Chapter 26: Between proposals and questions.
7:00 pm
Kay and El were in the living room watching the nightly NHK News (it was 2am in Tokyo), conducted by a woman with long brown hair, eyes of the same color and lipstick on her lips, which a superimposed writing identified as Fujiko Mine.
"About two months until the start of the 63rd National Sensha-Do Tournament, the annual competition involving 16 teams: Viking Fisheries, Koala Forest, Pravda, Bonple, Maginot, Anzio, Saunders, Ooarai (rookie), BC Freedom, St. Gloriana, Yogurt, Waffle, Kuromorimine, Chi-Ha-Tan, Blue Division, Jatkosota."
The logos of the 16 schools appeared on the screen.
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"The last edition of the tournament, as you will remember, was surprisingly won by the Pravda academy, which beat the (now ex) Kuromorimine champions in the final, holders of the title for 9 editions…"
"My team will lose against Jaktosota." El said.
"Mine versus Ooarai." Kay said.
"I remember… I have to admit I was surprised when I learned of your defeat."
Kay snorted.
"Technically speaking, I could have easily beaten Ooarai, who were outnumbered."
El turned in her direction, looking puzzled.
"And why did you lose?"
"I have decided to use only five chariots against them." The blonde explained.
"How come?"
"Because I discovered, during the match, that Alisa was spying on the opposing radio communications. An unfair trick, which was also countered and turned against us by the Ooarai girls. So I decided to give up the numerical advantage."
"How stupid… Radio interceptions are not prohibited by the regulation! You could have crushed them and emerged victorious!"
"I know… But it is wrong to win by cheating. I'd rather go out defeated with honor than victorious thanks to cheating." She stated proudly.
Furthermore, by doing so I would have condemned Ooarai to closure.
El was silent for a few minutes, then said:
"I have an idea!"
"Which?" Kay asked curiously.
"Since we are in the past, why don't we try to change the course of events?"
"Change the course of events?"
El nodded.
"We'd be stupid not to, don't you think?"
Kay shook her head.
"El-chan, we've already altered the course of events enough. For my part, I don't feel like making any more."
"And by altering them we saved Eva, Alisa, Yukari and many others!"
"Yes… But on the other hand BC Freedom and Maginot will remain enemies, as well as Bonple and Pravda."
El looked annoyed.
"Which is more important, relationships between schools or the lives of a dozen innocent girls?" He asked her.
"Girls' lives, of course. Anyway… What else would you like to change?"
"If I can contact my teammates in Japan I could give them some tips to defeat Jatkosota, perhaps revealing their moves in advance."
"El, they won't believe you. And even if they listen to you, you'll still be eliminated in the quarterfinals by Kuromorimine."
El's enthusiasm vanished abruptly.
"Ah, yes, it's true… Kuromorimine is too sharp a rock. But you might warn yourself about this period of Alisa's attempted trick."
"If I do this (and assuming the other Kay believes me) Saunders will use all tanks against Ooarai, and he will win."
Kay put on a sad expression, which made El suspicious.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"If Ooarai loses, not only will we be made liars to Hilda, but Ooarai will be shut down."
At first El didn't understand, then he remembered:
"Oh yeah, that's right… Ooarai is in danger of closing at this time."
"Exactly. And I don't want it to close... Also because Miho is my friend."
"I understand… So nothing is done about it."
Kay shook her head again.
"No… Too risky to play with history."
Although to tell the truth, I could make a small change…
At that moment she entered the living room Sebastian, who said:
"Dinner is ready, Mädchen. Hilda awaits you."
"We'll be right there." El replied.
"Don't make her wait too long."
Having said that, the man left.
El turned off the TV, but suddenly Kay grabbed her by the arm.
"Do you really want to have dinner with Hilda?" He asked her, his voice filled with concern.
"Sure, why are you asking?"
"Have you forgotten what happened just now? How did you react to hearing about the Tankathlon? "
El swallowed, thinking back to Hilda's demonic gaze, to the cold metal of the gun barrel on her temple.
"As if I could forget it… Why do you think she got so angry?"
Kay thought about her.
"She sure hates the Tankhatlon. And I think you already know why."
El was initially dumbfounded, then said:
"Oh, that's right..."
Unlike Sensha-do, Tankathlon was an unofficial sport, i.e. not linked to the Federation. The dates and places of the matches were decided by a committee, and above all there was only one rule: only tanks weighing no more than 10 tons were admitted. Ergo, only tankettes and light tanks could be used. Unfortunately, the lack of rules allowed the challengers to resort to any means to win. She recalled that, during a match between Tatenashi's Team Centipede and a BC Freedom team, the commander of the former, a certain Shizuka Tsuruki, set fire to some houses. In another, Kiri Shiratori, commander of the West Kureoji academy and admirer of Darjeeling, had ordered his tanks to fire on Katyusha and Nonna, who were left on their feet, risking wounding them or worse. Furthermore, if the sensha-do federation was willing to pay compensation for any damage to property or bear medical expenses in the event of injuries or accidents, the same was not true of the Tankathlon committee. If such news had reached Europe, it was no wonder that Hilda was scandalized.
"Now let's go, it's better not to wait too long miss easy trigger." Kay said.