Panzer IV, Move Out!

Early the next morning.

The competition venue was packed with people.

In the Girls und Panzer world, tankery was a national sport, even more popular than soccer or basketball.

The audience seats were filled with students from various schools, along with curious onlookers and parents.

A woman in a suit with a sharp aura sat in the VIP section, eyes fixed on the large broadcast screen.

Shiho Nishizumi, head of the Nishizumi family, had come to watch her daughter's match.

Even though Miho had transferred to Ōarai, she was still the successor to the Nishizumi style, and this match represented a showdown between the Nishizumi and Shimada styles of tankery.

"Heh, looks like things aren't looking good for Nishizumi's little girl."

Beside her, a woman with long golden hair chuckled softly.

Shiho remained silent.

She was just as curious as anyone to see how Miho planned to win this match.

From her perspective, it was practically a lost cause—maybe if Kuromorimine were playing, there would be a chance.

On the field,

Both teams rolled their tanks onto the battlefield.

The university selection team fielded 29 T26 Pershings and one Centurion main battle tank.

Leading the team was a petite girl in a military uniform, with silver hair and gray eyes.

Alice Shimada scanned the tanks from Ōarai.

It wasn't just Ōarai now.

Just before the match, Miho's friends had filed temporary transfer paperwork and arrived in their own tanks.

There was a Tiger, Tiger II, and Panther from Kuromorimine, a T-34, IS-2, and KV-2 from Pravda, a BT-42 from Continuation High School, and more.

A full-blown international brigade.

Still, the most eye-catching were the tanks originally from Ōarai.

Alice stared at them for a long time.

They looked somewhat similar to the models she remembered, but something was off about the details.

Who ever heard of a tank with a polygonal main gun?!

"Is that a Panzer IV?"

The little girl pointed to Miho's tank parked nearby.

"Ah, uh, yes. We did some modifications..."

Miho replied awkwardly.

"And that's the Jagdpanzer? What's that rocket booster-looking thing on the back?!"

Alice blinked. She noticed that while other schools' tanks looked relatively normal, Ōarai's vehicles were covered in all sorts of bizarre attachments.

"Uh, that's called... a plasma thruster?"

Anzu Kadotani clicked her tongue.

She was still a little shaken from last night's test run. They had circled the sky several times before they could land.

But at this point, it was too late to care. Winning the match was what mattered.

"Huh?!"

"Are tanks like that even allowed in a match?!"

An official from the tankery education bureau voiced concern.

"Tank modifications are allowed, as long as the opponent doesn't object."

The referee looked toward Alice.

"..."

The little girl thought for a moment.

Given Ōarai's base capabilities, even fully modifying their tanks wouldn't bring them up to par.

Their starting point was just too low.

You couldn't expect a WWII-era tank, no matter how upgraded, to match a modern main battle tank.

The gap between Pershings and Panzer IVs, T-34s, or Jagdpanzers couldn't be bridged with a few parts.

Besides, Ōarai wasn't wealthy enough to afford high-end modification kits.

"I accept. Let the match begin."

Alice nodded.

The players from both teams bowed and greeted each other before returning to their bases.

They gathered their teammates and began strategizing.

...

"Miho, it's time to plan our strategy. We're all counting on you."

Inside a tent-turned command center, a girl with brown hair and black eyes, dressed in a black uniform with a red skirt and a military cap, spoke up.

Nishizumi Maho, commander of Kuromorimine Girls' Academy's tank unit, and Miho's older sister.

"Umm..."

Everyone from Ōarai, including Mako Reizei and Saori Takebe, held a copy of the manual in their hands, reading it with serious expressions.

As they read, they murmured to themselves.

"Oh oh oh, this button is for acceleration, and this one starts guidance mode... huh? Guided missiles?!"

"What's an 'automatic counterattack system'? Sounds super advanced?!"

"What are you all doing? Still figuring out how to drive tanks at this point?"

Maho frowned.

"Umm... our tanks got modified yesterday, so none of us really know how to drive them now..."

Miho scratched her head, a little embarrassed.

The Bulins had heavily modified their tanks and left them with a stack of user manuals.

According to Formidable, learning to drive these new tanks was simple, but with little time to spare, the crews were still studying.

"???"

"What? You modified your tanks so much you can't even operate them anymore?!"

Maho's adjutant, Erika, pulled a twisted expression.

"Miho, you must be joking."

"We came all the way from Kuromorimine to help, and now you're telling me that the Ōarai tank unit is reading instruction manuals right before a match?!"

She couldn't believe it. This was a match that would determine the fate of Ōarai Girls' Academy, and yet here they were, figuring out how to drive on the day of battle.

It felt like someone searching Google for how to load a gun after already stepping onto the battlefield.

"Umm... that lady said if we learn how to drive these tanks, just basic attacks would be enough to win..."

Miho briefly explained the situation.

They had only managed to learn the basic start-up and steering functions the night before. They hadn't had time to learn how to operate the full weapons systems.

She looked up at the sky.

Endless blue.

The shipgirls had said they had business today and couldn't attend the match. A bit disappointing.

"..."

"Where did they come from? Why are they helping you?"

Maho was even more puzzled.

If the tanks hadn't really been modified to such a strange extent, she would have thought Miho was hallucinating.

"I don't know... they said they just thought it sounded fun?"

Miho answered uncertainly.

She decided not to dwell on it, unfolded the map, and began assigning tasks according to the Nishizumi-style strategy.

"Our opponents are 29 Pershing tanks and one Centurion."

"The match rules are annihilation. We must eliminate every enemy unit."

"Kuromorimine and Pravda will head to the left for support. Recon goes to Anzio's CV-33 light tanks. Saunders and St. Gloriana will flank from the right and secure advantageous terrain..."

After assigning roles to the other squads, Maho turned to Miho.

"And what about you? What is Ōarai's tank unit going to do?"

"..."

Miho hesitated for a moment.

"I want to test just how strong the modified Panzer IV really is..."

"Huh???"

...

"Then, we now begin the match between Ōarai Girls' Academy and the University Selection Team!"

Half an hour later, the broadcast announcement echoed.

Both teams maneuvered their tanks into combat formation.

On the big screen, the complete vehicle lists for Ōarai and the university team were displayed.

This was a 30 vs. 30 annihilation battle.

Led by Alice Shimada, the University Selection Team fielded 29 Pershings and one Centurion, all in sleek black.

Ōarai, on the other hand, had a bizarre lineup of tank models—a multinational mix of German, British, American, Italian, Soviet and more.

"Panzer vor! Tanks, move out!"

At Miho's command, the battle began.

Tanks from Kuromorimine, Pravda, Anzio, and other schools spread out, each heading to their assigned positions.

"Uhh..."

Inside the Panzer IV, Mako Reizei tapped through various menus on the holographic screen.

The dense wall of data made her dizzy, so she followed the manual step by step.

"Let me see... anti-gravity mode... um, press this button here..."

"Flight altitude... tsk, I'm kind of afraid of heights... thruster settings... speed to level 1..."

She was noticeably more familiar with the controls than last night.

Clack—

The Panzer IV's treads retracted into the chassis.

With a series of clank clank transformation sounds like a transforming robot, it morphed mid-air into something resembling a small shuttlecraft.

Blue jet streams fired from the rear as it slowly ascended into the sky, drawing astonished stares from the Kuromorimine, Pravda, and Saunders teams.

The rest of Ōarai's crew quickly followed suit.

Their tanks, wobbling slightly, also took to the skies.

Although their operation was still clumsy, the interior setup was quite user-friendly—once speed and altitude were set, the onboard AI automatically entered cruise mode.

"OHHHHHHH—"

"We're flying!!!"

The Ōarai team members shouted excitedly over the comms.

Nearby allies stared in disbelief at the tanks soaring upward.

"Miho, you..."

From the command hatch of her Tiger tank, Maho Nishizumi poked her head out, stunned as she watched the Panzer IV float in the sky.

She never imagined her little sister would one day fly a tank during an official tankery match.

"What IS that thing?! Can you still call that a tank?!"

"Ahem."

Miho cleared her throat, recalling the piloting instructions the Bulins had taught her.

She knew she had to win this match no matter what.

"Panzer IV, move out!"

With that order—

BOOM!

A sonic boom echoed as the Panzer IV and Ōarai's seven other tanks, their engines blazing, vanished beyond the horizon.

RUMBLE—

The shockwave nearly overturned a helicopter doing live coverage above.

"The Panzer IV! Ōarai Academy's Panzer IV has taken off! They're about to breach the atmosphere!!"

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