"Bunch" continued her duties in the screen into the 6th, when she received orders to rendezvous with off Okinawa's western beaches for a conference on board that ship. She remained close by during the conference and, at 1605, received a report of enemy planes in the area. While anti-aircraft fire blossomed in the sky on her port quarter, "Bunch" spotted a Mitsubishi A6M5 "Zeke" carrier fighter on her starboard quarter at long range. Her starboard 40-millimeter guns took the fighter under fire at a range of 700 yards and soon disintegrated his tail. The "Zeke" then went out of control, splashing into the sea 100 yards from the warship on her port beam. After returning passengers to "Estes" during the first dog watch, "Bunch" resumed screening and remained with "Estes" through the 7th and into the 8th.