The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Siebundzwanzig-komma-ein: Extras Neun und Zehn
Kapitel Vierzehn: Aufwachen ist ein Kampf
XXXXXXXXXX
It was another absolutely normal morning aboard the Zuikaku. A normal morning aboard the ship, at least for Miho Nishizumi, involved practically waging battle just to wake up her closest companion Erich – made so difficult by the fact that he slept like the dead – followed by meeting up with all of her friends during the walk to school.
Of course, she was obviously the one that had the biggest struggle among her friends in the morning, solely because of how difficult Erich was in the mornings. And it showed more often than not with how the blond-haired ultra-ace had to be dragged along by her every single morning without fail, but she was not the only one among her friends that went through this trial nearly every morning.
"Hey, Miho," Saori got the vibrant brunette's attention as she walked alongside her. The ginger was hunkered down with Mako sleeping on her back, trying to get a few more winks in before the day truly started.
"Hm? What's up, Saori?" Miho responded, turning her gaze toward her friend. Today, the vibrant brunette was able to convince her blond-haired, blue-eyed companion to hug her torso tightly with his arms, leaving him with not having to do anything except hold on tight as she dragged his relatively nonburdensome weight along. Erich was naturally lean in build, there was that, but the overarching reason his weight wasn't a huge bother was because Miho was very much in shape physically.
"I was wondering, since you clearly have experience," Saori began, glancing at the ragdoll form of Erich clinging to Miho's body with an iron grip yet doing nothing else. "Do you have any ideas for, well…" The ginger glanced at the hibernating Mako behind her, and Miho caught what was unsaid easily enough.
"Ah, well…" the Panzerkommandeur grew silent for a second, trying to figure out how to explain. "Nothing I've actually tried short of this," she focused her gaze behind her on Erich's practically lifeless form dragging along behind her before returning her gaze to Saori, "has actually worked." Miho grew a reminiscent smile briefly, remembering all the failed attempts to get Erich to wake up over the years, before settling her grin into one more assuring and friendly. "But Mako's nothing like Bubi, so it should be a lot easier to find something that'll work on her."
She felt the ultra-ace's grip around her torso shuffle slightly to reaffirm itself as the boy himself began sleep-mumbling, unintelligibly at first. "… Into the motherland, the German army march…" Erich mumbled more coherently into the back of Miho's shirt.
Saori and Miho both raised an eyebrow as they observed the sleep-talking Erich, but the vibrant brunette's other eyebrow soon joined in raising as she came up with an idea. "Actually, what he just said…" she noted as she looked to the ginger again. "That gives me an idea..."
XXXXXXXXXX
The next morning in Mako's house, the black-haired Panzerfahrer was doing what she did best in the mornings: sleeping until the apocalypse.
With regards to her dreams, the sleepy tank driver had mysteriously started dreaming about being in the middle of a road march with the Panzer IV H she drove. Her senses told her that this was very much real, judging by the footfalls of soldiers marching along the side of the road, the low rumbling of large-displacement tank engines, and the clattering of tracks, all of which she could also see clearly.
But the thing she found most odd was how there was no conversation taking place inside the tank. Normally, there was some idle chatter between the various tank crew members, but now, all was silent except for the other soldiers and tanks marching forth outside in perfect harmony. Paradoxically, it almost felt too perfect.
"Into the motherland!
The German army march!"
The unexpected and loud, and strangely enough Nordic in nature, voices fizzled out the dream for Mako, leading her to begin awakening. "Huh…?" she muttered confusedly, trying to still resist waking up.
That goal was turned on its head when some double-kick drums rolled briefly, immediately after falling into a slow rhythm alongside an earth-shatteringly loud onslaught of electric guitars. The heavy metal played by the guitars caused Mako to jolt awake and literally jump out of bed with how startled she was. It about gave her a heart attack.
The tank driver stood in her room breathing heavily to regain her breath as she finally started becoming cognizant of the world around her. Eventually, she noticed the source of the heavy metal that had aroused her from slumber as being from her alarm clock, still blasting the music by the way as another distinct guitar melody soon joined in.
Mako could now identify the source of her awakening as being Sabaton's Panzerkampf, and she quickly made the connection, as there was only one person she knew who listened to the Swedish band and also had enough of a death wish as to use their unobjectively loud power metal to wake her up.
"I'm gonna kill him," the Panzerfahrer muttered as her fists clenched. Her face also began darkening with the anger she felt needed to be unleashed. The plan to wake her up had worked, but she was going to make sure that boy would remember to not screw with her in such a way again.
XXXXXXXXXX
Later that same morning, everyone else in Miho's little clique of friends were meeting up with each other. To them, it was simply another regular morning, emphasized by Miho's forcible dragging of a sleepy Erich.
That is, until they all caught sight of a fury-faced Mako striding towards them, looking about ready to throw fists. The black-haired Panzerfahrer was fully dressed and prepared for the day, which was paradoxical to most everyone there, as she was never so prepared in the mornings without help.
"What crawled up her ass and died?" David muttered in question as he observed Mako heading for them.
"Whatever it was, it's probably a bad idea to question it if you want to remain on her good side," Anton muttered back from beside him, eyes also on Mako.
"Morning, Ma-!" Saori made to greet her friend with the typical high level of brightness she had, but was cut off.
"I'm gonna kill him!" Mako interrupted with a voice that, while shy of a blatant yell, got her anger across just as well as she made a beeline for Erich.
Miho grew slightly alarmed by the black-haired Panzerfahrer's intentions, and on instinct turned to fully face Mako, putting her between the livid tank driver and Erich. The blonde himself was much the same way as he was yesterday: clinging to the vibrant brunette with an iron grip, yet doing nothing else aside from refusing to wake up. This time, though, he had his arms wrapped around Miho's upper chest and shoulders, practically in a standing position, with his head buried in the side of her neck.
"Stop," the vibrant brunette commanded with great power injected into her voice. Everyone there was quite familiar with this voice, as it was the same voice used by Captain Nishizumi, Miho's hardened alter-ego that typically only made an appearance in battle. Just like her voice, Miho's face fell into a similarly hardened expression with eyes sharper than daggers.
The highly intimidating look Miho presented was enough to make Mako second-guess wanting to throw Erich overboard, but it did not quell her anger entirely. She knew that there was no reaching the blonde with the vibrant brunette guarding him as she was now. Truth be told, it did surprise her, as it did with everyone else, how Miho had gone into her Captain Nishizumi mindset when confronted with a threat to Erich. Saori, who understood the implications of that, found it both sweet and terrifying.
Upon seeing Mako was no longer attempting to reach Erich, Miho blinked and dropped back into her normal mindset. "Okay, Mako," she began as she slowly released a breath, now fully in the mindset to be understanding. "What's going on?"
"That child," the tank driver practically snarled out, sharply pointing to Erich with one finger, "changed my alarm clock so it blasted that metal music of his at full volume! It nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!"
The Panzerkommandeur thought for a bit at Mako's accusation, until shortly realizing what it was she was so mad about. "Oh…" she went, realizing that the fault lied not with Erich. "Ah, well you see, Mako… that was actually my idea…" 'Gah, how could I have forgotten she has heart problems?' she thought with a horrible feeling in her gut. 'I'm the worst friend ever…'
Mako lost her anger at that and instead looked to Miho with disbelief in her eyes. There was no way she believed that kind-hearted Miho would've done that to her.
"Well, actually…" Saori spoke up, leading everyone to turn to her. "She only suggested the idea." The ginger looked down for a split-second out of guilt before looking up again, resolve strong. "I was the one who asked and actually carried it out."
Now that, Mako could believe. Also, the tank driver couldn't even be mad at her best friend for that, as she knew that Saori knew just how much she could take. If given the opportunity, Saori would absolutely do such a thing again, because she knew Mako could handle it, however torturous it may have been. She knew the tank driver's limits well enough. The Panzerfahrer knew that the guilt the ginger briefly showed was not for her. Rather, it was for innocents getting caught in the middle.
Mako looked over to Saori with narrowed eyes, as if pissed still. "Fuck you…" she slowly and quietly enunciated.
The ginger smiled brightly in response, knowing that the tank driver didn't really mean anything bad by her insult. Saori knew that, while Mako may whine and complain about her attempts to wake her up, she never was truly mad with her for them. They both knew it was for the greater good.
XXXXXXXXXX
Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.
XXXXXXXXXX
The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer," the music used, or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. The music belongs to Sabaton. 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.