Family Feud

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Tsukino Usagi and the Sailor Senshi return to Ooarai Girls Academy to visit their friends, and find a new and most challenging Sensha-do experience awaiting them.

This is the second follow-up to 'Twist of Fate' and takes place immediately after the previous story 'Friends Forever'.

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Chapter 1:

Wednesday morning dawned clear and bright on the Zuikaku, with a warm breeze gently stirring the fresh, salty sea air around the gigantic ship. Walking to school after the extra two-day break from classes, Nishizumi Miho hummed softly to herself as she strolled along the sidewalk, thinking about the recent unforgettable day she and her Anglerfish team had spent with Usagi and her friends at Makoto's house. Miho's thoughts soon turned to the present and her boyfriend Yusei, hoping her next date with the handsome sixteen-year-old boy would again stir the joy and happiness that filled her heart whenever they were together. 'I'm in love!' she suddenly realized, and a bright smile appeared on her pretty face.

A melody began playing inside her bookbag and she opened it to check her phone. Miho was overjoyed to find a text message from Yusei which simply said the boys would be at her Sensha-do match on Saturday, that he was missing her deeply and had something very important to tell her when they met again.

'I wonder what it could be?' the brown-haired girl mused. She stopped walking to text him back, telling him how much she really missed him too, and wishing he had a wonderful day at class. She promised to definitely see him again on the coming weekend, and finished her text by adding a line of red hearts to the end of her message. Miho sighed happily, slipped the phone back into her bookbag and was about to continue on to her first class of the day when she heard a familiar female voice speak behind her.

"Remember us, Miho-san?"

'That sounds like Makoto!' she thought. Quickly turning around, Miho smiled brightly at the five girls in white and green Ooarai school fuku who walked up to her. "Minna! You came back to Ooarai! That's terrific!"

"Ohayou, Miho-san" Makoto grinned. "Hai, we're here again, wearing out our welcome."

"This is so wonderful! My team will be so happy to see you again!"

"We'll be happy to see them too" Minako giggled. "It's been three whole weeks since you left us!"

"Nani? But we were at Makoto's house just a few days ago, Minako-san."

Ami spoke, "Usagi's future self must have teamed up with Setsuna to send us back in time to the Wednesday after we left Ooarai, Miho-san. It really has been three weeks since we were last together, at least in our dimension."

"It's so good you can do that!" the Anglerfish commander exclaimed. "It means you won't have any marks against your record for missing classes! Let's go find the other girls. We can chat for a few minutes before the bell rings." She asked, "Minna, how long will you be with us this time? I hope you'll be able to join us for our match on Saturday!"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think we'll be at Ooarai for at least a week, Miho-san" Usagi said. She frowned, "I hate not knowing what future me is thinking!"

"You usually have enough trouble knowing what the present you is thinking, Usagi-chan" Rei smirked.

"Rei-chan, you promised you wouldn't tease me anymore!" the blonde grumbled. "Remember? Don't you dare go back on your word."

"Well... just this once, for old time's sake" the miko smiled. "Or maybe twice. I'll save the second tease for later, when you most deserve it. And knowing you as well as I do, Usagi-chan, I probably won't need to save it very long."

"Ohh! You're being annoying and picking on me again!" Usagi groaned. "I knew it was too good to last!"

Rei smiled, "Nothing lasts forever, Usagi-chan. Except love, and your insane appetite."

"Ok, that's twice!" the blonde fumed. "So enough already!"

Rei innocently looked away. "It was? I wasn't counting."

"Be quiet, Miserable-chan!"

Miho giggled, "The way you two always tease each other is so funny! I really missed that!"

"I didn't" Usagi muttered. She suddenly gasped, "Ohh! Minna, I just thought of something awful!"

"What would that be, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked.

"We just spent the last three weeks studying our lessons at Juuban, Ami-chan. But now that we're back at Ooarai and it's almost three weeks ago, I have to learn most of the same stuff all over again!"

The blue-haired girl genius tried to put a positive spin on the situation. "At least repeating your lessons should help you improve your grades."

"I doubt it" Rei chuckled. "And before you say that's three times, Usagi-chan, I wasn't counting that one either."

Miho politely hid her giggle with her hand as Usagi stared dejectedly skyward. "Double classes! What have I done?"

. . . . .

The other Anglerfish teens enthusiastically welcomed Usagi's group a few minutes later, after they spotted the six girls enter the grounds of the Ooarai Girls Academy's sprawling campus. Surprisingly, they found Mako among them, appearing unusually well rested for so early in the morning.

"Ohayou, minna. It's great to have you back with us." Mako told the driver of Luna team's Panzer IV, "You may like to know that we have our next Sensha-do practice at two this afternoon, Minako-san."

"Hontou ni?" The bubbly blonde nearly leapt out of her brown school shoes at the news. "I finally get to drive my tank again! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"That's nearly all she's been talking about since you left us three weeks ago, Mako-san" Makoto chuckled. "She's been driving her poor Taro crazy about how much she misses you and your team, and Sensha-do."

"Hai!' Minako glanced around to be sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. "My honey muffin and I watched your 'Girls und Panzer' anime a dozen more times!" the blonde exclaimed. "Every episode, from start to finish!" She told her Ooarai friends, "Haruka got so tired of re-renting the tv and tape player, she bought new ones and gave them to Mako-chan. So now we have an even bigger tv permanently at the house. And Setsuna gave us spare copies of all the tapes, too!"

"I guess that makes you the official president of our fan club, Minako-sensei" Yukari giggled. "By now, you probably know more about the other schools and their tanks then some of our first-year girls who competed against them do!"

"That knowledge may come in really handy during our exhibition match this weekend" Miho smiled at the excited blonde. She told the brunette standing beside her, "We still have very little idea what to expect on Saturday, Makoto-san. We still don't know what the match rules will be, or even who will be participating in the competition. Except for Saunders" she added. "Nagasaki is their school ship's home port so I assume they'll be hosting the event."

Makoto asked, "You mentioned when you were with us in Nerima that there's supposed to be more than two schools involved in the match, Miho-san?"

"Hai" Ooarai's Sensha-do commander nodded. "According to a rumor that's going around, Anzu thinks there'll be four schools in total this time, two per side, and possibly six tanks per school. Maybe even more. She sent me a text about it before I left my apartment this morning."

"That's a lot of tanks!" Minako exclaimed.

"Hai, it is, Minako-san. We may even need to switch tactics quickly for each unique tank we face, which makes everything a lot more complicated! If the rumor is true, it may prove to be nearly as challenging to win this exhibition match as the national tournament was." Miho smiled at the Luna team commander. "Are you ready for your biggest Sensha-do battle yet, Makoto-san?"

"I can't wait!" the tall brunette grinned. "The way I see it, Miho-san, more tanks just means more targets for us to shoot." She made a fist and smacked it into the palm of her other hand. "So bring 'em on!"

Miho laughed, "I love your positive attitude, Makoto-san!" She suggested to the group, "Minna, how about we all have lunch up on the roof today?"

"Anywhere is fine with me!" Usagi grinned. "I'm starving already!"

. . . . .