Shiho 4: No Second Chances

"Eventually, we reached the tournament for the year," Shiho said. "The tournament is a measure of how much the people of each school have learned, and how well they use it. I was determined to once again show that the Nishizumi Style was superior to all others."

The Atagos silently pondered this. They were familiar to the concept of fighting in the name of a homeland, an organization or an ideal, but still believed Shiho was going too far.

"You might be interested to hear just who we fought in the first round of the tournament, Miho," Masae said.

Miho's eyes widened as she guessed what Masae was getting at.

"Oarai Academy," Miho said.

"Precisely," Masae said. "Since I wasn't part of the 'top brass' of Black Forest in my first year, I didn't attend the drawing. As far as the commander and coach were concerned, we needed only concern ourselves with being ready to face the opponent, rather than who it was. Still, I remembered the name of my opponent, especially when it returned this year."

Shiho nodded to confirm the belief that Masae ascribed to her, but spoke to elaborate on the matter.

"To be honest, the name of the school barely registered to me, until I saw it return to tankery again years later," Shiho said. "But the story of how we, a team of strong and experienced tankers defeated these upstarts, should give you some idea of why the Nishizumis push themselves so hard."

25 years ago

The commanders for Black Forest and Oarai stood across from each other in a wide open field, and exchanged bows.

Much like they did in Miho's time, Oarai wore simple gray jackets over the uniform tops, a design that was simple, utilitarian and easy to produce in large quantities. Part of Shiho recognized the wisdom of such an approach, viewing practicality as the first and foremost priority. But another part had to wonder about the implications. The uniforms the students wore for the tankery team, much like the uniforms they wore to class, were symbols of their representing the school, and good appearance was a matter of pride. If Oarai skimped there, what did it say about them?

Shiho recognized Oarai's commander from the tournament drawing, even if she had not gotten the commander's name back then. After drawing her lot, and obtaining a copy of the tournament brackets and match schedule, Shiho had gone straight back to the school ship.

"My name is Saotome Junko," Oarai's commander said. "I'm a third year at Oarai and team commander. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Nishizumi Shiho," Shiho said, with the usual detached civility she displayed to most strangers. "I'm a first year at Black Forest, and team commander. It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"From the Nishizumi school?" Junko said, her tone indicating her amazement. "You must know quite a bit about tankery to get your position right off the bat. I was essentially the only one with commanding experience since last year, so I got tapped for the job by default. As a result, I do have to wonder if I'm worthy of the responsibility, much less ready to face an opponent like your school."

Shiho looked at Junko with a pitying expression on her face. Was she the best person Oarai could come up with for the tournament? To Shiho, Junko's ignorance and lack of skill were signs of irresponsibility on her part.

But a part of Shiho decided that maybe it was for the best that Junko be left in the pool of comfortable ignorance. If she had come this far, the words of someone with a vested interest in winning against her would not deter her. And so, when Junko looked at her with an inquisitive expression, she decided to

"Ready or not, worthy or not, you are the commander, and your team is counting on you," Shiho said. "I look forward to seeing how you will do."

The battlefield for the match was a flat and sparsely wooded plain.

Black Forest's troops, most of which were Panzer IIIs and IVs, reached the more thickly wooded area and watched as Oarai's forces approached, following their commander's Panzer IV in a loose formation. The flag tank, the Porsche Tiger, was slightly off to the right side of the group, and near the rear of the pack. Among them, Shiho also recognized a StuG and pz38 (t), both tanks Black Forest had in its arsenal. She knew enough about tanks to identify the others by sight, having defeated each of them in the past.

Shiho frowned contemptuously. Following orders was necessary to become a good tanker, but it was not the only qualification. The Oarai tankers were following their orders, but not with the same discipline and efficiency as Black Forest's. In a similar sense, Shiho believed that Oarai had shown up for the match, as it was expected to do so, but its efforts were not enough to bring it victory. And even if Oarai had some potentially useful tanks, they would be worthless in the hands of the students Oarai trusted to crew them.

Black Forest's tanks emerged from the forest on Shiho's command, and began firing. Shiho imagined that to the untested Oarai tankers, the sight of a company of tanks fighting as one would be intimidating, and the sound of their guns firing in unison would be terrifying, and she was not wrong.

Shots from the initial volley struck the Panzer IV, the Cromwell, the Tas and the StuG- the vanguard of the group. The tanks could not hold up to the hits they suffered, and were disabled, raising four white flags almost in unison. Clouds of smoke rose into the sky on the sunny day, enabling people to see, even from far away, that a fierce battle was taking place.

The rest of the tanks seemed to fall into a panic over having lost so many of their stronger allies so quickly, frantically returned fire, with most of the shots missing, and a few striking ineffectively. It only served to confirm Shiho's belief that incompetent tankers were worse than useless, taking up spots that could be filled by superior tankers, and wasting the team's allotment of shells.

Shiho wondered if her opponents from Oarai, concluding that their tanks could be taken out so easily were instead throwing everything into a last ditch assault on the flag tank, which sat behind the main line of Black Forest's tanks, out of the line of fire.

The Black Forest tanks reloaded and began firing at will. Shots rang out, and the Type 89, the Pz38, and the StuG soon followed, soon after they had fired shells in futile attempts to hit the other Black Forest tanks.

Only the Chi-nu, the Porsche Tiger and the Char B1 BS remained, and started to retreat. Shiho concluded that this was an attempt to buy time or escape the hopeless situation they were in, and believed that both approaches would have the same outcome.

"Do they really think they can still win?" Shiho thought. "I'm honestly not sure, but even a fool would know that their current situation is untenable."

But Shiho knew what the next step for Black Forest was- to pursue them and finish them off while they were still demoralized.

"All tanks, pursue the remaining Oarai forces," Shiho said.

"Yes, ma'am!" the tank commanders, including Masae, responded.

Black Forest's tanks surged forward. They were lighter than those that Oarai faced in its next match against Black Forest, and could easily catch up to the clumsily driven Oarai tanks.

The pursuing Black Forest tanks fired, knocking out the Char B1 BS and the Chi-Nu as each was struck in the back. Blasts and plumes of smoke came up, and as the tanks came to a halt, Shiho knew that they had been vanquished even before the white flags made it official.

Shiho's Panzer IV then prepared to fire on the Porsche Tiger. Shiho found it slightly anticlimactic, even as far as her matches went, and for a moment, wished that the sole surviving tank would surrender and cease its futile resistance, sparing her the token effort and drawing the match to a close.

But as Shiho's gunner aimed at the Porsche Tiger, Shiho noticed something odd. The Porsche Tiger was stopped, not trying to escape or fight back. For a moment, Shiho had to wonder- was this because they had realized both would only delay the inevitable?

As Shiho stopped and more closely examined the Porsche Tiger, Shiho saw smoke rising from its engine, and the white flag soon raised. It immediately became clear to Shiho what had happened; their engine had given out. The system for declaring tanks inoperable, a relatively new piece of technology, did not solely apply to damage inflicted by the enemy, but also to the tanks breaking down on their own. The system's designers, as well as those who had approved its use, believed that it would add an element of risk to bringing in unreliable tanks like the Porsche Tiger, would punish negligent maintenance crews and would, most of all, realistically reflect how broken down tanks were not strategic assets in real matches.

"Black Forest wins the match!" the announcer said.

Shiho sat back in her command seat, with a slight smirk of satisfaction on her face. Few opponents she had faced were as inexperienced as those that Oarai had fielded, so she believed that this match, more than any other, showed how far her training with the Nishizumi School had taken her.

Perhaps they would never reach her level, but at least they would realize that it took more than mere enthusiasm to succeed at tankery, or in other pursuits in life.

Present day

"Oarai failed to present any significant challenge to us that time, even with equal numbers," Shiho said. "There were few opponents they had any chance of defeating in that tournament, but they were significantly worse off than most, for several reasons."

"I suspect their leader back then was nowhere near Miho's caliber," Maho said, "especially if she was entirely reluctant, as Mother said she was."

Miho shook her head. She couldn't entirely accept her sister's analysis of why her school had won.

"I didn't want to command Oarai at first, either, Onee-chan," Miho said. "And my successes are in large part because I had so many crews willing to rise to the occasion, and do their part for the sake of the team, in spite of their inexperience. They started out as amateurs, with their fair share of mistakes, but they brought their unique skills to the table and from there, improved quickly. Perhaps their leader might have grown into the position, given the chance."

"You have a point, Miho," Maho said. "And yet, you did ultimately seem to embrace commanding, unlike your predecessor from over two decades ago."

While Maho had not seen Miho's development first hand, she knew her well as her sister, and she was well familiar with the idea of doing what was expected of her for her own reasons.

Miho nodded in response.

"I had time to get used to that," Miho said, "as well as many capable people who helped me out at crucial points."

Shiho shook her head dispassionately.

"You're luckier than most, Miho," Shiho said, "because the unfortunate reality is that tankery, like other forms of battle, does not give much opportunity for 'learning on the job', so to speak. Perhaps those Oarai crews from so long ago would have had a chance to improve, however slightly, had they been able to continue in the tournament, but their defeat marked the end of their participation for over twenty years."

25 years ago

Oarai and Black Forest stood across from each other, and bowed during the post-game ceremony.

"Thank you for the game," the commanders said.

Shiho sized up Junko. Junko's expression was clearly disappointed. Shiho had to wonder if Junko was suppressing her emotions, but realized that Junko's candor regarding her inexperience was evidence against that possibility. It seemed as though Junko, naive as she was, had expected to lose, and merely had not expected to lose as badly as she did.

Of course, in the tournament, it made no difference whether the winning team's victory was overwhelming or narrow. The outcomes of each match were final, and there were no second chances; winners advanced, and the losers had to try again next year, save for the graduating members who would not compete at that level again.

Shiho mentally concluded that when thought about in that light, the tournament was naturally a ruthless contest for the survival of the fittest. If the Nishizumi style was harsh and demanding, it was because the reality was as well, and it did not sugarcoat that reality or tell its students to make compromises. Shiho's family sought to help the students understand the nature of tankery competitions and come out on top.

As Shiho was lost in thought, Masae turned to Keiko on the way back. The two were on relatively good terms while in Black Forest, although they eventually lost contact with each other.

"They seem to be taking this hard," Masae said to Keiko, while in earshot of Shiho.

"How did they think this battle would end?" Keiko said dismissively, more of Oarai than Masae. "From what I heard, most of their team had no prior experience in tankery. Perhaps some of their tanks, like the Porsche Tiger, Tas and StuG, could have taken us out from a distance, but they didn't know how to use them well enough to accomplish that. And we were winning too decisively and too consistently for luck to have been a factor."

"I suppose you're right, Keiko," Masae said. "Not every team has a real chance at winning. But for some of them, it's enough to get out there and do their best."

Keiko scoffed.

"There hardly seems to be any meaning in doing tankery halfway," Keiko said. "I certainly hope any daughters I have will, at the very least, devote themselves more to tankery than those girls did."

Shiho, passively listening to the conversation while walking ahead of Masae and Keiko, simply nodded. She wondered if Masae was thinking of her old middle school, and getting nostalgic for its more lax attitude toward tankery, but decided that it hardly mattered. Shiho resolved that she would not make Oarai's mistake. She would give her all in the pursuit of victory, and have no tolerance for anyone who did any less.

Present day

"Our victory seemed to vindicate my approach to tankery," Shiho said, "especially when I heard you and Yamada Keiko discussing the outcome of the match. In the end, only results matter, and our determination prevailed against their naiveté and weakness"

"Back then, I couldn't make any arguments against it," Masae said. "But after seeing so many teams that could not hope to win, I couldn't help but think back to that over the years. It's a shame what happened to Oarai's former tankery team, though"

"We didn't hear anything from or about them since then," Shiho said. "The next year, their name was conspicuously absent from the tournament drawing, although I'm not sure if that was when their club disbanded, or whether they devolved into a non-competitive tankery club. The same was true for the next year, and the next two decades. And then, this past academic year, they returned, and you know the rest."

"It's kind of disappointing that they ran away from tankery like that," Hiroe said. "I know they weren't fighting especially well that day, but I have some respect for teams that are willing to stick it out and go down fighting, no matter how much they're outmatched, like Bosporu did in the first round against us."

"I agree with the sentiment, Hiroe, but there were other factors at play, such as budget cuts," Masae said. "Even if Oarai had the resolve, it couldn't have continued."

"So, Instructor Atago, you're saying that Oarai's program was slowly dying?" Miho said.

"I did," Masae said. "Incidentally, Miho, how much did you hear about it?"

"Not much," Miho said. "I know that the tankery program was disbanded around this time, but didn't hear much about why. My friend and vice-captain, Takei Hisa-senpai, only found the minutes of the meeting in which it was cut."

"From what I had heard, there were several factors," Masae said. "There was a lack of interest in the school, to the point at which they had difficulty fielding a full team. Due to funding cuts, they had sold off most of the tanks, save for the ten they fielded on that day- the same ten you used to win the tournament. And our defeating them so easily did not help matters. Too many students had graduated or quit in frustration, so the next year, the program was a shell of its former self that never entered the tournament, and was cut the following year."

Shiho scoffed. Clearly, if Masae or Miho hoped to elicit sympathy for the old Oarai team out of her, their hopes were in vain.

"Oarai did not put up much of a fight back then, even considering what they had," Shiho said. "They did not stand a chance in the tournament with that level of incompetence, and I do not regret crushing them so easily. The fact that their team was shut down after such a dismal showing was out of my hands."

"Mother…" Miho said. When she had heard of her school's existence being on the line, and when that knowledge became public soon afterward, most of her opponents showed heartfelt sympathy, or at least respect for their persistence, like Anzio had. Anzio's commander had also realized that Miho understood what it meant to carry the hopes of her entire team as their leader, once she had learned of the school's existence being at stake.

So why couldn't her mother acknowledge the efforts of the former Oarai commander? Miho had hoped that her mother, with all her commitment toward the Nishizumi school, could at least have some respect for her opponents.

"As harsh as what your mother just said is, Miho, she has a point," Masae said. "Not only was Oarai not performing well back then, but the unfortunate truth is every time you defeat an opponent, you crush the hopes that require victory in order to come to fruition. You've done it every time you won for Oarai. Your sister did it every time she won in the name of Black Forest and the Nishizumi School- and some of those victories were achieved with your help. Hiroe, Kinue and Hiroko did this many times to Pravda's rivals. And so did your mother and I when we were your age."

Miho nodded, conceding the point. Some of her teammates hopes would have been dashed if they had not won as much as she had. But those hopes and many other things still mattered more than victory, and were worth fighting for. Even her defeated opponents learned things, reunited with old friends and had fun in the course of the tournament. That was why she knew that while not everyone could win, tankery was not a zero-sum game, and she realized Masae and her family believed that as well.

"That's true," Maho said. "And when I fired on Kinue's flag tank in the semi-finals, I could tell that she had hopes and aspirations of her own. But for the sake of my school, and my personal desires, I could not lose, and so I ordered my crew to fire the game-winning shot."

Kinue nodded, having suspected that was how Maho felt all along.

"I can't really blame you for that, Maho, even if it didn't exactly work out for you the way you'd hoped," Hiroe said. "After all, I'd have done the same to Miho. But this is why we hope to have fun with our matches, and learn something from our defeats, so that no match is in vain."

"Indeed," Masae said. "While at Black Forest, and while finally getting the victories I had long dreamed of, I began to realize that there was more to tankery than winning or losing."

Author's Notes

Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. I'd also like to thank Stalker117 and Kao Vamp for beta reading this.

Stalker117: Yes, the various interactions between characters can be interesting to write, particularly characters from the same canon who didn't interact much, or between canons (for example, Teru and Maho).

Oarai's shutting the tankery club down was said to be over 20 years ago, so I decided to approximate, In any case, this was an event I wanted to hint at sooner or later. I may eventually give you Junko's side of the story, as well as what led up to the tankery team disbanding.