Chapter 4:

The training had just ended, and it was time to go home. It had been two weeks since the match against Chihatan; tomorrow there would be another match against a different school. The winners of last year's national championship: Ooarai Girls' High School. Many of the girls, especially Miho Nishizumi, had become famous after their unbelievable and unpredictable victory. And Ishikuma had to face off against them. Ina wanted to win the next match, but she was unsure if she could beat such a fearsome and skilled team. Luckily, Ooarai didn't have a lot of tanks, and they agreed to bring only 5 tanks to the match.

Ina was thinking about what to do in the match when she heard a sound coming from her phone. It was a message from Kinuyo, with whom she had become good friends ever since the match. She informed her she would watch the match vs. Ooarai, although she wasn't sure who to cheer for, as both Miho and Ina were good friends of hers. Ina didn't know what to think of the fact that Kinuyo would watch. On the one hand, it was great that she would be able to see her again. But Kinuyo would most likely just see them get crushed under the strong, experienced and well-commanded tracks of Ooarai.

Ina thought again about last match. She had a meltdown mid-match, when it was most important for her to be in command. Is she truly a good enough commander? She didn't win out of skill, but because of the suspension of the other participants. No, she's not fit to be a commander. Someone else should have won. How would she be a good commander if she couldn't even keep herself from having a meltdown during matches?

"Ishikuma's BT-7, disabled! Panzer II H! SU-122! Ram II! KV-1! Crushing victory for Ooarai!"

"You fucking idiot Ina, this is all your fault! You ruined it! You're the worst commander!"

"Can't you act like a normal person for one second? Take this, you bitch!", a girl said as she threw Ina on the ground and started kicking her. A dozen or so kicks later, she finally got to Ina's head, and smashed it into the ground.

And that is when Ina woke up, sweating, breathing heavily, crying, hugging her boko very tightly. It was just a dream. A very bad dream. But a dream, nonetheless.

A headache started building, after Ina had cried so much. She wouldn't be able to sleep with such a bad headache. It was dark and Ina wasn't sure if she had any paracetamol or anything to help with the headache. She tried to find any, but due to lack of sight, fell over her little table she eats dinner at and fell on the ground, head first. "Great, that'll help with the headache", Ina thought, with the headache now so strong she was completely distracted by it.

She stood up and sat down on her bed. Maybe she could get some paracetamol at her psychiatrist, in the morning. She looked at the clock: 1 AM. She had slept for barely 3 hours, and she likely wasn't falling back asleep soon. Ina lied down, and started thinking. Thinking about being with someone. Maybe she could find someone who could help her with the situation soon, or perhaps she had already met them, and didn't know. Soon though, she was back asleep, so lost in her thoughts that she forgot about the headache.

"Ina.", Satomi said. "Ina, wake up!", she repeated, slightly louder this time.

Ina, however, was stuck in her deep sleep.

"INA!", she screamed at her.

Finally, Ina started waking up.

"Ina, you're late! We need to go! It's 10AM already!".

Ina quickly put on her clothes and ran as quickly as she could to the place where the team would meet up, before disembarking for the match.

Ina could see the large Ooarai carrier. Ishikuma had one of the smallest carriers in the entire country, because of it's small student base of only 600. This meant it didn't need as much crew, living quarters, etc. as the larger schools; thus, the carrier could be a lot smaller. As the KV-1 drove off the carrier, into the harbour, Ina could feel the cool, autumn wind blowing in her hair, driving into a beautiful town, filled with brightly coloured leaves. It was one of the best sights in the world; she loved autumn.

The match would start at 1PM, they still had two and a half hours to get ready. Ina decided to go into the small seaside town the match would take place. She hadn't had breakfast yet, and it likely wasn't too good an idea to go into a battle without eating beforehand.

And so she went into the town, to a small restaurant that was serving food that looked like tanks as a stunt for the upcoming match near the town. Ina sat down, and ordered some food.

"OH MY GOD IT'S SO CUTE!", someone shouted excitedly. "Isn't it, Nishizumi-dono?!"

"Nishizumi? Nishizumi Miho? The Ooarai commander!", Ina realised, just before sitting down somewhere.

She was in the same restaurant as her opponent. She looked at them. There were three of them. What to do? Should she greet them, ignore them? No, greeting them would be the polite thing to do. Ina stood up to walk to the girls.

"Those clothes… those are the clothes of Ishikuma.", she faintly heard the other of the three Ooarai girls say. fifty meters left.

Or was it more? Or less? Ina didn't know. She saw the Ooarai commander turn around, looking at her. Ina blushed a bit.

"Oh, are you from Ishikuma?", Miho asked.

"Umm...Yes", Ina responded, blushing even more. She was right in front of a celebrity, one of the best commanders in the world. "I'm the commander of the team. Kobayashi Ina."

"Nice to meet you!", the girl responded somewhat excitedly. "I'm Nishizumi Miho, this is Akiyama Yukari and that is Reizei Mako", she added.

"Nice to meet you too." Ina responded, blushing slightly less. "I noticed you were here and wanted to greet you."

"Sit down with us!", Yukari told her. Ina obliged, and sat down down next to Mako. "So in what tank do you sit?", Yukari asked before Ina even sat down properly.

"KV-1, it's a ru-", Ina attempted to say, before being interrupted by Yukari.

"That's one of my favourites.", she said excitedly.

"They all are", said Mako in response to Yukari.

Ina looked over at Miho, who seemed to be thinking deeply. Then Miho looked up, as the waiter started giving them their food. There were 4 tank shaped buns, all shaped like Panzer IVs on Ooarai themed plates.

"I wonder who they're cheering for", she whispered sarcastically.

"Itadakimasu!", the four girls said in unison, before they started to eat.

Ina liked the food. It was pretty well-tasting.. It was awkward to sit down with a bunch of girls she didn't know and which she would have to face in just a couple of hours.

"How did you become commander?", Yukari asked. "You seem a bit young. Are you from a famous family, like Nishizumi-dono?"

Ina blushed when she realised what Yukari just said.

"No, I'm not. I just happened to become commander when the other competitors for the position were disqualified", she responded.
"Why were they disqualified?", Miho asked.

Ina took another bite before responding. "They threw the game in an attempt to make me look like a bad commander. A match versus Chihatan. We lost because of it."

"They don't deserve to be commanders anyway, in that case. That's not how a commander should act.", Mako argued. "A good commander always plays fair."

"No, a good commander always wins.", the Ooarai commander responded.

"A good commander cares about their crew.", Yukari said. "So Nishizumi-dono is an amazing commander!". Miho blushed a bit when she heard her greatest fan say that.

Ina was thinking. "I play fair, but I don't always win. Am I good to my crew?". She wasn't sure.

The girls continued talking and eating for another thirty minutes, and walked to the place the match would take place together. Ina liked the Ooarai girls, and had completely forgotten she'd have to face them in just an hour. But she did not want to do so, she wanted to spend more time with them. She liked Miho a lot, even if she was a bit shy while she was there. But now Miho went from friend, to enemy. At least for the next couple of hours.

The match was about to start. The greetings had been exchanged, and the teams had gotten into their starting positions. All they were waiting for was the sign the match had started. Five Ooarai tanks, The Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausführung H, Jagdpanzer 38 (t) "Hetzer", Sturmgeschütz III Ausführung F, Type 3 Chi-Nu and the fearsome Panzerkampfwagen VI "Tiger" (Porsche), versus the five Ishikuma tanks.

One notable advantage Ishikuma held was a greater amount of light tanks compared to the Ooarai team. That should be used to the best possible advantage later in the match. The first thing they would have to do was create an advantage though, as the Ooarai team held a massive advantage in firepower and armour, even with the lack of a numerical advantage, as they have 2 strong medium tanks, two very good tank destroyers and a great, fearsome heavy tank that completely outclasses the KV-1 in combat.

The flare was fired, the sign the game had started. The Ishikuma tanks started driving forward, towards the enemy. The battlefield was a large, flat plain with a small hill in the middle, barely twenty metres high, but high enough to stop the other team from seeing across the entire field. Ina could flank through the forest, or she could charge straight into the Ooarai lines. They'd probably expect them to flank them. Maybe she could use reverse psychology, Ooarai expecting them to flank, and as such preparing for that, but actually having Ishikuma face them in a head-on charge, and as such flanking them like that. Although it might just be a suicidal charge into the enemy. It was a risk they would have to take to be able to win the match, as they would never be able to defeat Ooarai in a prolonged battle.

Ishikuma kept driving forwards as fast as they could, having traversed 40% of the distance between them and Ooarai. They were now at the foot of the hill.

"Tanks, stop.", Ina commanded when they were halfway to the top. "Panzer II, go forwards, stay low. Try to see where the Ooarai tanks are.

Thirty seconds later, when they reached the top, she heard back from them. "We can see the Ooarai StuG side-on, going into the forest. The other four are a bit further back. None of them seem to have spotted us. Permission to fire?"

"Permission to fire. Aim for the StuG's engine. After the shot, reverse off the hill to avoid being shot.", she responded. Another three seconds passed, and Ina heard the shot of a cannon. "The StuG has been taken out, we have retreated successfully.", the Panzer II's radio operator responded. Ina was delighted. This match was off to a good start. Maybe they could win this.

"Tanks, forwards, Take up positions on the hill. KV-1 on the front, Ram and SU-122 flanking it and the Panzer II and the BT-7 firing from behind cover of the heavier tanks.", Ina commanded.

And so they did. Ishikuma held the hill and had a numerical superiority.

"Fire at will", she ordered, as she got out of the cupola for a better view of the battlefield. Shells were raining down on the Ooarai tanks. Many hit, but they didn't do any damage at these distances. However, that didn't matter to Ina. What she wanted to do is take out the Ooarai tanks as soon as they got in the effective range of Ishikuma's guns. A dozen shots had been fired, and finally a tank had been taken out. The Chi-Nu had been hit expertly in the suspension by the Ram II.

However, Ooarai suddenly stopped all their tanks. And then they fired. Two of the shots hit their target; the SU-122 was taken out, and another bounced off the angled front of the KV-1. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to push forward after all. But Ina didn't have the time to think it through, as the second round of shots was fired. The BT-5 was taken out from behind the Ram II. Ishikuma returned shots; The Hetzer was taken out. It was three versus two, and the match had gone on for barely ten minutes. This would be a short match. Another barrage of shots, the Ram II and Panzer II were hit. It was two versus one. Two more rounds of shots were fired by Ooarai and the two remaining Ooarai tanks started moving forward again.

Ina looked in the crew compartment again, and saw Noriko read a book for fifteen or so seconds, before putting it down and aiming. "Load APCR", she requested Yume. a couple of seconds later, she fired the shot. Ina looked outside: the Tiger had been taken out. "How did you do that? They have two hundred millimetres of frontal armour!", Ina asked Noriko excitedly.

"I just hit the bit with only eighty millimetres of armour on the side.", she responded.

"A one versus one again. Just like last match against Kinuyo, but this time, we will not lose." Ina thought. The Panzer IV fired another shot at the KV-1, bouncing off it again. But soon they'd be close enough to get through, no matter the angle of the armour.

"Noriko, you have one shot. Make it count. I believe in you.", Ina told her gunner.

The tank bounced back a bit due to the recoil of the shot. Once the smoke from the blast cleared, Ina could see it. A white flag sticking out of the Panzer IV.

They had won. Ishikuma had won. For the first time. And it was against the national champions of sensha-dou too! Ina couldn't believe it. They had actually done it! How to feel? Glad? Happy? Relieved?

Ina and the others got out of their tanks. There was happiness all around her.

"We did it Ina-chan!", she heard Satomi tell her excitedly. "We won!"

Ina joined in on the excitement too. They did it. What did Kinuyo think of the battle? Would she be disappointed by the length of the battle, or rather, the lack thereof?

As the match was over, and the tanks reorganised themselves near the tents set up for the battle, Ina looked around. She saw Miho talking to Kinuyo. Should she approach them? Or would Miho rather not speak to her? Would it be rude to interrupt them?

Ina walked towards them anyways, even if it's just to talk to Miho for a second.

Kinuyo, probably hearing Ina's footsteps in the grass, turned around to face her.

"Ina!", she heard Kinuyo say excitedly, just before the slightly taller Chihatan commander hugged her for a couple of seconds, before she quickly stopped doing so, blushing a lot. She probably realised Miho was still there. She heard Miho laugh awkwardly behind her.

"I-I'm sorry Ina for doing something so embarrassing to you.", Kinuyo said, before making a quick bow.

"It's ok, Kinishi.", Ina responded. Kinishi was her nickname for Kinuyo, as her last name was Nishi.

"No, it's not. I need to do something for you to truly show my apology.", she told her friend. "I know, I'll make you dinner! And Miho too! Your friends can join too. A large dinner party!"

"That sounds fun!", Miho responded. "We'll help with cooking.", the ginger quickly added.

"And so will we.", Ina said, not wanting to make the others do all the work.

The dinner will be in the next chapter, because I want to make it quite long.