Chapter 12:

"Looks like we're nearly at the staging area" Makoto told her team. "I can see a big field ahead, with packed grandstands around them and... a lot of tanks. I think they're Shermans."

"Hai, that's the type most commonly used by Saunders, Mako-chan" Ami confirmed. "They're fast, maneuverable and quite effective against older model Panzers like ours or Miho's, especially at close range."

"That's what bothers me" her commander muttered. "And there's ten of them but only eight of us. We're outnumbered already."

The band began playing Ooarai's school song while Miho led her teams into the field, halting her Panzer directly opposite Kay's Sherman with their guns facing each other. "Too bad we can't take them by surprise and shoot them now" Makoto joked as Minako parked their tank alongside Riko's STuG. "But that would be cheating."

Following Miho's example, Makoto told her crew to disembark and line up in front of their Panzer, just as the Ooarai commander's team had done. Rei stared at the long row of guns pointed their way. "It almost feels like we're standing in front of a firing squad, Mako-chan."

"Hai. Any minute now I expect they'll blindfold us and line us up against a wall" Makoto chuckled. She watched Miho walk up to Kay, expecting the girls to exchange polite bows, but instead the Saunders' blonde commander flung her arms around the brown-haired girl.

"Konnichiwa, Miho-san! Welcome back to Nagasaki!"

"It's wonderful to see you again, Kay-san!" Miho replied with a warm smile while returning the hug. "How is life aboard the George Washington these days?"

"Great!" Kay grinned. "As it always is! Although we're still licking our wounds after you beat us in the first round of the tournament, Miho! We plan on making up for that unfortunate loss this afternoon." She giggled, "Hope you don't mind!" Kay then waved at Yukari. "How's my favorite spy doing this morning, Yukari-san? Sneak onto any other school ships lately?"

The Anglerfish loader's pretty face reddened. "Um... no, not lately, Kay-san."

"That's a shame!" the Saunders commander laughed. "Maybe if you had, you could tell me who today's other schools are."

"You still don't know?" Miho asked, surprised that such a large and resource-rich school as Saunders hadn't discovered the match's remaining two teams.

"No idea. The Sensha-do governing body kept everything really hush-hush up 'til now. They even rented warehouses in town to hide the other schools' tanks from everyone. But we'll both find out soon enough."

The two commanders watched a Saunders' student walk up to them, holding a neatly-folded Ooarai school flag. "Time to raise your colors, Miho-san. Get two of your girls to do it while the band is still playing your song. Have them use the flagpole at the opposite end of the stage from mine, ok?"

"Uh... hai." Miho turned around, quickly choosing the two girls standing nearest to her. "Minako-san, Usagi-san, would you do the honors please?"

"Hai hai!" Minako beamed, rushing up and taking the offered flag. The two blondes hurried over to the flagpole while Makoto looked at Rei and grimaced.

The miko frowned at the blondes, thinking 'In the name of everything sacred, please don't mess this up!'

"I never raised a flag before, Minako-chan!" Usagi exclaimed when they reached the base of the pole. "How do we do this?"

"I haven't either, Usagi-chan. Hmm..." Minako eyed the blue cloth. "Aha! There's two metal rings on it! We just need to put them on those hook-shaped thingies there on the rope and haul it straight up. It'll be as easy as pie!"

"Ok! You do the attaching part and I'll pull on the rope" the odango-haired blonde volunteered.

After a few moments of fumbling, the flag began to rise in sharp jerks up the pole.

"Good grief!" Makoto facepalmed. "Stop!" she yelled at the girls. "You've got the flag on upside down!"

"We do?" Minako peered up at the inverted flag, while the Saunders' team members and much of the audience sitting in the grandstands burst out laughing. "Oops! How on earth did that happen?" the girl with the red bow in her hair blushed. "Usagi-chan!" she hissed, "Lower the flag fast so I can fix the silly thing!"

The Ooarai school flag was lowered, quickly flipped around and finally raised correctly, flapping gently in the morning breeze with Minako and Usagi scurrying red-faced back to their Panzer as the music ended.

"Baka!" Rei yelled at the pair. "Can't you two do anything right? We're in public! And on tv! This is so embarrassing!"

Usagi grinned sheepishly at the furious miko. "Gomen nasai, Rei-chan!"

"It's not our fault, Rei-chan!" Minako miffed. "We never had to raise a..." She suddenly sniffed an unpleasant odor in the air. "Minna, what's that funny burning smell?"

Both Hana and Yukari had noticed it as well, and the Anglerfish loader spun around to check the row of parked vehicles behind her, spotting black smoke curling up from the engine compartment of one of the tanks. "Nishizumi-dono! The Tiger P is on fire!"

Miho uttered a deep sigh, her shoulders sagging and her cheeks flushing bright red as she watched Satoko and her driver hastily scramble up onto the smouldering tank. 'I hope my Yusei isn't here to see this' she thought glumly.

"Tsuchiya, fetch me an extinguisher!" the Leopon commander ordered.

The other girl dove head-first into the turret and quickly passed a red extinguisher up to Satoko. The rear of the ailing Tiger became engulfed in a thick white cloud as its commander sprayed foam into the engine compartment vents.

"That's got it" Satoko said after the fumes had cleared. "Probably just a minor oil leak, Miho-san" she called down. "We can have it fixed in a jiffy... I think."

"I knew this was going to happen!" Yukari grumbled in dismay, while across from her the Saunders girls were nearly doubled over, laughing even harder than before. "This is almost as embarrassing as doing the Anglerfish dance in public!"

"It's not that bad, Yukari!" Saori blurted. "Nothing is that bad!"

"Better to have problems now than after the match starts" Mako murmured. "But... not much better."

"Miho-san, your school certainly knows how to make a grand entrance!" Kay grinned. "This is almost as much fun as beating your tanks in battle will be! I can't wait to see what happens next!"

As if on cue, a Sensha-do national representative handed Saunders' band leader a slip of paper. The conductor held up fingers to signal her musicians which song would be their next piece, and with a wave of her baton, the large band struck up again. Just as Miho and her teams had expected, the all-too-familiar song they now began playing was the German march 'Panzerlied'.

"Kuromorimine is teaming up with me?" Kay exclaimed. She laughed, "Today just keeps on getting better and better!"

Nearly all of the spectators filling the nearest grandstand soon began clapping in time to the music, with the exception of five teenage males sitting in their midst. The Anglerfish team's boyfriends were deeply saddened by Ooarai's misfortune with the troublesome Tiger, and even moreso upon discovering who the school would be competing against. But Yusei knew in his heart that the girl he so deeply cared about would somehow find a way rise above it all. He gazed at the brown-haired girl through love-filled eyes, cheering for her with his thoughts. 'Be strong, my Miho. You can do it. I know you can.'

"Minna, this is it!" Makoto spoke to her crew, raising her voice to be heard above the loud music and clapping. "We finally get to see for real what Miho's sister's tanks look like."

The first Kuromorimine tank in a column of ten soon appeared on the access road, rumbling ominously toward the gathered group with Nishizumi Maho visible in the turret of her massive Tiger I, wearing her steel-grey uniform and combat hat, holding the sides of its cupola and proudly standing ruler-straight.

"Mako-chan!" Minako gasped, grabbing the brunette's arm. "I thought Darjeeling's Churchill was big, but Maho's tank is an absolute monster! Just look at the size of the gun it has! And there are lots more of them behind it!"

"That's it!" Usagi groaned. "We're toast!"

. . . . .

At the very end of the row of Ooarai tanks, Momo stood near her Hetzer, silently scowling at the Ooarai commander. "If I was in charge, none of this would've happened, Anzu. Miho probably has too many other things clouding her mind today. Lustful things!"

"You're still upset about what happened last night, aren't you?" the Student Council President smirked. "And jealous, too. Don't worry, Momo. Someday we'll both find boyfriends."

"If I ever do, I certainly won't be like Miho and sneak him into my apartment for a night of wild unimaginable debauchery!"

"No?" Anzu grinned. "I sure would!"

. . . . .

Watching a drone shot of Ooarai's beleaguered Tiger P, Taro murmured from the sofa, "Minna, things aren't going nearly as well as I hoped they would, and the match hasn't even started yet. I feel really bad for Miho."

"Hai. Me too, Taro-chan" Ryo sighed. "Losing a tank before the battle commences would be a huge setback for Ooarai."

"This? This is nothing" Haruka chuckled. She told the discouraged boys, "In my racing career, I've had to start at the very back of the grid a few times due to mechanical problems. But I didn't finish there" she grinned. "Let's wait and see what happens after the match begins and the shells start flying."

"Hai!" Yuji agreed with the tall blonde. He smiled confidently, "Minna, we've seen what happened in the anime, and all those times Ooarai had its back against the wall. If anyone can turn a bad situation around, it'll be Nishizumi Miho."

. . . . .