Arpeggio of Blue Steel

House of Dolls

With Iwo Jima surrouded by the enemy fleet, Hyuga makes contact with Kongou by Gunzō's request, asking for a meet in private with her mental model before they begin hostilities. Kongou answers her call and she rendezvous with them at the beach, accompained by the Heavy Cruiser Maya. As the rest of the crew remain on standby aboard the I-401, Gunzō discuss with Kongou and the other mental models about the real intentions of the Fleet of Fog and learns from her that she and the other ships have only one purpose, which is to follow the "Admiralty Code" that instructed them to chase the humans away from the seas and prevent all contact overseas between them. Instead of discussing the matter further, Gunzō invites the guests for a barbecue at the beach where Kongou asks Iona about the reason why all ships who come in contact with her start displaying a behavior independent from the Admiralty Code, but when she refrains from responding, Kongou claims that she will not fall by their trap and it is revealed that both her and Maya's mental models are actually decoys, with their cores being safely guarded at their respective ships to prevent them from being influenced by human behavior, before they begin to attack. Hyuga has a hard time defending the island against the enemy barrage until Takao, Haruna and Kirishima step in to assist her. Disappointed that he and Kongou could not see eye to eye, Gunzō declares that it's up to him to find a way past her and deliver the vibration torpedo to the United States.