Chapter 34: 1989
In the office of Garage 2, Hibiki sat at a desk with dozens of papers in front of her. She sighed as she looked over the month's budget, which had been cut once again. "At this rate, we'll be penniless," she complained to herself. She just shook her head and tried to find cheaper options in the supplier catalog.
Hada knocked on the wall gently to let her know of his presence. "Hey, captain, we've got another problem," he said.
"I don't have time for it right now. I'm swamped with work, can you handle it?" she asked.
"I think this is something that requires your attention. The KV-1K crew are making inappropriate comments again," he replied nervously.
"Look, I can't handle every little snarky remark they make!" Hibiki snapped, "you handle it!"
Hada stepped back. "U-um yes ma'am…" he replied nervously.
As he started to walk out, Hibiki sighed and put her face in her hands. "Hada, come back here," she said.
Hada turned back around and stepped back into the office. "I'm sorry for yelling. It's just every time they cut my budget, I have to look for cheaper and cheaper options and that takes forever, not to mention the quality drops and we end up ordering more in the next order because it breaks and…" she rambled.
"I understand, Hibiki. I'll try to help out more," Hada replied, "I um… try to get the guys to stop being… well…"
"Being assholes?" Hibiki asked jokingly.
"Yeah, that."
Hada left and went to the garage the KV-1K crew were in. They were more or less just lazing around, not caring about regular maintenance. "Hey, um… guys?" he nervously called out.
One of the boys lazily turned to him. "What do you want?" he asked.
"L-look, you've gotta treat your teammates with more respect. T-that's really it. I got more complaints from some of the girls," he nervously requested.
The boy rolled his eyes. "Y-yeah, I-I'll d-do b-better," he mocked before laughing.
Hada sighed. I really hope they just get bored and leave, he thought. "Well, that's everything…" he was about to turn away when he noticed the gun barrel of the tank was covered in soot. "A-and make sure to clean your gun barrel before you go."
The boy sneered and reached into the driver's hatch. He pulled out a glass bottle and threw it. The bottle flew through the air and shattered next to Hada. "Why don't you clean that up instead!" he jeered.
Hada ran off as his eyes started watering. Why does Hibiki even want me to be the vice-captain anyway?! All I do is get bullied! He dried his eyes with his sleeve and went into his garage. He opened the M1932's hatch and crawled inside.
For a while, he was all alone before he heard footsteps outside. The hatch opened above him and another boy looked down. "What are you doing in here Hada?" he asked.
"Hey Konno, I just um… forgot something, that's all," he replied before pulling himself up through the hatch.
"You sure? Your face is red," Konno asked.
"Yeah, just intense practice today, am I right?" Hada replied.
Konno shrugged as they both climbed down from the hull. "Sure I guess. I guess the Christie would be rougher than the Chaffee," he said, "so wanna come over to my place and play Nintendo?"
Hada was about to accept the offer as they left the garage when he noticed that Garage 2 was still not closed up. "I'd like to, but I think I'm gonna stay and help Hibiki with orders," he said.
Konno shrugged. "Alright, catch you tomorrow!" he said before taking off.
Hada nodded and went into Garage 2. "Hibiki! Are you still in here?" he called out.
"Yeah!" she replied.
He went over to the office where she was going through large catalogs and writing things down. "Did you handle the problem?" she asked.
"I-I think so…" he answered, "do you want any help with the supply order?"
"Sure! I could use some help with this," she replied with an appreciative smile.
Hada sat down at a desk next to her. "So what do you need me to do?" he asked.
The next morning Hada walked to school. He felt a bit tired because he had stayed up late with Hibiki working on the supply order, but he just yawned and pushed it aside. As he walked, he didn't notice a nice luxury car driving dangerously close to the sidewalk he walked along. The car closed in and honked its horn. Hada jumped back in surprise as the car swerved back away from the sidewalk. He could hear cackling laughter coming from the open driver's window. He sighed and kept walking. Third years and their licenses… he seethed to himself.
As he walked past the school gate and the Student Morals Committee member leaning against the wall lazily, he noticed a group of guys hanging out by the entrance. He simply shrugged and planned to ignore them when he heard a sharp whistle that took him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw them staring at a girl whose face was becoming red. "What in the world?" he asked himself before the girl took off running. He walked over to the entrance. "So um… what was that all about?" he asked the guys who were all laughing to themselves.
"Nothing you'd understand tank nerd," one of them laughed.
"Seriously, why do some of you guys do Sensha-do? That stuff is for girls. Are you maybe-"
Hada narrowed his eyes irately. "N-no, I'm not."
"N-no? Are you sure? You don't sound confident," another guy teased.
Hada grit his teeth and just started walking away. As he entered the school; however, he heard another whistle, except this time it was followed by a loud slap. Hada turned around and stared with wide eyes at a tall girl with her hand in the air and at one of the jock-type students who now has a bright red cheek. "Why don't you boys treat us like people for once instead of eye candy?!" she yelled angrily.
Everyone else stopped and stared. The girl let her hand drop to her side as she turned and walked over to the Student Morals Committee member at the gate. "The Morals Committee better do something to stop the harassment here soon," she stated.
The committee member shrugged. "Just ignore them, this isn't our problem," he said.
The girl grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him up off the wall. "You better, or we'll take these matters into our own hands. Understood?" she demanded.
The boy gulped and nodded hastily. "I'll be sure to pass the message on," he nervously said.
"Good, this school's gone downhill enough since it became co-ed," she spat and let the committee member go.
Rain poured down from the overcast sky during the second round of the 43rd High School Sensha-do National Games. The battle had drug on into the late afternoon when a storm set in and turned the Japanese countryside into a muddy nightmare for tanks. "Hada, are you near the insertion point?" Hibiki asked on the radio from her commander's cupola of a Panzerbefehlswagen IV Ausf. H. She was positioned on a gravel road completely alone. She kept looking around nervously, hoping that Kuromormine's tanks had lost her. Those idiots, attacking the enemy so directly without suppression and then ramming them when that fails with what you have left? I should never have had the meatheads be my escort…
In the air, with only a few meters of space between it and the tree tops, the M1932 flew through the air, gallantly resisting the storm's winds and rain. Hada gripped his steering levers confidently, despite the hazardous conditions. "Just a few hundred meters out!" he replied.
Good, hopefully, they haven't changed course after taking out Konna… She knew it was unlikely that they could pull off the win against Kurmormine, but there still could be a chance if Hada could surprise their flag tank.
"Brace for landing!" Hada ordered on the internal radio. As the tank passed over the edge of the forest, he yanked the lever that detached the wings and the lever to switch into ground control. The tank fell from the sky and slammed into the ground as parachutes deployed on the wings to drop them harmlessly onto the ground. Hada winced as the tank bounced on the muddy ground and used its Christie suspension to soften the blow. He refocused and pushed his steering levers forward. The treads spun to life and the tank began speeding forward.
Not far from their landing spot was the edge of a cliff. Below them was a path carved into the side of the cliff where three Panzer III Ausf. Js drove along the path. The second tank had a small red pendant flag attached to its engine deck, indicating that it was the flag tank. Hada's tank raced to the edge of the cliff to intercept the convoy. As they neared the edge of the cliff Hada slammed the levers back to stop the tank.
The treads came to a stop, but the tank's inertia didn't. The wet grass and mud couldn't provide enough traction and only built up on the wet treads. Hada could only stare in horror as they reached the cliff edge before the tank flew over the edge. The rear of the tank caught the cliffside and pointed the tank downward as it fell. Without a chance to react, the tank slammed into the Panzer III with a horrible screeching sound of metal.
Shiho Nishizumi ducked to retreat into the safety of her turret when she saw the tank fly over the cliff, but when it crashed into her Panzer III her head slammed into the edge of the commander's cupola and knocked her unconscious. Blood spilled from her head and splattered inside the tank turret. The M1932 came to stop on the pathway, but the Panzer III slid over the path's edge and plunged into the freezing cold river down below.
Hada just sat in horror as he heard the emergency sirens near.
A fierce shouting match was heard just outside the Sensha-do garages of Oarai. Hada didn't bother to listen in as he stared at the mud-caked tank in front of him. The team had been disqualified from the national tournament for the incident. "Maybe if I had tried sliding the tank sideways…" he muttered as he relived the incident over and over again.
"We're done Hibiki! You can't control the boys, your vice-captain is a reckless coward, and your 'strategy' got us disqualified from the national tournament!" a girl shouted, the same girl who slapped the catcaller at the school entrance.
"Good, I've had it with you all! All you've done is cause trouble since you joined! We don't need you!" Hibiki shouted. In front of the garages, a group of girls faced off with her. But Hibiki had the rest of the team behind her, or so she thought.
"Listen, Hibiki… we're done too," a short girl said as she stepped forward, "you've done nothing to investigate or punish some of the guys on the team. So we quit."
All the girls behind Hibiki walked past her with their school bags and started to leave. Hibiki gaped at them. "How can I investigate every little whistle when I'm the only one managing the team huh?!" she shouted, "none of you stood up to help! All you entitled little brats can leave for all I care!" She glared with a red face as everyone left. Everyone except her and Konno. Tears started to fall from Hibiki's face. "Everything we've done together… all of it means nothing to you!?" she wailed.
"What'll we do with the tanks? There's no team anymore to crew them," Konno asked.
Hibiki wiped her tears away. "W-we need to hide them. I don't want them to get scrapped," she answered.
Konno solemnly nodded. "Alright… I guess that's all that's left to do them," he stated.
And thus, Oarai's Sensha-do program came to an end. Konno, Hada, and Hibiki scattered the remaining tanks across the Oarai school carrier to prevent the school administration from sending them to the scrapyard. That was where they would rest until they could be found and restored. Over the next two decades, Oarai fell into a state of disrepair as funds gradually became scarcer and scarcer. The Sensha-do team was only the first club to shut down, and as clubs shut down, programs were ended, and the state of the schoolship fell into a slump.
Hada sighed and took a long drink of tea as he finished explaining the story. "I was quite surprised to hear that the school was restarting Sensha-do. I always figured Oarai would get decommissioned before another opportunity would come. You can imagine my surprise when I heard it was coming back, and captained by a Nishizumi as well," Hada said.
Miho slowly nodded. "Y-yeah. My mother never told me anything about the accident. She just never mentioned anything about her first two years of high school," she replied.
"I figured. She was in a coma for a while after the accident. I wanted to go and apologize, but her parents never let me," Hada said.
"Yeah, you wrote that in your note we found," Joseph added.
Hada smiled. "So you did find Bob and Bodyless Adna. Did you ever find her a body?" he asked.
"We did, but there was a disagreement between the tank's owners and the team, so they aren't a part of the team," Joseph answered.
"I see. At least it's being put to use," Hada replied. He took a look at his watch and his eyebrows rose with surprise. "It's getting rather late, why don't you guys head on home?" he suggested.
"One last thing, do you happen to know where we can get a rounded power cord?" Joseph asked.
"Ah, rig,t." Hada remembered. "We should have left a few spares in the team headquarters. You should check those to see if they work."
The students bowed in appreciation after standing up. "Thank you for your help," Miho said.
"Anything to help the team," Hada replied with a smile.
Back at the team headquarters, Joseph checked the storage room where some old odds and ends were kept after they restored the place. "Ah ha!" he cheered as he grabbed a black power cord with a round port from a shelf on the left wall, "this should work!"
He rushed out of the building and to Garage 5 where Miho, Nakajima, and Yukari were waiting. "I found one!" he shouted.
"Alright!" Miho and Yukari cheered. Nakajima pulled out a laptop and took the cord. She hooked it up to the tank's electrical system and connected the black box to her laptop with a USB cable. After a few seconds, the screen lit up with data about the black box, indicating that it was working perfectly.
"Looks like everything is in working order," Nakajima said happily, "I'd say she's ready for service."
"Awesome! Great work guys," Miho cheered.
"This is going to be so cool to see in battle," Yukari gushed.
"Yeah, it'll be such a shock for our enemy when we strike them from above!" Joseph enthused.
After they cleaned up and said their goodbyes, everyone left the garages to head home for the evening. As Miho walked down the street, she thought about the team and the next match. We have 17 active tanks now… that's incredible since we started with only three from Schwarzadler, but we can still get three more before we hit the next match limit. We could probably get them trained and ready for the match this weekend, although we'd be rushing things… The question is, where to get more tanks? She wondered to herself. Plus Kass is almost done with the Elefant and the Type 89B is still around, we could field it if we want to…
She walked into the apartment lobby and started climbing the stairs to her room. Ultimately, we're still short on manpower and hardware. Perhaps I could reapproach the Swimming Team? Her eyes widened at the idea. Maybe… I should apologize for lashing out at them anyway. Her face dropped remembering the incident. Nothing I can do now. All I can do is move forward and make amends, that's what Ross always says, right? She blushed a little as she opened her door and entered her apartment. "Alright, tomorrow I'm going to go apologize to the Swimming Team and invite them back onto our team!" she decided, emphasizing her resolve with a little fist pump.
The next day, Miho went to the school swimming pool after school. She had told the members of Anglerfish Team to let everyone else know that she was going to be a little late, so they should start practice without her. The team was experienced enough at this point to be able to practice on their own now anyway. As she stepped out onto the poolside she could immediately feel the refreshing humidity and heat from the pool. She looked around for a moment before she saw the Swim Team setting their things on a bench.
Li Mei looked up and saw her first. "Miho? What are you doing here?" she asked, "I hope you don't plan on swimming in your Sensha-do uniform."
Miho lightly smiled and giggled. "No, no I don't plan on swimming," she replied while walking over. "I actually want to apologize," she said.
"Is that so?" Suzu said with a hint of suspicion, "did you also apologize to the girl one of your teammates punched?"
The girls on the Swim Team turned to Suzu with apprehension, looking between her and Miho. Miho's frowned before hardening her gaze. "We'll apologize to her when she makes amends for assaulting my boyfriend and his friends," she stated sternly.
Li Ming's eyes widened. "She assaulted your boyfriend? Is that why that other girl attacked her?" she asked.
Miho nodded. "She slapped Jody's flyers out of her hand when she offered one and that provoked Jody after she found out she was a Blackshirt. It doesn't justify the fight, but it does explain it, and we have taken the proper disciplinary actions with it," she asserted.
"See? This is why you shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," Li Mei stated, looking at Suzu, Ryota, and her sister.
Suzu stared at Miho for a moment before sighing. "You don't look like a liar… fine, I'll accept your apology," she decided.
"What else do you need to say?" Li Mei added, staring at Suzu expectantly.
Suzu sighed again. "And I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions," she relented.
"We're sorry as well," Li Ming and Ryota added.
Miho smiled cheerfully. "Thank you, I'm glad there are no hard feelings. If you'd like, we'd love to have you back on the team," she offered.
The girls looked at each other before coming to an unspoken consensus. "It'll be our pleasure… Captain Nishizumi," Li Ming said, reaching out her hand.
Miho shook her hand bashfully. "Please, Miho is just fine," she said.
"So, what's the plan for practice? How can we fit Sensha-do into our schedule?" Li Ming asked.
Miho thought about it for a moment. "Tonight, my crew and I can teach you the basics after your swimming practice. Would having swim practice after Sensha-do be an option?" she asked.
"That should work!" Li Mei interjected, "we can even use the pool to clean up all the grease and soot!"
Miho giggled while Li Ming gave her sister an annoyed look. "No, that's how you get gross oil-water. Use the school showers before swim practice," she ordered.
Li Mei just stung her tongue out at her sister in response.
Inside the turret of the LVT, Hana sat at the commander's position and Lei Mei took the gunner's position. "Alright, here's a copy of your gun's performance chart. Make sure to study it and account for its performance when you make your shots," Hana informed while handing Li Mei a paper.
"I see, so different shells have different penetration power. That makes sense," Li Mei said.
"Right, and always make sure your sight is properly set up before a match," Hana advised.
On the turret roof, Miho sat with Li Ming. "So a lot of the time, you'll want to stand outside of your commander's hatch to be on the lookout for enemy tanks. If you're 'buttoned-up' then it's much harder to see enemy tanks and they might ambush you. Also, be prepared to take the initiative yourself when you enter a tank duel. You might not have me or another commander to make decisions for you," Miho instructed, "also, familiarize yourself with the M2 Browning you have mounted on the turret roof. You won't have the full 360-degree coverage of some of the other AA mounts, but you should still be able to fire at gun sights and tracks behind you. You might even be able to penetrate some lightly armored targets."
"I get it. Looks like I won't just sit above everyone else telling them what to do huh?" Li Ming commented, "makes sense though, leadership isn't just about telling people what to do."
"Yeah, I think so too, but I guess we're both captains so we'd know, right?" Miho asked with a giggle.
Li Ming smiled back. "Yes ma'am!" she joked with a salute.
Yukari and Ryota managed to squeeze themselves into the turret with Hana and Li Mei. "So your shells are stored on racks like this," Yukari said, pointing to a rack that now had a few 75mm shells in it. "Make sure to pace yourself and work out regularly, focusing on endurance. It's better to be able to fire 20 shells consistently than 10 shells quickly and 10 shells slowly because you've used up your energy and, of course, this decreased the risk of injury."
Ryota nodded understandably. "Makes sense," she replied.
Mako was lying on the front of the LVT asleep since Yoichi already knew how to drive. Saori just rolled her eyes and continued to teach Suzu how to operate the radio. They were interrupted; however, when they heard another engine fire up and a propellor start buzzing. "You guys have planes here too?" Li Ming asked Miho.
"Well, sorta. I wonder what they're doing?" Miho replied. Everyone climbed down from the LVT and stepped out of the garage just in time to see the M1932 Flying Tank speed past them, kicking up a blast of dust and wind that subsided as quickly as it appeared.
The Swim Team stared at the tank as it took off further down the runway with wide eyes in shock. "Is that a flying tank?!" Li Mei exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.
"It is, I was just as surprised as you when we found it below deck. I wonder what they are doing…" Miho replied, "must be some extra flight practice."
Li Ming pointed down the runway to their left. "Hey look, there are some other tanks," she said.
Everyone turned to see the KV-1K, Tiger H2, and Type 100 had pulled out onto the runway and stopped with some distance between them. "Maybe they're testing to see how well the M1932 can attack from above and how well ground tanks can respond?" Miho suggested.
In the evening skies, set against the bright, vibrant orange sunset, the M1932 banked left and turned to face the runway. It dove at a shallow angle to pick up speed and soared towards the stationary tanks on the ground. The machine guns of the ground tanks fired bursts of bullets at the flying tank. They bounced and sparked against the wings and hull of the M1932, but it flew closer and closer. Then, to the observer's surprise, a burst of fire flew from large tubs mounted on the struts that connect the wings. With three tubes on each wing, six rockets flew ahead towards the ground tanks. The M1932 veered upwards as its rockets screamed toward the ground tanks. Three of the six fired directly impacted tanks, exploding with a magnificent roar. As the M1932 flew away, the faint sound of the white flags popping out of the tanks was heard by Anglerfish and Baiji Team.
They stood with their jaws agape at the tanks as they reset their black boxes and began to drive back to their garages. "That was so cool!" Yukari and Li Mei gushed.
"Is that even legal?" Miho asked.
"I guess it is sort of like Ross's 'rocket' gun. The rules don't exactly outlaw personal things, and that might expand to personal weapons mounted on the tank," Saori noted.
"So as long as it doesn't alter the core design, then it's perfectly legal?" Hana asked.
"Basically, at least that's what the rules say, it could be interpreted differently though. The Americans do like to customize their tanks after all," Saori replied.
"But six? That's a little more than personal," Miho pointed out.
Saori shrugged. "Maybe we should ask to see if they checked," she suggested.
"Alright, do you guys need any more help with your tank?" Miho asked.
Li Ming shook her head. "I think we can handle it from here, Miho," she answered.
Miho nodded and Anglerfish Team left Garage 3 to head to Garage 5 to wait for MeadowlarkTeam to return. They didn't need to wait long, as the M1932 soon landed and returned to the garages. As it stopped in its spot, Miho approached them. Melitta climbed out of the roof hatch and pulled off her helmet before noticing her. "Oh, captain!" she exclaimed before jumping down. "What do you think about my new protection equipment?" she asked.
Miho looked her over. First, Melitta now had an additional steel plate on the front of her helmet that was used to protect German soldiers from sniper fire. Next, she had additional steel armor covering her chest and on her knees, arms, elbows, and wrists modeled from German trench armor. "That's um… interesting," she replied with confusion, "why are you wearing armor?"
"Well, say we get shot down, then some things might get loose and hit us, like ammunition! Then our armor will protect us, and of course, the trench armor option is the most stylish," Melitta answered while Manfred climbed down from the hull.
"Stylish is certainly one way to put it," Miho said with a giggle, "so I saw your ground attack earlier, did you seriously mount rocket tubes to your wings?"
Melitta smirked. "Yeah! Come check them out!" she exclaimed while leading Miho to the wing. "Six M1 standard Bazooka rocket launchers! Just like Bazooka Charlie's L-4 Grasshopper!"
"Bazooka Charlie?" Miho asked.
"He was an American recon pilot during World War II who mounted bazookas on his plane to knock out German tanks. Apparently, it was pretty effective so we figured we'd try it out. Looks like it was a good choice," Manfred answered.
"And you checked to make sure this was legal, right?" Miho asked.
"Oh sure, I called the Snesha-do Federation and everything. They were completely flabbergasted, but they said it wasn't against the rules," Melitta answered.
"Okay, well then, I guess there's no problem with it. Just don't climb out to reload it or anything," Miho instructed.
Melitta and Manfred nodded with a salute. "Of course, captain!" they exclaimed.
Miho giggled. "Alright, alright, at ease. There's no need for that," she said before leaving. While she was walking back to Garage 2, she flipped open her phone and checked the time. "Looks like it's almost time to head home. Just have to finish maintenance," she said to herself. She entered Garage 2 to see the rest of Anglerfish Team had already started. "Alright, I'm back," she announced, "I talked with MeadowlarkTeam Team, they cleared the rockets with the JSF."
"That's good to hear!" Yukari replied while loading shells into the turret with Hana and Saori's help. Hana grabbed a shell from a pallet next to the tank and handed it to Saori who then gave it to Yukari who was in the turret. Mako was working on adjusting and cleaning the tracks. Miho walked around the Panzer IV and grabbed an oil condition monitor before beginning work on removing the engine deck.
Another day, another oil check, she thought with a dry smile.
After all their maintenance work was completed, the sun was just below the horizon and everyone gathered in front of the garages in neat rows organized by team. Miho, the Student Council, and William stood in front of them. Eighteen teams… wow, Miho thought as she looked over her teammates. She could only smile at how much the team has grown in number, experience, and strength.
"Alright everyone, thank you for your hard work today and for giving Baiji Team a warm welcome back. We'll be continuing our training as usual for the rest of the week because we have a very important match this weekend before the July Break," she addressed, "everyone, the next match against Pravda High School is the national semi-finals. If we win, we will advance to the finals. All of Japan and many people around the world are now watching, but don't let the pressure deter or distract you. We've become a great, strong team since we began, and we can win this. I am confident that we can not only defeat Pravda High School, but we can also win the finals as well!"
Everyone gave a loud, confident cheer. "She's right everyone," William added, "if we all do our best, we can win!"
"That's a good change of attitude," Momo commented, "you used to say it'd be impossible for us to win the finals."
"Back then we weren't the team we are now. Beating Anzio with two-to-one numbers helped though," he replied.
"Well everyone, you're dismissed so have a good night and I'll see you tomorrow!" Miho shouted.
Everyone started gathering their things and leaving. Through the crowd, Miho found Ross and made her way over to him. As he grabbed his bag from Garage 1, he noticed her approaching and smiled. "Hey, Miho! Nice speech," he complimented.
Miho blushed. "Thank you, good work today," she replied, "can I walk home with you tonight?"
Ross chuckled. "No need to ask, but sure," he replied and took her hand. Miho froze and blushed more, causing Ross to let go. "Oh, sorry, did that make you uncomfortable?" he asked.
"O-oh no, it's just the first time I've held hands with a boy," Miho replied sheepishly, before grabbing his hand.
"Really?" Ross asked.
Miho nodded as they left the garages and began walking home. "Yeah, I never had the time or even the opportunity for that at Kuromormine," she answered.
"Wow, lucky me," Ross joked, causing them both to giggle. "That makes sense though, Kurmormine is a girl's only school."
Miho nodded. "Yeah, and the Nishizumi Style requires constant devotion. My mother would probably kill any boy that got too close," she added.
"I guess I should keep my distance then," Ross said with a joking smile.
Miho giggled. "Well, I hope that I'll be able to change my mother's views… somehow," she said, her face falling a little bit as they approached the Akiyama's barber shop.
Ross noticed her face falling and tried to pick her back up. "Hey, I bet you can, and I'll do what I can to help you," he assured.
"Thank you," Miho said with a smile.
Ross chuckled. "That's one of the benefits you get for putting up with me," he joked before kissing her on the cheek and running over the Akiyama's front door while Miho stood there in surprise with a massive blush forming on her cheeks. "C'mon Miho, or I'm gonna leave you behind!" Ross called.
"Jeez…" Miho mumbled with amusement before running over. They entered the barber shop to see Natalie playing on a playmat in the front room with Yoshiko watching over her from the front counter while Jungoro was busy cutting a customer's hair.
Natalie's eyes lit up when she saw him. Ross smiled widely and reached down to pick her up. "How's my little girl doing?!" he asked cheerfully.
"Dada!" Natalie babbled while she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into her shoulder. Miho giggled and waved at her. Natalie's face lit up again and she waved clumsily. "Mio!"
Ross went over to the front counter and put a few bills onto it awkwardly. "Thank you for watching her today," Ross said.
Yoshiko smiled and put the money in the register. "You're welcome," she replied.
Ross waved and the three left the shop to head back to their apartments. "Hey Ross, do you want to hang out at my place tonight?" Miho asked.
"Sure, sounds like fun!" Ross replied.
000
So now we know what happened all those years ago in 1989, now it's up to our heroes to set Oarai straight back on the path of progress! We'll have to see if they'll be successful so until then, thank you for reading! And a bigger thank you to all the followers, favorites, and reviewers, it's always a joy to see one of those notifications!
Up Next on Girls und Panzer: Tank Aces
Chapter 35: Blizzard and Fire!