On the old Sensha-do training grounds that had so faithfully served the team in its many hundreds of practice sessions over the past several decades, Jouko called a special assembly shortly before the school carrier was to depart on its return journey to Kanazawa City the day after the Grand Finals. Ooarai and its compound team were invited to attend, which their principal commanders and crews did, serving as their schools' representatives. Assembled in formation, Linder stepped up to lead the students in singing the Leuthen Chorale, Jouko's favorite hymn, and a hymn that had an interesting background to it, a background Jouko knew well and noted its similarity to the current situation.

On a cold December day in 1757, a Prussian army, led by its King, Frederick the Great, readily defeated a numerically superior Austrian army near the Silesian town of Leuthen. Long after the noise of battle had died down, and the Austrians had been completely driven off the field, the Prussian soldiers, victorious, yet exhausted from a long, hard day of fighting, spontaneously began to sing an old Lutheran hymn of thanks to God for their great victory. Although this was likely an apocryphal tale told by propagandists after the events, it would nevertheless become a hymn that would be enshrined into military and popular history by this legend as the "Leuthen Chorale".

Over 250 years later, on the other side of the world, the forces of Continuation High School, led by its energetic and charismatic commander Jouko, won an extremely close victory over an enemy that outnumbered them four-to-one, and marking the first-ever time in the school's history that they had won a Sensha-do Tournament. Singing loudly and proudly, as well as remarkably in tune, Continuation High School's Sensha-do team followed after the melodic and powerful voice of Linder as she led them all in singing the full lyrics, both in German, and afterwards Finnish. The spectators listened with interest, and even some like Yukari, knowing the tune from their knowledge of history, hummed along.

Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills,
in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns
with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God,
whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

There was not a more appropriate time to sing such a hymn.

After the singing had concluded, there were several speeches given by Alice, Mika, Rumi, who was visiting, and even Miho as the guest of honor. After all was said and the speeches given, it was Jouko's turn to speak. Jouko had studied well her knowledge of Finnish history, she even had entire speeches memorized. Among those speeches was Mannerheim's address to the Finnish army after the peace treaty with the Soviet Union had been signed on March 12, 1940, known as The Commander-in-Chief's Order of the Day Nr. 34. As the crowd quieted down, Jouko took a deep breath, and began to deliver an extremely heavily-modified recitation of the speech to fit the circumstances she was in.

"Students: I have fought on many battlefields, but never have I seen your like as warriors. I am as proud of you as though you were my own children; l am as proud of the man from the Northern fells as of the son of Ostrobothnia's plains, of the Karelian forests, and here in Japan, the hills of Chūbu, the fertile fields of Kanto, the green pastures of Kyūshū, the arctic environments of Hokkaido and Aomori. I am as proud of the sacrifice tendered by the child of a lowly cottage as of those of the wealthy.

You were all placed into a struggle in which you have done great deeds, deeds that will shine for centuries in the pages of history. You have also dealt hard blows, and if a hundred of our enemies' tanks now lie on the snowdrifts, gazing with broken eyes at our starry sky, the fault is not yours, for you did not hate them or wish them evil, may that possibility be so forbidden for all time; you merely followed the stern law of this sport: knock out, or be knocked out. Through these past months, your heroic deeds have aroused the admiration of the world."

As Jouko spoke, Yukari could be heard by those close by reciting the actual address from Mannerheim, impressed at how much Jouko knew of the speech.

"Even after over two months of fighting, training, and hardship, our Sensha-do team still stands unconquered before an enemy which, in spite of overwhelming numbers, and in spite of terrible losses has continued to grow in numbers, we persevered through, delivering heavy losses and catastrophic blows to their forces, making sure they would pay four-fold for each loss we took. Our team was small and its reserves and cadres limited. It seemed we were unprepared for such a fight. We had to make plans where there were none. We had to try to obtain help, which we obtained in the form of aircraft engines that we were so lucky to receive in order to stand a chance in a battle such as yesterday.

I thank all of you, students, commanders, crews, which in noble competition have done heroic deeds since the first day of this tournament. I thank this team for the courage with which it has faced an overwhelming superior enemy, using whatever our hands could use to their fullest potential, and for the stubbornness with which it held on to every inch of our chance of victory. The destruction of a hundred vehicles in spite of our severely limited numbers speaks of deeds of heroism that are often carried out by single individuals.

For almost seventy years, we have been continually defeated by noble, worthy adversaries, superior to us in every form. But today, we have emerged victorious over all our enemies for the first time. Now, we must put our shoulders to the wheel, in order that we may prepare on the soil left to us a better home for those who will pursue this same course we have endeavored to pursue, for an improved livelihood for all, and as before we must be ready to fight for our beloved school with the same resolution and the same fire and zeal with which we fought for this same school.

We are proudly conscious of the historic duty which we have, and shall continue to fulfil: the defense and preservation of this school carrier and place of learning which has been our home and abode for decades. Although we have reached the mountain's peak, we will not stop here, we will continue on even after this school will be one of the supreme authorities of Sensha-do."

Now, Jouko spoke from the heart.

"I again extend my gratitude to all of you for helping secure this victory, for your work, determination, fearlessness, dedication, and unwavering effort throughout this monumental struggle. I know the path has been long and hard, and I thank our opponents for being as tough to beat as they were. I have shared in all your experiences, I have known and endured your hardships, we have ventured into the fire, as gold to be tried there, and we have succeeded. We did the impossible, we worked together to achieve it, and what a reward we've gotten! Each one of you must be very proud of this achievement, and I hope it won't be the last.

I'm glad we all got to share these good feelings together, although it's been hard, it's been really great, well, having a great team, so dedicated and devoted to this fun sport we call Sensha-do. let's work to get more in the future! Let this not be the only tournament victory we'll ever get! Use your experience to train future generations to master this art of tankery, to ensure that this school will see success even after all of us have long graduated.

In other words, we've come this far, let's not screw it up now! GOT IT?!"

"YEAH!"

As the crowds shouted their acclamation, Jouko made her way down the stage, followed by the others who cheered her on, marking the end of the assembly.

After the crowds had dissipated, and all the congratulatory salutations and messages received from the visiting commanders, Jouko, Frisell, Hannes, and Löfström boarded the old reliable, the tank that had for so long been their source of success and victory, the tank that each had used to perfection even though at first they had their problems getting used to. Taking it for a drive, Hannes joined the others in contemplation. They had become arguably the best tank crew one could ask for. For over the period of two years, they had taken Continuation from a backwater, weak school to one that could win an entire championship. Now, the future was looking bright for the school. However, there was still that homesickness that plagued them.

For all the fun and victory that Continuation had, they missed home. The school carrier's Finnish-based environment was the closest they could get to a recreation of Finland, and although it was close to the original, it wasn't satisfactory. Jouko wanted to meet her parents and friends again. Aarne and Antero were really starting to want her back to do some more shooting games. Her mother and father, especially her mother, were deeply missing her. Last she heard, they were getting some new renovations for the house, to fix all the run-down sections, especially the sauna. They especially wanted Jouko to bring home her Sturmi to keep as a souvenir, for it was, after all, one of Sensha-do's most legendary tanks by this point.

As for Löfström, she missed the log-lifting she always did at home, easily winning over all the other girls and even most of the boys when it came to that activity. She would always be the main attraction, though because of that she remained reclusive thanks to her religiosity. However, it was still fun doing it in her free time, with some other friends like Jouko coming over to try her hand at it. Of course, not being as strong as Löfström, Jouko could barely manage logs that were about the size of her hand, while Löfström could easily lift such logs with three fingers. She may not be the smartest, after all, her grades weren't on par with Jouko's, but if you wanted to try to rough her up, you'd be paying a fat bill to get your body back in order.

Frisell reminisced on her debating memories. Often times, discussions would be debated in school where Frisell would win most of them. Her eloquent speaking was a useful tool in winning her those debates, and it was hard to provide counters to her arguments, though Jouko and some other students were capable of standing their ground, at one point she had lost to her commander. She would also watch debates on live television where she would discuss the matter with her parents or friends, and try to catch any mistakes someone made when he or she was giving the argument, or when his or her opponent was making a counterargument. It was a good time-killer, and a hobby Frisell enjoyed very much.

Hannes wanted to drive on the ice driving tracks of Paul Ricard again. Her father had taken her to such rides on many occasions in her childhood, and she had been practicing on the family's old car before the call to arms to join Jouko came. Her Sturmi experience had taught her well, she was confident of that, and now, she wanted to test her skills on the ice field at last. Just one more year of school, and her dream would come true. Maybe she could teach Jouko a driving tip or two, and probably even be her personal teacher when it came to driving. That would be a nice start. But, if they permitted, maybe she could bring the Sturmi to show off to awed crowds at Paul Ricard, now that got Hannes' blood pumping.

But, there was nothing they wanted more than to see their old country again. Finland's snow and woodland were their home. The songs of Sibelius, Kajanus, Pacius, and more seemed to be calling them back home, and they were going to come back home, they happily would do so. But not yet. They would have to finish the rest of their high school years at Continuation. They had a responsibility in training and nurturing the future Sensha-do participants of the school. They had established a strong team, now, they had to make sure it stood for a thousand generations and beyond. They had to ensure that even when they left, Continuation would remain a domineering presence in Sensha-do, and leave a legacy that would match that of Ooarai's rise to glory.

The Sturmi ground to a halt in front of the school's dormitories. Throughout the short drive, nobody had said a word. Quietly dismounting the tank, the four students exchanged quick glances, and went back to their respective rooms in silence, each to further meditate on what to do next. They could practice again, but it was all feeling rather repetitive. The tournaments were always the same in both format and style, the only differences with a new tournament being the different schools that would fight in the first round as it was all random draw. It was the same thing, practice, fight, rinse and repeat, there was a need for something new to the format, all felt that it was just getting stale and repetitive and boring. The new Sentoki-do engine donations were probably going to spice it up, but other than that, all the same.

There was also the fact that they had toiled for countless hours to get Continuation to the position it was now, having won an upset victory against the biggest odds imaginable, overcoming the most powerful schools in the nation in order to win the championship flag. But, what now? Practice for the World Tournament? What even was that going to be like? Neither Jouko or her friends knew of a single school in Finland that had a Sensha-do program. Plus, the World War II-era tanks Finland even had were being preserved as artifacts for tank museums. There was only one BT-42 remaining, and it had almost been destroyed had it not been for the donations that secured a roof for the Parola Tank Museum where it stayed. How was Finland going to start a Sensha-do program, and would the government even agree? Some leftist parties in Japan were critical of Sensha-do, considering it a militaristic sport.

And what would they all do after they finished Sensha-do? Continue on to All-Stars? Everyone was homesick, terribly homesick. Jouko had promised to return after she had finished high school, and it would be really great to see the faces of her friends and family in person again. But, she had forged so many relationships with students like Miho, Alice, and others. Unless they would join her, which was unlikely, then she would have to bid them farewell until the next time they met, which would be a long while, and she had enjoyed their company for many many months. Each time they came over to visit her for Bible study or to hang out, they always had a pleasant few hours, hours Jouko knew she would miss once she came back to Finland.

However, as memories of how she had helped them both with their troubles brought a smile to Jouko's face, and the thought that they would both be alright even with her gone dispelled all her doubts, the moody air cleared around her. She felt glad to have helped the two, for in Alice's case, it seemed she was much more happier and open, and for Miho, she was well on the way to baptism, as well as Anglerfish. A light chuckle escaped Jouko's lungs as she considered the possibility of having converted every single Sensha-do participant through her impromptu ministry. Perhaps God had destined for her to travel to Japan for high school, sparking her interest in Sensha-do in order that she could do what she did in her two years here.

Suddenly, a knock on Jouko's door.

"Come in."

It was Alice, as usual, she always came here. However what was unusual was that she came with somebody. More unusually, that somebody was none other than the commander of St. Gloriana herself, Darjeeling. There was nobody else with her. Alice had come over to drop her off, and after greeting the two, she gently closed the door and walked back to her own room. Darjeeling stood in front of Jouko as the door shut and the lights were turned on, taking some sips of her tea as Jouko asked her to take a seat, which she gracefully did.

"So, I'm sure you know my first question."

"Well, I came for... storytelling."

"Storytelling? Well, I'm interested."

"Hm? I thought you would ask 'why' first."

"Oh, I'm, well, usually a girl who likes to hear stories, especially missionary stories."

"'Missionary stories'?"

"We'll talk about that later, mind opening up?"

"Sure, sure... in case you are, indeed, wondering why, it's a way to release some stress inside me."

"Stress? I thought you were always the calm, collected, equanimous type of girl. You're one of the last people I'd expect with stress!"

"Well, that's because Pekoe always gives my tea servings some small amounts of caffeine to relieve my stress, especially during battles. That can explain why I've never lost my cool during said battles, aside from some exceptions."

"I see, well, I'm all ears to your stories!"

"Well, I won't delay any longer."

Taking a deep breath, Darjeeling began her first story.

"When I was a mere toddler, there was this little white rabbit that was partially-sighted. I found it in a barn, where we quickly warmed to each other. We played and ran around, or lay down in a patch of grass or a pile of leaves, and he helped me play pranks on the supervisors where we would cover them in bags of flour or other such misadventures... heh."

Jouko chuckled as well, but as Darjeeling took another sip of her tea, she noticed her expression beginning to change to a more somber one.

"One day, I came back to the barn to play with the rabbit again, and have more fun with it. I greeted the other rabbits who came to greet me, and saw the white rabbit on the other side of the barn, lying down on its side. I initially believed it was in slumber, so I trotted over to wake it up. When it refused to move, I then considered it was playing some prank, or playing with me, so I shook it some more. Despite how much I shook it, there wasn't a twitch at all.

I realized a few seconds later. You could see the smile disappear from my face in an instant."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Darjeeling took another sip of her tea. A single tear dropped from one of her eyes as she set the teacup back on the table, and stared out the window for several long seconds as Jouko looked on, equally somber from the story.

"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher..."

"All is vanity..."

"Yeah, life is short..."

"And what a lovely bunny it was..."

A few moments of silence followed, save for the hum of the air conditioner as well as the breathing of the two girls in the room. Jouko, wishing to dispel the moody atmosphere, asked Darjeeling if there was a more funny story she could tell.

"Sorry to ruin the, you know, atmosphere, but, anything else? I'd... much rather like to get on a more positive note after that."

"I could tell you the story of my first two years at St. Gloriana. Needless to say... I don't want to go over them again. I made sure to keep the details of what happened to me a strict secret, meaning only myself and my inner circle knows what happened. I do sincerely pray you will keep this a secret, will you?"

"Of course."

"To keep this short, the way she handled lessons to me was, to put it bluntly, humiliating. Using my skirt as an example, she did... rather unpleasant things... but not too unpleasant, of course... what sick person would even think of that."

"Let me guess, she pulled the skirt up so your undies were visible?"

"Precisely. She was teaching me about defense when that happened. 'Tis rather unladylike if you ask me, but... she had her methods. Safe, and obvious to say, mine are vastly different."

"Well, what happened to this Earl Grey after graduation?"

"She went to All-Stars as she said she would. In fact, I recently discovered she was one of the tank commanders at the match against All-Stars. I believe she was part of Megumi's squadron."

"I guess she was one of the tanks that ate a BT shell."

"Mhm, I believe so."

"What's it like over there at St. Gloriana?"

"Oh, very elegant, refined, and peaceful. We have a little system in place, where if your grades are satisfactorily high enough, you will be admitted to what is called the 'Tea Garden'. It's the effective 'Student Council' for schools like yours and Ooarai."

"And, let me guess, the Tea Garden members are named after a specific kind of tea?"

"Truly a William Tell you are. Say, mind coming over for a tea party soon? Graduation is almost here, and it has been a while since we last held one."

"Well, count me in. I heard Pekoe's a very talented tea-maker."

"Oh, she is extremely talented. Once you take a sip, I am confident you will keep coming back for more."

"Looking forward to it!"

"As am I. One more thing..."

"Go ahead." She's totally going to ask me about religion now.

"About this 'Christianity' of yours..."

Knew it.

"Please enlighten me at the tea party, I know there is much to discuss regarding your religion."

"I'll be sure to tell you all I know. Hopefully it won't be, you know, boring."

"Hmhm, I am confident it will be more interesting than putting me to sleep."

"I guess that's all?"

"I concur. I will see you there, I must beg my leave to make the necessary preparations."

"Don't rush, I know you'll want to make it an unforgettable one."

"Oh, we always take our time, do not fret."

Escorting Darjeeling out of the room, Jouko was surprised to see many St. Gloriana students waiting for her. After bowing and greeting them all accordingly, Jouko offered to give them some things to bring with them, but they declined. Wishing them well as they left, Alice came to Jouko's room to talk again, this time about the future.

"Jouko-san, what do you think is on your mind, now that we've won?"

"Well, all I have is 'what now?' We won the tournament, the first time ever our school has done that. We're riding high, but what now? It's just gonna be the same thing again, and again, and again... don't you think it's all a bit... repetitive?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it sounds like it's becoming more repetitive."

"We win some, we lose some, the format is the same every single time. Don't you think we should switch to a different style?"

"I don't know about you, but I have heard of this variant of Sensha-do called 'Tankathlon'. It has a weight limit of ten tons, meaning only light tanks and below can participate. That's also the only rule in place."

"So, this is basically a 'dirty' form of Sensha-do?"

"You could call it that, I'd say it's a more 'realistic' form of Sensha-do, if you get what I'm saying. Combat is spontaneous and can happen almost everywhere you go, and, I don't think you'll believe this, but visitors and spectators are actually allowed on the battlefield."

"What- has anybody even died yet?!"

"To my knowledge, no, thankfully. But, there have been some close calls."

"Well, count me out, I'm not getting any blood on my hands."

"It does state that total responsibility of keeping him or herself safe when in such conditions lies on the viewer or spectator, so don't worry about being at fault... although we will be breaking the Sixth Commandment doing so."

"Of course, it's a risk I'm unwilling to take. Did you ever participate in Tankathlon?"

"I have, but one time last year, while drifting to knock out a T-70 with my Chaffee, I came very close to running over a toddler who was trying to take pictures with his father's phone. I managed to knock out the T-70, but right after that, I was obliged to climb out and profusely apologize to both the child and the father. Needless to say, the father was understanding, and I'm sure he really gave the poor little one a great scolding afterwards."

"Sheesh. Count me out even more..."

"That's actually the reason I stopped doing it."

"Is there anything more to this Tankathlon?"

"Recently there was this tournament headed by Darjeeling-san called the Cauldron. It was going very well at first, many people were coming over to see it. However, Darjeeling-san announced that the final round would be held within three hours of that announcement, which prompted many to pull out thanks to exhaustion or inability to repair in time, forcing Darjeeling-san to postpone the match and declare Tategoto the temporary winner, as well as Blue Team, until the Finals would be held. It hasn't been held yet, to my knowledge."

"Sounds interesting, but I guess Tankathlon isn't for us, especially now that we're, you know, devout Christians."

"I suppose so. I'll still do Sensha-do, but what about you, Jouko?"

"I'm not really sure. I really love music, and I'm thinking of taking up conducting soon. I've been self-taught in learning music theory, so I'm sure I can work well with some orchestras. About Sensha-do, I might make a comeback here or there, but I won't be as devoted as I used to be."

"Say, I've been practicing really hard on the piano as well. I can maybe play a few concertos now, Mother has really taught me well."

"Your mother plays piano? Well, I'd love to do a few concerts with her, and you, sometime."

"That would be lovely! Though, I'll admit, I'm a bit shy, and I don't think I can be comfortable with audiences..."

"That's fine, we can always use the recording studio if you want."

"I'll be fine with that. One last thing: I assume Darjeeling-san asked you about religion, right?"

"Yeah, she invited us to a tea party she'll hold before graduation, and she wants me to talk about religion with her at that party. It looks like Christianity's starting to really spread in Sensha-do. Probably because we're the first Christian Sensha-do participants, or my impromptu ministry started it all, I don't really know."

"There have been others, but they didn't really do ministry, just Sensha-do. It turns out you were the first exception."

"Interesting, can't believe it was that, well, easy."

"And that's not all."

"What else is there? Oh, wow, you're looking happy."

A glance at Alice's face would tell you a lot of things. Excitement, joy, happiness, her face was beaming, her eyes were wide, her mouth in a big smile. Tightly gripping Jouko's hands, she could only be able to speak at a whisper given just how excited she was.

"What's going on, Alice? Why look so happy?"

"Jouko, Mother's going to get baptized. In a week."

"Wha-"

"And Miho-san, and her four close friends! Here, in Kanazawa!"

Author's Note: Apologies that this took so long to pump out. A mixture of being burned out after writing the last chapter, school taking up 2/3 of my day on weekends, as well as revising this chapter after one approach to the story wasn't going to work well with the plotline contributed to this chapter taking a long time to come out, so I apologize if I kept you waiting. We're at the final stretch, one can see the finish line for the main story now.

One more chapter for this is what I'm thinking. So far, this fanfic is at around 140k words, by the time I'll be done, not just with the final chapter, but fully revamping the story, expanding on poorly-developed plotlines and badly-written sections and working out everything, it might just about hit around 160k, and, if lucky, 200k if I decide to make some omakes for the fanfic. Future projects will be announced at the end of the story, and I have a few in mind.

Stay tuned for the final chapter coming out soon, I will try my best to get it out as soon as possible. This was published on a weekend, so I have much more time on my hands than on weekdays, and hopefully I can get the final chapter out within the next week. And hopefully, FFN manages to fix its view count. I feel the view count isn't the only one affected, as I'm stuck with the same favorites, follows, and reviews for over a month now, and I'm confident that the favorites must've broken the 10s by now, and there are definitely more reviews than the 5 I currently see. Hopefully this problem gets fixed so I can receive the criticism I need to improve everything.

Also, today is October 21, and it is my birthday tomorrow, so I'll try to get this out as soon as possible as a little birthday sendoff. Speaking of birthdays, happy birthday, Hibiki!