Chapter XXXXVI: Home
US Naval Holding Area
Anchorage, Alaska
The city of Anchorage, Alaska, are busy today, as an honorable guest has come to their city. The Carrier of Deutsche Panzerfahrenbund, Bismarck, has finally arrived in Alaska, after braving the icy waters of North Pole. The federation carrier, touted as the biggest in the world, will resupply in Alaska before steaming to Naha, Okinawa, for the final of U-18 Senshado Cup against Japan.
While the crews of the ship busy in replenishing activities, the field commander of Frauenschaft, Brunnhilde Knispel, gathered the entire teams on large scale strategy meeting. The weather in Anchorage is way more forgiving than in North Pole, so this meeting can be held in much comfortable condition.
The meeting itself doesn't have anything interesting in particular. The teams talking about Japan's tank commanders, tactics, and formations based on their previous performances, as well as assigning a proper counter-strategy for each scenarios. Their supreme commander, Wolfgang Bäke, here to join them in the meeting, but he's more like an observer, and let Brunnhilde Knispel to lead the meeting all the way.
"Right, then, is there any other questions from any of you regarding to this meeting?" asked Brunnhilde Knispel.
Nobody said anything.
"Well, if no more question, this meeting is adjourned. We'll have another meeting after Frau Haber meet us in Naha. Dismissed."
The girls then stood and walked out of the room, remarkably, without making any noise other than screeching as chairs being drawn and replaced. Wolfgang Bäke also made a nod before going out from his own door.
"Frau Steinner, Frau Kersch, Frau Meyer, Frau Neuer, please stay in this room," said Brunnhilde Knispel.
The four girls, with the rank symbol of rittmeister in their shoulders, stopped, before walking back to go closer to Brunnhilde Knispel. The door was closed behind them, indicating that whatever this small meeting is, it's of high secrecy.
These are the leaders of each squadron of the German Frauenschaften, codely named: Silesian, Westphalian, Brandenburg, and Magdeburg. The first girl, stark expression with brunette wavy hair, is Rittmeister Amelia Steiner, leader of Silesian squadron, consisted of German heavy tanks. The second girl, warm expression with messy ginger hair, is Rittmeister Brigitta Kersch, leader of Westphalian squadron, consisted of German medium tanks. The third girl, serious expression with slick black hair, is Rittmeister Valentina Neuer, leader of Brandenburg squadron, consisted of German tank destroyers. The last but not least, is a girl of cheerful expression with curly blonde hair, Rittmeister Johanna Meyer, leader of Magdeburg squadron, consisted of German light tanks. All four are known as "The Horsewomen of Apocalypse" or "Apokalyptische Reiter", the fearsome German tank aces, which also sword and shield of Brunnhilde Knispel.
"Yes, Mein Frau?" asked Amelia Steiner, as the most senior of those four.
"What do you think about the presentation?" asked Brunnhilde Knispel.
"Well, I think Japan will be a difficult foe, but I've seen teams fought better than them, yet we beat them," said Amelia Steiner.
"Yes, that's right," said Valentina Neuer, "France fought better than Japan, in my opinion."
"But Japan won against many tough enemies," said Brigitta Kersch, "we should be more careful."
"Tough? Who? Russia?" asked Johanna Meyer, "they can't even get passed their differences in critical times."
"What I'm saying is that we should not underestimate Japan," said Brigitta Kersch, "there's reason why they could enter the final."
"Yes, there is," said Valentina Neuer, "it's called luck."
"It's called Miho Nishizumi, Frau Neuer," said Brunnhilde Knispel.
The four girls instantly silent.
"Despite their first pre-match defeat against China, Japan walked strong against larger opponents," said Brunnhilde Knispel, "they caught my attention when winning against Russia, so I sent Frau Haber to watch over them on their match against South Korea and United States."
"And what do you learned?" asked Amelia Steiner.
"Everything I feared," said Brunnhilde Knispel, "which come to my only conclusion, that any strategy we pull won't be effective. Miho Nishizumi would only found a way to neutralize them."
"So, what should we do?" asked Amelia Steiner.
"I didn't want to tell to the girls about this, not with Herr Bäke around, for he won't be agreed to this," said Brunnhilde Knispel, "but I've decided that the best way to fight against Japan is by not using strategy at all, but pure full-body contact brawl, attack them whatever, whenever, beat them one by one till they're defeated."
"You mean like a street brawl?" asked Amelia Steiner, "a catch-as-catch-can type of battle?"
"Well, we could do that, are we?" asked Valentina Neuer.
"Yeah, that's what we're good at," said Johanna Meyer.
"No, that's what four of us, plus Mein Frau, good at," said Brigitta Kresch, "the other girls, I'm not sure."
"Then let's use strategy to thin out their ranks," said Amelia Steiner, "when things changed, we resort to close-quarter combat and finished what's left."
"I like the sound of that," said Valentina Neuer.
"It won't be pretty," said Brigitta Kersch, "but we will win."
"I'm not looking for pretty play," said Brunnhilde Knispel, "just the victory. It's time to make things right."
"You still hold that grudge, huh?" asked Brigitta Kresch.
"We've came this far, and beating Japan is just natural steps to take," said Brunnhilde Knispel shoving away the question, "and the tanks? How's the tanks? Does the girls adapted alright with the tanks?"
"They adapted well," said Valentina Neuer.
"Japan is going in for a real surprise," said Johanna Meyer.
"Be careful, Frau Haber told me that they could sense the presence of Sherman Calliope despite American's best effort to keep those hidden," said Brunnhilde Knispel.
"Don't worry, they won't sniff these beasts out this time," said Johanna Meyer, "Valentina has made a great length to keep those secret."
"Let's hope it stays that way," said Brunnhilde Knispel, "for it's essential for us to crush the Japan's advance before they have chance to figure out how to counter our strategy. All of Japan's rivals showed respect on them, but failed to recognize Japan's ability to turns thing around in the midst of battle. We won't do the same mistake."
Nishizumi Estate
Kumamoto City, Japan
The MH2000 helicopter is now approaching a large house on the outskirt of Kumamoto City, which Miho identifies as her house. Her eyes grew weary as the helicopter approached, but a faint smile can be seen in the corner of her lips.
As they get down from the helicopter, Kikuyo escorted them to the vast area of Nishizumi Estate. Yukari seems amazed with the size of this house, one house in entire Japan which she desperately wanted to enter.
"Don't you ever lost in your own house, Nishizumi-dono?" asked Yukari.
"Mm-hmm, several times," said Miho while smiling, "I always bother Kikuyo and Onee-san, which seems always know where to look."
"At first, I thought the Nishizumi Estate would be so..."
"Fancy?"
"No, this is already fancy beyond my imagination. I just thought there will be more people here."
"There was a time when these corridors filled with many people, Miss Akiyama," said Kikuyo, "and these halls are filled with tanks of any sizes."
Kikuyo shown Yukari a large empty hall. The equipments for the tanks is still there, indicating that this hall was once bustling with activities of senshadoin maintenancing, repairing, or tweaking their tanks. Though nothing is there anymore, Yukari could feel the ghost of its past.
"Why they all gone, Ms. Idegami?" asked Yukari.
"Long time ago, Shimada Style and Nishizumi Style can be said are the only senshado ashram in Japan, but now, they've all been spread anywhere. The students of both style has now graduated and developed their own senshado style throughout Japan, also other countries, since I remember we also accepted students from China and Korea as well," said Kikuyo.
"China? I kinda remember that Zhu Liang'er of China asked me to send her best regards to Mother," said Miho, "she said that she's the daughter of Zhu Nianfeng."
"Yes, Zhu Nianfeng was once studied senshado here, and she's a close sparing partner for Mistress," said Kikuyo, "Mistress still visit her often."
Miho paused.
"I never thought that my Mother likes to go around everywhere," said Miho.
"Let's just say that Mistress is now a guest lecturer of senshado," said Kikuyo, "and so she's going anywhere that need her. But she preferred it that way, especially after you won for Ooarai."
"Eh? Why is that?" asked Miho.
Kikuyo paused and smiled. Somehow she knows the answer, but doesn't want to answer it.
"I think it's better if you asked that to Mistress herself," said Kikuyo.
Kikuyo shown a door, which Miho recognized as her mother's office. She hesitated for a moment.
"Go on, Mistress is waiting inside," said Kikuyo, "but Ms. Akiyama, I'm afraid, would have to stay here."
"Nishizumi-dono..." said Yukari.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," said Miho.
"Perhaps I'd take Ms. Akiyama to look things around, what do you say?" asked Kikuyo.
"Yes, I like that," said Miho, "I'll leave Yukari to you, Kikuyo-san."
Miho nodded, and then opened the door into her mother's office. Shiho has been waiting for her there behind a short table. There are a couple of cups of tea along with traditional sweets and confectionaries on top of the table.
"Miho, come..." said Shiho.
Awkwardly, Miho walked closer to her mother and sat across her on the table. Things gone into complete awkward silence for a while.
"Ano..." said Miho.
"I actually called you here for the match..." said Shiho, "yeah, for the match, alright..."
"Alright..."
"..."
"Mother..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Mother?"
"What kind of mother I am? I've spent all my life building my reputation as senshado mistress, that I abandon everything... I can't even talked to you without using the match as an excuse."
Miho paused, then smiled.
"It's okay..." said Miho.
Shiho looked at her daughter confusedly.
"As long as you talked to me, anything is fine, be it senshado or anything."
"Miho..."
"I just want you to talk to me, Mother."
Shiho smiled.
"I've never good as a mother, am I?"
"That's okay, I'm not as good as a daughter as well, but I guess that's how our family went."
"No you're not."
"Eh?"
"I never considered you as 'no good for a daughter', and it took me long time to realize that."
"Mother..."
"I guess, we really are a big f*cked up family, huh?"
"But in some way gotten right."
Shiho wanted to took a tea pot, but Miho took it first before pouring the tea to the cups.
"Take the sweets whichever you want," said Shiho, "I don't know what kind of sweets you like, so I bought many of them."
"It's okay, as long as it's from you, I'll definitely like it," said Miho.
"Miho..."
"It's the efforts that counts, and seeing you prepared this for me, I'm very much flattered, so don't feel guilty about it."
"Alright then, if you said so..."
Both of them then drink and eat the sweets, and despite the awkward situation, everything went well, at least to both expectation.
"So, Mother, what is it that you wanted to talk to me?"
"Ah yes, it's about Germany, your opponent in finale."
"Germany, or just Brunnhilde Knispel?"
Shiho paused for a moment.
"Mother, if I may ask, what is actually happening when you lead Kuromorimine to beat Baden-Württemberg? Why do I feel that it's more than just a winning on an exhibition match?"
"It's a long story, but I still remember it as if it happened yesterday..."
"It was torrential raining in Schwarzwald Panserschlachtfeld, Baden-Württemberg, and Kuromorimine was in a very deep shit. In Tour of Germany, Kuromorimine was supposed to have pre-tournament exhibition matches against five German teams: Bremerhaven, Westfalen, Saarbrücken, Baden-Württemberg, and Berlin in East Germany. At that time, the strongest among four West German teams are Baden-Württemberg, led by who so called as undefeated senshado champion in the entire Europe, Magda Knispel.
Magda Knispel was an heir to a household name of European senshado, House of Von Knispel, which their martial history can be traced back to the time of Frederick the Great of Prussia. A champion which held the undefeated throughout the German Panzerfahren League the previous season. While Kuromorimine was in the polar opposite at that time. We were suffered consecutive defeats in the hand Bremerhaven, Westfalen, and Saarbrücken, all three were hardly passed second round in their previous season; and before the match against the German champion, our captain, Yuko Ogawa, was stricken from the squad after suffering injuries when she recklessly rammed her tank on a Saarbrücken's Elefant over frustation. Saarbrücken played so brutal that by the end of the match, we hardly have enough tanks to meet the first line-up against Baden-Württemberg. To make the matter worse, when Baden-Württemberg claimed the first five kills in short amount of time, our vice-captain, Seira Tsugimoto, snapped and suffered mental breakdown, so severe that I had to white-flag her tanks and removed her from the game."
Miho startled by what her mother said. She white-flagged her own teammates? What kind of madness drove her to do that.
"You white-flagged your own captain?" asked Miho.
"I had to," said Shiho, "I'm not proud of it, and it brought me to court martial when we got back to Japan, but at that time, this is something I must do. Seira Tsugimoto has suffered mental breakdown so worse that she started to order us to do what essentially, a suicide, and held us on gunpoint to make sure her order being carried out. At that time, my tank was behind her tank, so I took the decision with no further consideration. Held own teammates to gunpoint in order to send them to their demise is, in my opinion, unacceptable."
"What's the other said?"
"Surprisingly, they support my call. I was third-in-command at that time, also a flag tank, so everyone look at me for guidance."
"And you defeated Baden-Württemberg then?"
"When I thought about it, everything seems really like a dream. What I remember the most is that the weather poured very hard, and we can't even see further than 10 yards. Baden-Württemberg has to turn on the lights for identification, and the landscape is changing due to heavy rain. A creek turned into a river, and it's not very much ideal situation for a fight. Kuromorimine only have 12 tanks left from the original 20 tanks: 4 Tigers, 2 Panzer IVs, 3 Panzer IIIs, and 3 Jagdpanzer IVs.
With shifting terrains and poor visibility, playing maneuver is out of question. So, I put all my tanks in one massive firing base. We don't turned on the light, instead shoot at any light we saw. I'm not really paying attention to what we hit or not, since there was no way we could confirmed that. However, as we shift position carefully, I, as spearhead, suddenly came across a tank darting on high speed. I guess none of us expect the encounter, so we shake away. However..."
"However?"
"You remember when I said the terrain was changing, right? Well, it really did. We move along a creek for better navigation, but the pouring rain has flooded the creek into small rapid. And as the tank tried to evade me, she went straight to the rapid banks, and falling down with the front part still on top of the banks, it's shallow by the way. So, since I don't want to compromise the position of our team, so I shot the helpless tank, white-flagged it instantly. Latter in the game, I just found out that the tank I shot was actually the command tank of Magda Knispel.
"And then what happened?"
"Let's just say that after Magda Knispel got taken out, the entire Baden-Württemberg turned into a complete disarray. Seems she never bothered to make her own chain of commands. After seeing those chaos, I told everyone to regroup and attack on Baden-Württemberg's position without waiting for the weather to clear. Can't imagine how easy it is to defeat them after that. And I didn't know the consequences till few months after. When we got back to Japan, I was busied by the court marshall from what I did in the game."
"Court marshall?"
"Yes, the high board of Kuromorimine didn't easily accepted me white-flagged the commanding tank. There's months of investigation, but in the end, all the crews agreed that it was the right thing to do at that time. The fact that I brought victory against Baden-Württemberg and Berlin on the next match, pretty much helped."
"So, what happened with Baden-Württemberg and Magda Knispel after that?"
Shiho paused for a moment and sipped her tea.
"To answer that, we must first understand that Baden-Württemberg, prior to the match against Kuromorimine, was the best team in Germany, if not Europe, with undefeated records in all senshado championship since Magda Knispel took command of the team. By white-flagging Magda Knispel, which led to the defeat of Baden-Württemberg, the whole team of German Panzerfahren Bundesliga suddenly knows what to do to beat them. They're strong, but like Argentina Football National Team in the '80s heavily depended to Maradona, so does Baden-Württemberg is heavily depended on Magda Knispel, I mean, the entire organization and strategies was based around Magda Knispel in the center. Once you put that cornerstone away, everything, suddenly crumbled.
In the months that I've been busied by my court marshall, Baden-Württemberg suffered series of defeats, be it in German or in European competition. The name of House of Von Knispel suddenly no longer frightening to any opponent across Europe. And that thanks to an underdog Japanese substitute captain, me."
"But that's ridiculous, I mean, win or lose are normal, right?"
"Well, apparently not for them, not in that fashion, and not by some relatively unknown opponent such me. Heck, me myself doesn't really get that feeling, till a year ago, when you cause the defeat of Kuromorimine. I blamed you the entire year, even tried to disowned you. In the hindsight, I'm very sorry for that..."
"It's okay, Mother, all waters are under the bridge now."
"Yes, but still, I should've been a lot more supportive on you. Well, if even I think what I done is bad, than I can't imagine what their matriarch done to Magda, but from what I heard, it's even worse that I remember feeling so remorse for sometimes after knowing that. From what I heard, Brunnhilde has been groomed to retake the reputation of House of Von Knispel, and by chance, have to face you in the final. The circle is now completed, and Brunnhilde would have her chance of vengeance to the offspring of the one who staged her mother's downfall."
Everyone silent for a while. An aura of gloom suddenly hanging in the room.
"I won't be afraid, though," said Miho.
"Mm? Why is that?" asked Shiho.
"Because I know you've taught me well," said Miho, "the core principal of what you taught me is the reason why I could win all this time."
Shiho suddenly laughed.
"No, Miho, it's not my teaching that made you win, but you yourself."
"Eh?"
"True, the core principal of what I taught you is the base of your current style, but you took lessons along the way, incorporating that into your own unique style. A style which no one could comprehend but you. You may not always won, but in each defeat, there's always lessons you could take for future victory. And for that I envy you."
"Eh?"
"You kinda remind me on my youth days, when I was still very young, with my friends, just us against the world. We don't really care whether we're victorious or not. We battled for fun, friendship, and all of the good values that was upheld by senshado. Exchanging gunfire at days, and toasting our glass at night. That was a life that I wish I could live once again."
"So, that's the reason why you keep going out?"
"Yes, for now I realized that the name, this house, is just a thing. Nishizumi Style isn't defined by name tag or estate, but by the heart of those who practiced it. I must admit that I'm having fun, going to unknown schools, unknown teams, teach them what I know, and see them battle with the virtues of their young bloods. And in that sense, I know that I've done more to Nishizumi Style than just staying here."
"Mother..."
"Live your life now, Miho, for who knows when that will be over. Do what you like, do mistakes, many mistakes, but don't took senshado as a burden. Do it because you love it, and that is all I wanted for you now. The Nishizumi Style won't die on you, instead, it will continue to live on and evolved by means of your spirits and pure heart. So maintain that fire in your heart, that shine on everyone around you."
Miho smiled, and so does Shiho, and they laughed together.
"I'm so glad we had this conversation, Mother."
"So do I, Miho."
"I wish we could have this conversation in the future?"
"Why not? This is still your home, you can come here whenever you like. You're on your final year now, and everything would be tough from here, so when you feels like you're tired of all thing, just come home. The door of Nishizumi Estate is open for you anytime, and if you go here, I'll also be coming back to see you, be it from the far side of the world as well."
Miho smiled and both she and Shiho take their time in silence, just enjoying the moment, for they know that even without words, many things can be conveyed.