The loud noise of an alarm filled the room as a young man momentarily awoke from his slumber before turning off the alarm. With his mission accomplished, he went back to sleep before loud knocks on the door awoke him from his slumber again.
"Jack, get up! We'll be late for school!" A voice came from the other side of the door.
Jack slowly and groggily got up from his bed.
"Yeah, I'll be right there." He said in response. In case it wasn't evident yet, Jack Shepard, commander of Kiwi High School Senshado Team's Male Detachment, wasn't a morning person. In fact, if it had been up to him, he'd rather just not go to school.
Jack then proceeded to look around his room and, deciding a shower might be too much effort given he already took one the night before, just went to his closet and changed into his uniform before heading down to the dining room where his sister, Jasmine, was.
"Well, looks like you finally decided to wake up." Jasmine said as he headed down the stairs.
"C'mon, Jasmine." Jack began. "You're my sister. You should know more than anyone I'm not a morning person."
"Still not an excuse for trying to make us late." She retorted.
"Anyway, I made some Onigiri so you can help yourself to that." She said as she pointed to a plate on the table. "I'll head off now. You better not be late again."
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you." Jack said as he went to make himself a cup of coffee before grabbing one of the Onigiri.
While the two of them were twins, Jasmine often acted as the older sibling of the pair. Compared to Jack, she's responsible and often was the better performing of the two in academic terms, making it to the top 10 students in exams.
In stark contrast, Jack was just teetering between average and below average academics wise. Not enough to completely fail, but in comparison to his sister, he was rather underwhelming. But what he lacked in terms of academics, he made up for in his extracurriculars. After all, there was a reason he was in command of the school's Male Senshado team for he was, as some may say, a brilliant tactician. Perhaps not on the same level as the Nishizumis but he is calm, collected and unusually laid back both in training and in matches.
Jack left the apartment sometime after his sister, now munching on the Onigiri as he made his way to school with a flask of coffee in hand as he walked to school. By the time he saw the school's gates, he had already finished the Onigiri and almost finished his coffee.
"I'll likely buy a canned one later from the vending machine." He said as he finished the last of it before putting the flask in his bag.
The moment he stepped on the school's premises was when the chime signifying the start of classes began to play from the various loudspeakers around the school.
"Seems like you barely made it again, Mr. Shepard." Said Ms. Nakamura, his English Teacher last year and the person who was monitoring latecomers that morning.
"Yeah, seems like it, Ms. Nakamura." Jack said to her before he made his way his assigned classroom.
"Permission to enter." Jack said in Japanese as he arrived at his assigned classroom, Class 3-3.
"Ah, we have a latecomer, I see." Said the homeroom teacher, Toshihiko Kuroda. "And it's Jack Shepard once again."
"The one and only, sir. And I wasn't late. I arrived right as the chime started playing. You can ask Nakamura-Sensei." Jack said. "Permission to enter, though?"
With one gesture, the teacher motioned for Jack to enter and make his way to pretty much the only remaining seat available, which was by the window.
"Now that everyone is accounted for." Began the teacher. "There are a few announcements. As you all know from the assembly the other day, today will be the first day of electives for this year. I'm sure many of you already have your own clubs but just in case you weren't aware, Senshado team members are free to head to their club after lunch break and skip the afternoon classes. Other than that…"
It was at this point Jack just stopped paying attention.
The rest of the day went by like a blur. Like Kuroda sensei said, members of the Senshado or "Tankery" team as well as new recruits for the team were permitted to entirely skip afternoon classes for the day.
Jack made his way to the garages where both of Kiwi High's Senshado teams often gathered before splitting into their respective detachments. Unlike most schools, Kiwi High was a Coed school and opted to have two teams, one for the male and female tournaments.
He was greeted by a face that he was all too familiar with, the face of his sister, Jasmine, also a member of the team.
"Hey!" She said as he ran to him. "I heard you were late again."
"Why does everyone keep saying I'm late?" He said to her, with a coffee in hand. "I made it to school when the chime started. Therefore technically not late."
"It still counts as late though." Jasmine pointed out. Which was true, while he wasn't late to school, he was still late to homeroom, which will, of course, reflect on his school record.
"Eh. Not like I really care." Jack said as he continued walking towards the garage's entrance with Jasmine by his side.
"Jeez, why do you have to be so laid back?" She said.
"Just in my nature, I guess." He responded before taking a sip of his coffee and looking at one of the groups gathered in the garage in front of one of the team's Shermans. "So these are the new guys?"
"Yep." Jasmine answered.
"Alright, where's Aiko?"
"Over here." Said another person, Aiko Yamazaki, the commander of the school's Female Senshado team. "Took you long enough to get here."
"Yeah, well, can't live without a drop of coffee." He said as he raised his can slightly. "Shall we, uh, introduce ourselves to the kids?"
"Yeah, let's go." Aiko responded as the two of them made their way and got up on the Sherman.
"Alright, everyone listen up!" Aiko began, grabbing the attention of the new members, numbering 12 in total, enough to fill the positions in 3 to 4 tanks, depending on the crew requirements of each tank.
"As you might know, I'm Aiko Yamazaki and this is Jack Shepard." She gestures at Jack.
"We're the commanders of the Senshado Team's Female and Male detachments, respectively, And on behalf of the entire team, we'd like to welcome you to Kiwi High School's Coed Senshado Team."
"Seeing as today is your first day on the team," Jack began. "We'll be focusing primarily on having all of you familiarised with the various parts of the Tank as well as the roles each position in a tank is expected to fill. Once you're all familiar with them, then we'll assign you positions and train you accordingly."
"That's right." Aiko said, taking over. "Now then…"
Training, as usual, took a few hours. This new batch of recruits took to it rather quickly, with many already assigned to a vehicle to begin training with the next day.
Light was quickly fading as the sun began to descend from the orange sky. All that were left in the Garage were the team's tanks as well as Jack, Jasmine and Aiko in the office that was located in the building for both teams.
"Well, today was definitely productive." Jasmine said as she packed up her things.
"I'll say." Said Aiko. "These new recruits were definitely more enthusiastic than SOME people I know."
"And look at me now." Said Jack. "I'm one of the team's commanders."
"I still remember how you weren't paying attention through most of the familiarisation section on the first day." Aiko said. "Then when the Team captain called you and asked a question, you couldn't respond."
"This is coming from the same girl who accidentally got lost during a training exercise." Jack retorted.
"Hey! What does that have to do with this?" Aiko questioned.
"Nothing really, just something I hold over your head."
Aiko did nothing but pout before finishing up what she was doing.
"Alright, I think we should be done here." Said Jasmine. "Let's go home."
"Uh, you two go on ahead." Jack said. "I'll finish up here. Don't bother waiting for me."
"Eh? You sure?" Aiko said.
"Yeah, I still have a few things to do." Jack explained. "Don't worry, I'll remember to lock up."
"Well, alright." Said Jasmine. "C'mon, Aiko."
"Alright then." Said Aiko as the two of them left the campus, leaving Jack as the last person in the office.
Aiko and Jasmine continued talking as they walked home. Their conversation jumped across various topics such as the club itself as well as gossip until it finally landed on Jack.
"You know, I've never seen Jack so devoted to something like this before." Aiko said, starting the topic.
"What do you mean?" Jasmin asked.
"He's usually so laid back or just doesn't care that much about anything." Aiko explained. "Pretty sure if he didn't join, he'd be one of the first off campus once classes ended."
"Knowing him, that's probably likely." Said Jasmine. "I will admit, Senshado has given him a purpose. Something beyond himself and our family to care for."
"Yeah. Honestly, it makes him somewhat… attractive." Aiko said, the latter parts coming out as mumbles. Mumbles that Jasmine still heard as she raised her eyebrows.
"Eh? Does someone have a crush on my brother?" Jasmine said, teasing Aiko.
"W-what? No! I never said that!" Aiko responded, blushing.
"Hehe. Don't worry." Jasmine said, patting Aiko on the back. "You have my approval. If you want to go for him, go for him. Just a little warning: he isn't exactly an easy person to live with."
Naturally, this exchange has become a bit embarrassing for Aiko. Luckily for her, they had arrived at the crossroads where they have to split in order to get home.
"Oh, I think we part ways here." Aiko said upon noticing.
"Oh yeah, I guess this is where we split." Said Jasmine. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Aiko."
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Aiko responded as the two of them parted ways.
The next day was mostly the same, with Jasmine having to wake up Jack, who tried to sleep in, with Jack barely making it to school, but for once he isn't late for homeroom. Class continued as usual until after lunch, when the members of the school's Senshado team made their way to the Garage.
As everyone was chatting, excited for what they were going to do for the day, Jack and Aiko stood up on one of the tanks and called everyone's attention.
"Alright, listen up!" He started. "Since our new recruits took to familiarisation rather quickly, we get to begin actual training."
"Now, all of you should have your assigned vehicles." Said Aiko. "Please remember that while some of this may be basic, even mastering the basics can mean the difference in a match."
"That's right." Continued Jack. "Other than that, we hope we can all get closer over the year as we work and fight as one unit. Dismissed."
With that, everyone split and headed for their vehicles as Kiwi High's Senshado Team began training for this year's Senshado tournaments.