Haruna let out a stretch as she watched the last customer leave, before checking her leather watch. "Time to clock out," she mused as she headed into the backroom of the store.
"Nice work today miss...and here's your paycheck for the week," Lanky smiled.
"Thank you very much," Haruna bowed, before taking the envelope of yen respectfully.
"You've worked hard kid, keep it up. By the way, first Sensado practice today?"
"Here's hoping it's just orientation and not actual practice," Haruna muttered. "Aside from Miho, my girls are the only ones whom have had any practice as far as I understand," she added.
"Well, either way, good luck and stay safe kid," Lanky smiled, before waving her off.
The walk home was...uneventful and as she came into their home she noted that the girls were assembled in their mechanic uniforms, aside from Hanoashi and Taeko who still donned their Maid uniforms. Dressing into her own uniform, Haruna walked up and addressed the girls. "Alright ladies, here's the situation, we'll be joining the Ooarai girl's Sensado team for their first day. Let's hope that all go well and..." She paused and smiled at her friends, "and let's try to get along with our teammates, alright?"
"Right!" The girls chorused, as they formed into ranks and exited the room at Haruna's lead. As they made their way over to the sheds, they were met with Anzu. "Good day Haruna, I can see your troops know formation," she added with a small smirk.
"We're a bit too serious on the marching orders," Haruna noted. "Anywho, any word on the instructor?" she asked.
"We had two reach out, thinking about the more serious one," Anzu noted.
"Have you thoroughly investigated them both?" Haruna asked sternly.
"There was no need to when the serious one is the head judge of the..."
"Don't you dare hire her!" Haruna growled. "We win any matches with the head judge as our instructor and everyone would be saying that we're playing dirty before you can say mouse!"
"But...bu...but she knows Miho!" Anzu protested.
"Lumi, take lead," Haruna growled, before garbing Anzu and pulling her into an alley.
"Haruna, what has gotten into you?" Anzu gasped.
"Now listen here you little brat, if you want to save this school the only way you're going to do it is by playing wise and fair. You have me, and you have Miho, you don't need the top instructor, got it?" Haruna growled, her eyes blazing in frustration.
"I...I got it," Anzu whimpered.
Bending down Haruna gave her a hug, surprising the girl. "Sorry if I was a bit rough there," she whispered. "I...I want to care about this school as much as you do, but it gets frustrating sometimes when people don't think. Besides...I've been through some things, so I get a bit rough sometimes."
"It's alright Haruna, normally I'd as expelled one who did that for assault but since you're just passionate about helping us out, I'll let it go with a warning this time," Anzu promised.
"Let's walk to the sheds together," Haruna offered.
"Okay then," Anzu noted, still seeming a bit afraid of her.
"I don't bite you know," Haruna joked.
"Mennie," Anzu pouted.
"Anyways, what of the tanks?" Haruna asked, figuring that she had apologized enough and that a distraction was an order.
"We were hoping that the Sensado team could look for them," Anzu shrugged.
"And you didn't think to have us look for them before the first day of class?" Haruna noted sternly.
"Should we have?" Anzu asked.
"Yes! That's valuable time Miho and I could have spent teaching them the basics! Whatever, we'll either help look for them or help the automotive club or whoever is fixing and bringing the tanks back depending on how many students they are," Haruna noted, not at all pleased with this development.
"Thanks," Anzu mused. "You may be right about not taking the more veteran instructor now that I think on it a bit," she added.
"A judge should never be an instructor," Haruna affirmed. "That's just asking for favoritism and accusations thereof."
Arriving into the sheds, she nodded to the girls as the gathered in formation, before turning to Miho. "A word with you in private Nishisumi-sempai?" she asked politely.
"Um..sure," Miho mused, glancing over at Saori and Hana worriedly.
"Don't worry, we'll work things out," Haruna informed the two kindly, before leading Miho a ways off.
"They're going to try and make me team commander aren't they?" Miho's voice shook.
"I'll handle most of the things for you, just...try to act like a commander," Haruna grunted. "Anyways, I'm thinking about setting the girls up in squads of four, with us and the T-50 cremates being a temporary squad leader of them until we get ready to delves into actual Sensado," she offered.
"Alright then, do you know who will be in who's squad?" Mhio asked.
"I'm kind of thank we should split Hana and Saori, namely so that I can get a good read on how things are going with the other students and such," Haruna mused. "I'd prefer Hana as she seems more amiable towards me, but we'll see," she noted.
"So she'll be tanking with you?" Miho asked.
Haruna shook her head. "No, once we're ready to operate the actual tanks, we'll set proper teams. This is just so that the girls will get to know each other and such before we start tank warfare," she explained.
"I see...yeah that'll be fine then, though I'd like for Saori and Hana to be in my crew once it's time," Miho smiled.
"Consider it done, was thinking about having you chose your own crew from the Ooarai girls anyways. " Haruna mused. "Speaking of which, Lumi and I were speaking, and we think that it might be beneficial if she took temporary command as deputy commander until our students become more trained."
"She's alright with this arrangement?" Miho asked.
"Lumi's oddly supportive as my team's...vice commander...which may sound weird to you but considering we often fought during our official matches..."
"I'm guessing that you fight viciously for command of the team," Miho nodded.
"If it's alright with you I've agreed to give her the rank of Senor commander once we've found our deputy commander from within the school's ranks," Haruna mused.
"Do we really need four commanding officers?" Miho asked skeptically.
"It'd be an honorific title in Lumi's case, and it'll help to show the future team how it's done. I suspect that Ooarai might grow quickly, especially considering that the Nishmari co-ed team only has seven tanks in their high school team and twelve tanks in their middle school team."
"So some of the girls may come over to Ooarai," Miho noted.
"Of course they'll be building their numbers fairly fast, but according to Hanoashi it'll take a while for them to do that. Besides, we have over a half year head start on the high school team since they cannot even participate in a match for the first six months," Haruna mused.
"Alright then, let's get to it," Miho smiled.
"Right, lead the way commander," Haruna knowledge.
"Was hoping to avoid all this Sensado stuff when I left Kuromorimine," Miho muttered.
"Maybe, but Sensado certainly didn't want to leave you alone," Haruna laughed. "But like I said, I'll handle most of it, so no need to worry," she added.
"Thanks Haruna, you're a good friend," Miho smiled.
"What are vice commanders for," Haruna smiled in return.
"Are you sure you're alright with being the vice commander? I mean...you were the team commander..."
"Of a group of girls who often fought with each other," Haruna interrupted. "We might be at least friendly towards each other outside of the field of battle, but we need a commander who knows the value of teamwork within the field of battle, and we T-50 operators don't have that."
"We'll wait five more minutes and then call the roll as is," Momo announced to the group.
"We'll form our groups once we've gotten everyone's names," Haruna noted as she gazed at everyone for a while.
"Alright, notice how the girls are standing in ranks," Haruna began, glancing at Miho. "call them into the ranks for me, and I'll teach them how to form up," she added.
"Welcome girls, I am Miho Nishisumi, your tank commander, and this is Haruna, your vice commander," Miho noted, trying her best to sound confident, but wavering a bit at the end. "Um...she'll be showing you how to form ranks now," she added.
"Alright, Lumi, step forward, I'll use you to demonstrate," Haruna noted. Obeying, Lumi stood in front of her.
"Now the person on the right always begins the ranks," Haruna noted. She will extend her left hand and the next in line will also perform the step," she added, before getting in line beside Lumi and extending her left hand. "Does everyone get the gist?" she asked, glancing back at the gathered girls, who gave various forms of consent.
"Great, however trying to form a line strictly from this will form an organized yet exceedingly long line. In order to avoid making the lines too long, we will form ranks. To do this, each person on the far right aside from the upmost girl will move their arms straight forward until the tips are touching the girl in front, or as close to touch the girl up in front as possible. Do not abuse this portion of forming ranks to do anything funny such as place a spider on your fellow teammate's neck or something," Haruna warned. "I shall demonstrate," she added, moving behind Lumi and focusing her arms.
"Now that we've got the distance, I can then extend my arm to the side and begin measurements for my row," Haruna explained. "Alternatively, one can also simply line up to the person in front of them, there's no real right or wrong way of lining up after the first row has been established. The goal is to look neat, not necessarily exactly equal," Haruna demonstrated, before nodding. "Lumi, Mei, and Nisan will demonstrate," she added, as the girls got into line.
"Now everyone line up, one girl per line at a time," Haruna ordered, watching as the girls snuffled in lines, a bit sloppy but it'd work.
"Good, now for the moment we'll be splitting the newer girls into groups of four, each will have a member of our T-50 crew or Miho as their temporary commanding Sempai. Our official teams will be formed once we've trained you enough to be confident in your abilities to operate the tank. Are they any questions?"
"What will we be doing today after we've been organized?" Hana raised her hand.
"You'll be looking for the tanks the Student council foolishly forgot to search for before our first day," Haruna noted.
"Hey!" Momo shouted, but Haruna just shrugged.
"Um, what are the tanks we'll be using?" a girl with curly hair asked.
"My crew will return to their T-50 light tanks, which we have three of them. As for the other tanks...we have no idea," Haruna noted earnestly.
"Will we be participating in the nationals this year?" A blond haired girl asked.
"The Student council kinda demands it," Haruna noted apologetically. "If it were me I'd train until summer, have a few practices, and only then partake in the winter cup, but since they're funding this program we ought to respect their wishes," she added, giving Miho a 'no arguments please' look.
Said girl nodded, though she gave her a questioning look.
"Now, Miho and I shall go though the ranks, and then we can get to finding the tanks," Haruna noted, before going up and down the list, gathering names as well as noting any nicknames. Before long she found herself in their makeshift office.
"I think that I'll take Ayumi, Hana, and Shinobu in my group," Haruna noted.
"Right...I'll mark that down...I'll be taking Saori, Asuza, and Yukari into my group then," Miho smiled. "What about Lumi?"
"She has her hands full trying to keep the girls full at the moment, and I'd like to put her in charge of the recovery and automotive functions for the moment," Haruna noted "If that's alright with you commander," she added quickly.
"Sure. Haruna, I trust you, so do whatever you think is right," Miho smiled.
"Okay then," she added. After a bit they had their temporary crews together and they stepped out into the carrier, leaving about five of the T-50 girls to help the automotive club, Lumi being in charge of them for the time being.
"So what are we looking for Sempai?" Ayumi asked.
"I'm actually a first year like yourself...just with a slightly different set-up," Haruna chuckled.
"Oh...Then should I refer to you as vice commander?" Ayumi asked, her blue eyes full of respect.
"That'd work, but commander or just Haruna would work, just so that it's not a mouthful every time," Haruna offered. "I'm not really picky bout these things normally," she added.
"She's so cool," Ayumi whispered.
Am I? Haruna asked herself, a bit stunned that she had a fan already.
"I'm a bit surprised you picked me to be a part of your temporary team," Hana noted quietly.
"I have my reasons for it," Haruna reassured her, before gazing at Ayumi and Shinobu. "Can you two scout ahead a bit, I'd like to share a quick work with Hana for a brief moment."
"Sure," Shinobu nodded, leading Ayumi to look into some bushes.
"Did I do something wrong?" Hana whispered in a panic.
"No, it's just...strictly between you and I, Miho's not really in good shape to be the team commander at the moment, but the student council will throw a conniption if I try to suggest otherwise," Haruna noted quietly.
"I've noticed," Hana whispered. "It'...it's not right, them trying to force her."
"Try telling them that," Haruna muttered. "I had to convince Anzu not to hired the head judge of the Sensado federation not even two hours ago," she added bitterly.
"You can do that?"
"Absolutely not! But this girl knows Miho and so Anzu probably thought something along the weird lines of it'd helps us, which it won't as false accusations would abound before you can say Maus and then where would we be? Reputation in the mud, perhaps barred from even practicing Sensado..." Haruna shook her head, her amber eyes troubled. "That's not what I want from the result of all my hard work."
"Can't blame you there," Hana smiled. "You know, you seem pretty nice now that I'm talking with you. Back when we first met you seemed..."
"Harsh? I can sound a bit strict when it comes to speech and such, but I try to be as polite as I can," Haruna noted apolitically. "Anyways, promise me that you and Saori will keep a close eye on Miho for me, alright? And if she seems to be too stressed or anxious about something, let me know so I can take some of the burden off of her."
"Sure," Hana smiled indulgently.
"I think we've found a tank," Shinobu noted calmly.
"Let's take a look then," Haruna smiled, walking up to them and staring at the Ram II they discovered. "Canadian tank, not too shabby," she smiled before dialing on her phone. "Haruna to Lumi, we've found a Ram, located at Carrier coordinates E-16. It'll be located in some bushes next to a pointed rock," she called in.
"Excellent work commander, keep up the good work. I'll send Mikiko and Suzuki to asset in recovering it," Lumi noted before hanging up.
"So, do we keep looking?" Ayumi asked.
"Yep! We want to find as many tanks as we can, even if we can't crew them at the moment we can preserve them for future members of our club," Haruna explained. "That or trade them in for a better tank, all depends really on what we find."
As they began to walk, Haruna fell in beside Ayumi. "So what do you think of Ooarai so far?" she asked.
"It's quaint, or more so than I imagined a school ship to be," Ayumi smiled. "Though...I don't think that I've seen you around before..." she added.
"I'm partaking in a slightly different school program than most of the other girls, Haruna explained gently. "We go to school for four hours, then work for four hours, and then head off to training," she added.
"So you get to make money and go to school?" Shinobu asked.
"Well...we pull our money for our breakfast and dinner, pancakes and rice respectively, and a few other things. As for lunch we usually eat between class and work, and we decide on our own meals," Haruna noted. "So we really don't have much at the end of the day."
"Sounds interesting, not too sure I'd want to swap to your program though," Ayumi noted apologetically.
"You're pretty lucky in that you get to experience the entire high school life without having to worry about finances or work," Haruna smiled. "But to he honest I'm not too sure I'd want to switch either, I kind of like working," she added.
As they continued walking, they soon ran across Maya's team consisting of Aya, Noriko, and Oryou. "How's the search coming along?" she asked.
"It's slow, not a tank in sight," she sighed ruefully in response.
"We managed to find a ram, so we can house at least five of the students so far," Haruna noted with a smile, before patting Maya on the shoulder. "Don't loose hope so easily, the fact that I found one means that at least some of the tanks are around," she added gently.
"Thanks commander," Maya smiled, her blue eyes strengthening a bit in encouragement. "So where are you off to now?" she asked.
"We'll be going along E-16 for another half kilometer, and then we'll head back along E-17," Haruna noted.
"We'll be heading along F-17 . And then continue though F-18 and then ending on G-17 " Maya shrugged. "Looks like we have the longer route this time," she added.
"It'll take us a few days to comb over the ship, even with all of our help," Haruna sighed, before smiling. "But it'll be worth it in the end. Just wish they had began searching for them before our first day," she grunted.
"Maybe, but think of it as an exercise in team building. Well, we'd better get going," Maya smiled.
"Yep, good luck," Haruna smiled in return as she watched them walk of, before turning to her crew.
"So cool," Ayumi whispered.
Haruna laughed inwardly, amused by her temporary teammate's antic. "Let's move on, we're burning daylight and we don't have but a few hours to search," she noted.
As she finished her search, she glanced back at Hana and Ayumi who were fairly tuckered out. "How...how are you able to manage this?" Hana gasped.
"You'll be at the same point Shinobu and I are in no time, if you spend some time excising. Just...don't over do it, stick to about thirty sit-ups, thirty push-ups daily, and a kilometer run here in there when you can," Haruna encouraged.
"Think I will," Hana smiled.
"Ditto," Ayumi gasped, appearing about to lay down when she looked up at Haruna. "Sorry commander...I should act like a high school student and not lay on the ground," she gasped, glancing down in shame.
"Don't worry about it," Haruna laughed. "After that trek I wouldn't blame you at all...or at least I wouldn't for someone just starting out. Although dropping the habit will serve you well in terms of acting mature, so it's still a good call to try and avoid doing it."
"Right commander," Ayumi's dark blue eyes brightened a bit at the encouragement.
They made their way into the sheds, and Haruna took her place besides Miho. "So, how many?" she asked.
"Just the Ram and a Panzer II," Miho sighed.
"So Ooarai seemed to be multi-national..." Haruna groaned. "More work for me," she added teasingly.
"So what now?" Miho asked.
"We'll meet briefly with the temporary commanders, but otherwise we dismiss everyone for the day," Haruna noted. "It's your turn to issue the orders," she teased again.
"Al...alright," Miho noted, before taking a deep breath. "E...everyone, good work searching for the tanks, we'll keep doing this for...how long Haruna?"
"Until we've searched every nano-meter of this ship," Haruna smirked, being serious but acting like she was teasing again. Miho's kind of fun to tease, she realized.
"Ah...well we'll be searching until we've covered the ship anyways," Miho continued. "Anyways...um...I'd like to speak with the temporary commanders, and everyone else is dismissed."
"She doesn't sound as confident as Haruna," a girl in glasses muttered.
"Aya Ohno, you will show proper respect toward your commander, understood?" Haruna growled.
"Ye..yes vice commander...I'm sorry," Aya squeaked.
"Now that was a funny squeak, so I'll let you off. Yes Miho might not sound all that confident at the moment, but she's had a command position thrust upon her quite suddenly, so it'll take her a bit to get comfortable with commanding again." Haruna smirked again. "Especially when you have someone great such as myself and my crew around."
Her crew groaned at the tease, but it lightened the mood a bit. "Anyways, dismissed! Commanders, meet up next to the Ram," she added, before walking over, the commanders as well as Lumi walking over.
"Any concerns?" Haruna asked.
"Nothing too major, Yukari keeps having a Panzer high though," Miho noted before sighing. "I could hardly keep up with the poor girl," she added ruefully.
"Nothing on my end," Lumi reported. "The automotive club works well and efficiently so to speak, I doubt that we'll have any issues training them to work on tanks," she added with a smirk.
"I think that Asuza might be leadership material," Miho noted.
"Maybe...but I'm not too sure we should be counting our eggs before they hatch," Haruna cautioned. "All the same I'll keep an eye on her," she promised.
"Plotting my replacement already," Lumi teased, though she had her quiet tease-like smile.
"Hana might make a good commander," Haruna noted.
"Thought that you promised that she'll be on my team," Miho pouted, before smiling. "But yeah, I can see that happening," she added.
"Let's just say from what I've seen I'll want her to have a command at the next opportunity," Haruna smiled.
"We'll see," Miho smiled. "If that's alright with you Lumi," she added.
"Sure, If you and Haruna are alright with giving her a command then I'm fine with it as well," she added. "Wish that Hanoashi could be convinced to join us...she'd make an excellent deputy commander," Lumi sighed.
"Yeah, but she's exhausted from the two years she lead the Nishmari Sensado team," Haruna sighed.
"Hanoashi...she was one of the maids, right?" Miho asked.
"The Irish one," Haruna smiled.
"Ah...yes...would be nice to have her with us...the Japanese one as well," Miho smiled.
"Unfortunately that's not happening," Haruna sighed. But I would love for Taeko to be able to join us... she pouted. "Anyways, we'll meet again tomorrow morning after work, to try and find more tanks," she added.
Arriving into the mechanic area, Haruna let out a smile.
"Lumi's taking your place?" Suzuki asked.
Haruna nodded. "Yep, thought she deserved a turn at searching for the tanks, and it'd give me a chance to hang out with you girls, " she smiled.
"Nice," Hoshino gave her a thumbs up.
"So what's the word on these fine beasts?" Haruna asked as she walked up to the Panzer II.
"They'll need a touching up, rust removal, and a few other tidbits, a transmission gear for the Ram and the Panzer II needs new engine cylinders," Tsuchiya noted from where she was going over the notes.
"Of course it would," Haruna sighed as she sat down at the radio. "Excellent work though, now it's my turn," she added.
"So how long until we can drive these things, realistically speaking?" Hoshino asked, joining her in an office chair.
"Not entirely too sure, we'll have to get materials on driving and I want to make sure all of the students understand the safety rules and regulations before we so much as turn on the engine with the intention of driving them anywhere aside from a few feet," Haruna noted.
"Serious one you lot are, but I like that in a vice and deputy commander," Hoshino joked.
"Lumi and I are capable of some lightheartedness, we just get too focused on our work," Haruna noted.
"Haruna?" Harmony called through the radio.
"Go ahead Harmony," Haruna acknowledged.
"Um, can you tell Karina and Ceaser that I do have the right to issue pushups as punishment? They got into a fight so..."
"It was her fault," Karina muttered.
Haruna let out a small sigh. "Karina, I don't give a Maus' tread who started it, you shouldn't be fighting like that. And as your team Sempai, Harmony has the right to issue push-ups as a punishment. Have them do fifty," Haruna noted.
"Fifty?" Karina squeaked.
"Sixty for Karina then. Do not make me raise it higher," Haruna growled as she hung up. "The nerve of those two," she muttered, closing her eyes as she could imagine Harmony's amber eyes blazing with anger over the fact that two of her group got into a fight.
"Is that bad?" Hoshino asked.
"Not as much as you might think, there's been times Lumi and I gave each other push-ups as punishment, not to many but still," Haruna shrugged. "That being said a fight can turn injurious if not fatal if it gets too out of hand, so we'll want to nip it in the bud," she added.
"Commanders give give the team commander a punishment?" Hoshino gasped.
"Well...traditionally it's only the team, vice, and deputy commanders who can give other commander's punishments, including each other. However team commanders may give their individual teams a punishment if they so choose, or they can bring it up with big three if they think it's serious enough," Haruna explained. "Additionally, only an agreement between them or the instructor is enough to result in a suspension or expulsion from the team," she added.
"Have you had to expel anyone?" Hoshino asked.
"The commander before me did back when I was a loader," Haruna sighed, almost wishing for those times again. "There's a fine line between competition and foul play within single tournament teams, and this girl was stupid enough to try and plant drugs in her rival's lockers. The idiot got thirty years of probation for her trouble," she added.
"Thirty years?" Hoshino gasped.
Haruna shrugged. "Long story." she muttered. "The drug itself wasn't illegal for adult but was for kids, think something similar to tobacco, but you mix it in a tea instead of chewing or smoking it. Supposed to make your head swim or something if I remember correctly."
"Huh, doesn't sound all that bad as far as drugs are concerned," Hoshino mused.
"Miho to Haruna?" A hesitant voice called over the radio.
"This is Haruna, go ahead Miho," Haruna responded.
"We managed to find a tank...it's kind of weird, it looks Soviet, but has a German gun, the one on the..."
"Panzer IV F-2 and up?" Haruna guessed. "That'd be a Soviet KV- 1B 576r then. It's a modification of a captured KV the Germans acquired and made, so it's not classified under the rare tank models," she explained.
"Is it a good tank?" Miho asked.
"Never operated one," Haruna shrugged. "Hanoashi told me about them and according to her it's a fairly common heavy tank among the high school co-ed and male league schools, so I'd assume it's good. Better than what I was expecting anyways," she added.
"That's good," Miho breathed in relief.
"So where are the coordinates ?" Haruna asked, copying them down as she relayed them. "Thank you Miho, you're doing a fantastic job so far, keep it up."
"Oh...um...thank you very much!" Miho exclaimed happily.
"I'll send someone to secure the KV right way so resume your search, like I said yesterday I want every nanometer of this ship searched, from top to bottom," Haruna noted.
"Understood, Miho out!"
"Suzuki, Zamer, you're up, let's see what shape Miho's find is in," Haruna commanded.
"Understood commander," the girls saluted before entering the recovery vehicle and taking off.
The next two hours were mostly silent for Haruna, an occasional radio check in, each one getting her hopes up, but nothing much to report. At that moment a roar announced the return of Suzuki and Zamer.
"So what news," Haruna asked.
"It won't start, but it's gear shifts well, probably going to need an engine acid bath," Zamer sighed.
"And as I keep telling you we're not allowed to use acid here...you'll just have to settle for a deep scrub," Suzuki noted.
"I'll help scrub the engine," Haruna offered. "If you still need my help once we finish everything here that is," she added.
"That's right kind of you vice commander, but we can handle these things, we need you to keep on top of the commander things," Honshino smiled, before heading on over to the engine. "Holy engine-rod no wonder Zamer wanted to give this thing an acid bath!"
"Told you," Zamer muttered.
"Try to get it running, we'll need it in due time," Haruna noted, not even bothering to look at it. "If it's too bad then try to get the other tanks cleaned up first, but we're not about to abandon our only potential heavy tank...or even our second heavy tank."
"Who the Maus hid these was probably thinking of retrieving them months to at most a year or two after hiding them," Zamar sighed.
"Ten dimes it was a freshman over-promising to a senor only to discover that they couldn't fulfill said promise after the senor left," Haruna grumbled.
"Miho to Haruna?"
"Go ahead Miho," Haruna called.
"We're going to have to call the search, Asuza sprained her leg," Miho sighed.
"Zamar will fetch her and bring her back, and then you can continue the search," Haruna noted.
"Understood, but we'll only have three girls," Miho noted.
"Really you only need two per team, but four sets of eyes are better. You'll just have to deal with three sets now," Haruna noted. "What is your location?" she asked.
"Um...it's right next to a building...er...let me see..."
"Miho, you're way off course. There's no building like that on your path. Whatever, just wait. Zamer, fetch Asuza for me."
"Understood," the brunet noted, her blue eyes determined as her side ponytail bounced in the wake of her running.
"That one always has energy," Haruna mused, before the radio crackled to life.
"Mei to Haruna, we found another tank," Mei announced.
"Great work, do you know what kind..."
"It's a T-26." Mai noted.
"Not too bad," Haruna noted. "I'll send Hoshino and Lui to fetch it this time," she added, watching as the two girls took off for the tank.
"So we've got four tanks?" Haruna muttered. "We'll need at least two more to begin operations, though that might be closer to three if the renaming tanks have only a three crew capacity to get everyone on board if the next tank doesn't have."
"Sorry commander," a voice piped up after a half hour, and Haruna turned to gaze at Asuza.
"It's alright, just be more careful and make sure to rest that foot for the next few days at least. I want you up and at-em in due time," Haruna smiled.
"Th...thanks commander," Asuza nodded, taking a seat and watching attentively as the automotive club were currently going over the engine of the KV.
Before long another voice came over the radio. "Haykio to Haruna, we've found a Type III Chi-nu," she noted. Coordinates are..."
"Understood," Haruna smiled. "I'll be sending Nakajima and Anami to collect it," she noted, before taking a seat.
After a few more hours Haruna rose up and gazed at their finds. "KV-576r, Panzer II, Ran II, Type III Chi-nu, and a T-26," she mused, smiling. "We can work with this, though we still need to continuing our search," she mused.
At that point Anzu came up. "Our instructor will be here in a bit over three weeks, we went with the newer one like you asked," she reported, before gazing at the working automotive club members, busying themselves along with the other five T-50 operators. "Seems like everyone is working hard," she added.
"Well we learn to enjoy working, and the Automotive club really enjoys their work," Haruna nodded in approval. "We'll be spending the next three Saturdays looking for tanks and the weekdays will be spend in studying and light exercises later on," she added.
"We won't be doing anythings on Sundays?" Anzu asked.
"I plan on advocating for us not to. The girls will need time for rest and homework, and my girls along with the automotive club will probably need it even more. Miho will most likely agree with me."
"Yeah, that might be for the best. Just remember that..."
"I know. But we won't be winning anything if we're bone tired when we enter the match," Haruna argued, interrupting Anzu.
"Do you really think we can win the tournament?" Anzu asked quietly.
"To be honest I'm banking more on them giving us some extra time if we make it to the semi-finals at least, but we might be able to win. Depends on how well we train and cover our weaknesses and if we can find the enemy flag tank before they take outs out," Haruna sighed.
"I didn't think of that before. Do you really think they'll give us more time if..."
"Even if we make it to the semi-finals, let's not take anything for granted," she noted. "I'd like to share a few words with Miho now," she added before walking over to her team commander.
"Haruna, are things going well?" Miho asked.
"Pretty well," Haruna reported. "We should have about enough tanks for everyone, though we'll still want to search the rest of the ship, Also..." she paused briefly to swat a fly away from her face. "I think that we ought to take Sundays off, give the girls a day to rest and catch up on any homework." she added.
"Sounds good to me," Miho smiled. "Is Lumi on board with this?" she asked.
"Of course I'm on board with it," Lumi spoke up as she approached. "So how the radio clerk job going?" she teased, giving Haruna's arm a gentle nudge.
"It was fine, a bit boring, but that's natural," Haruna shrugged.
"Ah, right, I tend to forget that..." Lumi begin, but paused when she heard a commotion.
"What are you doing, you shouldn't be on your foot like that when it's sprained!?" Lui shouted, her normally calm and somewhat shy voice becoming a shrill.
"Towl moment," Haruna and Lumi muttered.
"Eh?" Miho asked.
"Lui sometimes gets over-dramatic at times," Haruna explained. "And once she's done she starts a gentle owl-like hooting to calm herself down. We've begun to call it her Towl moments, because the first time she did it someone accidentally picked up her beach towel."
"I hear you explaining things!" Lui hissed over at Haruna.
"Feisty one she is," Lumi laughed.
"I...it's alright, it doesn't hurt as much as it did earlier," Asusa stammered.
"You won't be so confident in a moment," Lui growled.
"What do you mea...oww!" Asuza gasped as she nearly fell.
"Told you," Lui sighed. "Itoldyouandyoudidnotbeleivemeandnowyourfoothurtsevenmore!" she added dramatically, speaking so fast that the words blended together.
"I'm honestly not to sure if she sounds more like a rapper or an auctioneer," Lumi shook her head in exasperation.
"I'll guide her home, she lives right next to me," Akibe offered with a smile before taking Asuza and walking with her leaning on the ex-volleyball player.
As soon as they left the familiar hoos and ooos came out of Lui's mouth as the girl took a few breaths and sat down. Many of the Ooarai girls were clearly not too sure of what to think of this development.
"Prep yourself my friend, it's going to get odder," Haruna smiled, gazing at Miho.
Her amber eyes widened in shock as she gazed at her. "Please tell me that you're not serious," she gasped.
"I'm dead serious," Haruna noted.