After the silence of their exhaustion had dragged on just a little too long, Erika stirred.
"Um… I guess we should be getting back," she mumbled. The sound of four weary bodies slumping in four uncomfortable seats was enough to confirm her crew's agreement.
The recovery trucks for Koume, Bauer, Leopon and Hippo teams were already on site, and a fifth truck for the knocked out Anglerfish team was being dispatched. Erika peered through the vision slit of her cupola at the wreck of the brown Panzer IV. It was still firmly 'buttoned up' with no sign of anyone emerging to congratulate them, or otherwise.
"How's the transmission?" she somewhat nervously asked her driver, who grimaced at the question.
"Not great," she confessed, coaxing the heavy tank into a lurching start and turning it towards the encampment edge of the battlefield.
As the leviathan slowly made its way out of the battle arena, the girls opened the hatches and leaned out. This was partially because it was expected for victorious crews to show themselves to the spectators, and partly because the inside of the tank stank of sweat, cordite, and possibly something worse. Erika wondered if one of her crew had broken wind; personally she suspected her loader.
Personally, Erika was just glad to be able to air her sweaty body in the gentle breeze that was blowing. She was also looking forward to a shower, and feeling very grateful that Kuromorimine had brought a portable ablutions block as part of their camp.
As the tank trundled past the spectators and back towards its home base, it began to receive a smattering of applause, which grew stronger as the crowds intensified. Erika was under no illusions that the applause was for her in particular, nor really for Kuromorimine, who weren't always the most popular school. It was just polite appreciation for the winning team. Nonetheless, Erika was happy to accept it, and waved her thanks from where she stood in the turret.
It was only as they approached nearer to where Kuromorimine was based that the atmosphere changed. The wide avenue along which the Königstiger has to pass was lined with fans, all clapping, cheering or waving flags. Nearer to the camp, more and more Kuromorimine students in their smart black and crimson uniforms were intermingled with the fans or some even standing on their tanks. They were all cheering, with some of the more undisciplined ones waving their caps in the air. Erika began to understand what her victory meant for Kuromorimine. She had beaten Ooarai and the disgrace of the Nationals was, somewhat, expunged. It did not matter that it had only been an exhibition match; it did not matter that Miho hadn't even been the one in command (Erika felt a lurch in the pit of her stomach about that). All that mattered was that Kuromorimine had faced Ooarai again for the first time since the Nationals, and this time it was Kuromorimine - one; Ooarai - nil.
As the Königstiger made a clunking and clanking turn into the approach to the main vehicle park, some of the Kuromorimine students started to sing: a soft murmur at first, so that even though Erika could see their mouths opening and closing in unison, she couldn't make out the words. More and more students began to pick up the song, clapping their hands or stamping their feet in time to the beat during the pauses in the lyrics. It suddenly dawned on Erika what they were singing.
Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein (stamp stamp stamp)
und das heißt: (stamp stamp stamp) Erika! (stamp stamp stamp)
Soon others came running, scrambling up on the tanks to belt out the words as loud as they could.
Heiß von hunderttausend kleinen Bienelein (stamp stamp stamp)
wird umschwärmt (stamp stamp stamp) Erika! (stamp stamp stamp)
denn ihr Herz ist voller Süßigkeit, (stamp stamp stamp)
zarter Duft entströmt dem Blütenkleid. (stamp stamp stamp)
Erika could feel herself turning scarlet at this sudden and unexpected hero's welcome. She was somewhat unsure how to react, and evidently her crew were too.
"What do we…?" one of her gun crew began, turning around from where she had been leaning out of the turret so she was able to face Erika.
"Eyes front!" Erika barked, setting her face into a stony, emotionless mask. She stared straight forward, hoping that by doing so, the cheering masses to her left and right would not be able to see the colour she had gone, nor the pearls of moisture forming in her eyes.
Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein (stamp stamp stamp)
und das heißt: (stamp stamp stamp) ERIKA! (stamp stamp stamp)