A/N: At last! Chapter 2 is finally here and it's much longer than chapter 1 too! I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: See prologue
Chapter 2: We Ride Tanks and We Fly Planes
"Are you sure we can work with these beat-up things?"
"Probably,"
"I think newer tanks are better, just like finding a new guy"
"What the heck is that supposed to mean, Saori?"
"I don't think that's right."
"How can I be wrong? Anyway, we only have one tank and one plane. But with the number of people in these classes…"
"We need five people total to operate the tank and only one person to fly the Hayabusa." Momo said as she looked over the two machines.
"But what will we do with the rest of the guys who won't be able to fly the plane?" Toshiro asked, crossing his arms.
"They'll have to be either spares or work as mechanics and weapon loaders." Takeo answered him, holding out a clipboard and looking over a couple of papers on it.
"But with all the girls here, we'd need only five to operate this tank." One of the boys said as he looked at the Panzer IV.
"So, shouldn't we be looking for other tanks and planes?" A girl from the first year students asked.
"Can we really do that?" Another girl asked.
"According to the school records," Takeo said showing his clipboard to Momo. "The school got rid of both its tankery and dogfighting classes' years ago; but the tanks and planes that they used should still be around somewhere."
"I'm sure they're around here then." Momo said after looking over the document before looking at the other students. "Our tankery and flight instructors should be coming here the day after tomorrow. We will find the remaining four tanks and the remaining three planes before then."
That sounded like a good idea to Daisuke, considering all they had at the moment were a Panzer IV and a Ki-43-III model Hayabusa. Both were in disrepair but at the same time they looked like that they could still work. While Daisuke knew about tanks as much as some people, his knowledge of them was not as reliable as his knowledge on airplanes. But he knew one thing, if their school was going to compete in this year's Tankery championships and Dogfighting championships; they were going to need more than a single Panzer and a Hayabusa.
"So, where do you think we might find them?" A girl wearing a red scarf asked.
Anzu shrugged and said, "We're looking for them because we don't know where they are."
That shocked everyone in the hangar. "You mean you have no idea where they are?" A first year girl asked worriedly.
"Nope!" Anzu answered cheerfully.
"So then, let's start searching." Momo ordered, but before anyone went anywhere, Junichi asked an important question.
"Just out of curiosity," He said garnering everyone's attention. "Given that there are more boys than planes here, how will we decide on who gets to fly them and who stays on the ground?"
"That's a good question," A foreign looking boy said looking at Yoshi. "How will we decide that?"
"We will be judging you while we test in flight simulators." Takeo answered his question. "Depending on how well each of us performs will decide who will fly the planes and who will not."
'That makes sense,' Daisuke thought to himself as he considered that answer. 'Flying fighter planes isn't exactly for complete rookies. We'll need pilots who can handle themselves in a combat situation, not guys who can only point and shoot blindly.'
"This is a lot different than what we were told." Saori said in a dejected tone. "Isn't tankery supposed to make you popular?"
"I think that happens after you start, Saori." Toshiro said leaning against the tank with his arms behind his head.
Anzu came up to them and waved away their worries by saying, "Well, a couple of really cool instructors are coming."
That caught their attention.
"Really?"
"You serious?"
"Sure, we'll introduce them to you." Anzu nodded, her smile never fading.
The idea of these cool instructors really made Saori and Toshiro excited. In their minds, the term "cool" meant that the instructors were of the opposite gender and someone they could try to hook up with. At least, that's what they pictured someone cool to be.
"We'll be off now!" They both exclaimed excitedly, practically dancing out the hangar doors with everyone else.
"I'll never understand how either of them thinks." Junichi said in an exasperated tone, shaking his head while holding his temple.
"I feel the same way." Hana said in the same tone and doing the same thing.
A half hour later…
"WHERE THE HECK ARE THEY!?" Saori and Toshiro shouted, waving their fists in the air.
After the student council had told everyone to start searching, one male student suggested that they split up into groups to search for the remaining planes and tanks. While most of the students split up with different groups of their own gender, Daisuke, Miho, and their friends decided to look together. They ended up outside in the school's parking lot at Saori's suggestion thinking that a tank or an airplane would be easy to find there. But of course, she was wrong about that.
"I don't think we'll find any tanks or airplanes in the school's parking lot." Hana told them calmly as she stood next to Junichi as their friends looked dejected.
"But tanks are sort of like cars aren't they?" Saori whined not bothering to look at her.
"Maybe so," Junichi said, adjusting his glasses. "But I doubt we'd find any airplanes here and they aren't like cars."
They both ignored him and began to walk way as Saori said, "Let's go to the forest on the other side of the school."
"Yeah, maybe we'll get lucky and find something there." Toshiro agreed as he walked behind her.
The others sighed and followed suit. Daisuke and Miho walked together of course, and still got teased by both Saori and Toshiro about it; but that didn't bother them much. They were starting to get used to Toshiro and Saori's teasing, but that didn't mean it didn't make them blush every time they did it. Still, they liked the idea of spending more time with one another and it made both of them feel happy.
"Daisuke-kun?" Miho said looking at Daisuke as they walked.
"Hmm?"
"What kind of planes do you think we'll find?" She asked him curiously.
Daisuke shrugged. "Who knows? For all I know, we might end up finding a Dauntless dive bomber or a P-51 Mustang."
"Well, I'm sure whatever we find will be…" She trailed off as she noticed something at the corner of her eye.
"What is it, Miho-chan?" Daisuke stopped noticing that she did the same. But he also saw something at the corner of his eye and knew what she was looking at now.
"Ano," Miho suddenly said as she and Daisuke abruptly turned around and looked at a pair of students who were following them. Their sudden action took both of them by surprise. "Would you two like to look around with us?"
The students in question were a girl and a boy. The girl had short bushy brown hair and the same color eyes as Daisuke and the way her uniform was presented she was in the same year as her and Daisuke; she stood at about the same height as Miho and had the same skin tone as her. The boy had the same skin tone as Daisuke but his hair was a very lighter brown and was a combination of wavy and spiky. He had blue eyes and round framed glasses that were very thin. If one could describe a nerd, he'd be the perfect image of one. His uniform also had the badge that indicated he was in the same year as Daisuke. When Miho asked if they both would like to look around with them, they both looked as excited as a couple of kids at Christmas.
"Really?"
"You'll let us look with you?"
"Sure," Daisuke nodded with a friendly smile. "Having a couple more sets of eyes wouldn't hurt."
"Thank you!" The girl said before fidgeting with a light tint of pink coloring her cheeks. "Umm, I'm in standard class II of the girls' division, second year, class 3. My name is Yukari Akiyama." She introduced herself shyly.
The boy nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I'm the same but in the boys' division class 4. My name is Goro Suzuki." He then grinned. "But everyone calls me, Goose."
Both of them then bowed and said at the same time, "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Miho replied with a friendly smile of her own before looking a Goro. "Umm…why do they call you Goose?"
Goro laughed lightly. "Well, if you took a few letters out of my name and rearranged them it sounds like 'Gusu' or Goose."
"That makes sense." Daisuke laughed, already liking Goose as the others joined them.
"Well it's nice to meet you two!" Toshiro said, waving his hand. "Name's Toshiro Watanabe."
"How do you do," Junichi said, bowing politely. "My name is Junichi Tomonaga."
"My name is Hana Isuzu." Hana introduced herself with a bow.
"Saori Takabe here!" Saori said enthusiastically with a wave similar to Toshiro's.
"Ano, I'm…" Miho started to introduce herself.
"You don't have to tell us who the two of you are," Yukari said indicating her and Daisuke. "You're Miho Nishizumi-dono and Daisuke Nishizawa-dono right?"
The fact that she knew who they were stunned Miho and Daisuke. "Uh…yeah, how did you know?" Daisuke asked with uncertainty in his voice.
But Yukari didn't answer him as both she and Goose both saluted them with grins on their face. "It's nice to meet all of you."
Later, the group of eight was walking through the woods just outside of the school grounds keeping their eye out for anything that didn't belong. Namely anything resembling a tank or an airplane that looked like they were in disrepair or had not been used in a while. Despite how some of them knew the area well, they had decided to carry a map with them. Since Daisuke and Miho knew how to read maps better because of them both being familiar with using them for tankery and dogfighting, the others had unanimously voted that they carry it. They had come to a small clearing when Hana suddenly stopped and looked around a little more.
"What is it, Hana-san?" Junichi asked her but became confused as she closed her eyes and began sniffing the air.
"I smell something coming from over there." She said indicating to her right.
"You smell something?" Yukari asked her, a little confused by what she was saying.
"There's a slight scent of iron and oil mixed in with the smell of flowers." Hana replied as she began to what many would say 'follow her nose.'
"You can actually smell that?" Toshiro gaped at her.
"It might just be me." Hana called back as she continued to walk in the direction her nose was taking her with Junichi following her.
Yukari then pumped her fist and pointed in the direction Hana was going and said, "In that case, Panzer Vor!"
But Saori misinterpreted what she said and gaped at her. "Pants fall!?"
This made Toshiro laugh so hard he was clutching his stomach making Saori glare at him.
"HA HA HA! That's not what she said, Saori!" Toshiro said through his laughter.
"It's not funny, Toshiro!" Saori retorted ready to smack him one.
Daisuke was doing his best not to laugh too even Goose was holding in some snickers, but Miho was the one who decided to clarify things. "Panzer vor means for all tanks to move out."
Toshiro then had a wicked grin on his face. "Besides, I don't need anything to fall from where I'm standing." He said lewdly with a wink. This made Saori blink and look down noticing he was looking up her…
Her face suddenly turned bright red as she brought her hands to cover her skirt while glaring at Toshiro.
"YOU PERVERT!" She shouted as she picked up her foot and kicked him in a very certain spot.
"YEEEOOOOOWWW!"
His scream echoed throughout the place and it managed to scare a few of the birds out of their trees.
Later, they were walking through the woods again following Hana's intuition and nose. The girls were leading with a very red and angry Saori stomping her way through the path. Hana looked a little worried about Saori while Miho looked rather nervous; Yukari on the other hand was grinning as she was trying to hide any laughter she might let out. Near the end of their group, Toshiro was walking very awkwardly from where Saori had kicked him. Daisuke and Junichi didn't look every happy with Toshiro as they walked alongside him while Goose just looked rather nervous looking at Saori.
"She didn't have to kick me so hard…" Toshiro whined in pain as he still felt the effects of the kick.
"You deserved it." Daisuke flippantly told him with a frown.
"A gentleman never looks up a lady's skirt." Junichi chided as he walked next to Daisuke with his arms crossed.
"I'm just glad I'm not you, Toshiro-san." Goose said walking with a nervous grin on his face.
Meanwhile, in the school's library a group of six first years from the girls' division were pouring through the books looking for anything regarding the whereabouts of the school's tanks. The girl leading them was a brunette named Asuna Sawa; she was the oldest out of them all and acted quite like a mother figure. She had just picked out a few more books and placed them on the table where the other girls were reading dozens of other books.
"Did you find anything yet?" She asked them.
"Not a thing," One of them with dark blonde hair, pigtails, and round framed glasses said. "There's no mention of any of the tanks."
"In fact there's nothing from when our school stopped doing tankery." The brunette girl next to her said.
"I wonder why they stopped doing tankery all of a sudden." A short dark haired girl said disappointedly.
"It probably lost its popularity." One of the other girls suggested. "I mean it is kind of old fashioned."
"Maybe that's the case with dogfighting too," A boy's voice said, catching their attention as he and a couple of other boys approached. "We looked through a few books and even searched through the school's database, there's nothing on any of the planes here."
The boy in question was a first year like them as his collar button indicated, but he wasn't Japanese. He had much darker skin than even Daisuke and his hair was short to the boy where it was more like a brush than a mop and had dark brown eyes. He was Johnny Doolittle, an American exchange student who had gotten lucky in being one of the few exchange students on Oorai's school warship. He was African-American and was about Daisuke's height. When he saw the presentation of the dogfighting class, he got intrigued since he had a friend whose grandfather served in WWII as one of the "Red Tails" as he called them.
With him were 3 other boys who were also first years who had taken up dogfighting out of pure fascination of the idea of the class. After the groups had split up to search the ship for the school's planes and tanks, they had opted to search the library with the first year girls for information on them. But so far, neither group was having any luck in finding anything on either the tanks or the planes; but that didn't mean that they were going to give up just yet.
"I suppose that makes sense." The short dark haired girl said again.
After a few minutes of walking and following Hana's directions her nose was leading her, Daisuke and Miho's group found what they were looking for. Nearly hidden among the trees, there was a dark armored tank nearly covered in rust with its top hatch open. The tank's armor was plated with screws holding it together and one could see the school's emblem painted on the side of the armor but time and the elements had faded the paint.
"We did it," Saori exclaimed happily. "We found one!"
"Well I'll be," Toshiro said in an astonished, now walking normally from their trek. "We actually did."
"What kind of tank is it?" Junichi asked as he inspected it.
"It's a 38 (t)." Miho answered as she looked at it.
"It's smaller than the last one." Saori noted with a disappointed look. "It's got screws all over the place."
"It's a light tank, from the looks of it." Daisuke said as he looked at the tank in question but then he noticed something that disturbed him and a couple of the others; Yukari was nuzzling it like it was a stuffed toy.
"The 38 (t) was part of Field Marshal Rommel's 7th Panzer Division," She said as though she was in euphoria. "And was an important tank for the initial stages of the Blitzkrieg. It's nimble and can cross distances very quickly." She then perked up as though she remembered something. "Oh, and the 't' in its name means that it was made in Czechoslovakia; it's not a unit of weight!" She then noticed the others' stares at her and she quickly became embarrassed, but Goose was just smiling as though he was used to this.
"You went crazy there for a while." Saori said perplexed as to why Yukari suddenly went gaga over the tank.
"That's Yukari for ya," Goose said with a laugh. "She just loves tanks!" This made Yukari blush and rub the back of her head shyly.
"Well," Daisuke said after snapping out of his gaze at Yukari. "We better call the student council and let them know we found it."
"Good idea," Saori nodded as she pulled out her cell phone and began dialing Momo's number, who gave it out to each group.
Toshiro was rubbing his chin lightly and then he perked up as though a light bulb went on in his head. "Hey, if Hana can find this tank out here in the middle of the woods by just sniffing around," He said thoughtfully. "Maybe she can help us find a plane too!"
Some of the others gaped at him as though he were nuts, but it was Junichi who voiced it. "Toshiro, I don't think we should be using Hana-san like a…"
"Certainly," Everyone but Toshiro then gaped at Hana as though she had grown a second head. "I think it's only fair since the boys did help us find this tank. Helping them find a plane should be no problem."
"Are you sure, Hana-san?" Junichi asked her carefully. "I don't want to think that we're just using you like a bloodhound."
"I don't mind," Hana reassured him with a pleasant smile. "You boys did help us, so it's only fair that we do the same right?"
Everyone shared looks with one another but Toshiro before looking back at Hana with smiles on their faces.
"Well then," Daisuke said with a shrug and then waved his hand towards her making Toshiro jump for joy. "Lead on, Hana."
Meanwhile back at the hangar, the student council had just received Saori's call.
"Good work," Momo said with a nod. "I'll contact the automotive club and have them transport it back here, keep up the search." She then hung up and looked back towards the others of the student council. "Looks like we've found a tank."
"Well, that's good news." Hayao said with a relieved sigh.
"Looks like they can get things done, if they try." Anzu said after taking a bite out of her dried sweet potato.
"Now all they have to do is find three more tanks and three more planes." Takeo said as he looked off in the direction where Miho and Daisuke's group had found the 38 (t).
Back with Miho and Daisuke's group, Hana had indeed picked up the scent of airplane fuel and a type of aluminum and followed her to where the scent was coming from. Sure enough, they found it.
"Oh wow!" Goose exclaimed as he ran over to the plane and inspected it.
The plane was in a clearing with its canopy open and landing gear down. Like the Hayabusa it was covered in rust and had some parts on the wings, tail, and ailerons missing. Its aluminum armor was predominantly white with the school's emblem painted on the fuselage and wings. Its profile though, was quite familiar to almost anyone who was a history buff.
"An A6M Zero." Daisuke identified it almost in shock. "Never thought I'd see one of these here."
"I'll say!" Goose said excitedly as he began to rub against the plane himself. "It was the most produced airplane in the Japanese military! It flew more missions, shot down more planes, and had a longer range than any other plane in the Pacific theater up until 1944. Up until then, no other plane could outmatch it in a dogfight! This plane is a legend all its own!"
Everyone but Yukari gaped at Goose as he acted just as crazy about the Zero as Yukari did with the 38 (t). Yukari was wearing a proud grin of her own as though she knew Goose would react like this. Goose then remembered where he was and then composed himself but not without laughing nervously while rubbing the back of his head with a blush on his face.
"Wow, you're just as crazy about planes as Yukari is with tanks, Goose." Toshiro said as he blinked in bewilderment.
"That's good ol' Goose, for ya." Yukari said as she went up to him and gave him a hard pat on the back almost knocking his glasses off.
"Yukari, not so hard." Goose complained as he readjusted his glasses.
"Oh quit whining, I didn't hit you that hard." She retorted back.
"You two seem to know each other quite well." Hana said as she observed the exchange between them.
"Well, Goose and I go way back," Yukari said with a proud smile. "We're neighbors and childhood friends."
"We met when we were really young and have been friends ever since." Goose added with a smile of his own.
"Ooh! Childhood friends," Saori said giddily. "Does this mean that you two are dating?"
That question got both Yukari and Goose to blush. "NO WAY!" They both denied at the same time waving their hands at her.
"We're just friends, that's all!" Goose tried to clarify, but Saori and Toshiro weren't buying it.
"That's what they all say," Toshiro sing-songed with a shrug.
"C'mon, you guys, quit teasing them." Daisuke said, trying to stop the two 'love gurus' of the group to not make Yukari and Goose their next vic- err...patients.
Back with the student council, Junichi had been the one to call Takeo and informed him that they had found the Zero.
"Excellent," Takeo said in a pleased tone. "We'll get the automotive club to bring it here right away." He hung up his phone and turned to the others with a slight smirk. "That was Junichi Tomonaga, their group had just found a plane for us."
"Well that was fast," Yuzu said in astonishment. "First they find a tank, and now they find a plane not too soon after."
"This just means it will make our job a lot easier." Yoshi said, taking a bite out of his banana flavored pocky.
Hayao then looked a little nervous and turned to the two student council presidents. "Umm, Yoshi, Anzu," They looked at him as he said their names. "Do you think we should've told Nishizawa-san why we manipulated him and Nishizumi-san to join these classes?"
This time Yoshi looked more serious and answered, "We'll tell him after the championships are over. We all agreed that's when we would tell them."
But Hayao still looked worried. "Yeah but…"
"Hayao, don't worry so much," Yuzu said putting a hand on his arm. "We'll be fine."
"Besides," Anzu said taking another bite out of a dried sweet potato. "With Nishizumi-chan and Nishizawa-kun on our side, and with the instructors we hired, there's no way we'd lose."
"So you've got nothing to worry about." Yoshi said with a shrug taking another stick of pocky and was about to bite into it. But Hayao was not reassured.
"But what if we end up facing either Black Forest High or Pravda in the first round?" His question made them all pause. Even Anzu and Yoshi had stopped eating and had apprehensive looks on their faces.
They were silent for a moment until finally Anzu swallowed her bite and looked up at the sky. "Then I hope luck will be on our side if that happens."
For the next couple of hours, the other groups that had split up had found the planes and tanks they were searching for. One group of girls, which was the school's now defunct volleyball club, had found a tank in a cliff face not too far from where Daisuke and Miho's group had found the Zero. Another group of girls, who had proclaimed themselves as reincarnations of military leaders, had found another in a pond not far from the school. The group of first year girls actually found their tank in the ship's cargo hold with Johnny's group; they found a plane just a few compartments over.
The last group of boys was led by a German exchange student. His name was Fredrick Goering, he was a tall, well-built boy with bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Because of his name, his group was a little reluctant, at first, to work with him. But after reassuring them that he only shared the name as the man who they were thinking he was related to and was not proud of it, they began to work with him better and they had found their plane just a kilometer away from where the group who found their tank in the pond were.
After calling the student council and letting them know that they had found them, the automotive club collected each tank and each plane and brought them back to the school's hangar all in a line. Each tank and plane had paint faded, parts missing, rust, and other signs of wear and tear. But for the most part, they looked like that they could run; at least that's what they all hoped. The next day, the student council then inspected each machine from one end of their lines to the other.
"A Type 89 medium tank I-Go (Chi Ro), a Panzer 38 (t) light tank, an M3 Lee medium tank, a Panzer III Ausf. F with an assault gun, and a Panzer IV Ausf. D medium tank." Momo noted each of the tanks as she identified each model.
"A Focke-Wulf Fw-109 D-9, a Mitsubishi A6M3b Zero, a Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat, and a Nakajima Ki-43-IIIb Hayabusa." Takeo identified each plane as they inspected them.
"How shall we assign the tanks?" Momo asked Anzu, not bothering to look at her.
"Hmm…" Anzu pondered. "How about we just have the girls ride the ones they found?"
"Are you sure we shouldn't do more than that?" Yuzu asked her in concern.
But Momo turned to her and said, "We'll take the 38 (t)," She then turned to Miho's group. "You guys can take the Panzer IV."
"Umm…Okay…" Miho nodded shyly.
"Therefore, the Panzer IV will be Team A, the Type 89 will be Team B, the STuG III will be Team C, the M3 Lee will be Team D, and the 38 (t) will be Team E." Momo informed them of each team based on who found what. "Our instructors will be coming tomorrow so make sure all of you behave properly."
"I wonder what they're like." Saori gushed quietly, making Yukari look a little uncomfortable.
"But what about pilots?" Hayao asked them, looking at Yoshi and Takeo as they were looking at the planes while the girls inspected their assigned tanks. "How will we decide them?"
"We've already got that covered." Takeo said, looking at Hayao before turning to the other boys in the class. "There are flight simulators in the school's hangar. We will be programing them to simulate a dogfight based on the specs of the planes you found. Only the best four out of all of us will be picked to fly the plane they are best suited for."
"Does that mean we'll be flying each plane in these simulators?" One of the boys from Johnny's group asked with a raised hand.
"That's correct," Takeo nodded in confirmation. "So that means whoever scores the highest in each simulation and has the most kills in whatever plane they're best in will fly those planes."
"That makes sense," Fredrick said with a nod. "That way we won't argue about who gets to fly what since fighter planes are usually manned by a single pilot."
"Precisely!" Yoshi said cheerfully.
With that everyone began to inspect the different machines; Goose was going all fanboy-mode on the planes as he looked over each one.
"Wow! I can't believe it!" He gushed as he rubbed the wing of the Wildcat before running to the Fw-190. "The Wildcat was a really awesome plane before the US Navy replaced it with the F6F Hellcat, and the Fw-190 was the most successful fighter plane the Germans made in World War II!"
"Somebody's in heaven," Daisuke laughed as he watched their new friend spout off trivia concerning each plane.
"I would say the same is true with Yukari-san." Junichi indicated Yukari who was just as bad as Goose was while Miho was inspecting their tank.
"Yeah," Toshiro said skeptically as he climbed up to the Hayabusa's left wing and over looked its cockpit. "But I still say these planes are just big piles of junk." He then pointed things out. "They each have parts missing, parts that need replacing, rust covering the bodies and wings, the paint's faded, and don't get me started on the cockpits, I mean look at this!" He said as he pointed at the inside of the Hayabusa's cockpit. Sure enough, the interior had some loose wiring, the meters had cracked glass, the seat was torn up in certain parts, and there was an ungodly smell coming from it that made Toshiro almost vomit.
"It just means we'll have to clean and fix them up." Daisuke said as he climbed up the opposite wing and looked inside before covering his own nose he then turned to the boys' student council as they were inspecting the Zero with a slight scowl, still remembering how they had gotten him in the class in the first place. "The school does have replacement parts don't they?"
"But of course," Yoshi said dismissively with that ever present smile. "How else will you be getting the planes ready tomorrow?"
"Huh? Whaddya mean?" Toshiro asked as he looked at him in confusion.
"We only have four simulators," Takeo answered holding up four fingers. "While four of us will be in the simulators, everyone else will be cleaning and fixing the planes while the girls do the same with their tanks."
"EEEHHHH!?" Everyone looked at him in shock, not expecting that.
"You mean we have to clean our own tanks?" One of the first year girls questioned, not liking the idea already.
"That's right ladies," Anzu said with a cheerful nod. "So let's get to work!"
"Hai!" All the girls said.
Takeo then turned to the boys. "As for you gentlemen, we will be calling four of you at a time to be in the simulators. The rest of you will be working on the planes. The ones who score the highest in each simulation will pilot whatever plane they score the highest in."
"Ha!" Toshiro barked as he rubbed his hands together. "This oughtta be easy!"
An hour later…
"Or so I said…" He whined dejectedly as he scrubbed soap on the Hayabusa's right wing. "I got shot down in each simulator and didn't shoot down a single enemy plane!"
It was true, Toshiro was among the first to be called in the simulators. When he first flew in the Wildcat's simulation, he managed to take off from the simulated aircraft carrier before he got ambushed by a group of Zeroes just as he got to cruising altitude. He barely managed to fire a shot at a squadron of B-17s in the Fw-190 simulation before getting shot down by a Spitfire. He got better as he flew in the Zero simulator, at least in flying; but he got caught up in a Thach Weave as he chased an enemy Wildcat and ended up getting torn apart by its wingman. He managed to land a few hits on an enemy P-40 in the Hayabusa simulator, but another P-40 managed to get on his tail and tear his plane to pieces with its machine gun. Needless to say, Toshiro failed miserably.
But that didn't mean he was the only one who failed. As they cleaned the planes, each of the other boys relayed their dogfighting experience in each of the simulators. While some fared better than others, others just didn't cut it. But Toshiro was the one who scored the lowest out of all of them. A few of the boys were still missing from the cleaning and fixing duty, including Daisuke, which meant they were still in the simulators.
"Well, no one said dogfighting was easy." Goose said, as he hosed down some of the grime that had collected on the Hayabusa's tailfin.
"Which means you'll have to do better next time, Toshiro." Junichi said, scrubbing the left wing with a brush.
"Oh yeah," Toshiro glared at Junichi. "So how did you do, Mr. Fancy-pants?"
Junichi simply continued to scrub but answered, "I managed to shoot down five enemy planes in the Zero before I was shot down by a Wildcat, but only shot down one plane in each of the other ones before being shot down."
"So you basically did no better than me." Toshiro boasted with a grin.
"On the contrary," Junichi smirked. "I did do better than you."
Toshiro growled before turning to Goose. "What about you, Goose? How'd you do?"
"Well," Goose pondered for a moment as he recalled his simulator time. "I managed to shoot down one enemy plane in the Wildcat, two B-17s and one enemy Spitfire in the Fw-190, two Wildcats in the Zero, and two P-40s in the Hayabusa."
"Wow!" Toshiro exclaimed, almost slipping from his scrubbing. "You did a lot better than Junichi!" Hearing that made Junichi's eyebrow twitch. "I wonder how Daisuke is doing."
"Last I heard," One of the first year boys spoke up from the Wildcat. "Nishizawa-sempai had just landed his plane in the Fw-190 simulator."
Everyone looked at him in surprise and Toshiro asked, "You mean he didn't get shot down?!"
"He took a few hits, from what he said," The first year said. "But from what I saw from when it was my turn, the damage was very minimal."
"Wow…" Goose said in astonishment. "He must be good if he didn't get shot down in that simulator!"
"Yeah," Toshiro nodded before looking over in a certain direction. "Well, at least one good thing came out of this;" He said with a wide grin. "We've got some sweet eye-candy!"
This caused the boys to look over as they saw the girls in their bathing suits and cleaning up the tanks. When the student council had brought the boys to the flight simulators in the hangar, they were looking at what looked like the fuselages of the very planes they were now cleaning. But in reality, they were computer programmed flight simulators with the cockpits closing to a virtual reality environment complete with the said fuselages moving in sync with the pilot's movements of the plane. It even went so far as to simulate the impact of the shots made from enemy airplanes. As mentioned, Toshiro was among the first of the boys to be given the opportunity to test in the simulators while everyone else was instructed to switch out of their uniforms and into their gym clothes and get to work on the planes.
Of course, that was after the girls were instructed to do the same. When the boys came back after switching out of their clothes, they watched as the girls had all been cleaning their tanks and spraying each other with the hoses. Needless to say, when white clothes and water combined, it provided…an interesting show for the boys; especially Toshiro who was gaping at Yuzu, who was the only girl in her bikini. But after a scolding from Takeo and Junichi, who both were more disciplined than that, the boys went to work while more of them had been called to the simulators.
Speaking of Takeo, "Watanabe! Back to work!"
"Y-yes sir!" Toshiro replied quickly before going back to scrubbing. He then paused and looked in the direction where the simulators were inside the hangar. "I wonder what's taking Daisuke so long."
He wasn't the only one wondering that very same question. As she was scrubbing the inside of the Panzer IV, Miho had also noted that Daisuke was taking much longer than most of the boys in the simulators. He had been around when she and the other girls had started working on their tanks and she couldn't help but smile at him as he began working on cleaning the Ki-93 Hayabusa with Junichi and Goose while Toshiro started his simulator training. Every once in a while she would curiously look over in his direction and noted how his gym shirt would stick to his chest as he washed off the plane. She couldn't help but admire how well built his body was and how she wanted to be wrapped in his arms…
She blushed heavily and shook her head about that. 'What am I thinking?!' She thought to herself, 'Daisuke-kun's my friend! Isn't he?'
Miho had to admit, ever since she had met him Daisuke has been there for her even though they've only known each other for four days now. He was the first boy her age she's ever interacted with socially in a long time. Even before she started at Black Forest high the only boys she ever spoke to were some of the store owners, cashiers, or waiters at stores and restaurants she's been to; and they were all completely older than her.
Yet, despite only knowing her for such a short amount of time, Daisuke had already played a big part in her life at Oorai. Each morning they would meet in front of the very convenience store they met at and would walk to school together and after school the two of them would walk home up to that said convenience store before heading their separate ways. He stood up for her when the student council persisted that the two of them joined the tankery and dogfighting classes; even though the others did the same, Daisuke was the most vocal about it. He even told her something that he hadn't told anyone else in their year, not even their friends knew about why he wanted to avoid dogfighting but her.
So why was it that her heart sped up every time the two of them would see each other?
"Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari's voice interrupted her thoughts as she whipped her head to look at her as they were inside the tank cleaning the moisture out. "Are you okay? You were spacing out there for a bit."
She gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm alright," She answered before trailing off. "I was just…thinking."
Yukari gave her a knowing smile. "About Nishizawa-dono, right?" That made Miho gasp and look at her in shock, making her smile wider. "I knew it! You've been taking a look at the flight simulators ever since he started working in them."
"That's true," Saori said with a wide knowing smile of her own from the forward right hatch of the tank. "Ever since Daisuke started his simulations, you haven't stopped casting a look at them every now and then. You look like a wife who's worried about her husband before he goes off to war." That last part made Miho's face turn even redder and she stammered.
"T-t-t-that's not it at all! I was just…" She trailed off, not finding the right words to say.
The other girls in her team all looked at her as she then poked her head out of the hatch Saori was at and stared at the flight simulator that was moving around with Yoshi, Anzu, Takeo, and Momo all watching the computer screens that showed each of the boys that were testing. But the only simulator moving was the one for the Ki-93 Hayabusa, the one that Daisuke was in. All the other boys had finished their times in the simulators, but Daisuke was still in the one for the Hayabusa.
'Daisuke-kun…'
"Incredible!" Momo said in amazement.
"Simply astounding!" Takeo agreed as the two of them stared at the laptop screen in front of them. The two of them, Yoshi, and Anzu were all watching Daisuke's last simulator run. "He's really running the limits of the simulator to the max!"
Anzu and Yoshi looked at each other and nodded with smiles. "I think we've seen enough." Anzu said.
"I agree." Yoshi replied before turning to Takeo. "Alright, shut down the simulator."
"Right." Takeo nodded as he began typing away at the keyboard. A minute later, the simulator stopped moving and began to settle down before the cockpit opened with Daisuke climbing out, completely covered in sweat. "That's enough for today, Nishizawa-san. You're done."
"Right," Daisuke panted with a nod.
"Go rejoin your classmates, we'll be assembling everyone shortly." Momo told him, pointing towards his friends as they were finishing up with the Hayabusa.
"Yes ma'am." Daisuke said as he left the hangar a little wobbly in the legs with the student council watching him.
Yoshi grinned as he watched Daisuke, who had been greeted by his friends after he was a few feet away from the Hayabusa. 'He wasn't shot down even once! Even though the planes he flew took good enough damage, he still managed to take off and land each and every one of them before we shut down the Hayabusa simulation.' He thought to himself as Daisuke was handed a water bottle by Toshiro and then proceeding to dumping it over his sweat covered body after taking a small swig, then Miho ran up to him with a worried expression on her face with her team in tow. 'If he can perform this well in a simulator, I can only imagine how he'll perform in actual combat.'
"You sure you're okay, Daisuke-kun?" Miho asked him as they joined up with the rest of the two classes as they gathered around after finishing the cleaning of all the tanks and planes.
"I'm fine, Miho-chan, really." Daisuke reassured her, trying to stay her worries.
When Daisuke's turn had come for the simulators, Daisuke was really nervous when he got up into the cockpit for the Wildcat's simulator. Ever since his father died, Daisuke had wanted to avoid anything that had to do with dogfighting, even video games. He had not stepped into the cockpit of any kind of fighter plane or the cockpit of a flight simulator since then. Sure, he flew a few small planes like a Cessna and a hobby bi-plane every now and then, but at least they were not armed. But ever since the student council had manipulated him and Miho into the now revived dogfighting and tankery classes, he had been worried that his skills had dulled over the years since.
But the moment he stepped into the cockpit of that first simulator, it was like his body went on autopilot; he made the necessary pre-flight checks and took off as the simulation started, and almost immediately went into the battle as he got into the same kind of ambush Toshiro had. But unlike Toshiro, Daisuke had managed to outfly his attackers and turn the tables on them while only taking a few shots to his plane, even one cannon shell to the left aileron that nearly got him blown out of the sky. It wasn't easy, but by the time he had shot down nearly all of the simulated number of planes, his ammunition ran out so he was forced to land.
The same thing happened in both the Fw-190 and Zero simulators as he managed to shoot down as many enemy planes he could before running low on fuel or ran out of ammo. When the time came for him to start flying in the Hayabusa, he was really worried because he knew the Hayabusa's limits to the letter. It was lightly armored, but very nimble; it was slow, but could dive pretty fast; plus it had a lower fuel amount than the Zero so he had to make his fuel and ammunition count. It paid off as the simulation started; he had managed to shoot down more planes than he counted in the other simulators before getting an enemy P-51 on his tail that would've shot him down if the student council hadn't shut it down.
By the time he was done, he was sweating heavily and near the point of exhaustion from moving the controls of the simulators for so long. It was no wonder that when Toshiro offered him a water bottle he took a huge swig from it before dumping it all over his body as Miho and the others ran up to him asking him if he was alright. But by the end of the class, everyone was tired, dirty, and wet from all the cleaning they had to do. Even poor Hayao and Yuzu, who had been doing most of the work on the Zero and 38 (t) while Yoshi, Anzu, Momo, and Takeo were busy watching the boys do their simulations. They had promised that they would take turns to clean the plane and the tank, but neither made due on that promise and the two of them had been stuck cleaning up until the class was done.
"Very good," Momo said as she inspected each machine. "We'll have the automotive club handle the rest of the maintenance for all of them later."
"In the meantime, before everyone is dismissed, we have the results of the simulations." Takeo announced pulling out an iPad. "Many of you did quite well, but very poorly in the tests;" He looked directly at Toshiro as he said this, who sulked from remembering his time in the simulators. "But the results are in and we have chosen our four pilots." He finished as he handed the iPad to Yoshi.
Yoshi looked over the list and nodded before looking at the boys, who all waited in anticipation. "Our first pilot is our American exchange student, Johnny Doolittle." He announced, causing Johnny and his three buddies to whoop for joy. "He managed to score the fourth highest out of us especially in the F4F Wildcat, so the Wildcat will be your plane Johnny."
"You can count on me!" Johnny said excitedly, giving a thumb's up.
Yoshi nodded and returned to the results. "Our next pilot is…" Everyone waited. "Fredrick Goering, our German exchange student." The said young man was shocked but pleased at the results and the group who found the Fw-190 with him all cheered as they congratulated him. "He scored the highest in the Fw-190 and therefore will be its pilot."
"Danke schöen." Fredrick said in German.
Yoshi then looked very pleased with himself. "And, since I scored highest in the Zero, I'll be the pilot for it." He then looked over at Daisuke with an impressed look on his face. "But the one who scored the highest out of all of us and managed to score highest in the Hayabusa simulation, is none other than Daisuke Nishizawa."
"Alright!" Toshiro cheered as he grabbed Daisuke in a headlock, much to the latter's poor nose. "Way to go Daisuke!"
"Congratulations Daisuke-san." Junichi said proudly to his friend, patting him on the shoulder.
"Ano…what was his score, Sugita-kaichou?" Miho asked nervously, wanting to know how well Daisuke did.
"I'm glad you asked, Nishizumi-chan." Yoshi said as he looked over Daisuke's score. "He managed to shoot down all five enemy planes in the Wildcat simulation, he shot down three B-17s and three Spitfires in the Fw-190 simulation, seven Wildcats in the Zero simulation, and five P-40s and three P-51s in the Hayabusa…all without getting shot down himself." That last part really stunned everyone but the student council.
"He…never got shot down?" Johnny slowly questioned, as though he heard wrong.
"Not even once." Yoshi confirmed with an impressed head shake.
Daisuke felt everyone's eyes on him and he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I almost got shot down by a P-51 before you turned the Hayabusa's simulator off; and all the planes I flew took some damage during the simulations."
"Yes," Takeo nodded. "But you performed the best out of all of us and managed to land all but one of your planes. The best any of us has done was shooting down only up to five planes before returning to the simulated base."
"Wow, I never knew you were that good Daisuke." Toshiro said looking very impressed with his new best friend.
"They were only simulations, Toshiro," Daisuke shrugged him off. "Had they been real pilots, it would've been a whole lot different."
"Give yourself some credit, Nishizawa-kun," Yoshi said, walking up to him and held out his hand. "You performed the best out of all of us." Daisuke looked at his hand and reluctantly took it as Yoshi shook it in congratulations.
"With that said," Takeo announced as Yoshi released Daisuke's hand. "Everyone is dismissed."
That gave everyone a sigh of relief and they began talking amongst themselves as they began to leave.
"I could use a shower." Saori whined as she looked at all the dirt and grime covering her body and clothes.
"Me too," Toshiro nodded in agreement as he took note of how dirty he was.
Daisuke said nothing as he stared at the new plane he would be flying for the class starting the next day. Miho just watched him with a worried look on her face.
"We should take it out for a spin." Yukari's voice said, snapping Miho from her musings and looking at her in confusion. "Our tank, we should take it out for a spin."
"Uh…yeah…" Miho said distractingly and returned her gaze to Daisuke.
Later, after everyone had showered and was back into their school uniforms, they had all headed home for a nice well-deserved rest from a hard day's work. Miho, Daisuke, and their friends had bought drinks and were at one of the ship's viewing platforms as they watched the sunset over the horizon. They were joined by their new friends and teammates Yukari Akiyama and Goro Suzuki or "Goose" as they now called him like everyone else.
Miho took a sip of her drink with a content smile. "I wonder which direction the port is."
Saori walked up to her and said with a dramatic sigh, "I want to make land already. I want to buy things at an outlet mall, too."
"Girls and their shopping," Toshiro grumbled under his breath while shaking his head before taking a swig of his juice.
"Weren't we scheduled to make port this weekend?" Hana asked, looking at the others.
"Yes, I believe we were." Junichi answered with a nod.
"Which port was it?" Saori asked him. "I have a boyfriend in every port, so it's hard to keep track."
What she said made Toshiro spit out his drink in shock. "Wh-what!? You have a boyfriend in every port!? How is that remotely possible?"
"I believe she means by 'boyfriend' she means every curry shop she always eats at." Hana informed him calmly.
Daisuke just didn't seem to hear them as he stared out at the drink he held in his hand. Miho was in the same distracted state, but every now and then her gaze would shift over to Daisuke. She wondered what he was thinking, but at the same time she was really worried about the next day. It would be the first time since she left her hometown that she would ever set foot in a tank and she wondered if she would be able to do well, considering what happened back at her old school. On the other hand, she was worried about how Daisuke seemed so distracted ever since he came out of the flight simulator.
"Umm…" Yukari's voice sounded, catching hers and Daisuke's attention. "Is it okay if we stop someplace on the way back?"
"Huh?" Miho sounded confused, but Yukari looked a little dejected.
"I guess we shouldn't." She said disappointedly.
But Miho and Daisuke shared a smile before Daisuke said, "Sure, we can stop wherever it is you want to stop at."
"Really?" Yukari perked up happily.
"Of course," Miho nodded in confirmation. "We don't mind."
Yukari just looked delighted and she bowed deeply to the two of them. "Thank you so much!"
Later, the group of friends was standing in front of a store where the sign said 'Armory Club'. It looked like a small, out of the way, type of store that had no front windows for any kind of displays. The only display they had was a group of sandbags, ammo boxes, spare fuel tanks, and a small model of a Bf-109 in flight just at the top of the door.
"I had no idea there was a store like this here." Hana said as she stared at the inside from the glass door.
"Neither did I," Junichi added in a perplexed tone.
Yukari and Goose led them all inside and immediately the smell of polished metal and clean floors invaded their noses as they took in the sight of the inside of the store. There were shelves upon shelves of spare tank and airplane parts, books on tanks and airplanes ranging from history to certain models to instruction manuals, and boxes of models of different types of military hardware. There were even posters on the walls depicting various tanks, fighter planes, and tankery and dogfighting teams. Even some clothing for pilots and tank crews adorned hangers for girls and boys. There were even television sets that were tuned into the local channels on both sports.
"This is pretty amazing." Saori said impressed with everything she was seeing. "All the tanks and airplanes look the same."
"Th-that's not true!" Yukari corrected her with a frown. "That's not true at all!"
"Tanks and airplanes are not all the same whatsoever." Goose added with a frown of his own before looking whimsically at the ceiling. "Every airplane is like a different personality, each with different performances and traits that separate themselves from each other."
"The same is true for tanks," Yukari said in the same tone before pumping her fist. "They all change depending on who's operating them."
"Not too different from flower arrangement." Hana said with a smile behind Yukari and Goose.
Saori nodded in agreement. "Girls have their good points about them too."
"Guys are just as different." Toshiro said sagely with a nod before making a thumb's up. "Let's try to get popular everyone."
"I doubt you will be considering what happened earlier." Junichi said in a dry tone while adjusting his glasses.
"Ahh shut up Junichi!" Toshiro retorted making the girls and Goose laugh.
Miho and Daisuke just simply watched their friends in bewilderment.
"It's like they're having a conversation but not really." Miho noted nervously.
"Yeah," Daisuke nodded.
A minute later, the group of friends was watching Yukari as she was playing an old tank video arcade game that was in the store. She seemed to be doing quite well, considering it was only a video game. But it looked like she was playing the game as though she was really inside the tank itself.
Right next to the tank game, Goose was playing an old arcade game that featured an old World War II fighter plane shooting at pixilated enemies in a forward motion background. Though it wasn't from the view of the cockpit, Goose seemed to be flying the plane really well. He only lost one life so far.
"You guys sure know what you're doing in these." Toshiro said as he watched them impressively.
"It sure looks fun." Hana said as she stood behind Yukari.
"But I don't want any wounds on my face…" Saori complained a little worried about what would happen.
"It's okay," Yukari reassured her, not taking her eyes off of the game. "They use real rounds in the matches, but they're used with emphasis on safety."
"The same is said for dogfighting," Goose said after destroying another enemy in his game. "All cockpits have been made bulletproof and all planes that don't have self-sealing fuel tanks have been replaced with them. Plus the bullet rounds are made to disintegrate once they impact the inside of the armor of the plane so that the pilot doesn't get hurt."
Daisuke and Miho just simply stood to the back as they watched their friends enjoy themselves. It wasn't that they weren't interested in what they were doing; they just wanted their friends to enjoy themselves without the two of them showing the melancholy they were feeling at the moment. This was their fun, not theirs and they didn't want to ruin it for them.
"They sure are enjoying themselves." Daisuke noted shifting his book bag on his shoulder and Miho's only reply was a quiet nod. The two of them then turned their attention to the TV that they stood in front as it was displaying the sports news.
"…As we enter the 34th competition." The newscaster said before the display image above her shoulder changed to a Panzer IV similar to Miho's tank. "Next up is the news on tankery. We have an interview with Maho Nishizumi, an athlete that was chosen MVP in the high school circuit last year." She reported before an image of a girl wearing a black Tankery uniform with a cold expression on her face with another girl behind her in the same uniform with long gray hair and blue eyes appeared in the Panzer's place. The girl in the foreground looked almost like a carbon copy of Miho if it weren't for the fact that she had darker brown hair and that uncaring look on her face. But her name was what tipped Daisuke off as to who she was, Miho's older sister. "She will get a special chance to train with the best in the nation."
Daisuke looked at Miho as she looked stunned to see her sister on the TV screen in front of her. He couldn't blame her; it had been a while ago that she had decided to leave her old home and hadn't seen or heard from her elder sister since. The screen then shifted to a female reporter next to Maho.
"What is your secret to winning in tankery?" The reporter asked her before holding the microphone out to Maho.
"To never give up," Maho answered her tonelessly before she turned towards the camera. "And never to run away, no matter the situation."
Miho gasped lightly and then looked down dejectedly as though her sister was talking to her through the TV. Daisuke narrowed his eyes at the screen, taking note of how cold Maho answered the reporter's question. It was like she didn't even care about what happened to her comrades during a match and that what happened in last year's championships still ran through her memory. The others noted how Miho was acting and looked at each other.
Saori clapped her hands together and attempted to distract Miho from her funk. "I know! Can I hang out in your room?" It seemed to have worked as Miho turned her attention towards Saori in confusion.
"I want to go too." Hana added with a smile.
Miho looked at them with a blush before smiling. "Sure."
Yukari looked a little nervous and was about to ask, but then Hana turned to her and asked. "How about you too, Akiyama-san?"
This seemed to please Yukari as she blushed and bowed in appreciation to her. "Thank you so much."
"What about you boys?" Saori asked, turning her attention to them. "You wanna come too?"
Daisuke, Toshiro, Junichi, and Goose all looked at each other; but the look on their faces was all the same. So Daisuke turned to Saori and answered with a nod.
"Sure," He said before looking a little concerned. "But, are you sure there'll be enough room for all of us?"
"Sure," Miho answered with an even brighter smile. "I'm sure all of us will be able to hang out together."
The girls all nodded in agreement with her with smiles on their faces; the boys smiled back and all agreed to their request.
Later that evening…
"It's kind of messy, but come on in." Miho said as she brought them all inside after they had taken their shoes off.
They all took note of the inside. It definitely seemed like a room fit for a girl. It had some green on one wall, the door leading to the bathroom, the closet and dresser, and even her small couch had green padding. There were a couple of boxes stacked up by the entrance that seemed to contain some of her belongings. She had a single table in front of her shelves where her TV set was. But the one thing Daisuke noted that really amused him was the number of teddy bears that occupied the room with her.
"Oh, how cute." Saori cooed as she looked at a group of teddy bears on the shelf next to her TV.
"You certainly like teddy bears, don't you Miho-chan?" Daisuke asked her with a smile.
Miho rubbed the back of her head with a blush and laughed nervously. "It's sort of a hobby of mine. I love collecting them."
"Your room really suits you." Hana commented as she inspected the room.
"It sure does." Toshiro agreed as Miho picked up a couple of magazines off of her couch before dropping them suddenly.
"You okay?" Yukari asked worriedly as she heard them drop.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Miho reassured her as she picked them back up.
Saori then pumped her fist. "Alright, how about we get started?" She then handed a grocery bag to Hana. "Hana, can you peel the potatoes for me?"
"Oh, sure." Hana agreed before turning to Junichi. "Junichi-san, would you care to help?"
"Certainly." He nodded.
"I'll cook the rice!" Yukari volunteered shooting her hand in the air.
"I've got the miso!" Goose followed with his own.
"I'll help you clean up, Miho-chan." Daisuke volunteered as he put his book bag down.
"Oh, you don't have to Daisuke-kun…" She protested.
"Nonsense," He waved her worries. "You're our host, I insist."
Miho didn't say anything for a moment before she smiled brightly at him. "Thank you."
A few moments later, Yukari and Goose had pulled out ration tins containing rice and miso soup. They also brought trays and tin dishes and started making the table while humming 'The Saints Go Marching In'. Saori and Toshiro looked at them with stunned looks.
"Why are you two using camping gear?" Saori asked them. "Do you always walk around like that?"
"Yeah, that way we can camp anywhere, anytime." Yukari answered as though she was used to the question. "Goose and I have been doing it ever since we were kids."
"Ouch!" A feminine cry came from the kitchen catching everyone's attention.
"Are you alright, Hana-san?" Junichi asked her in concern.
"I'm so sorry," She apologized while close to tears. "I've only cut flowers before."
"Oh dear," Miho cried out and started looking around. "I forgot where I put the Band-Aids."
Toshiro put his book bag down and walked over to her. "Here, let me take over. I've peeled potatoes before while serving detention, so I'm used to it." He took the knife and potato from her and continued to peel it and ended up finishing quicker than how slow she had started.
"Thank you, Toshiro-san." Hana said gratefully.
"We should get that cleaned up before it gets infected." Junichi indicated her cut and took her to the bathroom while Miho looked for the band-aids.
Daisuke decided to help look and then noticed something at the corner of his eye while he looked in a drawer. It was indeed what they were looking for.
"Aha!" He exclaimed, grabbing the box. "Found them!"
"Everyone, but the boys, is surprisingly useless." Saori said dryly as she took her contact lenses out and put them in her cleaning case before taking out her own glasses and putting them on.
About an hour later, the food was ready and the table was completely made. Despite how small the table was, there was enough food for everyone. Everyone was really impressed with how the table was made and how well spread out the food was. There were eight bowls of rice, eight bowls of miso soup, eight cups of tea, eight pairs of chopsticks, and dishes filled with different meat that could feet them all three times over.
"All right," Saori said looking rather pleased with herself. "Let's eat."
All at once, everyone brought their hands together and said, "Itadakimasu!"
With that, everyone grabbed their chopsticks and began eating. Of course, given the size of the table, the girls had to scoot over for each of the boys to sit down next to them. Daisuke sat next to Miho, Junichi sat next to Hana, Toshiro sat next to Saori, and of course Yukari and Goose sat next to each other. Miho had taken a bite of some of the meat and let out a sound of delight as she ate it.
"It's so yummy!" She exclaimed happily.
Daisuke ate a piece himself and was equally impressed. "Delicious!" He looked at Saori. "You're a really good cook, Saori-chan!"
"Well, meat and potatoes stew is great for seducing a man." She said proudly, making the boys almost choke on their food with blushes on their faces.
"Saori-chan!" Toshiro protested, thinking she was teasing them.
Hana then turned to Saori. "Have you ever been seduced by a man before?"
But it was Toshiro who answered. "Yeah, me!"
He didn't boast long as Saori pounded his head with her fist, being careful not to drop her food. "You don't count!" She then turned to Hana and said dryly. "No matter what you're doing, you have to practice first."
"Do guys even like meat and potatoes?" Yukari asked looking at Goose.
"Of course we do," Goose boasted, taking a bite out of his rice. "It's what we men usually survive on.
"There are men who are vegetarians, however." Junichi informed them, taking a small sip from his soup. "Not all men enjoy the taste of meat."
"But most of us do." Toshiro added after recovering from the lump Saori gave him and taking a bite out of some sashimi. "So don't be surprised if a guy expects some kind of meat in whatever meal he eats."
"I thought it was an urban legend." Hana said, tilting her head at what the boys were saying.
"You shouldn't listen to those kinds of things, Hana." Daisuke said amusingly. "What Goose and Junichi said is true; most men do enjoy meat and potatoes and some are vegetarians. But some men like both and enjoy a full course meal." He then took a sip of his tea. "I tell ya, my mom's an amazing cook; she could make even western meals and they taste amazing."
"See," Saori boasted. "There's your proof."
Miho smiled and then took notice of the flowers in a vase in the middle of the table. "These flowers look beautiful."
"I'm sorry," Hana apologized sadly. "I wish I could have done better."
"No," Miho dismissed her worries. "It really warms up the place when there are flowers."
This made Hana blush and smile. "Thank you."
Daisuke couldn't help but feel glad that he made all of these amazing friends in just a short amount of time. The way the eight of them were hanging out, you would think they had been doing this for a long time. Now here they all were, enjoying a nice dinner at one of their homes and having a pleasant conversation with one another.
"Hey," Toshiro suddenly said catching everyone's attention. "Next time we should hang out in Daisuke's room!"
"That's a good idea, Toshiro!" Saori agreed excitedly.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on guys," Daisuke tried to protest.
"I don't mind that." Junichi said after sipping his tea.
"Sounds good to me!" Goose said cheerfully.
One by one the others all seemed to agree with the idea, much to Daisuke's chagrin. He then felt Miho's hand on his and noticed that she was looking at him with an expectant smile. With a reluctant sigh, Daisuke looked at them with a smile.
"Alright," He said with a slight laugh. "Why not? It sure beats having instant meals every night."
Everyone cheered at that, even Miho was in brighter spirits now. Soon, everyone had eaten up every last ounce of food, dishes were cleaned up, and everyone had gathered up their bags to head home for the night. The girls had all said their goodbyes as did all the boys, except Daisuke who had decided to stay behind to say goodbye to Miho himself.
"See you tomorrow guys!" Miho called out as she waved goodbye to everyone, who waved back and said the same.
"Good night!" Daisuke called out, doing the same.
After the others had all reached out of earshot, Miho smiled brightly and said, "I'm so glad I transferred here."
"Me too," Daisuke agreed with a broad smile of his own. "I don't think I would've met any of you if I hadn't."
Miho then twiddled her fingers together and blushed. "I'm especially glad I met you, Daisuke-kun." This stunned Daisuke and she looked at him with a shy smile. "You were my first friend here, and even though you didn't have to, you stood up for me." Her smile turned even brighter. "Thank you."
Daisuke just stared at her, stunned that she told him that. He returned her smile with a smile of his own. "Me too, Miho-chan." He said. "Thank you for being my first friend here."
The two of them just stared at each other, smiling at one another as though no one else mattered. After a minute, Daisuke hoisted his book bag over his shoulder and said, "Well, good night, Miho-chan."
"Good night, Daisuke-kun." She replied softly, watching as he turned to leave.
As she watched him leave, Miho brought a hand to her chest and closed her eyes thanking whatever deity had blessed her for meeting him. She then turned back to her apartment building and practically skipped her way back to her apartment. It was as though life was finally looking up for her at last.
The next morning, Daisuke had arrived at the convenience store that he and Miho always met at and started waiting for her. A few other students had already passed by but he ignored them. After waiting a while Daisuke checked his watch and decided he would wait for her at the school's entrance. An hour later he saw her after waiting, being scolded by a female hall monitor while holding up a fellow student who looked like she could collapse at any time. She finished talking with the hall monitor and began walking towards the school with the other student.
"Sorry I'm late, Daisuke-kun." She apologized to him, straining to hold up her classmate. "But I couldn't help it."
"It's okay, Miho-chan," Daisuke replied with a reassuring smile. "I'm just glad you made it."
"Is he your boyfriend?" The girl she was carrying asked in a deadpan tone surprising the two of them.
"N-no!" Miho denied with a huge blush covering her face.
"W-we're just friends, is all!" Daisuke added with a blush of his own but the girl didn't seem to believe them.
She then turned to Miho and said, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Even though her voice and face didn't show it, she sounded sincere in her words.
"Don't worry about it," Miho replied as she and Daisuke helped bring her inside.
"I'll pay you back eventually." The girl said as Miho carefully dragged her inside.
An hour later, they met up with their friends and classmates in front of the school's hangar. Hana and Saori were worried when Miho didn't show up in time for class; they even called Daisuke to ask if he had seen her and he had said he had been waiting for her near the school entrance. When he had told them that, they became even more worried but he told them that he would call her if she didn't show up by the time the gates closed. When she finally arrived and the two of them made it to the hangar, she had apologized to them for being late.
"We were so worried that you were late." Hana said in a relieved tone.
"I overslept." Miho explained with an embarrassed smile, rubbing the back of her head.
"The instructors are late too." Saori whined. "Adults know how to tease don't they?"
Before she could complain any further, the sound of jet engines caught their attention and they saw what looked like a transport plane being escorted by a single fighter jet. The cargo plane itself was a Kawasaki C-2 transport and the fighter itself resembled an F-16, but the fighter was painted a navy blue. The transport plane had lowered its altitude and opened its rear hatch allowing a tank to exit in a collection of parachutes from behind. The tank landed hard into the school's parking lot and knocked a red sports car off its wheels as it skidded to a stop.
"Is that the headmaster's car!?" Yuzu cried in surprise.
"Now they've done it." Anzu said with a mouthful of her ever present dried sweet potatoes.
To further the damage, the tank backed out of the landing carriage it was in crushing the headmaster's car into a pancake before driving up to the fence where the parking lot ended. The F-16 looking fighter, on the other hand, circled around and touched down on the school's runway and taxying up to the hangar itself. The tank itself stopped at last and the top hatch opened allowing a young woman who looked about to be in her early 30s and wearing an officer's uniform of the JSDF to come out and remove her tactical helmet from her head, allowing her dark hair to flow back down to the back of her neck and her shoulders.
She turned towards the students and gave them a friendly smile. "Hello, there. It's nice to meet all of you." She then turned her attention towards the F-16 like jet as it's cockpit opened and one of the boys from Johnny's group brought a ladder for them to climb down on. "Looks like he decided not to show off."
They all looked as the pilot in question removed his flight helmet and brushed his head to get the spikes out of his dark brown hair before placing it on the console in front of him. The man then climbed out of the cockpit and onto the tarmac after turning his plane's engine off and walked over to the fence and looked disapprovingly at the woman in the tank. The man looked like he was about six and a half feet tall and carried an air of authority around him as he placed his hands on his hips.
"You just couldn't wait for the transport to land, couldn't you Captain?" He asked her dryly, quirking an eyebrow at her.
"Well where's the fun in that?" The woman questioned with a shrug as she climbed out of the tank. "Besides, I was really eager to start teaching these girls."
"We're here for work, not play, Captain Chouno." The man replied, not amused by his companion's carefree attitude. "So hurry up and be ready."
The woman saluted to him smartly. "Yes sir, Major!"
Later, the man had changed out of his flight suit and into a uniform similar to the woman's except their shoulder straps and wrist cuffs contained different stripes and stars on them indicating their ranks within the JSDF. Daisuke recognized the ranks immediately and knew that the man was indeed a rank above the woman next to him. But he also noted how the two of them seemed familiar with each other. It was like they knew and trusted each other quite well.
When the woman came out of the tank, Saori was disappointed because she had expected a man to be their Tankery instructor. After all, the JSDF did have plenty of men who could teach them the basics of operating a tank. But when she got a look at the man who came in on the fighter, her disappointment turned to giddiness as she watched how well he composed himself. It also helped that he looked quite handsome in her eyes. The same could be true in Toshiro's eyes when it came to both instructors, but for opposite reasons. In fact, the Major (as his rank identified him) seemed to intimidate him quite a bit. The others were just as impressed with both of them by how professional they seemed.
The students were now lined up in front of the school's hangar, with the man and woman both facing them at attention. The student council stood at the front of the class with them with Momo and Takeo more composed than either Yoshi or Anzu.
"These are our special instructors for the Tankery and Dogfighting units," Momo said as she introduced the classes to them. "Captain Ami Chouno, and Major Akio Chouno."
The both of them said, "It's nice to meet all of you."
"Chouno?" Goose echoed their surnames. "Does that mean…"
"Before any of you ask," Captain Ami said stopping Goose's words. "The two of us are married to each other. Sorry ladies, but he's mine." She finished cheerfully, making almost all the students, especially Saori and Toshiro groan in disappointment.
Major Akio glared at her and muttered, "You didn't have to put it that way, Ami."
"Oh lighten up, Akio." She said back with a cheerful smile before turning to the class. "Anyway, we heard there were a lot of people here who are doing tankery and dogfighting for the first time."
"Some of you even reported that you had never flown a plane before in your lives." Akio said as he looked at the boys. "But four of you managed to succeed in the flight simulators and land your planes in them."
"So let's do our best!" Ami said as she looked at her students before noticing Miho. "Oh, aren't you Instructor Nishizumi's daughter?" She asked her, catching Miho off-guard as she approached her. "The instructor has done a lot for me. Is your sister doing well?"
"Uhh…y-yeah…" Miho replied shyly. After this the other girls began to murmur amongst themselves, but Daisuke narrowed his eyes at the woman wishing she hadn't reminded Miho of that.
But then Akio noticed him and had a stunned look on his face. "Excuse me," He addressed Daisuke, catching his attention. "Are you by chance, Nobusuke Nishizawa's son?" He asked him, making Daisuke gasp in shock before looking down a bit sadly.
"Yeah." Daisuke answered quietly.
The man smiled at him warmly. "I thought so, you certainly look like him. He and I were in the same dogfighting team together." He then frowned sadly at Daisuke. "I'm deeply sorry for your loss, he was a good man."
His last statement shocked the rest of the class as they all looked at Daisuke who simply nodded at Akio. The only one not shocked was Miho, since she had told her about it the day they had first met. Now the others knew why Daisuke avoided dogfighting so much, it was because his father was a dogfighter too. The fact that both their instructors knew Miho and Daisuke made everyone wonder if the two of them were famous.
Ami decided to clarify things for them a little. "The Nishizumi School is the tankery school with the longest history." She explained bringing gasps of astonishment from almost everybody.
Akio then decided to calm everyone down. "Now, before we begin are there any questions for us?"
"Captain," Saori called out, raising her hand. "Are you popular with the men?" Her question caught both Ami and Akio off guard, but it didn't seem to remove the uncomfortable feeling from either Miho or Daisuke.
Ami then laughed slightly. "Well, I would think so," She then wrapped her arm around Akio's and gave him a loving gaze. "But I've already got my man." She finished before giving him a peck on the cheek. This made Akio blush and the girls to go 'aww' while the boys all groaned in disappointment.
'Why are all the hot ones taken?' Toshiro thought to himself miserably.
"Captain," Yukari called out, raising her hand. "What will we be doing today?"
"I'm glad you asked," Ami said looking at the collection of girl students. "We will be throwing you girls into things right away and have a mock battle."
That statement brought a shock to all the girls as they wondered if it was too soon. Akio then turned to the boys.
"Now, Yoshi tells me that he and three of you gentlemen have been carefully selected as the pilots for your planes along with him." Akio said as he looked them over. "So will the pilots of those planes please step forward?" While Fredrick and Johnny both eagerly stepped up, Daisuke reluctantly did so after some urging from his friends. Akio nodded and said, "Very good, we will also be having a mock battle in the air at the same time the girls have theirs."
That also brought a shock to the pilots, even Daisuke. "So soon?"
"It'll be fine," Ami reassured them all. "If you're all going to gain experience, you need to learn how to move your machines and learn how to operate them properly." She then pulled out a map. "All of you will head off to your starting points and will begin on my signal."
"At the same time, we will be taking off and have our mock battle around the ship's airspace." Akio told the pilots. "We will be using paint rounds instead of the rounds usually used in a dogfighting match, so your planes won't get heavily damaged."
"Uhh, Major," Johnny raised his hand prompting Akio to look at him. "Does this mean you'll be up in the air with us?"
"Yes," Akio nodded in confirmation. "I will be observing how well you do in this mock dogfight."
"How many rounds will we be using?" Fredrick asked, raising his hand.
"We will be using exactly 500 paint rounds per plane." Akio answered him simply.
'Five hundred rounds?' Daisuke thought to himself. 'That means this is going to be a short dogfight.'
"The mock battle will end once all planes have exhausted all 500 rounds." Akio informed them. "The plane with the least amount of paint on their plane will be declared the winner of this mock dogfight."
"Uh, Major," Toshiro raised his hand garnering Akio's attention. "What about the rest of us? What will we be doing?"
Akio then had a wicked grin on his face. "I'm glad you asked that." He then turned to the other boys behind the three pilots. "The rest of you…will be running 20 laps around the hangar!"
"EEEHHH!?" The boys all shouted in shock, causing the girls to giggle.
"Oh c'mon, seriously?" Toshiro complained, thinking that running 20 laps was more of a thing they did in gym class.
"Oh?" Akio raised an eyebrow with a clever smirk. "Then how about 30 laps?"
"Thirty!?" Toshiro shouted in shock.
"Do you want to make it 40?" Akio asked with an even wider smirk, prompting Toshiro to cover his mouth.
"N-no, sir!" He quickly replied, noticing the glares the others were giving him.
"Good," Akio said cheerfully, making Ami laugh slightly. "Then get moving, on the double!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" All but the pilots shouted as they began jogging around the hangar.
Akio and Ami then turned to their students and Akio said, "We will be starting right away, so gentlemen, to your planes!"
"Ladies, to your tanks!" Ami followed up as they both raised their arms to emphasize it.
"Yes sir/ma'am!" The students all shouted as they ran to their machines but Daisuke and Miho trailed behind.
"Good luck, Miho-chan!" Daisuke called out to her.
"You too, Daisuke-kun!" She replied with a smile.
A/N: Whew! That took a long time to finish! But I sure hope it's worth it. So then, don't forget to send a review! In the meantime, here's some WWII trivia for ya based on what I had mentioned earlier in the chapter!
The "Red Tails" as I had mentioned, is the nickname for the 332nd Fighter Group for the US Army Air Corps. in WWII. Also known as the Tuskegee Airmen based on the name of the airbase where they trained, they were the first all-black fighter squadron in the United States military. Because America was still racially segregated back then, blacks or African-Americans (if you want to be politically correct) faced a lot of discrimination because hardly anyone was willing to accept them into the military especially those from the southern states. Yet, despite this, the 332nd produced quite a few distinguished pilots during their combat missions and even shot down a couple of German jet fighters. But they were the only fighter squadron who never lost a single bomber crew the entire time they served as escorts for them. Not one! Their exploits produced not one, but two feature films depicting their actions during the war. In the recent decades, they had finally recieved the recognition they so richly deserved after serving our country.