Kuromorimine Girl's Academy, Graf Zeppelin, Kumamoto

Years Ago…

"Block 11 o'clock! Turret, Dinner position! Take out their tracks! Contact, 4 o'clock, prepare to intercept!"

The Panzer IV's gun roared, and slew the StuG III attempting an ambush, before turning to face its new foes. The team's attempt at taking her down was laughable, but the effort was at the very least applaudable. But being applaudable was far from what was needed to take down her tank. A minute passed as she took in every moment, every detail and acted accordingly; orders being given to continue her success.

From where she stood in the Commander's cupola, she could see the entire battlefield. She knew where every one of Kuromorimine's tanks were, and she knew where they were going. She could see the platoon of Panzer 2s moving to envelop them, she could see the Panzer 3 lying in wait beyond the trees, she could see the pair of StuGs readying a new attempted ambush beyond the river.

She could see everything around her, to the smallest detail, and she was invincible.

But something beyond the movement of tanks and the roar of guns pricked and prodded at her mind, and as she visualized the field further, she could sense something. Turning for a moment to glance at the observation tower, she could see three people looking down at the mock battle, though she couldn't tell who. Two of them were clad in dark green suits, that much she could make out, but as their presence didn't affect the battle, she let their existence leave her mind, and refocused her mind on the field.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Go get yourselves cleaned off, and I'll see you back here tomorrow morning," she said in her dour tone, and gave a quick nod.

"Thank you for your work, Commander!" the team all answered in unison and bowed, even if enthusiasm was far from lacking in most of their voices.'

She didn't care. She hadn't been made the commander because she was popular, she was the commander because she was effective, and because she was the best. As the hundred-and-fifty or so girls began to leave, she turned on the spot and walked back into the hangar, sitting herself down at the desk that acted as her office, filling in the paperwork for the day's training match. Tank 14's crew had gotten a glancing blow in on her, but beyond that there was nothing in the slightest to commend. Still, she worked filling in the reports with the diligence that was expected of her. Until she was interrupted, that is.

"Hey, Maho!" a familiar voice called. "Long time, no see!"

Turning around in her chair, Maho saw Ami standing in the open doorway of the hangar, clad in the bottle green uniform of the JSDF, with another, taller and seemingly somewhat older woman beside her, wearing the same.

"Am-I mean, Lieutenant Chono?" Maho said in surprise and rose from her seat, walking over to meet the newcomers. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on business, but it's good to see you," the former Kuromorimine Commander answered, and gave Maho a quick hug. "Congratulations on the summer tournament, by the way," she added quickly, before turning to present the other woman. "Maho, meet Captain Anzai of the Ground Self-Defense Force. Captain, may I introduce Maho Nishizumi, commander of Kuromorimine Girl's Academy's Middle School Division Sensha-Do team, and the heiress to the Nishizumi family and style."

"Good afternoon, Captain," Maho said and snapped to attention, giving the woman a salute. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"At ease, at ease," the Captain laughed, before holding out a hand towards Maho, who after a moment relaxed. "The pleasure's all mine. Ami's told me a lot about you."

Maho shook Captain Anzai's hand, and gave her a quick inspecting look. She was moderately tall, though that was most likely more from being far older than Maho than any real height, and had long, mint green hair running to just below her shoulder blades. Her face was friendly and relaxed, as was her stance, with the black hat of her uniform held loosely at her side.

"She has?" Maho asked and gave Ami a look.

"Captain Anzai's the new liaison between the Self Defense Force and the Sensha-Do Federation. She found out I used to be a student and former Commander here, so she asked me to accompany her on her visit," Ami explained.

"Oh, I see," Maho replied, and looked back to the Captain. It was obvious from Ami's tone and expression that this was not only a simple visit, but a chance to impress the new liaison to the JSF. Someone with whom a good impression would prove highly important both for Maho personally, Kuromorimine at large, and the Nishizumi family in particular in future years. "Well," she said with a simple but effective smile, and nodded, "then I hope you have been given the best possible impression of our school, Captain. If there is anything you wish to know, or anything I can do to help you, please, let me know."

"Why, thank you, Commander," the Captain answered, and smiled back, before turning to look over her shoulder and calling out to someone in the dirt field in front of the hangar. "Chiyomi, would you come and introduce yourself to the Commander?"

After a few moments, a girl that seemed to be Maho's age entered the hangar. She had the same mint green hair as the captain, though not quite as well-kept. Instead of letting it flow freely, she had it collected into a large braid running along her back, with a black ribbon tying up the end. The girl's face was hidden behind a set of large round glasses with thin metal wire frames, and she wore a sailor-style school uniform with red and green accents, but as for what school it belonged to, Maho had no clue. Presumably it was not one of the major ones, or she would have recognized it.

"Hi!" the girl said with a friendly and excited smile, and shook Maho's hand. "I'm Chiyomi. Chiyomi Anzai!"

"Maho Nishizumi," Maho answered shortly but politely, before looking at the Captain. "Anzai?"

"Yes. my daughter," Captain Anzai nodded. "Chiyomi?"

"Yeah?"

"The Lieutenant and I need to speak with the principal for a while. Would you mind staying here in the meantime?" Captain Anzai looked over to Maho. "If it's not a problem, of course. I know you must be quite busy, Commander."

"Not at all," Maho answered. "I'd be honored."

"Excellent. Chiyomi, I expect you to be on your best behavior while I'm away."

"Sure thing, Mom!"

"Wow…" Chiyomi stared in awe as she walked between the different tanks in the garage. "You really have a lot of tanks!"

"I guess…" Maho answered nonchalantly as she continued working on the papers before her.

"Which one's your favorite?"

"Don't have one."

"Oh, come on," Chiyomi said as she walked over to Maho's desk. "You gotta have at least one. Mine's the P40. It's just so cool-looking! So, which one is it?" She gently pushed and prodded at Maho's shoulder as she continued. "Is it the flat one? That small one with the machineguns? Or is it that one over the-"

Maho sighed, and muttered to herself under her breath. She just wanted to get her work done, and then go back to her room to study and then sleep. But apparently, this girl had no intention of letting her. "If I tell you, will you be quiet?" she asked.

"Yup! Promise!" Chiyomi replied with a smile.

Maho sighed once more and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine. It's the Panther F." Seeing Chiyomi look around the garage, she added "It's not here. All the late-war tanks are reserved for the High School-team."

"Oh, that's too bad," Chiyomi said with an air of disappointment. "So, you're gonna ride one when you get into high school?"

Maho sighed once more. "No," she said shortly, trying to get the point across that she wanted to be left alone.

"Why not? It's your favorite, and if they have them on the high school team, why wouldn't you-"

"I'll be in a Tiger I. The moment I graduate to the high school team, I'll be put in command, and that means I command a Tiger. "

"But why? If you're gonna be commander anyways, why not lead from the tank you like?"

"Because."

"Because what? Mom always says that anyone who answers a question with 'because' just doesn't want to think about the answe-"

"Because I have to," Maho said sharply. "Kuromorimine's Commander always leads from a Tiger. It's tradition. It's just the way it is." She glanced over her shoulder to where Chiyomi was standing, smile still unbroken. "Are you done? I want to be alone so I can work."

"No you don't," Chiyomi said flatly, riding in the middle ground between statement and question.

"Yes, I do," Maho reiterated.

"If you actually had work to do, you'd be doing it. But there isn't. You're just looking for an excuse to not talk to me." She tilted her head to the side in a sign of uncertainty. "Did I do something? Was it something I said?"

"No," Maho said shortly. "I just want to be left alone. I don't mind you being here, just stay quiet, and leave me alone "

"Why? Why're you so serious? You're allowed to have fun every once in awhile, you know."

"No, I'm not," Maho muttered, and turned back to the papers on her desk. Even if Chiyomi was correct in that it was all already done. "I can't slip up. Whether I want to or not."

"Life isn't war. Why do you think it is?" Chiyomi asked, and without giving Maho time enough to answer, slapped her on the shoulder and jumped a step back. "Come on, let loose a little. You're it."

"No. Leave me alone."

"Come on!" Chiyomi teased. "Are you that scared? I promise I won't tell anyone if you just play along."

"I don't want to play." She spotted a blank piece of paper on the desk, and reached to pick her pen back up, figuring she might as well kill some time drawing if Chiyomi wouldn't leave her alone. But just as she was about to pick it up, it was snatched from the desk by Chiyomi, who tauntingly juggled it in her hand with the same smile she had walked into the hangar with still on her lips. "Give me that back."

"You want it?" Chiyomi taunted. "Come and take it then."

Maho didn't move, but simply glared at the girl from where she was sitting. After a few moments, she realized how her muscles had tensed up, and let herself relax. Or at least, that's how she made sure to make it appear. A second later, just long enough to lull Chiyomi into a false sense of security, she sprung into action, bursting from her chair like a tiger pouncing its prey, but Chiyomi was quick, and jumped out of the way just in time, launching into a sprint away from the desk and Maho.

Swiftly getting back on her feet, Maho gave chase and followed after Chiyomi, who turned down the 'sidestreet' between a StuG III and Panzer II. Once Maho did the same, she just barely spotted the end of Chiyomi's mint-green braid disappearing behind the StuG, and continued to follow. She had never considered herself unathletic, and had top marks in PE just as she had with all her other subjects, but Chiyomi's speed was impressive.

Every time Maho turned to follow, between some tanks, or around a corner, Chiyomi was already making another turn, and when she wasn't maintaining the distance between the two of them, she was somehow managing to actually increase it. It was clear enough that Maho couldn't win this battle through speed and agility, and so instead she moved to a different strategy.

A few well practiced steps later, and she had climbed on top of one of the Panzer IIIs, giving her a far greater vantage point.

"Giving up already?" Chiyomi called between heavy breaths over her shoulder, noticing how Maho seemed to have given up her chase.

"Not in the slightest!" Maho called back, catching Chiyomi's attention as she leapt from Panzer III to Panzer III, restarting the chase once more but from a far better position. Spotting her opportunity as she landed on the roof of a StuG III, she started to run parallel with Chiyomi below, and as they reached the end of the tank, she leapt onto the ground and collided with her prey.

The two of them rolled a few times as they hit the ground, ultimately coming to a stop with Maho pinning Chiyomi to the ground below her.

"Got you…" she said, panting for air, and smirked down at the girl beneath her.

Chiyomi for her part, began to laugh, even if her laughter was broken by her breathing as she struggled to catch her breath.

"What?" Maho asked, confused, and feeling sweat run down her neck. "What's so funny?"

"You're… hah… You're supposed to say… 'Tag, you're It!'," she laughed.

Maho only stared down at Chiyomi in blank confusion, until a few moments later she too burst out into laughter, and rolled off to the side, trying to regain her breath, but to little avail.

"Ri-... hah… right…" she struggled out through her laughter and short breaths, now on the verge of tears and with a horrible cramping feeling starting to build in her stomach. "You're…. You're it…" she added, and lazily threw an arm towards Chiyomi.

A few seconds later, Chiyomi returned the favor, and let her hand fall limply into Maho's. "Ta-... tag… You're it…"

This continued back-and-forth for a minute or so further, until the two of them had recovered at least to the point of being able to breathe properly and sit themselves up, even if they could only really manage it while leaning against the roadwheels of the Panzer IV.

"See?" Chiyomi said, and nudged Maho with her shoulder. "You can let loose a little… You're actually really good at it…"

"Yeah…" Maho said softly. "Maybe I am…" she glanced over to the girl sitting beside her, and only now did she realize that they were holding hands. At first she wanted to let go, to move over and give each of them some space, but that impulse only lasted for a moment or two. Then she began to realize how warm and soft Chiyomi's hand was, and how she could feel Chiyomi's rough breathing, her chest rising and sinking with every puff of air.

"What's wrong?" Chiyomi asked. "Is there something on my face?" She took off her glasses and inspected them for damage, before quickly polishing them off with her sleeve and using them to inspect her reflection.

"Huh? Wha-... N-no…. Nothing's wrong with your face-I-I mean… you look goo-I mean…" She looked away, feeling heat build up in her cheeks. "It's… it's nothing…"

How long had she been looking? Why was she acting so weird? She knew how Chiyomi looked, and she could easily picture her semblance in her mind, so why would she even need to look? But… maybe… what if there was some detail she had missed? She just wanted to be thorough. That was it. Right. A simple explanation, for a simple problem.

"Well, I thank you greatly for your hospitality, Commander."

"Please, the pleasure was all mine," Maho said, and bowed to Captain Anzai as her, Ami, and Chiyomi prepared to leave.

"Bye, Maho," Chiyomi said with a smile, and leaned in to hug her. "Thanks for today. It was awesome!" She let go of the hug, and took a step back to her mother. "You think we could do this again sometime?"

"Uh… Y-yeah… S-sure…" Maho answered and scratched her neck. "That… That'd be…. Great…" She tried to smile and look Chiyomi in the eyes as she answered, but her body didn't seem to have any intention of letting her. She did catch a small glimpse of Chiyomi, but actually registering it wasn't easy with her heart beating at a hundred miles-an-hour and her stomach trying to turn itself upside down.

Two phenomena maho didn't quite understand, seeing as the better part of an hour had passed since they stopped running around and started to regain their breath...

A Japanese Sensha-Do Federation Battlefield, Fukui Prefecture

Present day…

"Twelve degrees right…"

She spoke in monotone as she adjusted the gun's aim; not exactly registering what she was actually doing. Or what she was aiming for.

All she knew was that something deep inside her was directing her movements. Pushing her to act in a way she could neither explain, nor understand. Her vision was blackening around the edges, as if the gun's sights were becoming an extension of her own eyes. Her mind was on the verge of turning off, seemingly having decided that the only two things that mattered was to calculate a trajectory, and to adjust the aim to the liking of whatever guided her. All other functions of her body were superfluous right now.

"...two centimeters up..."

And so, her body only continued working without her own input, even as her breaths failed to draw air, and her throat and skin burned like fire and ash.

There was no way for her to stop. She had lost dominion over her body, and was a mere passenger in her own mind. A spectator in the stands. What little remained of her consciousness bombarded itself with images and memories from the practice match against St. Gloriana, where she had also been dismissed from command of her limbs, the dark tendrils of the void taking hold and maneuvering her like its puppet on strings.

"...adjust for wind…"

But this was different. She wasn't certain how, or of what exactly was in control, but whatever it was, it was different. The darkness would simply tease and taunt her to bring about a weakness it could exploit, cracks within which it could bore further and ultimately take over.

But even as the dark tunnel of her vision grew smaller and smaller, her mouth droned on about calculations, and her fingers fiddled with trigger and aim, she felt at peace.

There was no malice in this power. There was no conquest of her body, and there was no violent seizure of her control. There was nothing but a silent understanding between Maho, and whatever was in control, that its command was necessary, and that as soon as its unknowable task was completed, her body and mind would once again be her own.

It was this certainty, the basis of which she didn't understand but trusted fully, that kept her calm. This power, whatever it was, was more Cincinnatus than Caesar.

"Maho, are you certain?"

She could hear Hana's concerned questions, though only faintly. They too were something she was only dimly aware of, like the rest of the Panzer IV's crew and the P40 remaining still in the forest.

The P40...

Anzio's flag tank...

Victory...

Anchovy…

Chiyomi…

"You're not aiming for the P40 anymore. The shot is going to miss," Hana asked somewhere far away.

"I know…" Maho heard herself answer.

She knew that the shot would miss. An utter beginner could tell that her aim was off, and yet, she felt certain. The fire burning within her channeled itself through her body and limbs, and told her what she knew was impossible.

She would hit.

Somehow, she was going to hit, even though her aim was so far off, and the conviction within her guided her to act, despite the impossibility of the claim.

Her aim wasn't off. She would hit. Her aim would ring true.

She could feel herself getting lightheaded. Her vision was now barely more than a grey dot at the edge of a long tunnel, and her fingers were twitching. She didn't know when she last took a breath. Breathing wasn't important. Thinking wasn't important. Moving wasn't important.

Aiming was the only thing that mattered.

Somewhere, as if a world away and shouting through a raging thunderstorm, she could still make out Hana's voice, but only just. Whatever she was saying, she didn't know. But it seemed like a question.

"Yeah…" Maho replied, "I know…"

She exhaled, pushing out what little air was left in her lungs, and pulled the trigger. The gun roared, and sent a shell flying past the P40 and into the darkness of the forest.

Maho fell back into her seat, whatever held control of her releasing its grasp on her, but she couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe, and she could barely see, her vision a splodgy mess of blacks and greys, and so all she could do was act on what little instinct her body still had the strength to act upon. She clumsily pawed at the hatch above her, and crawled up and out. She reached the ground, more rolling off the top of the tank than jumping down, and stumbled a few paces away from the tank, her legs barely able to hold her up.

But even as she drew her first breaths of air for what felt like hours, her body didn't have the strength to go on. She felt herself stumble, and the world seemed to turn on its axis as it fell away and her vision gave out completely.

Through the darkness in her final moments of consciousness, she thought she could make out voices screaming, calling her name, but she was too tired to answer, and too tired to hear the voice calling over the loudspeakers.

"Anzio's P40 flag tank is no longer operable. Ooarai Girl's Academy wins the match, and advances to the semifinals!"

"Urgh…" Maho groaned as she came to, and reached a hand to her forehead, trying to nurse her headache away by simple touch as she used her other arm to try and prop herself up. After blinking a few times and taking in her surroundings, she realized she wasn't in the Panzer IV anymore.

Instead, she found herself on a stiff bed in what looked like a decently sized tent, a few white cabinets scattered around the room. What little else she could make out as being in the "room", rolls of bandages, oxygen canisters, sterilization equipment, and the like, led her to the assumption that she was in the medic's station, and that she had, for one reason or another, been removed from the tank.

"What… what happene-" she started to ask, but almost getting tackled off the small bed interrupted her.

"Maho!" Saori cheered as she hugged her. "Are you OK? They said you were fine, but you were acting so weird, and then you passed out, and then-"

"I'm fine," Maho answered with what little breath she could muster through Saori's tight grip. "Just… just let me breathe, and I'll be fine…"

"What? O-oh!" Saori let her go, and took a step back. "S-sorry…" she added apologetically, and twiddled her fingers.

"Don't worry about it," Maho reassured her, and readjusted herself on the bed. Giving the room a further look, she now saw that Saori, Hana, and Yukari were all in the room with her. Each had a different expression on their face, but it was clear enough that relief was at the forefront of their minds.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Hana asked, far calmer than Saori had done. "The medics could not tell us much."

"Yeah… I'm OK…" Maho replied, and sighed. But then it hit her. "Wait!" she added while attempting to hide her panic. "What… what about the match? What about the P40? What happened?!"

Hana, Saori, and Yukari traded glances, looking strangely at Maho and back at one another, before looking back at Maho.

"You… you mean you don't know either?" Saori asked cautiously.

"I… what?" Maho didn't understand. What was she talking about? "What do you mean? Did… did we win?"

By now, it seemed Yukari had reached her breaking point, almost vibrating with excitement. "Did we win? Holy hell did we win!" she cheered and grabbed Maho's hands, jumping up and down. "How did you do it, Commander?! Is it some secret technique? Magic? Did you unlock some strange memories of a different lifeti-" She paused, looked at Maho, and realized her misstep, letting go of her hands and taking a step back. "I-I mean… sorry…" she added with embarrassment. "Sorry, Maho... I… I didn't mean to…"

"It's… It's fine…" Maho said absentmindedly. She didn't understand enough of what Yukari was talking about, and she was too confused to take offense. "But… what are you talking about? What happened?"

"You're asking us as if we know…" Mako mumbled from a bench she was napping on. If she hadn't spoken up, Maho probably wouldn't have noticed her. "You said you had a gut feeling and wanted to switch seats with Hana… then you started acting weird."

"Don't… don't you remember what happened?" Saori asked with concern.

"I… I don't know…" Maho answered, and wracked her brain for a moment. "Wait… we were all in the tank… Hana was about to fire… then… we switched places… I… I remember starting to change the aim…" She spoke slowly as she tried to pick apart the flashes of memories that broke through her headache. "I… I stopped aiming for the P40… There was… something else… something more important…" She looked back up at her crewmates. "There was something in the forest… something I had to aim for… what was it…"

Hana gave her a look, concern and awe in equal parts visible through her usually refined demeanor. "The P40… You were aiming at the P40…"

"Wait, what? How? I wasn't aiming anywhere near it..."

"Your guess is a s good as ours," she said seriously. "All we know is that I wasn't aiming for the flag tank. Apparently Anzio were using decoys to distract and delay Azusa and Erwin's platoons, and we fell for the same trick. The P40 I was aiming at was nothing but wood and cloth. But… somehow… you hit the real one."

"I… I did? How?"

Hana shrugged. "I do not know. And, it seems, neither does anyone else. It was hiding further into the woods than anyone could possibly see, and looking at the replays it was well-camouflaged."

"How did you know where it was?" Saori asked.

"I… I didn't..." Maho answered. "I didn't know what I was aiming for… I just knew there was something out there that I needed to hit..."

"Do you have like a sixth sense or something?" Mako mumbled. "You gotta tell us if you have a sixth sense."

"Oh, good, you're awake," a young man in scrubs said as he entered the room from an adjoining section. "Step aside please," he said to the rest of Phoenix team, and moved up to stand beside Maho, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket, and shining it in her eyes. "Hold still, please."

"Is… is she ok?" Yukari asked.

"Far as I can tell, at least," the medic answered, and gripped Maho's wrist to check her pulse. "How do you feel? Feeling dizzy? Any pain or discomfort?"

"No, not really," Maho replied. "Except, I've got a bit of a headache."

The medic hummed to himself, and started listening to her chest with his stethoscopes. "Well, you seem to be breathing properly. I think it's just a residual side effect from you passing out. Don't worry, I'll get you a painkiller, and it should die down soon." When Maho looked at him strangely, he continued. "It happens some times. But I think there's nothing to worry about. There's no sign of damage, you don't seem to exhibit any signs of concussion, and you're obviously good enough to sit up by yourself." He looked over his shoulder to the rest of the crew. "She's fine. I'll just run a few more tests to make sure, and then she'll be good as new. You four can head back to the staging grounds. Don't want to miss the victory celebrations, do you?" he said with a smile.

Saori, Hana and Yukari gave one another a look, before Saori turned to Maho. "We'll stay. Friends don't leave one another behind, right?"

Maho glanced at the medic, who simply shrugged and continued with his work, handing her a cup of water and a small white pill, which she only accepted with some hesitation. She paused for a moment, before downing both the water and the pill.

"Go," she said after a moment, giving her crewmates a knowing look. "You heard the doctor; I'm fine. As the crew of the last of Ooarai's tanks, there should at least be someone there. I won't be more than a few minutes."

"You sure?" Saori asked.

"Yeah," Maho answered. "I'm good. No point in worrying about me."

The four of them remained still for a few moments longer, but another look from Maho was enough to convince them to go.

"I just have a few questions, and then you're free to go," the medic said when the rest of them had left, and the two of them were alone. He picked up a clipboard lying on one of the cabinets, and made some swift scribbly notes as he continued.

"Have you been sleeping well the past few days?"

"I guess…" Maho answered. She'd had the odd nightmare, sure but she couldn't think of anything that would be of interest to the medic.

"Had enough to eat and drink today?"

Maho nodded.

"Past few days?"

"I think so…"

"Any family history of collapsing? Loss of consciousness?"

Maho sat silent for a moment, and looked down at her hands. The medic nodded quietly, and was just about to make another scratch in his documents when she spoke up. "My dad…" she said quietly. "He… he had low blood pressure… he collapsed a few times…" she felt her voice die down, and she didn't say more. She didn't want to think about it, much less talk about it.

"I see…" the medic said, and nodded once more. He made a last scratch with the pencil in his notes, and returned the clipboard to its place. "Well, you're young and by all appearances healthy, so that shouldn't be an issue, but let's check just to be sure." He reached over to one of the cabinets, and got out a large band with a tube attached, which he fastened around her arm, and with a small pump began to inflate it, keeping an eye on the gauge as he worked. "Best I can tell, you've just been burning the candle at both ends. Just make sure to eat and drink something once you leave, and everything should be fine."

"How… how long was I out?" Maho asked while he worked the test, trying to ignore the slight pain in her arm where the band was growing ever tighter as it inflated.

"Not too long," he answered, glancing at his watch. "I'd say it's been half-an-hour since you came in, maybe forty-five minutes tops. Your friends have been here ever since the " He gave a knowing nod towards the "door" of the tent". "Your friends showed up maybe five minutes or so after the Samaritan brought you in."

"Oh, they're not…" Maho began, but her voice died down before she could finish. "They're not… they're not my friends…" she mumbled to herself.

At least, she was pretty sure they weren't.

They were crewmates, and nothing more...

"Is she alright?"

"You mean Nishizumi?" Anzu said as she approached Anchovy.

"Yeah… is Maho OK?" the Anzio Commander reiterated.

"She's fine. Doc can't seem to find anything wrong with her, so she'll be back from the med-tent pretty soon," Anzu replied, and smirked. "Though I must say, this is a very different tone from you, Chobi. Compared to how you sounded before the match, I mean."

"It's Anchovy! Duce Anchovy!" Anchovy yelled back. "And I don't know what you're talking about." She crossed her arms and looked away with a bitter and angry pout.

"Commander…" Carpaccio said from behind her commander with a knowing tone, and after a moment, Anchovy sighed and acquiesced, reaching out a hand towards Anzu.

"Alright then… Fine," she grumbled. "You fought well. Congratulations on your victory. Though…" she looked away awkwardly, and added under her breath, "I was really hoping we were gonna win this year…"

"Aw, don't be like that, Chobi," Anzu said with a smile, and shook Anchovy's hand. "You guys were great, and you almost had us there at the end."

"I said: It's Anchovy!" Anchovy yelled, and after another second took her hand back. "Anyways," she said, changing the subject as well as ehr tone. "As you know, Sensha-Do isn't just about the battle. After the match, it's important that we show our appreciation for the participants and staff. And so," she gestured enthusiastically, "We heartily invite all of Ooarai's team to dine with us, as thanks for a match well fought."

"I'm telling you, it was a fluke! There's no way she made that shot intentionally."

"What makes you so certain?" Orange Pekoe asked as she helped Rukuriri pack up the tea set. "You've made plenty of difficult shots in our matches?"

"It's precisely because I'm a gunner and can make difficult shots that I know that it's impossible for them to have actually aimed that shot." Assam answered, increasingly exasperated. "Even with a scope, there's no way you'd see that there was anything to even aim for. Their gunner must have just gotten sloppy and misaligned her aim. If she had aimed properly, they would have hit the decoy, and the P40 would have taken them out. She missed, and only hit by a sheer miracle."

"Perhaps…" Darjeeling said thoughtfully, and looked out over the now quiet battlefield from where she stood. "But it's not the first time Ooarai's Panzer IV has made such a shot… Remember what happened during our exhibition match. Somehow they knew just where to fire to take out poor Matcha's Matilda, despite not being able to see it, nor when it was going to come into view."

"So they got lucky twice," Assam shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Sensha-Do isn't about luck, it's about skill and efficiency. If you're a gunner who can't aim properly and needs to rely on luck to hit-"

"Or bad luck, if you're manning the gun in that 38(t)," Naomi noted with an amused smirk.

"Yeah, or bad luck, whatever, but if you need to rely on luck to hit, you're not gonna hit often. The odds of making a shot like that is thousands-to-one."

"Maybe you're right, Assam," Darjeeling said pensively. "Or maybe Ooarai is somehow just that good. They do have Nishizumi on their side, and Nishizumis are not to be underestimated. As we learned last year."

"She is full of surprises, that one," Kay noted, and cracked her knuckles as she stretched. "Maybe it's really like they say, and the Nishizumis have some sort of dark magic at their command. Oooooooh." She grimaced and wiggled her fingers in a childish attempt to look scary.

"Very funny," Assam said dryly. "Naomi, please back me up here."

"Hmm…" Naomi hummed, and leaned forwards in her seat as she considered the issue. "I agree that neither you nor I could have made a shot like that intentionally…" She paused, and glanced over towards Darjeeling. "But I also can't discount what we just saw. The Nishizumis are a secretive bunch, and don't let people know what they can do unless they have to… so who's to say… Until I face her myself, or she voluntarily shows me how good she is, I can't say for certain…"

"Orange Pekoe?" Darjeeling said and glanced over her shoulder. "What do you make of all this?"

"Who, me?"

"Unless you have a twin you never told us of, yes," Darjeeling answered, and turned around to face the rest of them.

"Oh, I… I'm just a loader…" Orange Pekoe replied, and returned her attention to helping Rukuriri.

"And yet, you do have an opinion, do you not?"

Orange Pekoe halted what she was doing, sighed, handed the teacup she was holding to Rukuriri, and turned to face her commander. "I'm by no means certain,l Lady Darjeeling. Assam and Naomi hold far more experience and expertise at what is and isn't possible with a tank's gun than I do, so I would prefer to simply trust their judgement. But at the same time, it is as you say; this is not the first time we have seen the impossible from Ooarai and Maho Nishizumi." She paused for a moment, and looked hesitantly between Darjeeling and Kay. "I mean…"

"Please, continue," Darjeeling said with a smile, and gestured for Orange Pekoe to do so.

"Well, as you said, they somehow knew how and when to fire in order to defeat Matcha despite not seeing her coming. Miss Nishizumi overcame three-to-one odds during our battle, and almost claimed victory by barely a second's margin. Ooarai evaded two certain encirclements during their battle with Saunders, and it's possible they could have even won had the treads of the Panzer IV not snapped…"

Kay looked away for a moment with a guilty expression, one which one of Darjeeling's hands on her shoulder swiftly washed away

"Then there is the matter of today's battle. Yes, the winning shot would by all accounts be improbably beyond possibility, but once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Darjeeling nodded. "Indeed…"

"Is… Is that why you've been so keen to observe Miss Nishizumi, Lady Darjeeling?" Orange Pekoe asked cautiously. "Do you suspect something?"

"I'm not sure…" Darjeeling answered solemnly, and stared down into her empty tea cup. "All I know is that the more I try to understand her… the less of an understanding I seem to get…" After a moment of silence, she looked up with a smile, and chuckled to herself. "Or perhaps the simplest explanation is that I've just gone mad." She looked away towards the horizon, and whispered to herself, "Yes… perhaps that is it… I've gone mad… just like Earl Grey…"

"Lady Darjeeling?" Rukuriri asked. "Are… Are you alright?"

"Never better," Darjeeling replied with renewed vigor after a moment, and handed her teacup to Orange Pekoe for its safe return to the Ark Royal. "Well, regardless of whether she is driven by skill or dark magic, I think it's still worthwhile to keep an eye on Nishizumi, and on Ooarai."

Assam nodded. "I shall redouble my efforts, Lady Darjeeling."

"Excellent. After all," Darjeeling smirked, and looked down from the hill towards where Anzio and Ooarai were enjoying Anzio's famed post-match hospitality, "if all goes well, we'll be facing them sooner or later. And if you're wrong, Assam, I want to be prepared when it happens…"

"You!"

"Huh? Me?!" the ginger girl replied in a slight panic, almost to the point of dropping her forkful of spaghetti.

"Yeah, you," Anchovy repeated, and walked over to the table where the girl was sitting. "You're on Nishizumi's crew, aren't you?" She had a vague memory of seeing the girl's head popped out of one of the Panzer IV's hatches, as well as the girl with the fluffy brown hair, the seemingly asleep girl beside her, and the one with long black hair that was currently devouring what looked to be a fourth plate of lasagne.

"Oh," the ginger girl answered, and nodded with a smile in greeting. "Yeah, we're all on Phoenix team with Maho. Nicely fought today!"

"Yeah, the same," Anchovy mumbled, and shook the girl's hand. "Where's Nishizumi?"

"Oh, she's…" The girl paused, and looked around in confusion. "I mean… I thought she was somewhere around here… Hana," she turned to the girl with the long black hair, "do you know where Maho is?"

"Is she perhaps at another table?" the black-haired girl answered, and also began looking around for Nishizumi, something which proved a challenge amidst the sea of tankers feasting at the dozens of tables.

"Maybe she's still at the med station?" the girl with brown hair posited. "Have we seen her since leaving there?"

"Maybe she's being smart for once and taking a nap…" the half-asleep girl muttered.

"Nevermind," Anchovy grumbled, and turned to walk away. "I'll find her myself."

Next time on Dein Weg ist Mein Weg: A talk and emotional heart-to-heart a year in the making. Also, some others beside Maho turn out to be missing from the feast.

Author's Notes:

So, yeah, this chapter came about a bit quicker than I thought it would. Originally I imagined this chapter to contain much of what I have now shifted over to chapter 34, but as things got added to this chapter and it grew in size, I decided that splitting it all up was the better call.

In hindsight, I guess something else that would have been a better call would have been to use the expanded version of last chapters end scene that I open on here after the flashback as the end of chapter 32, and instead open this chapter in the medic's tent after the flashback. It's perhaps a bit inelegant, and I might go back and rejig the two chapters a bit in the future to remedy this, but for now I'll leave them both as is, just to make sure no one misses out on anything.

Thank you as always for all your kind words and support, and if you can and feel like you want to, please feel free to leave a review.

Chapter 34 will almost certainly be out some time in May, but I of course make no promises.

Until then, I hope you all have wonderful lives.

See ya!

/Rihno