Girls und Panzer: Downfall

Compliments

"Congrats to the first years for their victory. Now that this matter has been settled, I'd like you all to rest this evening, so that you can be ready to work as hard as every day tomorrow. The match was pretty tiring for all of us, so don't be afraid to…slack off. Just don't do it at training, or I'll tie you to a Panzer II and send you on a suicide charge against Nonna's IS-2. Understood?" 
"Yes!" All the students shouted together as one, then bowed.
"Good. Dismissed!" 
The organized formation of students gradually started dispersing, and a lot of smaller groups started forming. Some were made of two, some of three, some people were alone, but they all had a couple of things in common: first of all, they were all students of Kuromorimine, and members of its tankery team, obviously, and second, they were all minding their own business, just like their commander had instructed them to do.
"Miho." 
As the younger Nishizumi sister was about to leave, her elder sister called her back. 
"Yes, sis…I mean, Commander?" She said. 
"You can call me however you like while it's the two of us, don't worry. I just wanted to tell you that you did a good job in the match today. I'm proud of you, little sister." 
Maho finished with a smile that warmed her sister's heart. Miho smiled back and nodded, taking a step forward. 
"Thank you, sis." She whispered almost with tears in her eyes. Maho at that point gently wrapped Miho in her arms and squeezed her tight, much to her little sister's surprise.
"I'm expecting a lot from you. Don't let me or mom down, okay?" Maho whispered in her sister's ear. 
"I won't!" She said decidedly. Maho broke away and took a quick look at her clipboard, seeming to be quite focused on what was written on it.
"Oh, sis…how's Michael doing? Has he woken up?" Miho asked worried. 
"Yes, he woke up not long ago." 
"Oh, can I…go and see him?" She asked again, hopeful. 
"I told you you are free to do whatever you want until tomorrow. He's in the infirmary, room 101." 
"Thank you sis! I'll see you tonight!" Miho said setting off, headed to the infirmary. After a minute or so of walking, she heard a voice calling her behind her. She turned around, and saw somebody unexpected.
"Erika-San…" She muttered, a bit worried about why Erika had stopped her. The Tiger II's commander walked up to Miho and gave her a less stern look than usual. 
"Good match today, vice-commander." Erika said, still with a note of hesitation in her voice.
"Yeah, sure was!" Miho answered, happy that everybody was telling her she'd done good. 
"You're going to see your friend at the infirmary?" Erika asked.
"Yeah." 
"Well…give him my compliments. He did a good job." 
Erika, after having said that, walked away into the sunset. Miho took one last look at her and smiled before remembering where she was headed. 
"I'm coming, Michael." 

_-_-_-_-_-_-

-6.45PM

_-_-_-_-_-_-

Michael heard the door to his room opening. He lifted his eyelids and saw a familiar face stepping inside. 
"Michael, are you okay? I was so worried…" Miho started walking to her friend's bed.
"I've been better…how are you doing?" Michael whispered.
"Me? Why do you care about how I am in such a state?" Miho asked a bit weirded out. 
"Well…friends do that…right?" Michael asked, giving his friend a tired but warm smile.
"Y-yeah…you're right…" 
A bandage was wrapped around Michael's head. The area around his forehead had a big stain of red on it. 
"I'm tired…and I feel dizzy…" Michael said, to nobody in particular, after a few moments of awkward silence. 
"I bet…what was the last thing you remember?" 
Michael kept an absent look on his face for a while, then he opened his mouth. The memories of the match were still a bit confused in his head.
"The Tiger aiming at me…that was scary…" Michael said in a gloomy tone. 
"At least we won in the end!" Miho said trying to cheer Michael up. 
"Oh yeah…we did…" 
"By the way, Erika told me to give you her personal compliments for your performance." 
"Oh…nice…oh, what time is it? I completely lost track here…" Michael asked. 
"A quarter to 7, more or less. Why?" 
"Because we're just in time for dinner, that's why." Michael said talking in a normal tone all of a sudden, just like he was doing perfectly fine.
"Huh? But you're…you…" 
"I'm fine. The doctor said I could leave when I wanted to since he already stitched me up." 
Michael stood up easily, took his bandage off, threw it in a bin and lifted his hair up to let Miho have a look.
"He stitched you up for good alright…" 
The cut on the boy's head wasn't straight and it was about 5cm long, on the right side of Michael's forehead. There were 5 stitches on the scar. 
"That doesn't look good…" Miho commented, still feeling guilty about letting Michael get hurt a second time.
"No, it doesn't. But I'm fine, don't worry. The doctor said it will never completely disappear, but as time goes on it'll get less and less obvious. Either way, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault or anything." 
Miho wasn't so sure about Michael's last sentence. She'd made Michael get hurt, twice. The Panzer IV was a good tank, for sure, but it struggled a bit against the "big cats" Kuromorimine had. In the past, the Panzer IV formed the backbone of Kuromorimine's lineup, but as time passed and as all the schools upgraded their arsenals, it got overshadowed by Tigers, Panthers and such. Back in the day, Kuromorimine had more than 20 Panzer IVs, but the majority of them weren't in their former school. Some got scrapped for parts, some got sold or lent to other schools (see Count or Jatkosota High), and a few ended up in private collections. Only two had remained in Kuromorimine, and they'd been left there to rot for a lot of time, at least until Michael had come about. He was well aware of his tank's weaknesses, and he knew he was going to struggle a bit. That, though, was exactly what Michael had imagined tankery would be for him. He had to give it his all, and he wanted an immersive experience. He thought that was exactly what a Panzer IV Commander felt like in 1944. Facing bigger and stronger enemies, and gradually getting overshadowed. Many people don't give the Panzer IV the credit it should deserve. Even in 1945, it still was the backbone of what was left of the Wehrmacht. The fact that it was a bit overmatched did by no means indicate it was obsolete. Of course, a Sherman with a 76mm cannon, or a T-34/85, or a Pershing were "better" tanks obviously, but Michael didn't care. First of all, because Kuromorimine didn't possess those tanks, second of all, because he wouldn't have chosen any tank other than a Panzer IV.
"But I was the one who made you get hit…you could've…" Miho whispered, not even knowing what to say. She was feeling terrible. 
"Whoa, it's alright. I'm not mad okay? If I got mad about such a stupid thing I'd be an asshole!" Michael answered bluntly, laying a hand on Miho's shoulder. 
"But…it's not stupid…you're scarred for life now, thanks to me…" Miho added. Michael thought about it for a second and realized Miho was kinda right. He was a bit unhappy about that, but he didn't wanna show her. He would have destroyed her feelings. 
"Hey, it's alright. I'm not mad or anything, like I said. Don't feel guilty, since you basically couldn't have done anything about it." Michael said wholeheartedly. 
"If you say so…" 
"In fact I do. So how about you stop fretting over something that was by no means under your control? And how about we go and have a bite to eat?"  

_-_-_-_-_-_-

An hour later… 

_-_-_-_-_-_-

The cafeteria was full of boys and girls. Mostly girls, though. The boys were either sitting alone, or with their male friends, or in rare cases with a female or two. That was Michael's case. That night, there were schnitzels for dinner: Michael's favorite dish. They were delicious for him, considering they were made in a school cafeteria.
"Are you enjoying your food?" Miho asked while she was chewing. 
"It's so good…I hadn't eaten a good schnitzel in a while!" Michael answered. 
"Right…because your mother left…" Miho muttered, then immediately regretting having said that. 
"Yeah. At least you have a mother who cares for you. And a famous one too." Michael pointed out. 
"Well…my dad is always away for work, and my mum…she isn't as kind as you'd think. She taught me skills and knowledge in tankery unparalleled by very few people, but…she was never a caring or loving mother. She didn't teach me how to behave with others, she didn't teach me about anything normal, she didn't…love me. At least not in the way I would have liked." Miho explained, looking down.
"You're really something then…" Michael thought out loud without realizing that he had said something not very smart. 
"What do you mean?" Miho asked a bit worried that Michael wanted to offend her or something.
"Ah…I m-meant…if you said all these things, you're…I mean… if you said your mother raised you like this, you're either lying or…um…" Michael started, cursing himself for being so reluctant and shy.
"Um…Michael, what are you trying to say?" Miho asked very confused. Michael realized he was being very awkward and blushed. He took a deep breath and smiled nervously.
"I meant that if you said you were raised so toughly, you're either lying or you're…um…well, you're awesome. Because it's like impossible to be as kind and nice as you are, all while being raised by a…tough mother. That happened to me too. I got raised by a tough mother as well, and I'm not nearly as awesome as you are…I'm just the empty shell of a kid, or at least that's what I feel like I am."  
Michael was surprised by the fact he was opening up so much with Miho, having known her for only a few days. He had never told anyone that kind of stuff. 
"Me? Awesome? I don't see myself like that…" Miho muttered thinking Michael was just lying to make her feel better.
"Well then you need to start having some self-esteem. I haven't done much in tankery so far, but I've seen your skills. You've got the brains and the brawn, and most importantly you know how to handle your subordinates. That's what a good officer does. And most importantly, I see you're liked and respected by everyone. I've heard a lot of people say good things about you, and I see everybody saying hi to you when you're walking around. Everybody loves you, Miho Nishizumi. Now I ain't any expert, but if you took advantage of every card you have to play, you'd easily achieve the same amount of success as your mum, if not more!" 
One question was clear in Michael's head at that moment: why the hell am I saying any of this? 
Unfortunately, he couldn't find an answer right there on the spot. 
"Michael…do you seriously think that?" Miho asked, with a light blush on her cheeks. 
"Yeah! I mean…as I said, I'm no expert, but I can recognize a person out of the ordinary when I see them. And you, Miho Nishizumi, are surely one of those."