Ina walked out of the room in which she had to do a test for Sensha-dou. She wondered why they even existed, as the credits for Sensha-dou were based upon the teams' performance in the games, and the personal input in the trainings and battles.
But as the test started, she realised what it was: a test about Sensha-dou, to find a overall commander of the team. The old commander had graduated the year before, and as such the position was vacant.
It was a test with many questions about how you think a commander should behave and how you would respond to certain situations. Everyone had to make it, but not many made it to the final selection process; only three people would make it. All the tanks had been fitted with a recording device in the first match, to see how the people reacted in battle and behaved themselves; they wanted to make a good choice.
A week later, the people who made it to the final selection process had been announced.
Ina was one of them, and then two third year students: the commander of the Panzer II H and the gunner of the SU-122. Two experienced, battle-hardened and intelligent people, one of which had managed to win the practice match with her sneaky plan.
To decide who would become commander, more practice matches would be planned. The national sensha-dou league would only start later in the year, the teams had plenty of time to do this. The very first was versus Chihatan, and Ina would have command in it. Then, two other matches against for now unknown opponents would be done.
She sat down at a table, and looked at a map of the region the fight would take place. A small town surrounded by hills. She knew Chihatan would try to charge at them, and considered moving onto one of the hills and just waiting for them to charge at them, uphill, slow and exposed. That is what they would do. Just wait for them and overwhelm them with firepower.
More days passed as Ina got anxious about the match. The very first match versus a different school, and she had to command. Luckily, Chihatan wasn't one of the strongest schools around. It was very much the equal of Ishikuma: not strong, but could still win a match if underestimated. And that is not what Ina would do. She would try to win.
But what if they wouldn't? No, they wouldn't win. They would be crushed, defeated and humiliated. All because of Ina it'll all be her fault. She only ruined things. Never did anything right.
"Damn it Ina, you ruined it again! I hate you!".
Ina started crying. More memories came back to her.
"Oh, are you crying? Maybe you shouldn't have done it, you stupid, stupid little girl!"
Ina looked around. She saw a knife. She could end it, all her pain, all the stress, the hell that was her life. End it right now. Still crying, she walked over to the table and grabbed the knife.
"Should I do it?", she thought. It'd be so easy. Just cut open her neck, arm or any other part of her body, and she'd be dead in minutes.
Ina cried more, knife in hand. Suicidal thoughts kept popping up, more and more reasons to do it. She looked around, and saw her Boko. The one her Satomi gave her when she was just five years old. She thought about her sister. Sadness came and sadness went, but Satomi always tried to improve, and pulled through. If Satomi could do it, could she also?
Ina lied down on bed, still crying, and cuddled her Boko, imagining there was someone that she was cuddling, trying to comfort her. But there wasn't. She was all alone. After an half-hour of crying, Ina fell asleep, so tired of all the crying and sadness. She dreamed about not being alone, having a good friend that could care for her in her bad times. Someone who would always be there for her…
A couple of days later, it was time for the match versus Chihatan. Chihatan had brought 10 tanks; almost all of which were variants of the Japanese type 97 Chi-Ha. They were outnumbered two to one. This is not something Ina had planned for, but she accepted it anyways.
"Hey!", Ina heard someone shout. "Are you Kobayashi Ina?"
She looked around, and saw a girl walk towards her. She was fairly tall and had long, fair black hair. Ina then knew who it was: Nishi Kinuyo, commander of Chihatan. When looking up information on Chihatan, she saw pictures of the commander on the internet. But this was the first time seeing her in real life.
"I'm Nishi Kinuyo, commander of Chihatan.", Kinuyo said as she stopped near her.
Ina was not sure how she should respond to the greeting of the opposing commander.
"Oh, h- hello. I'm K- Kobay- yashi Ina.", she stuttered in response. She quickly grabbed her ball and started squeezing it violently.
"May I ask what that ball is for?", the Chihatan commander asked Ina.
Ina, feeling a bit more comfortable now that she has her ball again. "It's against anxiety."
"I usually have it on me for situations like these", she added quickly.
"Oh, that's pretty interesting!" Kinuyo replied. "I never thought such things existed."
Ina and Kinuyo talked for another ten minutes, until the Chihatan commander had to leave to talk to her sub-commanders and her team. Ina decided to do the same. She had to explain her strategy. She looked at the tanks. She had five to beat Chihatan's ten. It seemed impossible to win. They would have to fight very carefully. It was an elimination battle. The battle would be over when all tanks of one side would be inoperable.
After the greetings had been exchanged, the teams moved to their starting positions. There was about ten kilometres between the two teams. It would be a long match, but Ina was prepared. When the match started, she ordered the Panzer II and BT-7 to go ahead on max gears. They would race to the town that Chihatan would either have to pass through or pass by. She had planned an ambush there.
The main force, the KV-1, Ram II and SU-122 pushed forwards to the hill overlooking the town. As soon as they arrived at the hill, 2 kilometres from the town and another two from where Chihatan should pop up, she looked at the town. She saw nothing. The ambush force got there in time. She then saw the Chihatan force pop-up, driving down the hill, straight into the town. Everything was going according to plan. But nothing could be more true.
"Panzer II to KV-1, we have been taken out!", Ina heard only seconds later. The Panzer II was down? How could that have happened? Did they get discovered? Is the BT-7 in danger? Thoughts were rushing through Ina's head about the situation.
"BT to KV, we took out one of them, but have been discovered. We are now retreating west out of the town." Ina sighed in relief. Not all may be lost just yet. She ordered the other tanks to turn their turrets west and aim in the general direction of where the BT should appear from. And after a minute, it rushed out of the town at insane speeds, being followed by three Chihatan tanks.
"Fire at will", Ina told her sub-commanders. "Noriko, hit the Chi-Ha in the back of the column. Satomi, angle the tank. Yume, be ready to reload.", she continued after turning off the microphone of her radio. Meanwhile, Ina opened the cupola, got out and looked into the town with her binoculars. She wanted to see if the 6 other thanks were in the town.
The KV-1 rumbled heavily as Noriko fired the gun, hitting the back Chi-Ha in the engine. Noriko was a really skilled gunner, as she was a perfectionist, patient and intelligent enough to make out distance effectively. Ina was not that skilled; she didn't see the difference between 100 metres and two kilometres.
"SU and Ram, please load a HE shell.", Ina commanded "Noriko, please wait for when the smoke and dust clears before firing again."
"KV to BT, wait until we've fired HE shells in front of the two enemy tanks, turn around and attempt to take out the back tank."
Ina watched the two HE shells fly over to the enemy tanks, landing in front of them. The BT made a sharp turn to their left and then got on the back of the enemy tanks, taking full advantage of the dust screen that had been created. When the dust had mostly faded, they fired at the back Chi-ha, hitting it in the engine. Noriko then fired and took out the middle.
Ishikuma was turning this battle into their favour. Ina was already dreaming about winning. But she was dreaming too a lot too soon. Six shots came out of the town, all aimed at the BT-7. It had been taken out. It was now six Chihatan tanks versus three Ishikuma tanks. And Chihatan held the town, and was hidden inside it.
Ina started thinking. Maybe they could just wait until Chihatan charged up the hill. But would they be fooling enough to do so? Charging into a numerically superior enemy, in urban combat was just a horrible idea for so many reasons. She looked at a map. Chihatan was hidden inside the town, but she did not know where. Maybe they could find out by scouting some more.
"SU and Ram, go to the hills to the west of the town and east of the town respectively." Ina hoped to find out the position of some of the enemy tanks like this. Ina wasn't sure if she could win this. She got out of the cupola again, looking out. The SU was trying to get there by going down the hill.
"KV to SU, get back up the hill, quickly! You are exposed there!", she commanded over the radio. But the damage had already been done. With the SU struggling to get up the hill, it was shot by one of the Chihatan tanks in the town. Two tanks left. Just two. Two tanks, to beat six enemy tanks, hiding in the town.
"Ram to KV, we are in position. We cannot see any enemy tanks.".
They couldn't see any tanks. The scouting mission had been a failure, they lost another tank doing it, they were now outnumbered three to one and they had a geographical disadvantage. There was nothing they could do. Thoughts built again, more and more of them. Constantly harsher, meaner, more destructive. Ina squeezed her ball violently.
Yume looked at her friend, hearing Ina squeeze the ball. Ina was visibly worried about the situation. Yume wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how. Should she just tell her it will all be alright? No, that doesn't fit the situation. That she'll do her best to have the team win? Would that make sense? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.
"U-umm. Don't worry Kobayashi-san, I'll do my best to have us win! They may outnumber us, but we have your leadership and our great tanks! Our KV's armour is so thick that almost none of their guns will be able to penetrate it!", Yume said.
"Can't penetrate our armour? How could I forget? The KV-1 has armour so strong that the Chi-Ha has tremendous difficulty penetrating it!", Ina remembered.
"Thank you Yume, for the idea!", the commander told the loader. "Satomi, we will drive downhill, into the enemy. Be sure to keep the armour angled. Like this they cannot penetrate our thick armour."
"KV to Ram, stay in position and keep attention to the town. We are charging in.", Ina informed, as they went down the hill and high speeds. A great charge in a match with Chihatan, but this time it was not Chihatan that did it, it was it's opponent. That probably didn't happen often, Ina thought. But it did happen now, even if it was in desperation. This was their only chance at winning.
The commander was worried though. What if this doesn't go right? What if they can penetrate the armour? What if, what if. So many questions. But it was no time to get stuck in anxious self-criticism and questioning now, it was time to win this battle. She didn't want to lose, her perfectionism stopped her from doing so. No, they would win.
The KV drove into the town, Ina outside of the cupola, looking around. Nothing, no one to be seen.
The KV drove into the town, Ina outside of the cupola, looking around. Nothing, no one to be seen.
"They're hiding well", the commander thought. "But we'll find them soon and look harder."
They drove further into the town, still no tank to be seen. But they must be somewhere here.
BOOM.
Shots behind them. "Quickly, turn the tank, Satomi, let's go back around!", Ina commanded.
The tank had turned, but it was too late. The enemy tank was already gone when they got in the area where the shot came from. Ina heard another shot, from where they just were, and another from their west. They were surrounded, it seemed. She got out of the cupola to spot, but didn't see any tank.
She heard a shot close to her, it landed in front of the KV-1 and threw up a lot of dust. Ina was getting confused, anxious and didn't know what was going on anymore. How many were around them? Four? Five?
As the dust cleared, she looked around. No tank to be seen. Anxiety started to build. She went inside the tank again, incredibly anxious. Ina started stimming heavily, trying to lose the stress. But it wasn't working. So many thoughts and questions were going through her head, so quickly, that the stress of keeping up with them was too much for her.
Then she heard 4 shots in rapid succession, in the distance.
"Ram to KV, we've been taken out, flanked by 4 Chihatan tanks.", she heard in the radio.
The commander was getting even more confused, even more questions, even more stress. She felt like she had to cry and wanted to run away. Run away to safety, loneliness, a place where she could cry silently to herself. But she couldn't. Minutes passed with her on the brink of tears, completely overwhelmed.
"Ina? Are you alright?", She heard someone say faintly, barely hearing anything anymore because she was so stuck in her own head. "Ina?"
Someone shook her out of her thoughts. Satomi was asking her questions. "Ina? Are you alright?", Satomi asked again.
"Uh, yes. I was just thinking about what to do.", Ina responded, not realising tears were running down her face and that she had been stimming so hard that everyone was distracted by it. But time was ticking. It was six versus one, and they couldn't win this in this town.\
"Drive onto the fields to the east of the town. We can't end this in the town. Noriko, take anyone out you can see.", she commanded, having regained some semblance of strength. But she didn't have any. She was completely exhausted mentally and had lost all hope too. They had lost this match. All was over, they couldn't turn this around.
As they reached the edge of the town, Ina could see four of the enemy tanks driving down the hill, including the commanders Chi-Ha. "Noriko, two o'clock, four enemy tanks.", she informed Noriko, unable to command anymore. "Fire at will", she added, almost whispering.
The tank rocked a bit. A shot had been fired at one of the Chi-Ha and Noriko hit it perfectly in the suspension; it was taken out.
"Could you load the the Armour Piercing, please", Noriko asked the loader, Yume. Another shot was fired, another tank went down. Ina still didn't have any hope, soon enough they would be close enough to take out their KV.
BANG. A shot bounced off the rear of the KV-1. They had been surrounded. Satomi turned the tank, angling it against the tanks coming down the hill, and Noriko turned the tank towards the one that shot at them. Another Chi-Ha down. Three left. Ina hadn't been commanding anymore, she had been completely silent, thinking and hating herself.
Another shot bounced off the front of the tank. A tank was coming from the side, right of them and was hit expertly in the suspension by Noriko. Just two left, charging right at them. However, Ina didn't know all looked out of the cupola to see what was going on, and could see Kinuyo, so close had their tanks come to them. The Chihatan commander didn't look too happy. Why wouldn't she be happy? They were going to win? Ina looked around. Two tanks down on the field, two in the town. Did they just take out four tanks? Maybe they had a chance at winning this after all!
Noriko fired again, Ina could see the shell hit another one of the Chi-Ha. Only one left. It was one versus one now. Ina got out of the cupola as the enemy commander's tank fired at them, barely missing the KV-1's tracks. They were getting too close.
"Full gear forwards.", Ina commanded, trying to get closer to Kinuyo. A moving target is harder to hit than a stationary one, after all.
"Noriko, wait until I tell you to fire.", she commanded the gunner.
"One chance to win this. One shot. One.", The commander thought.
Still outside the cupola to have a better view, she saw that there was only around five hundred metres left between Kinuyo and her. She waited a second. The Chi-Ha fired another shot at them, barely missing them and hitting the ground behind the KV-1. Ina waited some more. Almost there.
"Fire!", she commanded ten seconds later. However, the timing was bad. They had just passed over a bit of ground sticking up, causing Noriko to shoot over the target because the tank moved up too much. The Chi-Ha fired. But this time, they hit. The right track was blown off. The KV-1 couldn't move anymore. Ina saw the Chi-Ha pass them from the same side as the track was blown off.
"Quickly, turn the turret to the right!", she commanded
But it was too late. The Chi-Ha had turned around already and right behind them, and fired a shot into the engine. And when the dust cleared, a flag appeared from the KV-1. They had been disabled. The match was over. Chihatan had won.
Kinuyo got out of her Chi-Ha and walked towards the KV-1. Ina, realising the Chihatan commander wanted to talk, quickly got out too. She didn't know what the opposing commander would say. Did she have something to tell? Or did she just want to brag? No, she didn't seem like someone to do such a thing.
"This was your first time, right?", Kinuyo asked. "You did very well, especially considering your lack of experience."
Ina wasn't sure how to respond to this. She never got any compliments from anyone.
"No, I didn't do anything, the crews did everything. I didn't shoot the shells, drive the tanks, or anything like that.", the slightly smaller Ishikuma commander responded, wondering if she should tell about the fact that mere minutes before she was a crying wreck, ready to run away. Kinuyo could probably see she did, her eyes must be very red from all the tears.
"So, the reason I came to talk to you.", Kinuyo started talking again. "I had fun talking to you earlier and you are a good commander." She paused for a second. "One of my friends recently told me about this 'Internet', where you can talk to people over large distances."
Ina started blushing a bit. Kinuyo didn't notice however. "So, I was wondering if I could add you on the internet, so we can talk?"
Ina was silent in shock and excitement. Did she just make a friend? She never had a friend. What should she do? Be happy? Kiss them? Jump around? Act cool? So many thoughts, but she did nothing.
"Oh. I see. You don't want to.", said Kinuyo, disappointed at the lack of response. "I'm sorry for asking.". She then turned around, ready to walk back to her tank.
"Wait!", Ina quickly said, before Kinuyo walked away. "You can add me".
"I'm sorry for not responding.", she quickly added.
Ina and Kinuyo talked for another minute or two, before Kinuyo had to go back to the tank. Ina was so happy, she could jump in excitement. Her first friend. Her very, very first friend. She couldn't wait to talk to Kinuyo again.
An hour later, when all the students of the sensha-dou class had been regrouped, a teacher had an announcement. A big one.
"Kobayashi Ina will be commander of the sensha-dou team, due to suspension of the two other candidates. They got themselves taken out on purpose to make Kobayashi-san lose the match. Both of them have been suspended for the rest of the year from participating in sensha-dou."
Ina was shocked about the announcement. She was commander, not because she did well, but because the others tried to sabotage her. She didn't know how to take this. She was very much stressed by being commander, and the only reason they did well is because the rest of the team acted independently from her when she was having a meltdown.
But she was commander of Ishikuma's Sensha-dou team now, and she would fulfill that role best she could. She would give it more than her best, together with Yume, Noriko, Yuuki, Satomi, and all the others. Another match was planned, initially to see who would become commander, but now simply as practice. Their next opponent would be Saunders. And this time, they would win…