Miho set the stack of papers she was holding down on the table in front of her and sighed. She had three days to decide which university offer she would accept and was lost. All the universities had great academic programs, fantastic locations, and most importantly, strong sensha-do teams. But the issue was Miho wasn't completely sure she WANTED to go to university. Maybe she'd follow her sister into the JSDF Officer Training Program. Perhaps she'd move back home and mend what fences still exist between herself and her mother and inherit the Nishizumi style.

"Ugh… I can't think of this anymore today." Miho stood and, with a glance backwards at her table, and the letters scattered on it, and left her apartment. Maybe a walk will help clear my mind. As she walked through the carrier town, she thought of each option in turn, weighing and judging the pros and cons of each.

Before long Miho's thoughts had changed to thinking of her last year of high school. After the challenging battle with the University team, life at Oorai had continued on. Some aspects changed, like a new student council, but in some ways it stayed the same. Of course, Miho mused, the new student council is definately less… involved with the Sensha-Do team. With The old council having graduated to university, Miho was given complete control over the Sensha-Do team, and with it new members and responsibilities. She had made new friends, lost friends, and while Oorai finished as Runner Up in the

Also during this time Miho had reconnected with her mother and had made progress with coming to terms with the differences in Sensha-Do styles that existed. It did help that Miho had proven her strength at planning and executing a battle plan, and that Maho had petitioned that Miho could bring new ideas and practices to Sensha-Do as a whole.

Looking up, Miho noted that while lost in her thoughts, the walk had brought her back around to her apartment block. With a notable disinterest, Miho climbed the stairs to her floor and went into her apartment. She didn't even get fifteen paces in when her doorbell chimed.

"Coming!" Miho wondered who was at her door. Could it be Saori? Highly doubtful; Saori always called or texted before coming over, and a quick check of her phone indicated that she didn't miss a single call or text. Stepping up to her door, she was surprised to see a group of people standing outside through the peephole. None of them looked threatening, so Miho slowly opened the door.

"Good day." Miho stated, with a hint of suspicion.

"Nishizumi Miho, I presume?" Asked a man standing to the left of the group. Miho looked at him and nodded.

The group was comprised of two men, most likely in their mid-forties, and two women, one who appeared to be about the same age and one who was only a few years older than Miho herself.

"Perfect, perfect. My name is Charles Salt, and I represent the World Tankery League. We were hoping you could spare a few minutes?"

Miho didn't answer for a few long seconds, then simply said "Certainly."

As her apartment was not large enough to hold all present (not that she was overly willing to let them in anyways), and after a quick discussion to that effect, Miho lead the group to a local cafe. Once they were seated, Mr. Salt pulled a folder out of his briefcase and set it on the table and looked at Miho again.

"I'm sure you're curious as to what business the World Tankery League has with you. Well, I'll cut straight to the chase as it's quite simple. We came here to advise you that we are very interested in having you join the league. There was a draft held a few days ago and your name was called."

Miho could only stare at the man and say "This is the first I've heard of this."

The other man present spoke up. "Of course. The letter informing you of the draft, and your subsequent drafting was sent to what we thought was your residence, which we just found out recently is incorrect. I'm Roger English, by the way. Your league assigned agent. Once we found out that you had not returned to Kuromorimine, it became somewhat of a mess, and we thought it would best to inform you in person. We had assumed you would return to your home once the school year was finished. Obviously we were wrong."

Miho slowly nodded her head. Most of her friends had returned to the mainland where their families resided after graduation. Those who had family on the Zuikaku itself had moved on to their respective universities. Well, most of them.

"Understandable," Miho started slowly, "but what do you mean by 'My name was called?'" Miho had heard of the World Tankery League, but hadn't really paid it any attention.

"Meaning, a team in the league selected you to join their team. They chose you, over of a lot of other women, to be the future of their team. Of course, there is no legal obligation for you to join, but that's why we are here: to inform you of your draft status and convince you to join."

Miho looked back at Mr. Salt. "And your role with the league is…"

"Vice President of Player Operations. Basically I make sure contracts are legal, assist the player's association with their issues, and a bunch of other stuff to help the sport and league grow and stay strong."

"Ah."

The older woman extended her hand to Miho. "I'm Jessica Flint. I'm the Manager of the team that selected you. The other young lady here is Mari Huber, the team captain. She doesn't speak much Japanese though."

Miho shoot the woman's hand, still somewhat confused as to everything happening. When she shook Mari's hand, she heard the other young woman say 'Hello' in very broken Japanese. Her accent sounded German to Miho.

"Anyways, I'd like for you to join our team." Ms. Flint leaned forwards and rested her elbows on the table. "We're rebuilding our team this year and we need good crews. Looking at who we drafted this year and last year, I think we're going to have a fantastic team in the next few, and..." Miho found that as the woman talked about the team, she became more interested in what the woman was saying.

"... besides which, it's going to be a new challenge for you. A lot of differences, and a lot of cultures to understand and learn about."

"That sounds interesting! Where is this team located? What ship is it on?"

Ms. Flint grinned and leaned back in her chair. "No ships, the teams in this league are land based."

Mr. Salt spoke up "There are twenty-four teams in the league, divided into two separate conferences: Atlantic and Pacific, meaning that there are twelve teams on the Atlantic ocean and twelve on the Pacific. Land based, with transport to get between them. A lot of the match grounds are in neutral locations, but each team also has a personal training ground that can be used for matches as well."

Miho was becoming more and more interested in the league, but still had no idea where this team was located or anything about the league itself. When she asked, all the others looked at each other first.

"Well…" Mr. English paused here for a few seconds, then continued "The team that drafted you is in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It's in Canada. Atlantic coast." He pulled a sheet of paper with a map printed on it, with Halifax highlighted in red, and Oorai highlighted in blue. A number was printed at the bottom of the map. 10,683km. Miho could only stare at the number. It was halfway around the earth!

"Wow…" was all Miho could think.

"We know it's quite a distance away, but…"

Miho slumped in her chair. Between trying to select a university, go back to the Nishizumi school, join the Officer Training program, and now this, she was exhausted.

"Either way, we'd like for you to review these documents. Maybe this will help you decide." Mr Salt pushed his folder over to her. Inside was what appeared to be a rules booklet, some other information regarding the league, plus some assorted odds and ends about Halifax, Canada, and some print outs. "If you can, can you look these over tonight and let us know by tomorrow?"

Miho very slowly closed the folder. Stapled to the cover were three business cards: Mr. Salt, Me. English, and Ms. Flint.

Miho stood, and while bowing, stated "I will."

The other four stood, and after shaking hands, left. Miho slowly sat back down in her seat and looked at the folder again. Deciding that she would rather read it's contents in her apartment, she stood, picked up the folder, and headed home.