Chapter 19 (Wow, never knew I would get this far!)

"In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."

—Hermann Göring, 1943.

It was only five hours before the start of the match. Having prepared early, all I had to do was sit around and wait. With the girls all loading up their tanks with shells and fuel, I was casually sitting down next to my mosquito. Four machine guns, one 57mm cannon, eight rockets, and two five-hundred pound bombs. The mosquito was a fearsome beast, or should I say, bug. While the "tse-tse" didn't historically carry rockets, I sacrificed some fuel and put them on anyway. The mosquito, painted in a green camouflage pattern on top with a sky blue bottom, was eagerly waiting to prove itself in battle. I could not say the same about me. Saori was visibly nervous too, but for some reason I felt like she was nervous in more ways than one. She walked off to the panzer IV.

"Hey man, long time no see." I looked up to find my brother peering over me.

"Hi! Shouldn't you be on the other side preparing your plane?"

"I already prepared. They claim they don't need me, because they've got an 'upgrade'. Really it's a downgrade if you ask me." My brother sat down beside me.

"upgrade?"

"You'll see. Anyway, How's it been?"

"Pretty good. You?"

My brother laughed. "Could be better. Kuromorimine is a really strange place. Sometimes I'm scared just to breathe." He looked up. "De Havilland Mosquito mark eighteen. Not a bad choice."

"Well, it wasn't really a choice, but I'll take it."

We stayed silent for another while. There was so much I wanted to ask him. How was he not dead? Surely someone can't disappear for a year. My brother started to grin, and continued.

"So... how are the girls over at Oarai?" Yup. This was my brother alright. He's slightly perverted at times, but not on the scale of say, Saori.

"The girls?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Hanging around all those girls and not one perks your interest?"

"Well, It's crazy over here too. Let's see, you have one seemingly with high blood pressure, one actually with low blood pressure, one tank fanatic, one boy chaser, three video game nerds, a whole bunch of freshmen, some car racers, one lazy girl and one servant. Then there's the four girls that take history way too seriously."

"So there's no one of quality?" Correction. Perhaps my brother is on the scale of Saori.

"Well there's two, maybe three if you don't mind the lazy girl. The freshmen might be okay if you don't mind the age gap." At this point, thinking of Miho, I started blushing. Heh. Maybe I was a Saori also.

"And the names of the two normal girls?"

"Hana, and uh... Miho." For some reason, I had trouble saying Miho's name.

"And the lazy girl?"

"Anzu." I pointed her out. She was sitting on a lawn chair watching Yuzu and Momo do most of the work.

"Eh, she doesn't look too bad."

"Anyone good at Kuromorimine?"

"Heh, none of them I find are that good. It's like learning tanks turns them into tanks. They don't have feelings. They turn into war machines built of solid steel with a big gun, and extremely hard to penetrate." We both chuckled a bit at the innuendo.

My brother's face morphed into a more serious, solemn look. "Monty, well, the real reason I'm here is well, I feel like it's time for you to know."

"Know what?"

"Well, ever since mom and dad died, I couldn't stay in school. So I went out to find a job. I couldn't find one. I needed to care for you, and so I dropped out of school and started working very simple jobs. Now, the pay wasn't enough, but we got through. That's when I heard of flying for sport. If we won the tournament, we won a lot of cash, which we needed. I signed up, and met Chester there. Surely you remember Chester."

"What about him?"

"He provided some financial aid, even selling one of his boats to get us equipment. At one point he even offered us housing, but well, you know what happened to him before we could get anywhere. Anyway, with Chester, I didn't have to worry about financial problems, and focused on learning to dogfight. Having learned dogfighting, we were able to enter into the tournament. You were of age, so we started training you. With you trained up, we scraped up whatever money we had and bought you the cheapest aircraft available: A P-40. We entered with you in the tournament and tried our best."

"But I don't remember me being in any tournament..."

"I told you it was training. Didn't want you to feel nervous. As I was saying, halfway through the tournament, well, Chester died, and losing him meant we had to pull out. I had spent all my time and energy on learning to dogfight, which now seemed useless, and we were running out of money. One day I decided I had enough, and under-fueled my plane. Next mission, knowing I was under-fueled, we set off towards the ocean. You were having engine problems, so I couldn't take you with me. I planned to crash my plane in the ocean, and if I somehow survived, I would surely drown in the middle of the ocean. Less fuel ensured I wouldn't come back. As my engine went dry, Hermann [The Commandant] left me for dead, and returned to base. When he was out of visual range, I started to dive. Then I thought of you, and thought that I couldn't just leave you behind. I didn't want to kill myself anymore. But I didn't have enough fuel to fly back home. I thought I was doomed, regretting my premature decision. I opened my eyes to find a girl's academy ship sailing right under me! I figured that I might be able to land there, so I did."

"So that's how you're still here."

"Yup." He checked his watch. "Oh! I better get back to Kuromorimine. Maho's gonna get angry."

Just before he left, the buzzing sound of an engine loomed overhead. Me and my brother both instinctively looked up. It was a Fieseler Fi 156 "Storch". What it was doing here I don't know, but it was descending. My brother left, and the Storch lands quite near me, comes to a stop, and a familiar face climbs out. It was Erich, the man from the hangar. He waved. I waved back.

"How's it been, my friend?"

"Good. you?"

"Could be better."

I gave Erich a little tour of the mosquito, and he gave me tips on low altitude flight, telling me that I would need it. We climbed out, and he helped me with a walk around of the plane, checking that the munitions were stored securely and the mollins gun was loaded properly. It really turned into Erich exploring the mosquito inside and out, like a child would explore around a new playground. Erich took a break, and looked in the direction of Kuromorimine. He froze.

"Is that... her?"

"Who?" I looked up in the same direction. In the distance, was Shiho. Erich turned pale, and started to look uncomfortable. Erich was about to move, but then Shiho looked back. Erich froze yet again. They locked eyes, and Shiho started walking towards us. Erich then seemed to return to normal, as if nothing had happened.

"So, back to pre-flight checks?"

"Sure." I knew there was something up though.

He ordered me to open the bomb bay. I climbed up into the cockpit, and obeyed. By the time the bomb bay doors opened, Shiho was patiently waiting right beside the Mosquito. Erich was poking his head inside the bomb bay, making sure the two bombs were secure, but taking his time and obviously stalling. It seemed to me that Erich was ignoring Shiho. Shiho got impatient, and tapped Erich on the shoulder. Erich jumped and turned to face Shiho. This can't end well. Shiho and Erich stood there, staring at each other with the same exact gaze. Shiho reached out her arm and gently touched Erich's face, as if she was touching a hurt animal. Erich turned away and blushed.

"I thought we agreed to stay out of each other's lives." Erich spoke first.

"I am afraid that may not be possible anymore." Shiho wore this expressionless face.

"I'm sorry, okay? You win. Both of the children are very prominent tankers. Now if you will, I do have to get back to what I was doing."

"I'm surprised you're here. Anyway, while you are here, I would like to invite you back to Kuromorimine."

"It's ended. I think we established that the relationship won't work anymore."

"It's not about that. It is in Kuromorimine's best interests to obtain a flight instructor, seeing Sensha-do's new route."

"Best interests? Just lighten up. Life's not just about winning tanks you know."

"I assure you, if you take the job, you will be paid well."

"Pay?" Erich scoffed at the notion. "I don't care for pay. I've been making just enough money to get me by, and I'm still happy. I don't need any sort of fancy job."

Shiho seemed to break. As if she were taking off a disguise, she bawled out, "Look, I'm sorry as well. I just hope you may want to return. Perhaps I've been too strict. Things didn't turn out well, but that doesn't mean we can't try to fix those things. I knew you always wanted a son. Now while we weren't able to have everything, I've noticed that I just want you back. Remember when we just had Maho? We were perfectly happy back then. I miss those times. Perhaps we can go back to that." Hearing Shiho say that was completely alien to me. She just seemed so cold, and now she was on the brink of tears. I thought back to what my brother said about Kuromorimine girls turning into tanks. Erich had just softened up even the toughest of armor.

That seemed to be what Erich wanted to hear, but he respond in a calm tone:

"I'm afraid I can't accept that offer." He gestured toward me. "I've found myself a son that I have to care for." Me? Erich's son? Well, I guess if things turn out well with Miho... Bit early to be thinking about that.

Shiho seemed to understand. Maho then walked up next to Shiho.

"Is everything alright mother?" She looked at Erich for a bit. "Who's that?" Her face turned to surprise. "Is that fath-"

Shiho regained her composure, seemingly ashamed to show any emotion.

"Yes, I am fine. Are the tanks ready?" Shiho promptly changed the topic.

"Yes mother."

"We are ready whenever you are ready." How fast Shiho returns to her expressionless face is a wonder to me.

I found myself sitting in the Mosquito with Saori right next to me. Both with oxygen masks on, and goggles covering our faces. I took a look out the left window, checked for anything obstructing the prop, shouted "CLEAR ON THE LEFT!" and fired the left engine's ignition. I instructed Saori to do the same. She yelled out "CLEAR ON THE RIGHT!" as loud as she could, and I fired up the right engine.

With both engines gently purring, I taxied to the end of the runway. "You ready?" I asked Saori. "I'm ready" was the response. The purring gradually changed into a mighty roar as I brought the engines to full power. The mosquito sped forward, and gently lifted into the air. I lifted the gear up, and told Saori to radio Miho on the ground.

"This is Mosquito team. We are in the air." Mosquito team not only fit in the animal theme, but was the actual name of the aircraft.

Seeing how we were in the same battleground as the original match, we used the same tactics.

"Hey, Saori, look." I pointed out the window. "There's our team." All the tanks were moving in a perfect "V" formation. We flew right over them. Everything just seemed so perfect.

"We're getting shot at!"

"We're taking fire!"

Yet again was a frantic dash to the cover of the forest. Next came something I really didn't expect. Smoke. The girls used smoke to cover their position, and by the time it cleared, they were already halfway to the top of a large hill. Kuromorimine in pursuit. At this point I was pointlessly circling the hill, just watching events unfold on the ground. I could see Saori was just as bored as I was, so we requested permission to engage and dived down. Once we got permission, I opened the bomb bay and prepared to drop both 500 lb bombs. As Kuromorimine was in a large clump, those bombs would do a ton of damage. I waited for the large clump of tanks to be just in front of me, and released the load.

BANG! BOOM! The whole plane shook on impact. Perhaps I went a little too low. Saori seemed a little uneasy.

"You sure we didn't damage ourselves?"

"We're fine." I reassured her.

"Well it seems Kuromorimine is not." Saori was straining her neck trying to look backwards. I pulled up, leveled off, and took a peek myself. Even Oarai had stopped firing, seemingly just as in shock as our enemy. I could see why. A good half of their tanks were either knocked out or flipped over. The tanks lining the borders of the blast radius had their tracks blown off. Instead of using the opportunity to finish Kuromorimine off, they used the opportunity to escape. That was when the tracers arrived. They whizzed over our heads, signalling me to the plane behind us. I did what the mosquito does best - speed away. Full throttle, as low as possible.

The tracers kept whizzing over our plane, but no hits yet.

"Where are we going!?" Saori was frantic. She could take fire in a tank, but in aircraft, she seemed a bit uneasy.

"I have no idea!" I retorted.

A loud PANG! noise shook the plane. Whatever was behind us had just zeroed us in. I pulled up into a near vertical zoom climb, throwing Saori and I back into our seats. If it was a single engined fighter behind me, there was no way I could get away without altitude. Well really, I was in a bad position to begin with. I leveled off in a low cloud bank, hoping I could lose the pursuer in the clouds. I doubled back, diving again to fly low to the ground again.

WHIZ! More tracers. The cloud trick didn't work.

"Monty, there's something I need to ask you." This was Saori, who apparently got over her airsickness.

"What?"

"Well, before the championship match, I promised to the team that I would get myself a fiance if we won, and, well... we won."

"So...?"

"I was wondering, if things with Miho don't go so well, will you be my fiance?"

"WHAT!?" What was I supposed to say? I mean, I always viewed Saori as a friend, not a potential love interest. I stopped jinking the mosquito around. The tracers started whizzing again, and a few pop sounds told me we were getting hit. "DAMNIT!" I pulled a hard left turn.

"Was it something I said?"

"No, but couldn't you have found a better time?" I pulled a hard right turn.

"Well, we are alone and together. For all intents and purposes, this is a date."

What was I supposed to say? Yes and then I am obligated to... well... marry Saori. No and I get the feeling that I would crush her hopes. I made a compromise in my head.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want to be your fiance right now." I couldn't see through her goggles and mask, but I could tell she was a bit disappointed.

"Expected just as much. At this rate I'll never get a guy."

"Here, I'll help you find a guy."

"Really?"

"Sure. Now can we focus on the task at hand now?" If we were on the ground, I probably wouldn't have this annoyed tone in my voice.

"Okay."

A/N: Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, but this really is getting a bit long for my standards.