The Kuromorimine Jagdpanther had been idling for a few minutes while its crew worked frantically to repair its tracks. Its commander, a short-haired girl named Emi Kojima, watched with satisfaction as the gunner, sweating and panting, finished fastening the new track link in place.
"Come on, come on, girls," Emi chirped. "We're behind as it is. Can't get any later. Let's go!"
The driver wheezed asthmatically in reply. She was not accustomed to getting out and fixing the vehicle, much less in the middle of a match. The girls climbed back up into the hatches, dusted themselves off, and waited for Emi's command.
"All right," Emi said, "let's go. We're back in the game."
As she spoke, an all-too-familiar hum reached her ears. She yelled the order to move as Ooarai's Hetzer bore down on the Jagdpanther once more.
She was too late. The Hetzer's gun went off as the pesky little tank destroyer sped past her and disappeared into the hilly terrain.
Emi leaned over the side of the Jagdpanther to assess the damage. To her horror, the section of track they had just repaired was once again flat on the ground, as damaged as it had been before.
"We just fixed that!" she exclaimed, stunned at the second setback their Jagdpanther had faced that match. If only their track was still in good shape, they would have been able to simply turn and blow that damn Hetzer to pieces. But no, here they were, back to square one.
Exasperated, Emi balled her hands up into fists, fighting back tears of impulsive rage. "Hey!" she screamed, not caring that the Hetzer's crew couldn't hear her. "Our track is really heavy!"
She hopped back out of the Jagdpanther, cursing under her breath. The beleaguered crew followed, gearing up to fix the track they had just repaired a minute ago.
Back on her school's enormous carrier, in her bedroom, Emi's small chest heaved up and down as she fought back tears of rage and disappointment at Kuromorimine's loss to Ooarai. Behind her sat a tall boy, who massaged her shoulders gently.
"What the hell is wrong with that Hetzer?" she whined. "We just got done fixing the track. We just finished. And what do they do? They blow it off again!" She sniffled a bit and buried her face in the boy's chest.
"It'll be all right, baby," he soothed. "I think I know just the place to cheer you up."
His words went unheard. "Not to mention the Ooarai commander cost us last year's match and now she stole this one from us. Oka-san promised me I'd have a win under my belt at Kuromorimine. But at this rate I'll never win anything!"
The boy shrugged rolled his eyes behind his wire-framed glasses. His beloved was having a tantrum. It would pass. Her family had been so generous to him, rich from her father's job as a venture capital executive, regardless of the fact that he was already rich enough to not need the gesture. Someday they would settle down together, build a house, have a family, send their daughters to Kuromorimine...
"Gah!" Emi cursed. "Everything seems determined to let me down." She buried her face in her hands.
"You know I'll never give you up, right?" the boy said, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.
Emi giggled a little and looked up, suddenly feeling a bit better. "Oh, stop it."
He took her hand and squeezed it. "Come on, I'll take you to dinner. Like I said, I know a place."
She gazed up at him lovingly. "You never lose your charm, Kaito-kun, you know that?"
He smiled. "You're just as beautiful as the day I met you."
"What's the place?"
"You'll see. It's French. La cuisine, c'est parfait."
Emi laughed. Her boyfriend never disappointed. He always had another restaurant queued up for them to visit, with the cash on hand to pay the large bill for the two of them. Not that Emi was strapped for cash—her family lived in a large mansion back on the mainland. Kaito was quite the gentleman, she thought, and her family agreed wholeheartedly.
"Come on, Emi-chan," he said, tugging on her hand. "Let's go grab a bite to eat."
"Coming!" She followed him at a run. They dashed through the parking lot, past shiny rows of cars. He pulled out his keys and unlocked his big black Porsche. Emi ran around to the passenger side, climbed in, and shut her door.
Emi wasn't quite sure how Kaito had gotten that car on the ship in the first place. That thing was sized for the wide roads and highways of Germany or America, not the smaller people and streets of Japan, let alone a school carrier. But it was a status symbol, and that was all that really mattered.
He pressed the starter and put the car into drive. He eased out of his space and then stepped on the accelerator, slamming Emi back into her seat.
The car sped to the lot's exit as Emi and her boyfriend gazed at each other's eyes. They stayed like that until the car approached the driveway. Emi raised a hand and snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Ha, you blinked," she said.
Kaito chuckled and turned his focus back on the road. Emi ran her fingers through his thick layer of medium-length black hair as he drove.
"How many?"
"Table for two, please."
"Two…hmm…yes…OK. Right this way." The hostess picked up two large paper menus and motioned for Emi and Kaito to follow her. She led the pair to a table in the back corner of the restaurant. "Enjoy."
"Thank you!" Emi said.
"You're very welcome, ma'am," the hostess replied, and disappeared back into the fray of the restaurant floor.
"What is this place?" Emi asked Kaito.
"Bistrot Berceuse," he replied. "It's not a great name, but the food here is awesome. Authentic French from a real French chef, if memory serves."
"Wow. I've never been. Can you recommend anything on the menu?"
Just then, a waiter dressed in a white shirt, white apron, black trousers, and black bow tie walked up to their table. "Bonsoir, monsieur, madame. How are you tonight?"
"Wonderful. You?"
"Good, thank you. Have you dined with us before?"
"I have, many times, but she hasn't," Kaito said.
"Very good. Well, welcome. Can I get you started with something to drink?"
"Well, I would order wine, but…" Kaito began.
"Water will be fine," Emi interrupted.
"Water?" The waiter scribbled something in his notebook. "You, monsieur?"
"Uh, I guess I'll just have water."
"Very good. Can I start you with any appetizers?"
"Let's have the escargot," Kaito said, looking to Emi for agreement.
Emi didn't know what to think. She nodded slowly.
"Very good, sir," the waiter said. "I'll be back with your water and the escargot." He melted into the crowd.
"You know I don't care for escargot," she said to Kaito, her eyes still on the menu.
"You've never even had escargot," Kaito answered. "It'll be fine."
"It's snails! Ugh!"
"These are the best of the best cooks. They will make it perfectly, don't you worry."
"Here's hoping."
Kaito laughed. He leaned over and kissed Emi on the cheek. She returned the favor with a kiss of her own.
Kaito put his hand on the table. Emi looked at it and placed her own hand in his.
They gazed into each other's eyes for a long time.
"All due respect to Maho, she's got her head up her ass when fighting her sister." Emi paused. "'Onee-chan, you wouldn't be responsible for shutting down my school, would you?' 'Onee-chan, give me a chance!' 'Onee-chan' this, 'Onee-chan' that!" she mimicked.
Emi took a deep breath and took another bite of her sole. "If she wasn't so distracted by whom she was fighting, she might have been able to pull it off and start our new winning streak. But she blew it. All that caution. You don't use caution when you're up against a school that needs to win. You smash them as we usually do. So what the hell she was thinking, I have no clue." Her face was red and she was talking faster and faster.
"Breathe, Emi-chan," Kaito said in a soothing voice.
She pretended not to notice his attempt to calm her down. "And that damn Hetzer crew! The student council no less! They've clearly got nothing better to do than run around in a Hetzer and make us look like fools. Why aren't they negotiating to get MEXT to reverse its decision instead of sitting in a fucking tank?! They—they—" She slammed her fists onto the table. "God damn it!" she cried. "Those bitches! Those absolute sneaky bitches! Aaaaarrrgh!" She looked around. Everyone in the restaurant was looking worriedly at her. Then it occurred to her that she was shouting and standing up. She sat back down and took a deep breath. "Sorry." Her face changed back to its usual color.
"So, Emi-chan," Kaito said at last, "how's your family doing? I nearly forgot to ask, with all of this misfortune in sensha-do."
Emi perked up, seemingly relieved at the subject change. "They're doing fine," Emi answered. "My older brother just got accepted to the University of Michigan in the States, so he'll be going there next semester. It's all my mother can talk about."
"Nice! Give your brother my congratulations. He is quite lucky."
"If you don't account for how expensive it's going to be for us, then yes, it is. I'm sure he'll be fine, but I just pray every day that he'll be fine over there."
At last, the waiter set a small black leather folder on the table. "Here's the bill. Whenever you're ready."
"Let's play The Price is Right," said Kaito. "You go first." He turned the bill face down.
"15000 yen," Emi said confidently.
"I'm gonna say 20000," Kaito answered. "Ready?" Emi nodded.
Kaito flipped over the bill. "27385," he announced.
"Wha—we can't—" As Emi said this, Kaito pulled out his wallet and deposited a credit card into the pocket in the folder. Emi's disbelief intensified.
"Don't worry," he said, "I can handle the bill no problem. Par for the course."
"Are you kidding? There's no way you can afford that on a regular basis." Emi was used to a simpler lifestyle than Kaito was showing off.
"I usually don't need to, even if my dad is CEO of one of the largest automotive companies on the planet. But this isn't a regular basis, now, is it?" He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek. She blushed and giggled.
The waiter collected the bill. He returned a few minutes later with Kaito's card and the receipt. "Have a good night," he said to Emi and Kaito. They nodded, stood up in unison, and pushed their way through the throng to the exit.
The air outside the restaurant was very brisk. It got cold on the open decks of those school ships at night.
"Wanna come to my room?" he asked her.
"Thank you, but unfortunately I can't tonight," she lamented. "I've got a practice match tomorrow, remember? I need to be well rested."
"Who's it against?" Kaito asked. He had forgotten.
"Saunders University High School," Emi said. "Their lineup is entirely Shermans, so I'm not too worried."
"All right. Tomorrow night, then?"
"Of course." She grabbed his hand. "You will come watch the match, right?"
"Sorry, I wish I could, but I've got a violin recital tomorrow around the same time that you guys usually hold matches."
"Well, good luck," Emi said. "I wish I could be there. I'm sure you'll do well."
"Thank you," Kaito said. "See you tomorrow night. I'll pick you up."
Emi smiled warmly at him. "I love you," she said softly.
"I love you too," he said, mirroring her smile. They kissed briefly, and Kaito began walking to his car.
"Kaito-kun?" she called after him.
"Yes, Emi-chan?"
"Thank you for dinner."
"Oh, you're more than welcome. Hope you're feeling a bit better."
She winced. The loss of the match had hurt, but she had enjoyed the meal. "I'm feeling a little better."
"Good. Good night!" He disappeared into the darkness, leaving Emi alone in the parking lot.
"'Night." She thought about waiting for the ship's trolley, which ran at all hours, but she didn't feel like sitting there and letting visions of Hetzers dance in her head. Her room was at the other end of the ship, but she figured she could handle it. So she began walking.
She kept walking until her bed materialized in front of her. She flopped down on it and was out like a light.