Author's Notes/Musings: Well, I've finally gotten around to publishing this, I've always enjoyed the show, liked reading the fan fiction for it, and decided why not? I know it's probably been done before (Actually it has, but the writer left theirs unfinished, and has no plans to finish that story, so I'm gonna modify the idea somewhat with permission of course) but I like the idea of combining schools to form a co-ed environment to just kinda see what would happen. Plus, I like the idea of a boy's combat-type sport, I mean it is an action anime right? So…yeah, here's my take on how, semi-realistically, this could happen and what would happen, written as if I'm trying to predict how it would be depicted on screen.

This story's writing takes place in the school year after the one where our 3rd Years graduate. I'm not Japanese and I don't pretend to be Japanese so I'll ignore the titles that Japanese names tend to be stated with (san, chan, dono, senpai, etc.) and American-ise them for simplicity's sake and so I don't insult those who do know them. I'll also be using the more latin style of putting the first name in front of the surname, just so it's easier for me. If I learn the titles that go after the names well enough, I'll use them in later chapters, maybe, I just don't want to insult a whole language by doing it wrong. But back to the note, our 3rd Years are gone, Miho and the Anglerfish Team are now 3rd Years themselves going into their first semester of three of their third year of high school. That means there's going to be OC's, I hate do so because I love the characters, but the current unknown direction of das Finale makes it hard to predict so I'll just say that we're starting at the next school year, and the previous 3rd Years all graduated and the whole situation is left in the hands of our MC's.

I'll try my best to be respectful to the individual characters and to the universe that GuP has created, which is…less than believable, so that gives me much creative license to be goofy and have the kind of fun that you see in the manga like Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu Volumes 1-7 (I haven't read the rest, it hasn't been translated on mangadex yet). So, be prepared for some silly situations and just some fun off-time moments mixed into my own style of realistic reasoning and plot interruption, I'll try to balance them as I learn my style and develop it. After all, it is my first fic, despite the years I've read fan fictions here.

With that very long intro out of the way, here's the story:

CHAPTER 1

The office was a large one, which suited the powerful Minister of MEXT, Renta Tsuji. He had the unenviable job of arranging the schedule for the fleet of school ships who'd requested reservations for one of the only two massive drydocks that could handle one of their massive academy ships. It wasn't something that anyone from MEXT would want to share with the parents of those in the academy ships. The damage reports and repair quotas were extensive, despite however mundane that they might have actually been. The key parts that necessitated a semester-long trip into drydock were almost entirely dependent on hull damage or large engine components acting up. Thankfully, there were none of those damages reported by the annual structural integrity checks on any of the several dozen ships under MEXT's authority.

However, there were two ships that were on his list, Ooarai Boys Academy and Ooarai Girls Academy, that had his nearly undivided attention. He was trying to figure a way to justify one of the two ships putting into the drydock for a semester. Normally it wasn't that big of a deal, seeing as no one ever made a scene over it. But this decision might just make some waves, and that was the intention. Taking the approval stamp from his desk he dabbed it onto the black ink sponge tray next to him he pounded down onto the paper approving of the request for the Shokaku, the sister ship to the Zuikaku, to be drydocked for requested engine overhauls and replacement of its waterline hull plating. The man then took the next ship he intended to approve, the Abraham Lincoln, the boys ship for Saunders, and stamped his seal of approval to drydock the much larger vessel. He then took a look at the supplemental housing arrangements applications, and then smirked when he saw something he liked.

Saunders of course had the facilities and resources to easily house a doubling of its student body aboard its other ship. Plus, the school's culture was far more relaxed, in fact it wished to replicate American high schools, which were coed, so this was a win-win for them. And Saunders had a history being able to avoid controversy whenever it had to temporarily combine schools. So, the request to combine schools' male and female student populations for the semester aboard the George Washington was easy to grant. Those who lived aboard the Abraham Lincoln would actually remain aboard and continue to live their lives sans student body. He then looked at the housing request for the Shokaku and saw the opposite request. Ooarai was a much more conservative school, and so the school board had requested its boys housed on land rather than combine the two student bodies for the semester and avoid temptations for what he knew the schoolboard there feared to be indecent behavior. This was a bit of a problem however, because he had another form from Ooarai on his desk. This one was an application from Ooarai Boys Academy's student council to reform its Battle Team, the relatively new sport forged in response to girls doing Tankery.

Forms of the sport had been around in the form of paintball, airsoft, and laser tag for many years. But it had only been in the last thirty years that the most legitimate simulation of combat had gone mainstream with the advent of stun rounds which used much of the same technology that tankery pioneered, adjusting it to form its own unique style of technology masked in corporate technical secrets. Those secrets were only known to the engineers who developed and improved on it as well as the Battle Federation who oversaw the sport. For instance, the Federation had developed a helmet material and padding system that was capable of withstanding the impact of a shot of even a small tank shell without deforming the helmet or seriously injuring the individual wearing it and applying that same safety to a face mask that could withstand similar impact but had the added ability to seal itself and deploy a flexible snorkel if water began to flow inside to prevent drownings. It wasn't as graceful or organized of a sport as Tankery, but ironically, it was actually a safer and less-expensive sport.

But, like the girls' own combat-type sport Ooarai Boys Academy had disbanded their own team at the same time so the school could focus upon its arts programs. But that obviously hadn't worked out, so the school was bringing it back at the behest of the student council and student body. One might think that Renta Tsuji would have been annoyed by this and be willing to deny the team's application for reactivation. This actually wasn't the case, in fact it allowed him to deny the school board's request for onshore housing. A school with a combat-type sport couldn't be relegated to land, it wasn't fair from a competitive standpoint nor was it fair from an academic standpoint to pull a group of boys or girls from one place to another in a different manner from the others they were facing, plus there were logistical concerns which would have led to unnecessary financial waste on top of the problem with travel. This meant he would have to tell Ooarai's school board that they would be required to combine student bodies, and this would create trouble. If there was trouble, it worked out just fine for him, because he wanted the drama from Ooarai combining schools, it served his overall aims.

Once he'd finished with the quick series of approvals, he treasured the letter he was writing to Ooarai, telling them to make arrangements to combine schools. He had the authority to do so and enjoyed using it, he smirked as he scanned the paperwork before faxing them over to his secretary who dutifully sent out the email alerts to the relevant people, the school board, and the two student councils.

"What?! We're combining schools?!" Saori Takebe cried out in a mix of stunned amazement and nervous excitement, "Not that I'm complaining, but I don't understand, why?"

"It's only for the first semester until their ship has completed its period in drydock. It says here that because Ooarai Boys Academy is restarting its Battle Team it has to be aboard a ship to maintain both its academic performance and its competitive fairness for the tournament as well. The email also says that Ooarai's schools are not required to combine classes, but that it is our choice if we want to," Hana Isuzu, the new soft-spoken student council president of Ooarai Girls Academy, said dutifully.

"You think that we will Miss Hana?" Yukari Akiyama asked, curious about all of this.

"I don't know to be honest," Hana sighed, "I know that most elementary and middle schools are coed but I also know that a lot of parents and graduates who donate to the school won't be happy that we will be combining student bodies. We'll just have to be courteous and polite and behave as young ladies."

"Right, no matter how much a boy wants you to kiss him you'll have to act as a proper lady would, no kissing on the first date!" Saori ticked to everyone, "Even if we are super-attractive to all of those handsome boys because of our Tankery. Right Miporin?"

"Huh?" Miho Nishizumi stammered, having been in a slight daze as she thought back on the previous year.

"We're combining schools remember?" Hana reminded her friend and tank commander.

"Oh, oh right," Miho mumbled back, "Sorry, I was just thinking of last year, all the girls we said good-bye to…"

"We saved their graduation Miporin, we should be happy for them," Saori implored, turning around in the chair, her arms over the back of the chair as she looked back at Miho who was on one of the armchairs across from the couch where Mako was fast asleep.

"I am. I am…but we still we need to find replacements for the teams who need them, especially Leopon, poor Tsuchiya is all by herself now, she can't possibly care for all of our tanks by herself…" Miho reminded them, her hands in her lap as she looked down at the floor, missing her friends who graduated to university, "And we have the Hetzer sitting empty."

"We'll just have to make an announcement asking for new members, won't we?" Hana smiled softly as she appeared by Miho's side resting a hand over hers.

"That'll be easy, I'm really persuasive," Saori brushed the task off.

"Don't worry Miss Nishizumi, there's plenty of girls who'll want to join the Tankery Team after all of our success!" Yukari reassured her best friend.

"Thanks guys," Miho looked back at the three student council members, quite proud of them and all that they'd accomplished in the last year.

"It'll be even more popular now that there's going to be boys on board," then Saori gasped, "Maybe I'll get a boyfriend!"

"Well it is more likely now than it was before," Hana giggled.

"I know right?" Saori agreed, "Maybe even you will have someone confess their love for you, Miporin."

"Huh?! W-what?!" Miho gasped, eyes wide at this as a bright pink blush reached her cheeks.

"You're a catch! You're pretty, you're smart, you're nice, and you're the commander of a successfully Tankery Team," Saori explained as she sat down on the couch at Mako's feet.

"Tankery is supposed to make us more attractive, they did say that men would fall at our feet if we did well, and we have done well," Yukari noted and then shifted uncomfortably, "I'm not really sure how my parents will react to this news to be honest."

"Yeah, I wouldn't surprised if we all had boyfriends before long," Saori said as she leaned back into the seat, pretty confident about this prediction of hers.

"I-I don't know," Miho mumbled, "My mother said she didn't want me or my sister to be seeing any boys unless I was living at home so she could supervise."

"Your sister's in Germany though, I'm sure she's being swarmed with all sorts of guys," Saori cocked her head.

"True, but this is also Maho we're talking about, not much exists outside of school, tankery, and family for her," Miho laughed as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"She isn't dating at all?" Hana asked curiously.

"Not when last I talked to her," Miho said as she remembered their last phone call. Maho was enjoying the new challenge of being a simple tank commander having to work her way up the chain of command rather than just being placed at the head of a team because she was that good. Plus having to learn how to live in a foreign land was also a challenge that the elder Nishizumi sister was taking up with gusto. She was genuinely happy, despite the distance away from family.

"That's no way to go through university…" Saori sighed, "Miporin you won't be such a stick in the mud if you have that opportunity, will you?"

"No, of course not, I mean, well…I just want to be able to continue to make new friends, and hang out with them y'know? That," she smiled, "that's what's important."

Her friends all smiled at that and nodded in agreement. Their friendship was a special one, no one could deny it. The fact that they were still together, hanging out well before school started. However, the moment was interrupted by the office telephone ringing on Hana's desk. Excusing herself quickly Hana walked over to the desk and picked up the phone.

"Student Council's office, Hana speaking," she politely greeted the caller, "Oh hello," she said and listened for a moment or two, "Yes we got the email as well," she said to the other person and then listened for a minute or two, "Yes I suppose it will be alright. When can you come by? Tomorrow? Oh excellent…okay thank you, we'll look forward to meeting you. Will Commander Nishizumi be in attendance? I don't know I can ask her, one moment please," she said and held her hand over the phone's speaker, "Miss Nishizumi, will you be available tomorrow morning to meet with the boys student council with us?"

"Me? Uh…sure," Miho nodded.

"She'll be there, may I ask why? I see, okay," she said then smiled, "oh no you don't have to, that won't be necessary," Hana said before the person on the other end said something that made her lightly giggle, "Okay if you insist we won't say no to a polite gesture. Alright thank you, we'll see you tomorrow, eight o'clock, okay goodbye."

"Who was that?" Yukari asked.

"The boys student council president, he'd like to meet us tomorrow to discuss some of the setup before the start of the school year," Hana said as she sat back down next to Yukari.

"Why did they want to see me?" Miho asked, "I'm not part of the council."

"They're bringing their Battle Team's commander, apparently they'll need to make some arrangements that would best be made between the two commanders who know what their teams need," Hana explained.

"Oh," Miho said in understanding, "That makes sense."

"Yukari, we'll need to get some work done before the meeting, I'd like to help the new arrivals get settled in as well as we can. They're our fellow Ooarai students, we must treat them the same way we treat our own girls," Hana said as she got up.

"Right!" Yukari said, snapping to the order obediently and with her usual enthusiasm.

"Saori, we'll need to speak to the Morals Committee, they'll want to revise our rules and have them posted so everyone can understand them, can you take care of that please?" Hana looked to Saori, their PR chief.

"Right!" Saori gave a thumbs-up.

"And Miss Nishizumi? Can you see what the Tankery Team will need going into the meeting please? I think it would be best if we did our proper research so we can make this meeting work. This is a very important day for our school after all."

Miho smiled and nodded, "Right."

"Umm…can I say it please?" Hana asked Miho, wanting to say the thing that had symbolized their spirit.

"You're the new president," Miho nodded.

"Panzer vor!"

The sight of identical school ships moored alongside one another was not a common one. Usually both ships would be out on opposite sides of a planned voyage that both would undertake but neither would be crossing paths. Whenever two ships were together it was almost always at the start of the school year when weather conditions forced the captains to put both ships into port with each other to take on their student populations along with supplies and other consumables that the ships couldn't produce on their own. However, here they were, two Ooarai school ships, the Zuikaku, and her sister the Shokaku. The obvious curiosity aside a group of students, all of whom were third year boys, were walking into the Ooarai Girls Academy building, much to the curious fascination of several girls who were there for some exercise at the gym or to walk their schedule. They each stopped after stepping inside, putting on wabaki slippers as per standard to keep the floors clean. The green pants and white button-up short-sleeved shirts plus a black tie were different than the sailor uniforms that the girls were, and they were very conscious of it.

There were four of them: Kuri Iwata, the school council president, Osamu Taniuchi, the vice president, Hisashi Tezuka, the PR chief, and the Battle Team commander Hoshi Oshima, were all carrying Styrofoam containers with some hot breakfast for their hosts. They'd been told to expect five people there, the entirety of the Anglerfish Team. So, they had nine containers with some grilled slices of Biwa Trout raised aboard the Shokaku, miso soup, steamed rice, seasoned Nori (dried seaweed), and some assorted vegetable side dishes. It took them some effort to get this much food prepared to the standards that their perfectionist PR man, Hisashi, wanted, but regardless of the pain it had caused poor Taniuchi it had been done and they were now standing at the door, ready to knock.

Kuri Iwata was a scruffy brown-haired young man, of average height, and was thin, having played baseball all his life. He was quite popular, with ambitions to leave his mark on his school by doing something that would remain long after he had graduated, hence the Battle Team's return. There was not much he loved more than his school, his father and grandfather had both graduated from there as school student council president, and he'd been the president since his second year. His quite tall vice president, Osamu Taniuchi, was a quiet guy, with his black hair cut in a short style and cleanly managed with his thin glasses precisely balanced on face and all facets of his uniform down to the point. He was a very smart and quite uptight individual who demanded obedience and to do things according to standards and policies. It made him a perfect complement to the loose-with-the-rules Kuri. Then there was their wildcard, Hisashi. The short PR chief was a classic example of living-in-the-moment, with longer red hair tied into a wolftail and wore sunglasses wherever he went along with a selfie-stick and a video camera for recording all of his adventures and misadventures. He almost always had a toothpick in his mouth, mostly because he thought it looked cool, which was his whole MO.

Lastly there was the quiet Hoshi, their Battle Team's commander. He had light brown hair, which had been previously cut to a military-style high and tight that was now growing out. A kind soul, he was clearly pushing the bounds of a newfound personal freedom, but only pushed those bounds with his hair and with a silver chain necklace on which he had a small silver disk with a dragon curled around the edge along with the Ooarai seal inside. He looked tired, sort of drifting in his own mind as he walked behind the group. He held the most containers with three in each of the two bags while Osamu held another three in his own left hand.

Hisashi had his phone on his selfie stick and was taking some pictures of their arrival in front of the door for later posting to his social media profiles. Osamu had some papers in a briefcase for the meeting in his right hand as they reached the door, and held his hand out to block access and checked his watch, making sure that they were going to be knocking at the exact second that was promised. He was intent on waiting for a solid minute for them to knock.

"What are you doing?" Hisashi asked, lowering his sunglasses.

"We promised to be there at eight, we'll be here at eight," Osamu stated evenly.

"Won't the food get cold?" Hoshi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on Osamu, just knock, they'll be okay with us being slightly early," Kuri brushed him aside and knocked.

The young man gave the door a quick three-tap with his right hand as Osamu sighed at the lack of prim and proper punctuality displayed by his friends. It didn't take long before the door was yanked open by a bubbly redhead wearing the normal green and white uniform of the girls' school.

"Hi there!" Saori greeted them, throwing the door wide open, "You guys must the boys' student council."

"We are," Kuri said, "May we come in?"

"Sure," Saori said and quickly walked in, and then came to stand next to Hana who was standing alongside Yukari and Mako with Miho on the end.

"Welcome," the five girls greeted them, giving a respectful bow.

"Thank you very much," the four boys bowed in return.

"We brought breakfast," Hisashi mentioned after a couple awkward seconds.

"Thank you, please go ahead and take a seat and let's eat before it gets cold, I'm sure you had a bit of journey," Hana motioned to the table.

"Oh, it was nothing," Kuri assured her, as everyone sat down and Hoshi and Osamu began to pass out their Styrofoam-cased meals, "We were happy to do it. After all, you're the girls who saved our school."

"It wasn't just us," Yukari shrugged, taking a container from Osamu as she sat down, and the guys broke out the chopsticks and some napkins. But she also noticed when Hoshi handed Miho a container, and Hoshi's hand lingered a couple seconds longer than normal, causing the two to look at each other in the eye for a second before Hoshi looked away rapidly and let go, leaving Miho a little bit curious and hesitant.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"No problem, commander," Hoshi nodded back and smiled softly as he placed a wrapped set of chopsticks in front of her, "We wouldn't be here without you."

"L-like Yukari said, we did it all as a team, and we had the help of our friends from the other schools. It really was a group effort," Miho laughed bashfully.

"Allow me to introduce us, I'm Kuri Iwata, our student council president," Kuri introduced himself, then motioned to the tallest member there, Osamu, "This is our super-serious vice president, Osamu Taniuchi."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Osamu bowed deeply, speaking evenly.

"I do believe I can introduce myself pres," Hisashi piped up, and flamboyantly took off his sunglasses, "Hisashi Tezuka, public relations chief, and publicity extraordinaire!"

"And this is our Battle Team Commander, Hoshi Oshima," Kuri then pointed to Hoshi, who was putting down a few bowls of soy sauce and fish sauce around the bright flower arrangement on the table they were setting up. He quickly stood upright, and bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you all."

"I'm Hana Isuzu, council president," Hana said softly and gave a short bow.

"Saori Takebe, PR chief," Saori piped up excitedly next.

"Yukari Akiyama, vice president, it'll be nice to be working with you," Yukari then saluted.

"Mako Reizei," Mako just raised a hand to say hi, speaking in a bored and tired tone.

"She's our driver for our team and she helps us with some of our paperwork," Saori then mentioned, seeing that Mako wasn't being specific.

"And our Tankery Team commander, and the person we all credit for winning the fight against the University Team, Miho Nishizumi," Hana then said, wanting to introduce Miho herself.

"Nice to meet you all," Miho bowed rapidly.

"I saw that match, what a fight!" Kuri mentioned as the boys now sat down next to one another, the hyperactive Hisashi next to Mako who was groggily sitting next to him on the couch with Hoshi being at the end in probably the least convenient position with the least amount of table space, kind of like Miho who was sitting across from him in a chair, both were trying to focus on their food as everyone said a thanks and began to dig in, but the two commanders stole a glance at the other occasionally.

"Wow! This is great!" Saori cheered happily as she tried the grilled fish.

"What is it?" Hana asked as she too took a small delicate bite.

"Ooarai Boys Academy's specialty, grilled Biwa Trout," Kuri winked to the tall raven-haired president.

"It's amazing, but…isn't Biwa Trout endangered?" Yukari asked.

"Our ship hosts numerous breeding tanks, our school has begun working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries to help rebuild Lake Biwa's native fish species," Osamu explained, "It's a new program, we have begun many new programs in the past year that we are hoping will be able to help keep Ooarai's Academies open now that they have been saved."

"Oh? Like what?" Hana asked.

"Well, we've restarted our drama program, as well as our speech and debate team," Osamu explained diligently as he pulled out his suitcase and unlatched it, "I have the papers here explaining what sort of facilities these restarted programs might need. I hope we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Osamu! Not while we're eating," Kuri chided his friend.

"Of course," Osamu sighed.

"So…you're uh…the Battle Team commander huh? What's that like?" Miho then asked Hoshi.

"I uh…don't really know, I've never been a team commander before," Hoshi shrugged, "This semester will be our team's return from a long hiatus, just like you girls did last year. Hopefully we'll be as skilled and fortunate as you were."

"What exactly is the Battle Team, if I may ask?" Hana asked as they continued eating.

"Well, to put it simply it's like tankery, but we don't fight with any sort of vehicles, it's all done on foot, the only exception is something like a rowboat, sailboat, or a bicycle," Hoshi began his explanation, "We're equipped with weapons and equipment that had to at least be a prototype before August 15, 1945, just like your tanks, and most schools model themselves after different nations like the ones you have faced."

"Oh, so it's an infantry battle simulation of sorts," Miho surmised.

"For the most part yeah, we use these stunner rounds whose technology was thanks entirely to the development of tankery's own technology, I honestly don't know the science of how they work, I just know that they hurt, like a uh…like a taser, like the police use, but much more potent. That's why we have to wear a specially designed face mask and reinforced helmets. Technically we can still be knocked out with a headshot, but it won't injure us the way it would if we didn't have them."

"Wow, so you've been in a Battle Team before?" Saori asked, "I thought Ooarai had got rid of their team?

"I've been in a private junior league since I was first able to partake in middle school," Hoshi explained, "But when Ooarai decided to bring their team back I quit my dad's team to follow in his and my grandfather's footsteps when I was offered command of Ooarai's own team."

"Your dad's footsteps?" Yukari quipped.

"Your dad went to Ooarai too?" Mako asked after that with a mouthful of vegetables.

"Mako! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Saori chastised Mako, who just stopped chewing as she glared at Saori, and then audibly continued to chew slowly, looking right back at her, making Saori huff audibly.

"Yeah, old Hoshi here is part of a proud Ooarai family," Kuri explained, "Like me. His parents and grandparents all went to this school. In fact, his mom and dad were in the last Tankery and Battle Teams before they were shut down."

"Really?! Your mom did Tankery?!" Miho asked excitedly, "What tank did she drive?"

"I don't really remember its name and model, you'd have to ask my sister, she'll be one of your new first year signups for Tankery this semester," Hoshi said with a smile, "She said she wants to be a tank commander in the same tank like mother was."

"Oh, your sister's doing Tankery? That's great!" Miho exclaimed, finally some good news on the Tankery front.

"I'll apologize in advance for her, she's a little…hyper, and doesn't listen that great," Hoshi joked.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll do fine," Miho smiled, "So tell me more about your sport? How do your matches work exactly?"

"Well there's only one setup that I've ever played: Capture the Flag. Each team chooses a place to set up their flag, and they have to defend it while going after their opponent's flag. You have enough supplies as you can fit back at base like water and food to keep people healthy of course, but we only get enough ammunition as the rules for the match allows for, back at our base, but you can carry as much as you can on your person at the start. The object of our game is to take the other team's flag, carry it back to our base, and hoist it on a capture pole to win the game. You can also win the game by downing every member of the opposite team of course, and if time runs out the team who has suffered the least casualties while controlling the most victory points is the winner, that last one is a bit more complicated, they have a whole referee and judge setup to decide those kinds of outcomes. But those are rare, twenty-four hours is more than enough time to win a match."

"So, you can just shoot anyone on the opposite team or is there more to it?" Saori asked.

"We also have hand-to-hand rules," Hoshi explained, getting some gasps of interest, "but these are much more strict, certain kinds of arm bars and choke holds are banned, strikes to the neck are specifically banned, dunking someone's head in water is not allowed either, despite our mask's one-way valve mechanism that protects us from drowning, no on-sight blades are allowed, we can only use the knives and bayonets that we are issued with that have the same stunner function as our bullets, oh! And no metal objects can be used either. But everything else is fair game, if you get into a tussle with someone in a room you can grab a wooden chair and hit them with it, and there's a mercy rule, if someone calls mercy then they're now a prisoner, otherwise you keep fighting."

"Sounds harsh…" Saori mumbled.

"It is, but there are referees who keep things from going too far in the match."

"They let you guys get away with stuff like that?" Yukari asked.

"They let you guys use tanks," Kuri mentioned, getting some nods and murmurs of agreement to that point, "And they let Battle Teams play Bo-Taoshi during their practices and on sports days."

"Wow! You guys play Bo-Taoshi!" Yukari cried out.

"Oh yeah, it's a tradition," Hisashi said, "By the way Hoshi, my guys are going to obliterate your team this year."

"We'll see," Hoshi shrugged.

They continued to make smalltalk, until the food was done, halfway through Saori had to scramble to serve everyone some green tea. But eventually they got to the point where Osamu began to take the meeting into its main subject as he broke out a lot of papers including facilities requests for the different boys clubs and the number of classes that were to be held.

"That was delicious, thank you," Hana said as she finished and returned with another glass of tea.

"And thank you for the tea," Kuri said, holding up his own cup in mutual.

"So, we have some arrangements to make I see?" Hana said as she saw the many papers.

"Many of our clubs will be without their own club rooms and facilities, unless you feel that we can combine clubs with yours, is that acceptable?" Osamu asked.

"I don't see a problem with that," Yukari put her two cents in, "I'm sure the drama club will like having more people to put on bigger productions."

"We should consult each individual club, some may not be comfortable with combining clubs," Hana reminded everyone.

"There's lots of old club houses on the campus grounds, they're old but I'm sure they can be tidied up no problem," Saori remembered.

"Oh really? That might work out quite well," Osamu nodded, making a note in a leather-bound notebook.

"And let's see…you also make note of…oh, bathroom facilities, how are we going to handle that?" Hana asked.

"Well, we look around and re-label some of them to boys bathrooms so that everyone has facilities that they can use," Osamu suggested, laying out a building schematic with some marks on it, "Here, I did a preliminary examination of the issue, this one is under the assumption that we combine classes."

"Wow, you did your research," Saori said in wonder at the notes made on the margins, which were data points illustrating distances per student per bathroom.

"But what if the school board says no to us combining classes?"

"We have a contingency for this, at this moment the school board is arranging for portable classrooms to be brought in to prevent overcrowding, they'll be placing them around the main building, we're volunteering to use them, seeing as we are gentlemen of Ooarai it is only proper," Osamu explained.

"Oh dear, it hardly seems fair," Hana sighed.

"We'll manage, it's only a semester after all," Kuri said quickly.

"Um…" Hisashi whispered, and pointed to his shoulder, where Mako had fallen asleep, leaning slightly against him, making the young man unwilling to talk loudly or really even move.

"Oh dear," Hana sighed, "I apologize, she does that."

"Mako! It isn't lady-like to fall asleep on a boy's shoulder without him being your boyfriend!" Saori chided her friend, a bit out of jealousy.

"Hrnnn…" Make grumbled, and just readjusted and leaned onto the armrest so she was off of Hisashi's shoulder.

The conversations went on like this for quite a bit, until at last, the awkwardly quiet Miho and Hoshi were called on.

"Commander Oshima, Commander Nishizumi, perhaps you two would like to discuss your own team's arrangements?" Osamu asked, making both of the two jump a bit at being called.

"Oh, oh yes right," Hoshi nodded and sat up a little straighter, "We will be having our own portable classroom set up this afternoon, and our first delivery of weapons and equipment later tomorrow and we'll have our first practice on that day as well. Is there anywhere that you would require us to remain out of your way Commander?"

"Um…" Miho said as she thought about that question, "Let's see…there's a spot on the backside of our hangar that's nice and shaded. Our tanks never go back there, and we almost never use the dirt field in front of it, so if you need to use it it's yours, just so long as there's room for us to back our tanks in and out of the hangar."

"That's uh…actually perfect. Do you plan out your practices' locations? I know that eventually I'll have to have my guys train in the woods and fields you also use. And it probably isn't safe to have two teams out there getting in the other's way."

"Oh, that wouldn't be good," Saori agreed.

"I can make some schedules with you at the beginning of each week and send them to you if you like, that way we can both practice and both teams can stay safe," Miho offered.

"I like that. We'll also be doing some training in town, mostly movements and stuff, do you use the town at all? I was told our own town had no problem with us doing training out there back in the old days. I was wondering if there might be a problem here?"

"I don't know to be honest, we've never trained in town before," Miho answered, having never actually taken the team's tanks into town before for any kind of training, they tended to get in the way of the average people living there.

"I guess that's up to me to find out," Hisashi said pleasantly.

"Oh! I can help, I know the people in town and they know me," Saori offered quickly.

"Sure, it's a date," Hisashi then gave her a thumbs up and a wink.

This particular sentence caused Saori's brain to have an internal short-circuit, as she visibly froze for a few seconds, and then a bright smile and a blush crept across her face. She was clearly holding an outburst of joy, seeing as she'd, in her mind, just gotten a date with a cute boy.

"So, you have your first practice the day after tomorrow huh?" Miho asked, now curious, "So do we, what time?"

"Oh, our introductory practice starts at oh-five-hundred for those who choose it as their required elective tomorrow," Hoshi answered quickly.

"Oh-five what?" Saori asked, not having ever heard military time before.

"Five o'clock in the morning," Yukari informed her, "He's using military time. Military time is based on a twenty-four hour system rather than a traditional twelve-hour system. For instance, if it is six PM you take six plus twelve to get eighteen-hundred, and add on the minutes, it's so that no one gets confused with PM or AM."

"Oh…hold on! Your starting practice at five in the morning?!" Saori cried out in amazement.

"It's what we call hell week, we have to make sure that we are taking only those who can handle the strain into our matches. It's how my grandfather trained his own team," Hoshi explained.

"Your grandfather?" Miho asked.

"My grandfather was a legend in the high school Battle League, he led Ooarai to an undefeated streak, winning two championships in the two years he was team commander. My father was then the commander of Ooarai's last Battle Team when the school shut it down, and he won a championship that year as well, despite the impending shut down. He and my grandfather then helped found a junior league team that has had a lot of success since then. Now it's my turn to bring my grandfather's style back to Ooarai."

"How many people are going to be joining?" Miho asked curiously.

"We're not sure, all of our students are going to be assembling in your gym for required electives videos, as discussed," Osamu explained.

"We're expecting a lot, it makes sense that a lot of guys will try it out, especially after the video tomorrow."

"What's a lot for a Battle Team?" Saori asked.

"I'm hoping that I can get at least a full company, about a hundred and fifty guys, if we get more that'll be great," Hoshi declared wishfully.

"That's a lot of people, we only have about forty girls on the tankery team," Hana said in reply.

"Hopefully we can work together to help Ooarai purchase its first new tank in many years," Kuri suggested.

"That would be great, we could use as many tanks as we can get!" Yukari said quickly, clapping her hands excitedly at the prospect of gaining additional tanks.

"Certain schools who prove that they are able to maintain and improve their Tankery teams can be granted an endowment from the Ministry of Education, perhaps if we can do well in our friendly matches before the tournament we can get an endowment," Hana said.

"And we can help by getting our student body to help your funding by just going to your matches," Kuri suggested, "And yours can help by coming to ours."

"It is true, all proceeds of Ooarai home matches go to the school. If even a quarter of our total student body bought a ticket to watch the matches it could make a real difference in assisting the school's budget. Currently we have roughly seven thousand students of all three grades in both schools, if we can get a thousand students to go to a single match that would bring in nearly a million yen on top of parents coming to see as well as the visitors coming to watch."

"Oh! Idea!" Hisashi cried out, eager to reveal this, "We have two teams right?" he asked, "What if we arrange a double-header? Whenever we have a match with…say…St. Gloriana, the girls also have a match the day after? We can double our ticket income!"

"We have our first match scheduled already with St. Gloriana, we uh…took some inspiration from your choice of opponent, we thought it might be lucky for us," Hoshi noted.

The girls perked up, intrigued at the idea. They had no problem with more tankery matches, it was not just the match itself that they liked, it was just another way to meet their friends from the other schools in person again. And the idea of getting a couple more million yen into the school's coffers certainly had an obvious appeal, it would be very nice for everyone to be able to do this.

"Well, we're close friends with St. Gloriana's girls, I don't think they would mind returning to Ooarai for a match," Hana stated, "Miss Nishizumi, can you perhaps make the arrangement with St. Gloriana's new commander?"

"Sure, it won't be a problem, we'll need the practice before the tournament starting in late September."

"How many matches can we have before the tournament?" Kuri asked.

"At most…three, maybe four friendly matches. The Ooarai city council will need to approve of that many matches before we arrange them," Hoshi shrugged.

"Leave that to me," Osamu stated evenly, "I'm confident that I will be able to convince them of the financial merits for them as well as the benefit for the schools."

"I should be there as well," Yukari piped up, "If only to represent our school."

"Very well. I will contact you with the details."

Miho just sighed heavily with a smile on her face.

"What is it Miporin?" Saori asked.

"It's just that I never expected things to go this smoothly, I think it's great that we're all getting along so well. I'm actually pretty excited for school to start," Miho said to everyone present, and Hoshi also sighed as he sat back in the couch.

"This'll be a semester to remember, that's for sure."

Well, I've gotten it done, the first chapter, although I think I kinda went a little crazy with the word count on this first chapter. If you guys like these long chapters I'll keep up with them. This was a lot of fun to write, and I'd love to hear some feedback, so yeah. Here we go.