Chapter 6

In Which Morale and the Ram Need Repair

Ayako sat listlessly in her room the Monday after their debacle. She had been avoiding the others ever since they returned to the ship. She glanced over at the clock, which showed that she was now officially late for the club meeting. When the knock on her door finally came, she knew instinctively that it was Hayley. She briefly considered pretending she wasn't there, but Hayley pre-empted her: "Ayako, I know you're in there! Please open up!" Sighing, she reached for the handle.

Hayley looked worried. "Ayako, what gives? Why aren't you at practice?"

"I don't feel well."

Hayley sighed. "Ayako, the team won't survive if you're gonna freak out every time we don't meet your incredibly high standards."

Ayako recoiled at her bluntness.

"I thought you'd like to know that we figured out why Justine missed," Hayley continued.

Ayako's curiosity got the better of her. "Why?"

"It's 'cause she's never practiced hitting a moving target before, so she didn't lead it."

"Oh." Ayako had heard of the technique, but was not overly familiar with gunnery.

"I completely blanked on telling her about that, but this is something we can fix. That's why you had us doing those battles, right? So we can get better?"

Ayako slumped into a chair. "You don't understand. I know now that the problem here is me. I… I don't think I can continue sensha-dō." To her embarrassment, she found that she was sniveling.

Hayley looked stunned. "Jeez, Ayako, that loss really took the wind out of your sails, eh?" She grabbed a box of tissues and offered them to Ayako, then sat beside her. "I know we don't always agree, but until you came along I had resigned myself to never fighting a real battle. You're the one who motivated us to get going again. You even got us a new team member!" She looked at Ayako calculatingly. "And I can't believe that your old school would approve of you just giving up."

Ayako flinched. Hayley was right. As shameful as losing was, her former teammates would distain her for leaving the sport because of it.

"Is losing really that bad? It happens to every team, even Kuromorimine," said Hayley.

Ayako's mouth twisted. "Yes, I know, I was there both times. But this loss was my fault. I froze up again, just like in the first match." She blew her nose loudly. "I'm from Kuromorimine! I'm supposed to be better than this. I have let you and my old school down."

"This is your first time commanding, eh? It's not just your crew who are learning. I bet even Nishizumi-san didn't start out as Guderian reincarnated."

Ayako tried and failed to imagine a frustrated and confused Maho.

Hayley looked curious. "Why did you transfer here, Ayako? You didn't even know if we had a team. Were… were you running away from those defeats?"

"No!" said Ayako, stung. "I wanted more than anything to help get us back up on top again… but my parents insisted that I move north with them. I don't think they liked Kuromorimine."

Hayley pondered. "I think I see. You want us to validate the Nishizumi style and that's why you won't compromise on it."

"Yes, but now we have won by not following my doctrine, and lost when we did."

"I think you're exaggerating. If Justine had known how to lead a target, we probably would have won. But like I said before, Kuromorimine also gets by on equipment superiority. I hate to tell you this, but in some ways we're closer to Ōarai."

Ayako's first instinct was to hotly deny the comparison. But she was tired of being irritated all the time and if she was honest with herself, Hayley had a point, so she smiled ruefully instead. "Ouch."

Hayley smiled back. "Sorry, eh? But I think you're too intense. If you relax a bit, you might find you'll do better." She tilted her head. "Why did you get into sensha-dō? Do you come from a long line of illustrious tankers?"

"No, I just liked the idea of riding around in big, strong, loud machines."

Hayley got up and held out her hand to Ayako. "Well, we've got one of those out in the hangar."

Ayako sighed. Who am I kidding, she thought. I would never give up sensha-dō willingly. She took Hayley's hand and stood up.

"Thank you, Hayley-san."

"Welcome back, skipper."

"The good news is that no vital systems were damaged in our last match," said Hayley back at the meeting. She had said nothing to the others about the scene in Ayako's room. "The bad news is that we need to get the armour repaired properly to meet the safety requirements. That's gonna be expensive, eh?"

Ayako frowned. "The school won't cover the costs?"

"I talked to the student council and they said they are still fine with covering gas, ammo and maintenance, but we have to deal with anything above and beyond that. Frankly, they're being incredibly generous as it is. Most clubs as small as ours don't get any support at all."

"Who normally does damage repair?" asked Ayako.

"Some schools have the automotive club do the work," said Hayley. "We don't have one here at True North. Not surprisingly, this problem has never come up before. It's the first time we've ever sustained battle damage."

"And we can't do it ourselves?"

"Not unless you're certified by the League to do repairs. It's a safety issue, eh?" Hayley placed a printout on the table. "This is the quote I got from our one-and-only local certified shop. It's ¥40,000."

Liza whistled. "That's pretty steep, b'y."

"Yeah, and that's after the League subsidy is applied," said Hayley.

"If we pool all our money, does that not work?" asked Justine.

"We can pay it off, but not for a few months," announced Hayley after some calculations.

"OK, maybe we ask for donations from the other students, oui?" suggested Justine.

Hayley looked unhappy. "They don't even know we exist, so why would they give us money?"

"We need a fundraiser," said Ayako. "We could do schoolwork efficiency and time management consultation, a calisthenics seminar…" She trailed off when she saw Hayley's expression.

"Or, y'know, we could have a bake sale," said Hayley.

"Baked cod!" said Liza happily.

"I can make a mean poutine," offered Justine.

Hayley put her head in her hands. "No! Cake! Brownies! Nanaimo bars!"

"Nanai-whats?"

"Augh!"

Ayako realized to her surprise that she was smiling.

"I gots an idea!" said Liza. "We can go fishin' on one of my family's boats and sell all the fish we catches!"

A look of horror passed over Hayley's face. "I worked on a fishing boat this past summer. They made me clean out where they gutted the fish… all those jawbones…"

"It's a nice boat, b'y!"

"I'm sure it is, eh, but…"

Ayako headed off the dispute. "Hayley-san, I will take care of any cleaning. How soon can we go?"

Five days later, they boarded the school ship's tender and rendezvoused with Liza's boat. Far from being an industrial trawler, it was a very swank sport fishing boat, probably used for the tourist trade. They stepped aboard the gleaming white vessel and were greeted by a man in a polo shirt and aviator sunglasses.

"Welcome aboard, Nishimura-san!" He eyed Liza warily.

Liza smiled. "Hello, Yamaguchi-san. Don't worry, my parents made me promise to act normally." She shot a meaningful look at Justine and Hayley. "These are my friends, Watanabe-san, Ishiguro-san and uh…"

"Nagumo," said Justine, bowing. "Thank you for letting us use your boat."

Ayako took note of her teammates' real names with interest.

"We've selected a good area and the lines are being made ready," said Yamaguchi. "We'll be there in half an hour."

The sensation of being at sea was, of course, nothing new to them, but it was still exhilarating to be bounding along over the waves with the wind and spray in their faces. The weather was overcast, but not threatening. Once at the fishing site they let their baited lines over the side and began to wait. Yamaguchi informed them that the fish finding equipment was indicating positive returns. "You will have good chances here," he assured them.

Ayako, who had never been fishing before, soon grew bored. It was nice enough on the boat, but handling the tackle was tedious. "I can't believe people do this for fun."

"Why go far away to fish, when you can be just as unsuccessful near home?" Hayley quipped.

"What are we fishing for, anyway?" asked Justine.

"Sea bass, tuna, maybe some billfish if we're lucky," said Liza.

The time passed slowly. Ayako began to think that they were wasting their time. How were they going to raise any money like this?

It was almost half an hour later when Liza suddenly sprawled face-first on the deck. "Help!" she cried, desperately clinging to the rod as it pulled her towards the side. The others ran to her aid and they all wrestled the rod upright. It was bent at right angles, the line taught as a piano wire.

"Is it snagged on something?" yelled Hayley.

"No! Look!" Liza pointed.

Over to port, a huge blue and silver fish, streamlined and sharp, surged out of the water and performed an acrobatic flip.

"Incredible! It's a marlin!" cried Liza. "You almost never see them this far north! Don't let it go!"

Yamaguchi and some of the crew hurried to help them. It took all their stamina and over an hour of fighting, but the marlin was eventually subdued and brought on board. The girls all collapsed into the cabin's plush chairs, exhausted. They were done. The boat turned for home.

They moored in port in the late afternoon. "We'll get a good price for this," said Liza. "The blue marlin is the most sought after game fish."

Their catch was taken off and hung up to be weighed. Several slips over, another fishing expedition was coming ashore. Made up of tourists, they had had an obviously unsuccessful day and looked disappointed. Justine eyed them speculatively. As they came up the gangplank from the dock, she strode over.

"Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen, but was the fishing not good today?"

There was a general shaking of heads.

"Perhaps you would like to pose with our fish? For only ¥500, we'll take your picture with it!"

Some of the tourists declined, looking amused, but others lined up and forked over the cash. Justine pulled an instant camera out of her backpack and began snapping pictures, alternating between it and the customers' own cameras.

Ayako stared at her. "Most impressive. She clearly has an entrepreneurial spirit."

"No kidding," agreed Hayley.

Counting all their money back at the school, Hayley was pleased to announce that they had more than enough for the repairs. "This will keep us going for a few more matches!"

Ayako took a deep breath. "About our next match… I would like to challenge Pravda."

"Is that because they beat you in the Championship?" asked Hayley.

"Yes," admitted Ayako.

Hayley and Liza shared a look. "As long as you don't make this some obsessive vendetta, I don't care who we fight, eh?" said Hayley at last. Liza and Justine nodded agreement.

"I understand your concern," said Ayako. "I merely wish to restore Kuromorimine's reputation. However, I also have to come to terms with my limitations as a commander. I seriously wonder if you would be better off with me acting as loader."

The others' jaws dropped.

"So what am I – wait, are you saying that I should be commander?" asked Hayley.

"You could," said Ayako. "I have seen how well you handle us all, Hayley-san." She ticked points off on her fingers. "You solved Justine-san's carsickness problem. You organized our repairs. You talked me out of my crisis of confidence."

Liza and Justine looked intrigued at this piece of news.

Hayley winced. "Yeah, except that now you're not confident enough to be our commander? Ayako, I'm really appreciative that you're nominating me, but you and I both know that I'm not the Nishzumi style's biggest fan, eh? If you want to prove your point, you're the best one to do it. Am I right?" she looked around at everyone.

"No argument here, b'y," said Liza.

"Hey, as long as I get to shoot at stuff…" said Justine, holding up both hands.

"I know, but-" protested Ayako.

"No buts. If you want to improve as a commander, you need to be the commander. No shying away." Hayley tempered her words with a smile. "Ayako, we are your crew, and we'll help you if you'll let us."

Ayako swallowed. "All right, I'll do it. Thank you - thank you for your support." She wiped her eyes quickly. Still, this would not be easy. She would have to get used to letting the others use their initiative. Surely that doesn't fly too much in the face of the Nishizumi doctrine?

Author's Notes:

I don't remember the training montages from the main series showing Ōarai's crews trying to hit moving targets. No doubt Miho had them practice against each other, like in the Anzio OVA, but Ayako & co. don't have that option.

Poutine is a French-Canadian dish of French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. It is popular and available throughout Canada. Nanaimo bars are chocolate desserts from British Columbia.

I reduced the range Justine calls out in the last battle to something the 6 pounder and the 75 mm can handle.

I replaced "-sama" with "-san" throughout the story and italicized Ayako's thoughts. I added some more praise from Mika in the last chapter. She's not trying to be harsh, she just wants to maintain Continuance's reputation for "crazy good gunners". She's probably also mindful that Alena's miss left them wide open to a counterattack (although they had no way of knowing how good Justine's gunnery is).

On gunnery, it's definitely the norm in the GuP-verse for lots and lots of misses. It makes a mockery of Hayley's assertion that whoever shoots first, wins. According to the supplementary material, Continuance is meant to be better than that. The same material also says they are great in snow, but lost in the tropics. The desert might not be so bad for them, if they can stand the heat. The sand probably behaves somewhat like snow in terms of driving on it – a quick search on Google indicates that this is plausible.

I'm not British, I'm a genuine Canuck, but I read and watched a lot of British stuff growing up. Now that I'm living in the US, I find myself using a mixture of different spellings.

Warning! Katyusha is in the next chapter.