Chapter 7

George looked at the chopper as it quickly flew away from their location and sighed in relief. He finally got rid of his annoying youngest sister! Well… she didn't tell him everything about his transfer, but she always told him all things that he needed to know. I wonder if Assam-san or Darjeeling-sama told her to don't tell me...he thought. That was the only logical explanation he knew about.

He turned to Takashi. The other boy had brown hair and eyes. "You got rid of an annoying sister and I of a yandere instead. We are even in this." George smirked in response to the other boy's remark. Both of them got lucky thanks to the sudden request from JSDF official Ami Chono that showed up in their mailboxes three days ago.

George opened the mailbox in front of the house, in which his family lived on HMS Ark Royal. There was the usual stash of newspapers for his dad and… a letter that fell down on the pavement. He picked it up and noticed that it had his name on it.

The surprised boy opened the letter for his curiosity's sake. There was a JSDF symbol in the right top corner. Why did they send me a letter? I am not a girl… he thought and paled after noticing something strange. Instructor and the head judge of Sensha-Do Tournament chose him as a part of an experimental boy tank crew! But, he had only a week to get to Oarai and get to the school ship, unnoticed by the guards.

He knew that it was a once in a lifetime chance and so, he decided to pack some of his clothes and money and write a reply to the sender. I have a good feeling about this.

Suddenly, a small boat stopped next to the duo and a face of a woman in her mid 30ies showed up. "Are you two Takashi and George?" she asked. The pink haired boy nodded. "Excellent. Rosehip was fast as expected." The woman made a 'come here' gesture with her right hand and smiled at them.

George grabbed his trunk and walked on the boat. Only then he noticed that the woman was wearing a JSDF uniform. The instructor of Oarai… he realized. And as he tried to say something, Takashi spoke up. "Rosehip told us to wait for the next three hours for our transport." George turned his head to Takashi and sighed, but Ami Chono just smiled at him. "We had been forced to rearrange this due to some of the sailors rebelling and angering the Public Morals Committee. Or, you wanted to be forced by them to 'walk on the trunk?'" The way she said this scared both of the boys.

"N-no." She nodded at that. "A wise decision. Your tank's commander is already on the ship and he wants to have his crew complete." George blinked. That was the last thing he expected. "Which tank will we ride?" Takashi asked. "It could be any tank, mate. But, my guess is a German one." Chono turned to him. "And you're right about that. You will ride a Tiger I." George paled a bit, but soon after that he smiled. So, I will be in the most feared cat from the 'German cats' category…

Takashi was oddly silent after hearing the words "Tiger I" and so George chose to look at him. And soon, he knew the answer to the other boy's silence: he fainted. Heh. With that tank, we'll be able to take down both Mk. VI Crusader and M4 Sherman from a big distance. And as he thought about that, the small boat started its trip to their true destination and a dream come true.

Traf walked to his Tiger I in fresh clothes and the new toolbox and First Aid kit in hand. But, what he wasn't expecting to see were two boys sitting on it. One had short pink hair and brown eyes. He was wearing the red uniform of British officers and black trousers. The other one had brown hair and eyes and was wearing a simple white T-shirt and brown shorts.

They still didn't notice him, so he quickly put on his tanker jacket that he decided to wear only for training and matches and tried his best to show the best Kommandant face he could think of at the moment. "Achtung!" he shouted and startled the two newcomers. The pink haired one immediately saluted, while the brown haired one just stared confused at him.

Traf laughed at their reactions. "At ease." The duo was even more confused after that. "My name is Trafalgar Jameson. Position: Commander and until we get the rest, also gunner and loader of Tiger I." The pink haired boy was the first to answer the unasked question. "Commander! Call me George. I was chosen for the position of radioman!" Traf nodded at that, but he needed to sort something out first. "No need for honorifics?"

"No need for honorifics." The brown haired boy was the next to speak. "My name is Takashi. I am clueless about my position and no need for honorifics!" Traf sighed at that. This Takashi guy didn't read the whole letter did he? he thought. "You were chosen to be the driver. And I'll show you both how to use the radio station and drive the Tiger in a manner that it looks like it is faster than normally. It is my duty as your Kommandant."

"W-wait! There are no manuals?!" Takashi asked, bewildered at that. "Manuals aren't for us. I have some experience driving it alone. If you pay attention, we will be able to defeat Miho Nishizumi." George seemed to think about it, while Takashi immediately agreed to not using manuals.

Traf smiled and opened the commander's hatch. The duo followed suit with their respective hatches. He searched for something in his mind and started lecturing about the spaces of the crewmen. "Only the loader has enough space in here."

And the trio spent the next three hours going through the basic information about the tank, repairing 'broken' parts and (finally) training their respective skills as the driver, radioman and commander.

Miho looked at the tired trio of boys which left the Tiger I after what could only be intensive training. They are here sooner than expected. Something bad must have happened then… she realized. "Hey, Miho!" Traf shouted and waved at her. "This time, we'll defeat you!" She only rolled her eyes at that unhealthy amount of cockiness.

"You could try!" was her answer at the challenge. "By the way… had you found something to upgrade the rest of the tanks or any new ones?" he asked. Miho only shook her head in a 'no' manner. No one from her crew and the Student Council found something that could lead them to these things. But, they still hadn't given up.

She knew that there must be at least a better engine for one of the tanks hidden somewhere. Miho almost opened her mouth to ask something, but her new phone started vibrating. She looked at the caller ID, but it wasn't in her saved contacts. And yet, it seemed familiar to her.

Miho touched the 'call' button. "Hello?" she started. "Onee-sama, I need to tell you something." Miho tried her best to not faint. Maho somehow got her ID and was calling her! "What is it, Onee-chan?" "Yesterday, we found something, when we were cleaning two Panthers. Okaa-sama told me that they belonged to Oarai and were transferred to Kuromorimine five years ago."

Miho felt the blood leaving her face. Someone forced Oarai to cancel their Sensha-Do team five years ago. And at the same time, all the tanks disappeared with their crews and no one heard about them afterwards. But, we found five of the lost tanks and two were right under my nose until I left Kuromorimine! she thought. "It is already late to transfer them back to Oarai, but we could try to do it after the Tournament."

"But, I believe that we have something hidden here and ready to be discovered and repaired." "That may be true, but training takes time. The new crews will enter the battle unprepared or still unfamiliar with the controls to a certain degree." Miho smiled at the statement. "And you should see the two new crewmates of Trafalgar's tank. They managed to get through the basic training in three hours." She smiled a bit, when she heard the surprised tone in Maho's next sentence. "Really? I thought that it would take at least two days and with manuals."

"We didn't use the manuals!" she heard Traf shout at someone with pride in his voice. "He just shouted at someone that they didn't use them." "Hmm… Unexpected thing, but it also means that either he is a good teacher or the two others paid really close attention." Miho agreed with that. "Oh, I must go, Onee-sama. I'll talk to you, when I have something new to report." And with that, Maho ended the call.

Well, this was interesting. And I also have a feeling that Onee-sama didn't say something… But what and why? she thought and shook her head. There were more things than she could handle right now. And some of them were very dangerous to talk about near most people. But, she also hated being in the dark about some more serious cases. So, she ended up having mixed thoughts.

"...ho! Miho! Wake up!" someone shouted near her. She shook her head and realized that she spaced out, while thinking about the things that she doesn't know much about. But, they must wait for now. She must focus on figuring out a strategy against St. Gloriana to avoid joining the Ankou dance courses.

Somewhere in the US

Fred Chong, by very few people known by his real name as Tsuneo Nishizumi, was finishing the first ever ordered SU-85 by Pravda High School, when his phone started ringing. He groaned and ignored it for about a minute, when he finally gave up and looked, who was calling him. And he almost immediately paled, but he overcame his shock and picked the call up.

"H-hey… long time no see, or rather hear, right?" he said, nervous. "Yes, it is a long time. Listen, I have a favor to ask." He gulped. That person probably tried to only lure him out from hiding. "If you ever want to see your wife and daughters alive, you will make in less than 6 months five T26E4 Super Pershings and a Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus and send them to my contact: Tsuji. And they must not fail! If they do, I'll start with Miho and Maho. Remember: six months."

Tsuneo gulped again. Creating these six tanks meant that he was forced to abandon all other requests. Why did I ever put my nose into the Oarai case?! he thought and quickly wrote a note to create these six tanks. "O-okay! I'll get started on them after I finish this one SU-85!" he answered with a shaky voice. "That's a good dog. You sure know your place." And after that, beeping noise broke the resulting silence. Phew… he hung up the call.

This wasn't the first time he was forced to create a tank for that unknown group. But, it was far more challenging than the other four orders. He wanted firstly some KV-2s, then some T-35s, Königstigers and M24 Chaffees, but now… What in the Hell is he planning?! Creating an overpowered school? Definitely. But, I can't contact Shiho or anyone else about this. He is tracking everything that I do… "DAMN IT!" he shouted in frustration and planted his fist on the hull of the unfortunate SU-85.

Ami looked at the gathered students and three boys before her. They all seemed to be ready for today's training. And that was a good thing. "I want to see the performance of the new crew members of Tiger I. You should also pick a codename." Trafalgar nodded and saluted. "Jawohl!" he shouted while saluting.

"Now, go to your tanks." And after these words, the girls and boys rushed to their tanks, but the boys were faster by a few seconds. He gave them basic training then… she realized, when the Tiger I's engine started, followed by Panzer IV and StuG III. Ami smiled at seeing half of the team ready for action in less than 15 seconds.

The JSDF official touched several buttons on her hidden remote and six same series of dummy tanks showed up. "Several targets. Distance from 100 to 800 meters! Different types too!" she announced to the opened channel. She then remained quiet and waited for the responses of the crews. And Ami wasn't disappointed.

"The closest target is Panzer 38 (t)! Armor can be penetrated by all of our canons!" shouted a boy's voice. This must be the radioman of the Tiger I… He could even try to aim for a professional licence soon. And a series of six shots broke her from her thoughts. "Target destroyed! Next is Panzer III G! Distance 200 meters! 37mm is useless against its frontal armor!" Ami smiled even more. That radioman is definitely invaluable for them right now.

And almost immediately as he said that, six shots echoed again on the improvised shooting range, but only five tanks were white flagged. "Next up is T-34! Distance 400 meters! 75mm can still pen it!" Five shots were fired, but only three found its mark this time. "Last one is Mk. VII Churchill! Distance 800 meters! 75mm is near useless against it! Aim for the slot under the turret! Your shot will bounce and pen the top armor!" Ami nodded. That was the only available option for them to disable the last tank from that distance.

Three shots were fired, but only two Churchills were disabled. "Excellent marksmanship!" Ami said to the shared channel. And after that, she touched a button on the last unused remote. This time, a moving dummy tank showed up. Let's see how you will fight this challenge. "Target sighted! A Panzer V A! Moving! A well-placed shot from a 75mm can pen it!" The Tiger I and Panzer IV fired simultaneously at the moving target, but Ami used the remote to guide it to safety.

The Tiger immediately started giving chase to it and started shortening the distance. "Wow, mate! We surpassed the max speed by 2 km/h and the engine is not failing!" That was the third boy crewman talking. Did he really give them both radioman's equipment?! she thought and just stared at the speeding Tiger. But, that was still enough for them to fire and disable the tracks.

Ami touched a series of buttons on the remote and the Panther aimed at the Tiger, loaded and ready to fire. Her remote controlled tank had the perfect angle to white flag its enemy, but the Tiger shifted by 45° in the last second and forced the shell to bounce off, only scratching some of the paintjob. And right after that, a loud BANG! from the mighty 8,8cm KwK 36 L/56 ended the fight.

They are already on the same level of skill as most Kuromorimine and Pravda students… It was a good idea. And with that in mind, she called back the girls and boys from the shooting training.

After the training, Trafalgar's apartment kitchen area

Takashi was still shocked after realizing that the sudden 45° turn he did, saved them from being shot down. Now, the boy trio was gathered for a special meeting in Trafalgar's apartment, which was (luckily) not too far from their own. "Good job, Takashi!" George shouted and slapped his right shoulder. "Ow!" he responded angrily at that. "We managed to take it down before Miho caught up to us…" Trafalgar breathed out.

"Also, we have three days until the girls will fight against St. Gloriana. Do you have any more info about their formation, Geroge?" their commander asked. George nodded. "They'll use four Matilda IIs and a Churchill." Takashi knew what it meant. "They will use infantry tanks with strong armor and great firepower, but bad accuracy. That will give a chance to StuG III, M3 Lee and Panzer IV to have at least a chance to pen them from a distance. And the Panzer 38 (t) with Type 89B I-Go can outrun them with hit & run strategies." the driver listed out the obvious information.

"Exactly! And they will be ready for an ambush. So, there we have the disadvantage no. 1. The second one is the inexperience of 99% of our forces. Next up is the terrain. It can be both an advantage and disadvantage." Takashi and George grunted in response. "The challenging side can choose the terrain for the battle. That way, we can expect the city of Oarai to be part of it." George added after a while. Having a sister in the team has its own advantages over being chased by a yandere and unable to gather any information… Takashi realized and was a bit depressed from it.

"We can't join the fight now, but giving advice and creating strategies beforehand can tip the advantage in their favor." And with those words, Takashi noticed that his commander placed a map on the table. It was a map of Oarai and surrounding areas. "Courtesy of the SC prez." George nodded knowingly. Even Takashi, the denser one of the two newcomers, knew that Trafalgar was (unknowingly) a ladies man. Trafalgar pointed at a certain rocky area. "There will definitely be the best area to bait St. Gloriana and lead the tanks into an ambush. BUT, Miho and Anzu Kadotani must order their tanks to fall back at some point. Listen…"

And they spent another three hours discussing strategies over a map, knowing that it was the last time of obtaining and using one before the actual battle.