kapitanwingter

[kapitanwingter]

wish I could draw...which I can’t...

[kapitanwingter]

The Search Bar

So this is something that kind of bothered me about tumblr first. The search bar didn't work for some time.

The reason behind it as it turned out after contacting with support for information that it only starts to work after like a day or two (they said it takes some time which turned out to be two days)

So as for a disclaimer for everybody: Search bar will work, organize your tags from start, be patient.

-Winged

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 7 - Ganbaru, Tami!

"Ötvös Tamara reporting for duty ma'am!" I said as I saluted after entering the room.

Lili giggled and Emese said laughingly "At ease, soldier, this is not the navy".

I lowered my hand and stood there confusingly.

"Come, sit" she said.

I did so and took my hat off and put it on the desk around which we sat down. The Sun was almost down so Lili switched on the lights and I saw some documents on the table of different tanks, formations and also some boring paperwork like papers.

"First of all" started Emese "You're one of us, remember that. You're not obliged to act so formally all the time, right?" she smiled "I'll let the others thing whatever the heck they want, I believe you'll proove me right, I'm putting my trust in ya"

"I...I don't think you chose right.." I said while looking at my lap.

"Well nobody's forcing you" said Lili "But you know...you became a celebirity over just an afternoon. You did the Tas, right? Sensha-dou is not only about maps and tactics. What good Guderian would've been without knowing his tanks? You understood the soul of your tank, that's what matters to us, everyone else came here without knowing a thing about them including us so it was a long struggle for everybody yet you menaged to lead your crew to land a shot while moving. Not everybody can do that y'know"

"You girls praising me and all..."

"Anyhow I look at it we need a third commander in our forces "said Emese" and you just came barging in the door like a you-know-nothing and by the next day the girls under your command act like half pros - even though they are indeed talented - so give some credits to yourself" she winked.

"Thanks you two. But please don't raise me in such heights, we mustn't get arrogant" I said simlingly looking at them.

They nodded.

"Anyways" starte Emese "We I did not call you here solely to talk about our skills. there's that coming up again"

"That?" I asked.

"Annual national high school sensha-dou tournament" said Lili.

"Oh...I read about it"

"At any rate" continued the Captain "We're all set for it. Yeah yeah I asked for thirty tanks but we only need twenty whatevs...if you're doing something do it in the right way, right? We opening ceremony and the number drawing will be in three weeks and after that a match every sunday"

"Already?!" raised Lili her voice.

"Aye"

"Three weeks to prepare..." I said.

"We'll have to use our priviliges and take out the afternoons for training" said Lili.

"That's why the student council joined...at least one of the reasons..." said Emese in a very serious tone.

Lili and I looked at each other suspiciously.

Emese sighed "I'm gonna be frank with you guys, the sensha-dou club will be disbanded if we don't perform well"

"Outrageous!" said Lili.

"We just only joined!" I replied.

"How could they do this to us?!"

"Who dares do this to the best club?!"

"I'll go show them who to disba"

"Both of you please stay calm!" ordered us Emese.

We again looked at each other and then down on the ground.

"Nothing is lost yet" she calmed us "I said we need to perform well, that's all they care about. It could very well might be that we'll be against Kuromorimine on our first match but if we put up a good show and make them sweat they will regain their trust in us. This is the will of the MEXT [Japanese education ministry], not the school's since our club is state founded because of our great successes in the distant past. 'Hast thou became slothful' as I heard once. It would appear that we did"

A metaphorical black hood ascended on the room.

"Well girls" jumped up from her chair Emese "We've got work to do aren't we? We just have to show them once and they will believe us forever, are you with me?!"

"Yeah!!" we yelled.

  We decided that we will hold the strategy meetings with the tanks' commanders after we know our first opponent, every day after the club class. That's all we did to start to organize our situation. Said our goodbyes and called it a day finally. They went out the front door but I realized I left my phone in the tank so I headed there.

The great surprise - if I can call it that - happened then. The crew of Turul was sitting on or around her.

"So" asked Reiko as she jumped down from the hull "What up?"

"You girls waited for me..." I said as toughly as I could while trying to suprsess a tear drop.

"Of course" said Jitsuko"

"We'd follow our Commander to the edge and beyond" said Aoi.

"I'm so wreckt..." said Eimi "Let's go eat something"

I nodded

  Funny how we only had known each other for two days and we already acted like friends for decades. What they say about this sport could be true, it really does unite people through fighting against or with each other. Not only that but I've never met such people like them, even though I knew them little I felt like trusting them with my life. Could it be God who had us met this way? Was it fate which assembled the Turul crew? Even though I don't believe in magic sometimes I feel like overriding my beliefs. From time to time things seem too coincidential to be regarded like that. Maybe luck really does exist and I felt like exhausting it for the next years. That's a chance I took.

On the other hand due to my new lack of luck I could be ran over by a bus any time...

Oh well stuff happen. Stuff like how Aoi, Jitsuko and I didn't know a thing about this place. I mean I only arrived a couple of days ago and if I wasn't lazily laying in my bed I was busy with school stuff. I thought I could discover the city in the weekend but nope, sensha-dou happened - not that I'm complaining.

The others led us to some ramen restaurant. It turned out they had known each other. They attended the basketball club for a little while but with the exception of Fusako they all stopped because they didn't like it.

We get to know a lot of things about each other.

Eimi came from way up north from a little village and she has two little sisters who always caused trouble for her so she heard of this school and came alone. She lives near to my place under the same conditions. She is really into cars and she had been in the automotive club ever since she could join but stopped doing it because sensha-dou started to get her attention even more year by year and when she heard that this club was slowly disappearing she decided she would do her part in resurrecting this club. Even though she doesn't have a license the automotive club has their own racetrack at the other end of the ship so she could hone her skills there and if I do say so myself she is really talented at it. I know it because not only could she instantly figure out how the tank's handling works but I didn't even have to tell her about the shifting, she just looked at the engine specs and she knew what to do. Crazy...

Reiko comes from the north as well but not as much as Eimi. She lived in  a bigger town with her brother and family but they decided to move here because her father works in the government and they got this offer and took on the opportunity. She started a year later than Eimi in this school and she could continue her interest in shooting. When she first heard of the sensha-dou club it didn't interest her but when she witnessed the girls on the shooting range as she was wondering around the forest and she got very imperessed by the magnitude and colossality of the guns compared to her "puny little toothpick-shooter" as she put it. Sadly she couldn't stop her elective halfway in the school year but it led her to be our shooter for which I am very happy.

Fusako comes from the same prefecture as Reiko though she lived in a smaller village and unlike the girl before her family decided as a whole to move here aboard the ship. She didn't like it at first but got very impressed by the life on the sea so eventually she grow into loving this school. At home she had done riding and even though rarely but in Choshi she can still continue doing it. As I mentioned the last three girls had known each other before we all met due to the "basketball incident". Eimi and Reiko really felt embarrassed and humiliated after the first training session - though it wasn't the case and despite them because of her height Fusako really menaged in the club and achieved some great things in the national league with the team but eventually got bored of basketball and looked for sensha-dou.

About Jitsuko and Aoi it's not easy to speak separately. They come from the same town from the west and been classmates ever since they started school. They have similar interests - video games and animes - though in different genres. Their personality is similar as well though Ji is more enthusiastic and open even though she's a little bit introverted, and Aoi is more neutral and thorough with her opinions. Maybe the main things they differ is their looks but we can clearly see why they are good friends.

Ji came here with her family the same way as Fusako and Aoi's case is more similar to mine, she was sent here from her old school because you see their previous school closed due to financial problems so she had the same choice as me and of course she'd choose the place her best friend had chosen before here. Ji decided to come this school before the previous school decided to go bankrupt and convinced her family but fate decided Aoi would come here as well. Aoi spends a lot of time at Jitsuko's house and with her family because her's stayed west. She lives in a different part of town than me and Eimi.

Our evening there went by like this. It was a traditional ramen restaurant so we just sat next to each other on high chairs. We told stories, spoke of ourselves, criticised each other and laughed at or with each other. This was really needed especially early on, I think we needed to become as close to each other as possible and it was a right start to go with.

Sunday's afternoon practice was coming up so we all went home from there. I don't know about the others but I wanted to sleep some. I needed to get up early, I promised Saki I'd watch their waterpolo training before heading to sensha-dou class. I'm quite interested in waterpolo as well - sadly not as much as in sensha-dou.

I headed home in the dark but yet calming streets which was like walking on the street of Budapest while some kind of Japanese festival was happening.

Suddenly the entire place shook a bit. An earthquake? I was walking near the edge of the ship and I saw the scenery suddenly started to move. Departure, huh. I stood there watching as the ship slowly left the harbor and the townspeople were watching it from docks. Some people gathered on the deck as well. Slowly I started to smell even more saltiness in the air as the ocean was calling us.

Well I passed the point of no return. Onto home to see what tomorrow holds for me.

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 6 - Practice makes perfect

"És tűz! [And fire!]"

The sound of the KwK 42 echoed through the field. Not that anybody noticed it, the Panthers had the same, not to mention the Tigers had a tinsy bit bigger ones.

"Well that one bounced" I noted.

"You said the width of the visible target divided by the stritches it covers times thousand, right?" asked Reiko.

"Correct"

"Then why did it not hit?"

"I guess we estimated the size of the target badly, it's not like they would tell us that because that wouldn't be real training"

"Right"

"Okay...Next!" I yelled to Fusako.

"This thing is heavy...." she said as she slided the next round in the breech and pulled the safety lever.

"So what gun is this anyways?" asked Reiko "And what's our penetration with it?"

"It's a Kampfwagenkanone 42 L/70, it's a 7.5cm gun used on the panthers"

"But wasn't this a Hungarian tank? And what does L/70 mean?"

"Yeah and they planned to put a Hungarian made 80mm Bofors anti-air in her but they decided that the german gun was more powerful and if it fits....and as for L/70 it's the way to measure the lenght of the barrel which in our case it means it's seventy times the diameter of the gun so it's 5.25 meters long"

"I see...also I think I got it right this time...can I?"

"Yeah. Fire!"

I take a peak through the commander's cupola with my binacular.

"Hit confirmed" I said.

"Hell yeah" said Reiko delightfully.

"You two stay here and try to hit the targets further away. Don't forget that they put them out randomly so there is literally no pattern to how far they are and neither are they of the same size though they resemble to different kind of tank frontal armor so you can search up the tank in the range-fingind manual and deduce the distance with the help of that"

"We'll take care of them" she smiled at me.

I smiled back and jumped out of the tank.

Earlier we took the radio out of the tank and brough it to the tents so that Jitsuko can figure out how it works. It's not an easy piece because of the fine-tuning of the signals. I started to read the manual and though it's pretty clear it's obviously from my country because it doesn't work how it's supposed to.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"I managed to get a signal through to Lili earlier but it faded away immediately...I must have set the frequency wrong"

"Have you tried increasing the voltage? The higher it gets though more it draws the better the long range signal could get"

"Right let's see...This is Turul calling Lili, Lili please respond"

We waited for a few seconds.

"This is Lili, I read you, how copy Turul?"

"Banzai!" yelled Jitsuko "Loud and clear Ma'am, we got the radio figured out"

"Great news" she said over the radio "I'll be there in a few minutes, I'm bringing some food for everyone, we'll continue with driving on rough terrain after break"

The radio had a headset so only the operator could hear what they say.

"Copy"

"Nice work Ji" I said.

"You're the commander for a reason" she said smilingly.

 I responded and went back to check on the tank.

Everyone was either on the terrain simulator area or at the shooting range. They were training hard though we were still off by one tank as Emese said. She insists on having thirty fight capable vehicles though for the upcoming championship I heard we can only field max twenty. First ten, then fifteen and twenty in the end.

On condition we ever get to that point that is...

"Say" I asked Fusako "Have you seen the Captain?"

"She just left a couple of minutes ago, said she has some important business to attend to back at HQ"

"Ah I see...I guess I'll ask Lili about what we should do next"

Jitsuko told me what she said over the radio, Eimi needed some practice as well. The others seemed to have improved a lot during the day. Let's see how they can perform while the tank is shaking.

We brought the radio from the tents to the tank and screwed it into it's place between Eimi and Jitsuko and wired it to the tank's antenna. After confirming that it was working in order we headed out to the grounds.

The grounds even had some targets as well similar to the shooting range and facing towards the side of the ship as well.

Lili instructed us to go in a circle and on our way back try to hit the targets.

The terrain was rough and we all knew we would need a lot of practice on especially this place but towards the end...well I wouldn't say it was total chaos but Lils instructed us to not to stop and try to shoot like that.

"So uhm...." said Reiko "Two stritches...No! Two and a half....Nevermind it is two...

"I think it's about two meters wide so....uhm....set it to 570 meters and try it" I said "Eimi go a bit slower"

"Roger" she confirmed.

Through the visors I couldn't see much from the cupola so I went outside like I saw on the videos about that brown-haired girl in the brown Tiger the other night. Allegedly people rarely get hit in the matches so I'll take that chance in the future.

"Loading complete" said Fusako.

"Fire!" I said.

We heard a blunt bang the same time the breech slided back and spit the shell casing out.

"Hit confirm...nevermind I got decieved by the dust we missed it by a longshot"

"Damnit" said Reiko.

"Remain calm, it is our first try at this" I said.

We could shoot twice more and at least we hit the target at about two hundred meters.

Things went by like this thorough the afternoon. We did a few dozens of the circle and when the sun was setting we called it a day. We went back to the tents, got off from the tank and layed on the ground like some stranded whales.

We heard the roar of some engine coming closer and closer. It was a Turán I with Emese on top of it.

"Gather 'round girls!" she yelled around the place.

The sensha-dou class went to line up in front of the tank.

"This" she continued "Is our thirtieth tank and it's crew. You might know them everyone"

They got off the tank and I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Meet driver Hoga Miyuu, turret operator Yamada Hatsu and commander Oshima Tokiko"

"It's a pleasure meeting everyone" they said.

They bowed then we did.

"I'm counting on you all to teach us everything you know" said Tokiko "Sensha-dou is one of the essences of our school, it's only natural your leaders would take part in it"

"I'm gonna teach them how to deal with this ironhide tomorrow but now everybody take five and we'll gather in front of the garages. So again: departure in five minutes"

I was about to head back but I suddenly saw a familiar hairstyle coming towards me.

"So you did come, huh" said Kaga.

"I'm not one to back down on my word or give up easily" I replied sarcastically "Girls, this is Misaki Kaga"

"Yeah I'm classmates with Jitsuko" she said.

Ji nodded. I noticed Fusako and Kaga were starring at each other. I was afraid they were sworn enemies...

"Like your hair" said Fusako

"Your's not bad either" replied Kaga in a cold tone.

"Anyway" I interrupted "What do you operate, Kaga?"

"I'm the commander of the other Tiger"

"Lucky.." noted Reiko.

Kaga didn't bother to answer her.

"You should go and fetch your tank" she said "Would be a shame if you broke down midway"

"What do you mean by tha-" said Eimi but I interrupted.

"It's a race then isn't it?" I asked.

"I don't participate in things I would win anyways" said Kaga with a smile.

"We'll see about that" I said.

We went back to our tank and in a minute we were standing behind Lili in the convoy. Suddenly I heard a Tiger's roar from behind me.

"Not bad" said Kaga.

I grined at her.

  We all went back in a row to the garages. I think the entire town could hear our engines and I was right after. People gathered in our way next to the road when we got near to the garages and they cheered us on. The kids seemed really happy and enthusiastic.

"Does this happen frequently?" I yelled over to Lili.

"Yeah people in town really approove of sensha-dou" she yelled back.

We arrived back back and everybody started to park their tanks to their respective places so I ordered Eimi to go in reverse to where we found the Tas.

"Na-ah" said Emese "You're going over there"

She pointed at the first garage.

"But that's the one for heavy tanks" I said surprisingly.

"And commanding tanks" she replied "You'll know it later"

" 'Scuse m-"

"C'mon Tami hurry up"

"Öhm...Right!"

We parked next to the wall, opposite side to the HQ in the hangar.

"Finally you're back" said Aoi.

"How are things here?" I asked.

"I went over to the automotive club. I convinced them to give me a couple of maintenance lessons a week. When Cap got back she told me I'll be doing the maintenance for every tank. I was afraid at first but she agreed that every crew will fill out a paper on their mechanical problems"

"Great news! Though she sure put a lot of pressure on you..."

"It's all right" she waved with her hands as she smiled "My parents put a lot of pressure me as well. I think if they find out somebody tasked me with such responsibility they will ease up on me"

"Well I trust you but if you have any problems do ask your commander for help"

Thanks, Tami"

I saw something was going on in the field in fron of the hangars. They were setting up a projector and a whiteboard and some blackboards as well which was placed on a platform.

"Allright girls everyone gather around" yelled Emese to everybody.

She's about to start the de-briefing about our general order of battle with Lili by her side, this will be how we'll train from now on. Though I doubted if it was necessary if for the tournament we can only bring twenty at most.

"I know what all of you are thinking" she started "This won't work in the tournament"

She has some intuition.

"But I think we can only achieve big things if we are organized so everybody is going to train according to the chart I'm about to explain. So right now we have thirty tanks and if we are going to form three-tanked platoons it makes it a total number of ten platoons. One commanding and nine field platoons. The last nine one will be divided into three companies which will be under the command of one of the commander platoon's tanks. We'll have a main force, a reckon and an ambush and auxilary force. Okay let's discuss who will be where. First the commander platoon's three tanks: Hanna [Emese's tank], Kovács [meaning: smith, Lili's tank] and Turul, the 44M Tas so Tamara please come here"

I never liked performing in public yet alone speaking in front of a lot of people so I got very nervous but I convinced myself it will be a lot worse if I don't show I am capable of what Emese is asking. Although the people who started to whisper to each other angrily didn't help me that much.

"Why she?" asked Kaga calmly in the end.

"We all been doing sensha-dou for a few years - perhaps I for the most which is five - but if not with sensha-dou, Tamara did grow up with maintaining, shooting and driving tanks. We do not know her strategic capability but she knows everything about every tank, right?" she said as she slapped my back.

"Yes Ma'am!" I replied instinctively.

"Also let's be honest girls" said Lili "She did crank that old piece of garbage in five minutes"

"Six" I mumbled.

"If anybody's got a word against my hunch I'd very much welcome to listen to it but otherwise anyhow I look at it she is our best choice"

The whisperers looked at their feets irritatetdly or in agreement.

"I will do my best and resign if I make a grave mistake" I said with the best confidence I could force into my voice "I am very grateful to miss Emese and I am looking forward working with you" I added while I bowed.

Emese smiled

"I'm glad to hear" she said "I'm counting on you. Now let's continue and speed things up because I'm sure most of us wants to go home to take at least one shower. So Company one: Platoon 1 will have...

"Yo Mesi" said Lili "No names for the companies?"

"Fine..." sighed Emese "So...Company one...codename "Kálmán": Platoon 1 - Tiger, Panther, Turán 2, Platoon 2 - Zrínyi 75, Toldi 2, Turán 2, Platoon 3 - Panzer IV, Zrínyi 75, Turán 2, this will be our main force under my command so these tanks plus an other tiger. Company 2 let's see..."Buda" will be the reckon force under Lili's command, Platoon 1 - Toldi 1, Toldi 2, Turán 1, Platoon 2 - Panzer IV, Toldi 2, Turán 2, Platoon 3 Zrínyi 75, Zrínyi 105 and a Turán 1. Company 3 a.k.a. "Puli" will have Tamara as the commanding officer with her 44M Tas, Platoon 1 -  Panzer IV, Panzer IV, Zrínyi 75, Platoon 2 - Zrínyi 105, Zrínyi 105, Turán 1, Platoon 3 - Zrínyi 105, Panzer IV, Turán 1, they will be our ambush and auxilary force. Objections?"

Some people nodded the others approoved by words.

"Right then, we will decide which crew will go to which company, to everyone: good night and good work today, to the deputy commanders: take ten and come to HQ"

As I was walking towards my tank I saw some people looking jealously and angrily at me. They were going home, not a lot of people stayed to maintain their tanks, they had enough of today.

"If you have a problem discuss it with me" told Kaga to some girls who almost "accidentally" ran into me.

"I don't belong there..." I said.

"Trust your commander" she said "I wanted to be the second deputy - naturally - but you know...I agree with the Captain. Anyways, later, good work today"

She smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Yeah, later"

I said my goodbyes to my crew as well. They were really tired but in a great mood at least. I wasn't in a great mood anymore.

I headed towards the HQ building.

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 5 - Hear me roar!

Ever told you how forgetful I am?

Setting the alarm clock to wake me up at seven even though I need to wake up at eight. Even though it's Saturday sensha-dou classes are after school every day and at weekend mornings and Saturday afternoon, though we can visit the hangars and tinker with our tanks any time. They may be the possession of the school but the school's sensha-dou committe (Emese and the deputy commander) knows best how to handle them so they leave it to them. However they think the best is to let the crews customize the tanks. Well maybe not the crew of the Tas yet since we're newbies, maybe if we proove ourselves they will trust us enough for that too.

After choosing me as commander we all headed home and Cap told us to go back at nine in the morning. She said the deputy commander will walk us through the operation of the tank and she will instruct us on our first lesson. Everyone else from the club will be training on the grounds which is next to the forest so we will have the entire area for ourselves.

She told us to come in the school's sports outfit because we have some serious cleaning to do. True that, when I drove the tank the inside was...well...it had filth of unspeakable amount. We would also get our equipment and tankwomen clothing. I'm so excited.

I packed some water and sandwiches into my bag which had the union jack on and went to the hangars.

I saw Reiko and Jitsuko was already there with somebody else.

"Hey girls" I said.

"Morning Tami" they replied.

"Good morning miss Tamara" said the girl with long orange hair in twintails. She was wearing the same coverall as Emese yesterday with tanker boots and I saw her leather coat and tanker hat lying on the Panther near her - which I assumed was her tank "I'm Reizei Rin, they call me Lili. I'm Emi's second in command, I look forward to working with you"

"I look forward to working with you as well" I said.

"I heard a great deal about you already. Did you seriously cranked this piece of junk in five minutes?"

"I think it was six"

"Aren't you a modest one"

I giggled a bit.

"I hope we haven't missed the party!" yelled Eimi from the distance who was coming with the missing crew members.

They introduced themselves after.

 "So" started Lili "Shall we start?"

"Lemme guess it's dusting the tank time" said Aoi.

"Pontosan [exactly]" said Lili.

"Üssenek meg kővel ha ez nem magyar volt [Punch me with a stone if that wasn't Hungarian]" I said.

"Tanulgatom [I learn it-ish]" she replied "Okay girls, the tap is over there, get some water and the sponges on the table and let's start scratching off the rust and dirt"

  Thus we did. For an hour or two. After the tank turned into a nice deep olive colour. It had some japanese markings on it, probably from the previous users.

"So anyways" I said "Why didn't you use the tank for this long?"

"It got set on fire by itself" said Lili "The operating crew barely escaped in the middle of the match which was called off after it. The fire almost caused the ammo inside to explode which they menaged to prevent. After they repaired it and started it again but after five minutes of running smoke was coming out of her so they poured some foam in the engine, washed it out and left her in the courner"

"Hmmmm" I reacted "I guess we're lucky"

"How so?"

"Right you haven't heard. My Dad does this for a living, making vehicles safe and operable. He hasn't had a single incident with the refurbished tanks yet. I'm gonna give him a call then"

Lili nodded approovingly.

I talked to Dad for something ten minutes while I looked through the tank thoroughly as the others were starring at me working.

"Don't just stand there y'all we gotta get this engines out now" I said to them.

 "Plural?" asked Eimi.

"Yeah this stuff has two Turán engines inside"

The club is well equipped so we menaged to get the engine block out in half an hour with the jacks then I called Dad again. After close inspection from every possible angle we concluded first that the oil was leaking which was to be expected but I also noticed that fuel was leaking from the combustion chambers at three pistons. I poured some in exactly because of this and not water because it's not the same.

"Gotcha" I said "Even though we need to take apart engine two it's not the most serious problem"

"You guys are professionals" said Lili "Not even the automotive club could figure this one out. Now that I think about it they didn't want to take it apart because they feared it would do it again while taking it out of the tank"

"That was a possibility" I said

"What" asked Reiko.

"Nothing" I replied.

It was noon so we took a lunchbreak before taking apart an entire engine block. We were already exhausted except for Lili so we didn't talk much. After resting for half an hour I sent Jitsuko and Aoi to see if the automotive club members were in their clubhouse today. We got lucky so I asked Eimi and Reiko to look for the Tas's blueprint in the headquarters.

Reinforced with the automotive club's professionalism and equipment we menaged to seal the problematic places away and put it back to it's respectful place. I sat in the driver's seat - and I must admit Fusako did a number on the inside, I couldn't imagine it could be this clean - and hit the ignition button. She had a lot better voice than before. I rolled out with her on the field and hit the pedal to the metal. The Tas accelerates like a mother trucker. For a medium-heavy tank it's really fast and agile though I have a feeling the tracks might get tricky if the road is not stable enough but should perform well in snow and dust or sand. I rode her for ten minutes and nothing happened so I went back after stirring up the dust heavily.

"This should do" I said to everyone "Cheers guys, thanks for the help!"

"It was a pleasure" said the automotive club's main engineer and they went back.

"What a way to waste the day" said Reiko "It's already two PM..."

"Tired already?" said Lili  sarcastically.

"Hell no" she replied.

"Good, because the real fun begins now. As you may or may not know this is a tank. What does it mean? It means you don't operate it alone - duh. Time for a role-call, I heard you already chose Tamara as your commander. Well then commander, time to sorte out who does what"

The girls were all looking at me. They each had the place they wanted to be but were too shy to say it out loud.

"Okay" I broke the silence "First we need a driver. I vote for Eimi since she really is into cars"

"Good call" said Fusako.

"Shooter should be Reiko then because of her sport and hobby"

"Couldn't agree more" said Reiko.

"Loader should be Fusako. I saw your handy work on the inside of the tank, I see you can orientate well inside already and you seem to be very agile and tall enough to have no problem loading the cannon"

"I'll do if you want me to, Tami" she said.

"So that leaves the radio operator and the maintenance personnel..."

"Excuse me" said Aoi "I really enjoyed taking that engine apart. If you teach me everything there is to know I would really much like to be the crew's most important support" then she bowed.

"I'm glad you feel like that. I guess that makes Jitsuko our radioman"

"Seems fine to me" she said.

"Glad you could sort it out this quickly" said Lili "So what are you waiting for? Watabe! Check the loadout with Fusako and also check the engine's parameters, everyone else: battle-stations!"

I told Aoi what to look out for and what to check when inspecting the tank. Before we could jump in the tanks:

"Hold on a sec girls! I almost forgot" said Lili "Come in the HQ"

We went in and saw folded clothes on the chairs with boots in front of them and tanker hats on them.

"First let's get geared up" she said.

 We each got the 38M tank hat, a light-olive coverall with a brown belt and the respective undershits with tankmen boots. Luckily I was prepared and brought...some of my own.

My everyday clothes when the weather allows include a 65M Surranó - a Hungarian military leather boots - and a leather jacket. I also brough my grandfather's leather gloves who passed away before my birth, and a dark-brown, Hungarian version of the german M43 tanker hat..

I took them on or instead of the given equipment. Turned around and said:

"Allright girls, this is the point of no return. Is everybody ready to make history?!"

"YEAH" they yelled back.

Lili was smiling while we took positions inside the tank. "They sure look promising" she must have thought to herself.

Now that I think back things really escalated fast on my first week. It was my third day in school and I already was commander of a 44M Tas in the sensha-dou team. I never could've imagined I would make this progress so fast, not to mention that they would choose and accept me as their commander. The real trial is in front of me but this is the kind of challange I love to tackle head on.

  The hat had a built in radio. It was modern technology so it was wireless and had a long-lasting battery inside. Everyone had access to the radio which was between each other in the tank, I could use the short range radio from my neckpiece on top of the tank radio and I also had a smaller headset under my hat, and Jitsuko was the long range operator. I think these hats are upgraded from the original, made into the likes of the soviet tanker ushankas.

"All right Eimi, all yours now" I said over the radio "Előre!"

"Which means..?" she asked.

"Forwards" I said "Also take it slowly for now"

Lili was observing us from the tower next to the garages.

"So uhm...44M Tas, sorry we don't have a codename for you guys yet..." she said.

"Any ideas?" I asked the crew.

"This one's on you" said Fusako.

"Turul" I said on the short range radio.

"Allright. Turul, go forward and in the forest, follow the road which will lead you to where the others are having their training. Be careful not to go in the firing range but no don't worry they are facing towards the ocean and the range is at the edge of the ship"

"We still haven't set sails you know that, right?" I asked her.

"Uhm...yeah...of course" she said with uncertainty in her voice "But anyways just go where I told you, the short range radio has the range of about two kilometers. The range is three away so if I don't reply switch to long-range. I can see you from up here with my binaculars. Good luck girls"

"Acknowledged" I replied "Tamara temporarily out. Ei we can go a bit faster"

"Understood" she said.

At the edge of the forest it suddenly hit me. I didn't explain to her how to drive a tank. I mean it's pretty straightforward: gas, break, clutch, gears - eight of them forwards and two in reverse - and one break for the left track and one for the right. She's a natural besides her knowladge of cars.

Fusako's job was really easy she just didn't need to drop the ammo and reload fast. Maybe I should explain the breech mechanics to her later, there is a lever which is basically the safe switch in the cannon, she just needs to pull that.

Reiko will need to learn how to estimate distances but otherwise her job was rotating two wheels and the horizontal one has a hydraulic stance so the turret traverses fast.

Jitsuko's job will be an other matter. I'll have to read the manual with her. Thankfully all the manuals for this tank are naturally in Hungarian so it must have been a bit difficult to figure this tank out for the previous operators. This radio will be a tough one though but I'm sure we'll solve it.

I just told Aoi a couple of stuff to check, not even thoroughly but I think she might be an explicit observer as we were tinkering with the engine. I'll send her to the automotive club and I'll tell her everything I know as well. She'll menage very well. In the end she'll menage all the tanks and not just ours.

We did as we were told to and followed the road. Eventually ended up on the training grounds. There were the the shooting grounds which was at least a kilometer long and it really did face towards the side of the ship. To the left there were different kinds of paths which simulated different terrains. To the right I saw a couple of big tents which I assumed were for resting and strategy meetings.

"Lili this is Turul, we're here what do we do now, do you read me?" I asked through my short-range radio. I heard some buzzing so I was about to tell Jitsuko to fetch the manual for the long range.

"Not Lili but I think I'm fine as well" said somebody over the radio.

"Who is that?" I asked.

"Just your superior"

"I apologize, Százados, 44M Tas "Turul", commander Ötvös Tamara reporting for duty"

"Very nice you guys made it there in on piece, Lili already told us your progress on the Tas and frankly you guys did a splendid job"

"Thank you Ma'am"

"Get your asses over here, time to meet the team"

We parked the tank in front of Emese and got out of the tank. The rest of the sensha-dou class was there with the basic team: two Tigers, two Panthers, four Turán Is, four Turán IIs, five Panzer IVs, four Zrínyi 105s and four 75s, one Toldi I and two Toldi IIs. Which made it hundred and twenty eight people in this class. No way I would ever remember that many names. Every one of them gathered around us.

"Ladies" started Emese "These girls got the Tas running again. I would like to introduce you commander Ötvös Tamara and her crew: driver Toyota Eimi, gunner Royama Reiko, loader Katsura Fusako, radio operator Ban Jitsuko and however she's not here but our new general maintenance personnel Watabo Aoi"

"Nice job on the Tas, girls!" said somebody from the crowd. Somebody else whistled one and the rest followed with a big applause.

We bowed.

"I am looking forward working with you" I said.

"Allright girls get to know the new ones after class, back to work everybody" said Emese and the rest listened to her.

She turned to us.

"You on the other hand have been working hard, park your tank there next to the other by the shooting range and go get something to eat from the tent"

"Thank you Captain" I said as I saluted.

She returned the salute and went back to training.

"Százados!" I yelled.

"Hmm?"

"What do we do now?"

"Read the manuals, teach the others and each other how to operate the tank effectively, learn the radio, how to rangefind and shoot accurately, the codes used by us and get closer to each other"

"Understood!"

She smiled and climbed up on the nearest Tiger.

"One more thing" she said.

"Yes Ma'am?" I replied.

"If you have any problems come see me, Lili will be arriving soon and she'll be your instructor until you guys menage on your own"

"Yes Ma'am!"

I climbed up the engine and looked around and I took some time to take in the environment.

"Well then" I said to myself "Let's get to work"

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 4 - Rustbucket

"Whaaat now...." I said still half asleep "Just five more minutes...stop with the ringing already...."

In the end I did punched the clock so it would stop ringing.

Then I looked at it. And shouted.

"ÉDES FASZOM I'M LATE"

I still can't describe the situation better than I did back then. Having said screw you to breakfast I jumped into my uniform grabbed a pen and the notebook closest to me and rushed towards the school building.

I saw nobody walking towards it so I panicked and started running even faster. In the end I arrived at the gate by seven-fifty-four.

"My my what brings you here miss I-will-almost-skip-school-today" said the morale committee girl at the gate "Guess this is your lucky day already, carry on Hungary-san"

"Thanks a lot" I said "Annoyance-san.."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" she shouted after me.

"I SAID KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK" I replied

"That's not what you..."

"SORRYCANTHEARCHA" I said as I slammed the main door behind me.

I swore to myself I would never be late again. That brunette half-pint midget was really creepy.

First lesson was math for which I had enough energy first time in my life since I literally ran a kilometer fourty seconds after I had woken up. Math is the subject I love and hate the same time equally. It's interesting....most of the times....when I understand it. Not to mention I'll need it if I ever want to be an engineer just like Dad. Of course I can e-mail him and he always helps me but honestly this is the case when you either figure the things out for yourself or you will never understand it.

After math it was history.

Then Japanese, which is currently the most troublesome for me. Why you might ask? I'm not a native though I must learn literature and culture during these lessons. Interesting but rather hard though not necessarily useless for me.

As for fourth period I sat through an English lesson the very same way I did it back home. I know everything there is to me, not to mention the level I studied before was higher. They focus on foreign languages in this country but they are not really good at them. I guess it's only natural so understandable.

Nothing really happened during this time. I talked to some classmates between lessons and the teachers didn't tease me much and it's not hard to figure out why.

Lunchtime.

I didn't take my time today, I went to the dining hall and on the way I ran into Saki. They were writing some kind of welcome-back test because their math teacher is like that. She finished early while the others are still struggling with it.

"I mean I know that woman but still...it is getting closer to the last drop" she said.

"Sounds like you didn't do very well" I replied.

"Nah, I wouldn't say it was easy but as my Mom always says I shouldn't try to deal with things I can't so I left some things unanswered. Like two out of ten. Anyways let's eat something"

"Yeah"

I just pushed a random button on the vendor however Saki took her time to figure out what she wanted to eat. You could naturally bring a bento but we are not in the situation where any of our moms could make us lunch. We sat down at a table in front of each other with two seats to spare. I was looking out the huge windows of which we sat next to while reacting and answering to Saki's monolgue about waterpolo. I don't dislike the sport I just don't like it very much though my Dad does it when he has time and my country is strong in it.

Some time later two of Saki's classmates came by.

"Good day Tamara"

"Good day Kaga" I replied "Please, do sit if you want.

"Much obliged" she said "This is Nashikawa Kanae, our classmate"

She was a bit shorter than me, had a ton of bracelet on her arms and a necklace. She also had middle sized black hair and a very overconfident look on her face.

"Howdy" said Kanae "Finally met you, nice to meat'cha! Call me Kan"

"Likewise" I said "You can call me Tam or Tami"

"Sooooouh..." said Kan "Heard you might consider taking up sensha-dou, huh?"

"News sure spread fast"

"Or Saki over here just approoves of you a lot"

 Saki blushed a bit.

"Don't you worry a bit!" she continued "I will teach you everything I know...if you can keep up that is"

"You're going overboard again, Kanae" said Kaga.

"Oh right like you can teach her everything miss I-shot-through-the-garage-on-my-first-day-chan"

"Which never happened again because I read the manuals after and had no problems ever since" said Kaga calmly

"Waitasec" I said "You are doing sensha-dou as well?"

"Your deduction capabilities are sparkling today" she said.

"At least you know what a tank is, right?" asked Kan

I grined with half of my face while cracking my fists under the table and explained to her how well I "know what a tank is, right".

Kaga and Saki were eating their food calmly as Kan there next to me went a bit pale.

"I hope I didn't say anything bad" I said

"Not to us" said Kaga.

"I had no idea you are already such a pro miss Tami" said Saki.

"I guess Kan-chan here can't play the big-bad senpai role with you" said Kaga.

"You actually shot an 88....?" said in the end Kan.

"Yes" I replied

"That. Is. AWESOME" she bursted out in the end "I've always wanted to shoot the big guns but goddamn I'm-the-boss-here Captain said 'Only after you had released all the energy inside of you'...."

"This Captain you are speaking of sounds rather bossy..."

"I would rather put it like" said Kaga "She doesn't approove of hasty decisions near a tank. Otherwise she is very confident and energetic...well...not as much as Kan-chan here"

"Oh don't you start it again..." said Kan.

"Starting what?"

"Nevermind..."

After talking to Kan for a little while I thought she really was good in heart. Just a bittle over-enthusiastic.

Lunch time was over. I headed back for another Japanese, biology and domestic-appliances class.

I was told to meet with with the sensha-dou team at their club-house, next to the big buildings I saw the other day. I looked in the dusty window and I could see a few people there as if they were waiting. I was ten minutes early of the de-briefing. I stepped in.

"Hi there" said the girl up front who came to greet me.

"Good day" I replied "Is this the..sensha-dou clubhouse?"

"If you want to call it that" replied the previous tall girl with long brown hair "But we prefer calling it HQ. I'm Eguchi Emese by the way but the others call me Cap for Százados"

She was wearing what seemed to me the tank uniform of this school. A dark olive colured coverall with a belt but she didn't wear the top half so her undershirt was visible. There was also an M39 Hungarian tanker hat on the table up from which I assumed it was hers.

"Ötvös Tamara, nice to meet you"

"Whoa whoa whoa wait you're the Hungarian girl? Seriously? Awesome. My ancestors are from there"

"Well you do have a Hungarian name"

"So. Ya into sensha-dou huh? So six new poeple gathered here this year so far - less than expected - but I hope more will come. We need to resupply our personnels after the ones finished here went away. I guess we can start the de-briefing, nobody else seems to be coming"

We took seats in that little treehouse. It really was a de-briefing hall. A projector on the roof, blackboard and whiteboard on the wall, maps, manuals and other kinds of information documents were everywhere with some desks where you could work and do some paperwork. There even was a long-range communications table with a morse-emitter.

"So" started Cap "Six of you are here now. This couldn't be more perfect! Welcome all to Árpád Girls' School's sensha-dou team. If you wish to go the door is there and nobody will ever hold you back but if you wish to stay...you will contribute to the thing this school is best at in rivalry with waterpolo. Sadly from year to year our numbers are decreasing but we are about to change that. All we have to do is show some progress which; We; Will"

She said this while walking left and right up in front.

"Right now with you guys we are able to man twenty-nine tanks, but for the upcoming battles we need thirty. With your addition to the batallion we grew stronger. From now on it's all up to you to show us how stronger. I think it's only fair to let you know what you need to deal with so here are our numbers: we have fifty tanks total - 2 Tigers, 2 Panthers, 5 Panzer 4s, 8 38M Told Is, 8 43M Toldi IIs, 4 Zrínyi with 105mm guns and 4 with 75mm guns, 8 40M Turán I, 8 41m Turán II and a 44M Tas"

"Waitasec" I said suddenly "I mean excuse me. We seriously have a Tas?"

"Yeah, any notice on that?" asked Cap.

"No...just...cool...only one was built" I said.

"And you can feast your eyes upon her later" said Cap with a grin on her face which seemingly she couldn't surpress "All right girls I'm gonna be frank with you, that is all the information you need, the rest you have to learn so here comes the top point of the day. Wanna ride a tank?"

"Hell yeah!" we all shouted at once.

"All right girls, I'll be back in a few minutes I have something to gather for you"

She left us there alone in an awkward silence.

"Well" I said "If we're going to be sardines in a tin can we might as well get to know each other first...perhaps...?"

"Sure why not, I guess I'll start then" said a girl with long silver hair " My name is Royama Reiko. I came from up north and been this school for a while. My hobby is sports shooting"

"Katsura Fusako. I came from the north as well and I don't really have any hobbies other than riding and gaming" said the girl next to Reiko who was quite tall, had middle long brown hair in a sideways ponytail but seemed a year younger than the rest of us.

"I am Ban Jitsuko" said the other tall girl with long blonde hair "I came from the seashore on the west and I don't have any hobbies at all but I like the navy and I want to join it eventually"

"I guess I have to introduce myself as well" start the girl next to Jitsuko with short black hair "I'm Toyota Eimi. I came from the northernmost island of Japan and I don't have a driving license yet but I want to drive cars to my heart's content"

"Watabe Aoi is my name and I was and am still classmates with Jitsuko" said she who had long black hair.

It was my turn next.

"I am Ötvös Tamara, I came here from Hungary or rather...was sent here. I have a lot to do with tanks and I want to ride a tank like I could never before at home. Nice to meet you all"

They nodded and said likewise.

"Crazy huh" said Eimi "We have not one, but two bloody Tigers"

"Well if our theme is Hungary" replied Jitsuko "It stands for reason"

"True that" said Eimi.

"I'm more fascinated about the Tas" I said "We only made one and it was lost..."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" asked Fusako.

"Well I am from the theme country" I replied.

"Oh right" she said.

"We might as well get along with each other if we'll be closed together" said Aoi.

"I didn't mean to offend I was just curious" said Fusako.

"Aren't only five supposed to operate the tank?" asked Reiko "It's not like we'll have two loaders, not to mention the space"

"You're right...what's gonna happen to one of us?" said Jitsuko.

"I doubt any of us needs to worry" I said "We need a commander, a driver, a shooter, a loader, a radio operator AND we could also have a maintenance personnel who can be a stand in to any of us"

"Great idea" said Fusako.

"She'll need to travel outside then" said Aoi.

"I'll laugh if you'll be that one, Ao!" said Jitsuko "Oh right her nickname is Ao, you can just call me Ji"

"A nickname to a name with three letters?..." asked Reiko.

"Got a problem with that?" said Ji.

"No just sounds rather interesting, anyways I guess call me Rei.

"Fusako's good for me" she said.

"You can call me Ei then, and you Tamara?"

"Tami's fine. I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship...or a horrible one"

Everyone laughed.

"Okay chaps, come with me" shouted Cap from outside.

We followed her and led us in the last hangar.

"My apologies, the OP tanks are already reserved. You're our 29th tank so what we have left are...four Turán I, four Turán II, seven Toldi I and six Toldi II..."

The girls started arguing what to choose, one of them even tried to sweettalk Cap into letting us drive at least a Panzer IV.

"Sorry, though we swap around the tanks according to the battles but we must respect the commanders' decisions"

I wandered into the hangar. It was the one for the medium and light tanks....then I suddenly spotted something covered in some clothing. I unraveled it and I forgot to breathe for a few seconds.

"Oy Cap!" I shouted "Is this one reserved?"

"That piece of junk? Hasn't turned on for decades"

I griend and opened up the engine compartment.

They were still discussing the matter of the tank but after five minutes they heard an engine roaring. I stopped in front of them and jumped out.

"Pan-paka-paaaan~" I said "You were saying Cap?"

"How on earth did you make that rustbucket ignite?" she asked with a surprised looking on her face"

"She has a rather...delicate engine" I replied "Weiss Manfréd Works made ones require the fine touch of a rough girl hehe. So whatchy'all think?"

After that I told them thoroughly my story with tanks.

"I think you already are our commander" said Ji.

They agreed and started throwing me in the air.

"Ta-mi! Ta-mi! Ta-mi!" they chanted.

"Well then, I guess it's settled" said Cap as she wrote the next to our names: 44M Tas.

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 3 - What’s sensha-dou?

Getting really really comfortable in an accomodation has been - in a sense - really challenging for me.

I never really pack my stuff out, I just leave everything in the bag, but now this was an other case. I'll be staying here for a while so I'd better start occupying every space I can find in this apartment.

Why am I saying all this? I have no idea. I start having every kind of thoughts when I'm alone, doing nothing. I guess I was too eager to visit my new school which by the way is extremely promising. They are more thorough than I could've ever suspected. You remember that uniform in the cupboard I mentioned earlier? It's a perfect fit. Spooky. I mean I am confection size (meaning every size M cloth fits me) but still. Either I'm lucky again where it doesn't matter to me or somebody really dug in about me. Maybe it's the Japanese way of getting things done. Except for supplies. If it weren't for me getting some food in the local supermarket - which was the largest challenge I ever faced because of all the Japanese script and the fact that I had no concept about everyday food in Japan. Never again. Settling in has it's ups and down....mostly downs.

Washing clothes will be an other matter. I'll either go bankrupt and buy a washing machine or go to the local laundry. The people are nice in the town...I mean aboard, so thankfully I should not have problem with interacting the locals.

Getting up at 7 was hard, but it's due to the fact that I got unused to getting up early again. The school's a fifteen minute walk from here, so I should have no problem getting past the gate by eight-fifty. The schedule of this school is similar to my old one's.

I had "breakfast" (by what I mean some cookies and more chocolate), packed my stuff which was a notebook or five for my lessons and the usual school things, got dressed and went out. I stopped in front of my door as I cloosed it. I turned over and I took a deep breath by the sight of the city above me. A new day, a new school, a new life. It was not easy to leave literally everything behind me but I guess as they say at some places "I did what I had to".

As I got closer and closer to the school in the streets I saw more and more girls in the same outfit as me. Obviously schoolmates. I was passively searching for Saki because I didn't want to embarrass her by yelling her name all over the place.

"MISS TAMIIIIII" I heard from behind me.

Speaking of the devil.

"I wonder who could that b" I couldn't even finish as she clinged on me from behind

"I'm so so so excited!" she said.

Suddenly she blushed like she got sunburnt badly and squatted down.

"....." she said "I got overly enthusiastic again didn't I....."

"A bit" I replied

"I'm so so sorry"

"It's....fine...really.....c'mon, stand up, we've got work to do"

"Right...comin'..."

We went inside and the hall was stuffed with students who seemingly knew where they were going - unlike me. They said I wouldn't need any information in advance since they will tell me everything I need to know from my class to lessons. Suddenly I spotted vice president Hatsu who was coming towards me with two other girls.

"Good day, Tamara" she greeted me.

"Good day" I replied.

"I would like to introduce you vice president Hoga Miyuu" said while pointing at the short girl with medium lenght light brown hair "and president Oshima Tokiko" as she pointed at the girl who was about as tall as me and had long blond hair in a ponytail.

"It's a pleasure to meet you" I greeted them

"Likewise" said Miyuu

"The very same" said Tokiko "I heard a lot about you, you may feel you're out of place now but don't you dare worry a bit! Here.

She handed me a paper

"This is your life now" she said "Everyone got theirs with mail but I wanted to give it to you personally. This is your compulsory schedule without your elective which starts after your lessons"

"My 'scuse me?" I said

"Your elective" said Miyuu "You will recieve your paper later. You will be able to choose one if you want, afterschool activities. The upside of it is that is that depending on your elective you can be relieved from some or more school obligations like homework, studying, writing tests"

"Anywho" took Tokiko over "Your first lesson is about to start, get to know your classmates, work hard, have fun, if you have any problems or questions just come to us"

"Whoa..." I said "That is a lot to take in at once...thank you, I mean it"

"No biggie" winked Hatsu "Just repay us with your performance"

We said our goodbyes, same to Saki because though we are in the same year but not in the same class. I went to classroom 23 as the paper said and had my first introductory lesson with our classteacher. Basic stuffs, school order, welcoming the new girl - me - and yadi yadi yada. You're in for the plot not for boredom, right? Trust me on this one, it was boring really, everyone felt like it, even the teacher but she had to do it, it's how things go.

Now at the end of the first period which was the first three lessons came the interesting part: we got our elective papers. There were different interesting things from flower arrangement to automotor-professions...and there was one I could not give sense to. I could read it and it said "sensha-dou". Battle...car...way? The way of the battle-car. What could a battle-car be I wondered.

Then it hit me

In hungarian battle-car literally translated is harckocsi. Which means tank. The way of the tank? I saw the kanji for road - dou - at some places like kyuudou as in archery. A martial arts involving...tanks? Masaka!

It's going to be lunchtime soon so at least I can find and ask Saki there, maybe she knows what's up.

During the breaks I got to know a few classmates. We were twenty-eight, only girl class because of obvious reasons. They are good people, most of them are calm and reserved but there were some "party-face" ones. Nobody was radical in it's own sense for which I was glad because I prefer working in a calm environment. Time will tell though how well we'll get along.

We have an hour break after fourth period for lunch. The dining hall was in a detached building to which a corridor led from the end of the left-wing of the main campus. I took some time to get to know the place better so with the hour-long break in mind I just walked around for some time. So as I said there is the wide but thin main building - which is three floors high and my classroom is on the second - with a left and a right wing. Behind it there is a rather huge courtyard which is basically a park with trees, benches and whatnot. Behind the courtyard and the right wing were the club houses like a classmate said with more parks with little covered places where you could sit out. I also saw the olympic sized pools they talked about earlier. They are covered and heated during winter so we could use it any time but it's for the clubs mainly. Hell...there was even a hot-spring connected to the that building. Next to it was a huge - and by that I mean a really huge - area which was covered in dirt which lasted till the buildings I saw left of the left wing of the school building.

I wasted about half an hour just wandering around so I headed to the dining hall hoping I could still catch Saki and ask her about the "way of the tank".

Although the place is pretty hungarian themed there's always one thing you can't deny as a Japanese - it seems of which I couldn't agree more: the food. The menu was totally Japanese themed with...well I don't exactly know what it was. The only thing I know is sushi and I recognized that. Other than that there were rice mixed with everything from vegetables to fish and other kinds of meat. I bought a ticket from the vendor - that's how you get your food in schools in Japan - and handed to the kitchen lady. She was kind and cooperative. I made friends with her over time.

Having gotten my food I started looking for Saki and after a minute of searching I found her with her classmate sitting at a table.

"Good day" I said "May I?"

"Please do" said the classmate "Misaki Kaga, a pleasure to meet you"

She seemed well-mannered, had her not that long brown hair in a sideways ponytail.

"Ötvös Tamara, likewise"

"So how is school so far miss Tami?" asked Saki.

"It's pretty good" I said "I haven't really made any friends, I seem too outsider to them. I expected this though, nothing to worry about, I'll get my way eventually"

"Best of luck miss Tami!" she replied.

"I'll have interesting lessons but there is one thing bothering me..." I continued.

"Tell us, we might able to help" she said.

Kaga was just starring at her food meanwhile. Looks like she didn't get any sleep.

"What's...what was it....sensha-dou?"

"The art of tank-driving you could mean?" asked Kaga

"I like don't have the faintest idea what it is so...perhaps..." I said

"That was rhetorical. It's surprising you haven't heard of it" she said "It's a very popular sport in Japan and getting even more popular around the globe"

"I didn't choose that elective" said Saki "Waterpolo suits me better. Perhaps it got your interest?"

"Yeah I might check it out, I can rechoose one if I want till the end of the month, right?"

"That is correct" said Kaga.

"Thanks for the help girls" I said "This place seems more and more interesting"

We talked about things for a little while before finishing lunch. Just everyday stuff.

There were three more periods for me which I quite literally sat through since I still hadn't gotten used to the new timezone and sleep-pattern. It was truly salvation itself when I could go home. But before, I gave my teacher the paper about electives. We weren't obliged to decide day one, I could've waited three more at most but sensha-dou really got my interest.

Dad told a lot about tanks since he was a tankman in the army during his conscription. As a matter of fact I have a lot to do with tanks as well. He is an engineer at a company which refurbishes old vehicles and they focus on military ones. But not simply just dusting it and painting them! They actually make the tanks they work on fight-capable. Okay it's not like anybody's gonna use a BT-7 nowadays but those tanks can actually shoot and are safe enough that even a person can stay inside the tank without fear of blowing up. Ever since I was a little girl my Dad took me to work from time to time. He travelled a lot to inspect different vehicles and how other companies do their job but when he works at the local garage he took me with him and I did a lot of things from polishing armour to - wait for it - shooting the big guns. I even shot a refurbished Tiger. The 88 kicks big time.

I feel confident about operating tanks. I really hope I found my thing with sensha-dou.

All the memories about tanks suddenly hit me and overwhelmed my brain. I mostly drove them in the test ranch and shot a couple but never did more like commanding others. At first somebody - most of the times Dad - came with me to teach how to operate them but in the end Dad just tossed me the keys and said "Couldcha test it out, dearest?". So I would inspect the engine, tracks, threads, gun(s), interior and the outside; go out on the ranch and shoot a couple.

I went home gathering all the info I know about the armored annihilators as the Sun was slowly starting to set.

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 2 - The floating city

'Hey, miss Tami? Are you there?' asked Saki as I tried to realized what on Earth I am looking at.

'Sh...ship...' I said stutteringly.

'Yeah? What of it?' said Saki nonchalantly.

'This normal to you?' I replied.

'Oh right...sorry' she said with a little blushing 'I should've told you, I guess it's too natural to me since I grew up next to and on this ship...'

'I....I can't blame you' I said though it didn't make much sense as I was trying to come to my senses 'So...uhm...care to explain to me what I am looking at?'

'Well...' started Saki as I started walking towards the ship 'In a nutshell that's a school carrier'

'Uh-huh...' I said 'A school carrier...duh...obviously...how come I didn't think of that...'

'Well...we call it that' she continued 'But you see, it's much more than that. I could call that ship a self-sustaining society. It's not just the school aboard - it wouldn't be this huge otherwise! An entire city boards that ship and..'

'You gotta be jokin' wit' me' I interrupted.

'Well you will see soon enough' said Saki with a smile 'So as I was saying: everything you would find in a city from grocery stores to hypermarkets is there. It is a normal city just on the sea on an oversized aircraft carrier.

'But why don't you just...' I said.

'...build them on shore?' finished Saki 'To help in teaching the students discipline and responsibility. The entire crew of the ships are students. There are some schools built on these Academy Ships like Ooarai next doors or Pravda. The ships are very economic since it needs little supply for which we dock like this every once in a while. We grow our own food and recycle the water so though MEXT keeps us up it's more efficient than a "regular" city. As I said aboard there is an entire city so not only the students live there. The students can live with their families and a lot of other people fit there as well. Some people just prefer life like this. So are you excited?'

'I think I'll throw up of excitement....' I said 'I never liked sailing..'

'Don't worry' she said 'At first I was like that as well but you can't even feel anything aboard it's that big!'

We walked like this towards the ship which even from a huge distance looked humungus but up close it was just straightup enormously colossatic. I'm not even sure if that was an adjective.

I technically already transferred like a month ago so they didn't ask me to show anything other than my ID.

Thus I boarded the ship.

  As I stepped on the bow of the ship - where people, even cars arrived after boarding - only then did I start to realize the true sizes of the ship. As I looked right: huge rift which ended in the dock down. On the left: an entire city and I even saw a little mountain towards the end of the ship.

'Here' said Saki as she handed the map of the ship to me 'I have a feeling you'll need that'

'Thanks' I said.

'Okay then' she said 'First we should head towards the school. The student council wants to meet you and they said it's better to deal with the paperwork first'

'Right' I said as I was looking at the map when I suddenly realized something 'Waitasec..'

'Hmm?' replied Saki.

'Szent István...other than being my country's first king I heard this name related to a ship...Got it! SMS Szent István, Tagetthoff-class battleship of the Austria-Hungarian navy!

'That's right' nodded Saki

'Come again?' I said surprisingly.

'The ship is based on that ship. Every Academy Ship is based on a historical aircraft carrier but since we never had one...'

'Wait just wait' I said 'What do you mean by "we"? You are not Hungarian aren't you?'

'Oh sorry' said Saki as she bowed a bit 'Since the school was founded by a Hungarian and subsequently this school's theme is Hungary we often feel like we're from the country'

I still wonder how my heart could deal with the second shock of the day. Well at least it was the better kind of shock. I came from Hungary to Japan to Hungary again. Was it fate I wonder? Did the people who sent me here kept it as a secret by accident or by purpose?

I'm home.

'Oh...that's fine by me' I replied to her 'You know I'm from Hungary though, right?'

'Yes of course!' said Saki 'They told me all about you! They told me that "look for a 173cm high girl with freckles and long brown hair who tends to wear a militaristic outfit and a dog tag for a necklace, you can't miss her". They also told me where you are from and I got really excited and felt lucky I was chosen for the job'.

'That's me all right' I said 'They sure know a lot about me...anyways what was the name of the school again? They sent me here so blindly. All they said to me that "a girl from the school will be waiting for you, best of luck"'

'Well that's pretty underorganized!' said Saki 'It's Árpád Girls' High school'

'Árpád huh' I said as Saki seemingly was watching me with a huge tension whether I like it or not 'That sounds great. No expenses were spared when it comes to authenticity am I right?'

'Haha' laughed Saki 'Yes. We really respect the culture here'

'You guys sure are unique' I said.

'As a matter of fact, no' she replied 'Every school has the founder's nationality's theme if the person wasn't Japanese...or at least not strictly traditional Japanese. I mentioned Pravda earlier, right? Their theme is the Soviet Union, or there's that British school Saint Gloriana'

This entire school system was new to me and the fact that they were this independent of their original nationalities truly fascinated me. The students in these "themed" schools really feel like they are from the theme country and they live their lives like that. Saki explained it to me as we walked in the city.

Aboard you can't really tell if it's a ship or not. There is a city on the "flight deck" but also some forests as well and the mountain I mentioned earlier. It is like they chopped out a piece of the countryside. The buildings resembled to Budapest's architecture but mixed with Japanese culture. Narrow streets connecting to main roads, some huge building but generally 3-6 stories tall. There were also much higher - at least 10 floor high - block of flats at the outter circles of the city. At the edge and beyond of the city there are rustic Hungarian style houses with farmlands bordering them.

At the right side of the ship, near the middle was the bridge and the control tower and it is a kind of separator: towards the bow there is more city, towards the stern it was more forest like. On the map I could see some square shaped fields in the forests. I wonder what they are used for.

I really liked walking in the city for the first time. Feels like I was home but I knew I was in Japan because of the cultural mixing.

Towards the end of the city as we turned left at a corner I saw a rather huge building but not tall, just two levels high though it covered a large area. There was a fence around it and the building was made of red bricks and had an oldish outlook to it. There was a huge main wooden gate in the middle of the frontal structure and windows alongside the levels. The entrance was Greek styled with the pillars holding a roof-like structure and the actual roof was sloped but was plain at the top. Kinda reminded me of my old school back home. Between the building and the fence there was a well maintained garden with trees and the flowers planted here shaped the emblem of the school.

It was shaped like a hexagon with a green cross in the center and red triangles surrounding it with thin white lines between the cross and the triangles. There was a shield inside the hexagon which had what we call "Árpád lines" because it was the banner of the Árpád-family, the original rulers of the country from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. The shield had eight lines of red and silver in an alternating manner and the Holy Crown of Hungary rested upon the shield. They sure are into the culture though I couldn't help but wonder why they chose the Hungarian ground forces' emblem from the second world war.

We walked into the building and from the huge hall there was a staircase in the middle which led up to the top floors and two corridors opened up from the hall. The inside had white, smooth walls and checked tiles on the ground, similar to what I could find in hundred-years old buildings back at home.

'This way' said Saki as she pointed on the right corridor.

They are quite long if I do say so myself. After like a minute of walking we arrived at the end. In the meanwhile I could see classrooms and different presentation halls opening from this corridor. At the end we turned left where there were the staff rooms and more stairs leading up.

We walked in the third room on the right and there was a girl looking out the window to the forest. There was a simple wooden desk in the middle with huge amount of papers on top of it and a chair behind it, there were also cabinets seemingly full of papers, pictures, medals and other kinds of objects. There was the flag of the school in the farther right corner of the room.

The girl in the room turned around. She had short black hair, black glasses, was about as tall as I am. She was wearing a white blouse with a dark brown scarf around her neck, under the collar and a matching skirt, not to mention her visibly rather larger chest.

'Ah finally' she said 'I was waiting for you for a long time. Glad you could make it. I am the vice president of the student council. My name is Yamada Hatsu. It's a pleasure to meet you. I will introduce you to Prez...I mean the President and the other vice president tomorrow.

'Ötvös Tamara' I said as we shaked hands 'The pleasure is mine'

'So let's get down to business shall we?' said Hatsu 'Oh I almost forgot...the Prez says she is very grateful to you Saki, she is not here because she had to go do some..."prez business" but she wants to give you a free meal ticket for a token of her gratitude.

'Oh she really shouldn't have...' but the VP wouldn't let Saki finish her sentence.

'So as I was going to say' she started 'I'm sorry for the hurry but these documents need to be sent in for registration today so if you would just kindly sign it here and here...thank you. Welcome to Árpád Girls' High School. I hope you will have a wonderful time here'

'Thank you' I said 'So what's next?'

'Uhm...Saki' she said as she was packing my documents hastily before she ran out of the room 'Take her to her apartment will ya?'

'To my what?' I asked.

'At once' shouted Saki after the girl running in the corridor

'Many thanks!' she shouted back.

'Gee she didn't even let you finish your sentence..' I noted

'Well she's not like this in general' said Saki 'Y'know school starting tomorrow and whatnot, they are really occupied nowadays'

'Did I get it right?' I wondered ' The student council is of three people?'

'Well' she said 'Technically just two though the representatives of each class are part of the body but they don't really need them unless it's a huge matter. Prez and VP can deal with basically anything themselves according perfectly to the school's principals. However there's this one other girl who's a bit more important and can be considered the second VP because of her role...'

There was a few moments of silence after she said that.

'Waitasec what did you just say?' I broke the silence.

'What do you mean?' asked Saki.

' 'Bout school startin' tomorrow' I replied

'Oh right, I'm sorry for not telling you before' said she with seemingly shaming herself 'Your transfer was scheduled today so that you can join the new term right away'

'Bloody good to know I guess' I said sarcastically.

'I am sorry for my opinion but the people sending you here sure are disorganized' she said with a slight bow.

'Don't worry it's fine' I said a bit embarrassed about her apology 'I think so too as a matter of fact...we're like this'

'Anyways' she started 'Wanna see your new home?'

'Yeah, sure!' I said as I was trying to hide my enthusiasm.

We walked out the way we came in into the city again. It was about noon so we grabbed something to eat. I never tried actual Japanese ramen - and her hunch was frightfully on spot - so that is what we ate in the end. It was her treat. Such a kind soul. I couldn't stop thanking her.

After that we went on and I forgot to mention that I had all my stuff with me. Or at least the little I brought. I didn't bring anything particularly special other than what I can't buy here. I guess I'll ask my parents to send some stuff after me in the near future. At any rate, after going in and out of the city's labyrinth we arrived at an apartment building. We went up the stairs to the second floor and we stopped at the third door - which was opposite side of which the building faced the street.

'Pan paka pan~' said Saki 'Home, sweet home. It's all yours, this apartment is rented by the school for emergencies which never came. Not that you are one, I'm sorry for offending you...So since the school never used this so they decided it would be yours!

'Oh my' I said 'Are you guys sure? I am sure about that I can rent one anywhere in town'

'It's fine!' she said 'I wouldn't go against what the school wants if I were you. Lemme just ask the janitor for the keys, he knows we are coming, I'll be back in a sec'

She ran down to what I assume was the janitor's daytime room and I leaned on the railing behind me. The house was on an elevated place so even though it was on the second floor, I still could see the city and the ocean behind it. The building itself was nothing special to the outside. You couldn't even tell which country it was from if I sent a picture of it to anybody...other than the Japanese texts maybe. Three stories tall, rather long and not so wide structure with a little yard behind it - or below me - where you could just relax and talk with the neighbours. Speaking of neighbours, I haven't seen any outside. They are probably working. But now that I think about it the city itself was oddly quiet and a little bit too much peaceful. Not that there wasn't a single soul on the streets but you'd really expect the crowd to be bigger. That surprised me. Or I guess a lot of people went on-shore to do some shopping for things they can't buy aboard the ship.

'Here, keys' said Saki whom I didn't even notice was next to me 'You do the honours'

'Thanks' I said 'Well let's see what I have...'

I opened that light yellow door which matched the building and I stepped in. The shutter was down so there was little light. I could immediately tell the room was Japanese styled because of the space between the door and the carpet in the apartment so I took down my boots there and went to roll the shutters up.

I got my first real glance of the room from the windows. I was in a rather big room and in front of the windows there was the small but well equipped kitchen, the bed was in the room I was which I assumed to be the living room and so was a low table without chairs.

'This will be a though one to get accustomed to' I thought to myself.

There was also a TV in the room and a nightstand next to the bad and besides  a bathroom with a bath, sink and toilet that was all. Little it may be, so to speak, I really liked it.

'Whoa' I said and I saw that Saki was anxiously trying to figure out my face before I said it 'This is just....awesome'

'I'm glad you like it' she said 'I guess I'll leave you for now to fully prepare. Oh and before I forget, you see that wardrobe built in the wall next to the toilet? We put a school uniform there and I think it's your size...if not then come find me'

'Thanks, I should've known I would need to wear one' I said with a little disappointment in my voice.

'Can you give me your map?' asked Saki so I handed it over and she put an X relatively near to this place 'I live here. You have any problem: come find me'

'Much obliged' I said

'Well then, see you soon enough' she said

'Saki!' I shouted and she stopped in the door 'Thank you, for everything. I'm sure I'll be needing you in the future and I'm so sorry for the trouble I'm causing...I hope I will be able to repay you once'

I bowed slighlty.

She as well as she was smiling.

'The pleasure was mine' she said 'Later miss Tami'

And thus she left. I closed the door and I sat down on my bed.

'Well Tamara' I said to myself 'You sure got lucky with this place....well then...let's get comfortable'

First thing I did was looking in the fridge and the cupboards. Just as I suspected. Emptier than a bottle of pálinka after a good party. I'll need to do some shopping. Luckily there is a grocery store right below me in the building and a supermarket a few courners aways. Then I packed my stuff out - my clothes, my laptop, a photo of me with my family. I opened the wardrobe and there was the school uniform - exactly the same style as Vice President Hatsu wore earlier today.

'Well then...let's rock'

[kapitanwingter]

Chapter 1 - Hajimemasu!

'Peanuts...why always peanuts...?' was the only thing I could think to myself.

Okay, I get it. It was all my budget allowed me, other charges dried me up hard. I only hope I will have a place to live or else...let's just not think about that now. On the other hand now that I think about it it's easier to get peanuts up ten something thousand meters in the air than let's say a three-course meal with gulyás soup and wienerschnitzel.

It was the middle of the night and as I looked out the window I could see nothing but darkness colored by the lights of the cities and their glitter on the clouds. For a third class seat it was truly a magnificent view, I'm glad I could take the one by the window.

'Dear Passengers' said the captain over the loudspeaker 'We will land shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts and we hope you had a wonderful journey'

Well wonderful could be an overstatement but again I can't help but note that for my place it was quite comfortable.

I look out the window - still the same darkness painted by some small villages.

Minutes passed by and I started to fall asleep again when I glanced out the window and saw a huge labyrinth of lamps, like billions of fireflies.

The pro of going far-east is probably the fact that I get up the plane at night and arrive at night.

The landing was smooth, safe and sound. At least I think how it should be since I never really flown before.

Standing up was a little bit harder because my legs went numb in that ten something hour long flight. I got up from my seat as soon as I could and walked to the end of the plane and down the stairs. For a big city in the summer the air was chilly and clear, I could almost smell the nearby ocean. The next thing I did was praising myself that I started to learn Japanese heavily - I've always been interested in languages - because with huge letters I could see on the terminal's outer structure: Tokyo.

I arrived.

I went inside the terminal, firstly got my luggage, a huge one since I was transferring then I went to the waiting hall to search for the person who allegedly was waiting for me.

I almost laughed when I noticed the largest sign with "Tamara" written on it. What else could I do? I headed that way.

A girl was waiting for me.

'You don't look you're from around' said she 'You must be Tamara!'

'Jah' said I, trying to suppress a yawn 'Ötvös Tamara, please to meet you'

She had her long brown hair in a ponytail, was wearing a kind of militaristic-resembled outfit with a jacket, some casual shirt with a skirt of urban camouflage together with long stockings which ended in a leather boot.

'Moto Saki, the pleasure is mine' she replied 'So...can I call you Outvoushu?

The question surprised me as I corrected the pronunciation but then I realized the Japanese name order.

'My name is actually Tamara, but you can call me Tami'

'I'm so sorry' she said with huge embarrassment in her voice.

'It's fine' I said 'So anyways, I am sorry for cutting in the middle but I am kind of tired, could you please help me to get to the school? I need to do the paperwork first. Principal's orders.'

'Oh right...the thing is...' said she insecurely which made me insecure as well 'The school is not in Tokyo so we need to take the train, the student council told you to get here because it was the easiest for them, I'm so sorry for the trouble'

'Oh...' I said as I was - failingly - trying to hide my disappointment 'It's all right, it doesn't matter if I end where I should in the end'

She seemed like a nice girl. We got engaged in a conversation as we were heading to the train station. She said we are heading to Choshi which is indeed relatively near to Tokyo. Well in the end their decision in sending me to Tokyo was the right one, but I can't help but notice Saki's..."overapologizing". The Japanese customs sure are interesting.

At any rate, she mentioned a few interesting thing about their...I mean our new school. Like how they have a lot of courses, how the Japanese education works - it resembles much to our universities at home - and the people. According to her the other students and the council is very unique. Sure, my house is unique to me but I decided to keep an open mind because that's how I am.

The way to Choshi was not long at all. These trains here just fly yet you don't even feel the motion except the slight turns in the track, not to mention the comfort of these seats. I'm very interested in getting to know this new world!

We got off the train at Choshi station and the air felt lighter and cleaner than when I got up the train. It was still night but the lights of the small town below us seemed like a heaven for lost souls in the other world. Truly magnificent.

'This way miss Tami' said Saki.

'Tami's fine' I replied.

I learned Japanese and part of learning the language is learning the culture, I told her many times to quit the miss thingy but I guess it's way too natural to her.

We went into the town and got a room for two. I thought she lived here but she said something about living "on the school'. I didn't exactly know about this part of the culture but I guess it's normal here. She said I'll "get aboard tomorrow". I was too lazy to think about the stuff she said so I called it a day and went to sleep.

I saw some of the town at night. Tranquil, peaceful yet seemingly lively and safe. The labyrinth of the streets, the old Japanese culture mashing up with modern life as people of tradition implemented progress in their lives was truly amazing to see.

  The Sun burned a hole in my retina as I opened my eyes next morning. Saki decided the best way to wake me up was to expose me to the radiation which originates a hundred and fifty millions of kilometers away from where I am.

'Gee...thanks...' I said with huge sarcasm in my tired voice.

We went down to have some breakfast. We stayed in a local inn. Saki knew the owners so we got a room right away. It was a traditional place filled with the modern world - by what I mean a radio and some lamps.

'So is she the one you've been talking about?' said mister Takeshi, the owner.

'Yeah' replied Saki 'She can't wait to see the school'

'Well I can't deny it, I really am very much interested' I replied.

'Don't worry' said mister Takeshi ' You will like it there very much. My daughter went into that school and she started to cry heavily when she had to leave it and go to university'

'DAAAAAAD ' shouted some squeaky noise from behind the reception table 'You're embarrassing me!'

' Sorry dearest' said mister Takeshi as he blushed on us ' I just wanted to tell miss Tamara how good that school is. At any rate you should hurry, you do not want to miss the docking.'

'Hogy mi?' I said with huge surprise 'I mean...say what?'

They didn't seem to hear me or they just chose to ignore me. It all started to make less and less sense to me what this mysterious school really is about.

'Anyways' I started again as I slightly bowed 'Thank you for your hospitality, mister Takeshi. I look forward to visiting your inn more in the future'

'Thank you for coming here' he said ' Any friend of Saki is a friend of mine'

We said our temporary goodbyes once again at the main door and I couldn't help but ask Saki.

'Say, Saki' I said ' How come you're on so good terms with them?'

'Well' she started 'In a sense mister Takeshi is a dad instead of my dad. Not that I don't like daddy it's just...my parents are on the move always because of their jobs and we used to live next to them before they opened the inn. They always took so good care of me'

'Oh..' was the only thing I could say.

'Please don't' she interrupted 'It's fine like this. Even if they are en-route always, my parents are with me always and they are very grateful to mister Takeshi'

To be honest I had no idea. I heard from my friends back at home that some of their parents work a lot but I never had the faintest idea such things happen to anybody else.

On the other hand it's great seeing such nice people as mister Takeshi live in this town, I'm getting more and more happier that they chose this school to me. At first I was really against it. At second I started to make up with the idea - it is Japan after all.  It was an emotional and philosophical rollercoaster because they handed me a paper with two countries on it: Japan and Australia. I was a bit shocked at first when I got the notice. Like, why on Earth would they put me to Australia first and not to some European country? Well orders are orders, it's not like I can argue with the higher ups anyways.

I couldn't get this thought out of my head for the past four months - when I first got the transfer notice. Well that is until I landed here. What Saki told me about her family got me thinking about it again but it seems this place could make me forget my problems.

Saki started telling me about her family. She has an older sister who is currently studying in Germany to be a doctor, her grandmother looks after the local shrine but unfortunately time took away her other family members, now it's her, her sister, her parents and grandma. I guess I could say we're in the same boat. Pun intended. You'll get it later.

I have basically the same to say about myself except I don't have a sister and neither does my grandma look after any kind of religious place. However my parents travel a lot as well because of work. My mother is the secretary of some big company's big boss and my dad is the top engineer at an other company. I thought it was such a unique and nearly impossible combo to have as far as parents go that I was the only one like this. Guess I was wrong.

Like this - talking about family - we went through the town and I could feel better and better the saltiness in the air. We were getting closer to the sea. A classroom looking at the sea would be really nice! This country is full of surprises.

Suddenly we heard the fog horn of a ship. A very huge one.

' Come!' said Saki and she grabbed my hand ' You don't want to miss it!'

' You guys are being overly secretive! ' I said as she had me running towards what I assumed to be the docks ' I had the feeling you are not telling me something but you are getting more and more susp...'

And so I lost my words.

I stood there. Looking up. Way up. At a huge ship. Larger than anything I have seen. Larger than the district I used to live in at home.

' So?' said Saki ' How is it?'

' Holy shit' was the only thing I could say ' I mean...azt a kurva...'

[kapitanwingter]

So what is this, really?

 As for answering the title - I don’t know really. Sudden ideas come and go in a person’s life, it’s just a matter of how-important-it-is-to-me-to-do-it. So first lemme just say that I’m a real dreamer. I rethink every situation and this in ma case is not even closely limited to real life stuff. This include shows, series, games, animes...and animes...

 So anyways as I explained in the introductory text this is my version of Girls Und Panzer, my favourite anime. As a guy who has always liked tanks as a whole - kinda like Akiyama Yukari’s real life genderbent counterpart - I can’t help but think a lot about this anime not only because of the main topic, but the execution of the topic and the messages it sends. From time to time I cought myself wandering what I would do as a character of the story, where would I be, what would I do. In the end I connected it with the constant urge to write something but having little ideas as a whole, only just parts of a story which I think could be made into a great one but hell...who has the time next to studying mechanical engineering anyways? Yupp I do that. I like it as much as I hate it.

 But back to topic.

As a wise man once said “Okay then, I’ll go make my (insert clever thing to re create) with blackjack...and hookers...in fact...forget the (clever thing mentioned before)...”. First: if you know the origin we’re already friends. Second: let’s leave out the defiling parts and do re-create something that you like the way you like. Now here comes bumper number one. Be faithful to the story. Let’s not mix our wildest ideas and limit ourselves to the logic of the series. That is something I treasure mostly while writing this series.

 Frankly first I only intended to write it to my dear foreign friends but why should a creator not want to share his work with as many people as he can? Of course I still aim to entertain my friends first and upmost but I also want others to criticize me - of which I accept everything that is cultured, give me hell but as long as you don’t go overboard I accept it without condition - and give their opinion of my writing.

 Another push to write my own is that I saw one fan-fiction (because this is one, duh, an expanded universe based on my own jurisdiction) and I didn’t like it. I’m a bad person, right? I am not showing off the guy like “hurr hurr I can do better cuz I’m native” but because in my opinion he a little bit took Girls und Panzer’s universe and bent it towards his own liking which I at all cost intend to avoid. Having convinced myself that I can do it I started writing my own from the faint ideas I gathered thorough the years and I came up with it: Árpád Girls’ High School and I really don’t want to waste any words on it all. I’m all serious about writing this and if the anime could do such a “ridiculus” story into a serious matter then why the heck can I not do it?

 I already have written a couple of chapters and I intend to do an expanded-universe-thing to the entire series from A to Zs (not Z because of native reasons) as long as I can do it in my free time because again, university sucks when it comes to your own free time but hey, it’s not the worst (yet) either.

Point is: lay back, search for #chapter, read my story, give a feedback if you like, if you want read my other random stuff that I write from time to time - it’s a blog after all.

Have a nice day y’all!

-Winged