Hi, sorry for the late update, there's something in real life that cannot be ignored.

Hopefully the next update would be as regular as before. ;)

*cheers!*


Chapter XIII: Once Upon A Time...

Outskirt of Yekaterinburg

Sverdlovsk Oblast

Russian Federation

Three girls are running frantically for their lives through pine woods and snow. The visibility is poor due to heavy snowing, but they can still hear the sound of their pursuers echoing in this woods.

Suddenly, the smallest girl fell down, tripped by a stone covered with snow. The thick snow on the ground cushion her fall, but the pain is biting her sharply nonetheless.

"Come on, get up! We got to get out of here!" said the black-haired girl, helping her to stand.

"Leave me, save yourself!" said the smallest girl.

"We're getting out of here together!" said the black-haired girl, "how far is our extraction point?"

"Still few miles, we got to get hurry," said the brunette girl.

"стоп!"

"They're coming! We got to hide!" said a black-haired girl.

Together, both black-haired girl and brunette girl pull the smallest girl and going into the brush. The black-haired girls making sure to wipe their tracks as they hide. They then silent still, trying not to make any move or any noise. Not long after, a steps of their pursuers getting louder and they can hear few women stop near the place where the smallest girl fall.

Later on, they could hear their pursuer chatting in Russian language, more of arguing. Seems some girls want to stop the pursuit, while the others wish to continue searching in the area. This disagreement turns into a heated arguments, when a train whistle blows from afar.

While they were arguing, the black-haired girl could hear somebody is moving closer to where they hide. Seems somebody just ignore the arguments and decide to search the surrounding area herself. Their heart is beating so fast that they thought somebody might hear it from afar. And the searcher now getting close, with the muzzle of her PPS-43, used to cut through the bushes, is now visible to three of them.


Few Days Earlier


Sensha Town

The Shinano

School bells are ringing, and the lesson for today is over. Miho sigh in relief. A week from now, they have to prepare themselves to go to Russia for the first match of Bracket D of U-18 World Sensha-do Championship against Russian Federation. RTS has already send their chosen venue, and it will be on Evenkiyskiy District of Krasnoyarsk Krai. Since early research showed that it would be snowing on the days of the match, JSF has now prepared the tanks and the crews for fighting in heavy snowy condition.

These past few days, Miho has supervise the preparation for the match. JSF has recently shipped many winter clothing for the tank crew. The winter attire of JSF consist of olive green hooded winter coat with dark green scarf, all decorated with JSF insignia. Other items including winter stocking, mitten, leather gloves, ear-warmer, belly-warmer, heat packs, and various heating pad. In alternatives for berrets, the crews now allowed to use any kind of headgears that provide warmth: balaclava, beanie, headscarf, trapper hats, even ushanka.

Mechanical teams of JSF also greatly adapt the tanks for winter condition. Each tank is now equipped with climate control system and additional portable heater. Heated seat cover also applied on each seats in the tank, plus additional water heater and thermal container for storing warm foods or beverages. Based on Miho's experience against Pravda in the last tournament, having extra warm foods and beverages is very important in this kind of climate. The engine and mechanical parts also has been suited for winter use, including the use of antifreeze liquid. The only thing cannot be suited for winter is the caterpillars of Crusaders.

This left Miho very worry, since historically, Crusader was used by The British mostly on North African Campaign of World War II. And North Africa is basically a desert and arid environment. Despite best efforts from JSF Mechanical Team, putting a Crusader into winter battle in Siberia is the same as putting a fish out of water. Some features from the Crusaders will be hampered by harsh cold condition. However, even though Ami Chouno considered changing Crusader with other type of tanks, Shizuka and other company members refused the idea. It seems that since the bloody battle against the China, they've developed a strong bond with their tanks.

Miho steps in the school corridor with cloud still hanging on her head. Since this is a school for sensha-do team members, so it's not as lively as regular school, too few people for that. At this kind of time, she missed being in Ooarai Girls Academy. Not just because she's famous there, but there's a warm feeling that surround her there, place where she could be a regular school girl after getting out of tank. Here, she cannot fully do that.

But there also things that keep bothering her. With Ooarai Sensha-do Team now growing, she couldn't feel at ease knowing that she only left Gomoyo and Pazomi to train the newbies of the team. Yes, they're very much qualified for that, but a bigger team means there are a lot of things to handle, and Miho cannot sure if two girls is enough to handle the situation.

She then open a room, and there, Saori, Hana, and Yukari are working with piles of documents. In other rooms, other girls who held office in their school also doing the same chores. Federation provide these rooms so that school officials could run their school remotely. A high powered WiFi system and internet connection has been prepared to facilitate this. The only one not working there is Mako, since she only enjoys scooting on the couch there.

"Miporin," said Saori smiling, while sinking into a pile of paperwork.

"You're working hard," said Miho.

"Yes, the Departments and Selectives keep sending a lot of things to be signed, luckily we have this fastest connection, so we could do this job easily," said Hana.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Miho.

"No, we're okay," said Saori, "but speaking of which, don't you feel to call Pazomi and Gomoyo in Ooarai, Miporin?"

"Yes, I think Takebe-dono is right, Nishizumi-dono. We need to check them and the progress of Sensha-do team," said Yukari.

"Oh yes, perhaps I will," said Miho.

"There, use the computer over there to video call them, at least make sure everything okay there. Things could get very messy with a lot of newbies," said Saori, "just log on and start the video call."

Miho nods, and go to the vacant computer beside Hana's desk. She logged on to her account then started to contact Ooarai on a video call. Loading screen appears, then somebody from Ooarai accept her call. At first, Miho thought it would be Gomoyo or Pazomi, but turns out...

"Nishizumi-chan! Nice to see you!"

"Prez?"

Hearing that name, everyone stop what they're doing and rush to Miho. Yes, it's Anzu Kadotani answering Miho's call.

"You have a very interesting team here, you know? A little bit irresponsible by leaving the team behind, but I guess a national duty have to be upheld, right?" Anzu winked while waving her dried potato snack.

"Prez? Why are you there?" asked Miho.

"We took sensha-do in Shimofusadai University, and due to the circumstances, University Sensha-do Federation allowed us to come to Ooarai and train the team. Gomoyo and Pazomi are good trainers, but with so much newbies in the team, we're guessing that they need a hand."

"We?" asked Hana.

"Yes, Kawashima and Koyama is here as well. Guys! Come here and talk to the Anglerfish, Girls!"

Momo Kawashima and Yuzu Koyama then appears at the screen. Everyone smiles widely when they sees them.

"We took the liberty of tackling the team training, Nishizumi," said Momo, "quite bothering that even after we graduated, you still can't do things without us,"

"Don't listen to her, Nishizumi-san, we got academic credits for doing this, actually, and Momo needs a lot of credits," said Yuzu.

"Ahem! Anyway, we're so proud that you're there and uphold the name of our country, so don't you worry about the things here. It's like when you first join the team anyway, the difference is, now we have experiences to do this," said Momo.

"Thank's God, if Momo-san is in charge, I felt very relieve," said Miho.

"By the way, since you haven't assigned anybody on our Hetzer, we're going to take it while we conduct training," said Anzu.

"So you're going to stay in Ooarai for a while?" asked Saori.

"Actually, no. We only come to Ooarai for about 2 days a week plus weekends. Just making sure everything is in order. With High-School Federation rescheduled the tournament, we have more time to train these girls, thankfully," said Yuzu.

"So rest assure and focus on the International Competition," said Momo.

"Alright!" said Miho smiling.

"Don't think about it too hard, Nishizumi-chan," said Anzu while chewing her snack, "just take it as another game to play, and you just have to do your best and enjoy every game you played. Don't worry about things here, since we're going to handle things with the best of our abilities."

"And by taking care of this team well, I guess we also contribute to the victory of our National Team, don't you think so?" asked Momo.

"Yes, thank you, all of you," said Miho.

"And you all, please support Nishizumi-chan with the best of your ability too, alright?" said Anzu.

"We will!" said Saori, Mako, Hana and Yukari in unison.

"Good, then let us all work hard together!" said Anzu.

Everyone then cheering before Anzu finally disconnect the call. With Anzu, Momo, and Yuzu taking charge of young team training in Ooarai, Miho now feel a little bit relief. At least she doesn't have to be worry of things in the home front and focus to win the war.

"I'm so glad Prez is now taking charge there, though not everyday," said Saori.

"Yes, Prez is a great person. She could foresee things far ahead and do something to handle those," said Yukari.

"As expected from Prez," said Hana.

"Our team back home is in the good hand, though I also feel bad to have bothered them again after they graduated from here," said Miho.

"Well, since Prez and the others loved Ooarai Girls Academy very much, I don't think they feel bothered about it," said Hana.

"Wait, Nishizumi-dono, is that your incoming mail alert?" said Yukari.

Miho looked at the screen and she saw the incoming mail alert for one mail. Since every school business has been directed to Hana, and she doesn't get much private email, so this one must be important.

"Is that from Prez?" asked Hana.

"No way, Prez would've said that if she did," said Yukari.

"Why don't you open that, Miporin? Could be important," said Saori.

"Alright," said Miho.

Miho then click on the mail alert. There's only one mail with an unknown sender named "Mathuska". Curious, Miho open that to reveal that there's nothing in the letter except the name of the place and date:

"YEKATERINBURG

3 DAYS FROM NOW"

Everyone seems puzzled with that message.