The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Zwölf: Verloren!
Kapitel Ein: In der Stadt verloren
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"Um…" Miho nervously began with a nervous smile to match. Beside her was of course her lover Erich, but on her other side was Erika. Also there was Hans beside Erika. The two from Schwarzwaldspitze had more restrained looks, but they still sweated a bit in dread of what had happened to them all. Erich had a calm grin as always, as if he didn't sense the gravity of the current situation.
All of them were in their respective school uniforms as they looked around the area, which included the personal additions Erich and Miho wore. They were all standing in the middle of a large group of people that they didn't know.
"It seems like we've gotten lost…" Miho nervously began as she started taking hold of Erich's arm with her own two arms. "In an unknown city…"
"That looks to be true…" Erika determined with her more restrained look.
Hans looked over to Erich and found him with his usual calm grin. Unlike the girls, he already knew Erich's role in their getting lost, and he shook his head in exasperation at it.
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"Aah, that sure was a surprise," Anzu remarked as she stretched her arms above her head.
"You can say that again," Aprikose agreed as he nodded beside her. "I thought we finally had a port available for us, but then we find out we have to share it with the Graf Zeppelin."
Indeed, the Zuikaku and Graf Zeppelin were both sharing the same port in Bournemouth within Britain. This port was constructed for the strict use of school ships, considering none of them could fit within the inlet that headed to the port of Poole not far away. That meant the beaches by Bournemouth were constructed over to make the port, meaning the beaches there were no longer as large as they used to be.
"The number of ports a school ship can dock in are limited, so situations like these can happen from time to time," Pfirsich remarked.
"But it does still feel a little awkward, all things considered," Zitrus also noted.
At the port, all of the Ooarai students in their normal uniforms had gotten off as they grew full of energy to go off and explore the English city. This included the Anglerfish Team and the ground crew for Messer-Ein.
"Hey!" Anton garnered his friends' attentions. He had a grin that held enthusiasm in it along with a desire to know something. "I couldn't ask during the fight against them, but you think those German girls in Schwarzwaldspitze are hot?"
"You can try as much as you like, Anton," Herz granted as he held his typical calm smile. "But you don't want to piss them off. I remember Erich once said how overly strict they are over there. He likened many of the girls over there to tanks, with them being as difficult to penetrate as armor and as piercing and pain-inflicting as a cannon."
"Oh, are you kidding me?" Anton lamented. He then slumped his shoulders as he sighed in defeat. "Man, why are they so strict anyways…"
"Well I don't know about you all," Nathan began. He had his bag with him on his back. Because of his well-known reputation as being prepared for anything, he predictably had mainly survival equipment within. "But I definitely want to talk with the folks from their aviation department, eh! Those same guys that we crossed paths with during the big fight we had…" he ended with an enthusiastic glint in his eyes.
"Let me guess," David began with his typical deadpan tone. "You want to have a highly-involved fighter chat with them?"
Nathan chuckled lightly a bit. "You can tell, eh?" he replied to David.
"Well, I don't think it should be needed," Anzu began with her usual carefree tone as she gathered everyone's attention. Everyone turned to her and Aprikose in response. "But everyone, please don't cause trouble for the Schwarzwaldspitze students. That would be bothersome for us to deal with."
"Got it!" everyone else replied affirmative.
"So, what should we do, Lady Nishizumi?" Yukari asked as she turned around. "Even though the President said that, do you and Bubi plan on paying your siblings a visit or something like that?"
"Well, if we do that, then-" Saori began, but she stopped upon seeing that Miho wasn't there.
"Huh?" Yukari wondered in confusion as she couldn't track down Miho, either. "Lady Nishizumi?"
"Actually, now that I look around, where's Bubi?" Anton similarly wondered as he took a look around. Indeed, he could not find Erich around the area, either.
"Where could they have gone off to?" Nathan wondered aloud as he brought his hand to his chin in thought. All of the others were in similar confusion about their two friends' whereabouts. Although they were sure they were okay, they couldn't help but wonder where they were at.
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Elsewhere in Bournemouth, the four 'lost' Germans were walking together to try and find their way back. Hans and Erich were further ahead from Erika and Miho. Erika was getting a bit irritated at seeing Miho follow after her unsteadily, like a lost puppy.
Erika chose to turn towards her with no warning, and Miho stopped in a bit of alarmed nervousness. Upon seeing her, Erika chose to walk off again at a more brisk pace. But Miho continued to follow after her in her nervous way. Erika turned to her again upon hearing her trotting behind her, and Miho stopped in her nervous way again.
Up ahead, Hans and Erich were both looking on at the scene. "Remind me why we're doing this again?" Hans asked Erich with a bit of a deadpan look.
"To get those two to be friends," Erich replied with his calm smile. He then looked over to Hans. "Who's to say that they can't be like us? Fiercely competitive in combat, but friends outside of combat?"
Hans mulled over Erich's words for a moment. "Fine," he sighed out. "I just hope that this works out for them and that this won't be a wasted effort."
"Hans and I are heading back to the port alone, so could you stop following me, you lost puppy?" Erika finally asked Miho out of irritation of being followed by her.
"Er… Well… Um…" Miho nervously said with a nervous smile to match. "I left my phone behind…"
"Huuuuuh?" Erika groaned out in a disbelieving way as she slumped her shoulders a bit.
"W-Well… I'm sorry, but could I perhaps borrow… yours… for a while?"
'Man, and I thought this girl grew up a bit in Ooarai, but it looks like she's still just as useless outside of a Panzer as she always was…' Erika thought. 'No wonder she has to have someone like Bubi with her all the time.' She then sighed. "Fine, I guess it can't be helped," she replied.
'Whether be it disappointment or be it relief…' she thought in musing as she began searching for her phone. "Hm?" she wondered upon not finding it in her left pocket. So she tried her right pocket. "Huh?" she reacted as she started sweating nervously upon not feeling it there, either. "Wait, what?"
Miho started looking confused at Erika seemingly not being able to find her phone. Erich was looking on with his calm smile, as if oblivious to what was happening, while Hans rolled his eyes at seeing Erich acting innocent.
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Elsewhere at the area where Schwarzwaldspitze's students were gathered, Maho had her phone out as she tried calling Erika. The dial tone kept going until she arrived at Erika's voicemail. "It seems Erika isn't picking up her Handy," Maho observed. She was a bit confused at Erika not picking up, but her typical emotionless face made it difficult for anyone to tell.
Alfred, however, was able to tell from his place with her. "Really?" he wondered with his same unemotional look. "Even though it's past the gathering time?" All of the Schwarzwaldspitze students around them were in their school uniforms as they stretched themselves out for the moment.
Among them, Koume felt something vibrating in her white purse, and she grew a bit confused at it. So she dug through it and ended up finding a phone that wasn't hers. "Wait, isn't this Erika's Handy?" she wondered as she held the ringing phone. "Why is it in my bag?"
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'Oh, this sucks hard,' Erika thought as she grew a begrudging look at realizing she didn't have her phone. 'And here I thought I could get us some help…'
"… You don't have a phone?" Miho asked in response. She had a bit of a nervous edge to her voice.
"No! I don't!" Erika barked as she turned to Miho. "But…" she tried to come up with an idea. She finally got one as she pointed to Hans. "Hans! Use your phone!" she commanded.
"Alright, alright, chill out first," Hans chose to obey the command and searched for his phone. He pulled it out a bit later and tried to turn it on, but the phone did not come on. "Huh?" he wondered as he tried turning it on again. The phone did not come on, though. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…" he groaned out upon realizing what the phone not turning on meant. "My phone's dead."
Erika grew a slight tick at that news, and she then faced Erich. "Don't tell me you don't have yours," she spoke to him, but the way she said it made it sound a bit like a threat, as if saying that he better have his phone.
Erich shook his head as he remained calm. "Sorry, but mine's dead, too," he revealed.
"Uuuuugh…" Erika groaned in response.
Hans tried to search for something else to use in the meantime. He finally lit up as he spotted an English phone booth. "Hey, let's use that!" he spoke up as he pointed over there. He had immediately started over there.
Erika saw the English phone booth, and she grew a determined grin as she started over to it. She also took hold of Erich's and Miho's hands and dragged the two with her over there. "If we can contact someone from here…" she voiced her thoughts.
Hans reached the phone first, and Erika came up beside it with the two other Germans in hand. Erich, however, noticed the design of the phone when Hans went to use it.
"Wait a minute, doesn't this phone booth require a card?" Erich wondered. Hans stopped at hearing his revelation, and Erika started sweating a bit in dread.
"Yeah, this is one of those," Miho noticed as well. "I don't have a card, though…"
"There should be vendors around that sell them!" Erika determined as she dragged Erich and Miho over to find one with Hans.
All of them eventually found a vendor for telephone cards, but all besides Erich grew looks of dread upon seeing an out-of-order sign posted on it.
"… They don't…" Erika dreadfully noted. She then noticed she was holding onto both Erich's and Miho's hands, and she grew a slight blush as she immediately pulled them away.
"Oh, whatever then!" Erika began again with her typical somewhat mad tone. "All we can do at this point now is walk towards the port using the ships as a guide!"
"Ah, that's right," Miho replied as she came to the same conclusion.
"Yeah, considering they're so big that you can see them from anywhere," Erich agreed.
"That's the only good thing about Schulschiffe, anyways," Hans remarked in agreement.
"Ah, well now that we've decided on that…" Miho began as she started off to one store. "Sorry, but could you all please wait?" she asked the other four as she entered the store alone.
The store in question was a store that sold Boko merchandise, known by the name 'Boko Fancy.' Erika and Hans both looked on at it in confusion while Erich looked on with his calm smile. Erich already knew why Miho went there.
'What's up with her and that fancy shop?' Erika wondered in her head.
"Do you have any idea what's up with her and those things?" Hans asked as he stood beside Erich.
"I believe it's an inspiration of sorts for her," Erich detailed with his calm smile. "She has this belief that she's a helpless girl, and she found that as a common link between her and those things."
"Why would she believe that when she has you?" Hans wondered with a raised eyebrow.
Erich shrugged in response. "She's extremely shy," Erich revealed the obvious. "Because of that, she didn't end up having many friends growing up, so she got interested in these things." He then saw Miho come out of the store with a new Boko doll in hand. "There she is."
"Don't tell me you got lost because of that…" Erika groaned upon seeing Miho approach them with her Boko doll.
Miho nervously giggled in response. "Y-You can tell?" she replied. "This is the latest model that hasn't come over to Ooarai yet, and after I saw it…"
"You've already liked this stuff since I met you, now that you mention it," Erika remarked as she held her hands to her hips in a nonchalant posture.
"Yeah!" Miho nodded with her unique smile. "You remembered that!"
"But I don't see what's so likable about that," Erika retorted without a care as she began walking on. "Los!" Hans came in and walked on alongside her upon hearing her command.
In response to hearing Erika's words on Boko, Miho grew upset as she frowned.
Erich noticed and came in beside her. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. "Don't worry about that," he told her quietly. "That's just Erika being Erika."
Miho was evidently assured by his words as she grew a little happier. "Thanks," she thanked him as she leaned against him.
Erich smiled at seeing her get happy again. He also had taken her bag in the meantime. He then turned over to face Erika and Hans farther ahead. "By the way, you guys, how did you two get lost anyhow?" he asked.
"Don't say lost!" Hans grunted to himself as he and Erika stopped and sweated nervously.
"Huh, us?" Erika asked. "We…"
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Earlier, Schwarzwaldspitze's students were on one of the busses heading around the area. Everyone was doing minor things to keep themselves entertained for the ride. For Hans, he chose to sleep. He had a good reason for sleeping, though. He had previously finished up a vigorous training regiment of his own creation before heading out on the bus. Right now, he way lying across a bench seat he had claimed earlier by immediately falling asleep on it.
Erika, in the meantime, was on her phone. She then raised her eyebrows a bit in alert as she got an e-mail. She then leaned forth in her seat.
"Fräulein und Herr, I just got an e-mail," she spoke up to Maho and Alfred. They were both on the bench seat ahead of her, and they turned to Erika upon hearing her. "That matter you were both talking about was just settled."
"I see," Alfred replied as he and Maho nodded in satisfaction. "Danke."
Erika then leaned back into her seat and put her phone away. She had by now grown tired, so she did not realize she had simply tossed it into Koume's bag beside her. As proof of how tired she was, she gave off a great yawn that she tried to cover up with her hand. She looked around tiredly to see what was going on around her, and she managed to spot Hans sleeping across his seat.
'Man, why does he even push himself so hard anyway?' she wondered within her thoughts. 'Is he trying to impress somebody or something?' She then felt herself get even sleepier at the sight. 'But I guess he has the right idea right now with sleeping.' And so Erika chose to submit to the tiredness as well, and she fell asleep against the window.
Eventually, the bus came to a stop. "Jeder, das ist unser Halt," Alfred announced to everyone on the bus.
"Jawohl," everyone else replied, and they made to get off the bus. The only two that did not reply or move to get off were Erika and Hans as they both remained asleep. As the bus continued on its route, the sounds of Erika and Hans asleep were all that could be heard on the now empty bus.
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"… So you two got left behind without anyone noticing?" Miho asked with a touch of her usual nervousness.
In response, both Erika and Hans grew extremely angry looks at Miho for her insinuation, and Miho grew terrified and hid behind Erich. "Ah! No!" she tried to correct herself as she shook in fear at the looks of anger aimed at her. "They should all be looking for both of you right now! I'm sure…!"
"Really now!" Hans replied with a touch of anger left in him as he and Erika turned around. "We ought to leave you behind for saying that!" he ended as he and Erika started off on their own.
"Ah-Wait…" Miho reacted as she tried to follow.
"Oh, boy, this isn't good," Erich remarked to himself upon seeing the current situation, and he followed as well.
Miho and Erich both ended up having to chase down Hans and Erika through a crowd of people. "Excuse us, excuse us," Erich said as he weaved through the crowd with Miho in tow. He held onto her hand to make sure they didn't lose each other in the crowd. "Hey, wait up!" he spoke up as he got a sight of Erika and Hans.
Erich then ran into a barrel and ended up falling over upon striking it. "Scheißt!" he cursed as he hit his knee on the barrel and let go of Miho's hand. Hans and Erika stopped upon hearing Erich curse.
Miho instinctively came over to support him as Erich tried to shake off the feeling from his knee. But Miho noticed a picture leaning against the barrel. "Oh, is this the local mascot?" she wondered as she grew a bit of a smile at seeing it.
Erich took notice as he shook his injury off. "A chara?" he observed the picture in question. "That's one ugly mascot, I must say."
"But that's what makes it cute!" Miho responded as she grew her unique bright smile.
The both of them then discovered Erika and Hans looking down on them with less-than-pleased expressions.
"Ah, um, don't mind that," Miho said to them with a bit of nervousness again. "So-Huh?" she reacted as she felt herself getting moved back.
Erich looked around and noticed that the crowd of people was moving them back as they walked the other way from Erika and Hans. "Hey, guys, can you all put us down?" he asked the random strangers nearby, but they didn't pay him any attention. Hans and Erika sweated a bit as they looked on at the scene.
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"Lady Nishizumi!" Yukari called out in attempts to find the other two people of her group. "Bubi!" She was with all of the others from Ooarai at the port still, and they were all similarly searching for their two commanders.
"Oh, it seems Miho left her phone behind," Hana noticed as she looked through her own bag and found Miho's phone there.
"For those two to get themselves lost immediately…" Pfirsich grumbled. "That's a clear evidence of slacking off!"
"Oh, my," Anzu remarked with a nonchalant grin as she held her arms behind her head. "I wonder if they chose to go on an escapade or something?"
"That's not out of the realm of possibility, you know," Aprikose agreed as he stood with her and the rest of the student council.
Elsewhere, Ron had his upper body in a trash can as he 'contributed' to the search. "Staffelkapitän Hartmann! Captain Nishizumi!" he called out from within.
"I don't really think either of them would be in such a place," Harry awkwardly said as he looked on at the scene.
Upon finding nothing, Ron chose to jump out using his hands that were placed along the rim of the can and using the rim as a boost. He bumped into someone upon landing, though. "Oh, sorry about that," he instinctively apologized as he turned around.
"Oh, no, that was my fault," the other person, the Ho 229 Pilot, waved off as he turned to Ron. "Huh?" he stopped as he looked at Ron.
It then clicked where he had seen Ron before, and he grew an extremely angered look as he pointed at Ron and yelled, "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Ron looked on with slight confusion at the action along with a sweat drop. Some of the others from both Ooarai and Schwarzwaldspitze heard and turned their attention over to the action.
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Elsewhere in the city, Erika, Miho, Hans, and Erich were all taking some time to relax at the Dreadnought Café.
"Jeez, really now!" Erika said as she looked across at Miho who was once again shy. "At least you didn't drop your bags or anything, did you?"
"No, Bubi took them for me, so I'm fine," Miho replied in her typical shyly nervous demeanor. "Sorry…"
"Eh, it's fine," Hans waved off from beside Erika. "We'll go on as soon as you calm down a little."
"That's fine with me," Erich agreed as he devoured a cake he ordered while sitting beside Miho. It wasn't just a slice of cake. In a fashion that was usual for him, he ordered an entire cake. He was already nearly finished with it.
"You're kidding me…" Hans groaned as he looked on at Erich and Miho being how they usually were outside of combat. "And these are the two that won the Arts of Warfare International Tournaments…"
Miho shyly laughed at the remark while Erich chose to respond as he finished his cake. "Well, those victories weren't just because of us," he informed with his typical calmness. "Those wins wouldn't have been possible without all of Ooarai's help."
"Good for you to have such splendid camaraderie there," Erika remarked with a begrudging tone. "No wonder you chose to abandon us, those who ate, slept, and strived for that same purpose alongside you."
Both Miho and Erich noticed what she was implying as they raised their eyebrows, and Miho had started shaking her hands in denial. "So-So-So-Sorry, but…" she began with a nervous look.
"Ooarai is special," Erich spoke up with clarity. Hans and Erika grew slight intrigue at his statement. "Ooarai is a place where we can do what we wish and not face any conflict from doing so."
Miho looked over to him and had agreed with what he said, but she still had that nervous look from the implication that they abandoned Schwarzwaldspitze. "Um…" she began as she twiddled her fingers nervously. "Yeah, that's why…" she hesitantly agreed verbally as she continued looking nervous.
Erika sighed in response. "I get it, I get it," she spoke up.
"Well, anyways," Hans began. "We know our way back now, and I'm sure you both know we're in a hurry, so let's get something to eat," he ended as he pushed a button to summon a waitress that they were all ready to order.
"Bubi's happy with any Kartoffelgericht, I imagine," Erika commented as she looked at the menu. "But Miho, you liked stuff like macaron, right?"
"Huh?" Miho reacted. "Oh, yeah."
"Kartoffeln is fine with me," Erich replied with his calm smile.
Erika looked on at the two before she grew a smirk. "You've both come to the point where I can really call you something," she remarked. "Fräulein Kapitän und herr Staffelkapitän!"
"Which reminds me," Hans began as he changed the conversation's direction. "About that… creature with snakes sprouting from it like Medusa that we got at Christmas," he began. "Just what was that thing?"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Miho reacted as she grew alarmed at Hans' description. "What are you talking about?!"
"Well, for some reason it caught fräulein Kapitän's interest, and-" Erika continued, but was cut off.
"Did Schwester get possessed by something?!" Miho started to freak out.
Erich, however, had deduced what the two other Germans were talking about. "Oh, you're talking about that Arraipe?" he asked in response. "Well, that's something that came from one of the shops in Ooarai. I don't really know what it is, but I thought it looked pretty interesting when I first saw it."
Hans looked on at the scene with a somewhat blank look. "… You're both very strange people," he finally said. "Speaking of which, I had no idea that herr Staffelkapitän liked Kartoffeln as much as you do."
"Oh, that," Erich said as he grew a grin. "Well, he has his own preferred tastes for it, like whiskey for instance, so that's why I sent him some."
Hans shook his head in response. "Jeez," he remarked. "So similar, yet so different."
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Elsewhere at the port, an explosive situation was currently in place. Eight particular members of Schwarzwaldspitze's Arts of Warfare efforts were angrily staring down the large Ooarai group opposite them.
"Meeting us here is your doom, light tank!" the Maus Commander angrily proclaimed with a devil-like grin.
"But it's a medium tank!" Noriko and Akebi retorted.
"Um, so who was the one who shot me?" the Panzer III Commander asked a bit awkwardly.
"Those crewing the Hetzer, come out!" both the Jagdpanther Commander and Panther Commander angrily demanded with tears in their eyes. They looked like they were still heavily scarred emotionally by the Jagdpanzer 38(t).
"You're dead, you biplane!" the Ho 229 Pilot claimed as he raised a fist in anger.
"Can anyone tell me where I can find the one who shot me down?" the Bf 109 Pilot asked as he slightly raised his hand.
"Whoever was flying the Dora, show yourself!" the Ta 152 Pilot and Fw 190 Pilot demanded with a great amount of anger.
Upon hearing that some of the Germans wanted their heads, the entire student council wisely chose to sneak off and leave everyone behind while they were all distracted. "Well, I think it's time to beat a hasty retreat, guys," Aprikose proposed to the others. He received no objections as they all continued to sneak away.
"Everyone, calm down!" Alfred ordered the Schwarzwaldspitze members as he and Maho came on the scene. "Do not be the ones to fire the first shots."
"By the way," Maho began to Yukari as she looked around for her sister and her sister's boyfriend. "I can't seem to find your Kommandeuren anywhere…"
"W-Well, the truth is that Erich and Miho are currently-" Yukari chose to fess up, but she was interrupted as some other people approached.
"What's going on everyone?" Erich asked with his calm demeanor as he, Miho, Hans, and Erika approached.
"Lady Nishizumi?! Bubi?!" Yukari turned around to face them with pleasant surprise. "Your safe return is…" she trailed off.
Why she trailed off was because she saw all four of the recent arrivals holding hands with each other. The two girls were in the middle as the guys stood at the edges. Erich once again held Miho's bag from the Boko shop.
"Herr und fräulein!" Hans began. "We're terribly sorry we got separated from the group."
Nobody in the explosive situation responded as they all looked on at the four with a raised eyebrow. They were wondering how the four of them could get along together without descending into fighting. They knew that Hans and Erich had a rocky friendship if it could even be called that, but they also knew how Erika's and Miho's personalities were so different from each other that it seemed impossible for them to even try to be friends.
"And how long do you plan to stick to me, you lost puppy?!" Erika barked at Miho as she removed her hand from Miho's.
"Thank you, Erika!" Miho thanked her in a way typical of her anyways. She could tell Erika wasn't being hurtful with her deriding.
"Well there was no other way since you would somehow get lost if we did something different!" Erika tried to dismiss as she held her mad look.
Hans and Erich looked to each other and rolled their eyes at seeing the two 'friends' interact with each other.
"Anyway, let's go, Hans!" Erika demanded as she dragged Hans away.
"Jawohl," Hans responded on cue as he went along with her. It was only around this time that Miho and Erika began to notice for themselves that everyone was looking at them in bafflement. The two girls grew slightly confused at the looks.
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'I didn't really understand their looks of confusion upon seeing us, but at least it helped dispel the explosive situation that was taking place before,' Erika reflected within her mind as she walked down the halls later that day to her room. 'Thankfully it seems everyone managed to get back on their ship.'
Erika finally reached her room. "Man, what an overly complicated day!" she finally grunted out in exhaustion and relief as the odd day came to an end for her.
She then noticed another Arraipe on her bed with a note on it. The note said, 'Thanks for today.' It was signed by Miho.
"… But just what in the world is this?" Erika wondered as she stared at the Arraipe.
"Aaaaaah!" she heard Hans scream in anger. Their rooms were not far apart from each other, so she could clearly hear that it was him. "Kartoffeln gefällt mir nicht! Wann wirst du das lernen?!"
Erika rolled her eyes in exasperation at hearing him on another of his tirades. "I guess Bubi got him some Kartoffeln as a gift or something…" Erika figured. She then stopped as she started thinking hard. "Wait a minute…"
She had remembered how it was practically impossible for Erich to get lost considering his vast talent with navigation, so she was wondering why they were even lost in the first place with him around.
Erika then lit up as she came to a realization. "He got us lost on purpose, didn't he?!" she realized as her face started to grow a look of anger as well.
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Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.
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The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer" or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. Any references made belong to their respective owners.
Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Please note, however, that questions asked without being signed in will not be answered. The author would prefer to address questions outside of the story, and leaving questions while signed in provides that ability.