Battlefield

To say things went well for Continuation during the match would be half-true. In reality, it had all been a mixed bag, mostly due to the Sturmi having a lower-grade crew at its disposal, a weakness that Kuromorimine gladly took advantage of in this situation, seeing that the crew they feared was not present on the battlefield for this match. Where they should have been more cautious with Jouko on the battlefield, they were instead much more aggressive, now not having to worry about any pesky snipers ruining their fun, and this limited Continuation's possibilities, leaving little room for them to think of a good strategy. To make things worse, they were once again in a desert battlefield, not what Continuation wanted at all. They would have to once again work in unfamiliar terrain against an opponent who was well-established in fighting in that very same terrain, being experts in desert warfare, contrary to Continuation's snow-based fighting styles.

Linder and her crew had tried to do their very best in putting all the training they had experienced to good use, with assistance from Frisell and her experiences learned from being with Jouko, to little avail, they couldn't live up to the skills of the previous crew. The rest of the team didn't fare much better, either, their fighting spirit drained by the absence of a majority of the Sturmi crew and the prospect of fighting one of the strongest schools. But for all their misfortunes, they were still doing fairly decently against Kuromorimine, holding up against their assault. Mika's new ninja-like doctrine of outmaneuvering, flanking, and hit-and-run, was complicating Kuromorimine's endeavors, though it wasn't as effective as a Continuation supporter could hope as Kuromorimine did well to counter their attacks through a combination of that iconic coordination and a bit of outmaneuvering on some of their crews' part, knocking out some of the weaker tanks such as the BT-7 and BT-5.

Nevertheless, in the face of these setbacks, there were still some successes to be found in the match on Continuation's end, which was a bit of a surprise to their opponents and the spectators given how basically all of the circumstances surrounding the match were pointing towards a completely one-sided victory for Kuromorimine. In a series of drifts and swerves, the weaker tanks that were the BT-7 and 5 as well as the T-26 managed to score a series of powerful hits on one of the Jagdpanzers, knocking it out. At the same time, Mika's BT-42 fired a powerful shell into another of the Jagdpanzers, knocking it out as well. So far, it seemed, so good.

"Good shot, Mika!"

"First kills, two less Jagdpanzers we have to worry about."

"Alright, I'm taking aim at a Panther, now..."

"Shell's loaded, don't worry."

"Okay... just depress downwards a bit, and, now!-"

A sudden shell struck the Sturmi's concrete armor, the shock dislodging the Sturmi from its position just as Linder pulled the trigger, causing her to miss her intended target entirely, the shell soaring onto the air unopposed. Frustrated, Linder pushed Wetzer for another round, but the all-too-cautious Wetzer accidentally fumbled the round, leading to a loud clang inside the tank that both irritated everyone's ears and further increased Linder's short-tempered rage.

"FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, WETZER, CAN YOU PLEASE BE FASTER?!"

"I'm trying, relax!"

Frisell, witnessing the incident go down, stepped in, trying to calm down Linder and prevent things from getting any worse, especially at a time like this.

"Linder... don't push your crew too hard, please..."

"Alright, alright! Just, try to load faster, Wetzer."

As another shell was slid into the chamber, Linder once again took aim. Kuromorimine's tank force was closer now. Off to her right, she could see and hear a faint blast from a T-34/76 shoot a shell straight into one of the Panthers, but failing to knock it out. Linder, this time more comfortable in a hit, her target now at around 190 yards, fired her shot at that same Panther. Waiting with anticipation, she all but screamed as the shell landed right on target, and after an explosion, a white flag emerged from one of the Panther's hatches, signaling a knockout. Meanwhile, the T-34/85 had scored a hit on the elusive Panzer III, knocking it out of action as well. 4 of Kuromorimine's tanks had been knocked out, only 6 more left, a remarkable performance for Continuation thus far. Seeing their success, Frisell decided to see what was up with the rest of the team.

"Mika, status report?"

"All seems to be going well- nevermind."

Looking outside, hearing the radio transmission, Linder saw two of Continuation's tanks, the T-34/76 and a T-26, pop white flags almost at once, followed shortly after by their Panzer IV, which beforehand had gotten another shot out which damaged one of the Tiger IIs but failed to knock it out. Turning back, Linder prepared for her next shot, this time, seeking to go for the Tiger I, the flag tank. Things were looking bad for Continuation, and unless they made a game-changing contribution, victory would be nothing but a fantasy. The Tiger I was at the head of the formation, relying on its heavy armor to keep it alive. Shells were bouncing off the Tiger I, and the BT-42 couldn't really get a hit on it due to the amount of shells that would fly in its direction once it appeared over the sand dunes it was hiding behind.

Kuromorimine was approaching ever closer to Continuation's positions. With the loss of a majority of their tanks, Continuation had been forced to abandon their hit-and-run tactics and retreat to a more favorable position, unable to maintain their tactics. Now, here they were, using whatever ground they could use as cover, firing behind dunes, rocks, and whatever natural barriers gave them a good shooting position. Most of their shells were failing to hit Kuromorimine, who dauntlessly drove on, either due to aim being rushed or them apparently unaffected by the impacts. At this point, the match could be considered lost. Continuation was at a disadvantage, Kuromorimine was well on their way to finish the job to mop up the remaining forces of Continuation, and in a few short moments another chance at the Semifinals would be dashed for Continuation, and Kuromorimine would be able to continue on their quest to retrieve their lost championship.

Seeing how badly things were getting for Continuation, and faced with little options, Linder decided to do what she had seen her hero do countless times before. Drive the Sturmi into the middle of the enemy's formation, disrupt it, and knock out as many as possible in close-quarter combat. While it meant certain death, if they could knock out enough tanks and distract the enemy enough, Mika and what was left of Continuation had a chance to still pull out a victory, somehow. Kuromorimine was still approaching, still in their formation that had been expertly maintained in the face of many of the hit-and-run attacks Continuation had been committing earlier in the match. Now, there were only four tanks left for Continuation, facing six, most of them Panthers, accompanied with two Tiger IIs and the Tiger I. It was a huge gamble, but one Linder was willing to take in order to get that sweet victory.

"Ignatius, I know you're gonna dislike this, but..."

"Lemme guess. Saariselka Style."

"Yeah..."

"I'm not good, you know."

"Just try like the practices we've done."

"Well, I'll try..."

"Just try to mess them up, avoid as much of their shells as you can."

"Gotcha..."

Placing her foot on the accelerator, Ignatius began to drive the Sturmi forwards, headed straight for Kuromorimine's formation, all the while Continuation's other tanks were giving it their all in firing shots at their opponents. Revealing itself from its position in the rocks, the Sturmi increased in speed, bolting towards Kuromorimine as shells began to land all around it. Inside, Linder's face was directly on the visor, eyeing her potential targets. The Tiger I was somewhere in the back, the remainder of Kuromorimine's forces in front of it to provide protection. Distance rapidly closing, Linder targeted one of the Panthers and fired. The shell missed, her aim too high up for an impact. Wetzer did her best to reload as fast as she could, but spent 6 seconds loading each shell, wasting precious time.

As soon as she heard the clunk of the closing hatch, Linder once again fired at that same Panther. This time, owing to the closer distance, it was a hit, knocking it out of action, emboldening everyone inside the Sturmi to do more.

"Ignatius, drive through the gap and let's kill that Tiger I!"

"On it!"

Wetzer quickly loaded another round as the Sturmi passed through the gap, Linder expecting to see the Tiger I behind the breached yet still moving wall of steel. But, she was greeted with nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. Even worse, the Sturmi was still driving forwards.

"IGNATIUS, P-P-PERFORM A DRIFT!"

"UHHHH... OKAY~"

Ignatius quickly turned the levers accordingly, leading the Sturmi to begin turning around and performing said drift. Looking through the scope, Linder saw, for a brief moment, Kuromorimine's tanks, but contrary to expectations the spin continued more than it should've.

"IGNATIUS, STOP SPINNING US!"

"YEAH, I'M TRYING!"

"I SAID... LIKE PRACTICE!"

"IT'S DIFFERENT IN REALITY, LINDER!"

After a few more seconds of turning and Ignatius desperately fidgeting with the levers to stop the turning, the Sturmi's spin gradually stopped, and Ignatius hastily adjusted the levers to turn the tank in the proper direction facing their opponents, but her hastiness, combined with a touch of dizziness leading to a bit of clumsiness that caused the tank to turn more than it should've. When the turn was finally completed and fixed, a shell suddenly zoomed past the Sturmi, and the sight that greeted Linder disheartened her.

Against a harrowing backdrop of two more plumes of smoke, two Panthers and a Tiger II were moving towards the Sturmi, intent to take it out before it could try an assassination on the Tiger I. Knowing that she was toast, and seeing that Continuation probably no longer had a chance of winning, Linder decided to take out as many of Kuromorimine with her as she could, hoping it would make things easier for Mika.

"Ignatius, drive us towards that enemy trio, we'll knock out as many as we can!"

Charging at the three imposing tanks sent to knock it out, Linder furiously fired a shell at one of the Tiger IIs, but to her dismay, it simply bounced off harmlessly. 8 seconds later, another shot was fired at closer range, aimed at the Panther, which was more successful, knocking it out. Wetzer was in the middle of loading another shell, having closed the hatch when there was a sudden crash, the frontal areas experiencing a great impact. Recovering from the shock, Linder saw that she had slammed into the front of one of the Tiger IIs. Realizing her chance, and remembering the same situation Jouko had gotten into in her match against Continuation, she quickly grasped the trigger and eagerly pulled it...

...only for nothing to happen.

She pulled again, and the same result. She tried again and again and again, hoping it would work, but still nothing happened. The truth now began to dawn on Linder and the others. Smoke was heard crackling outside, and the Tiger II they had rammed into could be felt reversing, later being heard driving away as if it didn't care. With the coast clear to open the hatch, Linder exited her cupola and looked around, and found, right next to her, a white flag fluttering in the breeze, against a cloud of smoke surrounding her. Sinking dejectedly back into her cupola, Linder refused to hear anything, to see anything, to know anything. Closing the hatch, she placed her head into her arms, refusing to talk to any of her crew, or anybody, trying to suppress all the negative thoughts in her mind.

Linder never heard the announcement that Kuromorimine had won, her hands tightly cupped to her ears. She never heard Kuromorimine's cheering, or the other sounds that had come with the dreaded, cursed announcement. She never heard the agonized cries and sounds of disappointment that came from her classmates in the Sturmi or the rest of the team, nor any of the radio chatter Frisell dealt with in the aftermath of the match. She never heard any of the vehicles passing by the Sturmi, one of them ready to pick them up. She never heard Frisell's attempts at reassuring her, comforting her, trying to make her feel better, she never felt her pats on her back. She just wanted to go home, and forget about this whole debacle. She didn't wish to be berated by her teammates, or face a serious reprimand by Mika, or even worse, Jouko, whom she knew was very well watching the happenings at that very moment.

What Linder felt was the guilt that she had disappointed everyone. She felt she hadn't lived up to her peers' expectations, and as a Federation official opened the hatch, ready to allow her and her teammates to get on the recovery truck, she never made any contact with her, eyes focused on the ground and nothing but the ground, avoiding seeing anybody out of shame. She felt she had blown another victory for Continuation, and she worried on how Jouko would react to her loss. Would she be disappointed? Would she be mad? Would she refuse to teach her again after what Linder considered an embarrassing performance? The thoughts and fears were shaking Linder to her very core, and she couldn't help but wish time could be turned back to fix everything that went wrong, to prevent all that had led to this defeat from happening. Alas, one could only dream.

Continuation School Carrier

From her room, still lying sick on her bed, Jouko raptly watched the match unfold, witnessing how the hit-and-run tactics managed to defeat a few of Kuromorimine's tanks, and Linder's attempted assassination maneuver that, if it had been Jouko, would've certainly succeeded. But, Linder had done pretty alright, though she would need much more training to really master those maneuvers. The fact she tried it, though, showed that she had promise, and it had come somewhat close to success, had her driver not overstepped her turn or Kuromorimine had been more oblivious. The reloading was also abysmally slow compared to Jouko, around 8-10 seconds between shots at their fastest. Linder was showing potential as a commander and gunner, but the rest of her crew, minus Frisell, needed more aid.

But Jouko's mood changed when she saw Linder emerge from the tank, after her attempted ram-shot play. She appeared dejected, depressed, and disappointed. She looked like she had taken the match too seriously, and considered her loss a disgrace, or, what was more likely, a disappointment to her hero. Indeed, Jouko was a bit disappointed, but she had still been impressed with some of Linder's plays and the fact she had come up with those maneuvers. If she had had the right crew at her disposal for that match, there was no doubt she would've seen more success, maybe even winning the match proper and dealing Kuromorimine an incredibly rare defeat to a minor school, with the closest something like that happening being Ooarai, back when it had an active Sensha-do team.

To appear disappointed and saddened, though, that wouldn't do. Jouko didn't want anybody on the team to get demoralized or dismayed over a single defeat. Not only could it lead to that person quitting Sensha-do, but even further beyond, it would have a negative impact on the rest of their life. Seeing Linder act the way she was acting as she left the venue, not only was it depressing, it was also concerning. Jouko knew that Linder would drag her feet to her room and barge through her door in a few hours, absolutely devastated, bawling and wailing, begging for forgiveness for what she considered a poor performance, unless she didn't have the guts to even come close to her room door, feeling unable and unworthy to face her teacher after, in her eyes, such a horrid showing. Meanwhile, Hannes had arrived at Jouko's bedside to check on her good friend.

"Jouko, you feeling any better?"

"Yea, Hannes, cough is mostly gone. No more wheezing, medications managed to let me cough out a good amount of phlegm."

"Well, you saw the results, right?"

"Mhm. Looks like we'll try again next year."

"Obviously! So bummed out we weren't there, my goodness."

"Listen, we were too tired, okay-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Main problem I have, though, is the fact they did the same type of battlefield again!"

"Uh-huh. What's with the Federation and always, well, nevermind."

"I'm not gonna lie, Linder was pretty nice out there. A shame she didn't really have the quality to get it down."

"What saddens me is just how down she looks."

"You're right, looks as down as you were when we lost last year."

"Don't even... remind me of that."

"Sorry. Just had to say it."

"Whatever, I just hope she can be able to come through that door."

"Same here, she really needs some reassurance."

"Wait a minute, I just remembered!"

"What?"

"Miho's match, I wonder if it's still going!"

"Oh, right! You did get interested in her a lot, didn't you, Jouk."

Quickly grabbing the remote and turning the television back on, Jouko switched channels to the quarterfinals match between Ooarai and Anzio, which was being broadcasted on another channel. By the time Jouko and Hannes had tuned into the match, however, it was already all but over. Anzio's light tanks and tankettes had all been swept aside in a pile of metal, all of them flying white flags of knockout, and a powerful elevated-angle shot from the Panzer IV sent a shell straight into Anzio's flag tank, their newest addition and their most powerful weapon, the P26/40, knocking it out. With that, the match had come to an end, a seemingly one-sided affair, though in reality it had been quite a hard-fought battle between both sides. Nevertheless, Ooarai had once again emerged as the victor, but their next opponents for the Semifinals would be far, woefully far from easy.

In the other matches, St. Gloriana had emerged victorious against Waffle Academy and was to set to fight against Kuromorimine Girls' Academy for the Semifinals, a match that had most fans excited for. As for the other match, Pravda, champions of the previous tournament, had defeated their opponents, Viking Marine High School, and would face Ooarai in their Semifinals match. It was a match everyone considered would be a pushover for Pravda, as so far, Ooarai had only been able to field a mere 5 tanks each match. For a Semifinals match the number capacity would be increased to 15 tanks. If Ooarai could somehow beat Pravda, outnumbered by a lot, and move to the Finals, the maximum capacity for the Finals would be raised to 20. With such a woefully small complement, Ooarai's chances of winning would be next to 0, if they could even survive the first five minutes.

"What's with this sport and it's dumb rules, my goodness! Where's the balancing and whatnot?"

"I dunno, Hannes, we'll just have to deal with it. We can't really change anything."

"B-But... five against fifteen, and later twenty if they somehow win?"

"Again, just deal with it, Miho somehow beat Saunders, I'm sure she'll manage against Pravda. It is what it is, as they say."

"I trust you, but believe me when Ooarai has chances lower than the Mariana Trench."

"Miho's got skill, you gotta admit. Plus, her team now has experience, so maybe it'll be better than before."

"Probably. Anyways, it's time for me to take my cough meds, be sure to get Linder back on good track."

"I'll try."

"See ya."

After Hannes had left, Jouko turned her head to the window, staring through her binoculars at the place where the tanks would be boarding, it being visible due to her room's location on a high hill. It was now midday, all of the matches for today were supposed to have ended by now, and everyone was leaving for lunchtime, unless in Ooarai's case, they were still partying with Anzio, who were well-known for their mouth-watering dishes and lavish post-battle feasts they always held. In her heart, Jouko was formulating what exactly to say to Linder, the exact words of encouragement, reproach, advice, teaching, and motivation that she would be using in her debriefing to her. She didn't want to be condescending, or harsh, or in any way demoralizing, as Linder would fully be expecting a harsh, lengthy criticism from her, and that was something she didn't want to do with a girl that was thinking so lowly of herself in the face of defeat and failure.

Jouko resolved to try to be as nice and comfortable as she could, but that would be somewhat of a problem as Linder could maintain her depressive beliefs and end up making the mood too melancholic for Jouko's comfort. Perhaps it would be more irritating, getting gradually annoyed at Linder's persistence at making everything around her be depressing and hopeless. But, it would be a test, a test of patience, sharpness, and understanding. Jouko knew just how much Linder was dedicated to her, and how much she wanted to be like her in Sensha-do, so if she ended up saying the wrong words, she would drive her away, and chances are, fate forbid, Linder would never be heard from again. She needed to cheer her student up, get her emotions back on the right track, and keep her motivated for Sensha-do, to strive to be better, both in Sensha-do and as a person, and remove all of that sadness inside her.

As the sun reached its 2'o'clock position, the first few tanks began to show up at Continuation's school carrier. At the lead was the BT-42, followed by the Sturmi and its ruined cannon, and then the T-34s, and so on and so forth. The parade, although warmly received by the residents of the carrier, seemed to emanate an aura of melancholy, and most of that melancholy felt as if it were coming from the Sturmi, and Jouko knew who was the source of that melancholy in that Sturmi. As the tanks drove out of sight, Jouko placed her binoculars to the side and lay back, waiting for Linder's arrival. The wait was uneventful, for an hour there was nothing as the parade arrived at the garages and the crews took some time to talk before leaving for their respective dormitory rooms. Footsteps were heard shuffling across the hall as the team navigated the way to their individual rooms, the sounds of shuffling footsteps and chatter filling the halls with noise. As it died down, though, and the noise had moved on far away from Jouko's room, there was a subtle, nervous knock on the door. Taking several deep breaths, Jouko prepared herself, and allowed her visitor entry inside.

"Come in."

The door slowly opened, the knob could be heard shaking from its holder's fright, the holder herself on the verge of hyperventilating and collapsing onto the floor. She refused to speak and merely sat down on a chair next to Jouko, her head bowed in shame, eyes invisible, unable to gaze upon her teacher, knowing she had failed her, expecting the harshest of all criticisms to come from her mouth, formulating what sort of responses she could muster in any scenario and any response that she could use to mitigate those criticisms. Jouko, on the other hand, was devastated at this sight, now witnessing what she had seen on the television close-up. Linder was shaking, now curling herself into a ball, placing her legs to her head, resting her feet on the chair, and crying. She contained some qualities of a broken individual, even though she wasn't one. Jouko struggled to get close to her, and she could hear Linder's breathing start to intensify further.

Reassure her, you idiot! Wait... come on, don't say it like that, mind!

"L-Linder, it's okay, I..."

"Y...y...y-you...you're not..."

"I'm not mad, there's no need to-"

"You are, and you should be."

"No, Linder, I'm not, please, listen."

"Okay."

"You did great out there, Linder, despite what you had."

"No I didn't. I messed up the drift, I messed up the shots-"

"Oh, stop blaming yourself too much! You're all inexperienced, of course you're not gonna do as good as you want!"

Linder recoiled and further curled herself up as Jouko froze and realized what she had just done. In response, she slapped herself in the mouth, admonishing herself for getting hot-headed so easily, to Linder's surprise.

"Sorry, I... got carried away there."

"I-It's fine, I deserve it..."

After cooling herself down with some water and a few deep breaths, Jouko resumed her reassuring.

"Linder, again, don't beat yourself up over this. It's just a loss-"

"A loss that cost this school another chance to get a Semifinals position. Yeah, 'just a loss-'"

"Please. Listen to me, Linder, the more you beat yourself up the worse things will get for you."

"I deserve to suffer, I let the team down-"

"Linder, you didn't let me down today."

"I did, are you blind and didn't see my failure with the Sturmi?"

"You may have failed in the execution, that's to be expected, not everyone will get it, but you coming up with that? I'm impressed."

"Yeah, sure."

"No, really, I am! And when I saw you try it, I can't say I wasn't happy to see you learned something from me."

"I hope so... I just hate the fact I failed."

"Did you talk to anyone after the match? I'm sure some-"

"No, I didn't want to. I knew what they were gonna say to me. 'Linder, you failed this', and 'Linder, you threw that', and 'Linder, you suck'. Justified smack like that."

"Come on, Linder, don't be a doomer over this. The important thing is that you did your best to help your team win."

"If only you were there, Jouko, you and your friends... you would've did that maneuver flawlessly and won us the game..."

"Alas, my stupidity decided to screw me over and make me disregard the air conditioner. As much as I don't wanna, I kinda can say the same for the others..."

"Heh. Right..."

"I'll also commend you for not blaming your crew too much."

"Oh, you remind me, but we're all newbies anyways so it doesn't really matter."

"Of course. You'll get better eventually, Linder, just keep practicing, improving, and soon you'll get us that Semifinals placement!"

"That is, if we can improve..."

"Oh, my goodness... PLEASE, JUST STOP BEING SUCH A DEPRESSING GIRL, LINDER!"

"I- sorry..."

DON'T DO THAT! COME ON!

Again, Jouko realized her mistake, and again slapped herself.

"No, I should be saying sorry. Goodness, what's with me today?"

"I dunno, but-"

"Come on, Linder, it's just a loss! Not too much of a big deal, I've got a year to get us that Semifinals, you got two. We have plenty of time!"

"But I'm a bit demotivated now."

"Look, I have a little proposition."

"Speak your mind."

"You like the T-26, or do you want a different tank?"

"I hate the T-26, the gun and armor suck."

"The Panzer IV is three crew short. Granted, they did fight with us this tournament, but only because they were allowed to by some allowance by the Federation or whatever it was, forgot what I heard."

"So, you're saying that-"

"Yep! Panzer IV is yours! Other two crew are roughly the same age as you, so you won't have to worry about graduations ruining your crew's complement."

"Is there a catch?"

"You get to attend Bible studies with the Sturmi crew!"

"Wait... Bible studies... with you?"

"Obviously! Come on, it's a win-win situation, you get a better tank, and in exchange you get to hang out with us!"

"That's... not too bad..."

"See? Now turn that frown upside down! We may have lost, but you got some gains!"

"Yeah! I'm on board!"

"Haha! Great to see it! I'll contact Mika to get the engineers on board with setting up the Panzer IV."

"Awesome!"

"Now THAT's the happiness I like to see!"

"Well... we still lost."

Dangit, why?! Just hug her, it's just gonna be a carousel if you keep this stuff up.

"Linder, you really wanna see how happy I really am with your performance?"

"Sure... I guess."

Getting out of bed, Jouko walked towards Linder, and tightly embraced her, tears rolling down her face. Linder, by contrast, was surprised at the gesture, and feeling this moment of her teacher's pride for her, her depression began to break. She was now crying again, this time with her hero, this time with tears of joy rather than sadness, and now she really knew the pride her teacher had in her, how much she had impressed her, how happy she was for her. Jouko gave her room as she became normal again, slowly setting her legs down from the chair, unraveling her arms, and raising her head, her confidence now returning to her. Her happiness restored, Linder returned the favor, giving her teacher her own thanks for helping her.

"Jouko-san... thank you so much."

"I'm glad to have been your teacher, Linder."

"And I'm glad to have been your student!"

Later that day

"So, she prayed for the first time in almost a decade?"

"Yeah. I was surprised, and obviously happy to see it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it. How did she comeback, though?"

"Hasn't told me yet, but I have a feeling she may have been eavesdropping on us during Bible study."

"Well, that's a good thing!"

"Uhh, isn't it supposed to be private?"

"Well, if we get more people interested we'll be hosting Bible studies every night if you'd like!"

"That brings me to another thing that came into my mind."

"Feel free to speak it up."

"Don't you think we're becoming unintentional missionaries here, Jouko?"

Jouko took a moment to think it over. From her communicating with Miho regarding the Bible, effectively spreading the Gospel to the Nishizumi household, something that could be considered near impossible, to Frisell bringing back a lost sheep to the fold, it was starting to become evident that the crew's stay in Japan would bring a lot more results than what they had first expected. While it may seem that at first they couldn't really do much, they knew well the potential long-term effects such a ministry of theirs could have not just in Continuation, or Sensha-do, but Japan as a whole.

The Christian population didn't compromise 10%, not even 5% of the whole population, in fact staying below 2%. Most of the population was either atheist or practitioners of Shinto, Buddhism, or a mix of both. Several attempts had been made to spread Christianity, but with the Tokugawa persecutions of the early 17th century, coupled with the national isolationism that lasted until 1853, as well as the deification of the Japanese Emperor being a must-respect for the citizens, Christianity had never really sprung up in Japan, even with the global evangelical movement of the mid-20th century reaching the island nation.

"Japan has a notoriously low Christian population. Majority atheist or part of traditional religions. I don't like to be that girl but, is there a chance we might cause a change, a big one, to come across this nation?"

"You know me, Frisell, I don't like publicity. But we were commissioned to go out to all the world..."

"That's true. The problem is, how will everyone react? I mean, Mika, Aki, Mikko, Touko, Tami, Tomi, and beyond in other schools, like Miho, Maho, and even Federation folk like Shiho or Chiyo. I'm sure some will be okay, others will be two steps away from trying to kill us."

"Those last two have me worried. For anything they can get us evicted on a whim. From what I've read, they have an unbelievable amount of influence over the Federation."

"We've already got some of the more diehard Sensha-do fans calling us out for being Christian while everyone else is part of a traditional religion or something, what if we actually get some students here to become baptized?"

"That's my biggest concern as well. They might not mind too much here, probably just a condemnation and that's all, though it depends on how bad that will be, but in the bigger and traditional schools like Kuromorimine, or the Soviet cosplayers over at Pravda, a single conversion's sure to wind up a typhoon of an outcry."

"Persecution will be coming in our direction as well. Everyone might be lashing at us from every corner."

"Well, what do you expect, Jesus said it Himself, we'll be in a bunch of trouble when we're Christians, it happens everywhere around the world."

"I suppose you're right, but... there's so much potential in this place! It makes one wonder how Christianity isn't bigger here."

"We can change that, Frisell, and we've already got a big platform to make a big change."

"I suppose you're right, Jouko. I think we should start inviting more classmates to study with us, so they can get more of theirs and we'll grow!"

"Exactly my thoughts. Say, since Linder is starting to get back on track, I think it'll be a great idea to start letting her attend our meetings!"

"Yeah, and she can spread the word around! Though, I do wonder where we'll have to meet once we, y'know, get lots of people."

"I'm sure the teachers will let us use what's on their disposal, whether it be the cafeteria, auditorium, library, or some other big office they have."

"Alrighty, then, we're settled. Well, it's been a good talk this afternoon, Jouko. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now, thankfully. Hopefully the others are doing well."

"Lofstrom hasn't coughed at all today, and Hannes recently coughed out a large hump of phlegm, so all in all, we're recovering!"

"Awesome! Well, see you later, Frisell."

"See you as well, I hope you're better soon."

"Thanks."

Nishizumi Residence

Maho paced about in her room, stress levels high, unable to grasp the new threat her mother had placed on Miho. A new conflict was brewing in her mind, and her loyalties were again beginning to be torn. Disownment had once again entered the scene, and this time, it was looking inevitable. Although Miho had won over Saunders and Anzio in the last couple of matches, here, it seemed to be the end of the road for her and Ooarai. They were facing Pravda, the champions of the previous year, and undoubtedly now stronger than before. While Kuromorimine's battle against St. Gloriana may be more balanced, everyone was expecting Ooarai to lose badly against Pravda, and after being informed by Shiho that she was planning to disown Miho should she be defeated in the tournament, it sent Maho spiraling downwards in a whirlpool of concern, anguish, fear and regret. While she had maintained a stoic appearance in front of her mother, here, her human side was again showing itself.

Maho recognized a double curse to fall on Miho if she would lose this tournament. First, she would likely lose her friends, as they'd likely move to other schools after Ooarai would shutdown. Sure, they'd still be in contact, but it wouldn't be the same, living on the same carrier, being able to talk to each other face to face on a daily basis. Once again, loneliness would return, and Miho would revert to a more depressive state, something Maho wanted desperately to avoid, not wishing to see her sister in such a sorry state. But second, if Ooarai would lose, not only would Miho be deprived of the things she enjoyed at Ooarai, she would also no longer be a Nishizumi. She would be an outcast, a stranger, a girl who would be regarded as never having been in the family in the first place. If a Nishizumi was to encounter Miho, she would be treated as if she wasn't known within the family, a complete stranger and one who, in the eyes of the Nishizumi family, never existed.

The thought of the second curse coming on Miho was one that devastated Maho. She didn't want to lose her sister, all because of something she had done, something heroic, that instead of winning some vain victory, saved several lives that otherwise would've been lost had she not intervened. At first, Maho didn't really recognize it, but now, even she was starting to recognize the question. At the cost of five deaths, would it have been worth that tenth win? It had already been a massive tragedy that three had lost their lives, and had it not been for Miho the death toll would've been higher. Maho was now starting to regret not jumping in as well to save all five, to prevent the tragedy entirely, but she would be on the firing line facing her mother, and as an heiress of the Nishizumi style it was her duty to keep the line going no matter what. Back then, she had been more loyal, now, that loyalty was starting to wear off, replaced with actual humanity and care.

Thanks to Maho's secret spectating of Ooarai's matches being discovered by Shiho, in less than a week, mother and daughter would both fly to the venue, which was somewhere in Russia, for Pravda against Ooarai. There, Shiho and Maho would both watch Ooarai's defeat and quickly do away with Miho before she could tarnish the Nishizumi name even further. While Shiho was obviously eager to go see the embarrassment in person, Maho was fearful at the prospect of going. She didn't want to see her sister get obliterated in real time, and she didn't want to hear the haunting words of Shiho's disownment of Miho that would surely happen after Ooarai had been completely defeated. She didn't want the words to enter her brain, and tried in vain to suppress them in her mind. While the chances of Ooarai winning against Pravda were next to zero, there was still a chance, a chance Maho held dear to her heart, but then that hope brought another problem.

What if Miho and Maho won their respective Semifinals matches? It would be sister against sister, newly-created underdog versus nine-years-straight victors. Shiho was definitely expecting Kuromorimine to emerge victorious, but Maho knew that that meant the curses fell on Miho. She was considering intentionally throwing the match, that while it would risk her receiving the punishments intended for Miho, it would save her sister from her curses. Yet, as heiress, she had a duty to seek victory no matter the circumstance. To intentionally cause your team's defeat would be dishonorable, even more when you were facing an outcast in all but officiality. As much as she wanted to maintain her family's reputation, her love for her sister was making that difficult to prioritize. Ever since that encounter with Miho at the bar, she was once again reminded of what had been lost, and now, she was faced with more that she could lose. Seeing how happy Miho appeared to be with her friends, it would be painful to witness what Miho could go through should she lose.

"Miho... what did I do wrong?"

Closing her eyes, Maho tried to think of other things, to divert her mind away from these damaging thoughts, but it only exacerbated them. Amidst the pitch-black darkness, Maho could see visions of Miho. She was standing alone, in a ruined Ooarai uniform, berated by everyone, the subject of ridicule. Then, Erika stepped into the picture, slapping her old Vice-Commander to the ground to the laughter and cheers of the other spectators. Miho's friends and classmates could do nothing but be restrained as the abuse continued, unable to offer help due to the pressing mob disallowing their movement. Furious, Maho rushed forward to defend her sister, but a figure emerged from her right before she could make good progress. It was the all-too intimidating image of her mother, stepping forward. Her presence caused those around Miho to cease, and look towards Shiho. Some were intimidated, others uncaring, allowing Shiho to do what she was going to do. Maho was frozen, unable to move, forced to watch what happened next.

Stopping in front of a badly injured Miho, Shiho took a good look at her sorry state, and after letting out what seemed to be a slight chuckle, spoke the words that Maho feared to hear the most.

"Look at you, such a sorry state and a living disgrace on the Nishizumi name.

You have dishonored your family, damaging our reputation without repair. You have shown weakness in the face of the enemy and cost us a valuable victory. You have betrayed us in favor of a school that has joined many others who have been stamped under our boot. Not only have you betrayed Kuromorimine, you have betrayed me, and our whole family.

You have shown that you are unworthy to be a Nishizumi. You have shown that you are unable to live according to our ideals. I hereby disown you as a member of the Nishizumi household. May you never step foot in our house again. You are now a stranger, a nobody, an outcast to us. Get out of my sight."

As the crowd cheered in support of the disownment, moving to resume their previous abuse, Maho broke free from her invisible prison, rushing forward to stop them as Shiho faded from visibility into the masses.

"NO! YOU CANNOT DO THIS!"

Just before she could reach Miho, a large boy stepped in front of Maho, grabbed her by the neck, and delivered a devastating fist to her face.

Suddenly opening her eyes, Maho let out a scream, shooting upwards and finding herself on her two feet. Breathing heavily, she relaxed and allowed herself to sink back onto her bed as Kikuyo made her presence known by knocking anxiously on the door to her room.

"Lady Maho, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just a little nightmare."

"I hope so. Lady Shiho will be rather concerned with your well-being."

"Don't worry, Kikuyo, I'm okay. I'll... go to sleep now."

"I hope all will be well. Good night, Lady Maho."

"Good night."

As Kikuyo's footsteps faded, Maho, dressed in her pajamas and ready for bed, turned off her lantern, and allowed herself to fall freely onto the bed, never bothering to correct her positioning. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, her hands covering her face in shame. The bedsheets she was on became stained with her tears, but she didn't care. Regrets were bountiful, and the only wish Maho had at that moment was for her to have the ability to turn back time, to undo what had gone wrong, to change everything just so Miho could be happy, even if it meant being born outside of Sensha-do. Her brain was imagining a better world, a world where she had gone to help Miho, or where Koume never fell into the river and instead led the team to victory in the 62nd Tournament. She would still be together with Miho, Kuromorimine would have the tenth win in a row, life would've been much better than before, everything would've been sunshine and rainbows, and the dynamic duo would be curbstomping anyone who stood in their way this tournament as Shiho looked on, proud of her cubs for their success. Her thoughts prevented her from sleeping. That night, all she thought about was Miho, and what she could give just to be with her again forevermore.

The incessant thoughts of Miho caused Maho to begin reaching for her phone that she thought was on the nightstand, wanting to try to converse with her again, but suddenly, she remembered that Shiho had confiscated it earlier that day, and that she was never again to use it for any purpose or reason. She knew Miho had already tried to message her since then, but being separated from her phone, Maho knew those messages were to be left unread forever, and it didn't take long for the realization that Maho may never again talk to Miho to hit Maho like a semitruck. Once again, her eyes allowed floods of tears to come out, and her mouth bit hard into her blankets to stop her from letting out audible sobs and groans of grief that could wake her mother up and get her into even more trouble. Squirming, kicking, twirling, and twisting, her nerves released their stresses as Maho's brain tortured her with all sorts of negative thoughts and possibilities, regret, anger, frustration, so many emotions that were preventing her from going to sleep. For the next few minutes Maho continued like this, unable to restrain herself and relax, only left to face her thoughts alone and with difficulty.

It took a total of eleven minutes, but it was only thanks to exhaustion and her still awake so late at night that she was able to finally go to sleep, but not even then would her mind give her peace, it still wanted to torture her with her thoughts. Again and again throughout the night, Maho was woken up, grabbed from dreamland back to reality for a few minutes, before slipping back to sleep, but again she would wake up for a few minutes, and then return to sleep. It was a day-and-night cycle all throughout the night, it happened almost a dozen times until finally, the sun's rays broke into the darkened sky, and daylight began to shine on Japan once more. Maho woke up from her final outing to dreamland utterly exhausted, tired, her eyes dry, and her head aching. Grabbing her glass, she gulped down two glasses to help fix her brain before making her breakfast and consuming it. Her mind still sore from her ordeal the previous night, Maho groggily walked to her classroom to begin another day of school, incessantly hoping to interact with Miho again, somehow.

Ooarai

Miho could rest easy, somewhat, after a hard-fought yet great match against Anzio. Their new P40 had given them several issues, with it being different to what Anzio usually had in its arsenal, and packing a harder punch due to its status as a medium tank (or in their own definition, a "heavy tank"), but in the end they had emerged victorious and they were now in the Semifinals, with a hearty, tasty banquet hosted by Anzio to top off the match and end it on good terms. However, in the next battle, they were facing the champions of the previous tournament. Miho didn't mind too much, as her private Bible studies with Jouko had helped calm her nerves, reading through the Bible's many promises and doing her best to take them to heart. She felt more comfortable and confident, and now more eager to share it with her friends the next day, her mind strengthened and ready to meet any possible challenges that could come her way.

As for the Sensha-do team, it was so far, so good, even though it was still smaller than all the other schools in terms of size. They were on a solid roll for this tournament, and considering their successes against a couple of the major schools, perhaps they could go on to win the whole thing, who knows. They had just beaten Saunders and Anzio, so surely they could manage against Pravda. Besides, not only was Ooarai starting to become the talk of the town for Sensha-do, the team's materiel was also receiving several important improvements. The Panzer IV was getting an upgrade, receiving a better, longer gun, and there was a new tank being restored to allow for the Public Morals Committee to man, the Char B1. There were also plans to recover the Type 3 Chi-Nu as well as to restore the rare Tiger (P) from the depths of the carrier, though it was estimated the recovery program wouldn't be completed in time for the Semifinals. Nevertheless, everything was looking great.

Checking out the news of the other matches that had happened, Miho saw the news of Continuation's defeat in their match, having been ground down by Kuromorimine and the Sturmi unable to work its usual magic and charm as it had in previous matches. While it was a shame that they couldn't meet on the battlefield again for this tournament, she was granted a television rebroadcast of that match. The result was pretty obvious, but many spectators were remarking on Continuation's skill even without Jouko. They drove well, shot well, and many noted the Sturmi and its attempt at repeating the maneuvers everyone knew Jouko for. While it didn't work, of course, it was evident that the commander of the Sturmi, who was filling in for the original crew who had gotten sick, was learning from Jouko. With another potential rising star for Continuation, Miho saw another interesting match in store for her and Ooarai in the future.

Returning to maintaining her nightly Bible reading schedule, Miho took the Bible and began to continue reading it, starting from where she had left off. She was almost done, halfway through Colossians, drawing ever nearer to the end, the Book of Revelation. She had heard Jouko's excitement at her reading that particular book, which had Miho curious and determined to get to the end. She was still reminded to read each chapter and verse thoroughly, but there were several times where she couldn't resist the temptations, and read over a verse or two if she deemed it insignificant. Jouko reminded her not to do this when she learned of it, but Miho still did so, incredibly eager to get to Revelation and find out what Jouko was all excited about. But, she still had to read through the other New Testament books, and normally such an endeavor could get boring, but Jouko always made sure Miho would maintain interest in her readings.

On Jouko's suggestions, Miho always read out loud to help her reading comprehension, and to better get the words she read. If she was in a public area, she made sure to keep her voice as quiet as possible, sometimes having to keep her lips together so as to not attract suspicion from strangers or acquaintances. There had been several close calls, including that little hiccup before the Anzio match, but nobody knew what Miho was doing in private. She had been doing well in keeping her Bible reading a secret, though as of late she was getting an urge to share the Bible with others, but her reservations still remained. Regardless, she put those reservations aside, focusing only on reading her Bible. It was nighttime, everyone should be in their own dorms, eating their own dinner. Thinking the coast was clear, Miho began reading out loud, starting on Colossians chapter 3.

She made it to verse 9 before a rude knock on the door shattered her concentration, diverting her attention to the noise at her door.

"Miporin! Miporin! What are you saying over there?"

It was Saori, awake and at Miho's room for whatever reason.

"S-Saori-san, why are you at my door?!"

"I should be asking what on earth you're saying in there!"

"I...I'm just reading!"

"Reading, what, exactly?"

"Uhh...um..."

"Oh, Saori-san, we don't have time... Miho-san?"

"Hana-san? What-"

"It's urgent, the Student Council wants to meet with you."

"Oh, what for?"

"To dine with them, they have something important to tell you."

"O-Okay. Tell them I'll be there quickly!"

Pausing her read, Miho closed the Bible and made her way to the Student Council's rooms, leaving her door unlocked in a rush. Arriving at the door, she knocked and spoke her name, after which Yuzu opened the door for her and allowed her entry. Taking her seat on the table, Miho sensed an aura of gloom and sadness from the three Student Council members. All were acting melancholic, behaving as if something bad were about to happen that they were fully aware of, but were unable to stop. They didn't even converse with her that much during the dinner, outside of the introductory remarks and the presentation of the very delicious meal, instead looking with nostalgia on an old photobook that contained past pictures of happier times, talking to each other, remarking and giving interjections on each picture, as if they were giving little eulogies or life sketches typically heard in a funeral, or when going over someone's life in a moment of contemplation or memory.

The opened photobook's pages were filled to the brim with many past pictures of the current Student Council engaging in various fun activities and misadventures in varying outfits, from Halloween outings to festivals and other fun activities they had partaken in since their first year. Everyone appeared on the verge of tears, Momo actually having some fill her eyes, leaving Miho confused, and concerned. She never got the important message the Student Council wanted to deliver to her, instead leaving once the dinner had concluded. A million conclusions were racing through her mind, from the Student Council being distracted from their purpose, instead looking through memories of the past glory days, which was the more optimistic, and rather humorous route, or the darker, devastating conclusion that was the reality that Ooarai might close. Miho of course refused to believe that latter conclusion. Ooarai wasn't going to close, why would they?

Arriving at her room after the dinner had concluded, never receiving that "important news" Hana had told her the Student Council wanted to tell her about, Miho took out her key and moved to unlock the door to her room, expecting to have locked the door upon her departure for the Student Council's dinner, as she made it a practice to every time she left her room, but after turning the key the appropriate direction and pushing, it didn't work. Again she tried, and once again, it didn't work. From inside, a sudden voice startled Miho, who had been expecting to enter into an empty room to finish her Bible reading, get ready for bed, and get some good hours of sleep to continue preparing for the coming match against Pravda. And that voice was extremely familiar.

"Miporin, you left your door open!"

Hearing this, Miho was instantaneously flustered. She had always made sure to lock her door before leaving the room, but due to the urgency of her summons and the rushed nature of her departure, her mind had forgotten. She had forgotten before, but she had been on a streak with keeping her door locked, so it was embarrassing that something like this could've happened, more so in front of Saori.

After pulling out the key from the lock and entering her room to change and continue reading, Miho's face went from flushed red to shocked white as she saw Saori sitting on her bed, with a particular book in her hands, reading glasses on, and ready to ask Miho about that book. Both stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, before Saori asked Miho that question she was expecting ever since she opened the door.

"Miporin, you read a Bible?"

Author's Note: Apologies for the abysmally long waiting time, sickness, school, and a bit of brainstorming really hampered my progress on this one. So far, I like how the story is going, but again I'm unsatisfied as I could've added more minor sideplots in the earlier chapters to deal with topics like bullying, antitheism, antireligion, and the sort, but unfortunately it didn't cross my mind. I don't plan on adding those sideplots now because 1: I feel it out of Continuation's persona to have bullies and 2: it ruins "word balancing" between chapters for me. While #2 might not really matter for most writers, I'd like to maintain word balance for the sake of consistency.

I'm still trying to brainstorm ideas for how Jouko's participation in the All-Stars fight might go, as I feel it's a much better way for a first interaction between Alice and Jouko rather than the original version. Feel free to give me some ideas in the reviews, as well as give suggestions and criticisms that I will surely need, because right now I have many reservations with the fanfic, even though this is a revamp.

Despite my issues, though, I really like writing this, as it gives me an outlet for relieving stress as well as communicating ideas and feelings (and don't worry, my parents are still together). I'll once again mention that several aspects of the story, like Linder's increasing abandonment of Christianity, have been partially inspired by my personal experiences, though there are derivations from those experiences. Topics I'm not too familiar with, such as the traditional religions and later maybe some Lutheran theology, I try to get as accurate as possible with research while writing this, so if I need correcting, please let me know.

I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but I expect it may be out in around a week or two from now, so hopefully you can bear with some slow posting. Hopefully the story is good so far, despite its limitations. Happy reading, and Panzer vor as always!

Next time: Miho opens up to the rest of Anglerfish Team, spirituality is tested in the Pravda match, and Linder begins to make a gradual comeback to the "Old-Time Religion".