Yukari's Greatest Battle (Yukari, Girls und Panzer)

Memories of the Past...

Once inside the auditorium, Ben  and all of the other Tankery teams were shown a short and largely uninformative video about Tankery.

This was followed by a long lecture from the teacher in charge of Tankery about the, 'benefits of Tankery' and that, 'it would help to improve teamwork and comradery between crew members'.

While all of this may have been true, Ben, and pretty much everyone else in the auditorium was half asleep when the lecture finally came to an end some three hours later.

"Finally!" He shouted jokingly as he and the others walked out of the auditorium."That certainly took longer than I expected..." Caesar remarked.

"Yeah, I didn't think that our first experience with Tankery would be this boring!" Erwin shouted, as Ben and the other crew members stopped gathered around her.

"Don't worry Erwin. Remember what they said, our first real lesson will be next week, this was just an introduction" He said trying to calm Erwin down.

"He's right Erwin, this is just a formality" Yukari added, smiling at Ben as she said it.

"I know, I know. As long as we get to work with tanks soon!" Erwin responded with a sigh.

"We will Erwin, don't worry~" He said jokingly, tapping her on the shoulder.

"On another note, I think its time we all got home, It's dark after all..." Oryou said as she pointed up to the dark sky.

"Wow, that took a lot longer than I thought it would. I didn't expect it to be dark out" Caesar replied in a surprised tone.

"Yeah me neither. You're right though Oryou, we should all get home before it gets any later" He responded, also surprised that it was as late as it was.

"Alright we'll see you all tomorrow" Oryou said over her shoulder, as she walked out of the school gates with Caesar.

"Bye~!" Ben, Erwin and Yukari responded.

"Oh, I should start moving too, my mom just texted me, she's waiting just around the corner in the car." Erwin said softly as she started to walk away, passing close to Ben as she did. "Make sure she gets home safe~" she whispered as she gave him a wink over her shoulder.

"Ah...ok" Ben whispered to himself, realizing what Erwin was trying to do by leaving him and Yukari alone.

"So what about you Yukari, are you getting picked up?" Ben turned to her to ask.

"A-Ah, no, I-I'm not. My parents are out tonight, so I'll have to w-walk home" Yukari stuttered out, scared not only because she was alone with him, but because she thought she had to walk home alone at night.

"Oh, w-would you like me to walk you home t-then?". Ben said shakily, feeling heat rise to his face.

"A-Ah y-you don't have to d-do that, I d-don't want to trouble you..." Yukari once again stuttered, this time due to her surprise at him offering to walk her home, looking away slightly upon feeling herself start to blush.

"It's no trouble, I want to make sure you get home safe~" Ben replied trying to act confident, still blushing, thankfully it was dark and it was hard for either of then to see each other clearly.

"O-Okay then, t-thanks" Yukari said as she began to walk out of the school gates with him walking beside her.

Ben wanted to talk to Yukari but his mind was going blank, something that seemed to happen whenever he was around her, his mind just got frazzled and he was unable to think clearly.

After a few minutes of silence Yukari spoke up, "S-So Ben, you know that g-girl from earlier?"

"You mean the one that tried to punch you?~" He replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"Y-Yeah..." Yukari replied.

"What about her?"

"W-Well I want you to know why she acted like that towards m-me, and it might change how you see me...". Yukari said bowing her head in front of her as she walked.

"Okay...Tell me what happened then", Ben asked, intrigued.

"Well it was early last year. I'd ran to get to the area for Tankery and found a crew that was willing to take me on as a loader. I was so happy, I couldn't believe that I had a chance to be apart of a Tankery crew..." Yukari started with a saddened smile on her face.

"Our first action as a team was to be in our qualifying match, but the commander of my crew, the girl from earlier, wouldn't let me practice in the tank before the match like the others. She said that I was only apart of the team because they needed a loader and that I should stay away from them and the tank until the match." Yukari's expression began to get more and more saddened as she told her story. The pair stopping to sit on a bench, on the sidewalk.

"Then, when we got into our match, I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't used to opening and closing the breach, and I wasn't practiced enough to load shell into the breach quickly, I even dropped a shell right when it was needed most. This led to our tank only firing two shots before it was destroyed", Yukari began to sniffle and tears formed in her eyes. 

Seeing this Ben smiled softly and wrapped his hand around her and onto her shoulder. Yukari blushed heavily, but said nothing as she rested her head onto his shoulder.

"After the match, the commander and the other crew members blamed me, they said that I was useless and that I could never do Tankery even if I tried.... They're right you know, I-I shouldn't be a part of y-your crew, I'll just disappoint you...". At this point Yukari had tears streaming down her face as she remembered the most painful moments she'd ever felt.

Seeing this, Ben used his free had to wipe away her tears. Then he cupped her cheek with his hand and turned her face towards him, his face heating up and heart beating fast.

"That failure wasn't just because of you, the blame should fall on everyone in the crew, or at the very least the commander. And you don't have to worry, you could never disappoint me Yukari"

Yukari felt her face heat up even more and her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. "A-Ah...T-Thank you Ben~"

The pair sat for a few minutes after this exchange, Yukari then wiped her face and they continued in silence towards her house.

Once they reached Yukari's door, she turned around quickly and pulled him into a tight hug. "T-Thank you Ben...f-for everything...you're a real sweetheart~", Yukari whispered in Ben'sear.

"You're welcome~" He replied feeling his face heat up... Again.

Yukari then raced inside her door with a large blush and a wide smiled covering her face.

Seeing this, Ben chuckled to himself as he started making his way home...