Chapter 4: Panzer Hunting!
"Where are they?!" Saori shouted with irritation. Panzer Search Group I, the name Yukari insisted on calling the group of tank searching students, had looked in every corner of the area surrounding the tankery shed. Since Saori had insisted that tanks were like cars, they had just finished searching the school's parking lots and some of the storage facilities nearby, but with no success.
Ross took a look at the map Miho was holding which detailed the top deck of the Zuikaku school ship. He focused on a large patch of dark green nearby the parking lot. "You know, a forest would be a good place to hide a tank. If we're going to find anything, it'll be hidden away or even buried into the dirt. How deep does the top deck go anyway?" he asked.
"Probably no more than basement level, so maybe three or four meters?" Yukari suggested.
Ross looked over to the chain-link fence surrounding the parking lot and wondered aloud, "So if we're gonna go to that forest, how are we gonna get through the fence?"
"Just do what you did to that other gate near the main road earlier." Miho teased.
The only boy in the group rolled his eyes and jumped over the curb and onto the sidewalk next to the fence. "Real funny. This doesn't look any different from the chainlink back home." Ross grabbed onto the links and pushed against the fence with his feet. Climbing up a few links brought him up to the edge and he jumped over the top and onto the other side. "That was easy," he remarked and looked back through the fence to the rest of his group.
"Maybe for you, but if you'll notice our little predicament." Saori gestured to her skirt. "That's not going to be a viable option for us," she said.
"There's probably a gate or opening somewhere down the line, let's follow this fence until we reach a way in," Miho suggested.
Everyone agreed and began walking down the length of the fence that lined the parking lot. Thankfully it wasn't long as it cut off at the edge of the lot, and the girls could join Ross at the forest's edge. "Alright, we're through! Panzer Vor!" Yukari exclaimed cheerfully.
"Pants do what now?" Saori asked, confused at the foreign phrase.
Ross covered his mouth to hold down a fit of laughter before collecting himself. "Panzer Vor, it means tanks forward," he explained, "At least, as far as I know, German is a strange language to translate."
"Try translating Japanese into English or the other way around. If you think German's hard…" Miho commented.
With that comment, Ross remembered a question he had meant to ask. "Now that you say that, why isn't Japanese spoken that much here? I mean this ship is based out of Japan right?"
Hana answered as the group moved deeper into the forest along a roughly cut path, "Oh, that's part of the school ship cultural exchange program. Any person who wants to be a student on a school ship must learn the school theme's language and typically pick up a lot of English along the way. Oarai doesn't have any particular theme, so English is taught in the elementary schools and middle schools for the Oarai area in Japan as a secondary language for students instead. A large part of Japan's youth is actually growing up knowing both Japanese and English, and a portion of them also know their schoolship's language as well."
"Yeesh and here I was thinking I'd look like a fool with my limited knowledge of the Japanese language," Ross said while jumping onto a log to look over some of the thicker plant life. "Yesterday you said you transferred to Oarai Miho, where'd you transfer from?"
Mho frowned and stared at her map. "Kuromorimine Girls Academy. It's a German-themed school," she answered.
Touchy subject got it, Ross mentally noted. "So if I were a tank, where would I be hiding?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Hana stopped and sniffed the air for a minute. "There's a scent of iron and oil here," she remarked. Everyone stopped and looked at her.
"I don't smell anything," Yukari said.
The group looked around from their little path. Hana sniffed the air a few more times before pushing through a tall shrub a ways off to her left. "Come look at this everyone!" she shouted. The students rushed over to her and they climbed through the shrub into a nearly dry river bed. In front of them was the source of the iron and oil Hana smelled. In front of them was a tank, covered in dirt and mildly rusted, but relatively intact.
"Looks like a Panzer 38(t)," Miho pointed out, "You could honestly do worse. They're fairly agile and reliable. Cheap to outfit too."
Ross walked around the tank and examined the vehicle, but being careful not to step into the puddles of water and mud that littered the riverbed. "Honestly it's probably in better condition than the Panzer IV."
"It's actually got the gun this time…" Yukari started before trailing off, looking intently at the 37mm main cannon. Without another word, she climbed onto the front of the hull. "If I recall correctly, the recoil mechanism for the 38(t)'s gun was above the barrel, but look, this one is under it," she pointed out.
Saori looked confused. "So uh, what's the significance of that?" she asked.
Yukari jumped around the turret and opened the rear engine deck hatches. "Aha! That explains it, this isn't a 38(t). I mean it is, but it's a licensed copy!" she declared.
"So like a replica?" Hana asked.
"More than that! This is a Stridsvagn M/41 SII! The gun's a Bofors gun and not a Skoda gun and the engine is the Scania-Vabis L 603. Oh man, this is a pretty rare find. Sweden only manufactured 104 of these bad boys. See, originally Sweden ordered some 38(t)s in 1940, but Germany confiscated them in preparation for Operation Barbossa the following year. To compensate the Swedish government, Germany allowed them to manufacture their own 38(t)s under license. This is their second manufacturing series, the SII, which had an improved engine and extra frontal armor. Plus the Bofors gun is totally an upgrade from the Skoda gun because it can fire armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds. We could even-"
Miho interrupted Yukari's ramblings, "Thanks Yukari, but I don't think we need a full history lesson on it. Oh, but thank you for the observation. Knowing it has that extra armor on the front could save it from getting knocked out in a match."
Ross pulled out his phone and dialed up William. Once the connection was made he put it on speaker. "Hey William, we found a tank. Looks like a Stridsvagn M/41 SII."
"Sounds good, where are you?" William asked.
Ross took a look around and studied their surroundings. "Alright so, you know the forest near the parking lot next to the tankery field? There's a dried-up riverbed somewhere in it. That's the best you're gonna get from me," he directed.
William laughed. "That's enough for me, I'll send Joseph out with one of our new toys to collect it."
Before Ross could respond, William hung up on him leaving him to wonder what he meant by "new toy". "Must have found some interesting stuff in those garages," Ross commented.
While they waited for Joseph, Miho opened a driver's hatch and climbed in. "We'll probably need to put it in neutral if the engine still works. They may be more reliable than later war tanks, but it's never fun to replace a transmission," Miho stated. She found the ignition switch and pushed the button. With a sound that was more like a cough than a turnover, the tank's engine came to life. Miho quickly shifted the tank into neutral with the rightmost lever before shutting the engine off again. "I'm actually surprised it even turned over, much less actually starting," she commented before noticing her classmates staring at her amazed, except for Ross, who was examining the tracks of the vehicle.
"You can drive a manual?" Saori asked.
Miho poked her head out of the driver's hatch. "Well, all tanks used in tankery have manual transmissions so…" she replied flustered.
Ross looked up from the tracks, "Trust me, it's not that hard to learn once you have some experience and confidence with them. I learned it in 5th grade when I was the driver of the A7V. Whoever will be your driver shouldn't have any problems learning it," he reassured, "Oh and the tracks are in surprisingly good shape as well. We'll have no problems towing it or getting it on a trailer depending on what 'toy' Joseph brings over."
As if on cue, the sound of two heavy-duty gasoline engines made its way through the forest, followed by the sound of tracks fighting with the mud hidden underneath the dry surface of the riverbed. The machine came into view, churning up mud with its tracks. What used to be a U.S Army green was faded and now covered in mud. It was a fully tracked boxy artillery tractor that had a white star on the front and a large cargo hold in the back. Yukari immediately identified it for them, "Wow! An M6 High-Speed Tractor! That's awesome!"
"Looks like those garages had more than just a decrepit Panzer IV," Ross noted as the tractor stopped in front of the Stridsvagn and began a slow neutral turn to align the rear with the vehicle. The five other crew members of the Elefant were in the back and two of them had a set of chains draped over their shoulders. When the vehicle stopped with the rear facing the Stridsvagn, three crew members jumped out of the back and gathered around the side while the two loaders of the Elefant who carried the chains, Morgan Wade and Kass Day, went to work on connecting the M6 to the Stridsvagn. Joseph jumped out of the driver's seat and onto the riverbed.
He turned to his gunner, the short August Monroe who had dirty blonde hair. "August I want you in the turret making sure everything is stable there," Joseph ordered. Then he ordered his driver and radio operator, "Tanner, I want you in the driver's seat and Elliot keep the radio operator's seat warm."
The two tallest members of the crew only responded with a casual nod and climbed into the cramped hull compartments for the driver and radio operator. By that point, Morgan and Kass had finished hooking up the chains and August was in the turret. "We got the chains hooked up Joseph, anything else?" Morgan asked.
"Nah you two are good." Joseph approached Panzer Search Group I. "Good find you guys, she shouldn't be hard to get out of here and back into running order," he said. "I didn't mention this earlier, but I'm glad to see that you joined the team Miho, you guys seem to work together well if this find is anything to go off of. What do you think of the M6?"
"It's a pretty impressive machine. It'll be pretty useful for finding new tanks," Miho simply replied.
Joseph nodded and turned to look back at the tractor. His two loaders had jumped into the rear storage compartment, while the other three crew members were waiting in the Stridsvagn. "She's real comfortable too. Let's head back to the garage, I think William should be back there with the History Club's find." The students returned to the M6. Everyone loaded themselves into the vehicle making it a tight fit. To alleviate this, Yukari jumped up through the roof cupola where an M2 Browning machine gun was mounted and sat on the roof. While she excitedly examined the gun, the girls readjusted themselves in the back so that everyone was comfortable. Ross and Joseph sat in the front. "Just letting you know, that gun is empty but very much still operational, don't poke it too much," Joseph advised. He pushed down the throttle and the M6 moved forward with the satisfying sound of increasing engine RPM.
000
It takes a lot to surprise a tanker. Getting shot at tends to harden your nerves and the battlefield is home to many mysteries. However, when the crew of the Tiger H2 disembarked near the lake the History Club claimed to have found a tank, they were surprised to see three of the four history buffs floating on the surface of the lake with very long reed poles and weaved pads strapped to their feet. Consisting of Oarai's history enthusiasts, the club's members on the surface of the lake were Erwin, a blonde WWII enthusiast, Oryou, a self-proclaimed Bakumatsu Era expert with messy black hair, and Caesar, the History Club's Roman expert. Using a long hollow reed to breathe, their Sengoku enthusiast, Saemonza was able to dive and better examine their underwater find.
William wasn't surprised to learn that their names were merely nicknames over their Japanese names, but Joseph made a good point right before he left that the nicknames were much easier to remember, so the commander simply filed that knowledge away. "So, what have you four found?" He asked with a shout across the lake. The H2's crew disembarked the vehicle, minus the radio operator, Casey Douglass, and the driver, Leslie Orlando. The pair of gun operators, Gunner Quinn Lane and Loader Addison Thane carried chains over their shoulders that clattered when they jumped down from the tank.
Erwin shouted back with her answer, "We're aren't certain just yet, but Saemonza says it looks flat and has a pretty long gun!"
"Flat and long huh… sounds like a Jagdpanzer. That'd be a powerful addition and would pair with the Elefant pretty well!" Casey exclaimed and flicked her long brown hair out of her face, a habit Leslie was more than willing to tease with a flick to the side of her head. Casey simply responded with a kick to the boy's thigh from within the hull.
"Cool it you two, let's try and figure out how we're gonna get this thing from the bottom of the lake without pulling the Tiger in," William ordered. The tank crew thought for a minute before their commander came to the unfortunate conclusion that someone was going to have to join Saemonza at the bottom of the lake.
Naturally being the loader, Addison was athletic with her experience of slamming 75mm shells into the H2's gun, so she volunteered to take the deep dive. "I got this," she stated confidently while taking one end of the other chain from Quinn.
"Be my guest ma'am," Quinn said and hooked up his end of the chain to one of the Tiger's tow hooks. Addison hooked up her chain to the tow hooks and dropped the chains in front of the Tiger.
The rest of the crew looked confused as Addison jumped back into the turret. After a quick minute, however, she emerged with the old uniform of Schwarzadler's tankery team over her school uniform, a simple dark blue jumpsuit with the school's insignia, the famous Prussian Eagle found on the former kingdom's flag, on the shoulder over a white shield with a gold cross. "I knew keeping this was a good idea." Taking a deep breath, the girl grabbed the chains once more and dove into the lake, which caused the rest of the History Club to nearly fall in themselves.
In the murky water of the lake, Addison was able to make out the underwater history buff with her reed next to a flat blackish vehicle. The heavy-duty chains helped her gain depth from the surface and within a few seconds, she was at their treasure. After handing a chain to Saemonza, the two found front tow hooks for the vehicle and connected them to the chains. Addison grabbed one of the chains and gestured for Saemonza to grab her foot. Although confused, she trusted the American transfer, grabbed her ankles, and abandoned her breathing reed, which floated to the surface. Hold on tight kid, it's time to fly, Addison cockily thought. With a firm tug, the two girls shot upwards using the American's powerful arm strength to propel them. With a dramatic splash that again nearly toppled over the surface History Club students, the pair surfaced. Addison smirked and took a deep satisfying breath. "How'd you like that girl! That's the power of a 2-time Oregon state swimming champion for ya!" she boasted.
Saemonza laughed and brushed her soaked hair from her face. "Not a bad performance," she replied.
"Maybe you two shouldn't try to knock us into the lake next time!" Oryou complained, looking rather irritated at several wet spots on her black overcoat.
Addison laughed and laid on her back in the water. "Hop in, the water's just fine!" she teased.
"Regardless, such a performance should get you a nickname… something naval-related, like a submarine name!" Caesar suggested, less upset than Oryou at the repeated splashings and cockiness of Addison. "Perhaps Srednyaya, the S-Class Soviet submarines!"
"No way, it's gotta be something American!" Saemonza and Addison objected.
Erwin had a light bulb moment and shared her suggestion, "If you're talking about American submarines, then your soul name must be Nimitz!"
The group excitedly shouted together while pointing to Addison, "That's it!" Even Oryou's annoyance with her damp coat faded as a newly nicknamed student was unofficially inducted into their circle.
Addison gave the History Club and thumbs up and kicked away from the floating students. Even her relaxed kicking propelled her back to the shoreline quickly. "Commander, this is Admiral Nimitz reporting in. The mission was a success!"
000
The landscaping of the top deck of Oarai was so detailed and well designed that you couldn't see any mechanical elements that would be required to ensure safe operation. Most ships would simply expose their smokestacks to the general eye, however, Oarai's designers hid its main smokestack within a small mountain that looked like it was ripped straight from the Japanese countryside. Even when intense ventilation was needed for the inside of the ship, most people wouldn't notice the various shafts hidden within seemingly random caves dotting the cliffside.
"You sure this lady was right? Hiding a tank in the ventilation mountain wouldn't be easy, and doesn't even make any sense." one of the defunct volleyball club members, Akebi Sasaki pointed out as the club hung from a maintenance path using rock climbing gear.
Their once club leader, Noriko Isobe was confident in her source's information. "It's actually a perfect place. Nobody but maintenance goes up here, not even any of the marine course students. Besides, who would need to check a ventilation shaft so much to care if a tank or two was stowed away?" she replied and aggressively repelled herself down to their suspect cave's level. Her fellow three volleyball girls followed. "Alright, headlamps on girls!" she ordered. The volleyball girls all turned on their headlamps which illuminated the dark rocky shaft. Noriko detached herself from her harness and stepped into the cave. The cave lightly smelled of fumes and other types of exhaust, but since the ship displaced its mechanical fumes across dozens of similar vents, it was nowhere near enough to be dangerous for any period shorter than a few hours.
Shinobu Kawanishi, a thin girl with a short brown ponytail pointed to the far left corner of the cave and shone her headlight on it. "Look over there, I think it's a tank!" she pointed out a dark figure hidden behind a boulder.
The four girl's headlamps illuminated the silhouette, revealing their hidden gem. The tank looked tough, was fueled by diesel, and mounted several machine guns which looked intimidating to the three freshmen and sophomore.
"Heck yeah, that's a find right there!" Noriko exclaimed excitedly. The girls ran over and examined the tank up close. "Is there a manual anywhere? It might tell us what type of tank this is!"
Taeko Kondou, a freshman with a red headband and lightly dyed hair pulled a floppy-looking textbook. She read the title aloud, "The Basic Mechanics of Diesel Engines: Type 89B edition! That's gotta be the tank's name!"
"Type 89B…" Noriko let the name sink in. "Now that's a powerful name! It's fitting for such a powerful-looking tank."
If only the volleyball enthusiasts knew a little more about Japanese tanks.
000
"It's um, a little taller than I expected…" Azusa Sawa, the unofficial leader of the freshman tank search group, hesitatingly approached the tall U.S Army green vehicle. The tank had two guns, one in the hull, and one in a turret. Not only that, it had riveted armor and a side door escape hatch. Not only that, but the main turret had a strange bulge sticking out of the back However, this was all dwarfed by the towering height of the vehicle. Even if one of the freshmen stood on top of another one's shoulders, they'd still only just be tall enough to peek over the tank.
A girl with greyish blue long hair gave her opinion. "With it being so tall it'll help intimidate our opponents!" Ayumi Yamagou said.
"I bet there's enough space for all of us!" Karina Sakaguchi exclaimed.
Azusa looked back to her teammates and smiled. "Good way to think on the positive side guys!" she encouraged. "Now did anyone get one of the leader's phone numbers?"
The freshman awkwardly waited in silence, hoping for someone else to have remembered getting the number. When nobody said anything, Azusa sighed and pulled up a map on her phone. "Alright, I'll go get someone to tow out our tank, anyone wanna come with me?"
000
After several hours of swearing, chain snapping, and tractor driving, everybody's finds were brought back to the tankery field and lined up neatly in front of the first garage. The work Joseph and William's crews were able to do on the garages stood out among the rusted-out tanks. The concrete flooring has been pressure washed back to a pleasant gray and the crates and piles of junk had either been salvaged or disposed of. Now there was plenty of space for Oarai's fledgling fleet of armored vehicles. The Schwarzadler tanks were stored along with the M6 tractor in the first garage. A small office was also tucked away in the corner and an industrial catwalk was lined above the vehicle area. A heavy-duty crane also was mounted to a ceiling beam although several holes in the roof had yet to be fixed with new shingling. Whatever had been salvaged had been stored in the second garage until the old team headquarters could be restored.
"It looks like everyone is already getting pretty attached to their vehicles," Miho commented. Everyone was excitedly examining every corner of the tanks, except for the interior. Most of the tanks would need to be aired out and given some heavy-duty cleaning treatment to get rid of the decay before they were safe to operate. Examining the inside for more than a second was essentially akin to sticking your head into a waste barrel for some tanks like the History Club's find, the Sturmgeschutz III. However, some tanks weren't in terrible condition like the freshmen's find, the M3 'Grant'.
"We could probably just have them crew the ones they found. They all have the right amount of crew to operate each tank efficiently, now the only question is who should crew the Stridsvagn and Panzer IV?" William asked.
The Student Council and Miho's friends thought for a minute then Momo made a good point. "The Panzer IV would operate better with a four-person crew than a three-person crew. We'll take the Stridsvagn, you four will crew the Panzer IV once we find a new cannon for it," she stated.
Miho agreed with a nod, but the question of the Panzer IV's cannon remained. There's not much point in fielding a tank without a cannon, and the Panzerbefehlswagen could only mount the Kwk 40 L/48 gun. "How much would buying a gun cost?" Ross asked.
"Less than buying a whole tank, but it'd probably be a large portion of our budget. Cleaning supplies and mechanical necessities are already taking a good piece out, and once we start fielding them the vehicles will need ammunition and fuel. We're saving a lot of money by salvaging what we can, but I doubt the scrap we can sell would cover the costs," Yuzu explained, holding a work in progress budget sheet.
Momo scowled. "And were there any records about the selling of such a gun?"
Yuzu shook her head. "I didn't find anything regarding the selling or scrapping of any tank guns. Perhaps it's still around here?" she suggested.
The boys thought about that prospect. They were only able to clean out two of the garages in the time they had before they began retrieving abandoned tanks. It's possible that it's around here, but would it be even safe to operate? William thought.
Joseph shrugged and walked past everyone and headed towards the third garage. "Only way to find out is by looking!" he shouted and took off running towards the third garage. Despite the day of work, everyone had a little energy left. "Divide and conquer guys! Let's get all these garages open!" he shouted.
Everyone split themselves among the three remaining garages. The three doors were opened revealing that each garage was as dilapidated as the previous two were before they were cleaned. At the third garage, Ross and Miho stepped inside followed by the rest of their respective crews. In front of them, suspended in the air by a set of rusty chains, was the object needed to restore the Panzer IV. The 7.5 cm Kwk 40 L/48 looked like it had just been through Stalingrad and Kursk. The muzzle brake was broken off and laid on the floor under it, while what used to be a coat of grey paint was chipped and rusted. "Never can be easy huh?" Ross asked rhetorically.
Miho approached the suspended cannon and peered down the barrel. Examining the interior revealed that, despite its age, the rifling was still intact. The grooves were worked into a spiral around the barrel and looked mesmerizing, but they played an important role when keeping a shell on course with its target. Miho ran around the back of the gun and examined the breech. The situation was the same, worn and rusty, but still salvageable. "The rust looks rough, but with a little bit of scrubbing, we'll get through it. The breech looks solid, so we'll have no problems when firing. It does look like the firing pin may need to be replaced, but it shouldn't be an expensive fix," Miho determined.
In the fourth garage, William and the Student Council found something just as exciting. Lined up neatly on a shelf in the back were several rockets. "This will be our first clue to finding what's left of Oarai's collection," William stated as he picked up one of the rockets, "Well, well, well, 7.2-inch rockets. Either we've got a T34E2 'Calliope' or a T40 'Whizbang' somewhere around here."
"Then we should redouble our effort to find them tomorrow." Momo decided.
William shook his head in disagreement, "I would advise getting the tanks we have ready over looking for tanks that we can't crew. These rockets would give us a boost in firepower, but if we don't have a proper crew and a solid team around it then they'll all be worthless."
Momo narrowed her eyes at the advisor. The nerve of these Americans! She opened her mouth to retort, but Anzu stepped in before she had the opportunity.
"Let's just leave the decisions for our schedule up to Nishizumi, she is the captain after all," Anzu chirped before munching onto another sweet potato slice.
William nodded in agreement. "Very well, she is the leader, and a leader without any control or authority isn't a leader at all," he blankly stated, giving Kawashima a look to challenge her to make an objection.
"Indeed, we'll leave it to Nishizumi," Momo settled, "Now is there anything else in this garage that could prove to be useful?"
000
A fruitful hunt deserves a fruitful reward, at least that was Saori's reasoning for suggesting that they should go out for ice cream. As the evening sun began its trip below the horizon, the teams of the Panzer IV and Type 100 made their way to an ice cream parlor near the campus. All of them except for Ross waited near the front. A couple of them, specifically Hana and Chloe were eying the menu options very closely, while Tandy simply opted for a bottle of water.
The ringing of a bell attached to the door signaled the entry of a new customer. Ross back walked into the quiet shop, using his elbow to open the door because his arms were occupied. He turned to face the proper direction, revealing that he had picked up Natalie on a detour from the tankery field. "Alright, I'm back."
The three of Miho's friends looked confused at the boy. Natalie looked back and blinked blankly. Their reactions didn't surprise Ross. Introducing his daughter to new people was always somewhat of a chore and he'd already dealt with it a few times at Oarai already. To ease his nerves, he began leaning back and forth on his ankles, which made Natalie giggle at the movement.
Saori was the first to respond, "What?! How is that even possible, you're only as old as us. How are you able to do school, Sensha-do, and have a kid?!"
Hana's persistently present elegant smile turned into a look of neutrality. "Well then, I think I've made up my mind on what to get. So I'm just gonna do that now." She turned away and quietly made her way to the counter.
"So does she like tanks too Ross?" Yukari asked.
Does this girl only think about tanks and how things relate to them? Ross thought. "Well, I think I have some toy tanks at the apartment she plays with, but I haven't taken her to any practices or anything. It's important to not expose babies to extraordinarily loud sounds like a cannon firing. It could damage her hearing and upset her," he explained.
"That's nice and all, but how do you do it? I mean, you transferred here with a child, maintaining your education, and you're trying to advise a tankery team. That's just too much," Saori questioned, "Oh, and what about her mom? Did she transfer too?"
Ross froze and the conversation quickly went dark. He stopped rocking back and forth and Natalie leaned into his arms. "No. She did not." Ross emotionlessly replied. He walked past the three girls and approached his own crewmembers. "Could someone hold Natalie real quick so I can order?" he asked. Tandy nodded and Ross gave his daughter to his driver. "I'll be right back kiddo," he reassured, although he seemed distant.
000
Eventually, the jubilant chatter of Oarai's youth overcame any awkward silence as everyone enjoyed their frozen treats with their teammates. Talks of gossip, rumors, and the going-ons of high school filled the room. "Alright Miho, I'm starting to doubt your claim at not being good at this tank stuff. The way you shifted the Stridswagen was so natural!" Saori exclaimed.
"Hey, it's pronounced Stridsvagn! With a V. And I'll have you know, Captain Nishizumi was one of the most competent tank commanders in Kuromormine's arsenal and I have no doubt she'll be the best Oarai has ever seen!" Yukari fired back.
"Stridsvagn, stridswagen same thing," Saori said.
Miho laughed at the two's bickering, but after she stopped she gave her reasoning, "Well, I may be alright, but my sister and mother… they're on a whole different level. I don't think I could hold a candle to them."
"Cmon, don't put yourself down Miho. Here try some sweet potato ice cream!" Saori exclaimed and took a bit of the tan-colored ice cream from her cone with a small spoon.
Miho ate the ice cream offered to her from Saori's spoon. It tasted sweet, but also reminiscent of the famous Oarai sweet potato. Not wanting to be outdone, however, Hana took a bit of her own mint ice cream and offered it to Miho. Accepting the offer let her taste the cool mint and sweet bits of chocolate.
"They're both good! I like them both." Miho smiled graciously with her friends. Maybe I can still be a normal girl, even if I have to be the captain...
000
Alright I'm back from a short delay. I also know its a few months late, but I'm gonna try to reply to reviews here, so time to go back and reply to previous reviews.
Nazz11: Thanks for your praise! I still remember reading your review for the first time back in May and with it being the first review it really pushed me forward. I hope I can hear more of your thoughts on the following chapters!
That'll be all for today, but I'm going to try and be consistant with my updates, but no promises! If you have a moment, please leave a review, I love hearing people's thoughts and constructive criticism is the best way for me to improve. Also thanks to everyone who has followed and favorited as well! They're also great to see. Thank you for reading my work and see you or the next chapter, Chapter 5: Putting Together the Pieces