Chapter 32: The Real Beast is Unveiled

Deck 13's lighting worsened as the students traveled down the hallway and away from the elevator to the point where they could only see where Asuza pointed the flashlight. Of course, none of them were afraid of the dark atmosphere. After all, they had been shot at with large caliber tank guns and endured sprays of machine gun bullets. This was nothing compared to the battlefield.

At least it was for Asuza, who stood at the front with Patty and confidently wielded her flashlight. Everyone else was staying timidly right behind her. "You know, you guys don't need to be so afraid. There's probably nothing down here anyway," Azusa reassured.

"Yeah, there's probably nothing down here to shoot at… except maybe a few boxes in some forgotten storage room," Patty added.

"I don't know, this place seems like the perfect place for a lizard monster to hide out until it's ready to unleash its destruction!" Karina exclaimed while shivering.

"You watched Godzilla last night didn't you?" Azusa asked.

"Karina's right, this is the perfect place for Godzilla to hide!" Aya added.

"It's way too cramped down here for Godzilla to be hiding here. Now, a sewer alligator, that'd probably work," Patty replied.

"Sewer alligators!?" Karina and Aya shouted in fear.

"Stop teasing them Patty," Asuza scolded, "there's no such thing as sewer alligators."

Patty chuckled. "That's what they want you to think. The sewer alligators will make you feel safe by hiding in the shadows and then BAM! They'll tear your arm off!" she shouted. Aya and Karina nearly screamed before catching themselves and clamping their hands over their mouths. Patty had a good laugh at their expense before settling down. "Okay, okay, sewer alligators don't exist, you'll be fine," she said while Asuza gave her a look of annoyance.

They stopped at a crossroads and looked down each of the three dark paths, but nothing was revealed. "So, where should we go?" Azusa asked.

Everyone stood in silence for a moment before, and to everyone's surprise, Saki stepped forward and pointed down the right hallway. She turned to everyone with an empty look. "Squeaking," she said plainly.

"Squeaking? Something is squeaking down that hallway?" Patty asked.

"Saki's always had good hearing, let's go down that way! Maybe someone needs our help!" Azusa exclaimed.

Patty unshouldered her shotgun. "I'm right behind you!" she exclaimed. They all started running down the hallways. In just a few moments after taking off running, the sound of loud, pained squeaking hit their ears.

"It's definitely this way! Good job Saki!" Azusa said as they ran towards the sound. After a minute of running, they emerged onto the second floor of a warehouse. Azusa approached the railing where they could look down onto the first floor and showed her flashlight down. She froze the light lit up a tan body of some sort with two pairs of wings that were a light brown. As she dropped her flashlight and stepped backward, a deafening screech pierced throughout the warehouse as everyone caught up to her. "There's really a monster down there!" she screamed.

Kass felt around the darkness or the wall and then felt around some more for a light switch. She found success and the room was illuminated by the ancient glow of old warehouse lights.

"The hell?" someone said from down below.

While Asuza was taking deep breaths to calm herself down, everyone raced to the railing to see a sight that made everyone's blood run cold. In front of some sort of glider contraption was a trio of Blackshirts surrounding a frail-looking white rabbit. Patty focused on the rabbit and saw how frail and starved it looked, along with missing patches of fur and scratches everywhere. Finally, it was laying in a small pool of blood. Anger flared through her body as she leaped down onto the first floor. "You think abusing animals is some kind of game!?" she screamed angrily. She aimed her shotgun at the closest one and fired.

The girl fell backward as the rubber round hit her leg and she cried out in surprise and pain. Patty racked another round and fired at the next girl, leaving her on the ground moaning in pain and shock. The third one turned tail and tried running, only to be stopped by another round in the lower back. "Get down here and help me lug this filth to the police and one of you, get the rabbit to an emergency vet!" she demanded.

Just as shocked as the Blackshirts, the girls initially were frozen before their eyes met Patty's. They quickly ran down the closest stairwell and surrounded the Blackshirts. Azusa took the injured rabbit as gently as possible and ran back upstairs. While the rest tried their best to tie the Blackshirts' hands together with some rope they found. "Now, on your feet! We're taking you in," Patty demanded. The Blackshirts shakily got to their feet while Patty overlooked them like a cop.

"What should we do with the tank?" Kass asked.

"Tank?" Patty responded.

"Or plane, whatever this thing is," Kass pointed out. She pointed to the "monster" that had scared Azusa when they first entered the room.

Patty took a quick look at the tank/plane before turning back to her prisoners. It had sloped armor on the front with a large cannon sticking out of the piked nose. It lacked a turret, instead on its roof was a propeller attached to biplane wings. "Let Miho know and mark this location on a map or something. Let's get these delinquents to the police first," she answered.

Asuza sat nervously in the waiting room, waiting for news on the rabbit's condition. Her fists were clenching the edge of her skirt and her brow was furrowed as the seconds ticked on as she waited. After a long, tense hour, the rest of the search group along with Miho entered the small building. "Any news, Azusa?" Patty asked gently. She sadly shooked her head.

"Patty told me her part of the story, can you tell me yours, Azusa?" Miho asked as she sat next to her.

Azusa nodded again and told her everything. Miho listened quietly and let her talk. "I-I don't know who would do something like that. It's so wrong," she quietly sobbed.

Miho put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Some people just don't feel any remorse for their actions, but they've been dealt with. I'm sure the rabbit is-"

She was interrupted when a veterinarian in a doctor's coat stepped into the room slowly. "Excuse me, is one of you the rabbit's owner?" he asked gently, "I'm Dr. Koyama."

Azusa looked up. "N-no, but I brought her in after she was attacked," she answered solemnly.

"I see," the vet replied. He looked hesitant and reserved for a moment before he took a deep breath, causing everyone's heart's to fall. "I'm sorry, but the rabbit didn't make it."

Azusa's eyes widened and filled with tears. "But there's more," the doctor revealed, "if you can, come with me." Azusa stood up and led the group behind Dr. Koyama who took them to the back of the office. He took them into one of the check-up rooms where two small wooden boxes sat on the check-up table. One was closed, but the other was open. Azusa stepped forward with Dr. Koyama to look into the open box. The bottom was covered with soft hay and a little gray bunny lying in it. Everyone looked into the box from a bit of a distance to not startle it. "Is this…?" Azusa whispered.

"Yes, the rabbit you rescued was pregnant. We weren't able to save her or the rest of the litter, but this little lilac bunny survived," Dr. Koyama answered.

"And the other box is…" Azusa whispered.

He nodded sadly. Azusa looked back and forth between the boxes for a moment before wiping the tears from her eyes. "I-I'll adopt the bunny if I can," she decided.

"You will? Have you taken care of rabbits before?" Dr. Koyama asked.

Azusa nodded. "It's part of our schoolwork to help care for the rabbits in the agriculture department. I've never taken care of a bunny, but I'm sure I can do it… I owe it to their mother since I couldn't save her…"

"You did everything you could Miss. That's all that matters. But if you are serious about adopting the bunny, you should talk with your parents about it first. Until then, I know a good friend who works at an animal shelter who can take care of him," Dr. Koyama replied.

Azusa nodded in agreement. "That's probably for the best… can I name him though?" she asked.

"Sure, did you have something in mind?" he asked.

"Yes," Azusa answered, "Grant."

"Just like our tank?" Karina asked.

"I think it's a great name," Dr. Koyama said, "you must be part of the Sensha-do team my daughter's on."

Miho recognized the last name of the veterinarian immediately. "Are you related to Yuzu?" she asked.

Dr. Koyama nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, I'm her father, small world huh?" he said, "back on topic though, would you like to bury the mother and her litter as well or would you like us to dispose of them?"

"I'll bury her," Azusa answered.

"Let us help," Kass requested.

"I agree. I want to help put her to rest as well," Patty agreed. Everyone else nodded as well.

Azusa smiled at them while a tear rolled down her cheek. "Thank you, let's bury them near the Sensha-do garages, so their spirits can watch over us during practice."

Azusa patted down the last bit of dirt over the grave that held the mother rabbit and her litter. Everyone else set their shovels aside and stood quietly over the grave. Patty held out a sign made from spare wood and a metal post in the garages. "Here's a grave marker, but I guess we need to name the mother rabbit too," she said.

Azusa took the sign and nodded. "What do you think, Patty?" she asked.

Patty bit her lip in thought. "Hannah," she answered after a moment.

Azusa smiled. "That's a nice name," she said and carved it into the sign with a knife. Everyone watched in silence as Azusa carved Rest in Peace, Hannah and her litter onto the board. After she was done, she pushed the sign into the dirt behind the grave and stepped back. Everyone stood for a final moment of silence as the sun fell below the horizon and day became night. "I suppose that's it then," she stated.

Miho nodded. "You handled that well, Azusa. All of you did. I'm proud to be your captain," she complimented.

Azusa smiled sadly. "I guess so," she replied, "let's head home."

Everyone agreed and dispersed. However; as Miho locked the Sensha-do field gate, Patty remembered something. "Hey, Miho!" she called out as she turned back and ran over to her.

"What's up?" Miho asked.

"Down on deck 13, where we found the Blackshirts, they were in a warehouse with some weird-looking tank," Patty informed.

Miho's eyes widened. "Another tank?" she asked.

"Yeah, do you wanna grab Yukari and check it out?" Patty asked.

"Sure, I'll call Yukari," Miho said and she pulled her phone from her bag. She called Yukari's number and put the phone to her ear. It rang for a moment before Yukari picked up.

"Captain Nishi- sorry, Miho! What's up?" Yukari asked.

"Patty says she found a tank on deck 13, can you come help us identify it?" Miho asked.

"Of course! Where should we meet up?" Yukari asked.

"At the Sensha-do field," Miho answered.

"Alright, see you soon!" Yukari replied.

Yukari met up with Patty and Miho and they went to the same elevator that Patty, Kass, and Rabbit Team took a few hours before. "So what can you tell me about the tank, Patty?" Yukari asked, nearly bouncing out of her shoes.

"Uh, I don't really know, I wasn't exactly analyzing it," Patty responded.

"Oh right sorry, you were busy handling the Blackshirts and all that… my bad," Yukari apologized.

Patty chuckled at Yukari's sheepishness. "Don't worry about it. Uh, I guess it had a sloped front… and a… propellor?" she explained while she went back through the memory.

"A… propeller?" Yukari and Miho asked.

"Yeah like a plane, oh, and biplane wings too!" Patty added as the elevator stopped and opened its doors.

Yukari's eyes widened in shock and extreme excitement. "No… it couldn't be!" she shouted and took off running.

"Hey wait up!" Patty shouted and took off after her. Miho just sighed and started running after them. Once Patty caught up with Yukari, she led them to the warehouse where Yukari excitedly ran down the stairwell to the first floor.

Her jaw nearly dropped to the ground as she took in the details of the machine in front of her. "No way… it really is a Christie M1932 Flying Tank! An actual flying tank! This is the only tank that has been designed where it could fly on its own! Britain, the Soviet Union, and Japan all tried to make tanks with gliders, but this is the only one that could actually fly on its own! Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming!" she squealed.

"A flying tank? There's no way a tank can fly," Patty said skeptically.

Yukari spun around. "While the M1932 never actually took flight, J. Walter Christie was known for his incredibly fast and light tanks. With the right work, it might be able to fly," she replied.

"There's no way it's safe," Miho stated, "we can't risk any accidents, especially since nobody on the ship knows how to fly aircraft."

"What about Melitta and Manfred?" Yukari asked.

"I guess they could, but it's still too dangerous," Miho replied.

Patty nodded. "I suppose Miho's right. Still, a fast tank like this should be useful."

Yukari frowned, but begrudgingly nodded and agreed. "I guess that makes sense, although it'd still be cool to see it fly," she said.

"Well, let's call it a night. I don't think we'll be able to pull this tank out on our own so let's revisit this tomorrow," Miho decided.

Patty and Yukari agreed and they began their trip back to the surface.

Miho stepped into the lobby of the apartment building she stayed in while humming quietly to herself. That M1932 would be an excellent reconnaissance tank. Its armor leaves a lot to be desired, but it's incredibly fast and short for a tank, she thought, I think I was even taller than it! She giggled to herself at the thought. She quietly made her way up the stairwell to her room. When she reached her apartment door she dug into her bag. "Huh? Where's my card?" she muttered. She dug around for another moment before the realization dawned on her. "Oh man… I forgot it this morning didn't I…" she groaned.

Behind her, the door to the boy's apartment opened. "Something wrong Miho?" Ross asked while gently bouncing Natalie as he tried to put her to sleep.

"M-mio?" Natalie quietly babbled drowsily.

Miho turned around and blushed lightly. "Oh… I forgot my key card this morning," she answered.

"Oh, that sucks," Ross said emphatically, "and the housing office doesn't open till the morning."

Miho sighed. "Yeah, I guess I could get a hotel room…" she considered.

"Would you like to stay with me tonight?" Ross asked. He immediately blushed when he realized what he actually said. What?! Why'd I say that? We've only been together for a day and a half! She probably thinks I'm crazy!

"Really? Is that okay?" Miho asked with a bit of excitement.

Ross pulled himself together. "O-oh, yeah if you're fine with it," he answered.

Miho smiled appreciatively. "Thank you," she said with a small bow. Ross smiled back and stepped aside. Miho stepped past him and enter the apartment.

William looked up from the kettle of tea he was brewing on the stovetop to look towards the doorway. "Oh, hey Miho. How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine, thank you," Miho replied, "I locked myself out, so Ross offered to let me stay the night."

"I see, welcome to our apartment then. I don't think you've ever been over before," William said.

Joseph entered the room from the hallway that led to their rooms with a stretch and a yawn before he noticed Miho. "Oh, hey Miho…" he greeted followed by another yawn.

"Um… hello," Miho replied.

"Don't mind him, he's just getting up from his little after-practice nap. You know how freshmen are," William joked.

Miho giggled while Joseph gave him a sour look. He just rolled his eyes and went to the fridge to grab a can of soda. He pulled one out and popped it open but instead of drinking it he quickly removed the lid of William's kettle and poured some in, ruining the water. "Hey!" William shouted. Joseph quickly took off with a devious smile and put the kitchen island between him and William. "Get over here you little rat!"

Miho and Ross watched the two go back and forth around the island for a moment before she turned to him. "Is this normal for you guys?" she asked with amusement.

"Yep," Ross answered.

William rounded the island as Joseph ran past the stove and back into the living room. When he tried to follow him out of the kitchen he slipped next to the stove and knocked over the kettle of boiling cola water with his arm. He pulled his arm back and stopped with a shout of pain. "Ow dang, that hurt," he moaned and looked at his hand. Sure enough, a small burn was present. He shrugged it off and turned off the stovetop which was now covered in hot cola water.

Joseph took this opportunity to make his exit. He grabbed his wallet and keycard from a shelf near the door. "I'm heading out! Don't miss me too much," he announced before bolting out of the apartment.

William scowled and grabbed a wad of paper towels. "What a mess," he bemoaned, "sorry about the chaos Miho, sometimes we get at each other's throats and try to kill each other."

Miho giggled. "It's fine," she said.

"Well I guess I should show you around," Ross added, "although there's not much."

"Oh, sure!" Miho agreed. Ross showed her to the hallway where four rooms were connected with two on each side of the hall. "My room is the furthest one on the right, the bathroom's right next to it, and the other two are William and Joseph's rooms, but you probably won't need to be in them really. If you're okay with sleeping next to Natalie, you can use my bed," he explained as they entered. Inside the room was a simple, minimalist arrangement. There was an armchair in the corner with a changing table and dresser next to it. Ross's bed was surprisingly large with a cosleeper attached to it for Natalie. A pair of bedside cabinets flanked each end. One had a simple lamp and alarm clock while the other had a bottle warmer, a package of formula tablets, wipes, and a stack of diapers. In the back left corner, there was a closet and a larger dresser.

What drew Miho's eye though, was a small model of the Type 100 and a picture of all the members of Leopard Team in their old Prussian blue jumpsuits standing in front of it proudly. "Oh wow…" Miho said.

Ross smiled as they looked at the picture. "Yeah, that was taken on the first day we became a crew again, right before summer break last year," he explained.

"Again? Were you split up?" Miho asked.

Ross frowned and his face fell. "I-I quit Sensha-do during eighth grade to keep chasing girls and partying. I couldn't have both… and I made a poor choice. Lisette actually convinced me to rejoin and I reunited with them. We had been a crew for two years before I left so we were pretty close before I screwed everything up," he explained.

Miho took Ross's free hand. "But you made amends and took responsibility for your mistakes. I think that shows more character than someone who goes through life perfectly," she assured.

Ross smiled. "Is that so? Well then, any mistakes you'd like to share? I can hardly imagine you breaking the rules," Ross asked.

"Well, when I was in elementary school… I may have taken the family's Panzer IV Ausf. D for a ride with my friends and got caught…" Miho answered.

"Well aren't you a little daredevil," Ross teased.

"C'mon, it was only one time!" Miho whined playfully.

The two shared a giggle before they calmed down and Ross laid Natalie in her sleeper. "Well, anyway you can have the bed, I'll take the couch," he said.

"Oh no… I couldn't impose like that," Miho protested.

"It's not that big of a deal, honestly," Ross assured. "Unless you want to share the bed," he suggested jokingly, Then, his brain froze. Why'd you suggest something like that as a joke you idiot, this is day 2 of the relationship, don't you want to take things slow?! he berated to himself. Miho blushed and looked away sheepishly. Great look at her, you made her uncomfortable.

"Well um… I-I actually wouldn't… mind… that," she stuttered shyly.

Ross stopped his internal scoldings as he registered her words. "Oh… really?" he asked with a blush.

"Well… I mean… if you're okay with it," Miho answered shyly.

"Sure I guess, if that's what you want," Ross replied. He took a look at his alarm clock and saw the time. "Well, it's getting late, we should head to bed."

Miho looked at the clock and nodded. "Do you mind if I take a quick shower first?" she asked.

"Sure, go ahead. Wait, you don't have any pajamas, do you?" Ross asked.

Miho stopped and frowned. "No, I guess not," she answered. She thought for a moment. "Maybe there's a 24/7 store onboard? I've never really needed to go shopping this late…" she considered.

Ross opened his dresser and pulled out his smallest plain T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants with an adjustable waistband. "These should work if you're comfortable with borrowing them," he offered.

Miho took them. "Oh, sure… thanks" she shyly said. She left to go shower so Ross took the opportunity to change into his own pajamas and laid down on the bed. He lay there and stared at the ceiling for a moment before turning and watching Natalie sleep. She was fast asleep with her arms stretched out by her head. He smiled and watched her chest rise and fall with her breathing. We've been through a lot sweetie… but I think our best days are ahead of us. We can leave all the hardships in the past… he thought warmly.

After some time, the door slowly opened and Miho stepped back into the room. Ross looked up and blushed. The shirt was a little baggy and her hair was sloppily patted down instead of brushed, but to him, she looked just as cute as she usually was. "You look good," Ross complimented, "are the clothes comfortable?"

Miho blushed and nodded. "Yeah, thank you…" she answered shyly.

"Your welcome, anytime," he said and moved over to the left side of the bed to make room for Miho on the right and so he was right next to Natalie. "Hop in, it's warm," he joked with a smile.

Miho giggled and lay done on the bed next to him. It wasn't exactly a queen-sized bed, so they were close together, but they both fit. "Goodnight, Miho," Ross whispered.

"Goodnight… I love you," Miho whispered.

Ross blushed. "I love you too."

In the living room, William sat in an armchair with a cup of tea, this time Darjeeling sent Rosehip Tea. He sipped on the tea when his phone vibrated. He flipped it open and looked at caller I.D. He frowned but accepted the call. "Father, what is it?" he asked.

"Hm, right to business, good, good," Palmer commented.

"My answer is still no," William said.

"That's not why I'm calling," Palmer replied.

William furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes angrily. "Then what do you want?" he asked.

"Can I not just call my son?" Palmer asked.

"Get to the point!" William furiously hissed.

Palmer sighed. "Very well, very well. Are you aware that the Zuikaku is being decommissioned?" he asked.

William froze and nearly dropped his phone. "What…?" he asked with shock.

"Hm… you must not have. Yes, the Zuikaku and Oarai Co-ed Academy is being decommissioned after the end of the school year. My company was approached by the Ministry of Education to handle deconstruction," Palmer explained emotionlessly.

"Y-you… y-you can't do that. That's like destroying an entire city. I mean, thousands of people live and work here, not to mention all the students! You turned down the offer, right?" he asked.

Palmer was silent for a moment. "I did not," he revealed.

William's fingers dug into his phone's case in anger. "You profiteering bastard! You're willing to destroy an entire floating city just for your own fucking profit?! This is outrageous!" he shouted angrily.

"William, calm down," Palmer said unemotionally.

"No, no I won't fucking calm down! You are everything wrong with corporate America. You profiteering, megalomanic, sociopathic bastard!" William shouted, "why don't you go do some actual fucking good for the world instead of tearing down people's lives for profit! OR better yet, why don't you go collect your Wall Street friends and all go collectively straight to hell!" He shouted and hung up the call aggressively. He grabbed a tissue and wiped his tears away before sipping at his tea again. After a few good sips, he took some deep breaths and opened his phone again. He opened Anzu's contact and called her immediately.

"Yo, Valentine! What's up?" she greeted cheerfully.

"We need to talk first thing tomorrow. Bring Yuzu and Momo as well," he said forcefully.

"Woah, alright, serious time, gotcha. Yeah, we can meet up, but what's this about?" she asked.

"It's better that we talk in the morning. I need some time to calm down first," William answered.

"Cool, cool, we can do that," Anzu replied, "well is that all you needed?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah…" William replied, already feeling himself cooling off, "goodnight."

"Nighty night!" Anzu replied cheerfully.

William closed his phone again and sighed. "They better not know anything about this, because I'm going to be pissed if they were holding that information from us."

The morning sun glistened across the ocean water and lit up Ross's room as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked the sleep away and realized that he was holding something in his arms. Did Natalie crawl out of her sleeper or… something… he thought momentarily before he saw Miho snuggled into his chest with his arms wrapped around her. His heart started beating rapidly and his face turned red. M-Miho… he thought nervously before he started relaxing, this is actually… really nice. I like holding her… he thought.

Miho groaned as she started waking up and her eyes slowly opened. Her's and Ross's eyes met. "Good morning," Ross said with a smile.

Miho's eyes widened and she blushed as well. "G-good morning…" she whispered.

Ross felt something pulling on the back of his shirt and looked over. "Da-da…" Natalie babbled.

"I guess that's my cue to get up," Ross said with a smile.

Miho giggled. "I guess so, what time is it?" she asked and looked at the alarm clock, "it's six-thirty, that's earlier than I usually wake up…"

"Yeah, I have to get up early to give Natalie a bath and stuff," he explained while sitting up. He picked Natalie up before getting out of bed and awkwardly stretching. "I'm going to get her ready. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, we should have some cereal or bread for toast if you'd like that," he informed.

"Oh sure, I'll make you some too," Miho said while getting up.

Ross smiled. "Thanks, just leave some bread and jam out for toast. Toast or cereal will just go bad before I'm done," he requested.

"Alright!" Miho exclaimed. Ross took out some clothes for Natalie before going to the bathroom while Miho stepped out of the room herself.

William looked over from the living room just in time to catch Miho. "Hey, Miho, we've gotta meet up with the Student Council right away," he said urgently.

"What's going on?" Miho asked.

"It'll be easier to explain later. Let Ross know we're heading out early," he said.

"Okay," Miho replied nervously and went to the bathroom door. "Hey Ross," she called out, "I've got something to sort out with the Student Council, so I'll be heading out sooner than I thought."

"Alright, see you at lunch!" Ross called back.

Miho smiled. "See you then!" She headed into the kitchen and set out some bread and jam as Ross requested before grabbing her bag and clothes. "Give me a moment to get ready, I'll be quick."

"Alright, no problem," William said, but Miho could tell he was anxious. She went downstairs to visit the front desk where the attendant could open her room with her master keycard. Once that was handled, she freshened up and changed into her uniform before grabbing her things, double checking that she had her keycard before she closed the door to her apartment.

"I'm ready," Miho said while turning to William.

"Good, let's go," William replied.

"You're here early," Sodoko commented as William and Miho quickly walked through the front gate.

"Important business with the Student Council," William replied simply. They entered the front doors and went straight to the Student Council's office. William quickly knocked on the door. "It's William," he called out.

"Come in!" Anzu called back cheerfully.

William opened the door and entered the room quickly, with Miho entering behind him more calmly. "Let's get straight to the point. Is Oarai closing down?" he asked.

The Student Council, who were previously simply lounging around Anzu's desk froze up. Anzu cleared her throat. "What? Nah, why would we need to close down? Everything's fine," she answered with fake cheer.

"That is a lie," William stated bluntly, "you're telling us the truth right now." He slammed his hands down on the desk and looked straight at Anzu. "My father called me last night. He's the CEO of a major metal recycling and salvage corporation, and he just got a contract from the Ministry of Education about decommissioning the Zuikaku. So tell me the truth. Is Oarai closing down and why?" he demanded.

Anzu sighed. "I guess the jig is up…" she said and leaned back. "He's right, Oarai is being decommissioned and broken up at the end of the year. She's the oldest ship in the fleet and we don't have enough students and residents to support her," she explained.

"Then… why did you start a Sensha-do team? Why'd you invite us over? Why have you gone through all this trouble?" William asked.

"Because it's our one shot at saving Oarai," Momo interrupted, "if we win the 63rd Nationals, then the Minister of Education, Renta Tsuiji promised that Oarai would not be shut down and allowed to continue operations."

"T-that's why you restarted the Sensha-do team?" Miho asked.

Anzu nodded. "It was a long shot, but I thought if we pushed the team and didn't tell anyone then this would just blow over like a brief summer storm… I guess I was wrong though. Inviting you did, however, put us in the Joint Schoolship Development Commission's Transfer-Exchange Program which greatly improved our financial situation. Not enough to save Oarai… but maybe if we could get help from the Department of Education for future repairs and improvements by further integrating ourselves in its programs."

"S-so if we don't win the national games this year… Oarai will shut down?" Miho asked.

Anzu sadly nodded. "There is more though," she revealed. She opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a file full of papers and spread them out on her desk. "These are various reports on the financial situation of Japan and its schoolship program. Specifically budgets, revenues, GDPs, that sort of thing. Notice something odd about Oarai and Ibaraki?" she asked.

William looked over the paper. "Look at this…" he mumbled to himself. "Ibaraki is number 12th in the nation in GDP, but has the smallest schoolship budget by far and only has a single schoolship while the rest have at least two, some even have three like Tokyo," he stated.

"Oh yeah… Kurmormine has a sister ship as well, the Miyamoto Musashi. The schools never got along though. Kumamoto Art School never liked Sensha-do," Miho added.

"Exactly, every other prefecture has a second ship, yet Ibaraki can barely keep one, all the while having a vibrant and varied economy. Not only that, but our headmaster can afford expensive new cars that are double her yearly salary. Plus she refused to expel any Blackshirt students who are arrested," Momo added.

William looked up from the papers. "We need to make this public somehow and get this investigated. Winning the tournament will probably only buy Oarai some time before it's on the chopping block again. Solving the corruption issue will give Oarai the capital to rebuild itself and clean up its image."

"I agree with Mr. Valentine," Momo agreed.

William snorted, "I think it's the first time that's happened."

Momo rolled her eyes. "Regardless, we'll need a lot of evidence if we're going to succeed. However, Captain Nishizumi, I'd like you to focus on the Sensha-do team and winning the nationals. We'll handle tackling the corruption case," she decided.

Miho frowned but nodded. "If there's anything you need though, just let me know."

"What we need, is your very best, that's all I'll ask for," Anzu replied with a genuine smile, "Willy on the other hand… you've got experience in this sort of thing, don't you? You knew Kuromormine bought your old tanks, and that information must've been hard to come by."

William scowled. "Please don't call me Willy…" he requested.

"Okay, Willy! So tell us, would you like to help?" Anzu asked.

"Only if you stop calling me Willy," William requested.

"Alright, glad to have you on board Willy!" Anzu cheered.

Willy sighed.

000

Hello, one and all! Isn't this a surprise? I upload 3 times in less than one week after going all summer without uploading?! Impossible! Yeah bursts of inspiration work like that, weird. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I loved all the reviews I got from the last uploads, keep 'em coming! Thank you all so much for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing, it means a lot.

Next Time on Girls und Panzer: Tank Aces!

Chapter 33: The Sensha-do Team is Really Taking Off!