Always Advancing
A Girls und Panzer fanfic
Part XLIX: The Spoils of Battle
by Civilis
"Now that the guest of honor has arrived, we can begin!"
Miho was startled by Kay's amplified voice as she approached the improvised banquet area where the after match dinner was supposed to take place.
She was even more startled by the ferocious round of applause that followed from the massive crowd of Sensha-Do crews standing around the tables.
Once the applause finally died down, she gave a weak wave and made her way over to her sister, standing with the other Kuromorimine crews.
"Are you okay?" Maho whispered.
Miho nodded slightly, but quickly. "I think I am, finally," she whispered back.
"You look better. Now get something to eat," Maho replied as she gestured to the tables full of food.
Miho made her way over to where Anchovy supervised the buffet. "We have Anzio's supreme pasta bar," Duce Anchovy grandly pointed out, "as well as a selection of Spatzle and Wurst done up by our very own Chef Erwin."
From behind Anchovy, Kay whispered to her "are we sure that's safe?"
"Relax," Anchovy reassured her quietly, "Casear's helping Carpaccio, and the other two are running the 'Chi-Ha-Tan' oden table for them. Besides, Pepperoni's been supervising everything, and she's actually really good at anything cooking related."
Anchovy returned to giving her tour to Miho. "We have a surprisingly good stroganoff section from Pravda, and the Saunders Burger Truck. Then there's the… ahem… Chi-Ha-Tan oden. And, finally, a selection of cakes and pastries from St. Gloriana."
Kay leaned in again. "Are we sure that's safe?"
"I promised Orange Pekoe a tub of popcorn if she'd keep Darjeeling from cooking," Anchovy whispered back. "She shuddered and said she'd do that for free."
She turned back to Miho. "So, what looks good?"
"All of it," Miho replied, "but I think I'll try the Spatzle."
The pair headed over to the Spatzle table, where Sodoko was managing a line filled mostly with black Kuromorimine uniforms. The only one that tried to object when Anchovy gently put Miho at the front of the line was Miho herself.
"Team captains have right of way," Sodoko informed her.
"Thank you, Sodoko!" Miho said bowing.
As the Discipline Committee member's eyes widened in recognition, she smiled.
Miho smiled back.
The other former Anglerfish members had taken advantage of the boisterous applause from Miho's entrance to make their way in unnoticed, and settled down to enjoy the feast.
"Hana! Did everything go okay?" Darjeeling inquired.
Hana sat down with her overloaded tray of food, which had somehow been acquired without much fuss. "Yes, it did, but I think it will take some time for her to fully come to terms with this situation, as it did for the rest of us," she replied simply.
Darjeeling smiled in relief, and made to get up. "Good, then since you're here, I will take this time to go and…"
Pekoe put her hand on Darjeeling's shoulder, pushing her back down without any obvious effort. "I went and got food for both of us. I've heard great things about Saori's pasta." After Darjeeling stopped trying to stand, Pekoe released her shoulder and immediately placed a plate in front of her, then reached into her shoulder bag for some acceptable silverware. "I asked Assam to get us some tea and desserts."
"Thanks for saving us spaces." Rukuriri dragged a chair opposite them and sat down with her food, followed by the rest of her crew. "Where's Rosehip and Yu… ah, Gyokuro?" she asked, using the official Tea Garden name Yuzu had been awarded.
"Gyokuro is with the Chairman and, ah, Momochovy," Pekoe answered as she gestured to a table off on the other side of the gathering. "I think she's also looking after Rosehip while she calms down. I think Satoko and her crew headed back to the tanks once they got their food."
"She's certainly dedicated," Rukuriri said approvingly. "And it was a great help to all of us."
"Although not dedicated enough to wear her uniform properly," Assam responded with a smile, as she emerged from the crowd with a tray of teacups, trailed by Darjeeling's driver with a tray of cake. Assam set down a cup of tea and a piece of cake in front of each of her teammates.
"I can't fault the dedication of any of you," Darjeeling said approvingly. "All of you have not only met but exceeded my expectations. And that despite an opponent that also exceeded my expectations. Have you heard this saying? 'Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it'." She picked up her tea and began to sip it.
"Winston Churchill, again," Pekoe chuckled. "You do like quoting him."
Rukuriri looked up at the sky. "He's easily quotable. Have you heard this saying?" she mimicked her commander. " 'The short words are best, and the old words are best of all.' "
For her part, Hana looked down, and struggled to keep her voice level as she flatly repeated " 'It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.' "
The entire group went dead silent for a long minute before Darjeeling broke it. Unable to contain her laughter, she slammed the table, knocking over her teacup. Within moments, the entire group had broken up with laughter.
It took another full minute before anyone had recovered enough to stop laughing, much less talk.
"I hoped that nobody would remember that quote of his," Darjeeling finally managed to get out, shoulders still heaving with mirth.
"I wonder what's going on over there?" asked Katyusha, missing in her distraction that Nonna had slipped her another piece of cake.
"It's not something you need to worry about," Nonna replied. "Everyone's just grateful the battle is over."
"Is all Japanese food this good?" Klara asked the group of Pravda tankers, taking a break from her bowl of oden.
Nina and Alina exchanged glances. "Actually, that's not as good as the real thing," Alina informed her.
Mako looked up from where she was trying to doze off. "Are you two food experts?"
"No, but since we're loaders for the biggest cannon in Sensha-Do, we are always starving after a match," Nina answered. "I think we know every food place in Hokkaido at this point."
"I think we're banned from every all-you-can eat place in Hokkaido, for that matter," Alina added.
Aleksandra, the IS-2's commander, nodded as well. "My loader's complained about the same thing."
Nonna sighed. "Ah, Mako, do you have a moment?" she asked, surprisingly respectfully.
"Hmmm?" Mako turned to look at the tall commander, and made a noise which seemed to indicate that she should go ahead.
"[How long have you been able to speak Russian?]" Nonna asked.
Most of the other Pravda crews looked on in puzzlement, though Klara's crew at least followed along.
"[Well, I'm not good at speaking it,]" Mako answered in heavily accented Russian. "[I've had little chance to practice. I started with the language program when I found out I was stuck going to Pravda, and I had a passable understanding on the first day of school here. I've been continuing to study since then. It's better than regular classwork, and some of the literature is interesting.]" She smiled at Nonna in a slightly unsettling manner. "[Some of the conversations I've been able to overhear have been interesting as well.]"
Katyusha looked up from her cake. "Is that Russian?" the little girl exclaimed. "I have never managed to pick up the language."
"You might find it interesting, too," Mako replied, switching back to her native tongue.
"It would have been, er, nice to know that earlier," Klara told her, trying to hide her embarrassment. "You're not bad. It was certainly helpful when you were able to give me those complex orders in Russian. I was at least able to understand what you were saying."
"When I got on the team, I went through and studied a lot of the words used in Sensha-Do to increase my vocabulary. I figured it might come in handy. I wish I could speak Russian as well as you speak Japanese, especially the way your accent comes and goes. When you're stressed, you have almost no accent at all," Mako smiled slyly as she complimented the foreigner, before turning back to Nonna. "At least this way if I have a falling out with the Sensha-Do team I can always put my translation skills to work."
Nonna sighed. "I suppose we'll have to deal with it. And you have nothing to worry about, you've proven your worth. [Thanks for all your hard work, comrade Mako.]"
"[Thank you as well, commander,]" Mako bowed slightly in respect before returning to her spaghetti.
Sodoko's voice came from outside the group. "Wait, Reizei speaks Russian?"
As the three Discipline Committee members emerged from the crowd with their food to find seats, Nonna hastily changed the subject. "I take it they no longer need you to manage the lines?"
"Anchovy found someone to replace us. She told us to go eat," Pazomi told the group.
"You deserve it," Nonna told the three. "Midoriko, Nozomi, Moyoko… you three were a credit to the team as well. We are stronger for having you with us. Are you going to continue now that everything is over?"
The three looked at each other for a second. In unison, they replied, "Of course!"
"I think it's good to have some discipline on the team," Gomoyo explained.
Sodoko looked over at Mako. "And someone needs to get Reizei up for practice, after all."
"Saori! Pepperoni! When I told everyone to change shifts, that wasn't just the volunteers running the lines! Take a break and come over here and eat!" Duce Anchovy ordered her cooks. She followed with a sweep of her arms to gesture to the table of food in front of her.
"Ok, everyone, you heard the Duce's order!" Saori handed her ladle off to a waiting replacement, then headed over to join her commander.
"Just a second," Caesar said, as she continued to refill the salad table.
"Carpaccio…" Saori yelled out.
Caesar looked up in alarm.
"Oh Taka, will you join us for dinner?" Carpaccio asked with feigned sweetness.
There were some snickers from the other cooks at Caesar's given name.
Carpaccio grinned back, and caught the eye of one of the other cooks, who went pale. "And will you join us as well… Riko?"
Erwin sighed at her own given name and handed the Spatzle off to a replacement cook. The group headed off to join their Duce.
Pepperoni followed along after stopping to snag a soda from the Saunders food area as well as remind the other schools food crews to swap out as well. The other schools had agreed to defer to Anzio for running the food operation, and the whole thing had gone surprisingly well.
"To get the business out of the way," Anchovy asked her cooks once everyone had settled down to eat and looked to be remaining seated, "how are we fixed for food?"
Carpaccio spoke up, "We've got plenty on hand. I never asked, how did we pay for all this?"
"Thank Momo and the local Oarai business association; the local businesses look to be doing a booming business, and we might make a decent profit when we total up our share," Saori informed her.
"That's business. Let's eat!" Anchovy cheerfully ordered.
"Itadakimasu!" The group dug into their food with gusto.
"I think it all turned out well," said Pepperoni when they had just about finished up. "Even the stroganoff is surprisingly good."
"I think most of Pravda's cooks are people we worked with when we were visiting," Saori told her. "It's fun to teach people to do things well."
The entire group turned and looked at the two History Club members, who went red with embarrassment.
"Come on, you two. As much as we love your dedication to History, there are times when you need to be yourselves." Anchovy told them gently. "We like you for who you are. And you are much better cooks now than you used to be. Just leave the History aside once and a while…"
Caesar leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, it was fun to learn to really cook. 'Creating is the essence of life!' "
Erwin finished her fork-full of spaghetti. "Of course, 'One must not judge everyone in the world by her qualities as a soldier, otherwise we would have no civilization.' "
Anchovy smiled with approval. "See! There's room for something beyond History and Sensha-Do!"
Carpaccio leaned over to her Duce. "You do realize that they just quoted themselves, right?"
Duce Anchovy went scarlet. Before she could say anything, Pepperoni leaned into the middle of the table. "Hey! Where are the other two History Club members? They're not at the Chi-Ha-Tan food table."
"I think I saw them talking with Noriko and the Saunders volleyball players…" Saori said.
Across the room, the efforts were being made to make sure all the schools got in on the celebration.
"Nishi! What are you doing hiding all the way in the back!" Noriko yelled at the Chi-Ha-Tan commander. The yellow uniformed Chi-Ha-Tan crew had hidden themselves off to the side, and weren't interacting with anyone other than a couple of their fellow students that had shown up to watch the match. The four Saunders volleyball players stormed up to the table the crew was hiding at, Norkio standing opposite the Chi-Ha-Tan commander, while Shinobu and Takeo flanked her from behind. Meanwhile, Akebi kept an eye on the always overly charge-happy Chi-Ha-Tan students.
"Well, we didn't really do much…" Nishi replied bashfully.
"Nonsense!" Noriko declared. "You did your duty splendidly!"
"You didn't just charge forward," Shinobu added. "You charged forward with guts."
"You stopped the entire Kuromorimine line all by yourself… with Guts!" Takeo continued.
"And you vanquished the entire Education Ministry… WITH GUTS!" Norkio finished. "With all that courage, you can't be a coward now."
Nishi shrank back into her chair at the attention.
A short girl in a Chi-Ha-Tan student uniform charged out of the cluster of students and up to the volleyball group. "Hey! Leave the commander alone!" she cried out.
"Fukuda!" Akebi called out, recognizing the small girl's big round glasses and always visible luminescent cheeks.
"Eh?" Fukuda stopped in surprise and looked up at the tall blonde volleyball player.
"Akebi! Takao! Seize her!" Norkio ordered, pointing at Fukuda.
Before anyone else could react, the two grabbed her by the arms and picked her up so her feet didn't touch the ground. "Ahhh!" Fukuda cried, while she swung her legs back and forth. "Let me go, you American… Americans!"
"What are you doing to her?" Nishi asked.
"We are going to take her away and…" Norkio paused for dramatic effect… "feed her cake!"
Most of the Chi-Ha-Tan students gasped in shock. Nishi, finally realizing that this was an act, merely facepalmed.
"I can't allow that, Ducks," came an unexpected voice from behind the group.
Noriko turned in exaggerated surprise. "A wild Samurai appears! Curses!"
Saemonza held a broom as if it were a halberd.
"You are obviously very brave to fight unarmed," Oryou added, standing nearby. She tossed a second broom to Noriko, who held it in an approximation of the History Club Samurai's stance.
"Ahhh!" Noriko charged with a cry to open the fight.
Saemonza expertly sidestepped the charge, then tripped the charging Volleyball player with the head of the broom, and once Noriko had hit the ground, she pressed the bristles to her chest. "Brave, but not enough," she solemnly intoned. The nearby Chi-Ha-Tan students broke into applause, while other students snapped photos.
Akebi and Takao calmly put down Fukuda while Shinobu helped her commander up.
"Nishi, the battle's over. Relax a bit, and have some fun," Norkio smiled warmly as she waved at the Chi-Ha-Tan commander, who had finally managed a smile. "And remember… if you want to win, you need to charge… with Guts!"
"With guts?" Fukuda asked, as the four disappeared back into the crowd. A number of her fellow students closed in to see if she was okay.
"Just as Perry boldly sailed into Edo Bay," Oryou explained, "Americans… and Saunders students that act too American… understand guts. As Darjeeling would say, 'Fortune Favors the Bold'. Those four are secretly members of an ancient school of Sensha-Do which teaches the power of 'guts'… the Duck School."
Most of the Chi-Ha-Tan students 'oooh'ed in awe. Nishi fought to contain her laugh.
"Your commander over there, even if she doesn't know it, showed plenty of guts today," the history club member continued her explanation. "If you want to restore Chi-Ha-Tan's glory, take note."
"And now that everything has calmed down, we're preparing to capture a pot of real tea. Would you like to join us for a cup?" Saemonza finished.
"I hope you got photos of that duel, Ayumi," Kay advised the first-year movie club member.
The tall girl saluted her commander haphazardly. "Yes, commander! I got a couple of good ones of Saemonza posing over Noriko, plus some good shots of Akebi and Takao with their captive!"
"Don't worry about those, we don't want to embarrass Chi-Ha-Tan," the blonde Saunders commander instructed. "Have you and your friends gotten any other neat pictures?"
"I think so," Ayumi answered. "Azusa's been collating the pictures and footage."
The two headed over to the table where the Saunders tankers clustered.
Azusa's loud voice came from the middle of the group. "…I know I have the same phone, I keep telling you, I have no idea how she does it!"
"We'll ask her, then." Arisa stuck her head up and looked around. "Does anyone know where Yukari got to?"
"She's with Miho," Kay replied, with just enough menace to convey that fetching Yukari to answer a question would have to wait. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"We're trying to put together a video. Azusa's phone is the same as Yukari's, so she should be able to do all the fancy credits and stuff, but we can't figure out how," Arisa answered.
"Let's worry about that later," Kay said to defuse the tension. "What pictures do we have?"
"I only was able to get some pictures during the fight… since I can't see!" Aya complained as she looked around nearsightedly. "Stupid so-called unbreakable lenses."
"We'll reimburse your for your glasses, Aya," Kay told her. "How about you, Karina!"
"I got some awesome pictures during the fight as well!" the excitable driver said. She held up her phone to show her driver's eye view of the front of the JagdTiger after the bridge had hit it. "This is just after the 'Crunch' and the 'Boom'!"
"Very nice! Naomi?"
"I got a few of Maho after she knocked me out. I was a couple blocks up from her duel, though," the taciturn gunner responded. "Here's the best one." She held up her phone to show Tiger 212, off in the distance, with Maho saluting the unseen Panzer IV from the cupola.
"Wow. Nice shot, Naomi. How about you, Saki?" Kay asked the spacey first-year.
Saki wordlessly held up her phone to show a picture of a butterfly.
Kay didn't know what to make of that. Changing the subject, she asked, "Okay… how about you, Yuuki?"
"Like, I didn't have much chance during the battle. I did get a couple of the commanders during the closing ceremony," the radio operator replied.
"That's good, we need those too," Kay complemented her. "And you, Azusa?"
"I got some pictures of Miho after we got knocked out," Azusa told her as she played around with her phone.
Kay turned to her intelligence officer. "And how about, you Arisa? I hope you used your time wisely…"
"Yeah, yeah, I got some shots of the refreshment area like you asked," Arisa responded grumpily. "Hey, I did have a question about something I saw," she said, handing her phone over to her commander. "Does that hat look like the one the Panzer IV's commander was wearing?"
The picture showed three girls in casual windbreakers standing at one of the refreshment booths run by a local seafood restaurant, selling some form of anglerfish-related foodstuff. The tallest of the trio was wearing a pale blue and gray hat identical to the one the Panzer IV's commander had been wearing.
"I got a couple of other pictures of her," Arisa told her commander.
Kay flipped through the pictures. In one, the tall girl's face was clearly visible as she took a selfie with her friends. Kay had only met the captain of Keizoku High School's Sensha-Do team, Mika, a couple of times the previous year, but she thought the girl looked like her. "When did you take this?" Kay asked.
"Just after I got back," Arisa replied. "My crew told me to find something useful to do while they secured the tank."
As the girls returned to their attempts to put a movie together, Kay sent herself a copy of the picture, then pulled out her own phone and forwarded the message on. "Well, we did learn something," she told herself quietly, "I just don't know what, yet."
At a table toward the back of the gathering, a phone buzzed to indicate an incoming message. Anzu pulled out her phone and looked at it for a couple of minutes.
"Anything interesting, Anzu?" Yuzu asked from across the table, where she was supporting a dozing Rosehip.
"It appears that Mika and her crew were indeed here," Anzu said as she forwarded the message on, "but none of them were in the Panzer IV. I guess I'll have to send them at least some sort of thank you note."
From where she was collapsed in a nearby chair, Momo blearily sat up and pulled a pen and paper from her Anzio uniform jacket. "Thank… you… note… to… Mika…" she stammered out as she took down the note, then collapsed back into her chair and shut her eyes.
"Take it easy, Kawashima," Anzu instructed her former PR head. "You did well out there. I'm actually quite glad that it was you that got to finish off Renta's career. Your… ah, overzealous tendencies were perfect for the job."
Anzu's phone buzzed again, and she looked at it one more time and smiled, then put the phone away.
"Who was that?" Yuzu asked.
"That was Nonna. She confirmed that the girl that was driving recovery vehicle that took the Panzer IV away during the break is in the photo. She's also pretty sure with that clear shot that those are Mika, Mikko and Aki, the Keizoku commander and her personal crew," Anzu explained. "Apparently, they did something last year that freaked Nonna out. She's requested permission to hunt them down." She put her phone away. "I think I'll definitely need to send that thank you note."
Momo sat up again, and once more pulled out the pen and paper. Quickly, Yuzu snatched both away and put them in her pocket.
Momo looked around blearily. "What just happened?"
"Don't worry about it!" Anzu told her cheerfully. "Just relax, Momo. I'm just sorry I didn't think of how Renta'd react. I should have been a bit more cautious after the other timeline. Even if he never did attack us physically, he still was a jerk."
"Still sore about him screwing us over?" Yuzu asked.
"It's not so much that he went back on his deal," Anzu replied as she leaned back in her chair, "it's the way he did it, closing the school by surprise in the middle of the night. If he'd just said 'well, I never put anything in writing' after we beat Kuromorimine, I wouldn't hate him nearly as much. Still, it ended well, and we got to meet Alice out of it. I wonder if we can find a way to do that again..."
"Why'd he get so mad, do you think?" Yuzu asked as she checked to make sure Rosehip, who was sleeping in the chair next to her, was secure.
Anzu checked over the semi-conscious form of Momo, who had gone back to semi-catatonia. "From what Assam found, he wasn't making much money... for that matter, it's good that he lost his cool, as we didn't have enough to prove anything, just hope the NPA could find something from what we started. We'll never know, but it was probably something like this: he was skimming some from the Sensha-Do fund by directing purchases from it to cronies of his, because nobody really cared about high-school Sensha-Do. And then they announce that we're hosting the big tournament coming up, and people start paying attention. He probably hoped he could hide the mis-spent money by reducing the number of schools involved. He'd wait until Kuromorimine wins the tournament, and everyone would stop paying attention again." She pulled out a sweet potato from her bag and bit into it.
"And that went off the rails when this year's tournament got complicated because everyone went all out with us Oarai veterans," Yuzu completed her former president's thoughts. "By the time we interrupted his meeting to demand this match, there was more attention paid to high-school Sensha-Do than ever before. And there was no way he could lose his cool in front of all those important VIPs, so he agreed to our demands, and this happened!" She gestured to the crowd of Sensha-Do tankers.
"We probably need to give Yukari some of the credit for beating him," Anzu added. "This was almost as much fun as the other timeline!"
"Hey, Anzu!" came a voice from nearby.
Anzu turned and watched as Satoko Nakajima, formerly of the Oorai auto club and commander of a St. Gloriana Cromwell, approached the table from outside. Despite the efforts to keep all the crews at the party, nobody had been able to keep the auto club members away from the tanks, although they occasionally returned for food and drinks.
"Hey, Satoko," Anzu called back. "How can I help you?"
"First, we wanted to thank you for looking after Rosehip," she said, gesturing to the form slumbering next to Yuzu.
"Rosehip is my commander," Yuzu replied, somewhat indignantly. "Of course I'll look after her."
"You heard her," Anzu added. "Besides, we all look out for each other."
Satoko smiled. "I know, but that brings me to the second thing." She pointed to the T-34/57, where a figure in blue St. Gloriana mechanics overalls was inspecting the turret with a couple of Pravda mechanics.
"What about my tank?" Anzu asked.
"You're going to want a professional to look it over before you use it again. Tsuchiya says she's not sure how you managed to keep that gun operational for as long as you did, the way you treated it," the mechanic explained. "It must have been a miracle."
As if on cue, there was a loud pop from the direction of the tank. "I didn't do it!" called Tsuchiya.
The three turned to look. A white flag had popped up from the top of the tank.
"Great job, Tsuchiya!" called Suzuki from where she was working on the battered CV-33. "You managed to knock out a tank with your bare hands!" She leaned against the CV-33's tracks, which shifted as one of the road wheels fell off with a loud clang, followed moments later by another loud pop.
Suzuki pointed to the new white flag. "I didn't do it!"
"Everyone, step away from the Comet, calmly with no sudden moves." Hoshino called. The crew of St. Gloriana mechanics working with her on the tank immediately started backing away from the tank and recovery trailer.
A minute passed silently.
"Looks like your Comet is safe, Yuzu," Anzu told her.
"The… Comet?" came Rosehip's sleepy voice. She suddenly sat up and looked around. "What about my Comet?" the rose-haired commander yelled.
There was another loud pop from the direction of the Comet.
"I think we give credit to that one to Rosehip," Anzu declared as Rosehip dashed over to her now-disabled tank.
"See! See!" said the Kuromorimine JagdPanther commander, pointing off towards where the three tanks had finally given up. "If we had just held out a little longer, we could have won."
"What do you mean, 'We', Emi?" a Pather commander replied. "You got knocked out by a Stuart! A light tank!"
"Medium tank!" came a voice from across the party.
The Kuromorimine commanders looked at each other in confusion. "No, it was definitely a Stuart, and the Stuart is definitely a light tank," one finally said.
The Panzer III commander adjusted her glasses. "I never saw what killed me."
"It was a late model Semovente," Miho politely tried to inform her, but the commanders paid her no attention.
"I think the Lee was worse than the Stuart," another commander pitched in. "Who charges a JagdTiger? And takes it out with a bridge?"
"Who would figure a Sherman could take out a Konigstiger?" yet another commander wailed.
"At least you had the excuse that they got to your rear in the narrow streets. That Panzer IV took me out with a belly shot when I went up the slope," the other Konigstiger commander countered. "Does anyone know who that tank even was?"
"More importantly," one asked, "where were these guys last year?"
Another threw her hands up in exasperation. "For that matter, who trained all these crazy people?"
Yukari, who had taken the opportunity to sit next to Miho while all the other Kuromorimine commanders were otherwise engaged with figuring out what happened, whispered in her ear, "We know, not that any of them would believe it."
Miho nodded and whispered back, "That's probably for the best."
Yukari looked over the Kuromorimine group. Aside from the group of tank commanders, most of the Kuromorimine crews seemed to be taking their loss in stride, and were content to just enjoy the free food.
"Commander? Who's your friend?" a voice asked from behind her.
Yukari turned to see the four girls who had been the crew of Miho's Tiger standing behind her.
"Hey, everyone!" Miho replied. "This is Yukari, from Saunders. She's… a fan that came over after the match to introduce herself."
Immediately, one recognized her. "Oh! You were with Kay's Sherman crew! The crazy one!"
"She brought me a Boko for my collection," Miho informed her crew. "Which I seem to have misplaced…"
"Commander…" Her crew let out a collective sigh in embarrassment as Miho got up to look around for the missing stuffed bear.
"I guess that's why she's in a good mood," one of them said as she sat down nearby. "In fact, I've never seen her this upbeat."
"Better that she's worried about another bear than depressed and gloomy about the match," another replied. "It's amazing that that's all it took to get her in a good mood."
Yukari made to get up, but the Tiger's crew waved her down, saying "Don't worry about it. You're welcome to eat with us. You guys went out of your way to try to make us welcome, after all."
"I'm glad I got to experience this sort of hospitality at least once," another said approvingly.
"We'll try to do this again next year for the tournament," Yukari told her.
"Yeah, but we're all third years. We're off to University next year. Mah… ah, the former captain made sure her sis… her successor had a competent crew this year."
"I will say that the attempt at German décor on the table with the sausages was kinda tacky," another admitted as she looked around. "You think we should help the commander look for her bear?"
"Is that it over there?" one of them pointed to where Koume Akaboshi had nervously entered the gathering and was timidly looking around for Miho while holding the item in question.
"Hey, Miho!" Yukari called out to get her attention, then pointed towards the newcomer.
"Koume!" Miho called as she ran over to grab the bear.
Koume flinched as Miho approached, and shuddered as Miho grabbed her pulled her towards the table.
"Calm down, Miho," Yukari reminded her, "she's still trying to work off the trauma from the accident last year."
Miho flinched as if stung, and let go. Koume nodded weakly, and continued to follow along. The two sat down at the table, with everyone giving Koume plenty of room.
"You remembered that?" one of the Tiger's crew asked Yukari.
"Ah, she stopped and talked to me in the stands before the match," Koume informed her.
The Kuromorimine tankers looked at each other in embarrassment. "The accident wasn't your fault," one finally told her. "It's not your fault you're no longer on the team."
Koume set the Boko down at Miho's spot. "Don't leave it behind again."
There was a bit of commotion in the crowd, and Yukari could make out people from the food area passing something out.
"Attention everyone!" came Duce Anchovy's booming voice, projected over the speaker system. The crowd near the Kuromorimine tables parted in front of the Anzio commander, carrying a microphone. Behind her were Kay, Nonna, and Darjeeling, carrying trays full of cups, which they began to distribute to the Kuromorimine tankers. Duce continued, "While we expect the party to keep going a while longer, we want to officially close it out with a toast. We're distributing drinks to everyone… don't worry, just grape juice. So, everyone, please join us!"
"Where's Nishi?" Yukari asked Kay quietly as she accepted a cup.
"She passed on this, she's had a tiring day," Kay answered.
Anchovy waited a moment for everyone to get ready before starting. "First, to the officials of the Sensha-Do Federation! Thanks for all your hard work!"
"Thanks for all your hard work!" the room responded, and raised their cups.
Anchovy passed the microphone to Nonna. "Thanks to the defense force members and other volunteers that helped with recovery operations," the tall Pravda commander added. Once the crews had followed through, she passed the microphone to Darjeeling.
"We'd like to thank the maintenance and logistics crews, without whom none of this would be possible," Darjeeling waited for the response before passing the microphone to Kay.
"And we'd like to thank you all for your sportsmanship! To honorable rivals!" Kay concluded. She smiled warmly as the cheer went through the crowd.
Once it had died off, Kay stood watching the crowd, who quieted down in expectation. Once the room was silent, Kay handed the microphone to Miho. "Commander Nishizumi, would you like to say something?"
Miho thought for a second, then nodded to Kay and stood up.
"I'd like to thank the people of Oarai," Miho said simply.
There was a moment of total silence, and then half the crowd – the students from Saunders, St. Gloriana, Anzio and Pravda – exploded into cheers. A moment later, her puzzled teammates added polite applause. Yukari looked over the crowd, at her former teammates, current teammates, and rivals… friendly rivals… friends.
Next to her, Miho stood and waited for the cheers to die down. "Uh… anyone else want to say anything? How about you?" Yukari felt an unexpected hand on her shoulder, and Miho handed her the microphone.
Arisa's faint voice came from the back of the crowd. "Do it, Oddball!"
The Saunders tankers broke out into a chant of "Oddball! Oddball!", and were soon joined by the rest of the crowd, even if most had no idea what the chant was about.
Blushing, Yukari raised the microphone. "I'd… uh… I'd like to thank our tanks, and the spirit of Sensha-Do, for putting up with us…"
The crowd laughed.
Yukari looked over the crowd again, taking note of all those that were there… and the few that weren't.
"I'd also like to send thanks out to those that couldn't be here this evening." She raised her cup. "To absent friends!"
"To absent friends!" the cry resounded into the darkening sky.
Next: Chapter 50: What You Are in the Dark
Author's Note: I read the entry for this in TV Tropes (thanks, whoever did that!), and found that whoever wrote the entry fixated a bit on Renta's breakdown more than I intended. I do enjoy seeing that people interpret things differently than I intended, it shows how their thinking differs from mine and helps me write more coherently. Still, I added a bit to this at the last minute discussing Renta's scheme.
Three more chapters next Monday and we're done (at least for now!) Please, no spoilers in reviews!