Chapter 2

When Traf came back with the buckets filled with water, he saw the girls, which helped him get his tank to the garages, already cleaning their Panzerkampfwagen IV with a hose. He put the buckets down with a sigh. It was pointless to do this… Traf thought, but one of the Student council members, the one whose name he didn't know, grabbed one of the buckets and tried to walk towards the Panzer 38 (t).

She tripped several times and almost fell over halfway to it. That was enough for him to take the bucket from her grasp and put it near the small tank. "Thank you," she said and smiled. "No problem…" he responded. "Since you know both Anzu-sama and Momo-san's names, call me Yuzu." "...Yuzu-san." Those honorifics will be the death to me… Just to remember them all and their meanings is hard enough. Why didn't I learn them? Oh wait, I can learn them via Google or whatever website they have! he thought and walked back to his Tiger. Better make some checks on it. I don't want it to fail more now or in the future.

But then he realized something. His phone was back home in his room. Or rather was… "Damn it!" Traf muttered and opened one hatch. I never fired from the cannon. This 88 mm KwK 36 is a formidable weapon. And with that, he grabbed one round from a random box of ammo. Luckily, it was not a high explosive one, and put it into the chamber. Traf reached for the trigger and almost pulled it, when he realised that he was being watched by someone.

He looked up and saw the girl Miho looking at him from the opened hatch. "I want to test it. If I won't, there's a possibility of it failing during a match," he announced and controlled his target. It was a tree 500 meters away and a clear shot without people near it. And as he looked back at the hatch, Miho wasn't there, so he pulled the trigger and the round left the cannon with a loud BANG!

BANG! The 88 mm cannon announced that the round left it and soared in the air. Miho and the rest were surprised even after her warning about the shot. Only Yukari was all fluffy from the sound of it. Miho yet again had flashbacks thanks to it. "Look! That tree is missing a chunk of wood!" someone shouted and everyone looked in the pointed direction.

There was indeed a hole in the tree. It had the exact size of the round and ran through the middle of it, disappearing somewhere behind the target. So, it wasn't either HE or HEAT. That leaves only PzGr. 39 or PzGr. 40. "When did I start recognizing the type of tank ammo by just a hole?" she muttered. "Hmm… He already showed some decent driving skills to four of us and now, he almost shot down a tree… He really would be priceless for us." That was the council president Kadotani Anzu finally recognizing what he meant for them.

"We can stand a chance, even the slightest one, against the stronger schools now." Kawashima Momo agreed. After that, Miho noticed that it was almost sunset and the tanks were (mostly) clean. "Okay, so it's getting late now! The automotive club will come soon and fix the last issues with those tanks!" Anzu announced, trying to get their attention. And it worked just enough. "And he?" Saori asked the already obvious question.

"I think that he may want to sleep in it…" Yukari pointed out. Miho sighed, while the rest gasped in shock. "And there lies the problem. There are no more free apartments left. But, since he helped us with the buckets… We should buy him at least a blanket as a 'thanks for the help!' gift," the most working council member, Koyama Yuzu said. "Good idea!" Saori supported the idea with some first years and Hana.

But before they even had the chance to go to the shop and then home, a very angry man made his way here. "Who shot?! And from which tank?!" he demanded to know. "It was shot from the Tiger I over there," Anzu answered. And before that man could ask another question, Trafalgar left the tank via the opened hatch.

"It was me," he announced. "I only wanted to know if the cannon works properly and isn't malfunctioning." The older man blinked once. Twice. Thrice. "A boy?! Here?!" The only answer was just a nod from the boy. "He helped us with cleaning the tanks, senpai." So, this is the headmaster? Miho thought and slightly shrugged. "Ah, and you must be the younger of the Nishizumi sisters. I am glad that you're here." Miho suddenly wanted to be somewhere else right now than here. That man just reminded her again about the original reason why she left Kuromorimine: wrath of her sister and mother, the latter also disowning her.

"The automotive club will handle the rest of the restorations, senpai. And we also decided to buy him at least a blanket, because that Tiger is his improvised tent for now…" Yuzu diverted the attention of the headmaster from her. "Hmm… You can always get rid of him, when you are on the land. And the Tiger I is already the property of-" But before he could finish the sentence, Trafalgar cut in. "It is mine. I got it as a birthday present, not you."

And the headmaster responded with an evil grin. "Really? And did you know that only girls can join Sensha-do?! So, if your tank is here, it is the property of Ooarai Girls High School and not some random hobo boy, who definitely stole the tank!" And Miho gulped, when she felt enough anger to form Fear, which was a rare ability, already strangling the air around them all.

Traf had it enough. That man called him a liar, hobo and a robber in one sentence! How dares he?! Traf almost jumped at the headmaster to beat him, but the mix of worried and scared expressions, which stared at him from 21 girls, started calming him down. Only once before he was that close to let his anger fully take control of him. It was a few years ago.

Traf glued together the hull of a tank model. It was a Crusader III, his favorite British medium tank. He put the hull on a radiator, so it will dry faster. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and entered. It was Jeremy, his only friend since the first year of primary school. They were friends for four years, but neither of them ever entered each other's room. Jeremy stared speechless at the sight before him. Then, he laughed. And laughed. And laughed, until he had it enough.

"You're such a nerd and loser, Traf! I was only hoping that you'll lend me some money to buy a gun or a car, but no, you have to play with tanks like the biggest of nerdy losers!" he announced. Traf felt tears forming in his eyes and a strange sensation. He felt incredible amounts of raw anger towards the boy, he thought of as a friend.

The air felt heavy and hard to breathe. And the eyes of his former friend showed fear. Traf slowly walked towards Jeremy, picking up the scalpel he uses on cleaning the parts of the models of any excess plastic appendages. Jeremy gulped and rushed away like the greedy coward he was all the time. Traf felt the anger disappearing very slowly from his mind like a heavy blanket.

He noticed the scalpel and quickly put it on his 'workbench', on which he was putting the models piece by piece together. And Traf curled himself into a ball and started crying. He cried for a long time, letting go of his 'everything is fine' mask.

He groaned. One moment, he was standing and was at least 11 meters away from his tank, but now, he was lying on the ground right next to it. And he was also covered in a blanket. I guess that the girls did that as a 'thank you' gift… he thought and smiled. It felt good to help someone, even by bits, here and there.

He looked around. The sky was a bit brighter than before he blacked out. And also less orangey. The tanks of the girls looked like new. That automotive club is really skilled. Traf looked at his Tiger. The part of the hull he removed was back in place. On it was a small canister. Traf grabbed it, opened it and saw the sand brown color, common for Tiger Is of Afrika Korps and Sicilian front. He closed the canister and put it aside. He will repaint the Tiger later.

Traf stood up and saw two other things on the hull. It was a bento box and a plastic bottle filled with water. He also noticed a small letter attached to the box. There was a message written in Kanji on it. Damn it! I can't read it! Soon after, he noticed the familiar small frame of Yukari walking towards the other 5 tanks. She cuddled with them and turned to go back, when she noticed, he was awake.

Traf waved at her with a small smile. She waved back and rushed back to the direction she came before. He almost decided to follow her, but ultimately chose against it, thanks to the headmaster and the school being an all-girls one. Well, I can always test if the engine is fixed and now's the best time to do it.

He opened the driver's hatch and slid in. The driver's area was small as always with now only two fire extinguishers from the original five. I guess that they used two of them, when I was sleeping… Well, never mind. And with that, he started the engine. It revved almost immediately and a wide grin spread on his face. And before he even knew it, the Tiger started slowly advancing forward.

Traf turned the steering wheel to the left and felt the tank respond much better to it than yesterday. Wow… it is like skating on ice: fluid, but precise. And with that in mind, he parked the Tiger I next to the Panzerkampfwagen IV D. And this time, he kept his mouth shut to avoid jinxing and testing his luck further.

Yukari was the first of the Sensha-do team of Ooarai, who came to the garages. Strange. The Tiger I is not on its spot… she thought as she looked at the place, where the heavy tank was supposed to be. "Watch out!" She turned her head just in time to see the missing tank parked right in her way.

"KYA!" she shouted and jumped in surprise. "The automotive club did a great job with repairing the engine and refuelling. Also, who gave me the blanket, cooked the food in the bento and bought the water?" Trafalgar said from atop the Tiger I's turret with an amused smile.

"The blanket is a 'thank you' gift for helping us with the cleaning. I think that Saori-san cooked the bento, but I don't know who bought the water." Trafalgar nodded at it with a cute blush. "By the way… We should better hide the fact about having a Tiger I for now. And showing it at the semi-finals is our safest bet to catch enemies unprepared for it. If you even get there and I find a crew and train it enough…" he continued after a while.

Yukari suddenly got an idea. "Why not recruit some boys from the city of Ooarai. They will be eager enough for it." The boy thought about it for a while. "Not a bad idea… but, what if there are better choices somewhere else?" he finally announced. Yukari's smile faded as she realized it. "You're right. We should ask the instructor for help on this, when she arrives. She maybe knows about someone," she said. Trafalgar nodded. "That seems to be a good idea! If she says something about a mock battle, I will help your team as a distraction. I have a feeling that the others would want to disable Miho's tank first."

Yukari was shocked. If she counted correctly, their tanks were in 2 on 1 fight. "I have the stronger gun. Let me destroy the Sturmgeshütz III and Type 89B I-Go and you can focus on the other two," he stated. "Good thinking. But, if it will be a deathmatch, will you let us win?" Trafalgar smiled. "Possibly." That answer was enough for her to understand that he has a somewhat playful nature. "Just be aware. The StuG III can penetrate Tiger's hull…" He smirked at that. "Not if I turn the hull in 45° to either left or right with the front armor still facing them."

She smiled at the statement. He knew his way around to avoid getting white flagged immediately by the StuG. "I had lots of tank models and books about them back home. Some details were gathered from internet wikias," he explained his knowledge before she could ask about it. A fellow tank lover then… she thought.

And they talked about tanks for another 10 minutes, happy about finding a friend through their love of tanks.

Trafalgar smirked, when the Type 10 demolished the headmaster's car. The driver was a woman probably around 40 years old. "My name is Chouno Ami and I am your instructor," she announced. Anzu suddenly put her hand up. "Yes?" "We have 6 tanks. The Tiger I has only one crew member." Trafalgar stepped out from the crowd as if a teacher called him to write a solution to a problem on a board and saluted

"Trafalgar Jameson, commander, driver, loader, gunner and radioman of Tiger I." The instructor cracked a small smile at that. "Well, you still need at least two more crew members to qualify as this school team's tank." Traf grinned at that. "The only problem is that I still need to find them. And they must be boys. We plan on using this tank in the semi-finals to avoid it getting confiscated by those, who don't want boys to enjoy one of their dreams: riding in a tank." Instructor Chouno smiled and nodded. She seemed to understand him (or was good at playing it).

"Anyway… Have you any questions?" Saori's hand shot high in the air. "Instructor! Instructor! Are you famous?" Instructor Chouno cracked a smile. "Well… I wouldn't say famous, but I always get results on 120% efficiency." Traf was in awe. 100% probably means being average… I guess that there is someone with 200% or more. "And now, get into your tanks and ride to designated locations."

Traf nodded and quickly disappeared in his Tiger I. He put the radioman's headphones on and searched for their shared channel. "Panzer vor!" he announced and started the engines for the second time today. This is where the fun begins, he thought and rode out from the garage.