stir in his heart—in fact, he almost wanted to laugh.

One look at Laffey like this, and Ye Ming knew pure little Laffey had no idea what this meant, let alone the consequences. The little girl must have learned it from someone else.

Smack!

Ye Ming turned on the light, sat up from the bed, and held back a laugh as he looked at the little girl: "Come on, who did you learn that from?"

"Huh? Did Laffey not do it right?"

Laffey was crushed. She lowered her head, and after a moment confessed: "Laffey learned it from Prinz Eugen. Laffey also saw Taihou practicing it lots of times in the Commander's office."

"Prinz Eugen? Taihou?"

Ye Ming blinked.

Based on their in-game voice lines, Prinz Eugen and Taihou did seem like the kind of Ship-Girls who would do something like this.

As an Iron Blood heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen was the very proactive type. Ye Ming remembered that in the game, when you touched Prinz Eugen, she'd ask back, "Is this much enough for you?" With a special touch, she'd say, "Alright, now it's my turn to taste you~" In short, she was a very forward Iron Blood big sister. After marrying, she'd even whine about suddenly feeling weak all over and needing the Commander's kiss to get up.

As for Taihou, she went a step further than Prinz Eugen—not just proactive, but a full-blown yandere.

Sweet little Laffey was a completely different type from them.

"Prinz Eugen is Prinz Eugen, Taihou is Taihou, and Laffey is Laffey. Laffey is different from them. What they do won't necessarily suit Laffey."

Ye Ming didn't want his Laffey to turn into a yandere, but he also didn't want to discourage the little girl.

"Laffey is the cutest Laffey, one of a kind. No need to imitate them."

Ye Ming said these cheesy words without changing his expression.

"Even if the Commander says that, Laffey won't be happy."

Laffey pursed her lips, her eyes curving into crescent moons.

"Commander, a gift."

Laffey held the gift box out to Ye Ming.

Ye Ming reached out and took it, only then realizing it was the boxed chocolate Laffey had specially picked out at the supermarket. All the way here, Laffey had carefully carried it herself.

"This is... specially bought for me?" Ye Ming was surprised.

Laffey nodded: "This is Laffey's Valentine's Day chocolate this year. Even though it was bought with the Commander's money, Laffey picked it out herself after a long time, so it counts as Laffey's handmade chocolate. Commander, Happy Valentine's Day."

Valentine's Day was long past. What kind of Valentine's Day was he celebrating now?

Ye Ming wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

He remembered. In the game, Laffey was his first Oath Ship, accompanying him through the early newbie period. In Ye Ming's heart, Laffey had always held a special place.

Azur Lane had an interesting mechanic: placing a Ship-Girl in the secretary slot increased affinity. On Valentine's Day, the Ship-Girl in the first secretary slot would give Valentine's chocolate, which the Commander could collect from the warehouse.

Although Ye Ming usually put newly built Ship-Girls in the secretary slot to grind affinity, every year on the day before Valentine's Day, he would switch the secretary to Laffey. For three consecutive years, Ye Ming received Laffey's Valentine's chocolate.

But in the fourth year, he quit the game. Before quitting, the first secretary slot wasn't Laffey.

Now, long after Valentine's Day had passed, in the real world, Laffey had personally handed him the fourth year's Valentine's chocolate.

His Laffey had always remembered this.

How could Ye Ming not be moved?

"Laffey." Ye Ming hugged the little girl tightly, feeling as if his heart was being healed by her.

"Commander, tonight, can Laffey sleep with the Commander?"

Little Laffey curled up in Ye Ming's arms, her voice lazy.

"Laffey likes the Commander's scent."

"Mm, of course you can."

At this moment, how could Ye Ming disappoint the cutest Laffey?

And so, Laffey climbed into Ye Ming's bed.

Ye Ming turned off the light, and the two chatted about the past on the bed, talking late into the night until Laffey fell asleep without realizing it. With heavy eyelids, Ye Ming yawned, tucked the blanket around Laffey, and sank into a deep sleep.

At 9:30 the next morning, when a girl named Fu Hua couldn't get through on the phone and used the key Ye Ming's mother had given her to open the door, this was the scene she saw.

The bedroom door was half open. Inside the bedroom, on the bed, the young man named Ye Ming and a petite little girl were curled up sleeping together, the little girl's white hair spread over both of them, creating a somewhat picturesque atmosphere.

The girl froze.

Chapter 11: A Bakumatsu Love Story

"His illness... it's Tuberculosis. I gave it to him."

A girl named Okita Souji said quietly. The absurd answer made Yae Sakura's eyes widen in disbelief.

Yae Sakura almost instinctively wanted to ask why, but noticing the strange emotions swirling in Okita Souji's amber eyes, she found herself closing her mouth instead.

The girl named Okita Souji had eyes that seemed lost in recollection and melancholy—the very same eyes that Yae Sakura had seen in the Warring States era, in the village of Yae in Shinano, whenever she pressed that man about his past. He would always chuckle softly, shake his head, and say nothing, merely gazing at some unreachable distance with that exact same look Okita Souji wore now.

For some reason, at this moment, Yae Sakura found herself feeling a twinge of jealousy toward the girl before her.

Okita Souji did not notice Yae Sakura's unease; she was already immersed in the memories of the past.

"Japan's Bakumatsu was an era of unprecedented upheaval. The arrival of the Black Ships in 1853 shattered the nation's long-closed doors, sending tremors through thought and system alike, plunging the entire country into chaos."

What they called chaos was like a great whirlpool where mighty rivers converged. Every person caught in such times was but a grain of sand within it—countless lives, fates, ideals, and ambitions churning, merging, and colliding.

"It was also the last glorious age where individual martial prowess could sway the winds of fate. Those who wielded the sword swung it for ideals, for loyalty, or for personal ambition and advancement. Countless master swordsmen used their will, their blood, and their lives to compose one breathtaking tale after another."

"He and I lived in that very era."

"He was a foundling Master Kondo picked up by the riverbank. From childhood, we trained together under Master Kondo in the Tennen Rishin-ryu style. He was a very strange person—how should I put it?"

Okita Souji furrowed her brow slightly: "Before I met him, everyone I encountered—whether dojo samurai or roadside paupers, whether they were laughing or excited—seemed to carry invisible shackles on their backs, making it impossible to truly relax. But he was completely different."

"His temperament was unlike anyone I'd ever met. He had tremendous talent in swordsmanship, yet he was always finding new ways to slack off, and he'd always try to drag me along too. When I asked him why, he'd rattle off nonsense like 'Sir, the times have changed' or 'What's the point of slaving away at sword practice just to give your teammates a twenty-five percent crit damage boost?'—all kinds of baffling things."

"But later, as we grew up, he started to settle down and focus on his sword training. When I asked him why, he shamelessly said something like, 'I'm not training hard for myself—I'm training so I can protect the invincible and strongest Miss Okita in the future.' Such ridiculous words..."

"Back then, I was obsessed with the sword. To be honest, I thought someone with his personality could never achieve much in swordsmanship. But eventually, I realized I was wrong. Once he set his mind to something, he would unleash a focus and diligence that could make anyone sit up and take notice."

"For over a decade, aside from our regular training, he would practice suburi against a tree with me every single day."

"In his spare time, he'd often say things like 'The shogunate is doomed; sticking with them leads nowhere,' or 'If you pick the right moment to latch onto the anti-shogunate faction, you'll never have to worry about food or clothing.' I knew he didn't want me to join the shogunate like Master Kondo and Mr. Hijikata. He didn't want anything to happen to me."

"But I still joined Mr. Hijikata's group."

As she said this, a flicker of something—whether pain or regret—glimmered faintly in Okita Souji's eyes.

Okita Souji understood her own heart well. The reason she joined Hijikata's group, beyond the bonds of their shared dojo, was another important factor—she wanted to go further, to catch a glimpse of the Sword Saint Realm.

For a swordsman devoted to the blade, what could be more alluring than the way of the sword itself?

A swordsman's path was not something achieved through empty talk or ascetic training. Japan's only two Sword Saints in history had both forged their road to the Sword Saint Realm through war after war, with blood and fire.

"Ascending to the next peak of swordsmanship is the instinct of every swordsman. I never thought I would regret that decision one day. But in the end, I did regret it."

"Because he joined the Roshigumi too."

"In that turbulent era, we fought our way from Edo all the way to Kyoto, forging the Roshigumi's fearsome reputation as the Bakumatsu's Top Swordsman Group with the blood and lives of countless swordsmen. In the storm-tossed capital of Kyoto, we carried out the assassination of Serizawa Kamo, the Ikedaya Incident, and a series of other jaw-dropping operations. We became the most renowned swordsmen in the newly formed Shinsengumi—and at the same time, the shogunate's lapdogs, executioners with blood-soaked hands."

"Then the shogunate began to crumble, and I contracted Tuberculosis."

Okita Souji would never forget the deep night she fell ill with Tuberculosis, and the conversation she had with that man.

"Why did you join the Shinsengumi?"

Souji had asked him that.

And she remembered the man smiling and saying, "You might not believe me, but for me, not long from now, most of the people wielding swords in this land will become enemies..."

Souji stared unblinkingly into the man's eyes.

The man's smile faded, and he sighed.

"Alright, the truth is, at first I planned to court you and make you my wife. I mean, you're the super cute comedian Miss Okita, and a hidden big-chested one at that. It's rare to get to meet the real person, so of course I'd think about marrying her."

"But now... well. I realized that somewhere along the way, I've come to see you as family. Somewhere along the way, without even noticing, I got used to our daily ascetic training, used to practicing suburi with you, used to sparring with real swords, used to standing back-to-back with you against an enemy encirclement..."

"For me, this is a life lived anew, a foreign land. If what you seek is the scenery of a higher peak in swordsmanship, then I don't mind climbing to the summit of the sword alongside you."

At this point, Souji fell silent for a long time, not continuing.

Yae Sakura pressed eagerly: "What happened after that? What happened later?"

"Later..."

What "later" could there be?