Andrew rubbed his face, none of the research he had done the night before had buoyed his feelings of doom, if anything, they reinforced them. Not even the research he was doing now, over lunch, was helping. None of the historical databases had anything on the Ōarai Sensha-dō team of any time. "Hey Andrew," Jacob remarked, setting his food tray down. "Light reading?"

Andrew huffed, the papers strew about the table and stacks of books painted a picture alright. "You could say that," he replied before sighing. "I can't find anything on Ōarai having a Sensha-dō team at all. Nothing! As if they never had one to begin with!"

Jacob's fork paused halfway to his mouth, eyebrow cocked and disbelief in his voice. "Nothing? Not even an expense report?"

Andrew threw up his hands. "Bugger if I know, I know that Japanese isn't my mother tongue, but I was pronounced proficient enough to hold a full conversation and read anything that should come up, but I can't find anything that even tangentially references tanks, much less a team."

Jacob frowned and peered through the papers on the table. Picking up one at random, he began to read through it. "Let's see… Expense Report, 1999… Volleyball, Incense… huh…" he muttered.

Andrew cocked a brow at him and the American obliged. "Nothing. Even though I know for a fact that Ōarai had a Sensha-dō team in 1999, I've cleaned that trophy enough to have it memorised by now." Jacob practically glared at the offending paper, as if that would give him the information he wanted. "Only thing that might lead to it would be the "Student Council's Discretionary Fund" but that could have been used on anything."

Andrew's head met the table, but Jacob spoke again. "Why are you looking through old expense reports for information about Sensha-dō?"

Andrew sighed. "I can't access the Council's files and I know nothing about the equipment. I'm flying blind and I hate flying, much less blindly flying."

Jacob hummed and raised the sheet, intending to hand it back before he caught something. "Hello… what have we here?" he murmured.

Andrew looked up. "What, what did you find?" he asked.

Jacob didn't answer for a moment, instead digging in his bag and pulling out a pencil and paper. "Someone wrote something while this report was underneath. I wonder what that is, could just be nothing, but you never know."

Holding the report to the light, while writing down what he saw, it didn't take Jacob long to transpose what he saw and even less to offer a translation. "Panzer IV D to be stored in main garages, avoid discussing where the others are, alert me to their locations after the representatives leave as per the suggestions of Shimada Chiyo and Nishizumi Shiho.-Akaboshi Yoshiko"

Andrew rubbed his brow. "Chiyo Shimada, that sounds familiar but I can't place it. Yoshiko Akaboshi doesn't though," he muttered.

"Chiyo Shimada is the leader of the Shimada Style of Sensha-dō and her young daughter is considered a prodigy in most, if not all academic fields," Shichirō said from behind them. Setting his own food tray down, he cocked his head to the side. "Why do you ask about Lady Shimada?"

Andrew let Jacob fill Shichirō in while he began thinking quietly. When the bell rang to send everyone to their electives for the first time, the outline of a plan began to take hold.

Jacob and Shichirō arrived at the garages before Andrew but they were unimpressed by the sight of a single tank, even if they knew beforehand what they were to find. "Wonder why this tank was singled out to remain in the garage and the others were hidden," Jacob muttered.

Shichirō hummed. "Who did you say wrote that note while the expense report was underneath it?" he asked.

Jacob rubbed his chin. "Yoshiko Akaboshi. Why?" he asked.

Shichirō folded his hands behind him. "Perhaps we can find this woman and she may have an answer for us."

Jacob hummed before looking up. "Uh oh… Prez is on approach," he muttered.

"And that's a bad thing?" Andrew said from behind them.

Jacob jumped. "Geez man, make some noise on approach!" he retorted before looking him over. "So that's the old uniform you're attached to?"

Andrew looked himself over. "Aye, similar to the Number One Dress Uniform of His Majesties' Royal Navy. Elegant, formal, and easy to maintain. Just in Black and White accents rather than Blue and Gold. White hat of course." he replied before sucking in his gut and clicking his heels. "Madam Kadotani, I was hoping to speak with you before the elective began, but in the months since I last wore it, I forgot how much of a right pain in the arse the decorations can be to put on and have decided to forgo them for now," he said.

Anzu nodded. "I can presume that you want what information the Council has on the previous teams," she remarked.

Andrew sighed, "Preferably information on the equipment used since I found nothing in the publicly available records."

Anzu hummed before signalling over another student. "This is Yuzu Koyama, my Vice President. She'll be able to point you in the right direction."

Yuzu bowed to Andrew, which he returned with a slightly deeper bow than he normally would give, involving the bending of his waist rather than just his neck. "Miss Koyama," he greeted, "I look forward to working with you to help answer some questions I have about this team."

Yuzu gave him a small smile before they departed from the main group, leaving Jacob and Shichirō to watch the other girls of the team stumble about, looking for tanks.

Andrew pulled out a pair of reading glasses while looking at a packet of information. The number of documents the Student Council had on, not only the Sensha-dō team, but every operation on the ship was staggering. Just as he was about to start on the mammoth task before him, Yuzu came with another stack of papers. "Here's some more on the actual operation of the team, if first glance is accurate," she remarked.

Andrew smiled. "Thank you for your help Miss Koyama, I'm sure it can not be easy to do this, especially under the circumstances."

Yuzu blinked rapidly. "C-circumstances? What do you mean?" she stammered.

Andrew waved his pencil while looking at the sheet before him to take notes in his booklet. "It took me all of fifteen minutes to look at enrollment figures and publicly available expenditure reports, maybe a further ten or so minutes to conclude that, with the falling enrollment figures, mergers with the male academy and the entry into a tournament with a significant cash prize, that Ōarai is not secure financially," he remarked before looking up and seeing a look of horror and shock. "I shan't say anything, it's not my place to inform the students that they're fighting for their school's existence. But they should be told, and sooner rather than later, otherwise, you and your fellow members of the Council will have to deal with the feelings of resentment and betrayal that your actions will force."

Yuzu slumped into the chair across from him. "When we made the deal with MEXT, we were using data that was only accessible to us," she whispered, drawing his attention. "How many people know?"

Andrew pursed his lips. "Not many, I'd hazard," he replied. "No one I've talked to, but I haven't talked to many people yet. I would, however, suspect that those who were convinced to join might begin to have suspicions."

Yuzu winced and physically recoiled at Andrew's statement. "A Council-Member with a conscious… Satan must be getting some use out of the ice rink…" he thought. Aloud, he simply asked: "I gather you did not agree to the recruitment of Nishizumi?"

Yuzu shook her head vigorously. "No, the only thing that I agree with about the whole thing was that she would be an invaluable asset to the team," she replied. "Whether that be in some sort of advisory role, or something like what you do, I did not want to blackmail her into a tank again."

Andrew leaned back, his readers glinting in the limited light. "Agreed. After what happened at Kuromorimine… well, I would not have blamed her if she never wanted to see a tank again in her life."

Yuzu sighed. "I know, and I allowed the President to bully her into joining and played a part in it, even if I made my discontent known afterwards."

Andrew raised an eyebrow, "Have you told Miss Nishizumi? I'm sure she would appreciate hearing she has an ally."

Yuzu shook her head. And for a while, that was that. They spent what unknown amount of daylight remaining in the day digging through the files, but, by the time they stood and put things away, they were no closer to an answer than they were that morning. "I got more out of Mister Lancaster's five minutes of detective work at lunch than we got in bloody hours of diligent work." Andrew groused.

Yuzu gave a wave to one of the team as they passed. "Oh? What did he find?"

Andrew sighed. "That one "Akaboshi Yoshiko" ordered the tanks hidden, barring the Panzer IV, on the suggestion of the present heads to the two most powerful styles of the sport," he replied, drawing a gasp from the student passing by them. "Is that significant? Miss?"

The girl bowed to them. "Akayama Yukari, Sir! And yes. That was my mother's name before she married and had me."

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Either this is one Hell of a coincidence, or something is being hidden from us at this juncture," he murmured before turning his attention to the girl before them. "Miss Akayama, was it?" he asked, drawing a nod from her. "Would you be kind enough to ask your mother for any information on her time in Sensha-Dō here? I would be willing to listen."

Yukari bowed to him again. "I will ask. Though who should I say is asking?"

Andrew inclined his head slightly. "Andrew Montgomery, Chief Tactical Planner of the Ōarai Sensha-Dō team. Hopefully, that will be enough credibility to convince her of our need and present lack of any appreciable information."

"Then I shall ask, Montgomery-san," she replied before hurrying off.

Andrew shook his head slightly before looking to the heavens. "God preserve me," he muttered. Then he looked at Yuzu. "Well. This day has been interesting if nothing else. Hopefully, that remains true for the rest of the year without things getting really "interesting", if only for our sanities." he remarked before bowing to her. "Until the Morrow, Miss Koyama."

Yuzu bowed to him in return and they parted ways with Andrew running into Jacob and Shichirō not too long afterwards. "Gents, care to explain why you look like you went three rounds against an ogre and lost?" he asked.

Jacob slumped against the garage door. "Oh, they found tanks alright. Somehow. But the state of some of them beggars belief. And yet! They believe them to only be needing polish and scrubbing before firing up!" he retorted.

Shichirō was laying on his back with his eyes closed. "I agree with Jacob. I have no idea how we are supposed to get these tanks prepared for the Tournament. Even if we have a month before inspections!"

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Are they inside?" he asked receiving a nod from Jacob. Poking his head inside, Andrew surveyed the situation. A type-89B, a Stug III, a Panzer IV, a M3 Lee and a Panzer 38(t). heading inside fully and inspecting the tanks up close, he was surprised at their condition. The girls looked to be in the right of it!

Heading back out Andrew looked at his two friends. "I don't see the problem. A bit of spit and polish, and they'll be where they need to be, so long as their engines turn over and the other mechanics aren't buggered. The Stug needs to air out, but that's the worst thing."

Jacob looked incredulous, and Andrew shook his head. "Both of you, head home. You've had a long day, I'll see what else is wrong and we'll talk in the morning."

Jacob rolled his eyes but pulled Shichirō to his feet before walking off. Andrew looked back at the tanks before unbuttoning his jacket and diving into the tanks and giving them a thorough inspection and maintenance. Something that they clearly hadn't had in many years.