The sound of buzzing cicadas flowed through the open hatches of Miho's tank, accompanied by the unbearable summer heat. Inside, no one dared to speak in the blistering heat of the crew compartment; the hums and vibrations from the engine, normally filling this silence, was absent. A cough came from one of the other tanks nearby, quickly followed by several hushes and an apology. Miho wiped sweat away from her eyes and looked over at Hana who bore a content smile as she fanned herself.
"It's too hot…" Mako mumbled, slouching deeper into the driver's seat. Hana nodded slowly in agreement.
"Shame that tanks don't come with air conditioning," she remarked as she climbed out of the gunner's seat to fan Mako.
"Well, some modern day tanks do. In World War Two, crew comfort was never really a top priority," Yukari commented as she gazed up at the trees above us through her crew hatch. "Besides, humans can sleep anywhere as long as they're tired enough,"
"Shut up… the cicadas are too loud anyway," Saori said as she leaned her head up against the radio, bags underneath her eyes from a previous sleepless night of studying.
"…!"
An unintelligible voice came through the headset around Saori's neck. She let a yawn slip out as she lazily brought the headset up.
"Repeat your last message, over," Saori leaned back casually, rubbing one of her baggy eyes. As they spoke again, she paused momentarily and sat up straight.
"W-wait, slow down… how many? Ok, we'll be ready… yeah, just head through the town and we'll be concealed in the tree line on the left… yeah, good luck,"
"Was that them?" Miho asked as she nudged Yukari to close her crew hatch.
"Yeah, they'll be here in about fifty seconds– the whole other team is on their heels too." Saori said.
"Excellent. Tell everyone to get ready," Miho ordered. Hana collapsed her fan and crawled back into the gunner's position, Mako still on the verge of passing out. The temperature inside rose instantaneously as everyone shut their crew hatch but Miho.
"All teams this is Angler fish. Enemy team is taking the bait and will appear in full force at the planned location." Saori said into the radio.
A mix of automatic fire and explosions began to echo out of the town. As Miho stood from inside of her hatch, a breeze cooled her damp skin. She looked over at the town just as Duck team rolled into view, automatic fire bouncing off their armor and enemy tank shells landing all around them.
"Ambush teams, hold fire until Miho gives the order," Saori said as the first enemy tank rolled out of the town.
A noisy mechanical hum filled the crew compartment as the main gun began to follow the lead tank. Miho quickly glanced back inside the crew compartment and saw Saori staring intently at her, waiting for the command to begin the ambush. She took a deep breath and shouted into the hot summer air, silencing the buzzing cicadas.
"Ute!"
