Azumanga und Panzer!
Chapter Three
by Technomad
When the Azu girls got their purchase back to the Oorai school ship, the rest of the Tankery team were agog. "Oh, merciful Buddha! You got lucky!" squealed Miho.
"That tank makes ours look pretty ratty!" agreed Hana. She pointed to a hatch and raised her eyebrow questioningly, and when Sakaki nodded, she crawled inside. "Oh, my! This gun! It's in perfect order!" She popped out of the hatch, her eyes gleaming. "I wonder how much range it has? It's bigger than any of our main guns!"
Mako looked the SU-100 over with a critical eye. "Yeah, that gun's got enough punch on it to take down anything we're likely to be up against. I'm not sure how I feel about this beast being a casemate model, instead of having a revolving turret, though."
"That allows it to mount a bigger gun," explained Sakaki. "And Hippo Team's Sturmgeschutz III is also a casemate hull."
"Remember how it was up against Kuromorimine? They had quite a few casemate machines; Jagdtigers, Jagdpanzers, and Elefants, among others. Take it from one who knows, those things can be as deadly as any turreted tank ever built," Miho said quietly. The others deferred to her, partly because she was team captain and partly because she had had a great deal of experience with Kuromorimine before changing schools to attend Oorai.
Once the Automotive Club had checked the SU-100 over mechanically and given it two enthusiastic thumbs-ups, they began training. Captain Chono insisted on each girl learning all the various tasks needed to make the SU-100 run. They ran through drills and worked on simulators, as well as exercising their bodies to build up the strength that Tankery crew members needed to have to keep their cranky machines going.
"Man alive, this is a lot of work!" Tomo groused one evening as the Azu girls were walking home. "I think I've lost ten pounds!"
"Don't think of it as hard work. Think of it as improving your figure," quipped Yomi. Tomo took a playful swing at their friend. The girls laughed ruefully. The labor of becoming Tankery practitioners was, indeed, harder on them physically than anything else they had ever done. Captain Chono was a demanding taskmistress. Off the field, she was affable and approachable, but when they were mounted up and on the field, she became a Tartar in the image of the strictest teachers they'd ever had.
The existing Tankery teams at Oorai High were very supportive, though. They had all gone through the same mill, and when one of the Azu girls flagged, the others were there for her, encouraging her, telling her how much fun she'd have with her friends when training was complete.
They worked ceaselessly. Again and again, they tore down and rebuilt the engine, until each of the girls could do it blindfold. They practiced mounting up, until they could scramble into the hatches and turn on the engine from a standing start in less than a minute.
Then they went out to the driving range. They swapped roles back and forth, each of them learning how to drive, co-pilot, load the main gun, fire the main gun, and use the radio. Gradually, a team roster began to emerge.
Sakaki was commander. She was cool-headed in all circumstances, and the other girls all looked up to her, and not just because she was the tallest of them. When she heard that her dear friend was going to be commander, Chiyo-chan jumped and squealed for joy. Sakaki's usual reserve broke and she hugged her little friend.
"I'll paste a picture of you inside the casemate, Chiyo-chan," said Sakaki. "That way, you can be with us in spirit!" All the girls smiled to see their little friend's transport of joy at this simple statement. She came from a family that was wealthier than most of theirs, but she was quite unspoilt and normal, save only for her brilliant mind.
Of all of them, Yomi was the best driver, and she soon won that slot. Yukari-sensei offered to give her tips on driving, but Yomi hastily and politely declined.
"Oh, no, ma'am. Captain Chono's our coach, and she's very strict with us. I don't think she'd be very happy that you were trying to help. She'd see it as interference."
Yukari-sensei nodded, accepting the explanation. "I imagine she is. She should be. Tankery's a demanding sport. My own coach drove us like slaves, but we won quite a few games." Yukari-sensei turned away, and Yomi gave a discreet sigh of relief. Yukari-sensei was a menace on the road, and now that the girls had learned that she'd learned to drive on a tank, that made sense. Even so, none of them welcomed the idea of having Yukari-sensei teaching them how to drive.
The competiton for the gunner's slot was fierce; Kaori Nagawa and Kagura Kurosawa both wanted the job. They spent as much time as they were allowed to aiming and firing the big main gun. Miho marveled at the range they could get. "That thing outranges any tank main gun I've ever seen!" she exulted.
Then, one afternoon, the girls were out at the range, and Captain Chono was talking with Kaori and Kagura about their performance. Meanwhile, the other girls were going on with practice. Suddenly, Captain Chono glanced down range, and her eyes went wide.
"Merciful Buddha! Who's been doing that shooting?" Downrange, every target in sight had been hit. "Who's manning that main gun?"
Sakaki popped out of the top hatch. "Oh! Captain Chono! Is something wrong?"
"Wrong? Not in a million years! I've seldom or never seen such shooting! Who's been doing it?"
"We've been letting Osaka have a try at shooting the big gun. She's wanted to ever since we decided to take up Tankery. I hope she hasn't done too much damage, ma'am."
Captain Chono was utterly flabbergasted, and so were Tomo, Kagura and Kaori. "Osaka? You mean Osaka aimed those shots?" Sakaki looked downrange and her eyes went very wide.
"I was loading for her, but, yes, she was doing all the shooting. Hey, Osaka! Come on out! Captain Chono wants to talk to you!" Sakaki scrambled out of the hatch and stood on the turret, as Osaka emerged, looking around with her usual look of wide-eyed wonder.
"Is somethin' wrong, ma'am? Ah swear, Ah was tryin' mah best…"
"You were 'trying your best?' How many times have you ever fired that gun before?" Captain Chono came closer, looking at Osaka very carefully. Before this, she had tended to ignore the spacey transfer student, and the other girls had quietly concluded that their spruce, always-on-top-of-things coach wasn't too likely to grant a spot on the main team to someone as off in her own little world as Osaka.
"Why, this is the first time, ma'am, now that Ah think on it. The other girls been hoggin' the gunner's seat, an' all they'd let me do was load. Sakaki, here, finally told me to take a turn; she said that it wasn't doin' right by me to not let me have mah chance." Captain Chono looked sternly at the other girls, who all suddenly looked very innocent. "Was I doin' all right, ma'am?"
"You were doing perfectly, dear! Let's see you do it again! Sakaki, dear, do you mind loading for our Miss Kasuga?" Sakaki nodded. She'd been looking downrange, and she was just as impressed as Captain Chono.
Captain Chono spoke into her cell phone, and fresh targets were raised down the range. "Take them in any order, dear," she said to Osaka, who nodded and peered into the gunsights. Sakaki stood ready with a shell, waiting for the order to load the main gun.
Osaka snapped: "Load!" Sakaki smoothly slipped the shell into the big gun and closed the breech, and Osaka triggered the gun. The SU-100 jerked back a little on its treads as the recoil hit it, but Osaka ignored that completely, being absorbed in traversing the gun and raising its elevation. "Load!" Again the big gun spoke, and they went through five more repetitions before Osaka turned away from the sights. "Ah think Ah got all them targets, Captain. Want me to try for 'em again?"
Captain Chono had been watching through the commander's periscope, and she shook her head absently. "No, dear. I'm going to get Yomi in here, and we'll see how you do when the tank is moving."
Yomi had been watching, and she was just as awed by Osaka's deadly marksmanship as the other girls. She said softly to Tomo: "You know, I never knew that girl could shoot like that. I think we may have to start being nicer to her." Tomo nodded.
When Captain Chono called her, Yomi ran over and scrambled into the SU-100, wriggling into the driver's seat. She stabbed at the ignition button, and the big engine roared to life. Once she had the tank started, Captain Chono had them put up more targets, and Yomi began slewing the tank to port, following Osaka's directions.
Osaka raised and lowered the big gun, firing at one target after another as the tank slowly spun on its axis. When the last of the targets was history, Captain Chono had Sakaki look through the view slots, and then Yomi got a look.
Sakaki said: "We have a gunner, I think."
When the other girls on the Oorai High Tankery team saw what Osaka could do, they were awestruck.
"Where the hell were you last year?" asked Miho. "We could have used you then!"
Osaka gave her a vague look. "Ah was back at Azu High, dear. Ain't you rememberin'?" The Azu girls smiled to themselves. Watching new people having their first experience of dealing with the Osaka way of seeing the world was always amusing.
When they finally agreed on a roster, it went as follows:
Commander: Sakaki
Gunner: Osaka
Loader: Tomo
Driver: Yomi
Radio: Kagura
Kaori was held back as a substitute, to be fielded if one of the other girls couldn't play, and Chiyo-chan was Official Mascot and Good-Luck Charm. With that settled, they next needed to find a name for themselves.
"No, Osaka, we are not going to call ourselves the Jackalope Team. I don't care what your uncle who went to Texas says," said Sakaki. Osaka gave Sakaki a hurt look, but subsided under the glares of the others.
They batted animal names around for a while. "How about Horse Team?" asked Tomo. She looked dreamy; the others knew she liked horses.
"It makes us sound like we should be pullin' a cart," said Osaka. Nods of agreement from the others, and "Horse Team" went into the discard.
Chiyo-chan looked over at Sakaki. The reserved tank captain was taking no part in the discussion. She had found a magazine for cat fanciers, and was paging through it, longing on her face. Chiyo-chan had a wonderful idea.
"How about us being the Cat Team? Everybody loves cats, don't they?" Sakaki perked up, discarding the magazine and joining the discussion, as the others started nodding.
"Cat Team? Sounds like a natural! Can't see why none of the others thought of it!" Kagura was smiling. "And cats are cute, just like us!"
"Ah love the idea," drawled Osaka.
A few minutes later, and they decided unanimously to be the Cat Team. Ceremoniously, Sakaki took some paint and painted the name "Kitty Cat" on the front of the SU-100, along with a rather well-executed rendition of a domestic cat on each side of the casemate.
Miho and the rest of the Tankery girls were very pleased; they all took pride in their individual tanks' names and records, and seeing the Azu girls joining in was a good sign. "Our first match is coming up in a couple of weeks," burbled Saori, "and we're looking forward to seeing how you do!"
"Who're we up against?" asked Sakaki. As commander, she often acted as spokeswoman for the Azu contingent. "I'd like to get some idea of what we'll be facing."
"Let's go look!" The year's Tankery competition schedule was up on one of the school walls, having just been posted there, and all the girls went over to see who they were up against. At the sight of the poster, their eyes went wide.
"We're going up against Pravda High, out of Hokkaido." Miho looked very worried. "They're tough customers. Trust me on this!"
"Can you give me descriptions of their last few matches? I want to look over them and find out what their style is. I may just have a few ideas that might work," said Sakaki. "History's one of my very best subjects, and with enough data about how this bunch operate, I might be able to come up with a few surprises to make our Russian-wanna-be friends wish they'd stayed in Russia." She looked grim for a second. "I had relatives who had to get out of Karafuto."
"Don't you have a cousin who plays for Pravda High?" asked Miho.
"You mean Nonna? I know she's my cousin, but we haven't seen each other since we were small. Her family spent time in Siberia, back after the war," nodded Sakaki. "That might explain why she's willing to play for that particular team."