The Porsche Tiger would be ready soon so Erika needed to scrape the rust off her driving skills. It seemed so long ago that she had been subjected to Captain Chōno's 'learn by doing' Sensha-do lesson and she had had to figure out the controls of a Soviet tank on the fly. But she had driven them through their first ever practice match and then the exhibition match against St Gloriana. She had enjoyed driving their fast and agile, albeit mulish, machine. Sure, it had caught fire that first time but it had proven it had potential.

The Oarai Sensha-do team had proven again and again not to be strict adherents to the rules. In fact, they didn't even have any official rules in place so they weren't actually doing anything wrong taking the T-50 from the hangar. Taking it and driving it through town where they drew little or no attention from the other students and locals and then out into what passed for the wilderness on the Zuikaku. They had been this way before when they had found the Tanuki and they took in the shrine of rusted vehicles where they had found it. The tracks from the Automotive Club's pick-up were still there in the dirt.

"We should have tried to recruit more members." Yukari said. "Two 38(t)s would have worked so well together."

"They never got the chance." Erika replied. "But the Tanuki took the shot meant for the Kame against Anzio and that's why we're still here. They did look good together in our training matches though. Us and the 38(t)s."

"We should have tried to recruit more members." Yukari repeated.

"The Student Council gave that presentation and only managed to recruit nineteen."

"If they told them the school's in danger, they'd all show up."

Erika found that hard to believe. "I think they're more likely to start screaming, running around and looting the place."

"Loot what?"

"Good point." Simply by its rarity in Sensha-do their T-50 was one of the school's most valuable assets. And they had found it in a hedge, and on a roof. "I'd rather not have to train a whole new driver though. Or take a bunch of newbies against Kuromorimine."

"They might panic against their firepower." Yukari agreed. "Like Usagi team did against St Gloriana."

"Exactly. And I like driving again."

"We're weaker without a loader."

"We'll make it work. We did before. …I'll miss Jumpsuit though."

"She'll miss driving when she's commanding the beast." Yukari beamed.

If they lost, she wouldn't be commanding it for long.

They ventured onward with Yukari taking the controls. Her gunner was more enthusiastic than skilled at driving but that was only because she had concentrated her efforts on mastering gunnery. She took them up into the hills with many bounces though the suspension proved more than up to the task as always. The engine might have always given them grief but every other aspect of the Soviet machine had impressed Erika. It was a tank that history had not been kind to and the war had cancelled it before it could prove itself; a complicated design full of innovation that had never had the chance to be streamlined into an affordable and effective machine. Unlike the T-34 or Panther which had been given that chance, although the Panther was a far more effective tank in Sensha-do than in combat thanks to being built with modern equipment and quality materials. When they faced Kuromorimine's Panthers they couldn't expect them to reliably breakdown or for their armour to shatter when struck.

It was strange to consider how fond she had become of the Soviet machine. She would still call it a Russian tank to needle Yukari but there was no longer any maliciousness toward the tank itself. No lingering feelings of Kuromorimine superiority. No vengeful stirrings toward Pravda. This was their Oarai tank.

[][][][][][]

Panzers could not get angry. They were certainly beasts but they didn't have emotions. But the drivers could make them emote with what they were feeling; the grinding of gears and the revving of engines. It was impatience and they made the panzers sound like angry bulls.

And yet, they maintained their discipline and they didn't move out until the Captain gave the order.

They had eight Panthers today, three Jagdpanzer IVs, two Tigers IIs, a Panzer III for scouting and the Captain's Tiger. It was more than a little overkill when their opponents had eleven Matildas. Matildas were effective against pre-war and early war tanks with their heavy armour but against the powerful guns of mid and late war machines; they were sitting ducks, especially with their low speed.

And they could see them in the distance. Eleven Matildas, one Churchill, one Cromwell and the tiny silhouettes of two Crusaders. It was on paper an extraordinarily unbalanced match. The desert arena favoured Kuromorimine as well. That was why St Gloriana was pressing hard toward the high ground because if they took it or occupied the reverse slope, Kuromorimine would have to close to a range where the 40mm Matilda guns were effective.

Koume chafed at being tied to the formation. She could have led the Panthers forward and stormed the hill long before St Gloriana arrived and yet, she was stuck with the Tiger IIs that were no faster than the Matildas. She didn't question the Captain though because obviously she knew this. The plan was to take that high ground that dominated this battlefield but the lack of urgency… It frustrated her and she could tell the others as well.

"Panther und Tiger." The Captain's voice came through cool and confident. "Acquire targets on their left flank."

St Gloriana was over two and a half kilometres away so it was an odd order. Her gunner looked at her and Koume nodded at her. "What's she doing?" Chika asked.

"Sending a message." Kagome the loader was quicker on the uptake. "This will rattle their tea cups."

"Steady." Maho's voice came over the radio and they imagined her taking a breath. "Fire."

It was extreme range but St Gloriana was advancing steadily and in the belief they were at least twenty minutes from combat. Even with their Panzers moving to unsteady their aim and their targets being mobile, it was not an impossible shot for a talented gunner. The eleven tanks fired as one and their shells crashed into St Gloriana before they even knew they were being targeted.

Koume peered through her binoculars. They hadn't hit anything but Kagome was right about spilling the tea. The St Gloriana formation had instinctively begun to weave and she could almost hear the counter-order 'Steady in the ranks.' That made them carry on straight once more. In time for Maho to give the order to fire again. The second salvo claimed a Matilda and it was impossible to tell at this range whether it was a 7.5 or 8.8 that got the kill. Another volley followed and another, and another. Three Matildas knocked out.

St Gloriana responded by sending their Cromwell on ahead. At first Koume assumed it would use its smoke launchers and instead it used its speed; throwing up clouds of dust in the desert sand which shielded the St Gloriana force; rendering them completely invisible.

"Tigergruppe will advance to the hill." Maho commanded. "All other units continue." There was no need for her to say that Koume now had command of the majority of their forces. It was a display of confidence in herself and in Koume; the Kuromorimine expectation of excellence.

Kagome sucked her teeth. "Nothing to worry about. We're done."

"A lot could happen." Koume said.

"No." Kagome patted a shell. "The Captain will take the hill, the 8.8s will dominate the field and we'll be the anvil to their hammer."

"Hammer and anvil?" Koume pulled a face. "Is that the best you can come up with?"

"It's a classic for a reason." Kagome shrugged and then grinned at the dust cloud before singing. "Und droh'n vors uns Geschütze, Versteckt im geiben Sand."

The rest of the crew chimed in. "Im geiben Sand! Wir suchen uns Wege, Die keiner sonst fand."

[][][][][][]

Erika was woken from an odd dream. She had been trying to revise for an essential geography exam and couldn't concentrate because Anzu had been hovering over her. Literally hovering as her twintails spun like the rotors of a Chinook helicopter over her head. The strangest part was how a dream about geography of all things frightened her whereas a VTOL Anzu seemed natural.

Just as being woken by the squeal of tank tracks was familiar rather than alarming. She crawled out of the tent and found the Turtle 38(t) waiting for her. Yuzu was wearing one of her comfy sweaters and that certainly looked strange emerging from a 38(t).

"How did you find us?"

Yuzu held up her phone. "We put a tracker in all the tanks." She gave her a reproving look. "They are the school's most precious assets."

"Is that legal?"

"Tracking students or tanks?" Yuzu smiled innocently.

"What do you want?"

"Momo was worried."

"About us or the tank?"

"Both."

"Because you can't afford to lose anyone." Erika shook her head. "And you drove all the way out here for that."

"I felt like it. For the same reason you did. It's nice to drive a tank without worrying about being blasted turning the corner." Yuzu mused and seemed quite genuine. Sometimes Erika forgot that there were joys in Sensha-do and it wasn't just a means to an end. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No." Erika answered and then Yukari emerged from the tent and her long T-shirt overhanging her thighs made it seem like she was wearing nothing else. "It was a warm night."

"I'm not here to judge." Yuzu declared with a grin. "I know what people say about me and Momo."

"The joy of being at an all-girls school." Erika mused dryly.

"What's going on?" Yukari was not awake yet and her lethargy was in stark contrast to her usual puppyish energy.

"Yuzu is checking up on our assets."

Yukari was confused and then realised her state of undress and vanished back into the tent with the haste of a rabbit. A fluffy bunny.

"Believe it or not, that's one of the most naturally talented gunners I've ever known." Erika said, wondering where Oarai fit in the hierarchy of Sensha-do practicing schools. They certainly didn't have the arrogance of the Big Four and their eccentricities weren't yet at the heights of the smaller schools. It was certainly an advantage that no one knew what to make of them.

"Can natural talent overcome massive technological superiority?" Yuzu asked and blushed at the grandiosity of language.

Erika knew she meant Kuromorimine. "They have both. But they also have arrogance. Overconfidence." And something else, although that was a conversation for another time. "It's too early for this; have you had breakfast?"

Yukari emerged dressed for guerrilla warfare and they all had breakfast together with two tanks for company. The two machines complimented each other, looking like cousins despite their separate heritage. Their joint devastation of Pravda's forces had bonded them.

"Why are you really here?" Erika asked Yuzu. "You weren't worried about the tank after just one day. It's not like it's on the bottom of the ocean. What's the real problem?"

Yuzu smiled. "Have you ever considered joining school politics?"

"If we can settle disputes in the boxing ring; sure."

Yuzu grinned and then sighed. "Word's gotten out about what the school is facing. We don't know how and if it was a member of the Sensha-do team, we don't care. It doesn't change anything."

"How's the school reacting?"

"Anzu said we could expect some looting if the school had anything worth looting." It was impossible to tell if Yuzu was serious and it was amusing how she and Yukari had made the same joke just the previous day. "But I think a lot of people knew something was up. There's been rumours floating around for a long time about the school being in trouble and a lot of talk about the government amalgamating schools to save money. The girls just didn't want to put two and two together though."

"What about the townspeople?" Yukari asked, meaning her parents.

"Jamming every form of communication trying to get confirmation and answers." Yuzu answered. "Anzu turned off her phone but Momo's trying to answer them all. It is her job though."

"I'm sure she's having fun." Erika smirked to herself.

"One of the reasons I took the tank was because she asked if we could just drive through town and make proclamations through her megaphone." 'Her megaphone', Erika noted. Not school property but Momo's own personal property. "And to threaten anyone who wanted to start any trouble. I thought a 37mm cannon was a bit excessive for that."

"So maybe she'll take the Panzer IV instead."

"She'll never get Mako-san up at this hour." Yukari said.

"And if she drives herself, she'll demolish a whole street." Erika mused. "That'll look great on her university application."

"That's another issue." Yuzu said vaguely. "There is one advantage to the truth coming out though."

"Fresh recruits?"

"Not quite. Fresh funds. The other clubs have decided to make donations to us."

"Does that actually mean anything?" Erika asked, thinking of the poor state of their clubhouses.

"We'll see. And would fresh recruits mean anything?"

"The Tenuki wouldn't make a difference. Other than to give them something else to shoot at." Erika had had this thought and voiced it so many times. "All we can really hope for is that the Porsche Tiger is finished before the finals and the Automotive Club has the time to get familiar with it. We need that 8.8cm cannon."

"How long are you going to be out here?" Yuzu asked.

"Another day."

"I'll arrange a meeting for the day after. You and the Captain need to hammer out the details for us so we know what we're doing. What we're all doing."

Erika and Yukari watched the 38(t) depart and Yuzu weaved a goodbye to them. It wasn't the fancy driving she had pulled off against Pravda but still impressive within the trees.

"What do I tell my parents when they ask me if I knew our home was in danger?" Yukari asked quietly.

"The truth. You didn't want them to worry. You didn't want them scared that their livelihood depended on the outcome of a high school sports match." Put that way, it sounded utterly ludicrous and not for the first time Erika wondered how legit Anzu's deal was. But worrying about the deal was insane when she had enough to worry about facing Kuromorimine.

"Where do I start?"

"I don't know. Families aren't my strength." Erika admitted ruefully. "Let them ask the questions and answer what you can."

"What if they ask me things I can't answer?"

"… Then tell them you don't know." Erika replied. "You're a gunner! Not a member of the Student Council. Tell them to send a message to Momo." It was too early to deal with all this, especially when they had come out here to get away from it. "Let's move on. See what else is lurking in the schoolship wilderness." She said. "You can drive." She added, just to hear Yukari squeak with excitement.

[][][][][][]

Out of the dust emerged the Cromwell and two Crusaders flanking it. They weren't impressive compared to the Kuromorimine vehicles though they were valiant. They popped smoke for the slower tanks behind them and then they split, the Crusaders going left and right while the Cromwell advanced onward alone.

"All tanks, target the Cromwell." Koume ordered as the two Crusaders would be a waste of time at this range. "Ready." The Cromwell fired a smoke shell at her. "Fire!"

Eleven 7.5cm cannons fired together and Koume felt her heart stop momentarily and then make up for it with a dozen beats in a second. That was just the shock of the noise. What it felt like to be on the receiving end of those eleven shells was far worse and she pitied them, knowing exactly how it felt. If they could penetrate, she doubted there would have been much of the Cromwell remaining. Instead it seemed to wilt as its wheels and treads were shot and blasted away and the hull and turret were left like a face after a three hour prize fight. The flag popping seemed almost ludicrous.

They passed through the smoke from the shell the Cromwell had delivered but beyond it was more dust and smoke with the Crusaders driving more and more of both into the air and Koume knew the Matildas were in there. The Queens of the Desert were slow but at close range, their guns could still harm a Panther in the flanks. One of the Crusaders vanished into its own smoke, heading for the hill and Koume pitied it. A little Crusader coming into the sights of a Tiger and two Tigers IIs was nightmarish by itself even without one of them being the Captain's. The other Crusader swung around and its gun yipped another smoke shell at them.

Koume decided to be informal, just because she could. "Abiko, Kato, Tanaka. Please eliminate that Crusader."

"Yes, Vice-Captain." She heard their surprise as they confirmed her command. They dutifully obeyed it though and three Panther turrets swivelled to target the cruiser tank which began to weave. It meant little to the Kuromorimine gunners. They fired in succession and the first shot missed but the second and third made brutal contact as the Crusader seemed to steer into them. Ten St Gloriana tanks remaining.

"This doesn't seem like St Gloriana." Chika remarked.

"They're not stupid." Kagome replied, meaning that even if smoke shells weren't elegant St Gloriana would still use them to avoid being annihilated at range.

"They must know they can't win." Sora the driver spoke from below.

"That doesn't matter to them." Koume didn't bother to say that St Gloriana had every chance of winning if all they had to do was defeat one flag tank. But how did this wall of dust and smoke translate into a winning strategy?

Koume would have liked to have stopped or at least reduced speed but that was not the Kuromorimine way. Not the Nishizumi Style. They did not yield. They ploughed on, sacrificing their advantage in range and the St Gloriana Matildas emerged from the smoke and dust barely three hundred metres from them; and closing.

"Take your immediate targets!" She commanded, meaning those directly in front of them. "Ready!" The Matildas fired first and they felt one shell strike their glacis plate. "Fire!"

Everything became chaos then or at least as chaotic as the slow-moving Matildas, heavy Panthers and clumsy Jagdpanzers could be. The dust was thick from all their treads, the smoke from launchers was not shifting and now the guns kicked up even more debris along with gouts of smoke.

From within her cupola, Koume's view was restricted and she had a vague impression of them passing between two Matildas and she thought she glimpsed the larger bulk of the Churchill but it could easily have been another Panther accelerating past. In this cloud, in a melee like this, it was impossible to exercise any kind of control. They weren't at a disadvantage though because St Gloriana was like them in many respects. They did not thrive in chaos like Continuation High. This kind of fighting put them at as much of a disadvantage as Kuromorimine.

"Find me a target!" Chika couldn't keep calm or professional in this situation.

"I can't see anything!" Sora snapped back and then slewed the Panther.

"Eleven o'clock!" Koume could see the distinct silhouette of a Matilda. The turret turned, the cannon steadied and then Chika fired. The shot clipped the turret and the spent shell was ejected from the breech and Kagome drove a fresh shell home with her gloved fist.

"Ready!"

"Fire!" Koume commanded and this time Chika struck home and Koume was already seeking her another target.

[][][][][][]

Erika wondered how many times they had all met in this room. They had come a long way from their earliest meeting when they had made Miho Captain while preparing for their exhibition match against St Gloriana. She had been moodier then, she thought, though no less angry. She had had a few cathartic experiences recently that meant sitting in a meeting planning action against Kuromorimine didn't bother her as much as she had thought it would.

Cathartic experiences like having strangled the insane architect of their even more insane plan. Having throttled Anzu, Erika was in a much better frame of mind for discussing how to fight her former school. Although, she did feel guilty that Anzu was still wearing a scarf to hide her bruises. Anzu had a sore neck while Erika's hand still hadn't fully recovered from hammering it into Anzu's desk.

It was a very simple equation. Kuromorimine would have twenty tanks while Oarai could muster eight. Eight.

"They'll bring out the biggest and most powerful vehicles they have." Erika mused aloud. "Tiger IIs, Jagdpanther, Elefanten… Jagdtiger…"

"They wouldn't do that just for us, would they?" Yuzu wilted in the face of the threatening German names.

"It doesn't matter who they're facing." Miho explained. "It's the finals. They have to bring out the biggest and best."

"And they have a point to prove for these finals." Erika said. "They have to remind themselves who they are. They have to remind everyone else who they are. They have to show off their best hardware so everyone knows they have the best hardware. So even if they wanted to come at us with a fleet of Panthers and Tigers, they have to bring out the monster tank destroyers. Even if a 12.8cm cannon is overkill against a Type 89."

"Big." Yuzu said dumbly while Yukari made an inappropriately orgasmic sound at the prospect of seeing one in action in person; even if it was shooting at her.

"But tank destroyers don't have turrets, so if we disable them, they can't shoot at us!" Anzu declared happily, as if it was that simple to take on such heavy vehicles and to disable their ability to move.

"You have to get close enough for that. And they can hit us from two kilometres. Just to start things up."

"That's bad." Yuzu said.

"And even at point-blank, the Type 89 and 38(t) could barely scratch the wheels of some of those big boys."

"That's bad."

"And Kuromorimine tanks are crewed by girls who have been training in tanks since elementary school or younger, and belong to families with mothers who also practiced Sensha-do."

"That's bad."

"And-"

"I think they get the point, Eririn." Miho interjected. "And you're leaving out that we have a huge advantage."

"We do?" Erika asked.

"We are Kuromorimine."

Erika stared at her. Everyone did. A resolute Miho was not something they were used to and so they stared. It was an unlikely statement from Miho after all she had done to get away from Kuromorimine but it was also the truth. They could never get away from their time at Kuromorimine. They had been ingrained with a way of thinking and they could not escape it. Which meant they knew what Kuromorimine would do and how they thought better than anyone. "We are predictable."

"We know what they'll do." Miho said and Erika knew who she meant by both 'we' and 'they'. "They'll come at us and they'll keep coming, and coming. They won't stop. They won't try any fancy manoeuvres. They'll mass their firepower and throw it at us."

"So we can trip them up." Erika mused and then explained to the blank faces. "We use the StuG. A shot from cover in the flanks; they could knock out a Big Cat. Or disable it at least. If they just fire the one shot and stay hidden, they won't face retaliation. Like a sniper."

"And if they do retaliate?" Momo inquired.

"Snipers have spotters." Erika replied. "Our T-50 could be on a couple of hunting Panthers before they knew what hit them. But I don't think they would. Kuromorimine doesn't allow for distractions. If they spot the StuG, they'll either blast it into the sky or just scare it away and leave it behind while they pursue the rest of us."

"These big, heavy tanks… They use a lot fuel, yes?" Momo asked with a glint in her monocle.

"They're thirsty beasts." Erika confirmed.

"Couldn't we just drive around until they run dry?"

"If they figured out that's what we were doing, they would hunt us down with their more mobile vehicles." Miho answered.

"Pin us in place and then bring up the big guns." Erika confirmed. "But endurance is on our side. A Tiger II will break its wheels and steering under its own weight easily enough. So will an Elefant. Though… We shouldn't rely on that. Sensha-do vehicles are well-made so you can't rely on them to breakdown like the originals did. One or two maybe… Which just leaves eighteen to deal with…"

"Sometimes I think you're a Kuromorimine sleeper agent." Anzu remarked with a wave of a sweet potato chip. "Here to demoralise us."

"I'm just presenting the facts." Erika shrugged. "How about you tell us what good news there is?"

"I'll do that." Yuzu raised her hand. "The other clubs have given us a sizeable donation. Momo-chan and I have decided it would be best to repair and upgrade our existing tanks with the funds. And definitely to ensure the big tank will-" As if speaking of the Devil, Yuzu's phone chimed. "Forgive me." She said and answered it. Whoever was on the other end was brief. "Understood." With full decorum she put her phone away and then with none whatsoever she raised her fists into the air. "THEY'VE FIXED IT!"

[][][][][][]

Erika had seen a Porsche Tiger before and she had thought it looked like a boxy Germanic version of the more commonly seen Soviet IS-2. The turret placed forward on the chassis and the long gun overhanging the ground really did look Soviet. But the Porsche Tiger she had seen in the past hadn't spent a couple of decades in pieces in a hold before being put back together by a team of eccentrics who had a questionable grasp on reality and only a vague idea of what exactly it was they were building. This Porsche Tiger's gearbox sounded like coins being dropped through a meat grinder and there was a cloud emanating from it that certainly wasn't exhaust.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Yukari gushed, oblivious of Miho and the Student Council staring aghast at Oarai's 'secret weapon'. Miho was somehow surprised by this latest representation of Oarai's scrappy fleet when at this point Erika would have thought she would have seen it all. At this moment the Porsche Tiger decided to showcase its design flaws by digging itself into the soft ground. This exacerbated its already bad overheating issues so that the cloud coming from its rear turned black, and then in a cheerful call-back to their first practice match, a gout of flame exploded from the engine just like her T-50. "Unfortunately, it tends to break down easily." Yukari said happily, as the beast became silent and burned in the grave it had dug for itself. At least it was tidy.

Nakajima popped out of the cupola and cheerfully announced. "Ah crap… There it goes again…" And Erika couldn't tell if she meant the Porsche Tiger or just her general experience of tank engines after her time in the T-50. "Hey, Hoshino!" Nakajima called down into the belly of the beast with worryingly little concern. "Pass me the fire extinguisher."

"I don't know if we can call that a tank." Anzu declared and her twin tails seemed to droop.

"Hey!" Yukari squeaked, making Miho flinch. "The chassis might be prone to breakdown, but the power of the 8.8cm is stellar!" She made this declaration with her back and arms straight which Erika found oddly adorable compared to the slumped shoulders of the Student Council. It didn't help that Nakajima used the fire extinguisher while chiding the burning engine like someone telling off their dog or toddler. Oarai's 'Tiger' was not the superweapon they had convinced themselves it would be.

"No, stop it! Stop it now!" Nakajima told the Porsche Tiger engine as the fire threatened to reignite.

"I remember when she used to talk to our tank that way." Erika remarked to Yukari. "But she doesn't have a few months to charm this one into submission."

"There's four of them though." Yukari beamed.

"True." Four wrench-wenches with their own personal metal monster to hammer into shape.

Yuzu was not convinced. "Maybe we can improve our other tanks…"

[][][][][][]

A melee involving tanks like Matildas and Panthers was always going to be chaotic but the dust thrown up by their treads created a boiling cauldron in which large dark shapes flitted. While it might have been easy to recognise the difference in profile between the British and German tanks, ensuring their gun was lined up to target one when they identified it was much harder.

Making it worse was the constant of reports over the radio which made no sense as without a point of reference; directions meant nothing. They seemed to be winning however as commanders reported kills more often than they reported being knocked out.

"I hate sand." Sora declared as she made them lurch forward.

"Dead ahead!" Koume reported.

"Ich sehe ihn!" Chika was very loud in the confines of the turret.

"Clear!" Kagome drew well back from the breech.

The Matilda had unwittingly presented its broadside to the Panther and stood no chance. The impact at close range lifted the vehicle up, it tottered, and then slammed back down in place.

"Sehr gut." Koume mused, looking around and seeing nothing in all directions but swirling dust. "All panzers, report!"

The active machines sounded off while they drove clear of the dust cloud. Koume had read about how during World War Two, pilots who were dogfighting would finally take down their opponent and find themselves alone in a sky that had previously been filled with aircraft. Their personal fight had carried them far away from the action. It seemed that way for her now. Sora swung them about so they could look back into the maelstrom of dust. It seemed to be settling now which meant either the fight was over or the remaining Kuromorimine and St Gloriana machines were separated from one another. When the visibility cleared, it would favour the German tanks.

She spotted a pair of Jagdpanzers that seemed to be huddling together for protection. That or they were completely unaware of each other which was entirely possible. The melee was over and an unnerving silence had fallen. It wasn't a true silence as the rumbling of panzer motors was all around although that actually contributed significantly to the ominousness. Sora took them over to the Jagdpanzers without being told, a natural instinct to be part of a unit after all their training.

Koume couldn't help but smile. She was literally waiting for the dust to settle. She had lost three out of eight Panthers but none of Jagdpanzers and as that dust did settle, it revealed a diorama of beaten Matildas. She counted them off; eleven Matildas, one Crusader and one Cromwell, for the price of three Panthers. That left one Crusader and the Churchill. There was only place they could be.

"Captain-"

"Maintain position." The voice came back absolutely impassive. "I will take care of this."

[][][][][][]

They had all gotten pretty good at maintaining their own vehicles and the fresh injection of funds from the other clubs meant a heap of replacement parts for their battered vehicles. When the club had initially been resurrected, it had been necessary to replace components on the more weathered machines. The StuG had been at the bottom of a pond after all and so a lot of the budget had gone to making it operational which had meant replacing the parts completely ruined by the water. The Type 89 in its cave had been the best preserved while the tanks that had been found left exposed to nature and the air had been salvageable mostly with lubricants and anti-corrosives. The T-50's engine had ultimately needed completely replacing while the other tanks were still using decades old engines. The same went for components and now they replaced the most worn with shiny new parts straight from the factory.

Erika sat on the T-50 and watched a proud Anzu showing off the biggest purchase. She had to commend the little blister for her ingenuity. The 38(t) was their second weakest tank, ideal for reconnaissance and fighting other light tanks and certainly not suited for battling mid and late-war designs in open combat. It was ingenuity for them to have decided to upgrade the little panzer into a little tank destroyer; a Jagdpanzer 38.

It was ridiculously appropriate to turn a cute little 38(t) into a cute little Jagdpanzer 38. At sixteen tons, it was lighter than the StuG and most medium tanks and its sloped armour made it look very small. But cute as it was, it had a very vicious bite in the form of its 7.5cm Pak 39. It was a matter of savage debate whether the 39 on a Jagdpanzer 38 was more or less powerful than the 7.5cm Kampfwagenkanone 40 used on StuG III Fs and Panzer IVs. Erika had seen data proving both and she honestly thought that the actual difference was so slight it didn't matter anyway; it was a powerful gun. Far more powerful than the 37mm of a 38(t). With one sound investment, they had drastically improved the firepower of Oarai's fleet.

It was also, in keeping with Oarai's vehicles, a flawed vehicle. The gun was off-set to the right which unbalanced the machine and Yuzu would have to learn to compensate for this. The gun had a limited traverse as well, making it necessary for Yuzu to aim the vehicle for whoever was in the gunner's seat. As a tank destroyer, its weak side and rear armour meant little because if it was flanked; there wasn't much it could have done anyway. The other prime weakness of the original machine, a tendency to break its drive wheels and leaf springs due to its weight being much more than the original 38(t) was not really an issue for a Sensha-do replica built of high quality materials. It might still happen but it wasn't very likely.

As a Sensha-do vehicle, it wouldn't be hard to perform the conversion. Sensha-do tanks were designed to be upgraded and degraded so that a Panzer IV A could evolve to a Panzer IV J and back with only basic tools. The Student Council could do it themselves. The Automotive Club was still battling their new machine which very much had its own ideas about what could and could not be asked of it. They spoke to it like a difficult child and it didn't respond with tantrums but instead acts of passive-aggression. They would fix its transmission and it would respond by having its motors burn out. When they fixed the motors, the fuel intake would clog. Somehow, they remained patient. Erika would have given it a good thrashing by this point.

Yukari leapt up beside her in happy puppy mode. "Magnificent, isn't it?" She asked, meaning the new Jagdpanzer 38.

"Ideal for us." Erika replied. "I said we could use the StuG to trip up Kuromorimine but a Hetzer would do it better." She enjoyed the look on Yukari's face. "Don't you like the name?"

"It's anachronistic." Yukari grumbled.

"It's not an authentic Jagdpanzer; it's a sports replica."

"Still." Yukari protested.

"Relax, Fluffy. Enjoy the fact we've got some more serious firepower on our side."

"I like the 38(t)."

"We still have the Tanuki."

Yukari looked over at it. It was sat beside the soon to be modified Turtle. "I wish we had more people." She expressed the wish again.

"That would be useful." Having a crew for the Tanuki or even just one more person to help with the T-50 would be invaluable. But it seemed that a big injection of cash was the most they were going to get in support. It was a little too late to start training people from scratch and they would be a liability more than anything else against the top-tier crews Kuromorimine would be bringing to the match. With so many girls in the Kuromorimine Sensha-do team, they would be desperate to prove their worth to be in the finals. Kuromorimine could have easily brought twice as many tanks and crew to the finals as permitted while Oarai couldn't bring half.

"We'll make do." Yukari said happily and didn't flinch at the loud bang that came from the direction of the Porsche Tiger. "I'm so glad we have an 8.8cm now!"

"I'm still annoyed we could have had the Type 3 in our exhibition match against Gloriana." Erika replied, looking over at where Momoga, Nekota and Piyotan were giving the barrel of their 75mm a good clean. Erika wasn't concerned about their firepower but rather that their tank might start waltzing again as it had against Maginot. Kuromorimine wouldn't find that baffling, they would just blow it away. "If we had the Type 3 and the long gun on the Panzer IV, we could have won that match."

"It wouldn't have worked properly then instead." Yukari meant the Type 3. "But Nishizumi-dono could have defeated the Churchill easily."

"Not so easily." St Gloriana would have adjusted their tactics accordingly had they faced two 7.5cm cannons instead of just the one. She doubted they would have overly concerned about the 75mm of the Type 3 though. As Type 3s weren't a prominent tank in high school Sensha-do, they wouldn't have been given much thought. But if Oarai had defeated St Gloriana in their exhibition match, Saunders would not have been so cocky. Even with their cheating, they would have been more cautious and Miho wouldn't have been able to spring her traps. "So many things could have been different. But here we are…" She took a deep breath. "I really think we've done everything we can."

Yukari gave her a startled look and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Nakajima came over to prove a distraction having apparently decided her girls could handle the latest Porsche Tiger fire by themselves.

"How is our boy?" She asked, meaning the T-50.

"Tamed. How's your beast?"

"He's being a little difficult today." Nakajima waved her hand dismissively while behind her a fresh belch of smoke emanated from the Porsche Tiger. "It's just teething troubles."

"You know it's a panzer, right? Not a baby?"

"It's our baby." Nakajima said happily. "And we'll get it to perform when the time comes."

"I hope so. I'd hate for you to have put in all that work for it to cough and die five minutes in."

"Wow, you almost sound like you… Care about my feelings, Itsumi."

"I wouldn't go that far, Jumpsuit." Erika replied and the two girls smirked at each other. Erika wondered if she would ever forgive her for strangling Anzu. Perhaps she would, but they would never have the same relationship they had forged during the Saunders and Anzio matches.

"Are you ready?" Erika hadn't heard Erwin approach and she was addressing Yukari.

"What are you doing?" Erika asked.

"We're going to go have something to eat and talk about Kuromorimine's line up!" Yukari gushed. "All those amazing German tanks and tank destroyers!"

Erika nodded a few times and then rubbed at her eyes, alarming Yukari.

"What is it?"

Erika sniffed. "My little gunner's all grown up and going on her first date." She said huskily.

Erwin smirked while Yukari flushed bright red from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. "It's not a date!" She squeaked.

"I expect her back at a decent hour." Erika told Erwin. "And no funny business."

"Jawohl, Oberleutnant." Erwin saluted with her cap.

"It's not a date!" Yukari protested again.

"Have fun." Erika patted her on the shoulder.

"It's not a date..." Yukari insisted weakly and then Erwin took hold of her hand and she let herself be meekly led away.

Erika waited. Waited until they were at the hangar door and then roared after them. "DON'T GET HER PREGNANT!"

The entire club looked around at her and then at Yukari who had squatted down in the doorway in embarrassment while Erwin continued to hold her hand, and patted her on the head a few times before pulling her to her feet. The last she saw of Yukari, she was leaning on Erwin's shoulder for support.

"That was mean." Nakajima's grin was huge.

"Yeah. It was." As was her own.

[][][][][][]

St Gloriana had taken too much of a blunt approach. They were proud to say that they did not fight in a 'vulgar' manner but that didn't mean they were suicidal; they knew that in a direct confrontation, Kuromorimine held every advantage. Even with dust and smoke to cover them, it was still weighted heavily in the favour of the German machines.

Maho watched that struggle from above. She could recognise the vehicles by their profiles, even through the fog of war, but she couldn't do anything with that ability. She couldn't recognise individual tanks so she couldn't tell them when they were being targeted or were positioned to eliminate an opponent. She had a God's eye view but she was powerless to intervene. At least until the dust settled and if anything had survived; she had three 8.8cm cannons to alter that.

It was a trap. Obviously, it was a trap. Darjeeling wanted her to look in one direction while she made her move in another. The question was where. As she had already vanished from Maho's view, she was somewhere below her vantage point and that left a whole lot ridge to cover. She ordered the two Tiger IIs to the rear so the Tigergruppe formed a triangle which covered a lot of ground and each other. The only weakness was the slow traverse of their respective turrets and that they couldn't turn off their engines to listen. When the attack came, they had to be ready and the risk of an engine failing to start was too great.

When the attack came, it was a genuine surprise to her. After all, it took a particular breed of maniac to drive a tank so fast up a slope that it left the ground when it reached the top and a rare breed indeed to attack a Tiger II while in a tank with an average armour thickness of less than 20mm. It was a ludicrous sight and yet it was happening before her eyes. The Crusader sent a shell clanging off Tiger II Unit 3, dodged a shot from it and then dodged another shell fired by Tiger II Unit 2. It was difficult to maintain her stoicism when every instinct told her to laugh but she had years of practice. She also had a mission to complete.

Let the kitties play with the mouse. She could feel where her opponent was.

"Left turn. Now." She commanded.

The Tiger growled in place, treads churning the dirt to swing them around and Maho felt the hot exhaust blown onto her neck by the wind.

"Halt."

It should have been a perfect moment. The Churchill had climbed an impossibly steep slope, impossible to all but a Churchill. That was their perfect moment. But Maho had sensed what was happening and turned her panzer to face the threat. That should have been her perfect moment. Instead the St Gloriana driver held her nerve at finding herself looking down the barrel of a Tiger cannon and swung just as it fired. The Kuromorimine shell bounced off the Churchill's mantlet while the St Gloriana gunner's aim was thrown off by the evasive action, cracking off the Tiger's frontal armour. It made the two commanders impotent as their loaders scrambled to reload and the two big, heavy tanks sat and growled motionlessly at each other. Neither was agile enough to make trying to manoeuvre at this range worthwhile.

The St Gloriana loader proved faster and Maho's heart paused as the 75mm British gun fired. She felt the shell hit the Tiger and by the feel of the metal beneath her fingers she knew it was not a mortal blow. They had missed their aim and the shell ricocheted. Her own gunner fired and the Tiger roared in its opponent's face.

Maho climbed out of the cupola and waited. After a minute she saw the hatch on the Churchill open and Darjeeling emerged. She had taken a moment to compose herself and the final blow had spilt her tea it seemed as there was a damp patch on her uniform that few would have noticed. She held herself perfectly with a serene smile upon her face. Not a practiced mask but a genuine expression of warmth. She raised her left hand and waved. It left the only action for Maho to take to be a salute which she gave with genuine respect to a worthy and honourable opponent. An opponent whose smile changed ever so slightly to include pity and Maho inclined her head in recognition as she dropped her arm. Darjeeling knew what Maho's next mission entailed.

[][][][][][]

There was something deeply frustrating about Anzu proving to be an excellent gunner. After watching Momo scatter shells all over the range, seeing Anzu delivering the shells from the Turtle's new gun straight into the target grated on Erika's nerves. But then, her habit of referring to it as the Hetzer rather than the Jagdpanzer 38 grated on Yukari's nerves. It was good to know though that the conversion of the 38(t) into a Jagdpanzer had gone ahead smoothly because the Porsche Tiger, newly dubbed the Leopon, was continuing to cause them grief. The Automotive Club were learning how to treat the vehicle, much like Kuromorimine drivers learned how not to stress the engines of their Tigers, but it was a difficult and slow process. There was a lot of literature written about the temperament of a Tiger but not so much about the Porsche Tiger. They loved it though. Every fire and component failure was a learning experience.

Though they were primarily concerned about whether it was possible to make a sixty ton vehicle drift. Physics be damned.

With what funds were left over after fixing up the other tanks and converting the 38(t), they had had enough to turn the Panzer IV from an F2 into an H. Compared to its Kuromorimine kameraden, a Panzer IV H was nothing special but with its additional armour, it looked reassuringly solid. What Erika found interesting was that it meant their commander had the one tank in the Oarai line-up that wasn't flawed in some way. It was a Panzer IV H; an all-round good medium tank. A workhorse. No fussy engine, no unbalanced armour to firepower and no famous defect.

The rest of their vehicles were as prepared as they could be. The only thing that could make them better were more experienced crews and the only way the Oarai girls could get more experience were more proper matches. Experience was the one thing they couldn't be gifted or purchase.

Hana meanwhile had provided a welcome break from tanks and the tournament and the whole crushing weight of having the fate of the school on their heads. Their home port was opening an Ikebana exhibition on the weekend and Hana had entered a piece. While Erika tried to avoid associating with flowers due to the damn song that followed her everywhere, it would be a welcome distraction. And besides, as they had all come to support her singing, regardless of whether she had wanted them to know about it, it was only fair to support Hana.

In the event though, she overslept. There were few things in life quite as pleasant as lying in bed knowing you didn't have to get up to go to school, even if your school was a relaxed and calm place unlike the cold showers and roared summons to breakfast of Kuromorimine. That comfort made her forget all about her plans for the day.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She shifted in her dozing state. Saturday was a sweet relief. No hours spent in the sweat box of the T-50 or hauling pieces of heavy metal around and calling it 'light maintenance'. She would have to go to work this evening but that was hardly effort. A few cutting remarks were enough to put down rowdy patrons. No need to actually pick them up and throw them out.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Erika cracked open an eye and suspicion shone from that blue sliver. She waited, and sang along in her head and then just when she expected it; there it was.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Erika!"

She groaned and curled up into a ball, clutching her quilt tight around but it was a futile shield against the onslaught of her fluffy gunner.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Erika!" This time more than one voice sang it and it was enough to break her lethargy and make her spring to do the door before another refrain could play out.

"I hate all of you." She declared as she opened the door.

Miho and Saori looked utterly scandalised that she would answer the door in nothing but her underwear. Yukari however had already taken a childish delight in singing the song and now seemed to grin with pleasure to look upon her commander's treasures.

They were patient as she dressed and made herself presentable. It was after all a big deal to Hana and she couldn't just show up looking like she had just rolled out of bed, unlike their early morning Sensha-do practices where most of them looked as if they had been dragged through a hedge. Backwards.

Erika couldn't say that art appreciation had featured heavily in her life. Her parents had certainly liked to visit galleries but it had always been about being seen to be visiting them, to look cultured and respectable, rather than to actually look at the art. Flowers were different though. Simply walking into the centre created an impact.

"The sweet scent of flowers!" Saori gushed.

"This is wonderful!" Miho enthused along with her.

"It's a nice change from all that iron and oil we usually get to smell." Yukari and mused and then caught Erika's eye. "What? Variety is the spice of life." She declared.

"I just never thought there was anything about tanks you might get bored of." Erika said. "I even heard you say 'I love the smell of iron and oil in the morning'."

"I was doing a bit!" Yukari protested.

It was hard to judge flower arrangements because Erika didn't know how she was supposed to judge them. Was it literally how they were arranged, the use of colour or how their aromas combined? All of the above? It was at least obvious to her which was Hana's arrangement. She had used a vase shaped like a tank chassis.

Her arrangement was a riot of orange and yellow and white with a green backing and whether intentional or not, it resembled a turret being blown off a tank by the ammunition and fuel cooking off in an immense explosion. It was certainly striking and unexpected because despite being a gunner, Erika couldn't say she had ever seen Hana express a violent thought.

And dressed traditionally with her long hair tied up with a flower arranged in it, Hana looked like the gentlest soul in the world. "Thank you for coming." She said formally.

"It's wonderful!" Miho spoke for them. "It feels like it's both strong and gentle." She said, reminding Erika of her parents' art criticism, except Miho meant what she was saying. "Just like you, Hana."

Hana was delighted and beamed most radiantly. But as always she was humble. "You're the ones who inspired me." She declared, and then became alarmed as they stared beyond her.

Hana hadn't talked about her living situation or family in a long time. Hana had always been a self-sufficient person and so she had not bothered anyone with her problems as the bigger problems of Oarai had mounted. She had more discipline than Erika in that regard; she didn't let her home life influence her school life.

So none of them were expecting to see Hana's mother. Least of all Hana it seemed. Erika could not remember the last time she had seen Hana lose her poise.

"That's probably true." Mother Isuzu declared, referring to the source of Hana's inspiration. "Her flower arrangements were orderly, but lacked individuality and creativity." She told them and the tone was familiar to Erika, and Miho. Now she addressed Hana. "It might be Sensha-do that inspired you to put together this bold, powerful piece." It sounded grudging because no parent liked to admit to their child they were wrong. It was an apology.

A shock to Hana. "…Mother-sama?"

"It's no longer our family's style." This also sounded critical but then the final barrier of an adult conceding to a child that they were wrong came down. "You broke new ground for yourself."

To Erika it didn't mean much but she was not an artist. To Hana, it meant the world. "Thank you!" She spoke formally but she had lit up bright; all her normal stoicism gone.

"You really surprised me with that tank-shaped vase." Mother Isuzu remarked with something approaching humour and Hana began to tell her that it was a custom order which astonished her mother who couldn't imagine anyone who would be willing to make such an unlikely creation.

After this it was impolite to listen in and they turned their attention to the displays. Hana's was the most striking arrangement Erika thought and while Miho and Saori continued to squee over them all, nothing else stood out to her.

"I feel I'm supposed to be inspired." She remarked to Yukari who was trying to understand an arrangement of flowers shaped like one big flower. "Hana reconciles with her mother… I should be thinking about my mother…"

"Are you?"

"My mother would rather run naked through the streets of Tokyo than admit she was wrong about something." Erika replied. "And my father? He would be running right there with her." She narrowed her eyes. "Or away from her…"

"That sounds…" Yukari tried to think of something tactful to say, and couldn't. So Erika patted her on the head.

"My mother isn't going to come and tell me she's sorry she said I ruined my face. And I'm not going to reach out to her. To hell with that. Which proves one thing."

"You're both as stubborn as each other?"

"Exactly, Fluffy. Isn't that cute?"

"Are you okay?" Yukari asked softly.

"If we lose the finals, and Oarai is shut down… I'll have to transfer schools again. Oarai didn't pay too much attention to the paperwork but another school will so I'll have to talk to my family if I want the papers signed. Or I can sign them myself again and get in a world of trouble…" Erika shook her head. "There's a lot I don't want to have to do, but crawling back to my mother is top of the list. And that's terrible motivation for what we have to do."

"What would you prefer to fight for?"

"I don't know. All the reasons seem… Fighting to avoid my parents? Fighting for the school's survival? Fighting to humble my old Kuromorimine comrades?" She glanced at Miho who was smiling as Saori pushed Mako at an arrangement that looked like a grumpy cat's face. The resemblance between it and Mako was uncanny. "Fighting to show Miho's mother that her way is not the only way."

"Don't you want to fight for Oarai?"

"Of course I do. But don't you wish we were fighting just to win? That it wasn't about high stakes with the hopes of hundreds of students on our shoulders?"

Yukari shrugged. "It wouldn't be as exciting."

"You love Sensha-do for Sensha-do. So don't you wish it was just about Sensha-do? Not politics."

"I'm only able to practice Sensha-do because of the politics." Yukari shrugged again and then dropped her voice. "I know I shouldn't say it but if it wasn't for the politics, I'd never have had the opportunity. And because I got the opportunity, now I want to fight for the school!"

"Maybe I'm just tired." Erika mused and took in an arrangement that after a few moments she realised depicted the turn of the seasons, pink for spring, gold for summer, brown for autumn and white for winter. "But at least it'll be over soon. The wheel stops turning when we go to the finals." She looked around and saw Hana was still talking to her mother. Speaking animatedly to her. "And we've all come a long way."

[][][][][][]

"Isn't it excessive?"

"Yes."

"So why?"

"Because it is necessary."

"But it's… It's appalling!"

"It was not my decision."

"But you're the Captain!"

"It was not my decision. But we will incorporate it into our plans. We will resurrect the monster."

She was joking. The Captain had made a joke. Koume felt a shiver down her spine for all that this meant.

(9,657)

Author's Notes;

Ugh…
When I posted the last chapter, I was not in a good place. And then it got worse. I had an allergic reaction to a skin cream which opened bleeding sores on my skin. I spent two weeks in agony and then I went back to work. After an hour back at work, I realised I was happier when I was in agony. I decided to stick it out but my workplace… I gave my notice a week later. You shouldn't be happier when you're at home numbing yourself with ice-cold showers because your skin is burning than when you're at a job. That was March and most of April.

So I'm taking a break from employment. I've spent the past two weeks just doing… Nothing. Nothing but stuff for me. Which has involved enjoying writing again. I have three projects on the go at the moment and I can shift between them depending on my moods.

This chapter wasn't easy to write. You'd think that with the events of the Gloriana-Kuromorimine match already laid out for me; that would be straightforward. Not so. Interspersing it with scenes from Oarai's final prep that only takes about five minutes of screen time probably feels like padding. But it brings us to the finals.