Chapter 9:

The brunette watched Mako guide the Student Council member toward the open door. "You've had a busy evening, Momo-chan. It's time to go home now."

Momo murmured, "But the boy... That sneeze I heard... am I losing my mind?"

"Hai. Of course you are. Good night, Momo-chan." Mako pushed the tall, thin Public Relations representative into the hallway and slammed the door behind her.

"Hey!" Momo yelled back through the closed door. "I didn't really want Miho to be expelled! I'm not heartless, you know! Don't be so rude, Mako!" Hearing no reply, she stormed off in a huff.

"Anzu, you must be working your staff too hard lately." Mako suggested, "Perhaps you should consider giving Momo a little vacation from her P.R. duties after tomorrow's match is over."

"I heard someone sneeze too" the diminuitive Council President frowned. "At least... I think I did."

Minako scurried over to the closet door and slid it tightly closed. "You both must be imagining things! And you are too, Sono-san! Can you believe anyone would be crazy enough to try hiding a boy in a closet?" she giggled. "How dumb an idea is that?"

Sono scowled at the Anglerfish commander, "I don't know what just happened to your boyfriend, Miho, but I swear I'll get to the bottom of this fiasco sooner or later!"

"I'm sure you will" Miho smiled sweetly at the hall monitor. "But please make it later, ok? We've got other things to worry about at the moment."

. . . . .

Yusei's brown eyes flickered open as the boy abruptly regained consciousness. "Ohh, my head!" he groaned. "I feel kinda... dizzy!" He struggled to focus on his surroundings, realizing to his astonishment that he was now sitting on the hard wooden floor of what appeared to be the living room of an unfamiliar house, with his girlfriend and her apartment nowhere in sight.

He heard a voice behind him say, "Looks like future Usagi is at it again, Taro-chan."

"Hai" another voice spoke. The male chuckled, "I wonder what's going on over there now."

Yusei slowly turned his head, finding two teenage boys sitting on a large sofa and peering at him. "Where am I?" he gasped. He was stunned to realize that one of the boys looked almost exactly like him. "And what happened to Miho's closet I was hiding in?"

The younger teen exclaimed, "You must be Miho's boyfriend! It's great to finally meet you, Yusei-san!"

"You know my name? Who are...?"

"My name is Ito Yuji. I'm Makoto's fiancee. And this is my older brother Taro. He's Minako's fiancee." Yuji gave his unexpected lookalike guest a reassuring smile. "Please don't be alarmed. I don't know what's going on where you came from, but I'm sure everything will turn out just fine."

Taro asked, "You were hiding in Miho's closet, Yusei-san?"

"Uh... hai! Minako told me to."

Yuji grinned, "I really need to hear the rest of this story!"

. . . . .

With the arrival of the other Ooarai tank commanders, Minako and Yukari left the apartment, with Usagi staying behind in the kitchen to make her tea. Feeling hugely relieved from her boyfriend's seemingly-magical last-second escape, Miho relocated the tea box and cigarettes Minako had given her to her study desk, returning with a map of Nagasaki's Sensha-do battlefield. She joined the other girls around her table, unfolding the map on it, and giggled when Usagi appeared in the kitchen doorway. The odango-haired blonde was holding her teacup while grasping a small saucer beneath it in her other hand. She watched Usagi daintily sip her tea.

"Usagi-san, that's a pretty fair impersonation of Darjeeling you're doing there!"

"It is, isn't it?" Usagi grinned. "All I need now is a red jacket, Miho-san!"

Makoto chuckled, "I can improve it." She hurried into the kitchen and quickly returned, taking the saucer from Usagi's hand and replacing it with a large white dinner plate. "That's better. Now we don't need to worry about you spilling your tea all over Miho's map, Usagi-chan."

"Ohh! Mako-chan, you're been acting even worse than evil Rei lately!" Usagi muttered above a chorus of laughter from the other girls.

"I'm trying" the brunette chuckled, retaking her seat at one corner of the low table. "Being Rei's protegé is hard work!"

After the laughter had died down, Miho kicked off the meeting. "Minna, I must admit I've been having trouble coming up with a good game plan for tomorrow's battle, mostly because we still don't know which school we'll be working with. Erwin, any news on that front?"

Riko shook her head. "Nothing new to report, Miho. Looks like we won't find out until we're at the staging area for the match."

"In that case, we'll work under the assumption it'll be one of the weaker schools. I think our best chance will be to divide Ooarai's tanks into groups of two, with one tank acting as the aggressor and the other providing backup." She asked, "Satoko, what's the status on your Tiger P?"

"It's as good as we can possibly make it, Miho" the girl wearing orange coveralls replied. "It only caught fire once today."

"That's an improvement... I guess" Miho sighed. "I'll be pairing you with Turtle team, with Anzu's Hetzer as lead tank."

"Thanks a lot, Miho" Anzu muttered. "I'll be sure to bring marshmallows."

The Anglerfish commander giggled, "Hopefully it won't come to that." She divided up the other teams, pairing Makoto's Panzer with Riko's STuG. "Erwin, you're on point since you have the more powerful gun, with Makoto's Panzer covering. You may need her rotatable turret if Maho's team tries to rush you from behind. She likely will."

"You're expecting your sister to single out our school for attack?" Makoto asked.

"Unfortunately I am" Miho nodded grimly. "And not just Ooarai, but my tank in particular, Makoto-san. That's why I plan on operating my Panzer alone, at least at first. Maho will no doubt be under pressure from my mother to even the score after Kuromorimine's recent defeat, so expect a whole lot of rounds headed your way."

"A veritable rain of large-caliber shells will soon befall us, Makoto-san" Riko mused. "Strike hard and strike fast, that's Kuromorimine's usual modus operandi. Saunders operates much the same way. Together they will unite to form an axis of flying munitions against us."

"A rain of shells?" Makoto grinned, "Anyone have an umbrella?"

. . . . .

After dividing her remaining tanks into groups and working out a basic attack strategy with her commanders, Miho adjourned the meeting an hour later. "Minna, our plans may likely change when we know who we're fighting alongside. I'll keep everyone informed via radio after I talk to their commander. Our ship is scheduled to dock at Nagasaki at eight a.m., so let's be ready to leave then. Are there any questions?"

"I have a question" Sono asked, the first time she spoke since the meeting began. "How are you planning on sneaking your boyfriend off the ship tomorrow, Miho?"

The other commanders stared at the suddenly blushing girl. "There's a boy on the Zuikaku?" the commander of Anteater team gasped.

"Sono seems to think so, Nekota" Miho murmured. "Even though she can't find him." She told the hall monitor, "Please try to concentrate on the battle tomorrow, Sono. If you spend your energy thinking about... uh... other things, you may be caught off-guard. We really need Mallard's Char b1 on our side."

"We'll pull our weight, Miho" Sono muttered. "Don't concern yourself about us. It's you we should all be worried about."

The other girls filed out of the apartment, with Anzu the last to leave. Miho wished her goodnight, "Oyasuminasai, Anzu. See you tomorrow morning at the tank depot."

The Student Council President laughed, "Pleasant dreams, Miho. Be sure to give your boyfriend my regards."

"I... um... when I see him after the match tomorrow I will" the brown-haired girl stuttered, blushing deeply.

. . . . .

As Luna team's commander and radio operator walked along, Usagi groaned, "I just realized I'm completely out of late-night snacks, Mako-chan. Time to raid the nearest convenience store!"

"I'll come with you" Makoto offered. "I could go for another coffee. Miho's meeting gave me a lot to think about tonight."

"Sounds like we're in for a bad time tomorrow" the blonde said. "I'll feel awful if Miho loses the match to her evil sister."

"I's not over until it's over, Usagi-chan. We'll give both schools we're up against a good run for their money, that's for damned sure."

They entered the store, finding Minako inside. "Hi! How did the meeting go, Mako-chan?"

"We need to up our game, Minako-chan. Your wild driving may be the only thing keeping us alive when the shells start flying." The brunette watched the blonde buy another pack of cigarettes. "More? I thought you were getting some earlier."

"Those are Miho's now." Minako giggled after they left the store, standing outside while Usagi wandered the aisles, gradually filling a basket with junk food, "Did you know she has Yusei visiting her tonight? I wonder if they'll reach Phase Three?"

"Is that all you can think about?" Makoto muttered.

"Hai!" her driver laughed. "Well... that and my love muffin, of course! And Sensha-do!"

Makoto tried changing the subject. "I'm curious, Minako-chan. When did you start smoking?"

"Nearly a year ago. I was sneaking cigarettes from my mother for a while."

"Let me guess" the brunette chuckled. "Your mother found out and yelled at you for stealing them from her."

"Not exactly. She must have known though, because one night, she and I were sitting in our living room, talking about school and Taro and stuff like that. She lit her usual after-dinner cigarette and handed it to me, and we've made it our special mother-daughter personal time every Wednesday night ever since." Minako added, "By the way, Miho told me that guys don't smoke here in this dimension, Mako-chan. It's another feminine girls-only thing, just like Sensha-do."

"It is? And you've been smoking for months... I'm surprised you managed to keep it a secret from us that long, Minako-chan."

"I can keep secrets, silly!" Minako insisted. "Unlike you, who gave away your little secret about you and Yuji frolicking in the grass together that day in Hawaii! It was written all over your face, Mako-chan!"

"It was not!" Makoto blurted. "I never admitted we did anything! So stop talking about it, ok?"

Usagi emerged from the store, carrying a large shopping bag stuffed to the brim with bags of chips and chocolate-covered cookies. "Stop talking about what, Minako-chan?"

Minako giggled, "About Mako-chan and Yuji when they went hiking in Hawaii and they made sweet-"

"Never mind!" Makoto cut her off. "It's personal, Usagi-chan."

"Hai! Really personal!" Minako winked at her future sister-in-law. "The most personal thing imaginable! Isn't that right, Mako-chan?"

"Will you please shut up?" the flustered brunette growled.

. . . . .

Standing alone in her apartment, Miho refolded the map and tossed it on her desk. She walked over to her closet and slid the door open just a little, peering inside. 'Yusei still hasn't returned from wherever Usagi sent him' she thought, feeling more than a little disappointed. 'I wonder if he'll end up back on his school ship. Hai, that's probably what will happen.'

Deciding to take an early shower before calling it a night, she did so, then slipped into her pink nightie. With her thoughts alternating between the next day's Sensha-do battle and her boyfriend's earlier tender confession of love, she sat on the edge of her bed, setting her alarm clock for six-thirty. The girl was about to slip between the sheets when a soft sound from the closet brought her quickly to her feet.

Miho rushed to the closet and slid its door fully open.

Still wearing his Sunkus uniform, Yusei smiled happily at the beautiful girl he so dearly loved. "I'm back, Miho." His cheeks blushed a bright shade of red at the sight of his girlfriend standing before him in her nightdress, and he politely looked away. "I don't think I should be seeing you like that!" he gasped.

"That's ok, my love" Miho smiled back. "Why don't you climb on out of there and tell me what happened to you this evening?"

"Hai!" The boy emerged from her closet and grinned. "It was the strangest thing! One minute I was hiding here, and the next I was in another dimension! I met Yuji and Taro in the house Makoto has outside Nerima and they explained everything to me!" He chuckled, "You certainly have some interesting friends, my love! Sailor Senshi! I never would've believed it!"

"I really do have wonderful friends!" his girlfriend giggled. "It looks like you'll be spending the night here after all, Yusei. You can catch the public bus ashore after we dock first thing in the morning. Which means..."

"Don't worry about a thing" the boy said. "If you have a spare blanket or two, I'll be happy to sleep on the kitchen floor."

"Hai... that would probably be for the best" Miho reluctantly agreed. She smiled sweetly at her young man. "I hope you won't find it too uncomfortable."

"Just being here with you a little longer is all I need to feel comfortable and happy" Yusei shyly spoke. "I'll be just fine." He gazed into her shimmering light brown eyes. "I love you, Miho."

"And I love you, my Yusei. So very, very much." Miho reached out her arms and slipped them snugly around her boyfriend's waist, pulling him close and sharing a soft, lingering kiss. "I will promise you one thing, my darling" she spoke in a coy near-whisper. "Next time we find ourselves together under the same roof overnight, probably at Makoto's house again... I promise you won't be sleeping on the floor."

. . . . .