A small helicopter touched down on the deck of the Ooarai school ship and its engine shut off. Two people got out—a nondescript young man wearing a headset from the pilot's seat, and Shiho Nishizumi from the passenger seat.
Near the helipad, two girls in the white serafuku and green skirt of the Ooarai uniform watched the helicopter's occupants disembark, ears ringing from the din of the rotor. As soon as Shiho appeared, one began to dart forward, only to have her sleeve grabbed by the other.
"Not so fast, Yukari-san!" the second of these chided with wavering sternness in her voice. "Sodoko-san left me in charge of the Public Morals Committee to rein in behavior like this! I'll write you a citation if you insist on blitzing our guests like this!"
"But don't you know who that is, Gomoyo-san?" Yukari protested. "That's the head of the Nishizumi family, Nishizumi-dono's mother! She's one of the greatest Sensha-dō legends who ever lived! The mistress of the Nishizumi style! One of the greatest tank commanders who ever lived—"
"I get it, Yukari-san," Gomoyo said, cutting her off with more annoyance now than sternness in her voice. "She's one of your idols. She's also one of our guests, and mark my words, you will treat her as such!"
Yukari slouched in disappointment, then headed back to Gomoyo's side with a sigh. As Shiho marched past, the Anglerfish Team loader stood at attention, only to be snapped out of it by a glare from Gomoyo and a swift kick to the side of her ankle.
Yukari winced, grateful that Shiho hadn't seemed to notice it. She was trembling with a mixture of excitement and fear standing in the presence of the woman who gave life to Miho Nishizumi, her precious commander and mentor. She opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it, but noticed that Shiho had turned to face her. Suddenly going weak and feeling her cheeks on fire, she scrambled to think of something to say.
"W-welcome to Ooarai, Nishizumi-sama!" she stuttered, tripping over her own words. "My name is Yukari Akiyama and I am Miho-dono's loader! My fellow students and I will do our best to make you feel right at home with our school!"
When she had finished, she caught her breath and straightened out her vision, looking at Shiho. To her relief, there was no adverse reaction. At the same time, her heart sank a little at the Nishizumi family head's apparent lack of interest.
Her knees nearly gave out when, out of the entire stony face, there was a single movement. An eyebrow arched upwards, puzzled, then the eyes set and the corners of the mouth turned up in a smile.
"Well, thank you, Yukari-san," an unusually sweet voice said from behind the mostly stony mask. "This is my first time actually visiting Ooarai. I'll need all the help I can get navigating around here."
At this point, Gomoyo took over. She did not feel the same awe of Shiho Nishizumi that had seized Yukari, but she knew what it meant to show respect. "This way, please," she said with a bow. "Miho-san is having lunch at the moment. I'll have someone notify her of your arrival."
"She doesn't know I'm here," Shiho said as they started towards the nearest bus stop. "This will be a bit of a surprise."
"Oh, okay," Gomoyo responded. She smiled. "Well, as Yukari-san said, welcome to the Ooarai Girls' Academy."
Miho was munching away on a burger—bless whoever had gotten the idea to set up that stand in the cafeteria! It was so remarkably convenient!—when Karina Sakaguchi came skipping into the room. She skidded to a halt in front of Miho, putting her arms out for balance.
"Miho-san!" Rabbit Team's driver exclaimed. "Your mother's here!"
Miho nearly spat out a French fry. "Shiho Nishizumi? She's here?"
"In the flesh!" Karina replied. "Gomoyo-san sent me to tell you she's here and wants to speak with you!"
Miho was up in a flash and out the door. She met Karina in the hall and stopped abruptly. Shiho stood before her, cold and rigid as usual.
"Oka-san," she greeted her mother. "What brings you here?"
"A word in private, Miho," Shiho said. "You two"—she turned to Gomoyo and Yukari—"would you please give us a moment?"
"Certainly, Nishizumi-sama," Yukari said. Gomoyo bowed and escorted her out of the area.
"And who is this?" Shiho inquired, looking intently at Karina.
"This is Karina-san, the driver of our M3 Lee," Miho said. "If you would like, I can introduce you to the team at practice this afternoon."
"I'd like that," Shiho replied after a moment's deliberation. "I've been making an effort to get out and connect with the teams more lately. I hear it makes the teams much stronger."
Karina jumped into the conversation. "I'm sure they'll all be delighted to meet you! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some stuff to get too." She skipped away, humming something to herself.
When she had gone, Shiho and Miho were truly alone. Shiho gestured down the hall where Karina had gone. "She seems like quite the energetic type."
"Mm-hmm. Yes, she is," Miho affirmed. "A little bit much to handle at times, and a severe depression case if her favorite anime takes a sad turn, but one of those people who you just have to love even if you hate her."
"She makes herself a child figure to everyone, then?"
"You could say that."
"You don't actually hate her, though, right?"
"Of course not! I don't see what could make someone hate Karina-chan! So what actually brought you here?"
"In light of the astounding success of the Ooarai Girls' Academy in last year's Sensha-dō tournament finals and the exhibition match against the All-Stars University Team, the Japanese Sensha-dō Federation has chosen your school to receive the Sensha-dō Meteor award in addition to your championship title. I'll be presenting the award to your school's team at an assembly tonight."
Miho looked stunned. "And here I was, just trying to keep the school open!"
"Well, they say hard work pays off. It certainly did for Kuromorimine, nine years in a row." There was a hint of bitterness, and the air soured for a moment, but Shiho shook her head with a blushing smile. "Sorry. Touchy subject, I know. Anyway, you and your team should be proud. This award hasn't been given in twenty years, since Jatkosota High School won it in their first attempt at the tournament."
"Well, thank you, Oka-san," Miho said. "They'll love it, I'm sure."
Azusa Sawa was standing in the Sensha-dō garage atop the M3 Lee, surveying the crew's preparations for practice, when Miho walked in with Shiho behind her.
"…and that's my successor Azusa-san," Miho was saying as she gestured toward the second-year commander. "An excellent student and very adept on the battlefield, if I may say so myself."
Azusa's face flushed. She hadn't thought of herself as Miho's successor before, just as someone who knew how to use the peculiar layout of her tank to her advantage. She stood up straight and gave a little wave, her brain working furiously to decide whether that was appropriate for Shiho Nishizumi.
From below, Saori's voice brought her back to her senses. "Azusa-chan? Aya-chan's already asked you a question three times. Would you mind answering her?"
"Sorry." Azusa shook her head. "What was the question again?"
"Is Ayumi-san on fueling duty today, or am I? I can't remember." Aya's voice was small from so far beneath Azusa's ears.
"It's her turn today," Azusa replied, already starting to tune out the chatter near the garage door.
She was jolted back to reality by her driver's sudden and noisy reappearance. The garage door rattled as Karina ran headlong into it, distracted for a moment from her path by Aya's salutary wave at exactly the wrong time.
Karina picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off, then continued to the tank. She hopped in through the side hatch and took her seat at the controls.
"Karina-chan!" Saori admonished. "Practice doesn't start for another ten minutes!"
"Oh, it doesn't?" Karina had mellowed already; that fall must have done some good. She climbed back out and stood beside the tank waiting for Miho's directive to begin.
Meanwhile, across the garage, Miho was leading Shiho around to see the Ooarai tanks up close. They had reached Mallard Team by now.
"You remember Gomoyo-san from earlier," Miho said. "She's the commander of the Char B1. I'd also like you to meet Pazomi-san, Sadoka-san, and Mazoe-san, three of the other crew members."
The Public Morals Committee girls bowed, and Shiho did likewise. Then they turned back to their respective tasks, and Miho and Shiho continued on to Anteater Team.
"This is Momoga-san," Miho said, "and this is Nekonya-san. They're the two remaining original members of this crew—Oka-san, are you listening?"
Shiho refocused on the Anteater Team girls and bowed. "Miho-chan, I'd like to see these crews in action. Up close for once."
"I can arrange that," Miho said. "Should I start practice early today?"
"Why not?"
Miho clapped her hands once. The sound echoed through the garage and got everyone's attention. "Slight deviation from the usual schedule today," she announced. "We will be starting five minutes earlier than planned, so that's in two minutes. Get your engines started and get in. Oka-san, I think our auto club has a seat available. They'll be glad to have you with them."
"Which one are they again?" Shiho inquired, scanning the row of tanks.
"The Tiger (P). Just a couple tanks down the line," Miho said, pointing Shiho to the armored monster being tended to by an entire crew of qualified mechanics.
"Thank you." Shiho headed over to the Tiger (P) and introduced herself before all of the Ooarai girls climbed into their tanks to begin.
From atop a ridge, Leopon Team tracked Rabbit Team's progress as they approached the bridge, serving as a source of covering fire. Shiho watched through binoculars as the M3 Lee stopped and Azusa poked her head out of the side hatch.
A flash of motion caught her eye. It was Hippo Team, part of the opposing force in this practice round, taking up a position near the bridge on the other side from which they could easily knock them out. Shiho's muscles tensed instinctively, though she did her best to hide the thrill it gave her.
Azusa had seen the movement too. Perhaps Erwin and Oryou had been a little too hasty in their actions. It wasn't anything unusual—for as good of a team as they were, the Ooarai girls were not completely free of a few errors in practice.
Azusa shouted something to her crew and the tank turned to face Hippo Team's new hiding place. She shut the hatch as the main gun in the hull sponson adjusted to find Hippo Team in its sights.
Three guns opened up at once on the StuG III—the two cannons of the Lee and the machine gun in the cupola. The 75-millimeter shell struck the ground immediately in front of it, kicking up a shower of earth. Bullets clanged off the armor and a 37-millimeter shell glanced off the top of the casemate.
At this point the Lee turned abruptly and moved to a new position, turning back to face Hippo Team a second time. As they moved, though, the StuG began to back up and rotate slightly.
Clearly Aya and Ayumi were a little rusty today. At least Karina seemed to be on the ball. Once more, the guns of the M3 took aim at the StuG.
Shiho Nishizumi watched as the powerful 75-millimeter main gun of the StuG finally spoke, and a shell glanced off the awkwardly angled frontal armor of the Lee. Rabbit Team answered with a shell of their own. This time their main gun found its mark, and Hippo Team's white flag popped up.
"Nishizumi-san?" Nakajima said, jolting Shiho out of her trance from watching the duel at the bridge unfold. "All opposition tanks have been eliminated. We won."
"Well, good work, girls," Shiho said, thoroughly intrigued by the whole experience of watching Ooarai practice. "I'll see you later tonight. That Lee crew is promising."
"Miho-san was talking up Azusa-san, wasn't she?" one of the other Leopon Team girls whose name Shiho couldn't remember droned. "She and her friend Saori-san seem really attached to Rabbit Team lately."
"Rabbit Team? Is that what they're called?"
"Yep. Quirky little animal names for all the tanks here."
"Huh. I've never heard of that system for keeping tanks straight before."
"Well, we pride ourselves on being a little unorthodox, with the exception of Mallard Team—that's the Public Morals Committee to you. Take us, for example. Who wears coveralls around all day?"
Shiho chuckled, a rarity for her. She wasn't sure exactly how Miho had landed with this crowd at her new school, but they were certainly an interesting bunch. Perhaps this was part of how Ooarai had snatched the title from all the powerhouse schools the previous year. If it was, Shiho thought, she wouldn't mind adopting some of it.
A few hours later, the Ooarai girls were gathered in the auditorium. Shiho Nishizumi stood on the stage with a microphone, addressing them. Beside her was a table on which a large object sat, a dark red cloth draped over it.
"And it is with great honor, on behalf of the Japanese Sensha-dō Federation, that I present the Ooarai Girls' Academy with the Sensha-dō Meteor Award for Excellence in a First Tournament. Congratulations, girls. You've stunned us all." Shiho pulled the cloth away to reveal a large golden trophy in the form of a Panzer IV Ausf. H with a comet-like trail behind it, positioned to look as if it was accelerating into the sky. On its large wooden base, the words OOARAI GIRLS' ACADEMY were engraved on a brass plaque.
They all fell silent at the sight of the trophy. All except Karina, who leaned over to Aya and whispered, "It's so pretty, isn't it?"
"Shh!" Azusa admonished, trying to keep the disturbance down as much as possible.
"Sorry," Karina mumbled as a few heads turned to see what the mini-commotion was.
Shiho cleared her throat. "And now I would like to invite Miho Nishizumi and Azusa Sawa up here, if you would be so kind, to receive the award on behalf of Ooarai."
Azusa hustled up to the stage, blushing a little at the attention, while Miho ascended the stairs on the other side. They stood on either side of the table with the award, while Shiho led everyone in a round of applause.
Miho and Azusa looked at each other, a tad embarrassed by their turn in the spotlight. But they wore the proud smiles of victorious commanders while Taiga Ou's news camera rolled at the foot of the stage.
The girls of Rabbit Team joined Saori at the Leclerc Tank Café for coffee, which they needed after a long day and the excitement of the award ceremony. All of them except Azusa, that is. Azusa had gone to join Miho in her dorm for a private meeting with Shiho Nishizumi.
Saori pressed on the turret of the little tank model in the middle of the table, and the explosion sound effect brought a waitress scurrying over. "Good evening, girls. What can I get you tonight?"
Saori glanced around the table, and saw five pairs of eyes looking expectantly back at her. She sighed. "Decaf lattes all around, if you please. Anyone want anything else?"
Once more the eyes all looked at her, hungrily this time. Saori sighed again and answered for all of them. "Coffee cake all around, s'il vous plaît. Thanks."
As the waitress stepped away to get their order, Karina looked curiously at Saori. "Why were you speaking French, Takebe-sama?"
"French is the language of love, Karina-chan," Saori replied, "and I might as well keep my French sharp for any boys I might meet. On top of that, this is the Leclerc Tank Café, and the Leclerc is French."
"How come I've never heard of it?" Yuuki asked, puzzled.
"It's a main battle tank, and the only main battle tank that's Sensha-dō legal is the Centurion. But that costs a lot of money. Anyway, it looks like the ice cream's on its way—Karina-chan?"
Karina's eyes had glazed over and she was sitting there stupidly, looking at Saori in awe of her knowledge.
Breaking her usual silence, Saki muttered something from across the table. "It's basic stuff."
It was her seldom-heard voice, all right, but the imperceptible movement of her lips made it next to impossible to be sure that she had spoken at all.
"For as formal a meeting as this was supposed to be," Azusa observed with her mouth full, "the introduction of Chinese food to this setting completely threw that off."
"Yeah, I know," Miho said, between bites of Hunan chicken. "It was convenient."
"Though it is pretty good," Azusa said to herself, choosing to ignore the fact that Miho's dorm would smell awful the next morning. She swallowed. "What is this about me being your successor?" she asked. "That came from left field."
"Well," Miho began, pausing to swallow her food, "I've had a whole year to watch you in action. In that time I've concluded that you and your crew are essential to the integrity of this team."
"But we always get taken out!" Azusa said, before Shiho put up her hand to stop her.
"I watched footage of your matches. There's no denying that while you were a little rough around the edges at first, you've definitely grown into a force to be reckoned with. Take, for instance, your remarkable performance against the All-Stars University team."
"What about it?"
"Let me finish. You found that you had a niche in that battle. Taking on light tanks, not just the heavy ones. You were the ones who made life just a little bit easier for everyone else on your team, the deliverers of that Ferris wheel to break up the siege. You were the unsung heroes. Had you not done your part, there is little doubt in my mind that the Shimada style would have prevailed that day.
"Miho-san and I have discussed this at length and we concluded that it was your sheer determination that brought the spirit and flair to your crew that made you secretly indispensable. And that is why we believe you would be perfect to succeed Miho-san as commander of the Ooarai Girls' Academy Sensha-dō team."
For the first time in a long time Azusa just stared at her, feeling dumber than Yuuki at not recognizing what her crew had been able to do.
Her crew. Aya, Yuuki, Saki, Karina, and Ayumi. They were the ones who had won Rabbit Team in its little unwieldy M3 Lee a place in the history books. They were the ones who had done it all, planned it all, done the driving, the aiming, the loading, the shooting, everything while Azusa sat in the turret and directed traffic. Her face flushed red. "I really don't know if I'm the right person for the—"
"Trust me, Azusa-san," Shiho said with a warm smile, "you're the one we want. You're the one they want. I have great faith in your future as team commander."
Azusa couldn't believe her ears. Shiho Nishizumi, one of the greatest tankers known to man, had faith in her? Her, a little high schooler who still ingratiated herself to someone like Saori Takebe?
"This means that if you do well next year, you might have a chance at getting your name in the Sensha-dō Hall of Fame," Shiho went on. "It would be the first time in twenty years that someone from outside the Nishizumi or Shimada schools made it in."
Azusa thought about it. "But doesn't being under Miho-san make me part of the Nishizumi style?"
"Well, not exactly," Miho replied. "I just do what I need to do to exploit the other team's weaknesses. The Nishizumi style involves heavy armor to overwhelm even their strengths. You remember from the finals, right?"
"And there was another example of your fine leadership," Shiho said, jumping back in. "Exploiting the weaknesses of heavy self-propelled guns. You showed that you fight as Miho-san would fight. They'd have no problem adjusting to your command."
"Well, I'm flattered," said Azusa, "but I only have a year's worth of experience."
"So did I," Miho responded simply.
The two Nishizumi greats looked at each other, then back at Azusa with smiles on their faces. Shiho finally spoke. "Welcome to the big time."
It was from this point on that Azusa Sawa knew that she was in.