The Legends Still Live On

Bogen Neunzehn-komma-ein: Extras Fünf und Sechs

Kapitel Elf: Unser Held

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During another day aboard the Zuikaku school ship that housed Ooarai High School, Aprikose Novat was spending some time to wander within his thoughts. He was out near the side of the ship looking out to the sea in his school uniform.

"While Schulschiffe are never truly decommissioned due to just how valuable and usable they are," the Bavarian brunette began in musing as he stared off into the distance. "There are plenty of occurrences where they simply become normal ships. Shells of their former selves, in essence. Whether they are physically converted for another use or are simply left to ride the waves without a school to carry along, I don't believe matters so much. But the real kicker is that those ships are not at all easy to find."

Aprikose then looked up to the bright mid-day sky as he continued. "I like to believe that these school-less ships have found a better place in Himmel, still giving their hearts out. I like to believe that all those children that were taken too early from this world are able to live out the rest of their childhoods there with the help of those ships. They deserve to enjoy a full childhood at some point, even if it's in the afterlife."

The Bavarian then looked back to the horizon, although his brown eyes were looking down a bit lower. "However, as much as that would be desired, that didn't happen." He shook his head. "No, the ships were still down on Earth, but they could only be found in the North Sea, and even then, the conditions had to be just right to be able to discover them."

Aprikose then felt a presence rest their arms along the railing beside him. He only got a glimpse of them out of the corner of his eye, but he could tell exactly who it was by just that, and he grew a slight grin of satisfaction of having them so near. The fluttering of the green short skirt of their school uniform, the long reddish-brown hair tied in pigtails flowing in the wind along with the relatively short height of the person were defining features of them, and the look of pure confidence despite their diminutive stature made this girl instantly recognizable.

"It's said that the only way to find one is during a time of great celebration," Anzu Kadotani chose to enter the musings with as she held an idle smile at the horizon. "Only through slurring, haziness, and toasts with adult beverages can those ships be found. One might wonder, 'just why are adult beverages required to see them?'" The sly diminutive girl glanced at the Bavarian beside her out of the corner of her eye with a grin of implication directed at him.

Aprikose caught the look and returned a similar grin. Both then turned around to face a small group of other students, all wearing Ooarai's school uniform. The other students in particular were the two all-freshmen groups involved within the Arts of Warfare plus a few sophomores: Miho Nishizumi, Erich-Dietrich Hartmann, Anton Silva, and Saori Takebe. The freshmen were showing that they were absorbed in the words being spoken by the two school Presidents, particularly the freshman boys after they heard beer was involved. With the exception of Erich, the sophomores were holding somewhat awkward looks at the very same words as they glanced at each other.

"Well, the reason behind that is because those ships were actually bought by various breweries from back home and repurposed for the production of Bier!" Aprikose revealed with a relatively energetic tone. He had a fist clenched in emphasis of that fact.

"All brewed according to das Reinheitsgebot, of course!" Anzu added. She looked quite satisfied with the current situation if her crossed arms and look of pure confidence said anything.

"YEEEEAAAAAAH!" practically all of the freshmen boys cheered with vigor. Also included in that cheering was the only sophomore that could be considered childish: the appropriately-nicknamed Bubi.

"Noch ein Bier! Noch ein Bier! Noch ein Bier!" was the chanting that followed from all of those from the land of poets and thinkers, except for the lone Mädel in the area that was of the same land.

The one exception, Miho, stood with Saori and Anton as she looked around at all of her other countrymen chant the one phrase considered by many to be highly representative of German culture: 'one more beer.' The light brunette girl lightly and awkwardly laughed at the sight. She did so not because of how it sounded for all the German Jungs to chant that saying, but more out of embarrassment for how those present that weren't from the same homeland would possibly interpret it.

"Noch ein Bier! Noch ein Bier! Noch ein Bier!"

Anzu took it in stride as she bore a toothy smirk at the Jungs, having already witnessed and embraced such antics on a smaller scale with the other Bavarians of the student council. The freshman girls had looks of childish curiosity at what was going on, but Anton and Saori held looks of pure loss. Both turned their heads over to Miho with a look on their faces that beckoned for an explanation as to what in God's name they were watching.

The light brunette German Mädel held her awkward smile and blushed red with embarrassment as she looked down and away from them. "We're not just Bier-Trinker…" she quietly tried to counter. She chanced herself and briefly looked up to see what everyone was doing, but she regretted it immediately and retreated to looking down in embarrassment. "… But we do drink a lot of it, I guess…" she relented upon the sight she witnessed.

The exact sight she witnessed was all of the Jungs trying to chug down a liter mug of beer as quickly as they could. She hadn't seen where the mugs and beer had come from, but after a moment of thought she rationalized that Aprikose was the source of them. 'Ugh, typische Bayern…' Miho mentally sighed out the thought of the Bavarian's typically Bavarian behavior. She then remembered the connection between him and the diminutive yet confident Japanese girl, and she shot a pouty and embarrassed glare at said girl for encouraging her Freund's antics.

"A maß!" both Aprikose and Erich requested a refill as they waved their empty mugs around. They finished first, though they were closely followed by the six freshman boys some seconds later. "A maß! Noch ein Bier, bitte!"

Anzu caught the mock glare being sent her way, and she simply burst into uncontrollable laughter, knowing full well what she was glaring at her for. 'Sorry, not sorry!' she thought to herself holding no shame whatsoever.

"… These folks have some really strange pastimes," Anton bluntly stated after a long silence from him, and Saori couldn't help but nod in agreement. The freshman girls heard as well and absently nodded in agreement, too, finding those football-playing boys they so often found themselves around even stranger than they thought before.

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Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.

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The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer," the music used, or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. Any references made belong to their respective owners.

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