Author's Note : After two months of dormancy, I've finally come back with a gallon of milk, a pack of cigarettes, and of course, a new chapter.
This one's the shortest one I've written yet so I hope you enjoy
PS: I promise I won't be taking anymore long ass breaks, at least not in while
Monday, 4th Week of June, 2033
Oarai Girls' High School
4:30 PM
Shiori and the rest of the Anglerfish Team made their way to the tank sheds. "Another day, another boring ass training session,"
"Hey, don't say that! Who knows, maybe something different will happen today?"
"Like what? Our Panzer's tracks are gonna break? Or will Turtle Team not camp at the lake this time?"
"I heard the Student Council hired a new instructor, s-so… She could teach us something valueable or something," Ayano answered sheepishly.
Eiko then asked, "Where'd you hear that from?"
"Um, M-Muranaka-san."
"Hmm, well either she's bamboozling you to spread rumors, or she's actually telling the truth… either way, don't believe her, man."
"Knowing the president of the Broadcasting Club, I'm going with the former," Shiori replied.
"Hey- Hey guys! Let's not concentrate on the negative side of things. I-Instead, let's just focus on doing our best today, alright guys? Even though we get taken out a lot, we'll win eventually if we try hard enough!" Yuna exclaimed in an effort to boost her crew's low morale.
They dismissed this however, as they knew a few encouraging words wouldn't help them.
The Anglerfish Team reached the tank sheds and joined the crowd gathered there. When they got there, Eiko noticed that her commander was acting a bit strange. She had this puzzled look on her face as she was looking around, searching for something.
"Something wrong, Yuna?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Nishizumi-sensei isn't here yet. Isn't that pretty weird, Eiko? She's usually already here whenever we arrive."
"It's probably because you actually remembered there's practice today," she responded.
"Wait really? Hah! I guess I am improving as a commander after all!" Yuna said pridefully.
"I highly doubt that…" Eiko retorted.
Akira then came out of nowhere and told Yuna, "Nishizumi-sensei's absent today, Fujiwara. A sub's going to teach us instead. Oh and um, you still came late today," this quickly diminished the commander's confidence. "Do better next time!" Akira yelled.
Yuna flinched at this and saluted, "Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Good, now don't do anything stupid in front of the sub; because I know you're the type of person to do so," and with that, Akira walked off, disappearing into the crowd.
"Jeez, that was harsh," Eiko replied, "You're making Kaichou look more like the commander than you, Yuna. You should work on your intimidation skills more."
"I-I am, Eiko, I'm working on it."
"So where the hell is this sub anyways?" Shiori asked, looking around.
"She's probably trying to get her shit together as we speak. You know how subs are. They want their students to get this illusion that they're actually the ones in charge," the redhead replied.
"Maybe she's just late?" suggested Ayano.
"I'm never late!" suddenly, a woman appeared before the crowd. All eyes were immediately turned to her.
The substitute teacher had finally arrived. She wore a blue green track jacket over a white tank top, matching track pants, and a pair of white sneakers.
"Whoa, what the hell's the gym teacher doing here?" one of Duck Team's members exclaimed.
Upon seeing her, Yuna's eyes widened, prompting Eiko to cover them. But she was too late. "I-Is that Isobe Noriko?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, catching the attention of the woman herself.
"Uhh, yeah it's me. Your gym teacher," she answered calmly with a hint of confusion. "You're that Fujiwara girl, right? Aren't you the one who almost drowned at the pool that one time?" she began to chuckle.
The brunette ignored this unintentional insult and gushed over the fact that Noriko knew her name..
"Hey uhh, Kaichou, are you telling us Isobe-sensei's supposed to be our new instructor today?" one of the freshmen asked.
"Yes, that is correct."
"What? B-But isn't she, you know, a gym teacher?"
Izumi replied, "She is, but Isobe-sensei wasn't always a normal teacher you know?"
"That's right! Believe it or not, I used to be a Senshadō commander myself!"
The crowd exclaimed in wonder at this, except for the history buffs of course.
"Yep! I used to operate a Type 89B. Those were good times… But that's behind me now! My days as a commander are over but yours are just beginning! From here on, I'll be teachin' you everything I know! Now onto the running track!"
Everyone then cheered before they followed their new instructor out of the tank sheds. It was the first time they showed this level of energy in a while - if at all - since Miho wasn't as dedicated to her job as Noriko was.
"I didn't know these idiots had any spirit in them. That was unexpected," Makoto remarked.
"They just needed a little motivation, is all," Akira replied.
"Well this looks promising doesn't it, Kaichou?" said Izumi with an enthused smile.
"It does… but at the end of the day, we should realize Isobe-san is just a substitute. Nishizumi-sensei will be back eventually. We should value what little time we have."
"Shouldn't we just replace Nishizumi-sensei with the gym teacher then? I mean, she's already proven to be capable of raising our team's spirits whereas Nishizumi-sensei can't even talk to us since she's drunk all the time." Makoto said.
"Give it time, Nagama-san. We don't want to do anything we'll regret in the future."
"I guess you're right, Kaichou… Hey could I ask? Why didn't Nishizumi-sensei come to work today anyway?"
"The usual," Akira replied, taking off her monocle and wiping it clean, "Drank too much last night and probably suffering through an intense hangover right now."
Last Night
The Donzoko Bar
11:21 PM
Miho, along with her drinking buddy Mako, were drowning themselves in alcohol inside the Donzoko Bar. At this point, they were regulars and due to them being friends with Ogin - the bartender - they had the privilege of getting a 20% discount on all the drinks.
This resulted in two things: Miho and Mako declaring the place as their favorite bar, and them adopting the tradition of getting blackout drunk every Sunday.
"Ah, this is the life! I could stay in this place forever!" the instructor exclaimed before taking another shot of sake. "Gimme another one, Ogin!"
But the bartender declined out of concern. "I'm afraid you've had enough, Miho… That was your seventh shot you know?"
"I don't care! Gimme another one!" Miho slammed her fist on the table.
Still, Ogin persisted. "That's your last shot for tonight. I'm not letting you kill yourself over some drinks!"
This was when the instructor resorted to her special tactic: The Nishizumi Glare. "Give me another shot, Ogin. Or else…"
"That can't affect me, Miho…" she responded with a look of disappointment. "You have a job to do tomorrow; it's an important one at that. Why don't you focus on it instead of drinking your life away?"
"I don't even care about my job at this point! I'm not good at being an instructor anymore so why the hell should I care… Besides, I heard they were gonna replace me with someone younger or something… Now could you just give me one more shot please? I promise I'll leave after."
"You've told me that four times now!" Ogin said before she sighed and turned to one of the bar staff. "Oi Manami, escort Miho outside, will ya?"
A blonde girl who was in the middle of sweeping the floor responded, "What? Why do I gotta do it?"
"Just do it, I'll give you six hundred yen."
The girl's eyes lit up at this and she saluted. "Will do, boss!" she then went over to Miho and pulled her out of her seat. The instructor was powerless to stop her so there was no need to worry.
"You need to learn to control yourself, Miho. I'm deducting your permanent 20% discount on all drinks until you get your shit together!"
The girl then wrapped Miho's arm over her shoulder before walking out of the Donzoko Bar.
While she was being carried out, Miho kept pleading for Ogin to let her stay and give her another shot, but she still refused.
"Well that's one drunkard gone. Now for the other," Ogin turned to Mako, who had now passed out on the counter. "Wonder how Takebe-san's gonna react to this… I should probably make up an excuse."
The bartender then proceeded to carry her out of the bar and back to Saori's house.
Present Day
Noriko and the Senshadō Team were at the school track. This was the first time the team had to conduct training outside of the tank sheds or the forest so it felt quite peculiar.
"Alright team! Now a great tank needs to have an equally great crew! It's essential to possess a healthy mind and body so that you won't tire quickly from battle or lose your mind. That's why today, all of you are running three laps around the track!"
"What?!" everyone yelled in shock.
"That's right! Three laps! But before all that, we gotta warm up first. Now everyone drop on the ground and give me twenty!"
Without a choice, the girls exclaimed, "Yes ma'am!" before they all began doing push-ups.
To some, it was a chore. Like Duck Team who had no difficulties in completing this challenge as they were already athletic people. It was quite a different story for the others though.
Yuna and her crew managed to do ten to twelve push-ups before giving up.
The Public Morals Committee members also did good with nine to eleven push-ups done.
The freshmen were also quite successful, being able to do about nine to ten push-ups before pulling out.
The history buffs had it the hardest as their cumbersome outfits weighed them down, Takeda being the worst to suffer out of all of them. They managed to only do five to seven push-ups before dropping to the ground.
The Student Council didn't even try. After two push-ups, they decided it wasn't worth it and gave up immediately.
"Jeez, you guys are more pathetic than I thought…" Noriko remarked quite disappointingly. "It's no worries though! You guys can still prove yourselves during the sparring match tomorrow!"
Hearing this, Akira asked, "Wait, what do you mean tomorrow? Shouldn't we be doing a training match today?"
"Listen Kawashima, Senshadō is never about the tanks or the tournaments, it's about the girls which operate said tanks. The sport's main purpose us to better one's self! And that's what we're striving to do here!"
"If I wanted to better myself, I would've chosen a different sport! We're running out of time here, you know? The Nationals are only a month away and we're far behind every school in terms of skill! We should be training to fight with our tanks! Not tiring ourselves out in this pseudo P.E class!"
"Shut the hell up, Kawashima! I'm the instructor here!" Noriko yelled, which made the President flinch in slight fear. "We still have ample time for improvement, so let's make the most of it!"
After that, the gym teacher noticed everyone had given up. "Anyways, now that we're done with our warm-ups, it's time for the actual training to start! Remember, it's three laps around the track. There will be no whining, no sitting down, and no giving up. Now get to running!" she swiftly pulled out a whistle from her pocket and blew into it.
The crews were hesitant though and so they just stood there.
"Alright, you guys need a little motivation then…"
Before the Senshadō crews knew it, they were running for their lives around the school track, hoping not to get crushed under the treads of the StuG III which chased after them.
The driver of Miho's Tiger who came with her here served as the temporary driver of the assault gun while Noriko stood outside the cupola yelling at the crews to motivate them.
"Come on people! If you slow down now, it's to the nurse's office with you! And this time, it'll take more than an ice pack to heal yourselves up!"
Of course, Duck Team was in first place with Anglerfish following closely behind. In last place was the Student Council and ahead of them were the Hippo, Rabbit, and Mallard Teams respectively. All of them were dressed in their normal school wear so the challenge was extra hard.
"God… dammit… my legs… can't run… anymore!" Akira was gasping desperately for air, holding onto her companions for support.
A couple of minutes passed and the girls were now halfway through their last lap. The old volleyball players were getting tired, Yuna and her friends had exhausted all of their energy, the freshmen and the Committee members were still going strong, the history buffs were close to fainting, and the Student Council was only inches away from getting run over by the StuG III.
In the end though, they survived. Everyone had crossed the finish line and the StuG finally came to a halt.
"Alright, now that's what I'm talking about! You all did fantastic! But our training session's not over yet! Next up is thirty sit-ups! Get to it!"
Noriko did not receive any form of affirmation however as everybody had fainted from exhaustion save for Duck Team.
"Oh… Well I guess we're doing it tomorrow then!"
Everyone then whined, causing her to laugh. "Alright, alright, I'm just kidding! Tomorrow is where we'll begin what all of you have been waiting for. I'll try my best to give instructions with my limited knowledge of Senshadō tactics. You better give it your all! Dismissed!"
The Next Day
5:00 PM
"Ughhhh my legs are still sore from yesterday!" Yuna whined.
"I can't even feel mine anymore," Shiori replied calmly.
"As long as it's not bothering us, it's fine," said Eiko, "We're inside a tank right now so it's not like we need to put them to use or anything."
"You're right, I guess…"
Right now, the Panzer IV along with the Bob Semple and the Chi-Nu were carefully treading their way along the quiet forest behind Oarai.
Today's training is going to consist of the usual sparring match. Only this time, Noriko is instructing.
As the two teams were out scouring the forest for each other, Noriko came in with a transmission. "Remember what I taught you earlier, girls! If you're moving in groups, don't drive out in the open! You're just asking to be ambushed! Also remember to take cover! They might be called tanks but they can easily get taken out by one shot. Use the forest to your advantage! There are countless ways you can hide or ambush your foes so get creative, people!"
As Noriko continued on with her lessons, the Anglerfish crew were speculating about the possible location of the enemy teams.
"Sector E3's clear, Yuna. We checked that out ten minutes ago," Eiko said.
"Wait, did we?"
"Yeah, and all of Sector B too. So where are we heading next?"
"Hmm," the brunette thought for a good second, rubbing her chin before she turned to her loader, "Aya-chan, where do you think we should search next?"
A map was laid out on Ayano's lap. The girl pushed her glasses up her nose before inspecting it. "I umm… I think we should head to Sector C5. I-If they aren't there, then we could just lead them to us. I'm sure there's plenty of spots for cover over there."
"Good thinking!" Yuna complimented her before telling the driver, "To Sector C5, double time!"
"Aye aye," the Panzer IV then stopped in its tracks and turned right, deviating off the path. Its two companions followed suit.
"We have to watch out for both the StuG and the Hetzer, Yuna. They both have low profiles and could take us out before we could see 'em," said Eiko.
"Uh, y-you're right! Um, Shiori-san, could you please drive a little slower? It would help keep our profiles low."
"I guess I can do that," the driver replied.
"I don't think there's a point in trying to be stealthy, I mean, all three of our tanks are tall as hell. We'd be seen from a mile away!"
"We can at least try, Eiko. Who knows? Maybe they won't actually see us?"
Up on a small cliff behind some bushes, the Hetzer lay in wait. Akira scouted the surroundings for any enemy tanks by standing atop her vehicle.
She noticed a number of trees toppling down in the distance and seconds later, she caught a glimpse of something green and tall moving amongst the shrubbery.
Akira eventually figured out it was the Bob Semple so she immediately reported it to her team. "Attention everyone, we have Rabbit Team in our sights and possibly even Anglerfish and Mallard as well. Get over here ASAP."
"Roger that, Kaichou!" Duck Team responded.
"We'll be right over, Kaichou. Don't start the battle without us," said Takeda in a demanding manner.
"So Nishizumi-sensei's absent today again?" Yuna asked out of boredom.
"Yep," the redhead replied, "Her head's hurting like he'll after all those shots so it's understandable."
The commander, with a worried expression, then said, "I hope she's doing well… Do you guys think we should visit her?"
The crew's immediate response was "No!"
"Don't you think she needs a little privacy, Yuna?!"
"B-But what if she needs us and we weren't there?!"
"She's Nishizumi Miho, she can handle it on her own. Why are you so concerned about her anyway? It's not like we desperately need her to teach us or something."
"Hey, don't tall about Nishizumi-sensei like that, Eiko! She is a living Senshadō legend and as such, she deserves great respect!"
"A legend how? No offense, but Miho's not a good instructor. She's drunk most of the time and doesn't even bother teaching us 'cause she's always up that tower daytime drinking. To be honest with you, I feel like Isobe-sensei's taught us more in one day than Nishizumi-sensei has throughout her whole time here."
"I agree with her on that one, commander," Shiori said, "Up until now, I didn't have any knowledge of how Senshadō works, let alone what the sport's even about."
"Y-You guys just gotta give her a chance, alright? Nishizumi-sensei's the greatest tank ace in Japan! I'm sure she can be an excellent instructor if she just puts effort into it!"
"As if that will ever happen…" the radioman scoffed.
Then suddenly, a transmission blared out from the comms. "Commander, this is Rabbit Team, do you uhh… copy?"
"Uh y-yeah, I copy! Is something the matter?" Yuna responded.
"Yeah uh, we kinda… broke down again… Would you mind repairing our tank for us, senpai?"
"Oh, of course! We'll be right over!" said the commander before she ordered her team to halt their advance. "Eiko, could you get out there and take care of the Semple? I'll tell you if anything happens."
The redhead sighed at this before leaving the Panzer using the hatch above her. "I swear, we really need to find a new goddamn tank…"
"When we get the money, Eiko!"
As the radioman made her way to the broken down Bob Semple with a small toolbox in hand, the "tank" was suddenly hit in the side, the shot coming from seemingly out of nowhere.
Eiko tripped and fell in shock. "Oh shit- we've been ambushed!" she stood up as quickly as possible and made a swift return to the Panzer IV.
Yuna flinched in surprise upon witnessing the shot. She was already beginning to panic. "Sh-Shit what do we do?!"
Shiori gave her a hint by reversing the Panzer behind a rock.
"O-Oh right! Take cover!" she ordered to which the Chi-Nu complied and took cover behind the trees.
Then Noriko came on the radio. "Good job for remembering what I told you, girls! Now since you can't see where your enemies are, you have to find a way to get them to reveal themselves. I'll leave the planning to you! Isobe out!"
"Orders, commander?" asked Eiko.
"Hold on, give me a moment, Eiko!" Yuna couldn't answer yet as she was trying to catch her breath.
"D-Don't panic, Yuna! You're our only hope in winning this battle!" Ayano exclaimed not so loudly.
"Yeah, what she said!" the driver added.
This managed to inspire Yuna enough that she could relay orders again. "A-Alright! We need to find where that shot came from. A-Any ideas?"
"I'm guessing it's up that cliff to our left. You see it, commander?" said Eiko, but no one responded. "Uhh commander?"
Before she knew it, Yuna was outside of the Panzer, peeking around cover 1with a pair of binoculars. Her eyes were focused on the cliff her radioman mentioned.
"Hey Yuna! What are you doing, it's dangerous out there!"
The brunette then looked back at Eiko and said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine! It's prohibited to fire on people after all!" she was quickly proven wrong when a shell landed five feet near her, causing her to flinch and get down on the ground.
"Doesn't mean everyone will follow it! Now get back in here!" and she quickly did.
When the commander got back inside though, Mallard Team came in bearing good news.
"Commander! (Ugh,I can't believe I'm calling you that…) We located the source of the shot!" Akane - president of the PMC - reported.
"Really?! I-I mean, is that so? Where are they?"
"Up on that cliff. They're using a bush to take cover."
We have to make our shot count then… Yuna thought, "Alright, train your guns on the target! I'll see if we can lure them out!"
"Those cowards are taking cover!" Akira exclaimed in annoyance. She was getting impatient at this point and just wanted the battle to end.
Her teammates, the StuG and the Chaffee, hadn't arrived yet either and this added to her frustration.
"Gun ready! I'm taking a shot!" yelled Makoto before staring through the sights. The vice president waited for minutes and had quickly lost patience.
"Goddammit, just peek out already!"
Her prayers were eventually answered when the Panzer IV finally drove out of cover to fire at them.
When it did, the shot missed, causing a grin to form on Makoto's face.
"I win!" she fired the gun and the bush they took cover behind blew up into pieces. Unfortunately, the Panzer reversed in time for the shot to miss.
"Goddammit!" Makoto banged on the hull before quickly loading a fresh shell in.
The Hetzer stayed still as another round was being loaded into the gun. This prompted Noriko to message them.
"Turtle Team, what are you doing?! Get back to cover now!"
Blinded by anger, the vice president replied, "Shut the fuck up and let me take my shot!"
After a few seconds, the gun was loaded again and Makoto immediately took the shot. Her aim was quite off though so all she did was destroy the Panzer IV's tracks. The Hetzer's fate was sealed.
Without a second to spare, the Chi-Nu fired at the Hetzer, its shot punching through its weak lower frontal plate. The tank destroyer was immediately disabled and both teams were now equal again.
"Turtle Team's down!" Akane reported through the radio and the Anglerfish Team rejoiced.
"That's one down, two more to go. Where to next, commander?" Eiko asked.
Yuna took a huge sigh of relief and replied, "Can we like, take a rest first? That was so intense…"
"It's about 5:20 now, Yuna. We need to go home sometime soon. I suggest we end this match as soon as possible."
"I guess you're right… We'll explore the rest of Sector 3 then. If the Hetzer was camping out here, then that means the others are probably hiding around here too. We just need to look for them…" Yuna placed a hand on her chin and pondered. She was startled however, when she heard a loud explosion outside, followed by a loud "thwip" sound.
As quickly as possible, she opened and peeked out of the side hatch and to her horror, she saw Mallard Team's Chi-Nu flying a white flag. Its gun was limp and its engines were smoking.
There was only one place where the shot would have originated - the cliff. The commander looked up at the cliff and saw none other than Hippo Team's StuG III staring them down with its 75mm cannon. It also seemed to have pushed the Hetzer off when it arrived. The crew were of course unharmed.
Since the Panzer IV's tracks were broken, Yuna had no choice but to throw a smoke grenade in front of them.
"What do we do?! We can't fix the tracks, it's gonna take too long!" she exclaimed. Panic was setting in again.
"Yuna, calm down!" said Ayano, "W-We can still get out of this! S-Somehow…"
"We need to fire before they fire, commander," Shiori advised, "We would have better chances if they shoot first and miss though…"
When the smoke finally cleared, the Panzer crew braced for impact against the shell that was about to come their way, but weirdly enough, it didn't come. Instead, what came was Duck Team's M24 Chaffee which launched itself from the cliff into the ground below, instantly destroying itself.
This left both Anglerfish and Hippo Teams puzzled but they quickly ignored it and went back to battle.
While Takeda was distracted by the Chaffee, Yuna ordered to fire the Panzer's coaxial guns against the StuG in an effort to stun it.
It only served to startle the assault gun's commander though, but it was good enough. The StuG fired prematurely and missed its target, giving the Panzer IV enough time to strike it down with a shot from its cannon.
And so, the match had ended in, quite surprisingly, a victory for the Anglerfish Team. A red flare promptly lit up in the sky, signaling the match's end and the Panzer crew cried out in victory while the opposing team either congratulated them or raged at their loss.
"W-We did it?!" exclaimed a confused Yuna.
"Yeah we did!" her loader exclaimed with glee. "We won, Yuna! We really did it!"
The commander's face of puzzlement soon turned to feverish joy and excitement as she realized she had won for the first time in Senshadō.
Tears of joy began to stream from the young woman's eyes as she exited out of the tank along with everyone. The crew stood on top of the turret roof and embraced each other.
"Gr… Great job guys! I- sniff I wouldn't have it without you!"
"Jeez, it's not that serious, Yuna…" said Eiko nonchalantly, "We won, that's great, but it's no crying matter!"
"I-I'm sorry, it's just… sniff I've been dreaming about this since forever and- sniff I didn't think we'd actually do it!"
"This is a practice match dude, chill."
Upon realizing this, Yuna cleared her nose and replied, "A-Alright, sorry for- for making a fuss about it."
The redhead placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's alright, Yuna, I understand this is a big deal for you. Now come on, let's get back to the sheds. I don't wanna get bit by a hundred mosquitoes like last time."
The exhausted crews now stood before Noriko who was on top of the Panzer IV. She wore a proud smile on her face and was quite satisfied with how the match went.
"Well girls, I hope you learned a few things from this session. You all did amazing today and as a reward from me to you, instead of normal Senshadō practice tomorrow, we're gonna be doing plenty of physical activities to help with body and mind!"
Half of the crowd fainted at this, Yuna included.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad! What harm could a few laps around the track do?" the instructor said before laughing.
"I kinda want Nishizumi-sensei back now…" Eiko muttered.
"Ahem, anyways, It would be a sin not to commend the actions of a certain tank commander here among us today… You all know who I'm talking about! Fujiwara, get the hell up here!"
Yuna regained consciousness the moment her name was mentioned. "Huh, wha?" and before she even realized what was going on, was picked up and carried to the top of the Panzer by Eiko and Ayano.
"Wait, what's going on here?" the brunette asked before Noriko placed a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch.
"Now I gotta say, I'm quite impressed with your skills, Fujiwara-san. I think that, if given ample training, you can become a tank ace just like your idol Nishizumi Miho. So keep working hard, alright kid?"
With blood streaming from her nose, Yuna replied, "Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Good, 'cause I can see you have a lot of untapped potential. Ya just gotta learn how to use it, you know?"
The commander nodded before Noriko asked her to get down.
What followed was Noriko dismissing the crews for the day and going home herself. Only the Student Council were left at the tank sheds to clean up.
As Makoto was sweeping the dusty floor of one of the tank sheds, she told Akira, "You know, I think we should really replace Nishizumi-sensei with Isobe-sensei now."
The president paused what she was doing. "I told you to give it time, Nagama-san."
"I know, Kaichou, but hasn't she already proven herself enough? I mean, she actually taught us something for once! Like actual Senshadō tactics!"
"I know… But I think Miho can teach us better."
"How?! It's been months since she got here and she hasn't even taught us anything valuable yet! All she does is sit on that tower and waste our time!"
Akira sighed, "Listen Nagama-san, I didn't hire Isobe-sensei as a means to replace Miho. She's merely here to motivate our instructor."
"What… do you mean, Kaichou?"
"Think about it, if Nishizumi-sensei sees Isobe-sensei - a mere gym teacher - doing her job better than her, then it would be obvious that she would try to prove her worth to us. What Miho lacks is encouragement. So this is what I came up with."
"S-So you're trying to get Nishizumi-sensei jealous… so she can work harder?"
"That's essentially it," Akira replied before resuming to sweep.
"Let's just hope it works then," Makoto resumed sweeping as well.
"Oh trust me, vice-president, it will.
To be continued...