Real Synopsis

A year has passed since Oarai's victory on the National Senshado tournament. The Oarai school carrier has been saved from being closed down and is now enjoying a surge of investments from different sponsors. However, the school's board of directors has decided that participation in Senshado is not enough. The students must earn victories from other tournaments as well. With the added increase of the school's budget, the Supreme Student Council has decided that the time has now come for the Naval Studies Department to finally make its entry to the National Naval War Games tournament.

Main Characters are original but some characters of the show will also play major roles in the story.

Chapter 1

Summons

THIRD YEAR NAVAL STUDENT Mitsuki Watari stepped out from the front passenger side of the car and was immediately greeted by the early dawn's cool wet air. She felt the chill assaulting her pale cheeks but suppressed the urge to shiver. A light fog had also developed and, on this spring morning, she could feel the dew condensing on her black naval commissar's uniform, getting her shirt and pants all wet and damp. Today was a Friday, she should have just worn a Class B uniform but when summons came at this godforsaken hour, there was no time to pick up the correct clothes and so she grabbed the first one that she could find. She frowned, this was her last clean set of her commissar uniforms before she had to do laundry and the prospect of having to spend the weekend evening washing them didn't entice her one bit.

She tugged at her sleeves, trying to straighten up the wrinkles, before moving to open the back door of the car.

A twin-tailed blond girl, one head shorter than her, emerged from the back seat of the car. Unlike her, she wore a white naval officer's uniform but with a number of insignias in her collar and shoulder boards that indicated she was of higher rank. The triple stripes and triple chrysanthemum flowers in her collar indicated that she was a Kaigun-daisa or Naval Captain and the anchor with a book medal pinned to her chest indicated she was no ordinary Captain.

Sanae Shimizu, day-shift Captain of the massive Oarai School Carrier, inhaled deeply the cool morning air before power walking her way toward the entrance of the General School Administration Building which houses the office of the Supreme Student Council President.

"Come Watari," growled her superior. "The Supremo should have a damned good reason for summoning us on this damned hour."

Mitsuki said nothing as she watched her twin-tailed Superior disappear into the entrance of the Admin building.

Tiny droplets of rain started to fall on her, further drenching her clothes and long charcoal black hair. She raised her head to look at the sky and saw dark clouds about to release their contents as cold spring rain. A downpour was about to begin, an ominous sign.

"Stop standing there Watari, get inside now!"

Mitsuki sighed and then proceeded to walk toward the door.

The corridor leading toward the office of the Student Council President was unlit and only the weak hue of early morning light, distorted by stained glass windows, provided any sort of illumination. In the silence of the empty corridor, their footsteps echoed off around the walls that loudly announced their presence but nobody came to greet them. They were all alone, as expected of the time.

Mitsuki took out her phone and checked out the time. It was 5:25 AM. Too early… The time was too early for anything which could only mean that this was urgent and certainly not a friendly chat with teas and cupcakes. If her miserable luck was of any indication, she already knew on what to expect.

Though not informed about the real reason for the meeting, it was obviously clear to her that it would have to be something about the recent string of accidents happening in the Naval Studies department during the start of the school year and the failure of the Commissars aka, Morals Committee, to take any measures to prevent it. Though initial investigations seemed to point out to human error or structural fatigue, she couldn't actually rule out sabotage. Indeed, it was quite disconcerting that a few of the evidences, could also suggest an attempt to foil the Naval Studies' long awaited entry to this annual Naval War Games. Of course, pursuing such a line of thought meant that she would be crossing over to conspiracy theory territory and she did not want to do that with the current amount of evidence.

Not yet at least, but soon.

"They are looking down on us," mumbled Sanae.

It took several seconds for Mitsuki to realize that her twin-tailed superior was actually talking to her. "Uh, yes captain?"

"The General Studies department," Sanae continued. "They take us for granted even as we toil and work our asses off to keep this damned ship afloat. Do they think we are here for their beck and call? Don't they know we have other better things to do like sleep?"

Aside from the students of the Naval Studies, there exist in the whole School Carrier other departments such as engineering, sports, fisheries and a lot of others. The largest of these departments was the General Studies which had the lion's share of students enrolled. The student-sailors of the Naval Studies amiably call them landlubbers as they live above deck and do not need to work eight hours a day to pay for their tuition.

"I'm sure the landlubbers don't really think of that about us."

"Is it now?" Sanae abruptly stop walking and turn to look at the black-haired commissar straight in the eye. "This is why you suck at being the head of the naval commissariat Watari. You are a keen observer and yet are too afraid to make a stand for your convictions."

Mitsuki furrowed her brows at the blunt criticism. She knew what her captain was talking about. She had once reported her findings regarding the accidents to her with a footnote that conveyed her suspicions. However, when she was told to explain further her reservations, she fumbled and kept on correcting herself until her twin-tailed superior reprimanded her for being too indecisive with the results.

She wanted to try again and explain herself but decided now was not the time. "But… But why would they look down on us?"

The twin-tailed captain snorted. "Why won't they? Did the passengers of the Titanic paid any attention to the crew before they struck an iceberg? To them high school life is one long sea cruise and why would they pay us any attention? We are just robots working below decks while they all enjoy the sunshine above."

"Perhaps that might be the reason as to why you didn't get to be the Student Council President? You have trust is-?" Mitsuki placed a hand on her mouth as she realized she just blurted out something upsetting for her captain. However, to her surprise, Sanae just let out a genuine chuckle at the mention of her loss.

"That," Sanae conceded. "And the fact that the previous president was a ruthless tyrant who endorsed another landlubber to succeed her instead of someone from the Naval Studies department."

"She was elected to the post captain."

Sanae raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well uh," Mitsuki shrugged. "She did win the popular vote, after all, she's a legend."

The twin-tailed captain continued to stare at her subordinate but Mitsuki held her ground. "Watari, popularity is a poor indicator of being a leader."

"Yes but…" Mitsuki trailed off and didn't continue her response as she broke eye contact, lowered her head, and saw her Captain's hands were instinctively clenched into tight fists.

The election was horribly one-sided. The students of the General studies department vote unanimously for the current Student Council President and even in the Naval Studies she got the majority vote of the freshmen. It was only with the junior and senior students of the Naval Studies did Sanae got any solid support.

Mitsuki thought her twin-tailed superior would launch a tirade of excuses at her but instead she just let out a heavy sigh before proceeding to continue her walk. "What can I say? The election was rigged from the start. The previous dictator endorsed a very popular candidate. Who can win against her?"

They continued their walk in silence, climbed three flights of stairs, before reaching a pair of wooden doors made of mahogany and decorated with ornate carvings of birds. Above the doors was a phrase in what appears to be in Latin saying, Scholasticus Concilio Praesidim Officio, or, as she was informed, translated to Office of the Student Council President. She didn't really understand why it was written in Latin but she could appreciate as to how the arcane language added to the grandeur to the office of Student Council President.

Mitsuki stole a glance to her twin-tailed captain and saw her looking at the sign with contempt. It was expected she supposed. She then stepped in front of her superior to stand directly at the doors before raising a hand to knock.

Knuckles met wood and she could hear her knocks reverberating all across the empty hallways. A few seconds passed, there was no answer. She knocked again and waited for another couple of seconds. Still no answer.

Mitsuki frowned. She moved her gaze down to the bottom of the doors and saw light coming out from the opposite side.

The room was occupied.

"Move aside Watari," Her twin-tailed captain stepped beside her and proceeded to pound the doors with her clenched fists. "Hey your majesty! Open up! The hell is wrong with you calling us so early in the morning?"

It took another several seconds of silence before they got a reply from the intercom.

"Sorry! S-so sorry…" Both turned their attention to a box beside the doors which was making crackling noises and they could hear a voice of a girl distorted by static. "S-Sorry for keeping you waiting… I'll uh open the locks now."

A beep and the intercom went silent. Another beep and they heard a clicking sound from behind the doors.

Mitsuki turn to look at her superior who gave her a nod indicating her to proceed. She nodded back and then placed her hands on the doorknobs, turning them both at the same time, she then gave them a push and the doors swung open.

Unlike the dark halls that they just passed through, the office of the Student Council President was well lit and Mitsuki could see all the trappings of excess in this spacious room. Antiques littered the room, a mini-library full of books stood at one corner, paintings of past presidents hang atop the walls, and a sitting area consisting of a sofa and two couches that were made of rich leather. The floor was paved with polished marble, like the one she once saw inside a fancy hotel in Tokyo, which made her feel uncomfortable walking on it with wet shoes. Mitsuki couldn't help but wonder as to where the past councils got the budget for all these stuff and yet still spout out to the public the usual excuse that the school was being tight with money. It looked criminal but it was not her job to investigate on that.

Her eyes then wandered from portrait to portrait of past presidents and saw the faces of ambitious young women donning bright smiles and innocent expressions despite the fact that they once held an incredible amount of power. Budding politicians groomed at such a young age.

Both Mitsuki and Sanae made their way toward the other end of the room where they stood in front of a girl with short brown hair seated behind an intricately carved wooden desk. The student council president sat in her chair, busy filling up documents, and oblivious that her two guests were already in front of her. Mitsuki immediately noticed her tired and haggard expression and realized that she may had been awake the whole night. Compared to the smiling portraits of her predecessors, her face did not actually convey confidence or strength but it looked like that of a novice politician who stared at the abyss of political bureaucracy and came out all beaten and spent. Her current state was a far-cry from her other leadership role that made her an overnight celebrity and a legend of the school.

"Um," Mitsuki cleared her throat and adjusted her collar. "Miss President, we've ar-"

But before she could finish up her sentence, her twin-tailed captain slammed both of her hands on the desk startling the president off of her chair.

"You've got a lot of nerves calling us here at this godforsaken hour," Sanae growled as she leaned over the desk and inched her face toward the president. "Well we're here now at your beck and call... Student Council President Nishizumi Miho"

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! When I saw Girls und Panzers years ago, I was immediately captivated by the settings. Girls riding tanks? What an absurdity! But I fell in love with the settings and the characters. For me, GuP was the best anime that was released in Fall 2012.

Anyways, though the story focused more on tanks, there was one part of the settings that intrigued me and that was the HUUUGE aircraft carrier these high school girls lived. How does that work and who the hell operates this big-ass ship? Luckily, GuP showed us the answer by airing OVA Episode 4 in which we see Miho and co. went all over the ship explaining to us viewers how things work in their crazy universe.

And that was also the time when I became truly fascinated by the Naval Studies department. Who were these student-sailors? What's their story? Do they have a tournament just like Senshado? (*cough* World of Warships *cough*)

Let's see and find out. XD

By the way, Chapter 1 initially was comprised of three scenes but I decided to release them per scene (for now) just so I can really start at writing and finally stop procrastinating.

Until next time!

Version History:

c1v1.0

c1v1.1 (2016/07/31) - made a minor update in order to be in sync with new developments in chapter 3