15. Shooting Star
'Twas a dark and stormy night. That was actually not totally true, as it wasn't really night but merely a late evening when the School Ship of Ooarai Academy for Girls ran into port, docking next to the smaller ship of Alexander Academy. But it was certainly dark and stormy, with rain filled, nearly black, horribly threatening clouds hanging low in the sky and pouring down their watery load onto the world and a powerful storm blowing, whipping at everyone and everything that dared to oppose it. Not that it did any good against the billions of tons of steel that was a Japanese school ship, but points for trying. To sum it up, 'twas a dark and stormy late evening, but that simply doesn't have the same ring to it.
It also didn't fit what was happening at all, because there was no horrible dark ritual to be performed, no plan for world domination was hatched, nothing of the sort fitting for such a properly evil atmosphere was done. It was merely two school ships anchoring in port next to one another to allow for their chosen innocent tributes to face off in ritual combat driving machines of destruction, nothing out of the ordinary. Or something like that.
The Zuikaku, the ship of Ooarai Academy for Girls, is already one of the smaller ships, not even closely comparable to the mighty HMS Ark Royal or the USS George Washington. It still dwarfed the Nikola, the ship of Alexander Academy, by a considerable amount, the smaller ship was having just about 75% percent of the mass of the Zuikaku and thus not only short but also smaller. Which meant that the students of Ooarai standing on the sides of their ship could look down onto the other ship, wondering and marveling at the narrow streets, the all encompassing architecture of building next to building and the ridiculous amounts of colorful lights, giving it the appearance of Shinjuku by night.
"They seem to have a lot of fun," said Hana softly and smiled gracefully. She had, as many others, come to see the other school ship, therefore she was standing at the railing, holding an umbrella in quite the ladylike fashion and conversing with her teammates.
"I know that they are supposed to be the bad girls, the delinquents who intimidate boys, but I think you are right," added Saori, standing next to her taller, more graceful friend. "I still wouldn't want to go to Alexander Academy. Their uniforms wouldn't suit my cute style at all. And I wouldn't have met you."
"Awww."
Miho nodded in agreement and giggled a bit, before she said, "Did you know that my mother had thought about sending me to Alexander Academy, before settling on Ooarai?"
"Wow, really? I'm glad she didn't do it," answered Saori and Hana nodded next to her. On the other side of Hana Mako was about to doze off standing on her feet, but she too nodded in agreement.
"Me too," added Yukari, standing on the left of Miho and appearing quite energetic. "You would be forced to command a far smaller tank, like a Skoda 34. That would be... horrible."
For a moment the other girls looked at her, then they giggled. "That's not what I meant," chided Saori with an amused smile.
"I know," replied Yukari, giggling as well. "I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if you had been send to another school Miho. Then Ooarai would have been closed down and we would have been... well, like Orimi-San."
The five girls, even Mako, thought a moment about the newest member of the Sensha-Dou team, the kind and nice and somewhat of a crybaby Tsutsui Orimi. And then they imagined themselves in different schools.
Hana imagined she was wearing an uniform of Chi-Ha-Tan and created a grand flower arrangement. Saori imagined herself as a delinquent student of Alexander Academy and shuddered. Miho entertained the idea of herself as student of Tatenashi High School and never touching a tank ever again. Mako imagined herself snoozing in class and being undisturbed. And Yukari...
/
In another universe.
"Run! They are coming!" Several students of Anzio ran down a deserted street, helping up a girl from St. Glorianna and then carrying on, as quickly as their feet could carry them.
Buildings crumbled. The wind blew past an old newspaper. Shells rained. Somewhere something exploded. Girls of various schools fled in a panic, screaming and yelling and stumbling forward. And then...
"FORWARD! MHUAHAHAHAHA!" With a demonic grin on her features, Yukari laughed maniacally and gave the order to advance as under her the IS-2 she commanded rolled forward, crushing a tankette beneath it's tracks. Uncounted more soviet tanks followed, crushing everything, smashing every opposition, defeating their enemies, seeing them driven before them and hearing the lamentations of their boyfriends.
/
"Well, I'm glad it worked out as it did," said Hana then, prompting the others to nod and Yukari to be dragged from her fantasy. A fantasy she would never speak about. "I don't even want to imagine a world in which we are not friends."
For a moment the five friends shared a smile with one another, a private, fond smile that was only shared between them and would never be shown to anyone else, no one outside Anglerfish Team. But then any further conversation was cut off as the sound of sirens came to their ears and they could see the lights of police cars coming down the long docks at which the two school carriers had anchored. Many other girls looked as well and soon the girls of Ooarai were introduced to a very strange, peculiar tradition of Alexander Academy, namely the dropping off of delinquent students who had made trouble.
"They are very... lively for sure," whispered Hana softly, holding back a small giggle as down at the docks a bunch of school girls in navy blue school uniforms were struggling with police officers who manhandled them out of the cars and towards the ship.
"That is so not cute," replied Saori, but then she too had to giggle. For better or for worse, the students of Alexander Academy seemed to have a reputation for being a tough bunch for a good reason. As it was this late at the day already, the girls of either school weren't allowed to leave the ship, with the exception of some naval studies students which were tasked with some important task. But no proper member of the Ooarai Sensha-Dou team would break curfew.
/
"Whaaaaa..." Satisfied Murakami placed down the extra large bowl of ramen before leaning back, her hands on her stomach. Her friends and teammates were still slurping the remains of their portions, before placing their bowls down in unison and letting out satisfied sighs as well. The five of them had found a nice small food stand selling ramen, donburi and yakitori on the docks, a dingy little thing just a stones throw away from the waterfront, the smell of soup, noodles, sake and hot oil mixing with salt, diesel and fish. It wasn't so much finding refuge from the rain that had driven them to sit down at the counter and under the canopy, but more the simple desire to get away for an evening.
"Hmmmm... being at sea is what my heart longs for, but having solid ground under out feet now and then is a nice change of pace," mused Ogin, taking a drag from her pipe and smirking at her friends. "Oy, Rum, pass me the bottle."
"It's empty."
"Then buy a new one."
"Aye aye skipper," said the red haired, rosy cheeked sailor girl and with a slight swagger she leaned forward, something that could be considered perhaps even a saucy, flirty smile on her features. "Oy Master, another bottle of sake."
The apron wearing, meat cutting girl behind the counter, who couldn't be older than them at first glance and wore a bright white bandanna to protect her hair from the grease and fat of the food stand, lazily turned around and with a well practiced motion she grabbed a bottle of alcohol free sake from under the counter and placed it in front of Rum. The two girls shared a small glance and then nodded to one another and then the whole interaction was finished already, with the girl wearing the apron turning back to the meat that needed cutting.
Five shallow bowls were filled with the clear liquid and then the five sailor girls each took one. "Kanpei!"
"KANPEI!"
They held up the drinking bowls and then slurped down the sake. The peaceful scene of camaraderie was then broken by the lanky Flint to choke and starting to let out hacking coughs, much to the amusement of Rum, who laughed out loud and roughly like a sailor, and Ogin, who chuckled slightly. While Cutlass clapped her friend on the back.
"Did you like the noddles?" asked the toothpick chewing girl manning, girling, the counter as she picked up the empty bowls.
"Yes, they were very good, arigatou," replied Cutlass. "The seasoning is especially good."
"Thank you for your kind words. Please enjoy our hospitality."
"We will."
"Oy Master, another bottle of Sake!" bellowed Rum then, slurring her words slightly and letting out a guffawing, loud laugh while watching Flint and Murakami wrestle with one another. "And some of those yakitori, they smell delicious!"
"Coming right up."
Ogin leaned back in her seat, letting her gaze wander over the mostly deserted port. It was too late for any strolling people to be around and during such a downpour it was unlikely that anyone would do so anyway, thus the harbor was mostly deserted, completely dominated by the two school ships whose outlines she could see in the distance. It was unlikely that the small food stand would get any other customers this evening and thus she didn't find anything wrong with lounging around, watching her friends do their antics and enjoying the calm before the storm. She still made sure to pay a bit too much by accident, because when a girl that age was doing such kind of work at such an hour in such a god forsaken place, then she must have a very good reason for doing so.
/
It had rained when the Zuikaku had sailed into harbor on Thursday evening and it had rained the entire Friday and only relented during the night from Friday to Saturday, the heavy rain being reduced to an occasional light rain. Which still was far too much for the liking of many of the girls, but at least it was a great improvement over the heavy downpour they had experienced before. Luckily for Miho, Saori, Anzu and all the other girls of Ooarai's Sensha-Dou team it was not raining as they unloaded their tanks from the ship and drove them onto the pier. Several naval study students helped them, waving flags to give signals and having cleared the way for them, wishing them luck and waving at them as they drove past.
"You can do it!"
"We believe in you girls!"
"Fair winds and following seas!"
It was a two hours drive to the battlefield, though that was perhaps not the whole truth. It was actually more of a half an hour drive with train to the battlefield, but loading the tanks unto the train, securing them, making sure that everything was safe and sound, driving, then unloading and then driving from the train station to their designated starting area... that was a two hour process.
Two hours in which the newest member of the team, Tsutsui Orimi, couldn't help but be impressed by her now teammates. Moving tanks were dangerous thanks to the simple fact that massive amounts of steel moving were dangerous by the laws of physics, and thus the girls of Ooarai took great care to secure their vehicles as best as they could, everyone moving in tandem, everyone knowing what was to do. Everything but Orimi, who could only watch in astonishment as the girls around her communicated without using words, as a strap to secure the Tiger (P) was thrown over said vehicle without any more warning than a small shout and caught on the other side effortlessly, as without being asked to do so two of the girls ran around with juice boxes so that everyone got enough to drink. It was really something else, at least for her.
For her teammates it was normal. They didn't even realize that this was perhaps not universal.
Riding in the train cart, Orimi found herself sitting with Rabbit Team, at least five out of six of them. Most of the girls sat with their own teams without even thinking about it, finding that to be completely natural, just a few moved around or joined specific other girls for a short chat or to ask a specific question. And she herself was mostly sitting with the first years because they were just so welcoming and eager to have her join them, more so than anyone else. And also because that was where the best and most awesome member of the whole Sensha-Dou team had taken up residence.
"Aaawwww, she's sooo cute," gushed Karina as she watched, as everyone else did, how the fuzzy form of Aka rolled around in Yuuki's lap, mewling and purring and appearing quite happy to be there and getting all this attention.
"Why isn't Tanuki Team not called Kitty Team? That would be so cute, hihihi."
"Awwww, that's adorable. They could have a cute kitty as emblem."
"But shouldn't Nekonya-Senpai command that team? She has the cat ears after all."
"Ooouuuhh, that's a great idea!"
"They could be Kitty Team, that would be cute, hihihi."
"I don't think Nekonya-San wants to leave her team to form one with Aka," said Orimi with a smile, though the idea was very entertaining. "And I don't think Tanuki Team would like to give up Aka."
Several of the girls looked over to where Tanuki Team sat, doing homework together and talking about a j-pop band they all seemed to enjoy. There was a short moment in which Hanami, the pale commander of the team, glanced over to Rabbit Team and for a second it seemed as if her features froze and her eyes sort of died, all cold and brutal and ruthless, before she smiled and waved at them and returned her attention back to math's.
All members of Rabbit Team shuddered and quickly looked away. All except for Saki, who was looking out the window the whole time anyway.
Orimi got the impression she was missing out on a joke here, but she didn't push it. Instead she reached over to scratch Aka behind the ears, much to the small red kitten's delight and to the joy of the girls around her.
"I think when you get your own team Orimi-Senpai, it should be called Kitty Team," said Azusa with a smile, an idea which Orimi actually wasn't against.
"That sounds very cute," she agreed and smiled at the girls. "But I don't know if I will even get on a team on my own."
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"Why would you say that?" asked Yuuki. "I'm sure you will be great and you look very cute and graceful in the Sensha-Dou uniform."
"Or do you think about dropping Sensha-Dou already?" threw Ayumi in, a question upon which every other member of Rabbit Team gasped in shock. Well, all but Saki, who still looked out the window and didn't seem to hear anything or react to anything going on around her.
"Oh no, don't do that!"
"You haven't even had your first match!"
"Are you afraid your tank will not be any good? Because that is not what Sensha-Dou is about."
"Yes, it is about being cute and graceful while striving for womanly perfection, hihi."
"I thought it's about defeating the enemy team in honorable armored combat..."
"No, no," said Orimi weakly, managing to silence the other girls by raising her hands in a defensive posture. "I'm not thinking about dropping Sensha-Dou at all. I'm just nervous that I'm not any good at it."
The younger girls gaped at her, staring at her with big eyes, even Saki did. Well, Saki looked at her, she didn't gape. Before any of the younger girls could say anything, Orimi already continued. "I once thought of Sensha-Dou as kind of boring. But when I saw you struggle and win match after match in the Nationals I was really moved. You were all so brave and fierce and gallant. But I haven't realized how much effort and work it took. And now..."
She smiled at the girls. "... now I see how much you all do and put into it. Not just the matches but everything else as well. Training, maintenance, learning together, you make all that seem so effortless and so fun. I don't think I can ever be that good at anything."
"Oh no, don't say that," said Karina. "I'm sure you will be great."
"Yes. We weren't good at all in the beginning either, we even abandoned our tank in the first practice match," added Ayumi with a giggle.
"But we got a lot better since then," threw Aya in quickly. "And we will help you learn everything."
"You... You will do that?" asked Orimi, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes.
"Yes, of course," replied Azusa with a cute giggle, smiling at the older girl. "That is what Sensha-Dou is about. Helping friends and growing strong together."
"Eh? I though Sensha-Dou was about shooting at other girls driving tanks and taking them out," said Yuuki thoughtfully.
"Well, OUR Sensha-Dou is about helping friends and growing strong together," explained Ayumi and both Karina as well as Aya nodded in agreement.
"That is so... sooo... so beautiful!" cried Orimi, tears in her eyes and in the next instant a poor, unfortunate Azusa found herself hugged by the bigger, stronger and most importantly bawling Orimi. "Whhaaaaaa! Soooo b-b-beautiful... whaaaaa!"
/
It was raining again. The sky was dark and overhung with clouds the color of lead, the distant sound of thunder rolled over the sky and all in all it was a very dark, gloomy atmosphere. That didn't stop the girls from being as cheerful as they could, having unloaded their vehicles and driven them to the meeting point in the middle of the battlefield, talking and waiting for the other team to arrive.
"Perhaps they are afraid and will not show up," thought Yuzu out loud, at which Anzu waved her hand lazily.
"Relax Yuzu, they have seven more minutes, we were just a bit early," said the Student Council president with a lazy smile, lounging around in front of their tank. Both girls, as was everyone else, were wearing rain jackets, or to be more precise big coats in dark blue, the same color as their jackets underneath, the hood pulled up as they didn't wear hats of any kind.
Right next to the Jagdpanzer stood the StuG III and from on top of it the so called history buffs watched the dark sky with a mixture of fascination and interest.
"The Rain will change the course of the battle to come. The ground is slippery, the dark gloom hanging overhead will strain the nerves of those unaccustomed to it and the sound of rain on a tank's hull can hide the approaching rumble of an enemy tank," mused Oryou thoughtfully, wearing her rain coat like her jacket, meaning one arm not tugged into her sleeve.
"It will be the Battle of Kursk," mused Erwin with a nod, wearing her German officer cap under the hood of her coat.
"The battle for Okinawa," threw Oryou in.
"The battle of Sekigahara," added Saemonza, poking her head out from inside their tank where she was busy securing all the ammunition they had.
"The battle of Teuteburg Forest," said Caesar from inside the StuG, not even looking out of their vehicle.
"That's it!"
About half a mile away from where the two teams were about to meet for the first time face to face, the Sensha-Dou Federation had set up the viewing area, with bleachers for all the spectators to sit and three enormous screens on rail tracks to watch the action. On the left one, smaller than the one in the middle, the raw data and information for the match were displayed, circling threw, like for instance which girl was driving in which tank and how the win to loss ratio was. On the right side, also smaller than the middle screen, a tactical layout of the battlefield was shown and the position of individual tanks, while it was in the middle where the action took place. Or not so much the action but the view of the girls of Ooarai and the officials waiting for the moment, as that was what was happening.
The bleachers were stuffed, much to the surprise of the officials who hadn't thought that any qualification match would ever attract so many people. But as it was now the bleachers were full of Sensha-Dou enthusiasts, friends and families of the girls fighting this match, school girls from their respective school and members of other Sensha-Dou teams, talking, watching, waiting and in the case of four girls from Saunders Academy stuffing their faces with popcorn and hotdogs and drinking soda.
These four girls don't matter for what was about to happen, but they sure were having fun. Even in the rain, wearing army green rain ponchos and completely ignoring the downpour. So, enough about cute and happy girls sitting in the rain enjoying their time together, telling jokes and funny stories and enjoying unhealthy amounts of fast food without that having any consequences for their health and figure.
Sitting at the front of the bleachers far to the left, just below a large group of Girls from Ooarai, sat five red haired girls in green sweaters and grey skirts, the emblem of a three leafed clover on their left chest. Like most of those present they held up umbrellas, huddling under two bright green umbrellas to be precise, and chatting animatedly with one another.
"I hope it will be an exciting match," said the smallest of the girls, a pale, freckled, red haired, green eyed girl who wore her hair in pigtails and had a happy smile on her features. "I know Ooarai are the champions, but I kind of hope for the girls of Alexander Academy to give a good show and perhaps even win."
"I thought you like Ooarai?" asked another girl, this one with a somewhat lighter hair color and the striking feature of a prosthetic right leg.
"Yes, I do. But Alexander Academy are the underdogs and everyone loves underdogs, hehe."
"I doubt they will have much of a chance," added another one of the bunch, this one taller than her friends and her hair being of a darker color. She was also the only one of the bunch whose eyes weren't green but actually chocolate brown and she also wore a jacket over her sweater. "After all, they are facing Ooarai and as far as I know this is the first official match of Alexander Academy. Also, their tanks are a lot lighter, they will struggle taking out any heavier tank."
"Ohohohoho, you girls are just adorable," laughed another young woman, girl, to their left suddenly and they all turned their attention to the side, the tallest of them narrowing her eyes dangerously. Sitting under a large, opulent umbrella, drinking tea from a heavily decorated piece of china and giving the five girls in their green school uniforms a sneering, arrogant smirk was a girl who at first glance could have been Darjeeling from St. Glorianna. But it wasn't a school uniform from St. Glorianna, it was a uniform from West Kureoji Grona Academy, which looked... actually, exactly the same. And she wore the same hairstyle, the only difference being two small hair drills on the side of her face. In fact, the only real way to discern them was their voice, the ways they behaved and subtle differences in their appearance. "Aren't you those poor girls from Shamrock who can't even afford a proper tank force and were taken out in the first round?"
Clenching her fists and biting back a snarl, the tall red head of Shamrock stood up, glaring at the arrogant girl, recognizing her as the captain of the West Kureoji Grona Academy Sensha-Dou team Shiratori Kiri, better known as Kilimanjaro. "At least we put up a good fight!"
While two of her flunkies stood up to protect their leader, the arrogant girl scoffed at that. "Tsk. You have three outdated, weak tanks, thinking you have even a snowball chance in hell. Girls like you should simply give up."
Now the whole bunch of girls from Shamrock School for Girls jumped to their feet, partially to hold back their friend and partially to get into the other girl's face, when another voice snidely cut in. "You're in my seat. Get lost."
"What?" Kilimanjaro turned her head around sharply and glared at the intruder. "Do you-"
"Little girls playing at being a lady, lacking their own style and trying to emulate others in the vain hope of grasping even a tiny bit of grace without realizing how utterly pathetic they are should be silent when their betters are speaking," cut the harsh, razor sharp voice of Helen Mary Elizabeth III her off. "Now get lost and slither back to under the slimy stone you dared to crawl out from, before everyone here remembers that you lost your qualification match as well, with a far worse record than the girls of Shamrock School I might add. Because they at least managed to immobilize one enemy tank and came close to posing a danger to the enemy flag tank."
"And we would have succeeded if they didn't destroy us first, but next time we'll win!" cheered the girl with pigtails, smiling brightly.
"I'll have you know, we took out three of the opposing team's tanks," said Kilimanjaro with what could only be described as a dangerous snarl, standing up and staring at her counterpart from Omi-Goshu, her arms crossed. "So that can hardly be described as a worse record."
"Oh yes, having Churchills, Matildas and a Black Prince and managing to take out three Type 95 Ha-Go's before being taken out, very impressive indeed," replied Helen coolly. And then simply walked past the blonde girl and sitting down in the vacated seat, completely ignoring the flabbergasted girl.
Watching from the sidelines were most of the girls from Shamrock, West Kureoji and Omi-Goshu, not sure what would happen now, but for a moment longer Kilimanjaro glared at the other girl before she harrumphed and stalked off, trying to keep as much dignity intact as she could, her school mates and flunkies following behind. The girls from Omi-Goshu accompanying their captain. Janice, the red haired wanna-be Scottish Judy and the turban wearing Victoria, watched them leave and then sat down as well.
The pigtailed girl from Shamrock immediately skipped over to Helen, smiling at her and holding out her hand in a very European gesture. "Thank you, you didn't had to do that, we were just having friendly fun, but I appreciate what you did. Hi, I'm Shannon, the captain of Shamrock's Sensha-Dou team. Nice to meet you."
Helen looked at the offered hand for a second, before she sneered and looked at the screens and thus past Shannon. "I have no desire to be touched by the potato peeling, dirt grubbing hands of a whiskey gargling, unwashed peasant, so get out of my line of sight."
"What?!" While the girls of Shamrock School for Girls shot up again in anger, Shannon giggled.
"Hihi, wow, you are really good with insults."
Helen only sighed.
/
In the distance lightning flashed and several girls of Ooarai twitched as seconds later thunder rolled over the sky. Saori threw a worried glance into the distance. For a moment she was silent, before she turned to Yukari and asked, "Shouldn't we postpone the match? What happens if one of the tanks is hit by lightning?"
"Oh, don't worry," answered her friend, smiling at Saori. "Back in the War that might have been a problem, but the tanks we use are absolutely safe. If lightning should hit a tank the electricity would go through the hull into the tracks and then into the ground, which is the path of least resistance."
"Ohhh, good to know," replied Saori, giggling. "I just thought about what would happen if we were hit and how it would ruin all our hair."
The five girls of Anglerfish giggled as they imagined that picture, with all of them having their hair stand up on all ends and Yukari's hair being completely unchanged. Well, all but Mako giggled, but she sure smiled at the thought.
Suddenly Hana looked up, sitting on her hatch and having her body out of the tank that way, looking into the distance. "Do you hear that?"
The others first looked to her, then to the west, the direction into which Hana was looking, falling silent and listening. At first they could only hear the sound of rain hitting the hull of their tank, which wasn't quiet at all, but as they kept listening something else came to their ears. Several other girls fell silent as well, following their example or simply also hearing something and trying to discern what it was, before Flint of Shark Team said out loud, "Is that music?"
"What?" asked Rum, giving her friend a sideways glance, but then she answered, "Yeah, I think it is."
It was indeed music, barely to be made out over the rain and the sound of the wind, but it grew louder and louder, the sound of a shredded guitars, drums and a deep bass coming to their ears. Now all eyes were aimed westwards, towards the top of a small hill behind which the edge of a bamboo forest was barely to be made out. Bamboo stems shuddered and shook and a moment later a bright, sudden and utterly terrifying gust of flame erupted over the top of the hill with a fierce roar.
Just a second later the source of the flames became apparent. It was a girl standing on the top of a tank, a dirt brown Panzer II, holding an electric guitar and going at it as if her life depended on it. She fiercely all but attacked her instrument, her whole body in on the action, gusts of flame and heat erupting from the head of the her modified flame thrower guitar, defying any logic and safety and most of all the rain as she balanced on the hull of the fighting vehicle, shredding her instrument and playing a sick metal solo.
And assortment of different tanks followed, no longer brightly painted or carrying banners but painted in dull brown, green and khaki colors, though still a wildly mixed bunch of vehicles. And they drove at a breakneck speed, rumbling and roaring and in some instances even slightly sliding down the gentle but slippery slope, making quite the ruckus with a mixture of recorded music, loud engines and of course the sound of an actually skillfully played electric guitar.
Coming to a halt at a respectful and safe distance from the officials and the girls of Ooarai, the small tank force of Alexander Academy was a sight to behold. If perhaps for the wrong reasons. The most impressive of the tanks was most likely the khaki and olive green Panzer III with bright pink shooting stars painted onto the side of the turret, but all other tanks were just as eye catching with painted on skull and bones, anime pin-up girls, graffiti style slogans, pitch black flame patterns and painted on motives like animals or samurai in the classical Japanese style. Some of the engines kept rumbling and perhaps even roaring before dying down, but already most of their crews climbed out of their vehicles and turned out to be just as colorful as their tanks.
The standard uniform seemed to be an ensemble of modern military boots, black socks, a dark brown skirt, a beige shirt and a dark brown uniform jacket, with the insignia of their school as shoulder patch and on the buckle of their broad belts. But none of the girls now becoming visible were wearing exactly that, all of them have modified their clothing in some way, for instance by rolling up or downright cutting off sleeves, sewing on patches, wearing colorful shoelaces, replacing single items with something else in case of the girl with the flamethrower guitar even a second world war Stahlhelm in dark brown and a gas mask hiding her face. And of course the flamethrower guitar, that thing was hard to miss.
"No! No way!" yelled one of the officials, storming over already, her face showing an expression of fury. "You will not have that!"
It was hard to say what the girl with the guitar was feeling as her face was hidden by the gas mask, but her shoulders slumped visibly as she handed over her instrument, looking quite sad about this.
"They look dangerous."
"Are they a gang?"
"Do you think they are Yakuza?"
Those were some of the things Miho heard from some of her teammates, not her best friends and crew but certainly the first years, as she climbed out of her commanders cupola and down the tank to walk forward. Just a moment later she found herself, together with Anzu and for some reason Azusa who was trying to sort of hide behind her while at the same time trying to appear as if she wasn't afraid, facing the captain of their opponents for this match.
Standing just a bit taller than Miho, having replaced her uniform jacket with a black greaser jacket and sporting an apparently rain repellent black pompadour, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses and a toothpick in the corner of her mouth, the girl sure looked exactly what many people would think off when they heard the word delinquent. That she also held a baseball bat onto which "Bad Girl" was written on didn't help one bit.
"Oy oy, we didn't mean to be late, but we had to stop to get gas and some old geezers held us up," she said with a sneer.
Several eyebrows rose at her words, but no one said anything. Feeling the awkward atmosphere and not wanting to make it even weirder, Miho replied, "I am Nishizumi Miho, captain of the Ooarai Academy for Girls Sensha-Dou team. And these are my teammates Kadotani Anzu and Sawa Azusa."
The sunglasses wearing girl nodded firmly and the eyes of the two girls with her, one taller than her and the other smaller, danced over the members of Ooarai's team. "I'm Tita, boss, um, captain of the Alexander Academy Sensha-Dou gang, um, club. And these are my underlings, um, teammates Vice-Captain Rakija and Burek."
She indicated first at the girl a bit taller than her, a gangly, athletic looking girl with her blonde hair in an unruly bob and wearing cowboy boots and an assortment of studded armbands which were visible because she wore the sleeves of her jacket rolled up, and then the other girl. The slightly smaller girl was just as eye catching as all her other teammates, with a pretty face, bright green hair she wore in a wavy tousled lob, black hot pants instead of a skirt, several skull and bones patches on her jacket and a figure that was the envy of many other girls as she had grown up in the right places, so to speak.
The main judge cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Ooarai Girls Academy, are you ready?"
"Hai," replied Miho, trying not to sound hesitant.
"Alexander Academy, are you ready?"
"One more thing," replied Tita, moving her baseball bat from her right shoulder into a more regal position in front of her, holding it as if it was a sword she leaned her hands on. "Say Nishizumi Miho, are you afraid of us?"
The question was a bit sudden, and very unexpected, but Miho shook her head, schooling her face into a determined expression. "Umm, no."
"How about a wager then?"
"A... wager?"
"Yes," answered Tita, now grinning broadly. "Let's make this more interesting, okay? The loser looses a tank, chosen by the winner. In other words, if we win, we will get that pretty Hetzer of yours."
For a moment confusion and shock played over Miho's face and she then turned to the officials, who seemed just as confused. After a second the head judge shook her head softly. "It's uncommon and highly immoral, but not against the rules. Even if it should be."
Miho turned to look at Anzu and Azusa, who seemed just as uncertain as she felt, even if it wasn't apparent on the face of the diminutive Student Council president's face. She hesitated, not sure what to say as this was a completely unexpected development. For a moment she glanced to Tita, who seemed to wait patiently, and then over to the tank force of Alexander Academy. It was a mishmash of different models following no specific pattern, just like their own force, but consisting of light and medium tanks, even a single tankette was among them.
They had a Panzer III and an M3 Stuart, as well as the pretty rare Maresal, but otherwise they had early and pre-war models, nine rather unassuming and not very intimidating tanks. She counted again. Nine. They had nine tanks. Realization dawned on her.
This was a match ten against ten, but the girls of Alexander Academy had only nine. And nine not very strong tanks at that. Her face softening she was about to reply, when she was beaten to it by Anzu.
"We accept," answered the small girl, grinning broadly. "Our Hetzer against your 35(t)."
"Ummm, yes," said Miho after a second, and after Anzu had slightly nudged her.
"Good, it's a wager," replied Tita, grinning just as broadly as Anzu did. "Then we are ready as well."
"Good," intoned the head official, clearing her throat again. "Bow!"
The six girls, and actually all the girls still with their tanks, did exactly that. "Let's have a good game!"
That said and straightening up again the six girls sized one another up one last time, with Azusa quickly turning around to avoid the looks, before turning back to their teams and walking off. As soon as they were out of earshot and about halfway back to their tanks, Anzu said to Miho. "You shouldn't do that."
"... Ummmm... I shouldn't do what?"
"You realized that they have only nine tanks. You were about to offer them to take one of ours to make it fair, didn't you?" Anzu smirked at her, a glint of something in her eyes. Miho didn't answer, but she didn't had to, her silence said it all. Anzu had, once more, understood perfectly what had been going on and cut in, preventing her from doing what she had nearly done. "They came here under their own power and they are about to give it their all to fight against us. The best thing we can do is to do the same."
"Hai," agreed Miho, feeling suddenly very foolish but also thankful. Because now that she thought about it, she didn't think that Tita or any of her teammates would have taken what she would have meant as kindness as anything but arrogant pity. Anzu was right, they all had to give it their all to win.
Taking the offered hand from Saori she climbed onto her Panzer IV, wet and cold and slightly slippery thanks to the rain, and then into the commander's cupola. "Saori, give orders to follow us in two lines. Mako, bring us to our start position."
She shared one last look with Anzu, who gave her a firm nod, and then ducked down and closed the cupola, just as Mako started the engine. Finally she was out of the rain.