Introductions 3!
In the auditorium of Oarai Academy, Miho took the stage to speak to the other characters, standing at a podium, with a rectangular table behind her and to her right.
The audience was full of people Miho had never met and did not recognize, although she had heard their names before. They were tied to the six women whose stories were featured- their family, friends, teammates, teachers, students, superiors, subordinates, coworkers, acquaintances and many others. They included men and women, adults and children. They were dressed very differently from each other- t-shirts and blue jeans, school uniforms, military uniforms, suits and ties, kimonos and many others, outfits that were casual, formal, traditional, modern and all number of things. Some did tankery for a living, others had done it in the past, and others had not ever done it. The latter group were either avid fans, had a casual interest in it or did not like it at all. They all had one thing in common- they were glad they were not all being featured in the introduction segment.
"Hello, and welcome to another Introductions chapter," Miho said. "This time, it will be about the six POV characters from Paths Toward Victory- Mother, Instructor Atago, Kikuyo-san, Instructor Chouno, Coach Kubo and Akado-sensei."
Groans went up from the audience, with the diverse group of people seemingly sharing a common sentiment. Miho let off a sigh, fully empathizing with the audience, even if the segment was not appearing in the middle of the story. In spite of her feelings, she had a job to do, as well as a script to read, and so she motioned for silence.
"I... thought all of you would react that way," Miho said as the uproar died down to murmurs of discontent. "So we decided to have something special this time, a way of both introducing characters and summarizing the story in a short amount of time. Mother and the others will summarize their life stories, and will be judged based on how efficiently they can tell their stories."
The three tankery judges- Sasagawa Kanon, Inatomi Hibiki and Takashima Remi- arrived on stage and introduced themselves.
"We'll be judging based on how effectively the participants tell their stories," Hibiki said. "Doing it quickly will be judged favorably, but leaving out important details will be counted against them."
"All this is somewhat relative," Kanon said. "Instructor Atago and Instructor Nishizumi, being older than Instructor Chouno, Coach Kubo, Akado-sensei and Kagurazaki-san, will have more leeway in terms of being judged on conciseness, but will be expected to include more detail from their longer lives."
"There will also be a five minute time limit," Remi said. "The contestants will be given a warning when they have one minute remaining, and another when they have fifteen seconds remaining. Once the time runs out, their turn will end."
The six contestants pondered this. To them, it seemed to be a fairly generous time limit, and the problem would not be meeting it, but telling their story more efficiently than the other contestants.
The three judges sat at a long rectangular table, which had dossiers on the six people who were presenting. Miho stepped down from the podium, allowing the contestants to use it.
Before the competition began, the contestants were given fifteen minutes to prepare. Shiho called her three students aside to speak with them privately. All four of them had some idea of what they wanted to say, so they did not need all of the preparation time, but Shiho decided to keep her message brief.
"Before we begin, I would like to make a few things clear," Shiho said. "This is not a tankery competition, so none of us, myself included, are representing the Nishizumi school. All of us are entering as individuals, and are under no obligation to succeed. However, all of us have learned from the school, and have come far because of the values of never compromising, giving up or settling for anything short of perfection. So all I have to say is that you should put in an effort that honors those principles. Do all of you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am," Takako and Ami said.
"Yes, mistress," Kikuyo said.
"Very good," Shiho said. Since you understand, I'll leave you to your preparations."
The four women split up to think over what they intended to say and how to go about doing it.
Harue and Masae sat in the waiting area backstage. They had a few minutes remaining, so Harue, anxious of waiting and wanting to get to know Masae better, decided to strike up a conversation.
"I personally wonder what Instructor Nishizumi and her students were talking about," Harue said. "I find it hard to believe that they'd be dedicated to something like this.
"Perhaps not," Masae said. "But they are determined and competitive people by nature, so they will likely take this seriously. Perhaps it's not a question of what they're hoping to achieve, but the belief that always giving your all and never settling for anything less than perfection is the best mindset for all competitions."
"That's a good point, Masae-san," Harue said. "But I do have to wonder where that leaves us."
"We simply do what we can, hoping to get the most possible out of this process," Masae said.
Harue nodded, before noticing the Nishizumi students coming in and deciding to wrap up the conversation.
"Win or lose, I want to do this in a way that won't leave me with any regrets," Harue said. "Let's do our best this time."
Shiho's turn came first, and she stepped onto the stage before walking to the podium. A projector showed her photo from the Nishizumi school's website, and listed her favorite tank, a Tiger II.
After Remi introduced her and counted down from three, Shiho began to tell her life story, knowing that she was being timed and judged.
"My name is Nishizumi Shiho. From a young age, I was brought up to inherit my family's school. At school, both Bismarck Middle School and Black Forest Peak Women's College, I worked hard to achieve victory without fail and uphold our good name. I married the brother of one of our students, and raised my eldest daughter as my heiress. I inherited the school ten years ago, and seek to lead it well for the sake of those who came before me, my students and those who will come after me."
Shiho concluded her synopsis by pressing a buzzer on the podium that signaled that she had finished. After the judges thanked her, she left the stage, confident that she had done it to the best of her ability, and the judges would rate her accordingly.
Masae was next. The projector showed a picture of herself from the inner dust jacket of the hardcover edition of her book, and listed her favorite tank, an IS-2.
Masae, along with the rest of the contestants, received the same introduction and cue to start that Shiho had, but decided to use their own approaches to telling their life stories.
"My name is Atago Masae, head instructor of the Atago School of Tankery. I was introduced to tankery in middle school, and eventually went on to Black Forest, where I served as a tanker, and eventually a vice-captain. Disillusioned with the school's ruthlessness and because of familial circumstances, I transferred to Pravda halfway through my second year. At Pravda, I became vice-captain before replacing the commander, and reached the finals of the tournament, but was barely defeated. I continued tankery in college and met my future husband, who was disowned by his family for marrying me. Because of those experiences, I chose to establish a family that raised both successful and happy students, and a school that would train students in how and why to do tankery."
Masae left the stage, thinking of all the times she had spoken in front of large crowds before- in briefings, classes, press conferences, lectures and more. The rules in each were different, but she believed the fundamental experience was the same.
Ami's turn was next. Her photo was one taken of her by her parents around the time she was promoted to Captain, and her favorite tank was listed as a Type 10.
"My name is Chouno Ami, and I'm an Instructor in the JGSDF. I was also a student at the Nishizumi School, and in spite of my initial reluctance, I gradually began to appreciate the opportunity to learn there, and became friends with Kagurazaki Kikuyo and Kubo Takako. My training proved useful in middle school and high school, and I eventually became commander of Black Forest, leading my school to victory against Saunders. After I graduated, I enlisted in the JGSDF, and became an instructor. Among my duties are teaching tankery at certain high schools, among them Maginot and Oarai."
Takako was next. The picture the projector showed was of her picture in the Black Forest staff directory, while her favorite tank was as an Elefant.
"My name is Kubo Takako. As a child, I was raised by strict parents, and joined the even stricter Nishizumi school, where I saw many of my classmates fall through the cracks. I graduated with and did tankery alongside Ami and Kikuyo. At Black Forest, I made a critical mistake during a match, but was given a second chance, and so chose to discipline students for their mistakes, but not give up on them improving themselves."
Takako left the stage. She had never thought herself infallible, but believed that she had what it took. Winning this contest was not necessarily guaranteed, but she had no reason to believe it was not within her ability.
Kikuyo was next. Her photo was a somewhat recent one with her and her parents, while her favorite tank was a Panzer IV.
"My name is Kagurazaki Kikuyo. I joined the Nishizumi school at a young age to become a respectable woman, and befriended Ami-san and Takako-san. Throughout middle school and high school, I served my superiors as they needed. After high school, I became a maid for Nishizumi Shiho-sama, my former teacher to repay that debt of gratitude."
With a bow to the audience and another to the judges, Kikuyo walked off the stage.
Harue was last, with her photo being from the Saunders website. An M4 Sherman was listed as her favorite tank.
"My name is Akado Harue. I wanted to do tankery since I was a young child, but I never had the chance until I attended high school at Saunders, when I began doing it competitively. I became discouraged after my defeat against Black Forest in my last year of high school, but I gradually recovered, teaching a tankery club for children, playing as a professional tanker, and finally becoming coach for Saunders."
As Harue stepped off the stage, she realized that she had not taken into account how long the others had taken, and believed it was good that she had not. She could only do things in a way that was natural to her, and leave the rest to the judges.
After Harue left, the three judges got on stage, having printed out the certificates that they would give to the winners.
"We will announce the three winners of first, second and third place," Hibiki said. "If your name is called, please come onstage to receive your certificate. If not, better luck next time."
The audience went silent in anticipation of the result. Miho smiled; perhaps they were starting to enjoy this.
"First up is the second place winner, who told a compelling life story," Hibiki said. "Please extend your congratulations to... Instructor Atago Masae!"
Masae walked on stage, and accepted her award.
"Thank you," Masae said. "Do I need to make a speech?"
Hibiki broke down laughing.
"That kind of defeats the point, Instructor Atago," Hibiki said. "Remi- I mean, Judge Takashima, next please!"
Masae quickly walked off stage as Remi took the podium.
"Next up is someone who told her synopsis concisely, as might be expected of a Nishizumi disciple," Remi said. "Please congratulate Kagurazaki Kikuyo-san!"
Kikuyo walked onto the stage, accepted the certificate, and gave Remi a deep bow and a thank you.
"And finally, the winner," Kanon said. "Without further ado, please extend your congratulations to... Akado Harue-sensei!"
Harue walked onto the stage, accepted the certificate, and walked down.
"This concludes the synopsis competition for the Introductions to Necessary to Win: Paths Toward Victory," Remi said. "Thank you for coming, and we hope to see you in Necessary to Keep Winning!"
Author's Notes
Like with the original fic, this is a parody of the Introductions segment, showing the characters. Incidentally, it's been about a year since the first "Introductions" segment I posted as an April Fool's Day joke. I was considering doing something new for this year, but couldn't think of anything in time.
I decided to go with a competition to spice it up a little, and reflect that some of the characters just want to get this over with.
Again, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again in Necessary to Keep Winning.