Azumanga und Panzer!
Chapter 09
by Technomad
One big advantage of living aboard a school ship was that, when one was summoned someplace for sufficiently important reasons, one's home came along. The Tankery Club had watched with great interest as the familiar sights of the seas around Japan had faded into the distance, to be replaced by exotic new terrains.
Occasionally, they had hit a port big enough for the mighty ship to dock, and the girls had eagerly explored foreign towns for the first time in their lives. Captain Chono, or one of the other teachers, always chaperoned them; most of them had very little practical command of languages other than Japanese, for all that they had studied English, at least in name, since their first years of school. Yukari-sensei had done yeoman work, herding excited girls along through the streets and into the safer shopping districts, interpreting when their English and the storekeepers' English was not meshing, and keeping a weather eye out for trouble. Sakaki noted that their teacher's command of spoken English was better than she had suspected it was, and quietly revised her opinion of Yukari-sensei.
Mr. Kimura disappeared when they were in Bangkok, finally emerging hours after they had reported him missing, his clothes in disarray and his hair every-which-way. He wouldn't say what had happened, but he was very subdued for some time. Mrs. Kimura came strolling out an hour or so later, looking very, very smug. She wouldn't say what had happened, but sighed happily whenever the subject was brought up.
Yukari-sensei rented a car one afternoon, tearing off into the Bangkok traffic to do some shopping, with Tomo in tow. They were both brought back to the ship hours later by the Bangkok police. The next day, after a formal call on the Oorai ship's captain by the Japanese Ambassador, it got around that Yukari-sensei had been asked not to drive again while in the Kingdom of Thailand.
"Apparently even the local taxi drivers think she's too wild and crazy!" Tomo reported. The rest of the Azu refugees, all relaxing in the school baths, looked at her in awe. They had all had experience of Bangkok cabbies' driving, save only Chiyo-chan; Chiyo-chan had apparently heard about Bangkok taxis, and had begged off riding with the others, staying safely aboard the Oorai ship.
"Yeesh!" All the other girls quietly renewed their vows to never, ever let themselves be passengers in a car driven by Yukari-sensei. While their English teacher meant well, and was one of the kindest people they knew, they all knew that she was impulsive and rather immature, and behind the wheel of any vehicle, she was an out-and-out menace.
The school ship was much too big to pass through the Red Sea, or go through the Suez Canal, so they had to take the long way around Africa. During the transit of the Indian Ocean, everybody learned the true meaning of "posh," which, Yukari-sensei told them, stood for "port side out, starboard side home." It dated to the days of the British Empire. Going out to India, the wise traveler traveled on the port side of the ship, and on the way home, he or she chose the starboard side, if possible, for the greater shade. The mighty ship's interior was like a baker's oven, and everybody suffered in the tropical heat.
Once they'd left Cape Town behind, the school ship headed north, for the venue of the Olympics, which were to be held in Spain that year. The ship had had a chance to cool off once she was out of the tropics, and everybody now knew to take precautions during the period in which they were in equatorial waters.
Finally, they were docking in Barcelona, Spain. The girls were eager to get ashore. They watched as their precious tanks were off-loaded, checked through by Spanish customs and passed, before they presented their own passports and Olympic identification.
The customs agents smiled at them, and their eyes went wide when they saw little Chiyo-chan. They commented to each other in Spanish and Catalan, clearly taken by how small and cute she was. Chiyo smiled and spoke to them in basic Spanish, which made them smile broadly. Sakaki and the other Azu girls noticed that Chiyo got even better service than the rest of them did.
"Makes sense," Tomo commented. "People do react better when you can speak to them in their own language. It shows that you cared enough to make an effort."
"Precisely," Sakaki answered. "Which is why it's a good idea to learn foreign languages. Foreigners find Japanese incredibly difficult for some reason."
"Might could be because we've three different writin' systems, don't we?" put in Osaka. "Ah mean, we've got katakana, hiragana, an' Chinese kanji, all mixed up together! We'uns had to work real hard to learn all that! Imagine comin' to it as adults!" All the girls shuddered; they had vivid memories of endless nights of skull-sweat expended learning the cumbrous Japanese writing system, and they could sympathize with foreigners having a rough go of it.
"Not only that," said Yukari-sensei, who had come up behind them unexpectedly, "but Japanese is not closely related to any other language. We're unique!"
The girls of Hippo Team were eager to get out and do some exploring. Caesar and Erwin had brought along some Japanese-language histories of Spain, and of the Spanish Civil War, and they were hoping to do some battlefield touring.
"Don't be too eager to talk to the locals about the Civil War," Sakaki cautioned them. "Even after all this time, it can be a touchy subject!"
Saemonza nodded, and her team mates all looked serious. "We understand about that, Sakaki. We were boning up on Spain from the minute we learned we were coming here."
"Do you think we'll have time to see the Alcazar of Toledo?" asked Erwin eagerly. "I was reading about the great siege in 1936!"
Once they were settled into the luxurious Olympic village, the Azu girls all wanted to go out and explore. The girls from Anglerfish, including Miho herself, went along. Nobody said anything about it, but they were hoping to run across hunky male athletes. Saori was practically dancing with anticipation. Instead, they were very startled to see who had shown up to welcome them.
"Merciful Buddha!" said Yomi. "We never expected to see you all here!" The girls had turned a corner and found themselves facing the captains of the other Tankery teams they had defeated early on.
"Did you think we'd stay away?" asked Kay. She stepped forward and shook hands with a slightly gobsmacked Miho. "We're here to cheer you on!"
"We all respect you," said Anchovy, as the others nodded very firmly. "We expect to see great things from you here! You've taught us a lot about Tankery, just by the way you operate." She grinned impishly. "And we're not far from Italy here! I plan to pay a visit!" The others all nodded, agreeing. "This is a chance to see Europe! This'll be educational and fun, both!"
"It looks like you and one other team are going to be the only ones in your division," piped up Katyusha. For a change, she wasn't riding on Nonna's shoulders, which Sakaki approved of. She could understand Katyusha being self-conscious about her size, but Katyusha couldn't expect to have a friend willing to tote her around that way forever.
This caught everybody's attention. "Really? Who are we up against?" asked Miho. Mako perked up at this news as well.
"Well, our form of Tankery isn't much practiced these days outside the Home Islands and places like Taiwan," said Darjeeling, sipping daintly at her ever-present teacup. "However, it's been kept up in Brazil, of all places. The Brazilian national high school girls' team is here, and you'll be competing against them."
"What information do you have on them?" asked Mako. She and Sakaki exchanged glances; they were the brainiest people on the Oorai Tankery team, and they knew they were expected to be able to analyze this sort of intelligence.
"They use a mixture of French and British tanks, for the most part," said Darjeeling. She passed them a piece of paper. "This is a list of what they've got to work with." Miho took the list and began scanning it. Sakaki and Mako looked over her shoulders to read it too.
"Look," said Tomo, "they've got a café over there! Why don't we all go and get a snack?" That idea met with general approval, and soon the girls had crowded into the little café, all but taking it over. Luckily, they had enough people along with command of foreign languages that ordering wasn't a problem.
"Aren't you all excited? We never thought that high-school level classic Tankery would get back into the Olympics! We're all looking forward to seeing you win gold for Japan!" gushed Kay. She sipped at her milkshake, clearly savoring every bit of it. The other girls nodded and tucked into ice cream sundaes.
Just then, a sneering voice interrupted them: "Well, well! What have we here? The losers' brigade?" Startled, the girls looked up, to see a clearly Japanese girl looking at them with unbridled contempt. Behind her was a group of girls, of every race from blonde European to pure African.
"Excuse me?" said Miho. Sakaki could see that she was getting just a little steamed. "We're from the Japanese team for the high-school Tankery competition, and we're here with some of our friends from Japan. Who might you be?"
"My name is Maria Tanaka. We're from Dom Pedro Academy in Rio de Janeiro. We're the undisputed champions of high-school Tankery of South America, and the odds-on favorites in this upcoming match!"
"And why are you so certain you're going to win?" Darjeeling's voice dripped icicles, and her accent had gone pure cut-crystal. Sakaki didn't know the other girl well, but from the way the other team captains were looking at her, she could tell that this was not a good sign. The others were also beginning to get angry. Katyusha and Nonna were giving Maria Tanaka looks that should have left her on the floor with a smoking hole in her chest, and Anchovy and Kay were pointedly ignoring her existence.
"Stands to reason, doesn't it?" sneered Tanaka. "The future of Tankery is in South America! Everybody knows that Japan's a backwater of the sport these days! Your styles are outdated and useless!"
Sakaki was a pretty controlled person, but she was getting provoked herself. Then a thought occurred to her: this might well be a psychological ploy! If Tanaka could have the Oorai team angry and not thinking as straight as usual, she could have an advantage in their upcoming match.
"Excuse me?" Miho stood up, confronting Maria Tanaka. "I am Miho Nishizumi, younger daughter of Shiho Nishizumi, mistress of the Nishizumi style of Tankery. I learned from my mother, and developed my own unique approach to the sport." At this, Tanaka laughed cruelly.
"You have told me all I know to make my victory inevitable! The Nishizumis' day in this sport is done, do you hear me! Over! Finito! Zu Ende! I, Maria Tanaka, am the future of Tankery! I look forward to standing there with the gold medal of victory around my neck, watching your eyes as you see yourself hopelessly outclassed! So long, loser!" With that, Tanaka turned and left, with her friends behind her.
"Did you hear her?" snarled Kay. "I never heard the like in all my born days! What rudeness! Who does she think she is?"
"That nyekulturny bitch!" growled Katyusha. "I wish I could get out on the field with her, myself!"
"I agree," said Nonna, her eyes narrowed with anger. "Pity we didn't think to bring our tanks along. A 'friendly' match might be just the medicine she needs to get that raging ego in check." She smiled grimly. "And shooting up her tank would be sweet, sweet revenge for her trash talking us!"
"Hang on," said Anchovy. "I think she did that to throw us off balance, and rattle us. If she can make Miho, here, angry, she might have an edge in the upcoming match." Sakaki gave Anchovy a long, considering look. She'd never had anything much to do with the Duce of Anzio Academy's Tankery team, but she figured that anybody who could hold down that job had to have a lot on the ball, mentally.
"You're right, Anchovy. That was what she was after." Startled, the girls turned, and their eyes went wide. Shiho Nizhizumi, Miho's mother, was standing nearby, with Miho's older sister, Maho, standing right behind her. "Maria Tanaka likes to rattle the other team as much as she can before a match."
"Oh! Forgive us! We didn't see you there!" All the girls shot to their feet and bowed respectfully. Shiho Nishizumi was a very respected figure in the Tankery world, having trained, among many others, their own coach, Captain Chono.
"I came to see the match, and to talk with Chono Ami. We haven't had a chance to catch up with each other in some time." Shiho bent her gaze on her younger daughter. "And, while I'm here, I would like to have a conference with you about your school grades." Miho paled; she had mentioned to the others that her mother was as strict about high performance in school as she was on the Tankery field.
"You know where I am, mother," said Miho. "We can get together this evening, if that would be suitable?"
"Quite." Shiho Nishizumi turned to go, her older daughter in tow. Then she turned back, fixing all the Oorai girls with a piercing stare. "And, girls…I will be watching your match. I don't want you just to beat that Brazilian cow." She drew herself up to her full height. "I want you to humiliate her." With that, she left, and everybody breathed easier.
"For the first time in a long time, my mother and I share a goal," Miho murmured, low enough that Sakaki had a hard time catching what she said.
(Author's note: I'm sorry this has taken such a long time to update, but when I started this project, I hadn't thought much about having to come up with new armored-warfare scenarios, particularly since I have no RL experience with same, and don't play World of Tanks. I've also got some other writing projects on the go, which has taken up a lot of my fanficcing time. However, I will finish this story. I just need some more thought about just how to set up the last match.)