Girls Und Panzer: Fellow English From Abroad

XI

The question that he anticipated did not come. Instead, conversations continued as the girls from both schools and few scattered males from Rosebay conversed amongst each other.

The evening continued, Anthony acutely aware of the glances thrown at him. He did not really care at this point in time, simply eating his meal whilst time slipped away from him in a blur.

The curfew sounded, the two schools filing back to the dormitories assigned to them, with the bulk of the boys ending up in the auditorium. However, Anthony made his way to his dorm, one of the few on site that had been vacant.

Sitting on the bed in the small room, a glance was thrown out the second story window, looking at the steadily sinking sun. Yes, the common areas were still open, and chatter from there was plentiful, but it definitely felt like some alone time.

He didn't even know his future. He hadn't really had enough time to sit and think. It was really very overwhelming and it was putting a strain on his health.

And so with a drawn out sigh, he lay back on the bed that was just a tad too small and closed his eyes.

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A sharp staccato knock on his door stirred him from his slumber, the small clock displaying the time 05:35 in dim red numbers. Yet despite this, he still checked his watch out of habit. Nearly 9 pm in England. His body was barely getting used to this timezone, but his nearly inverse body clock had helped immensely.

Hauling himself from bed, he grumbled as the door was again knocked on in the swift and concise manner. "Yes, Yes! Im coming, bloody hell..."

Grabbing the door knob, he twisted, wrenching the door open and glaring out at a hyperactive redhead who grabbed his arm, slammed his door and practically dragged him down the corridor, ignoring his indignant cries.

"Rosehip what the fuck are you doing?" His voice was terse and abrasive, but very clearly frazzled, none of which did anything to discourage the red haired girl.

"Theres been an issue regarding Rosebay. Lady Darjeeling has been trying to fix it for 5 hours with little luck." Rosehip barely slowed down to speak, hauling him towards a door marked 'meeting room', from which a light emitted, weak and clearly being burning for a while.

Somewhat unceremoniously stumbling to a halt, Anthony fixed up his uniform, straightening up and fixing his lopsided beret, lazily combing his hair with his hands as to ensure it stayed somewhat presentable. With this done, he gave the redhead a nod, who, instead of knocking, simply barged straight in, much to the indignation of Anthony.

Around the large table that sat in the middle of the room sat various adults wearing a wide variety of attires, from Gloriana's tankery uniforms to formal business attire and even a JSDF uniform. Anthony swallowed gingerly, realising the sort of situation he was in.

On the other side of the table sat faces he finally recognised. Darjeeling and Assam sat next to each other, with a spare seat between them and Emily, several of the teachers from Rosebay were also there, the Sensha-Dō instructor, Lt. Col. Jonathan Smythe, the deputy principal Angela Baker and the Dean of Sport, Andrew Parson.

Moving across the room, he sat in the empty seat between Emily and Darjeeling, giving them nods of greeting as he sat down. Looking down at the sheet of paper he was handed, he began to recognise what was happening.

Rosebay was being assimilated. But there were questions.

Brief snippets of conversation were all that he heard as various adults argued. From what he had gathered, a number of the staff at Gloriana's had protested to the presence of males on campus, thus sparking this intense debate.

Yet it seemed that Rosebay had come out on top on more than a few point, and a final contact was drawn up and signed, officially transferring everything Rosebay owned to St Gloriana's. Albeit, not all the students would be accepted, and those who failed to meet the required grades would be dismissed or would have to undergo further enrolment processes.

Anthony, deep in thought, soon became acutely aware that a number of people were staring at him, mainly those of the Sensha-Dō affiliated staff, remaining behind as everyone else left the room.

"And now it comes to you 3rd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, to make your decision." The Gloriana's instructor stared at him, JSDF uniform crisp. In turn, Anthony suppressed a grimace. He loathed that title.

"In what respects?" He answered her question with his own, taking care to ensure his English was crisp and coherent to her perhaps less skilled ear.

"Regarding the property of the tanks within your possession. Gloriana's requests that you hand them over to the Sensha-Dō team." Of course they wanted his tanks. Legally, they were owned by him now that the school was defunct, which left him in an awkward position.

".. I see... allow me to confer with Commander Darjeeling." Anthony allowed his thoughts to mull on what was being said to him. "And would, by any chance, I receive compensation?"

The woman stared at him for a second, and Anthony thought he had pressed a bit too hard. But to his surprise, the woman nodded. "Given the... value of such vehicles, St Gloriana's is willing to wave the normal tuition fees."

Well that was handy. Anthony turned to Darjeeling, who nodded in agreement. With that, Anthony extended his hand to Darjeeling. "We have a deal, then."

With that, Darjeeling hook his hand, shaking it. "It seems that we do."