I do not own Girls Und Panzer in any form. This is a work of fanfiction.
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Chapter 2: feels good to be together
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After spending a little more time outside, Maho and Erika went inside and dressed for breakfast. They soon joined the Maus crew, hitting the breakfast bar. It was better than their usual rations they get in the field, being fresh, hot and not vacuum sealed. Maho got the waffles with blueberry syrup and bacon on the side. Erika got the scrambled eggs with sausage patties, they both picked orange juice as their drinks. They sat together at a table for two and started eating. For the most part, they sat and quietly enjoyed their breakfast, aside from the occasional teammate coming by to talk with them for a moment.
Erika kept looking at her watch, which brought Maho to ask about it. "Got somewhere to be?"
"In a sense. While we're here, I wanted to try and take you on a date. I'm checking the time to try and figure a good time to start getting ready."
"Trying to woo me?"
"Why, is it working?"
"I don't see why you'd need to ask that after last night, but yes."
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The ladies went back up to their room and showered, then dressed for their date. Maho wore a simple white tank top with a medium length skirt and Navy blue sandals, Erika wearing a light yellow short sleeve shirt with a denim skirt and low topped shoes. Erika checked her phone to check the times for the city transit system and they took their leave.
Their first stop was a hobby shop which had all sorts of models, crafting and painting supplies. They both bought a couple of models for themselves, Maho getting the Tiger I and Tiger II, Erika getting the Jagdtiger and Jagdpanzer. They browsed some of the other models, like some from game series like the Metal Gear series. They saw one, which was not out of place among the other models, the Soviet Object 279. "Heh, too bad we can't use anything like this." Erika chuckled, pointing to the model.
"I know. There are so many Cold War models that would perform excellently, but they're outside of the rules." Maho agreed.
They saw one of the other vehicles, the 'Shagohod', which roughly translates to 'treading behemoth' from Russian. "This thing would be a killer addition." Maho said.
"What's that big tube on its back, a cannon?" Erika wondered.
Maho picked up the box and read the information out loud. "This vehicle features a launch tube for a nuclear IRBM. It uses rocket boosters to propel the vehicle up to 300 mph, acting like the first stage of a rocket. In this state of accelerated motion, an IRBM could reach anywhere in the United States from anywhere in the Soviet Union. It negates the need for silos, and cannot be detected by spy planes or satellites until the missile is launched."
"What's an IRBM?"
"Intermediate range ballistic missile."
"Good thing the US and Soviet Union never made anything like that. Much less actually using something like that."
Maho thought about it for a moment. "Do you remember some of the weird things the Americans and Soviets came up with during the cold war? There were nuclear torpedoes, nuclear landmines, even this thing..." Maho trailed off, pointing to an accessory from the Metal Gear series. "... the 'Davy Crockett' nuclear mortar."
"Nuclear mortar?"
"It fired a shell that was small enough to be carried in a small crate. It only had something in the neighborhood of a 20 ton yield, which wasn't really much, but everything and everyone in the immediate area was destroyed, and the radiation in the area was far beyond deadly."
"Wow. What would they have used that for?" Erika asked, checking out the accessory.
"It was supposed to provide the US and allies with a means for destroying or at least disabling Soviet tanks if they had broken west past the Iron Curtain. Mostly because Soviet tanks outnumbered allied tanks by as many as 10 to 1."
"Really glad nobody used this."
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Their next stop was to a jewelry store, where Maho wanted to get Miho a small gift and have it engraved with the Oarai symbol. Erika saw the opportunity and decided to get something for Maho. She went over to the other counter where the necklaces and rings were. Maho picked out a pocket watch and handed the clerk a picture of the Oarai symbol for the engraving. He put the picture into the scanner and put the pocket watch into the engraving machine. Once the image was scanned, a precision engraving tool started cutting the design into the watch lid. Once it was finished, he removed the watch and cleaned the leftover shavings away from it and started polishing it with a special buffer and polish chemical. Finished, it glistened like polished obsidian.
Maho paid and went to look for Erika, but she wasn't far from her. She brought Maho over to a small mirror and had her look, then close her eyes. She put a silver chain on Maho's neck, then let her look. "Wow, this is gorgeous." Maho said, looking it over.
"Gorgeous is one way to look at it, but that's how I look at you." Erika said.
Maho pulled Erika in for a kiss on the lips. "Look at you, being sweet on me like this."
"I can't help it. I mean, look at you. Pretty, smart, funny and loving."
"With a lady like you to love, it's easy."
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Along their way to their next stop, they saw a train with tanks approaching the crossing they were at. Maho took out her phone to take pictures, but was kind of surprised to see what was on board. There were Cold War era Soviet tanks on board. What really stumped the both of them was that they appeared to have Sensha-Do school symbols on them. The weirdest one was the last one, which looked like a modern Russian tank. "What, are they going to start a Cold War Sensha-Do program?" Maho asked out loud.
"That's the only thing I can think of." Erika replied.
After the train went by, they finally made their way to a small Italian place for an early dinner. Maho feeling somewhat playful after the jewelry shop, decided to play it smooth, like in the old cartoons. She ordered a large plate of spaghetti with breadsticks when the waiter came for their order. While they waited, Erika got a little playful herself and pulled Maho up for a dance with the music. She spun her, then pulled her in close, holding both of her hands. She kept going, dipping her at the song's finish, leaning down for a kiss. They danced together until their meal arrived.
They broke bread and started eating. The breadsticks had a firm crust, but were soft inside. They got to the spaghetti, and after eating a few bites each, Maho saw her opportunity. She picked up the longest piece of spaghetti and waited until Erika picked up the other end. They started slurping it up and eventually looked each other in the eye when Erika saw what Maho was doing. They continued until they met at the lips for a quick kiss. "You sly tigress. You saw that coming." Erika said with a smile.
"Why do you think I ordered the spaghetti? I wanted this to happen." Maho replied with a smile of her own.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, what with you being the tactician you are."
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Their day finally through, Maho and Erika went back to the hotel. Along the way, they messaged Miho and Yukari, wanting to watch something on the TV as a group. When they arrived, they were greeted by an energetic Yukari, who was happy to see them both. They came in and looked through the dvd collection, picking out the classic series 'Band of Brothers'. As Miho was putting the dvd in the player, Maho showed Yukari the pictures of the train. Her eyes again wide open, Yukari looked over every picture. "I'm guessing you know what they are?"
"Certainly! These first two are T-54B, these two are T-72A, that one is a T-80UM1 Snow Leopard, and the last one is a T-90S." Yukari answered, seemingly lovestruck at the pictures.
"What are Cold War and Modern Russian tanks doing here? War games?" Miho asked, coming over to peek at the pictures, stopping when she noticed the school emblems. "Wait, what are school symbols doing on these?"
"That's what go us too. No way these are within regulations for Sensha-Do. The T-55 units, maybe, since the T-54 had prototypes made before the end of World War 2."
"I'm kind of surprised those don't have Pravda emblems on them." Erika said.
"Yukari, I'll send these to your phone. If you could, please ask Captain Chono what she knows about them."
"Sure thing."
The DVD started playing and Miho went into the kitchen to start popping popcorn.