Chapter 28: Closer Together

Ross and Miho walked through the darkening streets as the evening wound down. "So, what would you like to do for dinner?" Miho asked.

Ross shrugged. "I'm not picky, what about you?"

Miho thought about it for a moment. "Well, how about something Italian?" she suggested.

Ross chuckled. "Do you want that because our next opponent is Anzio?" he asked.

Miho giggled. "Well, I guess it just came to mind," she replied.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. There's a serious lack of interesting restaurants back in Oregon. You gotta go to the big cities to get anything unique," Ross said.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think Oarai has any Italian restaurants either," Miho added.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to make it on our own," Ross suggested.

Miho smiled. "That sounds like fun! Do you know any Italian recipes?" she asked.

"Um… well… I guess I can do… meatballs?" he replied sheepishly. Miho and Natalie started giggling. "Oh come on!" Ross protested, "that's something."

Miho wiped some tears from her eyes. "Sorry, I know you can't really cook," she said, "but only meatballs? Not even spaghetti?"

"Well uh… last time I tried didn't end well. I scalded part of my arm pretty badly," Ross explained, "I've feared spaghetti ever since…" he followed dramatically.

"You're actually afraid of spaghetti?" Miho asked humorously.

"No, I'm not afraid of spaghetti!" Ross playfully chastised. The three of them laughed together at the idea. "I can probably still help though."

"I'll just keep you away from the spaghetti," Miho joked.

Ross groaned. "I'm not actually afraid of spaghetti…" he complained.

"Alright, alright," Miho relented, "let's head over to my place. I should have what we need to make something."

At Miho's apartment, Ross brought over Natalie's high chair so they didn't need to worry about her crawling around while they were preoccupied. "So, what are your orders Chef Nishizumi?" Ross asked after setting Natalie down in her high chair.

Miho just shook her head while she finished tying her apron. "Well first we need to boil some water for the pasta," she said.

"Alright, that seems easy enough," Ross said and started reaching for a pot hanging up on a rack.

Miho lightly slapped his hand away. "Didn't you burn yourself last time?" she pointed out with a mix of smugness and concern.

"I'll be fine," Ross said. He grabbed the pot and his hand slipped. The pot fell from his grasp. He could only watch as the pot fell directly over his head. "You know… maybe you should handle the hard parts…"

Miho shook her head and took the pot off his head. "You should try to be less clumsy in the kitchen. You can actually hurt yourself here," she warned.

"Huh, that just dawned on me. Kinda like that pot," he joked.

Miho smiled and shook her head. She set the pot in the sink to fill it with water and turned on the tap. Next, she opened the fridge and took out a package of ground beef. "Why don't you make the meatballs?" she asked.

Ross took the package from her. "I can do that," he said.

Miho grabbed a baking sheet and handed it to him. "Remember to spray the sheet with vegetable oil so the meatballs don't stick," she advised.

"Right, right," Ross said and set the sheet on the counter with the ground beef next to it. Miho turned back to the sink and turned it off since the pot had filled with enough water. She picked up the heavy pot when she heard Ross coughing hard.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern as she set the pot on the oven and rushed over.

Ross pulled himself together. "Yeah, I just breathed in a little bit of the spray," he answered.

Miho sighed. "Okay, be careful," she said. He's so hopeless, she thought with an amused smile.

"And done!" Miho declared as she set the last dish on her table. Their main dish would be spaghetti with meatballs, the most simple and easily-recognizable Italian dish. For sides they made, pan-fried asparagus, roasted peppers with garlic, basil, and tomatoes, and cheesy polenta. Ross dried off his hands after washing them and set a smaller plate on Natalie's tray.

"Here you go Natalie, let's try eating with utensils again," he said. He had cut the spaghetti into tiny bites and ground-up her meatballs so they could be scooped up with a spoon.

"Has she learned how to use them yet?" Miho asked.

"Not completely. Forks are a little out of reach, but she's starting to learn how to eat with a spoon," Ross answered. He handed Natalie a small purple baby spoon which she clumsily grabbed. He took her hand and gently guided it to the spaghetti and scooped some of it up before guiding it to Natalie's mouth. Natalie happily opened her mouth and ate the spaghetti. "Okay, can you do it on your own now?" Ross asked.

Natalie nodded clumsily and repeated the motions on her own to some success. She spilled some of it onto her bib and chin but managed to get some spaghetti. Ross couldn't help but giggled while Natalie quickly scooped up more of her spaghetti. "Well I guess it's better than nothing," he said.

"Good thing you remembered her bib," Miho added.

"Oh definitely," Ross said as they knelt next to her table, "the most important rule of mealtime is the bib. Otherwise, you have a really messy and fussy Natalie."

"I thought babies loved to get messy," Miho said with a giggle.

Ross shrugged. "Most of the time she doesn't care. Until it's her overalls that get dirty. I don't know why, but she gets really upset if her overalls get dirty," he explained.

Miho tilted her head. "Just her overalls? She must like them a lot then. I know I'd get upset if my clothes got dirty," she replied as she started dishing out some food onto her plate.

"Yeah, I would too, but she doesn't care if it's like a pair of pants or a shirt. Just her overalls," Ross said as he followed Miho and began putting food on his plate.

"Well, she's her own person you know, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. She just can't explain them to us yet," Miho pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess I hadn't thought about it like that," Ross agreed.

Miho took a bite of the spaghetti. "Mmm! It's good," she exclaimed.

Ross followed and tried the spaghetti. "It is!" he agreed. The sentiment was the same as they tried the rest of the food. It was something new, but it was still delicious. Even Natalie ate everything on her plate. "It's much easier to eat with a fork and spoon than it is with chopsticks. Even after your lessons I still can't get comfortable with them," Ross said.

"Well, you've eaten with Western utensils your whole life, so it's pretty hard to get used to. I had a childhood friend from Germany who said it was pretty hard to transition so she stuck with forks and spoons for a long time," Miho replied.

"I can understand why. Are you still in contact with them?" Ross asked.

Miho nodded as she ate. "Occasionally. I was actually hoping we'd face her in the tournament. She ended up becoming the captain at Bellwall," Miho revealed.

"Really? She must be a pretty good commander," Ross complimented.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have thought that back in elementary school. Emi was always a little arrogant and stubborn. When we started learning how to operate tanks, she ended up being the driver of our Panzer IV Ausf. D. I think she and Hitomi ended up at Bellwall together, but Chihiro decided to do something other than Sensha-do," Miho explained.

"You guys crewed a Panzer IV in elementary? Did you join an elementary league?" Ross asked.

"No, here in Japan we wait until middle school to start Sensha-do. Do you do Sensha-do- sorry tankery in elementary school in America?" Miho asked.

"Yeah, Joseph, Jody, William, and I crewed Nixe II in the Schwarzadler elementary 'reserve' team. They call elementary tankery teams reserve teams because a lot of the school's set them up as backups for middle school teams to call up when needed. By American Tankery League rules, each school participating in tankery has to set up a middle and elementary school team before they can dedicate tanks to be reserves," Ross explained.

"That seems like an odd rule, why is it set up like that?" Miho asked.

"It was put in place to better prepare middle schoolers and elementary kids for high school tankery, supposedly. I think it was set up to curb large school districts from setting up massive high school teams while neglecting lower grades. Typically Elementary schools get World War I vehicles as well since they're slower and easier to control with a few modifications. Middle schoolers then move up to interwar tanks and high schoolers get wartime tanks. That's just a tradition though, I've fought kids in elementary who used Panzer Is before," Ross answered.

"Seems like things are a lot different in America," Miho said.

Ross nodded. "That and it's completely co-ed. Title Nine of the Education Amendments of 1972 prevents gender-based discrimination in education programs. Basically saying that schools can't set up male or female-only teams so tankery developed into a co-ed sport," Ross answered.

"So how did tankery start in America? Did it stem from Sensha-do?" Miho asked.

"Before I answer that, what currently serves as the United States' Army's main battle tank?" Ross asked.

"The M1 Abrams, why?" Miho answered.

Ross smirked. "Now who is the M1's namesake?

"General Creighton Abrams," Miho answered.

"There's your man! So, after World War II ended, you have all these tanks that are 1. Growing ridiculously obsolete and 2. Lacking scrap shops to get rid of them in Europe because a lot of the heavy equipment was destroyed in the war or being used by the military. The solution was to ship them to U.S and Canadian scrap yards which were untouched but overflowing with orders. So now we have a bunch of destroyed or damaged tanks that have nowhere to go or are being studied by the army at Fort Knox and other military installations. So when General Abrams became Chief of Staff of the Armor Center in Fort Knox in 1954, he found something interesting. When he was off duty he found that some tanks had been stolen by some teenagers. Naturally, the Army goes ballistic because having some of the most destructive Army property in the hands of some Kentucky teenagers is a terrible idea," Ross explained.

"They just walked in and stole it?" Miho asked.

"Pretty much. This was a PR nightmare for the Army, but it gave Abrams an idea, well two specifically. One was obvious, we need more security, but two while he was in Europe he heard rumors of Soviets integrating leftover armor into 'civilian mobilization programs' basically borderline child soldiers, as the Soviets do. He modifies this idea into what we see today as tankery and submits it to the Army and Department of Education. Then bureaucracy happens, and the Army gets rid of their tank situation which has only worsened with the retirement of the M4 Sherman and the ATL is established."

"You mentioned Soviet child soldiers? What were they doing?" Miho asked.

"That would become Panzerfahren! Basically the same situation, but more militarized and across the Iron Curtain. Panzerfahren was formed to teach high schoolers in Soviet territory how to operate tanks since war with the West is expected and they are running low on soldiers. This was mostly done in East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia on the assumption that these troops would be needed to rapidly counterattack the West and save Russians from fighting in the opening days where high casualties were expected. This is why the German name stuck over a Russian name because East Germans were the bulk of the force. It's actually alleged that the refusal of the participants to change the name to a Russian one infuriated Stalin so much that it caused his final stroke in 1953, but that's just a rumor," Ross lectured.

"And after the Cold War, the program was turned over for civilian purposes?" Miho asked.

"Pretty much. The newly reunited Germany saw it as a way to win over East Germans who were still under the sway of the Soviet Union, so they turned it from creating child soldiers experienced in armor to students learning engineering, math, and the values of friendships after thoroughly detached it from the military," Ross explained, "they were so paranoid that Panzerfahren would be seen as a child soldier program that they forbid anyone from joining the Bundeswehr for five years if they participated in Panzerfahren. Despite that, the main difference between Sensha-do and tankery and Panzerfahren is that Panzerfahren still uses military ranks and breaks up teams into regiments of 10 tanks each within the team."

"I can understand the paranoia, but clearly Sensha-do, tankery, and Panzerfahren have been able to remain detached from the military, even if some people end up in the JSDF and U.S Army," Miho added.

"Yeah, it certainly helps the transition, but more people probably end up as engineers or something. I think to combat that idea, the U.S government commissioned a study which found that for every one soldier that comes from tankery like ten people from tankery graduate with a STEM degree," Ross added.

"That's an interesting statistic!" Miho exclaimed, "maybe I should pursue engineering."

"Are you good at math?" Ross asked.

"Um…" Miho muttered, "is a 75 good enough?" she asked sheepishly.

"That should be good enough to start, that's equivalent to a B in the U.S," Ross answered.

Miho's face lit up. "Well then maybe I should pursue it!"

"And then you can design a main battle tank! How about the M2 'Nishizumi?' to succeed the Abrams" Ross asked jokingly.

Miho giggled. "I don't think so," she replied with a smile, "but still, I'll keep my options open."

"Well you've got time," Ross said before finishing the last of his spaghetti. He turned around to see that Natalie had finished most of her small plate as well. Miho had finished her plate as well, so they started to clean up. While Miho put their dishes in the sink, Ross took a wet towel and started cleaning up Natalie, who babbled indignantly at him. "C'mon Natalie, sit still," Ross requested while she wiggled and protested. Ross sighed when he got her face cleaned and took off her bib. "Why are you so fussy tonight?" he asked.

"Like father, like daughter," Miho teased as she finished setting their plates in the sink and putting the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ross asked.

Miho giggled while she dried off her hands. "You two are both stubborn. Remember the weekend before our first match? You were so set on not getting sidelined," she pointed out.

Ross picked up Natalie out of her chair. Despite her indignation at getting her face wiped off, she quickly latched onto him. "Yeah okay. I can do some dumb stuff sometimes," he relented, "but we needed to compete. Saunders was a tough school, and being the first contact, we could warn you about the paintballs before you encountered them."

"I didn't say you weren't important, but please take care of yourself and learn to give in once in a while. It'll do you some good," Miho advised.

"I'll keep that in mind," Ross replied with a small smile. Natalie got up from his shoulder and turned around to reach out to Miho.

Miho smiled and took her from Ross. "Do you want to stay for a little while?" she offered.

Natalie nodded and leaned into her shoulder. "I guess there's no harm in hanging out for a while," Ross replied.

"Let's watch a movie then!" Miho suggested. "I've got one I know you'll like," she said while petting Natalie's hair.

Does that mean it's Boko-related? Ross asked himself. Why do I care? It's just more time with Miho, an intrusive thought pointed out. Wait what? Where'd that come from?

"Come on Ross, join us!" Miho exclaimed, patting the seat next to her on her cot, which she converted into a couch after she put her bedding on the floor next to it, except for a blanket which she draped over her lap.

"Oh right sure," Ross said before joining her on the cot-couch, "so what are we watching?"

As the morning sun rose and lit up their apartment. William and Joseph were engaged in a fierce debate that filled the room. "You may as well just pay me now. It's pretty much certain that they're together," William argued.

"I'm not paying you a cent until we know for sure. I'm not getting extorted just because they had a little dinner date!" Joseph protested.

William burst out laughing. "Dinner date? So they're dating? That means you gotta hand over the money!" he countered.

"It's a figure of speech!" Joseph shouted as he grabbed a can of cola from the fridge and slammed it shut.

William rolled his eyes. "Come on, we all know it's happening so just hand it over!" he argued.

"You guys should really lock your door," a certain mischievous red-haired prankster said while leaning against their wall on her left arm.

The two boys stopped arguing and turned to the entrance to see Jody smirking at them. "Oh, I just wanted to point that out. You can keep arguing now," she said.

"Oh, yeah we probably should keep the door locked. This isn't Oregon," Joseph said before doing a double-take, "wait why are you here?"

"I'm meeting up with Ross. Is he still asleep?" she asked.

"No, he's still over at Miho's I think," William answered.

"You think! Maybe he went somewhere else," Joseph suggested, "so it's not a done deal that he even stayed the night."

"Where would Natalie have gone?" William asked.

"Maybe he left her with Miho while he went and… went back to the garages?" Joseph suggested.

William groaned and rolled his eyes. "You are grasping at straws! Just pay me what I'm owed, we all know they're together now! You don't just invite a guy over to dinner that you have been obviously crushing on platonically," he protested.

"Hold up, Ross went where now?" Jody asked.

"Ross, Miho, and Natalie had dinner at Miho's, but he didn't come back last night," Joseph explained.

"Well shoot… looks like Natalie's gonna be a big sister soon," Jody joked.

Joseph spat his soda out of his mouth all over William. "Jesus Christ Jody!" he shouted.

"Well, Jesus Christ to you too!" William shouted, wiping soda off of his face.

"Did you not hear her insinuate…"

"We all know what this walnut was insinuating!" William shouted, "but I don't like not getting paid AND getting soda spat in my face!"

"I should've brought popcorn. This is great," Jody joked.

"Shut up!" Joseph and William shouted.

Across the hall in Miho's much quieter room. Ross's eyes slowly blinked open. As he woke up, he rubbed his face and looked around. I must've fallen asleep while we were watching that Boko movie… he thought. As he finished waking up, he realized something, or rather someone was leaning on his shoulder, sleeping soundly with his arm wrapped around her. Huh… he thought blankly while Miho slept against his shoulder peacefully. So… looks like your strategy of not falling in love fell flat on its face, an intrusive thought said. Ross' face reddened with a blush. So what are my options? Stay friends and break her heart or admit that I have feelings for her too… staying the night certainly isn't helping option one… His eyes fell on Natalie who was curled up in Miho's arms, also sleeping soundly. What about her? If I try to stay friends and things get awkward, how will Natalie feel? She's gotten really attached to Miho too… But if I let this happen and we get together then… what if she runs like Lisette did?

You know you don't even know why Lisette left, the intrusive thoughts said.

She left because she didn't want to take care of Natalie and dumped her on me!

Do you entirely think that?

What else is there?

So do you think Natalie would be a burden on Miho just because you two would be a couple?

That's what happened with Lisette.

Is it though?

I don't care why she left!

Miho shuffled next to him and slowly opened her eyes. Ross turned to her and their eyes met. They silently stared at each other for a brief moment before Miho's face burst into a fiery blush. She quickly snapped back before stopping because Natalie was in her lap. "Oh my God, Ross I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

Ross's face was already bright red from the moment he woke up, but it somehow got brighter. "Oh no, no, it's fine, really," he said.

"No, really I'm sorry, I just fell asleep and I-"

Without thinking Ross put a finger over Miho's lips. "It's okay Miho. I don't mind that you slept on my shoulder. Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"W-well yeah…" Miho stuttered.

"Then I don't mind," Ross said with a smile.

Miho's heart started to calm down while she looked into his eyes. "A-alright…" she muttered before looking down at Natalie. "I think she slept well too…" she whispered.

"Yeah…" Ross muttered.

Their moment was interrupted by rapid and loud knocking from Miho's front door. "Hey lovebirds! Get up!" Jody shouted through the door.

"Quiet down you idiot!" William demanded, not far behind her.

Ross and Miho's faces could not physically get any redder. The call woke up Natalie who started to stir in Miho's arms while they got up to answer the door. Ross quickly opened the door to greet Jody with a very, very welcoming glare. "Hey! How's it going you two!" she greeted with a bright wave, "did you remember to use prot-"

Ross may not have had his helmet nearby, but Joseph did. His helmet flew across the hallway and into Jody's head, who fell down comedically. "Ow…" she moaned.

"Thanks, Joseph," Ross thanked. Joseph gave him a thumbs-up as he walked over and picked up his helmet.

"So… what's going on here?" Miho asked as she poked around Ross, who fully opened the door.

"Well Ross didn't come back last night, and Jody said you guys had plans so she came over to get you," William explained.

Jody got up from the floor. "So are we still hanging out at the farmer's market today?" she asked.

"Oh yeah! That's today. L-let me get ready and wash up quickly. Should we meet at the lobby in about an hour?" Miho suggested, eagerly changing the subject.

Ross took Natalie from Miho and stepped out of her apartment. "Sure, let's plan on that," he said.

"Great, great, I'll see you guys in an hour!" Miho exclaimed and shut the door quickly.

Jody smirked and stared at Ross menacingly. "So, Mr. Obligations… how was your night with your girl?" she teased.

Ross sighed and dropped his shoulders. "I can't hide it anymore," he whispered, "I-I love her."

Jody's jaw dropped. "Holy crap, you did not just say that," she said.

"What else am I supposed to say? I can't hide it anymore and I can't deny it anymore. It's how I feel and I don't know what to do about it," he said as he started walking over to their apartment.

"You don't know? Dude, it's obvious, just go tell her!" William urged.

"Wait a minute we had an agreement to not intervene!" Joseph interrupted.

William froze for a moment before slapping his forehead "Dang it!" he exclaimed with a stomp.

Joseph smiled madly. "Our bet is now void, you intervened!" he cheered.

Ross stared at William and Joseph blankly. "What bet?" he asked.

Riding his high of victory through disqualification, Joseph didn't restrain himself. "We had a bet on whether you would get with Miho or not, but we also agreed to not intervene. Looks like I get to keep my ten dollars!" he exclaimed.

"You idiot!" William shouted, "don't just tell him that!"

Ross just shook his head and walked past them into their apartment. "I swear, putting up with you guys is going to kill me…" he muttered as he shut the door and went to freshen up himself and Natalie.

William solemnly pulled out his wallet while Joseph smiled like a madman. "Take your damn money," William sneered as he threw a ten-dollar bill onto the ground.

"Don't mind if I do!" Joseph exclaimed gleefully as he picked up the money and pocketed it.

A few more days passed quickly and the next weekend was upon Oarai. Miho sat at her desk looking over some papers and notes she had jotted down during that Friday's meeting after practice. In the center of her desk was a map detailing the battlefield where they would face Anzio. The diamond-shaped battlefield encompassed the area between Mt. Fuji Children's World in the Shizuoka Prefecture, near Anzio's home port of Shimazu. The border went from Mt. Fuji Children's World at the bottom peak of the diamond to Grinpa Amusement park at the right peak. The top peak of the diamond was west of the peak of Mount Hoei at the Mt. Fuji General Information office where Anzio would start at. Oarai would start at the southern tip of the diamond at Mt. Fuji Children's World. The western peak of the diamond was Fujihinoki Park. The battlefield itself consisted of a mix of mountainous fields and forest with tough terrain for tanks. This field will play to Anzio's advantage. Light mountainous terrain with opportunities to conceal movement… she thought.

In the center of the map was a fake village built by the Japanese Sensha-do Federation with prefab houses and other buildings that were basically just frames, walls, flooring, and ceilings. No furnishings, wiring, or plumbing made them easy to build and tear down. Regardless, they still made a convincing village environment. It wasn't cramped and built up like a city, but still a notable feature of the environment. They decided at their meeting to shake up their usual strategy of breaking up into groups and instead formed a main group with the artillery at the rear with two reconnaissance tanks to scout the land ahead of them, consisting of Leopard Team and Duck Team to identify the enemy before the main force would engage and hopefully destroy Anzio's flag tank.

Just the thought of Leopard Team, or more specifically, their commander made Miho blush. He's just so nice to be around… she thought before sighing, Saori's right. I l-l Even in her own thoughts she couldn't finish the sentence. What do I do? I've never felt like this about anyone. Maybe I should call Maho? She thought. She grabbed her phone and opened it before pausing. But Maho doesn't like Ross… she doesn't trust him. She debated back in forth in her thoughts before opening her contact list and calling Maho. It would be better to face her now over later if we got together. However, the thought of if and not when made her heart hurt a little.

"Miho, good evening. How are you?" Maho asked once the call connected.

Miho jumped out of her thoughts when Maho spoke. "Oh hey Maho, I'm doing well. How are you?"

"I'm fine Miho, what's up?" Maho asked.

"Well, I actually wanted to ask you for advice…"

"Oh? What do you need advice about?" Maho asked.

Miho bit her lip. "How do you… well… handle having feelings for someone?" she asked. Maho started giggling on the other end of the line, causing Miho to get a little offended. "Come on Maho, don't laugh!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just happy that you can have something like that. You know, being out of Kuromormine," Maho said.

Miho smiled. "Okay, so what should I do?" she asked.

"Miho, as happy as I am for you… I have to admit that romance isn't something I have experience or knowledge about," Maho admitted.

"Oh…" Miho replied dejectedly.

"But I think I can give you something. Just follow your heart and do what you think is right. If you love someone, then tell them. I know it sounds easier said than done, but that's really all you can do," Maho said.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Miho replied.

"If I may, who are you interested in? Maybe I help you more if I know more about him," Maho said.

Miho's heart started beating faster, both in anxiety and in love. "Well… it's… one of the transfer students from America… It's Ross," Miho admitted.

In her dorm, Maho's face grew dark. "Oh," she stated.

"Listen, I know you don't trust him and don't like him, but he's really a good guy, honestly!" Miho pleaded.

"Miho… can you really vouch for him? And is this all really a good thing to pursue? I mean he has a child from another girl and he's probably not going to stay in Japan after he graduates. Have you thought that far ahead?" Maho pointed out.

Miho stopped to think when her own words from the prior weekend echoed in her mind. I want to have a family. I want a successful career and all that sure, but I think seeing you take care of Natalie and being around you has made me want a family more. "Maho… he's a good person, actually, he's a great person. That's- that's why I fell in love with him. With him and his daughter."

Maho's eyes widened in shock. "Miho…. If he loves you too… do you intend to adopt Natalie as well?" she asked.

Miho's heart swelled at the idea. "I-I do. I-I mean once I'm 18 and all."

Maho took a deep breath. "Miho… that's a lot to take in. I mean I get wanting a relationship, but adoption?"

"I mean, it would only be after a while and-"

"Miho I know, you can't exactly do that overnight. Heck, they aren't even citizens of Japan," Maho pointed out.

"But maybe that's something we can talk about once we're 18 and graduated," Miho said.

"Okay, just don't rush something like that," Maho advised, "but as for being in a relationship, that's something you can do. I don't know Ross enough to trust him, but if you can vouch for him… then fine, I'll put my concerns aside. Not like I can do much to stop you."

"Maho… thank you," Miho said.

"You're welcome. Now, here's what you should do. Find the right time to tell him and if it works out then great, go from there. But if it doesn't, be ready to manage that with your relationship as friends and teammates. You'll have to sever your feelings then," Maho explained.

Miho frowned and her heart fell. "I-I don't want that to happen," she mumbled.

"I know Miho, but it could happen," Maho said.

"Yeah…" Miho mumbled.

"But hey, you don't know that yet, so keep your chin up. It's not like it's the end of the world," Maho encouraged.

Miho smiled and giggled. "Right," she replied.

"Good, then you know what to do. Quite frankly, that guy would have to be an idiot not to be in love with you," Maho teased.

Miho blushed brighter. "Maho!" she shouted.

Maho laughed. "And if he is an idiot, then maybe I can knock some sense into him."

"Maho!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

The sisters giggled together before taking a moment to calm down. "I know we've talked on the phone every so often, but would you like to meet together sometime? I think I can sneak away from Mother for a bit once the July Break sets in," Maho suggested.

The July Break was an almost month-long period between the semi-finals and the finals in July to slow down from the weekly matches. "Yeah, I'd like that," Miho answered.

"And hey, if it works out then you can bring your husband," Maho teased.

"H-husband?!" Miho squealed.

Maho snickered. "Goodnight Miho. Good luck with your man and good luck with your match tomorrow!"

Miho's phone beeped as Maho hung up. Just follow your heart… I guess I can do that, she thought. She glanced up at the clock. Wow, it's already 11? I should head to bed. Suddenly her phone started ringing again. She picked it up and answered. "Hello?" she asked.

"Miho! Thank God you picked up!" Yukari sputtered.

"Yukari? What's wrong?" Miho asked.

"T-the tanks! Someone damaged all of them badly!"

Miho ran over to the garage as soon as Yukari called. She threw open the doors and burst into the garages to see Yukari quietly sobbing next to the Panzer IV. She quickly scanned the garage and her face turned white. Toolboxes were toppled over, paint spilled everywhere, and anything that could be damaged was damaged. It looked even worse than when they first opened the garages. But the worst damage was to the tanks. Paint was splashed everywhere over all of them, leaving them with covered vision ports and compromised camouflage. Miho ran over to Yukari who was kneeling next to the Panzer IV. "Yukari what happened?!" Miho asked, dropping onto her knees next to her.

"T-they were here, the Blackshirts, t-they sabotaged our tanks!" Yukari wailed, " I-I couldn't sleep so I came down here w-when I found them pouring paint over everything!"

Miho wrapped her arms around Yukari and comforted her. "Okay, let's calm down and call the others. We can fix this," she said.

Yukari sniffled and wiped away her tears. "O-okay," she mumbled and took a deep breath, "l-let's call the others."

Miho quickly called all the commanders who called their crew. Within an hour, everyone was awake and gathered at their tanks and assessing the damage. They worked quickly to diagnose the damages, despite their high emotions.

"I can't believe someone would do such a thing! How can we win now?!" Momo wailed while on her knees in front of the Stridsvagn. Anzu patted her back in comfort while Yuzu quickly evaluated their tank's condition.

"We can't waste time with tears everyone!" Azusa exclaimed to her teary-eyed teammates in front of their now neon-yellow and neon-green M3 Grant I.

"What underhanded treachery! No doubt this is the work of some Brutus-wannabe!" Caesar exclaimed indignantly.

"Ruined paint jobs, water in the fuel tanks, shattered optics, damaged radios, cut exposed wiring, and general attempts at damaging the engine by assaulting it with whatever tools they could find, but it seems to have had no effect," Ross reported while handing over a paper to Miho.

Miho winced. "Alright, we can still fix this. We can wash off the paint with paint thinner, but we can't waste time repainting our tanks, they'll just have to be bare. We'll need to completely pump the fuel tanks empty and then refuel them…"

"The problem is we don't have any fuel pumps," Joseph pointed out, "there is a rudimentary way we can do it, but I doubt you'll approve."

"And that is?" Miho asked.

"So you take a long tube and suck out the fuel with your mouth by sucking it into the tube, sealing it with your finger, and draining it into another container," Joseph explained.

"There's no way we're doing that. Fuel ingestion is not worth it," Miho shut down.

"Good thing you have us on the team," Canaveral said as she handed over her report, "we have a couple of basic fuel pumps for our rockets. It'll take some work, but they'll be able to drain the tanks."

Miho sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, I didn't want to resort to sucking the fuel out," she said, "what about the wiring? Is anything severely compromised?"

"Unfortunately they completely screwed up our rocket rack. I don't think we even have enough spare wires to fix it," Canaveral sadly answered with a frown.

"Same situation with the KV-1K, wiring is completely shot," Laika added.

"It's all that and worse," Chloe said as she walked over. Being their electronics expert, she knew each tank's wiring inside and out. "Everything they could have reached they cut and destroyed. We just don't have enough spares to cover everyone…"

Everyone stood in silent dejection. Without the proper wiring, their tanks would be useless. Without the wiring, they wouldn't be able to ignite the engines, use electrical traverse for the tanks that had them, electronically fired guns like the 7.5 cm Kwk 42 wouldn't work, and all the officiating equipment wouldn't work. "How many tanks can we repair?" Miho asked.

"With the amount of wiring we have, six at best. I mean, the amount of spare wiring we have would get completely used up on the T1E1 alone," Chloe answered.

"And which six tanks can we fix with what we have?" Miho asked.

Chloe bit her lip. "Well, we can repair the wiring on the Panzer IV, Stridsvagn, M3, StuG III, PT-1A, the Type 95, and the Type 100. Everyone else would either take up too much wiring or too much time," she answered.

Miho winced. "Only seven tanks? Then Anzio would outnumber us 2 to 1," she whispered.

"There is one more tank we can field that wasn't touched… but I don't know if it's worth it," Chloe informed, turning to stare down to Garage 1.

Ross picked up on what she was saying. "You don't mean… Nixe II, do you?" he asked.

Chloe nodded. "She's untouched and ready for battle. And we've got 22 members who now don't have a tank for tomorrow. I'd say she's our only choice to bolster our forces," she said.

Miho slowly nodded. "I agree, we'll put whoever's left in the A7V. William and Joseph will be able to catch everyone else up to speed on it quickly. But that will have to wait, we need to get to work and quick if we want to be able to fight tomorrow!" she exclaimed.

"Right!" everyone replied with determination.