Chapter 4, finally. After a grueling depression, I'm back on track. I know this won't suffice the gap that I did, but I know what will.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this except for a MG42.

Senshado und nichts ー 4 『Die Leute und der Panzer 』

[Miho]

"Hey, Miho, do you have any vacancies in your apartment? I was thinking of getting one in the recent days, I think my pay is enough too, I don't want to be a freeloader for you guys," Strawberry soon punched the items that I was buying, "that would be 1520 yen."

"I think there's some," I said while giving out they pay, "I'm still worried in our upcoming match with Pravda later though."

"Oh just chill, don't stress yourself, here's your change."

"Danke." I soon left towards home. After receiving a letter yesterday from mother, it was quite vague but I was puzzled on Nishizumi-sama's words. Weird as it is, I feel that something weirder is coming. Oh screw it, I'll just have my cup noodles cook. I turned on the TV to see what's up. It was like good news, bad news. Good news, we're near Nippon, bad news, a typhoon is coming. I remembered when Graf Zeppelin was battered by a storm, the ship was tilting left and right and things were scary in the bridge, where I was when the storm hit. One moment you're standing still, the next you're sliding. It was a bitter experience that makes me shiver a bit. We also needed to dock after the storm for some major repairs. Well, it would be all hands on deck if that typhoon hits. Ah, my noodles are cooked. I soon ate my dinner.

[Louise]

"Du, du hast, du hast mich!" I was singing along with the TV. I'm really liking it here, but I still wonder what was my life before. Am I rich? Am I powerful? Am I a slave? I don't know but I want to. Wait, is it two already? Its closing time then. I lowered the covers and punched my card before leaving. Tomorrow is my first pay, I'm thinking of buying a phone and saving some, I can't be there forever. I soon got to the garage. After being for a month in here, I learnt how to prepare cup noodles and sleep while sitting. The radio operator's seat isn't the best but it sure does work for my small size.

[Miho]

I woke up to the clouds, it looks like we're near the storm. I took out my phone and called Anzu, "Going to the school?"

"Probably, it's too boring in my house."

"Meet you there then," I said before hanging up. Hm, let's hope for the best, we still have a fight with Pravda next month as part of the exhibition matches. I think we should make a challenge or a contest to get the girls going, yeah, that worked good in Kuromorimine, but it nearly got busted. I took out a pen and paper to list my new idea. After a short time, the paper ended up filled with my crappy drawing and a set of contests. What would Anzu think about this?

[Louise]

I went to the library today, thanks to the janitor and the staff who allowed me to get in the library. They say that I'm one of the few kids who actually patronizes the library even though every one is using search engines nowadays. I was reading the military books for a while to get a better grasp of tankery. What's this? Artillery, a large bore, crew served, mounted firearm, that sounds impressing. Okay, classifications, Self-Propelled Guns, Howtizer, Mortar, Rocket and some more. Self-Propelled Guns, mobile artillery mounted in a vehicle, examples: Wespe, Bishop, Panzerhaubitze 2000, Crusader 5". Oh, some pictures, the Wespe has an open top and so does the Crusader 5" which the looked like a large gun placed on the hull of a Crusader. The PzH 2000 is a modern SPG and it looks cool. The Bishop is like a KV-2 with a fixed forward facing gun, it looks weird. The table that I was in was filled with books. History, military doctrines, tank designs, trigonometry, algebra, physics, and the Kanji-Hirigana-Katakana-Romanji practice writing book that Kadotani-san gave me, was here in the table. I soon pulled out the tank designs book and searched for the self-propelled guns that was designed in the second world war. What garnered my interest was the old bookmark in the page of the Hummel. There was also a piece of paper with a whole lot of lines. I'll take this as a reference. The Hummel was designed from the chassis of the III/IV with the intention of a heavy SPG. It saw combat and the design was soon converted into a tank destroyer called Hornisse by the Germans or what is known as the Nashorn, that's interesting.

[Miho]

"Listen up! There will be a set of challenges for each and every one of the positions in a tank. The one who wins gets a prize from me, the one who gets the bottom, well, I'll think of it." Anzu made the point straight to them and now most of them are encouraged.

"Miho-san," Strawberry was calling me, "I found this at the library." She then gave me a blueprint. I already suck at maps and now you're gonna give me a blueprint? Dear God this is heavy.

"Ah, Yukari-san," I called for help.

"Hai, Nishizumi-dono?"

"Can you understand this?"

"Ah, that's the layout of the ship," Momo-san said from behind.

"But what's up with weird pencil markings?" Porsche-san pointed out. There were negligible but weird pencil markings in the blueprint.

"Let me take a look at it for a while, Nishizumi-dono." Yukari-san took the blueprint and laid it down the table. She then took out her phone and called a number. "Ah, Leyton-san, could you come here in the garage today? I found something interesting. Okay, meet you later."

"Who was that, Akiyama-san?" Porsche-san asked.

"Junko Leyton-san is a friend of mine in the ship, she's been working with the maintainance crew for two years already."

"Miporin, kochi, kochi!"

"What is it Saori-san," I said as I went near her.

"Why does the enemy veer off the machine gun fire?" She asked while taking note of the mounted MG in her position.

"Ah, it's because that if the co-axial machine gun of the tank," I pointed the small MG34 gun in the turret, "then that means that the round from the cannon is likely to hit, like a laser rangefinder, except not."

"So that means that even if it's this MG, they would still think that it's the co-axial."

"That could work too, sometimes."

"So what are we going to practice today?"

"Let's start with retracking the tank, I haven't retracked a tank for a long time."

"But isn't the track heavy?"

"Yes, but you need to cope with it or else the tank is no better than a bunker or a gun emplacement."

"Oh," Saori-san said in agreement.

"Yukari-san, it's time to start training."

"Hai, Nishizumi-dono."

[Louise]

"Nekota-san, what are we gonna do today?" I calmly spoke to my three teammates.

"What's good to do?" Nekota-san soon thought of something, "ah, I know, let's get in the tank first, I'll tell you when we're in the shooting range." After a short while, I was out on the field with a binocular and a map.

"Target is the brown plate," I called out in the radio. Nekota's idea was simple, they drive the tank from a position half a kilometer away, stop then aim at the target which has various distances, then shoot, and lastly I report if it's a hit or miss. The round nipped the top of the plate. "Hit, joint, that wouldn't penetrate."

"Let's do this again," Nekota-san said.

"Target, blue and red, ten second time frame, priority blue." A round hit but didn't penetrated the blue plate, I soon pressed the timer. Another round finally hit and penetrated the blue plate. The timer beeped before a round penetrates the red plate. "Blue and Red penetrated, shell was in flight when the timer ended, that means that you took out the red plate before getting shot at. This is gonna be a long day.

Training chapters build up the suspense for what will come. Like in every sports movie.