Chapter 8: Playing For Keeps
Oarai's school ship pulled into port for the tournament, allowing the tankery team to begin the process of unloading its tanks, as well as the rest of the preparations for the school's first match of the tournament. Luckily for Mako, the start time was later in the morning, to accommodate Anzio taking slightly longer to pull into port and unload its tanks. It was not as much sleep as Mako would have liked to have gotten, but she still saw it as an improvement over the 6 a.m. start time for the practice match with BC Freedom.
But even so, Mako could not help but be restless as Oarai's tankers milled about before the match in Oarai's assembly area, after a last-minute strategy meeting headed by Miho and Hisa. Unlike against BC Freedom, Anzio had the seemingly advantageous starting point, and would quickly assume a defensive position. Miho thus decided to avoid falling into any traps, and find some way of luring out the enemy and taking them down before assaulting their position, or otherwise drawing out the flag tank.
Miho realized that she had done what she could to prepare her team for the match, and now, the only thing left to do was wait. Perhaps Anzio had also realized this, since most schools finished their preparations prior to the days of their matches.
Some team commanders took advantage of the time before the matches to meet their opposition in person before the official greetings were exchanged. Such meetings were encouraged, provided they remained civil- in tankery, the crews spent their time inside their tanks, precluding face-to-face interaction. Conversing with the enemy was a reminder that this was not war, and while the opposing schools were competing against each other for the championship, that goal was not just a point of contention, but one of many commonalities between them.
Of course, some took the competition more seriously than others, and forgot about what they had in common. Anchovy was one such individual, believing that bringing victory to her school came before all else, and expecting her subordinates to take the pursuit of the goal as seriously as she did. She had little patience for those among her subordinates who were not dedicated to victory. And she had even less for commanders who promoted or tolerated such attitudes among their troops, even if she believed their doing so would facilitate her winning against them.
Anchovy and Carpaccio walked over to the assembled Oarai forces, and looked them over, trying to see if the commander was there.
"I am Carpaccio, vice captain of Anzio High School," Carpaccio said, glancing at Miho. "Are you Nishizumi Miho?"
"I am," Miho said, slightly nervous about where the conversation was going.
"My commander, Duce Anchovy, would like to speak with you," Carpaccio said, before turning from Miho to Anchovy. "Duce, Nishizumi Miho is here."
Anchovy walked over to Miho.
"Nishizumi Miho," Anchovy said. "It's a surprise to see that someone like you is commanding a school like this, but ultimately, it makes no difference. Your way of tankery is far too weak. I don't know why your subordinates would rally around you- maybe there's no one better to lead them- but I'm certain you won't be leading them to victory against us."
Anchovy was glancing off to Miho's side and behind her while talking dismissively about those under Miho's command. As she was doing so, Anchovy then noticed Yukari, immediately recognizing her as the person who had infiltrated Anzio.
"You there," Anchovy said, pointing at Yukari. "Lieutenant Oddball, was it?
"Sergeant Third Class Oddball," Yukari said.
"Tell us honestly, Sergeant Oddball," Anchovy said, slightly irritated at Yukari correcting her on a detail that she found irrelevant. "Who gave you the order to sneak into our school?"
"No one did," Yukari said without hesitation, both because it was true and in order to avoid incriminating Miho. "It was a plan I came up with on my own to gather intel for the match. Think what you will of me, do what you will to me, but please leave Nishizumi-dono and the others out of it."
"Is that so?" Anchovy said, and Miho nodded. "How disappointing, Nishizumi Miho," Anchovy said as she turned back to Miho. "I had thought that after running away, you had strengthened your way of tankery, or thought of some clever stratagems, but it seems you're still just as weak as ever."
Miho remained silent, caught off guard by Anchovy's barbs and unsure of how she could respond.
Anchovy started to walk off, but then turned back to Miho.
"But we have bigger fish to fry, so we can't lose here, now, to someone like you," Anchovy said. "You had best prepare yourself for your defeat."
Yukari sighed. She had expected that some would look on them with contempt as a newcomer, but this seemed to be an entirely different level altogether. Yukari had her theories as to why Anchovy seemed unusually preoccupied with and dismissive of Miho, but while she was all but certain of the cause, she had difficulty understanding why Anchovy would hate Miho because of that.
"Are you alright, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari said.
"I am, Yukari-san," Miho said. "I suppose Anchovy-san's low opinion of us is to be expected, given that most people don't think much of our team or our chances of winning."
Yukari's expression turned skeptical, and she glanced at Hisa, who shrugged. They had gone as far as they felt they could on this subject go without unduly prying.
"Well, that's true," Hisa said. "And it might work to our advantage this time. If the enemy underestimates us, their doing so could give us an opportunity to win. If we make it farther, some of our opponents will not necessarily be fooled, but the advantage we gain by not being taken seriously might be what we need to win at this point."
In the stands, Yukari's parents sat, watching the games. For all Yukari loved tankery, her parents only had a general idea of the basic rules behind it, such as how the object was to defeat the flag tank, and the kind of tanks that were allowed in the competition.
They couldn't claim to truly understand when Yukari kept talking about various tank models and how they would fare in various conditions or against each other. They could only smile, nod, and say "That's nice, Yukari," when Yukari talked about her team's fighting against the remaining BC Freedom forces; while they had seen all of the match, including the finale, they couldn't identify the models of the tanks until Yukari pointed out what each one did in the battle, and gave a basic description using terms they could understand. But more than anything, they didn't try to judge Yukari's interest, as strange as it often seemed to them.
Elsewhere, in the stands, Kai watched as his daughter's school went up against Anzio. He momentarily was surprised that he was at a tankery game, even though the only reason he had for despising tankery that he remembered was his belief that it had torn his family apart.
He realized that Saki, who had seemingly given up tankery forever, was now getting in it again, in the hopes of reuniting her family through it, even though none of them agreed about it. And he, the person least likely to approve, was the first person she had told about it.
What did this say about her? Was she blind to the odds? Did she seriously think she could succeed? Or was the potential of achieving her goal through it reason enough to try?
No answers were obvious to Kai at the moment, so he decided to sit and observe his daughter for now. Would she lose hope in her goal, or would it be vindicated? And whose mind would ultimately be changed through her efforts?
Haramura Kei sat at home, reviewing some records for his latest case. He had considered turning on the television and half-watching the match while doing his work, as he did occasionally when he put in long hours, but he had no interest in tankery, and little expectation that his daughter Nodoka would even clear the first round of the tournament. She had made it to the quarter-finals in middle school, but here, the competition was that much intense, and to him, she was foolish to even propose winning the nationals.
He knew that he, as a parent, was never obligated to give Nodoka this chance- Reiko had been surprised when he had told her about it, but had let the conversation drop when he said she could not succeed. Nodoka had been expected to move with the family in the past, and go to the schools he and her mother expected her to go to. But no matter how many times she had been uprooted from one school to another, her love of tankery remained the only constant, even after Kei had made it clear that he disapproved of it and expected her to give it up. It was a mere game, not unlike other sports, and while many competed in it, few could expect to do it for a living. To him, Nodoka was better off finding out where her talents lay, and what career she could make out of them.
And yet, perhaps Nodoka, by making an audacious promise and failing to live up to it, would realize the limits of her ability. In losing to those who were the best in tankery, she would clearly see that she was nothing more than mediocre by comparison. If Nodoka was the one who made the terms of the agreement with him, surely she would not complain about moving once she failed to fulfill her end of the bargain.
At the moment, Nodoka seemed to be nothing more than a dreamer making empty promises. And until he had reason to believe otherwise, Kei H. was content in waiting until the next day for news about the match's outcome.
Kei was not the only one who thought watching the match was a waste of time. Erika looked on Oarai with disdain as she sat in the stands with Teru and Maho.
"Why are we here?" Erika said, having come to watch in person only because Maho, her direct superior, had asked her and Teru to do so.
"To take a look at our competition, and see what they're capable of," Maho said.
Erika softly scoffed, wondering why Maho would choose Oarai of all possible schools to watch.
"If you could call them that," Erika said. "One's a school with a second-rate tankery team, and the other's a complete newcomer. Both are in the opposite side of the bracket. Neither are likely to reach the finals to face us."
"It's true that the odds are long," Maho said. "But no one expects anything of Oarai because no one knows much about Oarai. If it turns out that their rivals in this half underestimated Oarai, then by watching how they fight, we will avoid making that mistake."
Teru had to concede Maho's points, but suspected that the reasons she gave were not the only ones that she had for coming to the match, especially since she had no plans to watch any of the other first round matches in Oarai's half of the bracket.
"Would you be coming here if your sister was not leading Oarai's team, Commander?" Teru thought. "Or might it be because Saki's on the team?"
But Teru knew that with Maho always mindful of how her actions came across to those under her command and the public, if she asked the question now, she would likely only get the answer Maho wanted her to hear.
As the match started, Oarai proceeded forward cautiously over the barren and hilly battlefield, keeping an eye out for Anzio's tanks. Unlike their previous battle with BC Freedom, the enemy did not appear to be going on the offensive, which left the first move to them. If Oarai's tanks made a mistake, they stood at risk of falling into Anzio's trap. But if they did well, they could decide how to engage Anzio.
Miho decided that protecting the flag tank, which was Rabbit Team this time, took priority above all else, and kept her forces as a single unit. After advancing some distance, Miho spotted two Carro Veloce L3/35 tankettes ahead.
"Enemies ahead!" Momo K. said over the radio, as the tankettes opened fire on the Oarai forces with their machine guns.
"Calm down," Miho said. "Most of our tanks, inferior as they may be, have armor thick enough to resist the machine guns. And they're attacking with their machine guns because they don't have main cannons."
"Did you hear that, everyone?" Azusa said to the rest of Rabbit Team. "We're safe as long as we stay in the tank. But we're not in the tank solely for our own protection; rather, we have to protect this tank. If we're taken out, all of us lose."
The rest of Rabbit team nodded. None of them were quite sure how the flag tank had been selected, but found it somewhat fitting. This would be their chance to prove that they could perform at the level necessary to win in the tournament. If they could not, they would not get another chance, and neither would their school.
"Everyone," Miho said, "Hold position and open fire on them, but don't follow them; they seem to be trying to lure us somewhere."
Following Miho's commands, the rest of the team held back, not wanting to get lured into a trap. Duck Team fired, and took out one of them, while Anglerfish Team fired and took out the second.
"It's possible they're advancing on us from behind," Miho said as she noticed that there were no more enemies coming from the front. "Sparrow Team, Turtle Team and Anglerfish Team will circle around and keep a look out for enemies. The rest of you, slowly advance while remaining wary for ambushes."
As five tanks from Anzio's team- two P26/40s, one of which was the commander's, two M13/40s, and the flag tank, a Carro Veloce CV-35, waited atop the hill where they had sat, waiting for Oarai's attack.
"They got taken out already?" Anchovy said after hearing of what had happened to two of the tankettes. "You may be the bait, but you still have a job to do!"
Kobashiri Yae, however, remained calm, confident in her superiority over the crews of the tankettes, and quite pleased with herself. She, a short girl with a curly lock in her dark hair, had, in her first year at Anzio, moved up to get not only a spot on the team, but a spot in one of their actual tanks, a P26/40, and now was in her third year.
She heard the casualty reports over the radio, and she merely smirked. There was a reason why the relative novices like those in the tankettes were not entrusted with tanks that were important to Anzio's strategy. And now she would show them why the commander trusted her to
"I bet those Oarai fools thought that they'd inflicted significant losses on us," Yae said. "We've still got more tanks than they do, and we can still crush them!"
"Orders, Duce?" Ueda Ryouko, the blonde, spiky-haired commander of a Carro Amato M13/40, said.
"That's where Carpaccio and the others come in," Anchovy said. "Once they're in position, we'll have the upper hand and pay back each of our casualties threefold."
A group consisting of the Semovente 75/18, under the command of Carpaccio, another P26/40, and a M13/40 advanced behind the hills, trying to remain inconspicuous until they were in position to strike.
Their destination was a small hill near where Oarai planned to attack the main division with the flag tank. It was a relatively inconspicuous location, but one from which they could shoot at the Oarai forces, and cut them off if they attempted to retreat.
Unfortunately, Miho had foreseen the possibility, and had sent tanks to intercept them. Anzio would have to deal with them before it could enact its plan.
Anglerfish Team fired, striking the M13/40 and disabling it.
The Pz 38 fired, missing the Semovente by several meters.
"Momo-chan, you missed," Yuzu said.
"Fuoco!" Carpaccio said, firing on the Oarai tanks below.
Duck Team quickly shifted their Type 89 into reverse, blocking the shot aimed for Rabbit Team's M3 Lee. The white flag rose on the Type 89, but they saw that Rabbit Team remained unharmed.
Around the same time, a shell from the Cromwell struck the P26/40 in the side, disabling it.
"Why's the Semovente still up?" Mutsuki said as she loaded the next shell.
"Because the Student Council missed," Yumi said. "And now, one of us is done for."
The Semovente quickly turned, in response to the new threat, and fired its gun, taking out Turtle Team.
"They got us!" Anzu said.
Yumi let off a sigh of relief. She had heard that in the battle with BC Freedom, Kei A. had realized that the Pz 38 had next to no chance of hitting her, and focused on the more pressing threat of Hisa's Tas. Thankfully, the Semovente had failed to make such a realization, or even try to attack their flag tank, giving Yumi's team a window of opportunity to counterattack.
Momo then fired the Cromwell's main gun, striking the Semovente in the side and disabling it. The blast of the shell hitting its side was visible to those down below, even if the white flag was not.
"Good work, everyone," Miho said over the radio. "Now press on the attack and finish off the main force, including the flag tank."
Maho and her vice-captains watched the recent developments, seeing Anzio lose the advantage to Oarai.
Erika had never been very interested in how the match was going, but mildly hoped that Anzio would win so that it could teach Oarai a lesson, not out of any love of her Italian-themed rival. But even she had to concede that the possibility of that happening was quickly declining.
"Anzio's at it again," Erika said dismissively. "Their tanks are weaker than a lot of the big-name schools, so they use what they believe to be 'clever' strategies. But I honestly think that should have been enough to crush Oarai."
"It is possible for a weaker opponent to defeat a strong one with the proper strategy," Maho said.
"True, but I don't think Anzio will manage it how they're going about doing things," Teru said. "First, like Erika said, their tanks are so-so, even ignoring the tankettes. Second, the bait strategy seems fairly transparent; it's no wonder that Miho saw through it."
"You have a point, Teru; I wasn't talking about Anzio," Maho said. "Surprisingly, Anzio is the one that has the advantage this time, at least in terms of numbers. Given the kind of person Anchovy is, I wouldn't be surprised if they had been- and still are- looking down on Oarai, resulting in them getting overconfident and careless. That's why they chose this strategy and thought that Miho would fall for it. That's why they don't have a Plan B. That's why Miho is going to win."
Erika found herself at a loss for words, desperately hoping that Oarai would make a mistake or Anzio would make a comeback that would validate her taunt at the cafe. Teru pondered what Maho had said and nodded.
"When you put it that way, Commander, it's not too surprising," Teru said. "But like many of our opponents do in the past, Anzio still has a way they can win even though they're unlikely to make a comeback."
The main Oarai attack advanced up the hill where Anzio's main forces were waiting, free of any possible interference from behind as their allies cleared out Carpaccio's division.
Anchovy, however, realized that although her plan had fallen to pieces, she still had a simple and effective route to victory- shooting the Oarai flag tank. People would say that Anzio had barely managed to win, but Anchovy did not care about how others perceived her. The methods needed to achieve victory mattered less than her ability to deliver victory, and she owed that much to her subordinates for giving their all.
"All tanks, aim for the flag tank!" Anchovy said desperately. "The rear attack is no longer able to do so!"
"Don't panic," Azusa said, as the M3 Lee escaped to behind the hill. "Just quickly get to cover!"
The Anzio tanks atop the hill fired a volley of shots, hoping to take down the M3 Lee and win the game. Unfortunately, the plan was falling apart, and their shots were as hastily aimed as Anchovy's command was hastily made. One shot struck the already disabled Type 89, two others fell to the sides, and one fell in front of the Type 89, where Rabbit Team had been moments before.
Octopus Team approached and aimed directly at Anchovy's command tank, using the window of opportunity they had while their opponent reloaded.
Anchovy glanced at her loader, who was struggling to load a shell. She refused to accept that this was happening. Her school had been defeated many times in the past, but never against a school like the one she was facing. Oarai should have been weaker than Anzio, which had defeated some schools that were stronger. And how could their commander, who seemingly saw victory as a secondary priority, defeat her and her teammates, who had always tried their hardest in order to win?
"Nishizumi Mihoooo!" Anchovy screamed as the Tas fired.
The shell struck Anchovy's command tank at close range, causing a loud blast that drowned out Anchovy's scream and forced the white flag up. The other tanks immediately began to retreat, their commander having been taken out of the game. Before they did, a parting shot from Yae's P26/40 took the StuG out of the game.
The flag tank, a Carro Veloce CV-35, sped off, while Yae's P26/40 set off in search of the flag tank. Octopus Team, however, quickly fired, sending the P26/40 screeching to a halt as dust mixed with smoke, but its white flag was visible through both clouds.
Tatsumi Yuuka, a brunette who was the flag tank's commander, pondered what had happened. Her commander had been taken out of the game, and so had her vice-captain. Anzio was leaderless, but what remained to be done was fairly simple. They only needed to keep the flag tank out of danger, while neutralizing as many enemies as they could.
The flag tank sped away from the main battle, trying to get somewhere, anywhere, that the enemy would not find them. Its crew was not terribly picky about finding a hiding spot, since locations with concealment were already hard to find in the open fields.
But in their haste to escape, they blundered toward the Panzer IV, which was fresh from defeating the attack from behind. The flag tank had chosen the same route that Anchovy had expected Miho to use, and so were as vulnerable to attack as Miho's group would have been.
Yukari finished loading the shell into the tank's main gun.
"Hana-san, take out the flag tank," Miho said.
Hana took aim at the flag tank. When asked how she could aim so well, she mentioned that doing flower arrangement required a great deal of concentration; if she could make the precise motions for the flowers she was using in a given exhibition, she could make the fine motions necessary to aim the gun of a tank. While she had grown discontent with her present way of flower arranging, and saw tankery as her solution to that, she realized just how useful her flower arranging training was in this moment.
Having her target in her sights and having done her calculations for the perfect shot she needed, Hana pulled the trigger.
The shot sailed through the air and struck the flag tank in the front. Its armor was weak, but that distance, the Panzer IV's main gun would be lucky to get a hit.
And yet, that hit was what Oarai needed; a large explosion was seen as the round struck the tankette, the tankette was tipped over from the impact, and the white flag popped up out of the tank's upturned bottom.
"Oarai Academy wins the match!" the announcer said.
Watching from her disabled tank, Yae was unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Beaten by a rank amateur from a no-name school?" Yae said. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Author's Notes
Thank you for the reviews. I'd also like to thank Stalker117 for beta reading this.
EXpertUS: Nodoka's father has last been seen very early on, in a flashback before Nodoka went to the training camp, although the fact that Nodoka needs to win to stay in Kiyosumi is occasionally mentioned, like at the start of Nodoka's quarterfinals match.
Part of the reason I put Anchovy first is that it makes more sense for them to have no respect for Oarai if they're their first rival. Granted, Erika and Katyusha think little of Miho at first, but it would seem to be better founded for Anchovy to do so if Oarai hadn't defeated Saunders first. Another reason is because Anzio nicely contrasts with Saunders. Kay enjoys having fun with tankery matches, while Anchovy believes winning is a commander's responsibility to her subordinates. Yet another part is because Anzio is Oarai's easiest opponent.
It's interesting how strength is relative; Anzio's a joke compared to Black Forest (in the manga, once Miho's group gets into position, Anzio's offensive falls apart quickly, and they're able to take out the flag tank), but strong compared to Oarai, which is one reason why they look down on Oarai.
The named Anzio characters besides Anchovy and Carpaccio are students at Bansei in Saki Achiga-hen, as well as members of their mahjong team, which has only lost the prefecturals twice in four decades. Yae's probably one of the more obnoxious rivals even though, from what we've seen, Bansei stands no chance not just against Achiga or Kiyosumi, but probably also Ryuumonbuchi, Kazekoshi or Tsuruga, although she does warm up slightly to Achiga in one of Arata's flashbacks.
I changed it slightly so that the tankery matches are televised in this fic, much like the mahjong matches in Saki are. This will become a slight plot point later on.
Incidentally, how does Nodoka's father come off to you? I tried to write him in character, but it's relatively difficult to do so when most of his screentime (two scenes, and I think four lines of dialogue between them) depicts him as emotionally distant from Nodoka and expressing disdain for mahjong, her friendships and her school. And yet, as with Shiho, I believe he has his reasons for what he does.
Edited to fix Yae's tank getting taken out twice. I'm also going back through some of the chapters and providing insights on the various characters.
Character Analysis: Anchovy
Anchovy was written based on Anchovy from the manga, who is a far cry from her anime self. In the manga, she's hot tempered and dedicated to victory above all else. By contrast, her anime incarnation is not entirely content with her school's status as a relatively weak contender, but is spirited enough to try to overcome it, while still keeping things in perspective.
Anchovy has the unenviable position of being significantly outmatched by most of her opponents and having to think of ways to compensate for that. However, with Oarai, the opposite is true, and Anchovy ends up being outmaneuvered.
But Anchovy is willing to face these challenges if she must, because as commander, she feels a sense of responsibility to her troops. She expects them to do their part to win, but also believes she is one of those whose efforts is required for victory. To her, nothing can be gained without sacrifice; as such, victory for a tankery team requires sacrifice from everyone, and is shared by the entire team.
As such, Anchovy believes that Miho's decision in the last year cost the entire team victory for the sake of a handful of people. While she understands Miho's concern for her teammates, she believes Miho does not have sight of the bigger picture, and that her principles have not yet been adequately tested. But Anchovy's defeat affords her an opportunity to watch Miho's progress, and see how far her principles will take her.