Chapter 17: Neither Infallible Nor Invincible
After spending an entire day traveling, Miho returned to her apartment in the evening, after class. She checked her mailbox and noticed a larger than usual amount of mail in it- mostly junk mail, but also a newsletter for the Oarai community, and a copy of the newspaper with the news of the victory over Koala Forest.
The apartment was exactly as Miho had left it before her departure. It was reasonably neat, albeit not as much as it would have been just after cleaning. The plates Miho had used to eat her breakfast lay in the sink, waiting for her to wash them.
She checked her cell phone, and found a few messages, playing each in turn.
"Hi, Miho, this is Emi. Hitomi, Chihiro and I saw your match. Skype us when you can; I really can't say everything I want on this voicemail. Talk to you later."
"Nishizumi-san, this is Satou Ayano. I obtained notes from class for you. You can pick them up from the student council office once you get back. Please call the student council office if you would like to reach me. Thank you and goodbye."
"Miho-senpai, this is Nodoka. The team has been doing well in your absence, but something has come up, and I would like to discuss it with you. I can see you in the student council office whenever you're ready."
"Hi, Miporin, this is Saori. The others and I want to check in on you and make sure you're doing alright. We'd like to see you when you get back into school; we got you a little something. We hope to see you soon."
Miho took stock of what she had to do. She would be able to speak with Ayano and Nodoka the next day at school, and would be able to Skype her old friends the following evening; it had gotten too late already. For the moment, Miho decided to call Saori, and, evidently as a result of it being late, got Saori's voicemail system. With little time to leave a message, she decided to tell the basic truth.
"Hello, Saori-san, this is Miho," Miho said. "I got your message, and would like to let you know that I'm back. We'll talk later, but for now, while these past days have been difficult, they've turned out as well as I could have hoped, and I'm glad to be back. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
After making herself some dinner and doing some of her homework, which had been left in her mailbox, Miho went to sleep. There would be a great deal of work for her in the days ahead, but for the moment, she was glad to be home.
The next morning, Miho walked up to the school early, early enough to surprise Saro as she watched the gate and took attendance.
"Welcome back, Nishizumi-san," Saro said. "You're here early."
"I have business with the student council," Miho said. "They told me to come to pick up some notes and discuss some matters related to the team."
"Go right on ahead," Saro said. "I was informed about your... family situation, and excused your absences."
"Thank you," Miho said as she headed in.
Miho proceeded to the student council office, where the student council and Nodoka were waiting. Ayano and Nodoka's hands were full, with a notebook and a stack of papers, respectively.
"Welcome back, Nishizumi-san," Shizuru said. "You've most likely heard by now, but the treasurer took notes in class for you, and Haramura-san has some things for you to look over."
"Thank you," Miho said as she accepted Ayano's notebook and the stack of papers Nodoka handed her, before taking a seat near Shizuru's desk.
Miho quickly skimmed Ayano's notes long enough to confirm everything she needed was there, then turned to the more pressing matter of the unfinished business.
The pile of papers Miho received from Nodoka was a mixed group. Some of it included reports on the latest battle, repairs on the tanks, and other matters. Miho decided to set them aside for the moment, because there was another group of papers that caught her eye- application forms of several people who now wanted to join the tankery elective.
Miho's emotions were mixed. She was thrilled more people were taking an interest in tankery, and sorry that she would have to tell them that they would not play an active role in the team. Oarai was still a relatively small team, and even with these new arrivals, it was far below most teams in terms of membership. In most circumstances, it would be a simple task to accommodate them, but there was a simple and obvious problem preventing Miho from doing so.
"So some more people want to join the tankery team," Miho said. "I'm a bit surprised at their timing for doing so; what brought it on?"
Nodoka shrugged.
"That varies from person to person, Miho-senpai," Nodoka said, "Some of them want to join their friends in their electives; Sasaki-san mentioned that one of her teammates, along with a friend, is interested in joining tankery. One of my classmates, who asked about switching electives, said she had grown dissatisfied with her incense elective."
For a moment, Miho had an amused smile as she recognized the elective in question. Incense was the elective she had initially chosen instead of tankery, which she believed was the most relaxing and least competitive one she could think of among the nine electives besides tankery. Shiina, who had taken the elective, chuckled.
"Wow, that was fast," Shiina thought. "It took me my entire first year to realize how poorly run that elective was. I might be near the top of the class, but your classmate caught on faster than I did, Nodoka."
Miho's expression turned serious as she realized the problem facing her.
"But I don't believe we have any tanks for them at this point..." Miho said, "unless that, too, has changed while I was away."
Nodoka shook her head. If Miho hoped for some good news on this regard in the past few days, for another sheet that she had forgotten to show her indicating acquisition of a tank, or that a tank would miraculously be found in the ship's bowels, she would be sadly mistaken.
"We don't, and that's why I wanted to consult with you, Miho-senpai," Nodoka said. "Everyone on the team at the moment is doing well; well enough so that it would not be fair or practical to replace them with untested newcomers so soon before the match with Rinkai."
Miho sighed. As a result of the tournament schedule and the difficulties associated with arranging matches, Oarai's match with Rinkai would be in less than two weeks. The students had spent longer in tanks before their first match of either tournament, so how would they fare with less practice? The only thing that came to mind was how Anteater Team had been eliminated almost instantly.
Of course, Miho's mind turned back to the lack of available tanks, and the fact that no solution had been found since the start of the year. Now, with the demand for tanks even higher and the supply unchanged, Miho would have to face some difficult decisions unless a solution was found.
"I know there's practically no chance of finding yet another tank in the bowels of our ship," Miho said, "but is it still beyond our ability to buy one?"
Ayano nodded, albeit regretfully.
"Regrettably, yes, Nishizumi-san," Ayano said, "given that many clubs have reduced funding, and few are asking for anything as expensive as a tank. It's like asking for seconds when we're rationing our remaining food supply. We're not starving, so to speak, but we have to be careful how we use our resources."
Shizuru nodded to concur.
"The unfortunate truth, Nishizumi-san," Shizuru said, "is that if Oarai, in its hour of greatest need, with a student body willing to contribute however they could and with a student council willing to do whatever was necessary to succeed, could only purchase a tank conversion kit and some Schurzen, then it is difficult to expect us to buy a new tank, however much we would like to do so."
"I understand," Miho said, bowing in apology. "I'm sorry I asked."
"I don't fault you for asking about the feasibility of doing so, though, Miho," Natsumi said, without being prompted. "Getting a new tank or two to allow the newcomers to participate is the obvious solution, and the one that would be beneficial to the most people concerned... except, of course, for our opponents." Natsumi's warm, comforting and surprisingly genuine smile turned into a sly grin with the last remark.
"Yeah," Shiina said. "I mean, it's natural for someone like you to want to do the solution that helps everyone involved, like how you saved the Tas and won the semifinals last year."
"That's a good point, Vice President," Ayano said, "I may be a practical person, and I may believe in the needs of the many coming before the needs of the few, but when it's feasible to satisfy everyone's needs, I see no reason not to do so."
"I know," Miho said. "I wonder if there's some way of including the others."
"So do I, Nishizumi-san," Ayano said, "But you must realize, having come from Black Forest, that not everyone is of use to a tankery team, and the team can't necessarily include everyone."
Miho nodded.
"I didn't like that aspect of Black Forest very much, Treasurer," Miho said. "But now that I think about it, that's a reality popular and successful teams must come to terms with, and we merely felt that part of reality more keenly at Black Forest."
"We do sympathize," Natsumi said. "We realize our Hetzer is not necessarily the best tank, and there are some, like Duck Team, who have to make do with worse tanks than ours."
"To make do..." Shizuru said. "That is what the Kadotani administration had to do last year. With no experience in tankery, Kadotani-senpai and her teammates fought against many better armed and better trained members of rival schools, all in an attempt to convince MEXT that the school had worth."
Ayano turned to Shizuru. The statement seemed reasonable, and was an argument that Ayano would have made, but Ayano was surprised to hear it coming out of Shizuru's mouth.
"Is something wrong, Treasurer?" Shizuru said, noticing an expression of surprise that she had rarely seen on her best friend's face.
"It's nothing, President," Ayano said. "I'm just surprised to hear you describe Kadotani-senpai and the others in such terms; perhaps you've come to realize that they were doing what they could."
Shizuru nodded. There was a time when she would have found Ayano's supposition ridiculous, but she was fully aware of how much she was changing, and how she was more similar to her predecessor than she had realized.
"Kadotani-senpai once struck me as being someone who always did whatever she felt like, in spite of the rules and her responsibilities," Shizuru said. "But now that I'm sitting in this position, I realize some of the limitations of what one can do as a leader. She might have been lazy, but perhaps she also realized leaders can't do everything. She might have taken a risky and irresponsible approach to saving the school, but what were her options?"
The rest of the room went silent. When Miho had been called into the student council office and threatened with expulsion by the former student council, she and her friends had thought that Anzu and Momo had come off as arrogant. But now that Miho had time to reflect on it, she saw something entirely different in their actions- desperation. They had not put pressure on her because they believed that they could do as they pleased, but because they believed they had no other choice. They were unwilling to let any tactical asset go, especially one as valuable as a girl with tankery experience.
Their successors' choices were very different, though. They were no longer fighting to ward off the school's imminent closure. Their decisions were more complex, with consequences that played out over the long term, so it was difficult to compare their mindset with that of their predecessors. Student councils were relatively powerful on school ships, but they still had certain factors- adult authority figures, school rules, the laws, what they could afford and their circumstances- that limited what they could do. The list of options to solve any given problem was thus more limited than most outsiders believed, and even though Shizuru was the most powerful student at Oarai Academy, she and her colleagues felt bound by those limitations.
"We don't know," Shizuru said, answering her own question. "The only thing I'm sure of is that the choices they had to make, and what they had to choose between, were different from what we have now."
Shizuru turned back to Miho, her expression no longer the resolute one she used to assert her authority over all of the school. If she often reminded Miho of her sister as a Nishizumi style commander, she now reminded Miho of her sister in her less guarded moments.
"Nishizumi-san, once again, I cannot tell you what to do," Shizuru said. "Whether and how you incorporate the new arrivals in the team is up to you. I can only recommend that you do so if they are worthy of the team and if you do so, you do so in the way that is best for the team. But as always, I trust you to make the right decision."
"I understand," Miho said. "But perhaps their coming is a good thing in and of itself for the long term."
Shizuru nodded. More people were starting to show interest in the tankery team, and even if they were not of use to the team at this moment, they would likely be in the future.
Miho had lunch with her fellow members of Anglerfish Team. Since Miho had heard about the battle with Koala Forest, the topic shifted to what Miho had been doing at that time.
"It sounds as though things are going about as well as could be expected," Mako said, smiling slightly. "That's a relief."
Miho nodded. The situation reminded her of the time Mako's grandmother had been hospitalized after falling, but Miho knew there was practically no chance of her father getting out of the hospital in time for the finals, partly because his injuries were more severe, and partly because there was less time.
"That's how I feel, Mako-san," Miho said. "I'm glad to be back at school."
The other four members of Anglerfish Team nodded, but Miho realized, after a moment, that they were having a non-verbal exchanged, when Saori produced a gift-wrapped box. The fact that the wrapping seemed less than professionally done, and that the tag said "To: Nishizumi-dono, From: Anglerfish Team" indicated that they had wrapped it themselves.
"The four of us got you a little welcome back present," Saori said, handing Miho the box.
Miho unwrapped the present, opened the box and removed the stuffed koala bear. As she held the soft fabric in her hands, she smiled broadly, pleased that her friends knew her tastes well enough to find such a gift for her.
"This looks quite nice," Miho said. "Thank you all so much!"
"You're welcome, Nishizumi-dono," Yukari said. "We thought it might make for a good addition to your collection."
The others nodded in agreement, pleased that their idea went well but not wanting to take sole credit.
"How are you faring with putting out fires, so to speak, Miho-san?" Hana said. "I hope the tasks that have piled up on your desk upon your return are not too overwhelming."
Miho shook her head reassuringly.
"I'm prepared to get back to work and catch up, Hana-san," Miho said. "Although... this is not exactly a problem I am used to as commander at this school."
"I think I know what you're talking about, Miporin," Saori said. "Last year, everything seemed to fall into place quite conveniently for us. Whenever we got a new tank, it wasn't long before we got people who could crew it. And whenever we got some new recruits, we often had a new tank."
"I know," Miho said. "This sounds more similar to Black Forest, and there, my sister was the one who made those decisions."
"In that case, now that you have a new situation, Nishizumi-dono, feel free to solve it your way,'" Yukari said. "It's worked quite well in the past, and we all trust you."
Miho smiled and nodded. Perhaps it was best to think of this new development as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and the new members as assets rather than burdens. If she thought of them that way, it would not be too difficult to think of ways in which she could make use of them, and enable them to fight alongside her.
At practice, Miho put her plan into effect, in hopes of incorporating the new members into the team.
Finding out which new recruits were suited to which positions was by no means easy, since none of them had any experience and few of them had any preferences. As a result, Miho decided have the new recruits rotate between the teams and various positions, in hopes of seeing whether any individuals were compatible with groups that needed a member, or whether the new recruits had any particular talent for certain positions.
It soon became evident, though, that much like the rest of the team when they started out, these newcomers had enthusiasm and little else. As they practiced, the difference in the skill levels of the current beginners and former beginners became painfully clear, and hardly any of the established teams that worked with the newcomers came back with any good news.
Rabbit Team was faced with the task of trying out a new member, Takizawa Ayame, a first-year, to see if she would work well with their tank. Ibuki's results in each position were considered decent for a beginner, and she was considered a potentially good fit for any position.
"I hope I didn't do too badly, senpais," Ayame said after practice ended.
"Not at all, Takizawa-san," Azusa said. "You're similar to us when we started out, and you load about as well as Saki-chan once did. It's just..." Azusa trailed off. "I'd like to talk with the girls."
"I see," Ayame said "I'll talk to you later, Sawa-senpai."
Azusa cracked a slight smile, while Aya was practically giddy.
"Wow, Azusa-chan, it's nice to be called 'senpai,' by the new arrivals," Aya said. "We're certainly moving up in the team."
"Maybe so," Azusa said, "but I don't think it was at all lost on her that we used first names on each other while we were much more formal with her. Even if she joins, she'll likely always be the newcomer to this group."
"Does the year difference matter?" Karina said. "Momogawa-san from Anteater Team is a second-year, but she's still close to the third-year Nekota-senpai and the vice president, as well as the alumna Piyotan-senpai."
"Well, Anteater Team met online, so their relationship wasn't defined by what year they were," Ayumi said, "so they could disregard that when they finally met. If you ask me, the example that comes to mind is Leopon Team, with Tsuchiya-senpai being a year behind the three who graduated at the end of last year. They were quite an effective team, and Tsuchiya-senpai and her three kouhais and teammates are becoming one, now."
"Yeah, good points," Yuuki said, before turning from Karina and Ayumi to Azusa. "But isn't there a more relevant problem, Azusa-chan?"
"Yes," Azusa said. "Simply put, regardless of whether this girl is a yearmate, kouhai or senpai to us, it's not such an easy task to incorporate her into an established team dynamic. I feel as though we've been getting along well so far, so perhaps some other team could use an extra hand more."
"Maybe you're right, Azusa-chan," Aya said. "But I believe they'll also have to deal with the challenges you spoke of."
Among Hippo Team, Yoshikawa Maki, a second-year transfer student, was trying out for the driver position. As she sat in the driver's seat, Oryou watched from a distance, while the other three members supervised her. The consensus among the four was that Maki was decent for a beginner, but a far cry from what would be an acceptable level of performance in combat.
Before long, though, the group noticed that there was something awkward about their teamwork. They weren't quite talking as they used to, and were not making the same historical references that they did in battle, which was a good way of easing the tension in any given situation. With that in mind, Erwin considered "inducting" Maki in a sense, hoping that if she got used to working alongside them, her performance would improve.
"What shall we call you?" Erwin said. "I'm trying to think of an appropriately impressive soul name for our newest members. Any ideas, Caesar?"
"I believe calling me 'Yoshikawa-san' would be most appropriate, Matsumoto-senpai," Maki said. "I would appreciate it if you showed me at least this level of courtesy."
"All right," Caesar said. "Yoshikawa-san it is. I was hoping that you had some ideas for a good nickname if you're going to be one of us."
Maki wondered if Caesar had meant to place emphasis on the "if," or if she had even done so at all. She always knew this would be a trial run, and so chose to regard it as such, particularly when she felt out of place among the others.
"I'm sorry, Suzuki-senpai," Maki said. "I'm not entirely good at that, or at history for that matter. It's always been my weakest subject, and having to put in extra hours of study for grades my parents would consider acceptable largely sapped my enthusiasm for it."
"If you simply do it for learning's sake, without having to worry about grades, then it's not stressful at all," Saemonza said. "In fact, you might even start to like it and have fun."
Maki sighed. In theory, what Saemonza was saying was good advice, and she had tried to find it, but she had never quite been able to succeed in doing so.
"Maybe my family would want me to be enthusiastic about it," Maki said. "But there are things that they consider worth learning, and things that they believe are not worth my time.'
Erwin paused to think. She realized that if Maki joined the group, she would quickly become the odd one out. This idea was uncomfortably familiar to Erwin, who had difficulty finding people who shared her obsessive interest in history until she met the other members of Hippo Team.
Erwin also realized that as the StuG only had a crew of four people, one of the original four members of Hippo Team- girls who lived together, went to school together, and did tankery together for over a year- would have to relocate to another tank. She had done that before in the battle with St. Gloriana the previous year, to the detriment of her crew's performance. In spite of that, she understood her commander's desire to field another tank, and how limited her options were.
Caesar nodded, having many of the same thoughts on her mind.
"Well, it was worth a shot, Commander," Caesar thought. "The president's no Caligula, so so I don't think she'll fault you for trying."
Yamazaki Ichiko, a first-year, tried out as gunner in the Chi-nu, firing on targets at the gunnery range. As she missed for the umpteenth time, Misha leaned over and whispered into Nekota's ear.
"Hey, Nekota," Shiina said. "Did Piyotan or I ever suck this much at gunning?"
Nekota shook her head, confident that without Shiina's question to give it context, Ichiko would never realize what the gesture meant.
"We all know what it's like to be one of the noobs of the team," Nekota thought. "Perhaps the problem be nothing more complex than having to perform on par with those who have some experience."
"Um, Yamazaki-san," Nekota said, her voice hesitant as a result of nervousness and trying to formulate her question, "Might it be that... you're aiming the gun like you would in a video game?"
"Uh, no, I don't think so," Ichiko said. "The only time I ever played a video game was when I did a dancing game at a friend's birthday party. I wouldn't know the first thing about how a tank game works."
"I see," Nekota said. "I suppose you just need practice, then."
"I really don't get why people would play video games when they can do something like this in real life," Ichiko said. "This is a lot of fun."
After the practice ended, Nekota spoke with Shiina and Momogawa behind the tank, out of earshot of Ichiko.
"Yamazaki-san may not be a gamer, but she's not very different from we were long ago," Nekota said. "She doesn't have much talent yet, but she's enthusiastic. She's like one of those ALO newbies who can't even kill one of those mountain wolves near the dwarven starting city, but nevertheless, puts everything she has into leveling."
"That's true," Momogawa said. "And that's why it'd be for the best if she didn't fight her first match against Rinkai. I'd rather not risk seeing that spirit crushed by disappointment."
Shiina sighed and nodded in agreement. Perhaps in another time, another place, she would have been turned away; the student council had prepared for that possibility when they offered to help. But the tankery team had proved quite enjoyable, enough so that she did not consider the extra work to be an onerous burden, and her heart went out to those like Ichiko who were unable to find their place.
Other teams had more luck. Kuwata Shiki, a first-year who played baseball for her middle school, worked surprisingly well with Duck Team, easily fitting into the fellow athletes while subbing for Akebi as gunner. They seemed pleased at this development, until Akebi innocently asked, "So does that mean she'll become my replacement?" resulting in an uncomfortable silence descending on the group until they changed the subject.
Mallard Team, which had been shorthanded until then, tried to accommodate some of the new recruits, but the skill gap between them and the established members was apparent.
Sparrow Team and Octopus Team, both teams with fully-crewed tanks and new members, tried some of the newcomers in various positions, but were not impressed with the results.
The few prospective recruits to Leopon Team were scared off by what they were up against when dealing with the unreliable tank. One threatened to leave the team if she had to do it, only for Miho to calmly remind her of the purpose for the exercise.
Few of the teams were coming up with anything on their own, so Miho hoped that together, they might be able to work something out and determine a plan to see how they could potentially implement the new recruits.
The evening after practice that day, Miho held a meeting with her fellow Anglerfish Team members over dinner at her apartment, and told them what she had discussed with the Student Council, as well as a decision she had made in a brief meeting with the other commanders.
"Essentially, we're splitting into teams to discuss how we're doing before the commanders meet," Miho said. "By having the commanders represent the groups, it's meant to keep the discussion flowing smoothly. And by having the teams meet separately, they can work out what they need as a team."
"Do we really need anything, Miporin?" Saori said. "There are five roles for the Panzer IV and five of us." Saori counted to five on her hands, first with her right, then her left."And if I do say so myself, we've done quite well in most of our battles."
"That's true, Saori-san," Miho said. "But as a team with no overall theme, I have to ask; how do you think others would do with an extra member?"
Saori nodded. Most of the others had various things in common- some had shared interests, others were close friends, and still others were simply in the same age group.
"Good question," Saori said. "I've known Mako since we were little, and I've known Hana since our first year, but neither of them knew each other until we started doing tankery together. And you and Yukarin were strangers to us and each other, apart from what Yukarin heard about you."
"That's to be expected," Mako said. "I have a few friends that Saori doesn't know, and most of them, except for Saro and Shiina, aren't doing tankery."
"And, of course, Nishizumi-dono and I were people you met more recently," Yukari said. "It also took us a while to find our optimal positions."
"Yes," Hana said. "We have been through a great deal together, but it took us some time to work most effectively as a team. And I cannot help but wonder if a new member will feel like an outsider here."
"I can't speak for the others, but I'm pretty welcoming," Saori said.
"Indeed," Miho said. "Perhaps this is a question that the other teams will largely have to tackle. And maybe there is no way to incorporate everybody."
Miho said the last sentence with a sadly resigned tone, and the five girls let the subject drop.
The next day, after practice, Miho called the nine other girls who were commanders of their tanks to a meeting to discuss what they had come up with meeting with each other. The final meeting only consisted of the commanders, not out of a desire for secrecy, but to have a more manageable discussion size.
"Thank you for coming," Miho said. "I asked you to discuss amongst yourselves, based on your results from the practice session and crew needs thus far, whether you could feasibly accommodate additional crew."
"Perhaps it might be best if you went first, Nishizumi-san," Shizuru said. "Some of us do not fully understand what factors we should be considering when making our decisions."
Miho nodded.
"I spoke with my crewmates," Miho said. "We're willing to accommodate a new member, since we started out as an expanding group of friends. But practically speaking, we find that it would be difficult to practically incorporate someone in the group, especially given that all the roles in our tank are filled."
"You're not the first person to experience something like this, Miho-senpai," Nodoka said. "My team's Tas is already filled. My team, which started out with two pairs of close friends, with everyone else being acquaintances, had to get adjusted to working together last year, and will have to do so again this year."
"I see, Nodoka-san," Miho said. "Would it be too much to ask you to do it again?"
"Well..." Nodoka continued, "it has taken some time, but we were able to accommodate our new team member, Maho-chan, and adjust to two roles being swapped around. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, our tank, the Tas, already has a full crew."
"We're in a similar situation, Haramura-san," Mutsuki said, taking her cue to go next. "Of all of us, only Momo and Kaori are in their original positions from last year. Kanbara-senpai brought Kaori in for the purposes of filling the club, but we had no ambitions of playing competitively, so this is another issue entirely."
"And the Cromwell should be at capacity, as well, if it has five people" Nodoka said. "Is that correct, Miho-senpai?"
Miho nodded.
"The StuG is in a similar situation," Erwin said. "All of the tank's major functions are accounted for."
"So is the Type 89," Noriko said. "The four of us concluded that it'd be a difficult sell to get anyone else to crew this. Two of our new arrivals are members of my team who had time to think it over, and have come to see tankery as much a part of our club as volleyball is. They want to help out, as long as there's room."
Miho nodded approvingly, glad to hear that others were coming to like tankery. She then counted off on her fingers.
"So we now know that Anglerfish, Octopus, Sparrow, Hippo and Duck cannot feasibly accommodate a new member," Miho said, glancing over the remaining five to see who would be able to help.
"What about us, Commander?" Azusa said. "The six of us talked for some time, but we had trouble understanding how we, with the largest crew, could take on additional people, given how things had gone at practice."
"Technically, the M3 Lee has a crew of seven, Sawa-san," Miho said.
"Oh," Azusa said. "Maybe it's below the recommended number or what have you, but we felt like we weren't having any problems with the people we have, while we had to adjust to a new person. Are we wrong, Commander?"
"Not necessarily," Miho said. "Part of this is asking about how well you think your team works. If you're doing well, then I see no reason to change things at this point."
"Thank you, Commander," Azusa said, and Miho, giving a nod of appreciation, turned to Anteater Team.
"We could potentially use a little more help with the Chi-Nu," Nekota said. "But there are two problems. First, we remember how we did in the finals last year, as amateurs going up against a strong opponent. Second, we also realize that it can be difficult to accommodate new members. It's a bit hard to explain, but I think I have an analogy... do you play many multiplayer games, Nishizumi-san?"
"Not exactly," Miho said, noticing that Shizuru seemed to be on the verge of saying something.
"In the tank game I play, there's a match connecting service that puts you with other players when forming a team," Nekota said. "You most likely won't be doing it with your crewmates from Anglerfish Team, your teammates from Oarai, or even people from the same school, if they're high schoolers. Such teams don't always work together well; they may have the same goal, but aren't used to working together, and may be somewhat inexperienced, to put it mildly."
Miho nodded, understanding what Nekota was getting at. Nekota had declined to mention the rated matches, which made it less likely that newbies would be pitted against veterans, and that the highest rated and most skilled players would battle it out for supremacy, meaning that the matches would be more fair. That would have been overly complicated, and the reality was that Oarai could face a much stronger opponent at any stage of the game.
"Speaking of newbies," Tsuchiya said. "I got a few of them on my team this year. Unfortunately, this tank isn't one for an amateur, and I'd rather not saddle any newcomers with one that even my Auto Club kouhais only recently got the hang of using."
Shizuru nodded.
"I understand what you're saying," Shizuru said. "As far as the Student Council goes, Ayano and I were friends before, and it took some getting used to working together with Fujino-san and Teradaira-san. Perhaps the newcomers might be more on our level in terms of tankery, but we know that it can be difficult to get a group to work together effectively."
"What about you, Hirose-san?" Miho said to Saro. "You may be going last but you should not feel compelled to say yes where all the others said no."
Saro shook her head.
"Normally, this is where I would have to do the 'dutiful' thing and take on the new arrivals, since I'm somewhat shorthanded" Saro said. "But I've come to realize that doing a job just because someone else expects you to do it is irresponsible if you can't actually do the job. I also have always believed that giving the job to an incompetent person out of pity is equally irresponsible. Perhaps it may be unfair, given my performance is not especially stellar, but I don't think my team would work better with them. I'll give it a few more practices, but I'm not sure whether it'll improve."
Miho sighed. A part of her had hoped that Saro could honestly say yes, but she knew from the circumstances and Saro's own personality that it was unlikely to happen.
"I appreciate all of you sharing your questions, concerns and personal experiences, " Miho said. "Unfortunately, I have to conclude that at this moment, we will not be able to incorporate the newcomers here without adverse effects on team performance."
A silence descended on the room for a few moments, until Shizuru spoke.
"To be honest, Nishizumi-san," Shizuru said, "you shouldn't feel as though you should have to include everyone. Furthermore, as I said before, there are times when you'll never be certain whether the decision you make is the right one, even when it is."
"I know," Miho said. "Since Rinkai will be a difficult opponent, I had hoped to do what we could to improve our combat capabilities, and lessen our disadvantage against a school that is starting to take advantage of its numerical advantage."
The others solemnly nodded, as the meeting turned to other topics related to the team's overall performance. In spite of Oarai's success, they remained outnumbered and outgunned, disadvantages that caused some to legitimately doubt whether they would be able to repeat the feat this year. But Oarai knew that, like them, its opponents were neither infallible nor invincible, and so worked tirelessly to find ways to defeat them.
At Black Forest, Erika watched over her team as they practiced. They were performing well, but it was under ideal conditions, which would not necessarily be indicative of their performance in battle. Takako had once told a group of new gunners that their performance, at the firing range, while good for beginners, only proved that they were able to aim and fire the gun, not that they were ready to do tankery battle.
This piece of advice was especially true, given that Miho's unorthodox tactics had been able to throw Black Forest's forces into disarray, thereby removing their otherwise overwhelming advantage of being able to move and fire as a single unit. As several powerful German tanks- even the Maus, the largest superheavy tank in history- fell against Oarai, it was clear that firepower would not guarantee the enemy's defeat, nor would strong armor preclude Oarai defeating Black Forest. The Black Forest tankery team consisted mainly of third-years, along with some second- and even first-years who had prior tankery experience and exceptional performance, but they had lost to a team consisting mainly of neophytes, simply because Oarai's fighting style was outside most of their expectations.
These realizations were sobering, but a part of Erika refused to simply accept them. To her, Black Forest had earned its status as champions, and the Nishizumi school had likewise become the most prestigious tankery school in Japan because it was the best tankery school in the nation. She, along with those others who commanded Black Forest, earned the position by proving themselves in tankery. Perhaps it would take more than one tournament victory to silence the naysayers, but Erika was determined that the process would start this year, with her.
In the end, discipline, experience and tank strength would not be enough to win the day by themselves, and Erika was no longer unshakably certain of Black Forest triumphing against Pravda. In spite of that, Erika still believed in the Nishizumi style, and vowed to defeat Pravda and the winner of the other semifinals match to reassert its superiority.
At Pravda, Kinue and Anastasia supervised the practice. In preparation for the later matches, the benchwarmers fought alongside the main team, which, themselves, was largely composed of those who were new to the school, or were on the bench last year. While the majority of Pravda's efforts were focused on defeating Black Forest in the semifinals, as well as defeating Oarai or Rinkai in the finals, they also looked further ahead to the future, training those who would become full-fledged members next year.
"How are things going out there?" Kinue said.
"Quite well, Comrade Commander," Anastasia said. "The teams that we're taking to the finals have been practicing hard, and are quite excited to represent their school for the first time."
"A lot of the team is new this year," Kinue said. "It's just like how I was a new regular to the team last year, finally getting the chance to fight alongside my sister, my senpais and my cousins, all of whom have graduated by now."
"And now you're in command of everyone who's still at the school," Anastasia said. "You've really come a long way."
Kinue nodded, albeit somewhat hesitantly. She still remembered how, a mere two years ago, she was not yet ready to represent the team in tournament matches.
"спасибо, Anastasia-chan," Kinue said. "But I still feel as though I need to prove that I am capable of this responsibility, and live up to the example my sister and the others set."
"I understand how you feel," Anastasia said. "I was an unremarkable student at your mother's school, and a benchwarmer in my first year here. The only thing Instructor Atago could unreservedly praise me about was my diligence."
"That's actually a very good trait to have," Kinue said. "I'm also the sort who can only succeed by trying harder than anyone else. so I'm glad to see others who are willing to work hard and improve. We'll need to do a great deal of both if we want to win the last two rounds, after all."
While Kinue always looked up to her sister, she believed she had more in common with Miho, as girls who tried to live up to their more accomplished siblings, and succeed even if it was not by the same means or under the same standards as the rest of their respective families. She saw Miho's triumph as an inspiration, even as she set about her efforts to ensure that Miho did not take the championship in her final year.
After practice ended, Nijou Izumi and Nina, both second-years, as well as Ueshige Suzu, a third-year, began walking home. The three of them were now serving together in the same crew, a KV-2, this year, having served in three different tanks the year before, along with two others who had been benchwarmers until this year.
"I think our crew is working out quite well," Izumi said. "Don't you agree, Nina, Ueshige-senpai?"
"I do, Izumi," Suzu said. "It's somewhat surprising considering that the five of us had never worked together before until this year."
"Well, that tends to happen in a large tank team like Pravda's," Suzu said. "It's especially hard on someone like Nina, who isn't very good with names and faces."
Izumi chuckled softly, while Nina pouted.
"That's mean, Ueshige-senpai," Nina said. "There's a lot of people to remember, and if you ask me, most tend to stay in their small groups."
"I agree," Izumi said. "I did feel like the odd girl out of my previous crew, as Eguchi-senpai, Onjouji-senpai and Shimizudani-senpai had been close since middle school, and they knew the former vice-captain."
"Who, of course, happened to be the commander's cousin," Suzu said. "Still, our previous crews were quite effective, even if we we did feel like outsiders."
Izumi nodded, conceding the point. There was a time when that was all she wanted out of a tankery team, and would have been content to be just another cog in the Pravda war machine.
"Well, I suppose a certain degree of anonymity is to be expected in a team this size," Izumi said. "There was a time when I primarily thought about how successful the tankery team was, and didn't care about anything else."
"But now?" Nina said expectantly.
"Now, I've stopped concerning myself with the quality of this team or its reputation," Izumi said. "It's my team, first and foremost, and even those I don't know well are my comrades, in a sense. I hope to take this team to the championship once or twice more, since it's what I owe to myself, my teammates and the team as a whole. Are you with me?"
"да," Nina and Suzu said together. While none of them were on the team for Pravda's victory two years ago, it had given them some idea of what they could achieve, and the idea that the championship was within their reach. Their team now was very different than the one they had back then, but they believed anything was possible.
Meanwhile, at Rinkai, Emi sat with Satoha and some of her other friends. They had spent much of the day doing drills with teams of 15 tanks, in preparation for the semifinals. Rinkai had well over 20 tanks, but not quite as many as some of the other schools, so doing a 15 on 15 tank battle was currently impossible for them.
In spite of the fact that their numbers were lower than some established schools, some students were relegated to the bench. Not all the students took this well; there had been an incident early in the year when a benchwarmer driver cornered Hao's driver, a Chinese transfer student, and began angrily shouting at her, capping her angry rant off with a racial slur. The commotion drew Alexandra's attention, and she immediately ejected the offender from the team, before holding a brief impromptu meeting with Emi and Satoha. Before the next practice session, Alexandra called a mandatory assembly of all hands, informing the team that such behavior was unacceptable and anyone who did not respect he authority or could not work well with their teammates should leave. A few people turned in letters of resignation, but the majority stayed, resulting in a stronger team, and one that was still larger than those that some of the participants had come from.
"I must say, this is larger scale than what I'm used to in my home country," Nelly said. "There, most tank battles didn't go above ten tanks."
"What, because of the tank limit?" Emi said.
"More like because there weren't any schools with more tanks than that," Nelly said. "Basically, every tank that there was out there got committed, regardless of quality. All the crews had to do their best, because the teams didn't have anyone to fall back on."
"So you understand why Oarai has overcome its disadvantages thus far, Nelly," Emi said, with an approving smile.
"I think I see now why you try so hard, Nelly," Megan said. "Before, I thought you just had something to prove."
Nelly shrugged. Perhaps she did feel that, on some level. When Nelly's gunner, a third-year named Sakurai Suzume, had performed somewhat poorly in her first practices, Nelly gave Suzume some pointers, but noticed that the older girl had some level of discomfort. When pressed, Suzume admitted that a part of her felt uncomfortable to be lectured by her junior, and said it was unusual for first-years to come as far as Nelly had. Nelly, in response, had made a deal with Suzume; Nelly would respect Suzume as a senpai, while Suzume would respect Nelly as a superior, and both would put nothing less than their best efforts in.
"Well, there's that, too," Nelly said. "I was MVP of my school, but I was essentially a big fish in a very small pond. Here, I do have to try hard to stand out and prove myself."
"Well, I may not be the best person to say this," Megan said, "but I think you should simply do your best and everything else will fall into place."
Nelly smiled slightly. The arrangement she'd made with Suzume- essentially nothing more than them coming to understand each other and making a simple compromise- had worked out well, and Nelly's crew was now one of Rinkai's best.
"I actually understand what you're saying, Meg," Nelly said. "We're all coming together for this undertaking, and we all have to make sacrifices and put the goal of the group first."
"Indeed," Satoha said. "But by winning the tournament for our school, we will also be able to accomplish what we set out to do for each and every one of us. For me, that's making the tournament more open to competition, and having fun."
Emi nodded. Miho had expressed similar sentiments before in their conversations in the recent past. A part of Emi found it unfortunate that of two schools with commanders who were similar in that regard, only one would proceed to the finals, but another was eagerly awaiting testing herself and her schoolmates against one of her old friends.
"It's taken a fair amount of effort to make this team work," Emi said. "We've brought together many people from different countries, with different ways of tankery, and had to work well together. But the result is quite worthwhile, and few teams will be able to stand against a team consisting of the best from all over the world."
Author's Notes
This chapter exists in large part to explore what happens when Oarai runs out of luck, in a sense, having more recruits than tanks and being unable to add them to the tanks. In many other fics, Oarai would conveniently find or buy a tank around this time, but not only are they unlikely to be able to buy a tank if they could only upgrade their tanks before, but they're unlikely to find yet another tank around the ship like they have in the past, and like they do in many other fanfics.
It also exists to provide a look at the other semi-finalists, and compare and contrast their situations. All three of Oarai's remaining rivals are larger, but their schools have very different characters and goals.
So, once again, Oarai has to make do with what it has, against an exceptionally strong opponent. Only time will tell if they are able to succeed.
Edited to make some minor changes