"The Climax of our first match! Part 2"
"It's good to see that you're fine, Miamoto" He gives a welcoming smile on Rommel while caressing his coal coated hair as soon Rommel finishes his bow.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's Senpai's father, right?" Kotori curiously whispers to Agni beside her.
"Of all the people that is close to Eirian, you didn't know about this?" He asks in response as he's confused.
"Well it isn't my fault, Senpai is always Senpai you know… He's doesn't reveal much of his information to everyone, even to me, his Kouhai!?" She explained as she was the same as Agni, but he was doubtful on her, either she's saying the truth or she's too dumbfounded on the situation.
"If you say so…" He heaves a sigh as a response.
"I thought you were having a meeting in Kure, Otōsan?" Miamoto wonders as he tilts his head with a raised eye-brow.
"We did, but I cancelled it" His father casually explains.
"You cancelled a very important meeting?" Rommel was in disbelief.
"Yes. Being an advocacy of Gunkun-dou doesn't mean I'm always doing business, might as well spare my time to you guys once for a while" He said as Wilhelm offered him a collapsible stool chair.
"But you're already late…"
"Well, it's not like I was distracted by the Kure Museum that I stumbled earlier…" He avoided eye-contact to Rommel as he was being suspicious, much to Rommel's disbelief, he was just another avid fan of ships and submarines, pretty much like Yukari but to warships than tanks.
"But enough with the personal talks, Miamoto. How's our Eirian doing in Oarai?" Otōsan suddenly became serious as the topic of the matter quickly changed.
"Like I anticipated, Oarai made an impact on his behavior and performance, Otōsan" He pointed out as he handed him a bunch of documents inside of a compact folder.
Upon he received the folder, he checked out the documents inside of it, there he saw many of Eirian's reports and dialogues between him and Rommel about Miho Nishizumi and Oarai Academy. The documents were around 20-30 pages long, it was a detailed and thorough reports of Oarai and Miho, even to the point that Eirian even described his conversation to the members of Oarai, mainly two persons, and that is Anzu Kadotani, and Miho Nishizumi.
"As you might see there, Eirian's performance on his mission drastically deteriorates. His reports are starting to sound like journals or diaries, and his main topic would sometimes devoid from his intended mission" Rommel said.
"He got bit by his Senpai because he was teasing her?" His father found this piece of information questionable as he raised his eye-brow on it.
"Yes, like I said, devoid from his intended mission…"
"But is he enjoying his stay in Oarai?" He decided to gave the folder back to Rommel as soon he found his desired information.
"Not really, I already examined the documents thrice now, but I didn't find any accounts of him stating that he 'enjoyed' being a student in Oarai" Rommel said as he clenched the folder tightly, in result it crumbled the outer shell just a little bit, to the point that upon realizing it he quickly fixed it back.
"Relax, it's only been 3 months since he started his mission, those who wait will gain good things" He assured Rommel as he hanged his arm around his shoulder.
"Remember that time when Eirian did the impossible back in the tournament, no one could predict that he could do it, but he did, because he has potential, so just be patience, knuckle-head" He added as he gently pats his back before he went back to his seat as the chase finally reaches its climax.
The flag tank of Saunders is on the run, with Oarai's team in hot pursuit. The Sherman tries its best to dodge the shells of its pursuers, while their commander, Alisa, is having a breakdown as she sweats excessively and nervously.
"This tough Sherman isn't going to go down easily!" She exclaimed.
"Fifty thousand of these things were built! Countries couldn't just stop buying them! They were built strong, cheap, reliable, and not to mention that they're really comfortable as well!" She added as she continued her yapping.
"Is she having a breakdown again?" Their driver asks?
"Yes, yes she is…" Their radio operator casually responded to her, as if they already experienced this scenario a couple of times now.
"An idiot could even drive this thing, the controls are so simple, and the manual is even written so the idiots can actually read it!" Alisa claimed.
"If I could speak freely here, Commander, your words aren't very reassuring at the moment!" Her gunner berates while the shells from Oarai keeps ricocheting every time it landed on their tank, reaching to the point that it actually shakes their tank in a constant manner.
"Shut up!"
"Look at them flee…" Eirian uttered as he showed a mischievous smirk afterwards on his Commander's seat.
"Well, the only sad thing is that we couldn't participate because we're at the rear…" He said in disbelief as they were situated behind the Panzer IV, the StuG III, and the M3 Lee.
"Suck it up and deal with it, Idiot…" Alina blurted out as she maintained their pace.
"There goes Alina's Tsun-dere side again" Elizabeth titters.
"I am not a Tsun-dere! And I don't even know that word in the first place, Elizabeth!" She rebukes as she feels provoked.
"No need to hide the truth, miss Alina" Natsuki giggled, further provoking Alina.
"Well, that's the charm of our team, don't you think so, Eirian?" Haru laughs.
"You guys are so hopeless…" Eirian huffed.
"How in the hell would those run-down tanks driving us off?!" Alisa asks to her crew as she continue to rattle.
"Our school is on a different level than yours! So why are we retreating like Hyenas?!" She asked next, with a shell reloaded on the chamber, she quickly ordered to shoot, but due to her troubled composure, the shell was a miss in a mile away from their target.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Our shots were no good, Commander!"
"No kidding, Sherlock!
"Their tanks are small enough that we couldn't even hit them, Commander!"
"Stop complaining! Course correction, right, 3 degrees" Alisa instructed.
"And you, Alani! Hurry up with that shell!" She further instructed to her casque-loader who's wearing the US M1938 tanker's helmet.
"Honestly, they couldn't even do a squat and they're trying to come after us? That's just stupid!"
"Their school's getting shut down anyway so why are they even putting a futile fight on us! So why won't they just shut it down already!" She continued to fulminate, causing Alani, her loader, to expressed her exasperation from listening to her rants.
"Hey, Miho, are you seeing this?" Eirian asks through Miho's throat mic as they saw Alisa opening her hatch in order to let her frustration out by shouting directly at them.
"Hai. It seems like she's letting her frustration out to us" She explained as she was confused like him.
"Seems like it… But she does know that we couldn't hear her, right?"
"Seems like she's about to give up, don't you think so, Kojiro?" Anzu asks to her intelligent friend as he have the glasses.
"President, don't assume me as that guy with the glasses being the smartest from all of you…"
"Of course, I don't, what brings you to that conclusion, Nashi?"
"I volunteered to the Student Council as an officer, yet you insisted me to become a Treasurer just because you saw me as a 'smart person with glasses and a suspicious tablet'…" Kojiro recalled as he heaves a sigh of disbelief.
"I don't recall any of that, but certainly it feels right to have you as our crew since your name is Nashi" Anzu giggled.
"And besides, all of our names came from different fruits, so that just basically means that we're destined to be a team, right?" Yuzu then asks to Kojiro as she looks at him while showing him a bright and sincere smile, causing Kojiro to blush in return.
"Hai… I apologies to impeding my name to you all" He adjusted his rectangle black glasses as he composed himself.
"So, Kojiro Nashi, what can you say about our situation now that their commander is continuously yapping at us?" Anzu then asks after she took a bite on her favorite snack.
"Well, it's been already 20 minutes since the start of our pursuit, and the likelihood of Saunders' main force to appear is getting higher and higher" He explained as he puts his black tablet into action as he started to calculate the probability of an imminent counterattack of their enemy.
"So, what's the chances overall?" Momo further asks.
"86.13% percent…"
"Got it! Momo-chan, tell that to our overall-Commander!" Anzu ordered.
"Right!"
"Miporin! We received something from Turtle team!"
"What is it, Saori?"
"It seems that the main force of Saunders is about to come at any moment now" She reported.
"Okay. Please tell to everyone that after 60 seconds, we will resume our firing at them" Miho instructed.
Miho then saw an opportunity as they saw an inclined slope right next to them, this causes her to order Mako to move their tank towards the slope as a shortcut to get themselves close to their target.
Her tank leads the convoy, behind her was the StuG III, M3 Lee, Panzer 38(T), Type 89, and the lastly the Panzer III as they traverse the unevenness of the field, moving through the gentle slopes and inclination, and soon they got a clear sight on the Sherman as they secured a spot on top of the one of the slopes.
Meanwhile Eirian was taking a breeze outside of his hatch as he rests his back on the side of the hatch, until all of a sudden he heard a disturbance that causes him to look behind his back, an engine of a particular kind in the distance, with the sound different from all of Oarai's tank, he quickly went back to station.
"This is Fox team! We have found a tan-"
The sound of an intense gunfire disrupted his announcement to everyone, the birds flocked together as they flapped their wings, the ground slightly shook a little as the shockwave of that one shot was heard throughout the convoy, even reaching the lead tank. Everyone was startled, including Eirian as he looked back again and saw the majestic yet dangerous tank of Saunders.
"That sound! What was that?!" Haru asks while he was still covering his ears, looking to Eirian as he needs the answer.
"That was the 17-pounder, so they have finally brought their most powerful tank to us, don't you think so, Idiot?"
"Yeah, no doubt, it's their Firefly…" He looks over to the distance as he saw the Firefly standing on top of a slope, being accompanied by her fellow Shermans as it looked directly at them with intimidation while its gun was pointed at them.
"Distance is over 4500 meters; its effective range is only 3000 meters so we're good for now. But, Elizabeth, quickly inform to Saori that we only have 10-15 minutes before they can reach the Firefly's effective range on us!"
"On it!"
Eirian then checks it out again in order to see how many tanks did Saunders have and he was in a surprise when he discovers that they only have 4 tanks instead of 7 tanks chasing them.
"4 tanks… then where's the other 3?" He thought to himself as he wondered why Kay decided to cut their numerical advantage on this match.
He then looks around to his surroundings as he has a weird sensation that he cannot explain. On his left is the uneven terrain, smaller than a hill but taller than a knoll, the terrain on his left was practically useless to Saunders, but on the right side is his most concerning.
A densely forest on his right, it was dark, roomy, and filled with an endless number of trees and bushes, the perfect spot for an attempt of flanking maneuvers, this causes Eirian to anticipate something out from the forest as he focused on the Shermans at his back.
"What should we do, Miporin?"
"Please tell Duck and Rabbit team to take the rear guard with Fox team. Hippo team and us will handle the enemy flag-tank" She ordered as they experienced the never-ending barrage from Saunders, sandwiching them in the process as they didn't give them any time to breath anymore.
"They're approaching our rear really fast, Nishizumi-dono! I think they can reach us at any moment with their Firefly!" Yukari announced as she lowered her binoculars.
"We just need a little bit amount of time…" Miho soliloquized as she starting to feel nervous.
"We just need to protect our Senpais no matter what, everyone!" Azusa declared as all of them are starting to feel nervous now but still tries to remain confident no matter what.
"Roger that!" All of her team replied with tenacity and determination.
"This battle feels similar to the battle of Arras" Erwin, their leader, remarked as she and her team were surprisingly calm.
"No, it's the battle ofKōshū-Katsunuma" Oryou, their driver, admonished.
"It's obviously the Battle of Tennōji" Saemonza, their gunner, then corrected them.
"That's it!" All of them reacted, emphasizing that it was the most similar out of the two given battles they mentioned earlier.
"We can't lose this match, no matter what!" Momo insisted as she pulled the trigger, causing the shell to dart itself to the sky than its appointed target.
"You didn't hit a thing…" Both Kojiro and Yuzu commented.
"Shut up!"
"Quite the fierce battle ranging here, how nerve-wrecking…" Anzu nonchalantly said as she took a bite at her favorite snack while remaining oblivious to their situation.
"Oarai's in trouble" Pekoe conveyed her thought as she uttered.
"In a sandwich, the cucumber between the bread is why people eat them" Darjeeling said.
"What?" She tilts her head.
"Being 'sandwiched' is what brings out the flavor, you see?" Darjeeling explains.
"And for this particular match, a flavorful event will about to happen" She added.
"Team, Fire!" Isobe ordered.
"Attack!" Her team joined as well as they fired their main 57mm gun, it landed but it only ricocheted the front of the Sherman, and in return, they were quickly taking out by the Firefly.
Their engine compartment then started to burst into flames violently, the controls suddenly broke down as they swayed to the side of the field and into a large rock, causing it to stop the uncontrollable immobilized tank of Duck team.
"That was Duck team!" Natsuki points out as she saw the burning Type 89 from her vision slip on her side.
"Duck team, anyone hurt over there?!" Miho asks through their open-channel.
"We're fine here!"
"Sorry, but we're out of commission, Captain Nishizumi!" Isobe announced.
Eirian's members sighed in relief as their fellow subordinates were fine and okay, except Eirian as he felt uneasy all of sudden as he looked back again at the forest on his right.
Another shot was fired again by the accurate and deadly Firefly, it soared through the air for a few seconds until it lands the cover of the M3 Lee's engine compartment, the violent and brutal explosion from its rear caught the attention of Eirian as they were just beside them.
The M3 Lee then suddenly stopped moving as they crashed into a crater, the white flag then appeared at the front hull as it deemed itself immobilized, while traces of dark smoke and fire was still fuming at their rear.
"Rabbit team, are you all alright?!" Eirian asked, for the first time during this match, as well as his time in Oarai, he felt concerned to them as he immediately contacted them as soon he saw the white flag.
"Yes, we're all fine here. The one with the long nose took us out…" Azusa responded, making Eirian all of sudden felt a little bit of solace as they were fine.
"That's good to hea-" He got abrupted by a gunfire from the forest all of a sudden.
"Pavlov! Accelerate, now!" Eirian suddenly ordered as his instincts were right, he then opened his hatch and saw a green silhouette in the forest.
It was 3 Shermans, 1 of them were trying to engage the Panzer III while the other 2 were at the far back, refraining themselves from doing any engagement to his tank or to the others whatsoever. That 1 Sherman was vigorously trying its best to immobilize the Panzer III, but to no avail as it misses its shots.
"So that's what Kay is doing, interesting…" Eirian then showed a peculiar smirk on his face before he decidedly to went back on his seat.
"It seems like Senpai finally have the idea" Kotori commented as they were engaged at the match.
"Do you think that he can actually hold himself from doing that again?" Agni asked out of concern to his subordinates and to Rommel as well.
"I can't say, after all, he's the type of person who doesn't like to let his nickname go to waste" Wilhelm answers.
"I have faith in Senpai, so he can hold himself for the sake of his mission!" Kotori expresses her thought as she trusts Eirian.
"How about you, Sir Yuzuru, and Fuehrer?" Agni then asks directly to them.
"I still have no idea if he's gonna refrain himself from doing it, nonetheless we have to see this for ourselves, don't you think so, Otōsan?"
"If what your documents are saying the truth, then we can assume that that thing will show up again…" His father, Yuzuru, was not feeling optimistic as his hands were clenched together in a raised position that supported his chin, signaling that he is fearing something that might get unfold later.
Everyone is starting the felt the uneasiness of their situation, all of them suddenly became quiet, their eyes started to shed, their feelings suddenly became heavy, and their resolve is deteriorating, it was only a matter of when, not if.
"Look at yourselves! You're like ants! With a platoon on the right side, while Commander's forces are at the back, and Naomi's Firefly is on the left side, we have basically surrounded you, Oarai Academy!" Alisa being boastful as she brags about it.
"Now we will gonna finish all of you!" She declared.
"This is like Benkei's last stand!" Saemonza commented as their tank then goes behind the Panzer 38(T).
"This is our end, Es war ein guter Kampf" Erwin added.
"A tank filled with holes. A tank filled with holes, for that is wat we shall be" Oryou cited her own haiku.
"This isn't the time to say a parting haiku!" Caesar rebukes as she wasn't having it.
"This… is this over?" Momo was in tears as she was now having a breakdown as she moves away from her periscope.
"It's fun while it lasted" Kojiro uttered as he adjusted his glasses again, putting down his tablet as it was over for them.
Yuzu then takes a glimpse on their commander, Anzu was feeling a bit uneasy as well, it was unusual since they haven't seen that expression of hers once in a while now.
"Miss Prez, do you think that we can turn this around?"
Eirian's team were starting to feel down as well, the atmosphere became dread and all of them weren't uttering a single word to ease the consternation. But for Eirian, he simply couldn't hide this feeling that he longed for, this ultimately causes him to grin unexpectedly, just a little bit that it's visible that a naked eye could see it.
Eirian suddenly realizes it and he quickly composures himself, letting out a heavy breather as he pinned his throat mic in order to talk with everyone, ending the silence once and for all.
"This is Eirian, and I'm not really good with words such as these… But I know that every one of you are feeling a bit down due to our situation here, so, I will say this once and that is, GET BACK TO YOUR SENSES, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" This surprises everyone, even Miho and Anzu.
"We're in a difficult situation here, so quits with the yapping, I can clearly hear your pointless chatters which annoys me very much, so sulk it up because we will fight until the very end here!" He said to the channel, which causes a spark of hope to burn wildly in an instant as Miho helped as well.
"He's right, everyone! Stay calm and continue your attack. The enemy is firing while moving as well, the chance of them hitting us is low, so, focus on hitting their flag-tank!"
"We need to seize this chance!"
"We can win if we can hit them!"
"Like Eirian said, we will fight until the very end!"
"Fufu, feels like we're fighting in Arnhem on this one" Erwin smirked.
"That's Kouhai alright, even surprising his Senpai, he definitely needs a reward after this" Anzu smiled.
"We can't do this, Yuzu!" Momo ranted.
"It will be fine, just asks our treasurer here, what's our chances, Sir Nashi?"
"Well… it's about 16%..."
"See?!"
"Don't worry, that is almost a quarter of 100, Momo-chan"
"Alright, is seems like this thing is sorted now…" Eirian mumbled.
"Who could've known that you encouraged all of us to fight until the very end on this match, is that even you, Eirian?!" Elizabeth shed a tear out of happiness.
"You impressed me, Commander Idiot…" Alina complimented.
"I was very surprised that you managed to pull something very out-of-character of you, Commander" Natsuki smiled.
"I knew it that you're a people's person as well, Eirian!" Haru gave him a pat on the back as he was happy for him.
"There's no point in complimenting if we just gonna lose this match, so, as your Commander, we will take back our initiative in our own way" He smirked as he started to feel excited once again, his blood started to boil in adrenaline as he decided to take things on his own hands again.
"Alright, our Eirian is now motivated!"
"Just give me the order to shoot, Commander"
"Whatever you do, we will support you no matter what!"
"Don't get too cocky to yourself, remember that we can't do anything unless that Sherman of theirs are taking out, Командир"
This causes Eirian to open his hatch and looks directly at the forest on his right, where that 1 Sherman was still shooting at his tank consistently yet fails miserably, there, he notices that the other two Shermans weren't doing anything other than just keep moving through the densely forest, this causes him to develop a plan, it is quite reckless yet might change the state of their situation if he pulls it out successfully.
"Alright, I got a plan!" He said confidently.
"Miho, this is Eirian. Permission to take the enemy from our left to deviate their attempt from pinning us?" Eirian pushes his throat mic as he asks for permission.
"What? Isn't it a bit too risky for you to do something like that, Eirian?"
"I know, but this is better than nothing, and besides, I think you already have a plan in mind with that slope leading to the hill on your right" He replied as he anticipated.
"How did you know that?"
"Your… unique way of planning concluded me to think that you're gonna do something unorthodox on this match as well, Miho" He explained.
"Seems like you know me too well, Eirian" He could hear her giggle on the other side of the channel.
"So, do I have the permission, Commander Nishizumi Miho?"
"Hai! I wish you the best of luck, Haiiro Eirian!"
"Hai! You too as well, Miho"
"They gave us the signal, everyone!"
"So, what's the plan, Commander?"
"We will show them our resolve on this match" He declared as he showed a wide grin on his face to them.
"Alright everyone, it seems like Eirian is taking half of their attention to him, this opportunity might give us enough time to win this match" Miho said to her team.
"That's the Black Baron for you!" Yukari enthusiastically declared to them.
"What is it with Eirian and this Black Baron you're speaking of, Yukari?" Saori asked out of curiosity.
"Well, Haiiro-dono is a Panzer-Ace from Germany, normally being a Panzer-Ace means you're a very talented Commander, but having a nickname means that you are very an exceptional and talented Commander, think of it as being a celebrity in the Panzerkraft industry" Yukari quickly explained as she was having a Panzer-High all of a sudden.
"If Haiiro-dono is called the Black Baron, then Nishizumi-dono is called the Knispel of Kuromorimine, and that guy we met after the match against St. Gloariana is nicknamed Rommel, which it is the older brother of Haiiro-dono" She added as she listed out the Panzer-Aces that have a nickname.
"This is my first time hearing that Eirian has a nickname, did this nickname came from the Naming Committee itself, Yukari?"
"Hai! I'm 100% sure that his nickname was on the list, I memorized everything!"
"So, what does this Black Baron has to do with mister Haiiro's plan, miss Akiyama?" Hana asks as she was curious and intrigue.
"I think we will see that soon, miss Hana" Yukari foreshadowed.
As Eirian saw the Panzer IV going up to the slope of the hill on their right, trying to take control on top it, he quickly pushed the button of his throat mic again, and this time, he said something to both the commanders of Hippo and Turtle team personally.
"Erwin, Anzu, I have faith in you two. So, while we're fixing this situation just keep moving forward and don't stop the tank, got it?"
"Jawohl!"
"Got it, Kouhai!"
"Alright, what's this plan of yours that you highly felt high and mighty so much, Captain Idiot?" Alina asks as they weren't giving any context of his plan since the very beginning that he mentioned the word 'plan'.
"Just trust me on this one"
"Oh, so they're doing the usual 'death from above' tactic, how bold of them" Kay stated.
"Alright, Naomi, that Panzer IV is all yours" Kay added, giving Naomi the signal to take down the Panzer IV by her Firefly, which she called it Myosotis or forget-me-nots or the badass name of scorpion grasses, nonetheless, it was now her personal duty to take down the Panzer IV.
"And oh, what's this?" Kay then saw the Panzer III detaching from the convoy as it went its way to confront the Sherman on its left.
"Seems like he took the bait, quite the unusual of you, Arian…" She mumbled before she decided to use her radio again.
"Alright, Tex-y, it's your turn now, sandwich that Panzer III of theirs with Church"
"Got it, ma'am!" Another Sherman was again detached from the main force, leaving the main force of 2 tanks remaining as they continued to chase the remaining tanks of Oarai.
The firefly then swiftly went to the hill, making a stop halfway as it attempted to fire a round towards the rear of the Panzer IV, which unbeknownst to them that they were on the effective range of the Firefly.
It was until the sound of the sudden stop of its track of the Firefly that Miho got alerted as she heard the peculiar sound of something that she previously known.
Its long nose then aimed towards the Panzer IV and a moments later, she fired the round. The loud and bright muzzle flash shattered the sound of nature as it fired its mighty 17-pdr gun directly at the Panzer IV.
"Harsh stop, now!" Miho commanded out of reflex as she heard that deafening gunfire.
Her tank tested its break and suspension, it made a rough and vigored stop as it violently skidded to the ground in a curved pattern. The shell from the Firefly then landed nearby, its shockwave then quivered her tank, but on the bright side her tank was unscathed miraculously as it quickly went to the crest of the hill.
"We've got until the Firefly loads and fires next" Miho declares to everyone, specifically to Hana.
"Got it!"
Her tank then finally arrives at the scene of the crime, she stood at crest of the hill, she covers the overview of the land below her, a relative degree of a flat green plain with a Sherman tank running away from its pursuers.
All they need to wait is the precision shot of Hana Isuzu, for now they stand there at the top, motionless and quiet.
Meanwhile Eirian's Panzer III then started to rush the Sherman tank who's giving him a headache since earlier, it keeps on firing at him as he closes the gap between them.
A shell was fired from that Sherman but it was a miss, Eirian was keenly interested at one aspect of that particular Sherman as he was engaged and concentrated on it, unaware to the fact that there was another Sherman that wanted to do a flank maneuver behind his tank, or so it seems.
"1-2-3-4-5-6-7" Eirian started counting, he noticed a pattern and quickly he discovered two things, one is that he found out the seconds of reload of the Sherman at his front, and second, is that he noticed the other Sherman tank from his back, which he discovered it after he heard the sound of its engine emitting loudly.
After 7 seconds it fired a round, coincidentally the Sherman from the back also fired at the Panzer III, one of them was a miss and the other one deflects. After this sudden realization from the Commander of the Church personally, she ordered her team to a complete stop, making them motionless but this stabilizes their aim at the Eirian.
Both the Shermans fired another shell with an interval of few milliseconds apart, luckily the Panzer III zig-zag its way out of the crossfire, giving its time to fire back at them as he was around 270-250 meters away from them.
"1-2-3-4-5- Pavlov! Hard stop, now!" He ordered.
Alina steps on the break pedal of the tank, this causes the tank to do an unexpected stop, pulling out a clutch in this match as the Panzer III dodges a close-shot from the Sherman at front while the Sherman from behind was a miss as well as they weren't expecting it.
"Fire!"
Natsuki pulled the trigger, letting out a violent and bright burst of a flash from its muzzle, with a shell ejected from its barrel, it went straight directly at the front hull of the Sherman, immobilizing it quickly as dark and foggy smoke started to emit from its front, moments later a white flag then pops out from its front hull.
"Nice one but we aren't finish yet!" Eirian stated as his attention was now on the Sherman at their back, his tank then turns around the immobilized Sherman and then charges confidently to the superior tank.
"Being cocky aren't you, well we aren't gonna fall for that same trick again, stop the tank and aim the sights 3 degrees to right, close but not too close to the approaching Panzer III!" Their Sherman then halted, she aimed their sight at front of the Panzer III, anticipating that they will do the same trick again.
"They already know it, they saw it, so we're not stopping this time. Pavlov, full throttle after I counted to 6. Haru, load the APCR shell. And Natsuki, aimed the turret on our left, 4 degrees after I said the signal, but don't fire the shell until I gave you the word"
"Got it!"
Haru injected the PzGr. 40 shell into the gun chamber, with a sound of the metal breech that he heard, the loading was now complete as he announced it to Eirian. Natsuki then prepared herself as she holds the turning mechanism with her left hand, while her right hand was on the trigger.
"1-2-3-4-5-6 now!"
"Round it up!"
Alina then puts the pedal to the metal as she strenuously stepped on the accelerator. The tank then moves furiously towards its target while the shell from the Sherman was fired again as it tried to anticipate the sudden stop of the Panzer III from earlier but they were too late, they missed their shot and now they will face the consequences of it.
The Panzer III then turned its turret to the left, it was now closing the gap as it's about to reach the side of the target, Natsuki only waits for her Commander to give the order as she holds the trigger nonchalantly.
"Hana, make it happen"
"Natsuki, fire it away"
Their sights were aimed, both of them were focused, and they pulled the trigger in sync. Three rounds, two of them by Oarai while one of them came from the Firefly were fired during that single moment, and all of them reached their target with frightening precision and accuracy.
The Panzer III hits the turret ring of the Sherman, knocking it out in an instant, the Firefly's shell then lands at the rear end of the Panzer IV, quickly immobilizing it, and finally the Panzer IV takes out the Flag-tank of Saunders over to the distance, securing a (clutch) victory for Oarai Academy of the first match.
"Oarai Academy takes the match!" The announcer proudly said throughout every radio channel in the area.
The audiences started to applause and cheer wildly, enthusiastically, and excitedly as for the first time ever, the underdogs finally won the match.
Yuzuru smirked, Kotori cheered, Agni smiled, Wilhelm chuckled, while Rommel sniggered as they looked at the flag of Oarai Academy that appeared on the monitor with the word of "victory" underneath it.
Miho sighs of relief while Eirian heaves a sigh of disbelief, they have finally won the first match of tournament.
"That was impressive, you did your best out there, Natsuki" Alina smiles.
"That was great, Natsuki!" Elizabeth then all of a sudden hugs Natsuki at her seat.
"Nice going, Miss Natsuki!" Haru applauses as he congratulates her.
"You did great there, nice job, Natsuki" Eirian smirks at he presents her a pat on the head.
"T-thank you everyone, but it was the Commander's doing that we achieved victory"
"Oh, yeah… Nice going, Eirian!" Elizabeth then attempts to give Eirian a big hug but he wasn't having it as he holds her off with his two hands.
"I told you, I don't allow hugs, Elizabeth!" He uttered desperately as he tries to hold her off.
Their Panzer III then meets up with Miho's Panzer IV at the crest of the hill as it seemed that everyone of them regrouped there.
"Hey, Miho!" Eirian frantically waved his hand in the air as he tries to caught the attention of Miho.
"Eirian?!"
"It seems like you took out their flag-tank, nice going" He said to her directly as he offers her a handshake while showing off a genuine smile at her.
"Hai! But you also helped us out earlier, so this win is for all of us!" She smiles back at him as she accepts the handshake.
"You're right about that"
Moments later all of the Commanders of each side got their last chance to meet up at the front of the audiences, they lined up in a straight row, in total their were 16 commanders, 10 at Saunders, 6 at Oarai as they stand at opposite sides of the field, with the referee in between these two row.
"Senshadou starts a bow, and ends a bow. Everyone, All bow!"
"Thank you!"
The crowd of audience from their side started to applause and cheer on the winners of the first match, all of the commanders and members of Oarai Senshadou were surprised that they received such a woo and applause from the audiences.
"That was quite the match, so what did we learn here?" Rommel looks to his subordinates as he was displeased.
His subordinates didn't utter a word of respond as they knew that Rommel was not pleased with Eirian's performance as he messed up.
"It was quite a shame really, but that's how he normally acts in matches…" Rommel stated before he heaved a sigh of disbelief.
"What do you think, Otōsan?"
"You could say that his nickname being the Ruthless Ace is befitting than his official Black Baron, doesn't he?"
"Well, you're right about that, Otōsan…" He stood up.
"Alright, there's no point in sitting now, I have a certain person to meet, then till I'll see you next time, Otōsan. You three should go ahead as well, I'll catch up later" He added to them before he walks away.
Meanwhile Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe departs from the scene as they were satisfied from the match, this was followed suit by both Amaya and Yuichi as they were impressed by their performance, and after a while all of the 16 new schools departed as well from the scene as they went back to their respective places and carriers.
"Hey, Arian! That's was quite an awesome match back there" Kay then catches the attention of Eirian as he was talking to his fellow crewmate.
"Hey, Kay. That was quite the intense match" Eirian said in return as he finally talks to her directly.
"Yup it was EXCITING, and I missed you so much!" Kay quickly gave Eirian a hug as it was been ages since they haven't seen it each other.
His teammates were in utter shocked, as well as few members of Oarai Senshadou team at the scene, this includes the Student Council President and the Overall-Commander, as well as Haru and Elizabeth.
"How did she get a hug?!" Elizabeth ranted.
"It was 7 years since we last met, you probably didn't know me now but I should remind you that I'm the same as always" She chortled as she lets go from hugging him, in return Eirian was motionless as he tries to process what just happened for a mere of seconds.
"Ahh…." Eirian couldn't speak properly as he was still processing it.
"That's alright, I know that you can do better in the future, and can I ask a thing from you?"
"Alright, what is it?"
"Is there any particular girl that you like?"
"What?!" His face started to turn red.
"Just joking!" She's laughing obnoxiously and obliviously.
"But seriously, you got your eyes in someone here, don't you?" She then came close to his ears as he whispered it to him, while looking to Miho Nishizumi that stood far away from them.
"And also, I see what you did there… and I'm gonna say that you should try your best not to expose yourself on the next match, okay?" She added.
"Anyhow I'll be going now, see yah next time and good luck, Arian!" She then pulls away from him with a big smile on her face, she waves her hand as she bids a farewell to her friend.
"Alright, I need an explanation, now!" Elizabeth demanded as she was furious.
"How did you managed to woe over that so easily, care to give me some details about it, Eirian?" Kojiro asked as he was intrigued.
"He's quite the very popular now, how cool is that!" Haru just chuckled.
"I feel sympathy for our Commander now…" Natsuki felt sympathetic for him.
"Don't be, you'll only motivated his Idiocy" Alina rebuked.
Among the crowd is Haru's sister, she was smiling as she was happy that Haru was not feeling lonely anymore, moments after that she departs from the scene as she got a grocery to managed, meanwhile a young girl wearing a tan colored uniform then watches Eirian and Alina from the distance as she uttered something to herself.
"I have to say report this back to Premier…" She then walks away as she quickly disappeared through the crowd.
"Well, seems like you're having a cozy time with your friends here, Eirian?"
"Otōsan?!"
Terms that I used
Es war ein guter Kampf - It was a good fight
Командир - Commander
Otōsan - Father
Just wanted to say that this day (Sept 5) is the 1st year anniversary of the publication of Panzer aber Alternatief/Tank but Alternative series! Just wanted to say that thank you everyone for supporting the story till now, I will try my best and give you the uttermost best of my capacity to make these chapters :)
Panzer vor means Panzer vor! Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart.