June 4, 2033

Saturday

After a week of sailing the Pacific, the Zuikaku had finally arrived at its home port of Oarai where people from all around Ibaraki and the neighboring prefectures had gathered to see the Oarai's first match after two years.

Students from different schools also came for a visit, though they kept their presence discreet. They were only here to study Oarai's tactics, in case they ever crossed paths on the battlefield in the future.

Oarai's Senshadō Team had left the school early in the morning to disembark from the carrier. They marched in a column along the wide roads of the Mito District. The tank leading the column was, of course, the Panzer IV F2. Not many people came to watch the small parade, and those who did cheered for their fledgling team. Though it wasn't much, it was highly appreciated.

"Hey, isn't there supposed to be four of us here?" Shiori asked, keeping her eyes on the road. She noticed earlier that the loader's seat was empty.

"Oh yeah, Ayano went ahead of us. We're picking her up before the meeting," answered the commander.

"That's pretty unusual of her. She's practically stuck with you all the time, isn't she?" Eiko replied.

"Yeah but today's a special day for her! She's going on a date!"

"A date?!" both the driver and radioman exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah! With none other than Adachi Haru! The Zuikaku's very own bishōnen!"

"Bishōnen?" Eiko was rather confused by this statement. "Yuna, he got caught selling weed behind a gas station. If anything, he's a menace to society!"

"C-Come on Eiko, those are probably just rumors made up by the Journalism Club or something…"

"Bro, they got his ass on TV. He was literally caught in 4K. You should get Ayano out of that relationship before it's too late, man."

Suddenly, the Panzer IV came to a halt without warning and Yuna almost hit her head on the gun.

Shortly afterwards, Akira came on the radio and she was not happy in the slightest. "What's going on, Anglerfish Team? Why'd you stop all of a sudden?"

"There's an idiot blocking the way," Shiori answered before she stood up and poked outside the driver's hatch. Eiko and Yuna did the same.

Once Yuna peeked outside, she realized what was happening. In front of their tank was a young girl with brown hair holding two shopping bags as she stood in the middle of a crosswalk, facing the column of tanks.

Her name was Aiko Muranaka. President of the Journalism Club and the self-proclaimed "smartest person on the Zuikaku" who knows the ship like the back of her hand.

"Morning there, commander!" she saluted Yuna. "You going for an early morning drive?"

"Outta the way, Muranaka, before I run you over," the driver warned, but she did not comply.

"Hey uh, Muranaka-san, we're kinda in a hurry… could you please move aside?"

"Oh, the Bellwall battle, huh. I heard they fight really dirty so good luck, commander! Everyone on the Zuikaku's counting on ya!"

"I appreciate it!" Yuna replied with a grateful smile. Afterwards, Muranaka moved aside and the tank column resumed its march.

Yuna moved to the commander's seat, her hands on her head as she muttered, "The whole ship's rooting for me?" nervously.

To which Eiko said, "Don't let the pressure get to you, Yuna. We don't want you panicking before the battle even starts."

"Yeah… Yeah you're right," the commander replied before she settled down.

Once the Senshadō Club made landfall, the Panzer IV broke away from the column and made a stop at a rather inconspicuous coffee shop.

"We're here," Yuna announced as she crawled out of her tank, expecting to see Ayano and her date being all lovey-dovey. Instead, she found the girl sitting alone on a bench outside the establishment, her head bowed down.

"A-Aya-chan! What are you doing there?" the brunette asked, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. "And where's Adachi-san?" she began to look around for the boy.

"He… He didn't come, Yuna,"

The commander gritted her teeth in anger, That son of a bitch… I'm gonna run him over!

"I-It's okay, Yuna! I… didn't want to come to the date anyway…" Ayano said before she stood up and went over to the Panzer IV, crawling inside it using the side hatch.

Afterwards, the commander got inside as well and they left the area. No words were spoken for the rest of the ride as everyone sat silently in their seats, leaving each other to their business.

The Outskirts of Oarai

11:42

Commanders Yuna Fujiwara and Akira Kawashima, aboard an olive green Kurogane Type 95 scout car, arrived at an empty field a few kilometers from the town of Oarai to meet with their opposing commanders: Kasumi and Kaoru, the commander and vice commander of Bellwall's Senshadō Club respectively.

Kasumi had long and unruly jet black hair and black eyes, wore a tarnished black leather blouson along with a light brown skirt with a red stripe running around it, and a pair of knee-high leather boots.

Kaoru on the other hand sported a dirty gray hoodie and the same light brown skirt as her commander. The young girl was tan and had blonde dyed hair and brown eyes.

"Well I'll be! If it isn't Kawashima Akira!" exclaimed Kasumi as the monocled commander dismounted her vehicle.

"Kiriyama Kasumi," she greeted back, "You've changed quite a lot since we last met. I thought you'd stay a pickpocket forever."

"Change is an inexorable process, Kawashima. I've cleaned up my act a long time ago."

Akira grew a slight smile and said, "Good for you."

"...Looks like you've changed too. Who would've thought someone like you would join the Senshadō Club of all things."

"I did it out of necessity, Kasumi. The school's about to go bankrupt so I have no choice but to save it."

"Huh, I guess we're here for the same reason then!" the Bellwall commander said with an amused smile.

"Ahem…"

The two commanders took a glance over at the three judges who stood by, their patience quickly ebbing away by the looks of it.

Kasumi then turned back to Akira and said. "Uh, a-anyways, why don't we stop wasting time and get this match started? Let's have a great one, alright?"

"Uhh... Hold on, I-I'm not actually the commander, you know,"

"Really? Well, I half expected that, but really?"

"Yeah. What kinda person do you take me for? My commander's back here," Akira pointed behind her.

Kasumi looked over her old friend's shoulder and saw Yuna wordlessly listening to the conversation playing before her.

"Who's the kid?" Kasumi whispered.

"That's Fujiwara Yuna."

"Fujiwara huh... She seems kinda... inexperienced... You sure she's fit to command?"

"We're all inexperienced, Kasumi. We haven't played Senshadō in over two years remember?"

"Oh uh... yeah. Forgot about that."

"Fujiwara's the only person who has a slight understanding of the sport, so we picked her."

"I guess I gotta go easy on you then, huh?"

"I don't need your pity, Kasumi. Do your worst," the commander said, crossing her arms with a mocking expression.

"Ha! Alright then, don't say I didn't warn ya. Now can we please just get this match started already? Move aside!" Kasumi shoved the president aside and got a clear view of her actual opposing commander.

Yuna tensed up and began to sweat. This was the first time she met an actual Senshadō commander, and it was more nerve-wracking than she thought.

"Kawashima here says you're a complete rookie. You think you can handle a tank platoon?"

"Uh... Um... Well... I-I can manage!" she stuttered from the nervousness.

"That so?" Kasumi raised an eyebrow. "Well then, we'll see about that. Time to prove yourself to us, Fujiwara Yuna. Let's have a great match today!" before she bowed.

"U-Uh, yeah!" Yuna bowed too. Afterwards, they headed back to their tanks and the match officially started.

12:00 PM

It was high noon. The ground baked in the summer sun as a platoon of tanks, eight strong, rode around the fields near the town of Oarai. Leading the pack was Kasumi in her Tiger H1. On her flanks were a Jagdpanther, operated by Vice Commander Kaoru Sawamura, and a Ferdinand. And behind them were three Panzer II's operated by members of Bellwall's Automotive Club as well as a T-44.

Kasumi surveyed the surroundings with some binoculars, hoping to spot Oarai's scout or maybe even their main force. It was painstaking work as the sun cooked her like unagi since she was clad in black clothing. There wasn't much to look at though as there were just plain grass fields everywhere she turned.

The commander's concentration was soon broken when Kaoru radioed in with a complaint. "Oi, Kasumi! Don't you think it's time we move on to the city? There's nothin' out here!"

"Ya lose patience faster than the Senshadō judges themselves, Kaoru…" she vexedly replied, "Pipe the hell down will ya? The city's the last place we'd wanna go. Urban warfare is hell! Don't ya know how hard it is to maneuver through those narrow streets?"

"Yeah, yeah, I getcha boss,"

"...And besides," Kasumi continued, "I'm sure Oarai knows to stay away from cities. It's practically common knowledge at this point!"

Kasumi expected a response from her vice commander, but then out of the blue, a shot landed near the Tiger, causing it and the rest of the tank squadron to stop in their tracks.

"Where did that shot come from?" Kasumi asked calmly as she searched for the source as fast as possible.

"To the west, boss, it came from the west. Up those cliffs!" exclaimed the Ferdinand commander.

Kasumi set her sights on the cliffs and caught an M24 Chaffee laying motionless and staring them down with its 75mm gun. Seconds after and it fired a shot.

It hit the side of the Tiger but did not go through its armor. Kasumi was unphased. Did they really think they could pen us from that distance? she thought, dumbfounded.

While all of that happened, the rest of the Bellwall tanks turned to face the lone assailant. And once the commander gave the order to fire, they peppered the cliff with gunfire.

"Alright, what happened?"

"We didn't hit 'em, boss!" the Ferdinand commander reported.

"We're sorry boss!" the Panzer II crews exclaimed simultaneously.

"Sigh, it's fine. I wasn't expecting you to kill them anyway.

When the smoke cleared, the Chaffee was nowhere to be found. Presumably, it would have retreated. But to where?

Kasumi laid out a map on the roof of the Tiger's turret and proceeded to scan it in an attempt to figure out where the scout had run off to.

In the middle of her doing so, she was interrupted by her vice commander. "Kasumi, I may have figured out where the rest of Oarai's tanks are at."

"Shoot," she simply responded.

"There's a large pillar of smoke over where the city should be. I think they're tryna lure us in."

"No shit, that's exactly what they're doing," said Kasumi before turning to the billow of smoke. If Oarai wants an urban battle so bad, then I guess I gotta give it to 'em.

She then pressed her throat mic and told Kaoru, "Hey, call up Nishizumi real quick, I gotta tell him something."

Somewhere in Oarai

1:15 PM

"This is Duck Team! Bellwall has taken the bait! I repeat, Bellwall has taken the bait-"

"Yeah, cool," Akira turned off the radio and continued fiddling with her phone.

Before the match started, Turtle Team had entrenched their Hetzer into the street to act as a sort of mini-fortress. Though it wasn't an effective defense as a smart commander could just go around and strike them from behind, they still went with it.

"Hey Kaichou, don't you think it's time we move spots?" asked Makoto, "We've been sitting here for like, twenty minutes now and I'm frankly tired of being baked alive in here."

"You could always just go outside," Akira gave an absent-minded reply.

"Too dangerous, might get my head blown off. Sigh, you know what, nevermind…"

A few minutes later, the tank crew began to hear a loud buzzing noise outside, seemingly emanating from the sky.

Akira averted her eyes off her phone for a second and asked, "What the hell is that sound?"

Out of confusion, she decided to contact the other crews for an answer. "This is Turtle Team, does anyone copy?"

"Duck Team here, we copy!"

"Are you hearing what I'm hearing right now? There's some weird noises outside…"

"I hear them too, Kaichou. I don't know where they're coming from though."

Bellwall must be launching an airstrike. But how in the world did they get aircraft? she thought before giving an order, "Hey Shizume, I think you should take cover as soon as you can."

"Oh, there's actually no need, Kaichou. I've already been eliminated,"

"What?"

"Yeah, s-sorry I forgot to tell you. Speaking of which, I also forgot to remind you there's three little tanks roaming around the city now. They have machine guns or something, Kaichou. I'd be careful if I were you."

"Thanks for looking out," afterwards, Akira told Makoto, "Radio the other teams and tell them to stay alert," before standing up and looking out of the hatch.

The commander looked around, attempting to find the source of the buzzing, but it would soon come to her instead in the form of a V-1 flying bomb that hit a nearby building, toppling it. Akira immediately ducked down inside to avoid the debris flying towards her.

Moments after the smoke cleared, the dreaded buzzing noise appeared once again.

"There's more coming?!" exclaimed Makoto, " "Whose dick did Kasumi have to suck to get so many of these buzz bombs?"

"She wouldn't stoop that low to get something, Makoto," Akira replied.

Izumi, who was the Hetzer's driver, chimed in, "There is the possibility that Bellwall stole them from someone."

"Hm, that does sound like something Bellwall would do," the loader/gunner nodded in agreement.

"At this point, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we get to cover. Izumi, get us out of here!"

"Hai, hai!"

The Hetzer proceeded to slowly but surely reverse out of the trench until all of a sudden, two Panzer II's appeared, to which the tank destroyer crawled back in.

The light tanks began peppering the Hetzer's position with their autocannons as soon as they caught sight of it. They did this while also closing in on their target.

Thankfully, the autocannons were wildly inaccurate and only served to keep Turtle Team stuck in place.

"Makoto, take care of them."

"Already on it, Kaichou!" she exclaimed right before firing a shot which the Panzer swerved out of the way from. "Shit!" the gunner cursed and quickly grabbed a fresh shell.

"Keep calm, vice president."

"You don't have to worry about me, Kaichou, I got this!" Makoto punched the shell in and fired once more. This time, it actually hit one of the Panzer which lurched forward as a white flag popped up on its turret.

"See, I told you!" the gunner yelled in triumph, wasting no time reloading the gun.

Akira grew a smile at this and she congratulated Makoto.

Meanwhile, the Panzer II stopped yet still kept firing at them. Before the Hetzer could shoot it though, a V-1 suddenly landed behind it in close proximity, blowing away most of the tank destroyer's defenses. Promptly afterwards, the light tank continued to close in.

A few bullets managed to hit the Hetzer's frontal armor. Though, predictably, none of them penetrated.

"We should really get out of here, Kaichou!" Izumi yelled, practically begging for an order to reverse.

"One second. Makoto, fire!"

A shell shot out of the Hetzer's cannon and made contact with the Panzer's front, instantly putting the light tank to rest.

The crew eased up after this, leaning against their seats as they let out heavy signs of relief.

"That's the Panzer II's dealt with…" said Akira, "Makoto, contact the others and tell them what happened. Izumi, drive us out of here. We'll rendezvous with whoever's left."

Before anything could be done though, the Hetzer suddenly rocked violently, tossing the crew from their seats. Shortly afterwards, they heard the sound of the white flag popping.

"What… happened?" Izumi groaned in pain.

Akira and Makoto looked out of their hatches and realized that they had been eliminated, not by a tank but by a pair of girls on the rooftop, one holding a Panzerfaust rocket launcher.

"So that's what happened with the third Panzer II," Akira mused.

They were cackling. Mocking the crew for their foolishness. Once the commander noticed them, they scampered off. Not before flipping the tank crew off.

"You cheating bastards! You're gonna pay for this!" Makoto yelled.

"Eliminating a player without a tank or aircraft is against the rules, right?" Izumi asked.

"Of course. But Bellwall must've paid the judges off to turn a blind eye to this."

"What?! That's some bullshit!"

"Nothing we can do about it now," Akira shrugged. "We'll leave the rest to our commander."

"That just means we've already lost right?"

The president made a short pause before saying, "Perhaps," to which Makoto moaned in displeasure.

1:36 P.M

It had been almost twenty minutes since the barrage of V-1 rockets bombarded the Japanese city and the attacks seemed to have subsided.

Bellwall's tanks prowled the empty streets, but this didn't bother Hippo Team. Their StuG sat in front of a convenience store as the crew took this opportunity to loot every place they found.

"All of this street-fighting and looting… It's like we're in the Ōnin War!" Takeda Shingen remarked as she walked out of the store with a bag of chips and a bottle of soda.

"...Or in Stalingrad!" Michael Wittmann added.

"Should we really be stealing from convenience stores, Shingen? I don't see any benefits we get from doing this…" asked Joan d'Arc.

"Of course we should! People were dumb enough to leave stuff lying around so it's only fair we help ourselves to them. And besides, we could just topple the place down so whoever owns it gets their money back."

"I agree with Shingen on this one guys," Wittmann replied while chewing on a Snickers bar.

"This is the first time in ages you guys've got along with each other," Sherman remarked with an amused expression. She was on top of the StuG along with Joan.

Afterwards, the freshmen of Rabbit Team appeared on the scene, visibly bruised and battered.

"Boy, you guys had a rough day," Wittmann said with a chuckle.

Takeda tossed one of them a soda can before asking, "What happened?"

"Our Semple broke down," Ryu Kobayashi, the commander, said through labored breathing. "And we almost died trying to get here!"

The samurai grew a mocking smile, "Hmph, must be a skill issue," to which Kobayashi rolled her eyes.

Rabbit Team stole a few things from the convenience afterwards while Hippo Team prepared to leave.

"So have you guys killed anything yet?" Kobayashi asked Takeda who was outside her tank's cupola.

Before she could answer, she was distracted when she heard a loud rumbling nearby. Soon enough, a Jagdpanther emerged from a corner in front of the StuG. It seemed unaware of the presence, thankfully.

"What the hell is that?!" Takeda whispered loudly.

"A Jagdpanther! Quick, shoot it!"

"You're the gunner here, Wittmann!"

"Oh… right."

Before the tank destroyer could disappear into another corner, Wittmann fired a shot into its side armor, instantly eliminating it.

"Holy crap, you took them out!" Kobayashi exclaimed in amazement.

"Hmph, it was nothing," Takeda replied boastfully.

"Hey, don't forget I'm the one who took it out in the first place!" Wittmann's voice echoed from inside the StuG.

"Shut the hell up, Wittmann!"

Takeda and her gunner got into a screaming match afterwards, giving the freshmen ample entertainment.

Eventually, Hippo Team decided to move on. They bid farewell to the freshmen and left the premises in search of more tanks to take out.

They wouldn't get that chance, however, as when they were leaving, a tall building exploded and toppled down all of a sudden, crushing Hippo Team's StuG with debris.

The freshmen who witnessed it first-hand ran away in horror. The tank crew were fine, thanks to the carbon armor. It would take a few hours to dig them out of the pile of rubble however.

1:56 P.M

Yuna Fujiwara's Panzer IV was the only tank left from Oarai's side. For the last hour, it had been evading rockets and Bellwall's tanks.

They had only killed one tank at this point, which was the Ferdinand which broke down while trying to chase them up a hill.

"This is bad… This is bad…" the commander kept muttering to herself as she sat on the gunner's seat, sweating up a storm.

She was startled when Akira's voice suddenly appeared on the comms. "Fujiwara, what's your status?"

"Kaichou! You almost gave me a heart attack… W-We're doing fine as of now. We haven't seen any of Bellwall's tanks thankfully…"

"Thankfully? Yuna, your main goal is to eliminate them! You're only prolonging the match by running away."

"I-I know, I know! I'll try and find them right now. Oh yeah, where are you by the way, Kaichou? Are you safe?"

"Yes I'm safe. I'm at an onsen with the rest of the team right now."

"Aww what? You guys went to the onsen without me?!"

"Focus on the match, Fujiwara!" Akira yelled.

"H-Hai!

Right after that, Yuna consulted with her crew. "Guys! We have to find Bellwall's tanks. Any ideas?"

Her crew took a second to think before Shiori said, "We could lure them to us instead."

"Great idea!" the commander snapped her fingers. "Alright, Aya-chan, I need you to fire the coaxial machine gun!"

"E-Eh?! You want me to do what?!"

"Just trust me, Aya-chan! This'll work!"

"O-Okay… If you say so…" the loader said unsurely before firing a short burst of rounds into the air.

A few seconds later and nothing happened.

Eiko was about to say, "Well that didn't wor-" until a T-44 suddenly burst through a building ahead of the Panzer IV. Anglerfish Team squealed before the Soviet tank shot at them (and missed).

Overtaken with panic, Yuna peeked outside the side hatch and threw two smoke grenades at the T-44 and yelled, "Shiori get us out of here!"

The Panzer quickly reversed as the Soviet tank began to fire tracer rounds and soon chased after them.

"Why didn't you shoot it, Yuna?!" Eiko exclaimed.

"I-I don't know okay?! I was panicking!"

The commander squealed again when a shot from the T-44 grazed their turret.

"You have your tank, commander, now what's the plan?" Shiori asked.

"The- The beach! Take us to the beach!"

"If you say so!"

The Panzer and T-44 played cat and mouse across the city for almost half an hour until finally, Yuna made it to the beach after launching her tank off a cliff.

"We made it! Alright, Eiko grab these smoke grenades and throw them once their tank arrives!"

As she was passed the grenades, the redhead asked, "You think this'll work, Yuna?"

"I know it will!"

Soon enough, Bellwall's T-44 burst through a nearby beachside hotel building. Eiko did not waste any time and did as her commander had told her.

The Soviet tank's crew had been disoriented and Yuna saw an opportunity and took it.

"Fire tracers! They can't hide from us now!"

As the Panzer began opening fire into the smokescreen, the T-44 retaliated and fired a shot that bounced off.

"Uhh… H-Hey Eiko, how do we find tanks with tracers again?"

"I don't friggin' know. Just shoot the tank already!"

"Right, right,"

The Panzer fired into the smokescreen and everything went silent for a few seconds as Yuna, deafened by the shot, tried to listen for the sound of the white flag.

"Did- Did we kill it?" Ayano asked.

She got her answer when the smoke cleared. A Soviet T-44 lay defeated in front of Anglerfish Team's Panzer IV, a white flag displayed on the turret for all to see.

"We did it!" Yuna exclaimed and her crew cheered.

The celebration was cut short, however, when they heard a loud, "Oi!"

The commander turned around and was shocked to find Kasumi and her Tiger H1 who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Good job on taking out my T-44, commander. I didn't know you could actually do it," she gave a compliment which was met in silence as the Panzer's turret swiveled around to face her.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down there! I'm just tryna congratulate you!" the commander threw her hands up and tried to defuse the situation.

It didn't work, as the Panzer IV still fired at her. Kasumi's Tiger was unharmed.

"Not in the mood to talk? Shame," the Tiger promptly fired back and eliminated its adversary in an instant.

Afterwards, Kasumi hopped out of her tank and climbed up Oarai's. She opened the commander's hatch and pulled Yuna out.

She lay the exhausted commander on the ground next to her smoking tank and began sifting through her pockets, stealing anything that looked valuable.

"You know Fujiwara, I feel like you could become a great commander someday. Maybe not as good as me, but still…" she paused to remove Yuna's grip on her arm as she found the girl's wallet. "You prolly just gotta put more effort into it. Train harder and shit, ya know? And grow some damn balls man! You were running away for like, ninety percent of the match!"

After she had taken all of Yuna's money, Kasumi dropped the wallet and walked away. "See you later, dude. Hopefully you're less of a dumbass when we meet again."

All Yuna could say back was, "M…My money…"

A minute later, Eiko exited the tank and went over to her commander. "Welp… We lost. Guess we should've had more days to train," she remarked nonchalantly before noticing Yuna had begun crying.

"Wha… What are you crying for, bro?" she asked, crouching down.

Yuna struggled to utter words through her uncontrollable sobbing. "I… I'm a disappointment!"

"Aw, come on, man, don't say that. You're fine."

"B-But I'm not, Eiko! Ni… Nishizumi-sensei will hate me! Everyone will hate me! I let them all down!"

"Pfft, what are you talking about, Yuna? They won't," the redhead then picked her commander from the ground, dusting off her clothes. "This is our first match ever, dude. I'd be more surprised if we won."

"Sniff, I… I guess you're right…"

"We'll win one eventually, Yuna. Don't worry about it. Now come on and let's get you cleaned up."

Afterwards, the Panzer crew returned home.

Author's Note: I decided to remake the battle scene because I felt that it was lacking. I also deleted the Emi cameo because her appearance was unnecessary, plus I couldn't fit it anywhere. Hope y'all don't mind these changes