Always Advancing

A Girls und Panzer fanfic

Part XXVI: For Darjeeling and St. Gloriana

by Civilis

"You look fine, Yuzu," said Hana.

Yuzu fiddled with her kimono, decorated, like Hana's, with a delicate floral pattern. "I haven't worn one of these in a while."

Hana bent over to adjust one of the Ikebana club's arrangements. Around her, the final preparations for the Ikebana exhibit were in full swing. The whole exhibition hall was filled with the bright colors of flowers.

"Hana," came a voice from behind the pair.

Hana stiffened and turned around. "Mother!"

"I thought you had one of your Sensha-do events," Isuzu Yuri sniffed disapprovingly.

"I have not abandoned one art just because I have taken up a second," said Hana. "I have my students in the club to look out for as well."

Yuzu bowed to Hana's mother. "It is an honor to meet you, Isuzu-dono. I have learned much from your daughter."

Yuri looked over the Ikebana club's students and the arrangements they had prepared with a critical eye. "These are the work of amateurs," she said disapprovingly.

"These are the work of students," corrected Hana. "I have been at school for barely over a month, and they are quick learners, but still learning."

"And yet you waste your time on Sensha-Do," her mother chastised her. "Where are your pieces?"

Before Hana could answer, the cry of "Isuzu-dono!" came from down the hall. Both Isuzu ladies turned at the cry from Shinzaburou, an apprentice working for the elder Isuzu. "Your daughter's… please, come see…"

The young man caught sight of Hana and stopped. "Ah! Young miss! I didn't know you were here," he bowed apologetically.

Yuri stalked over towards the other end of the hall, most of the exhibitors clearing out of the path of the renowned Ikebana master. Hana, Shinzaburou, and Yuzu followed in her wake. She headed to a cluster of women standing around looking over a couple of arrangements, each a veritable explosion of color set in a tank-shaped vase.

"Yuri!" called one of the women, obviously a friend of the elder Isuzu. "Your daughter's works aren't that bad. I actually think they look quite novel."

"She's done a lot with color that brings out the strength of the arrangements," added another.

Yuri looked over her daughter's works for a few minutes. "While your arrangements represent a break from tradition," she grudgingly admitted, "I must admit that there has been no loss of skill, and most of them show you still have a good eye for color."

She pointed at an arrangement, a spray of red poppies and roses, white lilies and bluebells. "This one, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. It's different, I'll say that much."

"That one isn't mine," said Hana.

They both looked at the card.

"I'm not sure who this is," Yuri admitted. "This is your table space, though, Hana."

Yuzu walked up to take a look. "It certainly smells familiar," she said. She had found that Ikebana was good for developing her sense of smell, and there was a distinct and different smell to the arrangement.

Hana took a good sniff, and caught a faint citrus smell, mixed with a very familiar scent. "It's tea. It almost smells like…"

"Darjeeling!" said Yuzu, catching sight of a familiar blonde head of hair making its way through the growing crowd. Behind her, a smaller orange head of hair could be seen trailing behind it.

"Yes, that one is mine," said Darjeeling. "I thought that a teapot would make a good vase, and the aroma of the tea left behind adds to the piece."

Both Izumis blinked at the sudden appearance of the outsider. Like most of the exhibitors, Darjeeling wore a kimono, though hers was in a deep red with a firework pattern rather than in the more subdued floral patterns of most of the rest of the women. She bowed to the elder Isuzu. "It is an honor to meet you, Isuzu-dono."

Behind her, Pekoe, wearing a more subdued orange kimono, somehow managed a reasonable repeat of the gesture while continuing to hold a teapot and a tray with two cups.

"Hana, this is…" stammered Yuri.

Hana drew herself up and smiled. "This is Darjeeling, commander of St. Gloriana's Sensha-Do team."

"I used my birth name on the piece," said Darjeeling. "I've dabbled in Ikebana for years, and when Hana said her club needed help, it became my duty to pitch in. It's an honor to meet both of the Ikebana masters of the Isuzu family. I was a bit distressed when I heard about Hana having some family difficulties." She took one of the teacups and took a sip.

Pekoe looked like she wanted to look menacing, but was stopped by the need to balance the tray of teacups. Shinzaburou moved to help the girl, but she managed to correct the tray in time, and stopped the man with a glance.

Yuri looked at Darjeeling for a long moment while she finished her tea and set it back down.

When the elder Isuzu finally spoke, it was with some regret. "While I don't always see eye to eye with my daughter, she is still my daughter, and I love her. While I would like her to dedicate herself to the family art, she is a grown woman, capable of forging her own path, and today she has shown that her skills are still improving and that she is still capable of teaching others."

She turned to her daughter. "Hana, I apologize for my rash behavior. Will you forgive me?"

Hana nodded, and hugged her mother.

Yuzu and Shinzaburou both sighed in relief.

"Have you heard this saying? 'The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege'," quoted Darjeeling.

Hours later, as the group from St. Gloriana left the Ikebana exhibition, Hana turned to Darjeeling and Pekoe and said, "Thank you both for coming. I didn't know you had studied Ikebana."

"I've tried a lot of things. It's always interesting to learn something new. Admittedly, there are a few things I'm not so good at," said Darjeeling.

Behind her back, Pekoe shook her head and silently mouthed "Cooking."

Darjeeling continued, obliviously, "Assam and Rosehip wanted to join us, but Assam was finishing the plan for the match, and Rosehip…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that coffee would have that effect on her…" said Hana.

Darjeeling raised her hand to stop Hana before she could finish her apology. "I suspect it was more elation that she was finally able to see the Cromwell tank engine problems resolved. We even acquired a veteran Ōarai tank crew out of the whole adventure to crew one of the tanks."

"That first Cromwell is likely only safely crewed by the auto club, given what they did to it," Pekoe reminded her commander. "It seems to be legal, because they didn't modify the engine. Still…"

"A small price to pay to get the rest performing reliably. While we too often forget the vocational sections of the school, they are our classmates, and we are in this together," pontificated Darjeeling.

"Some of the alumni are complaining that we've lost sight of our traditions," Pekoe complained.

"The alumni can jump in a lake. The only reason we have a chance against Kuromorimine is because we've brought in new blood like Rosehip. If they had their way, we'd stick to the plodding old infantry tanks," said Darjeeling, bitterly.

"Don't you command one of those plodding old infantry tanks?" asked Hana.

Darjeeling stopped, turned, and looked at her, a serious expression on her face.

Pekoe stepped between Darjeeling and Hana, staring at the blonde.

After a nervous moment, Yuzu likewise interposed herself between the two.

Unexpectedly, Darjeeling laughed and smiled. "One of the reasons I like you, Hana, is because you are one of the only people that stands up to me and tells it like it is. Some would consider that crass. I, on the other hand, recognize that as the mark of a true lady."

Seeing that there wasn't really a threat, Pekoe relaxed, and Yuzu followed suit.

Darjeeling turned and resumed walking as she continued. "In some ways, I envy you. Since I came to St. Gloriana, I've had to work at living up to our standards, while you naturally picked up grace and poise from your mother. To my view, in many ways you've surpassed your mother, based on what I saw at your exhibition. Your mother needed you to validate her, whereas you instinctively know you can stand on your own at whatever you do. While most of our girls benefit greatly on and off the field from being taught British elegance and refinement, trying that with you would be counterproductive. The same goes for your protégé, who seems to be rapidly learning from you in many areas." Darjeeling nodded at Yuzu.

The group went silent for a few minutes, as they approached the docks where St. Gloriana's Sunderland flying boat was parked for their flight to Kumamoto to face Kuromorimine. The crew helped the four girls with their kimonos as they climbed aboard. The four quickly changed into their school uniforms as the plane backed away from the docks, then belted themselves in for takeoff.

"As far as the plodding infantry tanks go," said Darjeeling, resuming the conversation once they were airborne, "we have a significant advantage in having both the heavier infantry tanks and the fast cruiser tanks. Assam's plan is to take advantage of that. Rosehip has been one of the first officers we've had with the quick thinking to properly use maneuver to bring the fight to the enemy, and even if still somewhat unladylike, she's an asset to the team."

"Though please keep her away from coffee," added Pekoe.

"What about the auto club members?" asked Yuzu. "I'm not sure they even want to try fitting in."

"If we can strike a balance between fast and slow, heavy and light, our team can put up with a few more down-to-earth people. It'll be good for the rest of the team," said Darjeeling. "Although I'm unlikely to be able to sway the alumni to officially recognize them, what matters is the team itself. I'll personally make sure that the other current team members treat them properly."

"I suspect that won't be necessary," said Pekoe, happily. "The cruiser tank crews have already adopted those four as the saviors of speed. Seems a lot of the girls were secretly car buffs as well. With their help, I wouldn't be surprised if we've managed to tweak a bit more speed out of the Crusaders. There's a saying: 'Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.' Because of them, we're looking at an unparallelled ability to maneuver, which wouldn't be possible without the skill of the auto mechanics. Likewise, Hana and Yuzu, despite being outsiders, command respect because they're good at what they do and yet don't try to assert their superiority."

Darjeeling looked at her loader. "You know, Pekoe, that's the third time this evening you've surprised me, after you spent your time at the exhibition politely talking with the elder Isuzu's apprentice fellow and after you stood up for Hana. It's good to see you picking up some of the leadership responsibilities."

"He was impressed with my balance, so we were sharing exercise tips," said Pekoe, blushing. "As for the leadership, I, too had a good teacher."

"Wow, there's not a lot of people here," said Yukari, looking at the empty stands for the St. Gloriana vs Kuromorimine match from her vantage point at one end of the stands.

"Kuromorimine is heavily favored, and Kumamoto is a long way away from Yokohama, so not a lot of St. Gloriana students came to watch," explained Arisa. "So it's mostly a bunch of die hard Sensha-do fans."

"And given that the match is likely to be over quick, some of them may have gone to Hokkaido instead to see us face off against Pravda in two days," said Kay, who nodded in agreement.

"And Kuromorimine doesn't provide more than the basic concessions at their field, despite the short logistics train," added Erwin, seated nearby on a folding stool.

"They are known for their efficiency," added Oryou. "Spending time on cooking would take away from time that could be spent training."

"However, armies march on their stomachs," Saemonza contributed.

"And that's why the Romans were so big on building roads," added Caesar. "Logistics has always been important to armies."

"Why did we agree to bring those four with us?" asked Arisa, annoyed.

"We brought the Super Galaxy so we had plenty of space," said Kay. "Anchovy and her cooks are all headed to Hokkaido, and she asked us to look after them in return."

"That's… actually a good reason," said Arisa, remembering the History Club's cooking stall. "Still, why did you let them bring all their stuff?" She pointed at the screen and banners they had set up around the Saunders / Anzio camp.

"Because it looked fun?" asked Kay.

"And I assume that's why you made up your own sashimono as well?" Arisa pointed to the olive green banner decorated with four white stars at the bottom that Kay had added to the Anzio display.

"If they think I'm Patton, who am I to argue?" said Kay, grinning.

Kay got along well with the four history club members. Even if she didn't take the whole 'soul name' business seriously, she recognized that it was fun, and had insisted on bringing their whole camp to the match. The Saunders / Anzio group on a small rise next to the stands stuck out like a sore thumb, but it also served as advertising for the upcoming match, and more than one Sensha-do fan that had stopped to meet the girls had announced their intentions to catch the match in Hokkaido.

"Kay! You came!" came a call from the field, where the two teams were assembling in advance of the opening ceremony.

Kay waved at Darjeeling, who headed over to the Saunders vantage point with Hana, Yuzu and the four girls from the auto club in tow.

"Thanks for the invite. I take it there are no hard feelings from the practice match?" said Kay, once the two groups had met up.

"So much has happened since then," said Darjeeling. "I'd almost forgotten about that. Still, it would be beneath me to hold a grudge. We did send an invite to Pravda, but they didn't respond."

"Yeah, Naomi said that she thinks Pravda keeps a low profile," Arisa responded. "She's off to look into her hunch."

"Nice to see you again, Hana and Yuzu," said Kay. "The red uniform really looks good on you." She gestured to Arisa. "I'm sure you remember Arisa even if you haven't met yet."

"Not sneaking away this time?" asked Yuzu. "Are you repenting for all your dirty tricks?"

"I've been completely above board all year!" Arisa complained. "Will people stop hounding me about that?"

"And what happened at Anzio?" asked Oryou.

"Yukari was driving, not me!" said Arisa.

Kay interjected to spare Arisa any more grief. "So, who else did you bring to see us?"

"These are the members of our auto club that have been helping us with some engine issues," said Darjeeling, as she introduced the four.

"Hi Yukari!" said Satoko. "I understand you were the first to get mixed up in all of this weirdness?"

"Yeah, somehow. It's great to see you guys again. I take it you've got something special to show Kuromorimine?" Yukari asked.

"It's a little different from our last ride," said Tsuchiya, "but boy does it suit us."

"We almost had a fight over who got to drive," added Hoshino. "The problem is I'm the only decent gunner."

"I wanted to get into Sensha-do," added Suzuki, "but I never expected to get onto the team at St. Gloriana, even if it was by a very strange route."

"So what did you bring?" asked Yukari.

The four looked at each other.

"You'll see soon enough," said Satoko. "It's parked at the St. Gloriana staging area."

"Congratulations, Darj!" said Kay, realizing what this meant. "That's four more Ōarai veterans for you. I'm sure you'll have a great time together. I will admit they don't seem like your usual type, though."

"You'd be surprised," said Darjeeling. "I've learned a lot about accepting people's eccentricities. It will be good for St. Gloriana to learn and adapt. On the Ōarai front, how many are we still missing? A dozen?"

Arisa grinned smugly as Kay said "Four."

"Pravda has a couple," Yukari added. "And we've found a few at Saunders that we'd overlooked. For the missing, there's the gamer girls, for whom we have nothing more than internet handles. They might not even be together. And then there's…"

"…Anzu," Yuzu finished. "I'm surprised Anzu hasn't shown up somewhere. She's ruthless and cunning outside a tank. She also was a competent gunner and commander inside a tank, at least when she wanted to be."

Darjeeling looked at the colorful setup and the four History Club members as if studying it for the first time. "So, are these your new team members?"

"Ah, they're guests from Anzio, but formerly of Ōarai," Yukari supplied, then introduced the four.

Darjeeling accepted the introductions without question, and graciously smiled as the four debated what her soul name could possibly be. Elizabeth and Victoria were thrown around briefly before the group settled on the Iron Duke, the 1st Duke of Wellington, as having been a likely inspiration for Darjeeling's defensive style of Sensha-do and her military and leadership qualities. Darjeeling accepted the new nickname with a smile as an inspired choice.

She then turned to Erwin. "I guess that also explains why you fit in at Anzio." Seeing Erwin's puzzlement, she added, "Have you heard this saying: 'The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersagliere has impressed the German soldier.' I take it Anzio's Duce is a more worthy leader than the original?"

Erwin smiled widely back at the St. Gloriana commander. "Yes, Anchovy is much more equal to the task than the Italian command. I'm impressed at your knowledge."

Darjeeling looked at Kay and smiled triumphantly. "Unlike 'Patton' over there, I actually read your book."

"Is that Miho?" said Hana, about fifteen minutes later, as the group at the Saunders / Anzio base camp exchanged small talk.

Most of the group immediately turned to look at the crowd.

"Where?" asked Yukari.

Hana pointed to small group in Kuromorimine gray uniforms moving towards the judges.

"It's almost time for the scheduled start time of the match," said Darjeeling. "We could stall and let you try to talk to her," she added.

"She's got Maho and a couple of their other commanders, as far as I can tell," said Yukari. "I doubt she'd believe me, and it would be interpreted as a trick since Darjeeling was just here meeting with us."

"Are you sure, Yukari?" asked Kay.

"I think we're not going to get through to Miho anywhere except the field. Darjeeling, Hana, Yuzu, Satoko, you guys, good luck. It sounds like you've put some work into it and might have a chance." Yukari gave the St. Gloriana girls a thumbs up.

"We're cheering for you, even if it means we have to defeat you again in the finals," Arisa added.

"Until we return, hopefully with our shelds instead of on them," said Darjeeling, and the cluster of red coats made their way over to their teammates to prepare for the opening handshake.

No more than a minute later, Naomi returned to the camp, out of breath. Her face showed signs of a mixture of excitement and worry.

"We've got a problem… Pravda," she said, panting.

"We've got two days until the match," said Kay, suddenly serious. "What's up?"

"I was hoping to figure out which of the scouts in the stands was from Pravda. They will want to get as up to the minute info on Kuromorimine as possible, so I knew there had to be one here. Anyway, I saw a girl I recognized from the stands at the Anzio match, about high school age, watching Kuromorimine. Anyway, she takes a message on her phone, and suddenly moves to the other side of the stands, behind St. Gloriana. But she doesn't watch them, she watches you," Naomi repeated.

"We did have Darjeeling visiting us. She kind of sticks out, and a tank fan might want to see her," said Arisa.

"There's more," said Naomi, grinning. "I was trying to switch my attentions between this spy, the stands, and Kuromorimine, when another girl sits down next to me, very similar to the first. High school age, casual clothes. She seemed kind of nervous. Said she was a tankery fan, asked me which school I was from."

"You'd think a tank fan would recognize a uniform from one of the big four," said Caesar.

"Should you four be part of this conversation?" asked Arisa, looking at the Anzio students.

"They're fine," said Kay. "Naomi, continue."

"Anyway, she started asking me questions, what kind of tank I'm in, what my position is. I fed her a little, mentioned we had a match coming up. She asked with who, and I said Pravda. Then the questions got more specific," Naomi leaned back against the truck. "Since I don't know the full plan, I fed her mostly reasonable stuff with the occasional embellishment. Told her we had awesome intelligence thanks to our spy network, which made her real nervous."

"When I was at Pravda, I hinted we had a T-28," said Yukari.

"I wish I had known that. Anyway, I pretended to completely fall for it, and I bought her a sandwich and soda from the vending machines while I checked to make sure the girl watching you was still there. Anyway, I started talking about the other schools. St. Gloriana, Chi-ha-tan, Ōarai…" Naomi stopped and looked at Yukari. "Guess which one made her even more nervous and interested?"

"Oh man," said Yukari, as she palmed her face.

"She dropped her phone she was shaking so badly. I picked it up, and it turns out her phone wasn't locked, and she has a Pravda school address. And right on the front was an email chain from someone at Pravda! What a surprise!" Naomi faked a surprised look. "Somebody sent them a message stating that you and Darjeeling were meeting and that Yukari was there as well, and not two minutes later there's a message back to a dozen girls with Pravda addresses asking for any info they can get at this match on Saunders and anyone else that was there with us, with special attention to anything involving Ōarai."

Kay started laughing uncontrollably, joined a moment later by the History Club members. Arisa just stared in amazement.

"It gets better. She was so shocked, I managed to send the email to my phone. I told her that nobody at Pravda has to know that she screwed up. So I'm getting two of those sandwiches Anzio prepared for us and a couple more drinks, and I'm going to watch the match with her while I see what I can get out of her. It looks like they just finished the handshake, so have fun!"

Next: XXVII: Blood, Toil, Tears, Sweat

Author's Note: The next gap in the story is in XX XVII,and several chapters after that are done. I'll be publishing the finished ones in logical groupings when I have a chance, however, every time I take a look at them, I find something minor to fix or improve.