Heart of Steel (Maho, Girls und Panzer)

Up Close and Personal

"Fire!" Maho yelled as she sat beside her gunner who was currently servicing targets at the end of the practice range.

"See? Just like that" She then added with a much calmer and relaxed tone, smiling slightly at Paul who was also sitting in the turret of the tank.

"I-I guess so..." He muttered in reply, his ears still ringing slightly.

"Now it's your turn" Maho added once again, signalling for her gunner to leave the tank.

"Ah..."

"You'll be fine~" She said with a confident tone as Paul tentatively sat in the gunners seat.

(Paul in head) "Breathe, just breathe..." Paul thought to himself as he watched Maho pick up a new shell and load it into the gun breach, slamming it shut as she did so.

Truth be told he never imagined he'd be spending time in a tank during his first few weeks of school, or at all for that matter. Though things seemed to have a funny way or turning out...

"Now rest your head on here..." Maho started going over the basics of aiming and firing the gun, though despite how well conducted her description was Paul was having rather more distracted thoughts...

(Paul in head) "My heart's beating so fast... Despite the smell of burnt powder filling the air I can still make out... Perfume?! I wonder what kind she-" Paul started to think, his train being derailed rather quickly as Maho shook him back to reality. Quite literally in this case...

"Paul!" She basically yelled, gripping his shoulder tightly and shaking him slightly as he seemed to have completely zoned out from what she was saying.

"A-Ah?!" Paul quickly muttered, struggling to find the right words.

"Are you even listening?" She asked with a sterner tone than before, clearly displeased with his lack of focus. Especially since she was spending her own time to train him up, something she'd only done at Michael's request...

"Y-Yes I-I am! I'm... I'm sorry" He apologized with a sigh, looking away from her with a dejected expression.

"It's alright. Look, I'll show you" She then started again, a slight smile forming on her face as she leaned forward and reached over his shoulder. Basically telling him the instructions straight into his ear as he began to move the gun onto target.

(Paul in head) "I can feel her breath on my neck... It's so... Just stop thinking about that and listen you idiot!"

(Maho in head) "I do feel silly doing training in this way... Though, why do I feel so awkward about it?"

"I-I'm ready..." Paul then muttered, gulping slightly as he still felt Maho close behind him.

She then rested her hand down on his shoulder forcefully and yelled, "Fire!"

Paul quickly pressed the trigger and felt a vibration surge through his body as the gun fired and recoiled back into the tank, the spent shell casing making a clanging sound as it dropped to the floor.

"Let's see..." Maho whispered to herself as she stepped up into the commanders hatch and looked down range with her binoculars.

As she did she noticed a hole in a target that wasn't there before and a smile began to grow on her face.

"You did it!" She happily announced, laughing slightly as she looked again at how accurate the shot had been. Despite the long distance between the tank and the target Paul had managed to land his shot around half a foot away from the bullseye of the target.

"There might be a future for you in gunnery after all" Maho then added, lowering her head in order to speak more clearly to Paul who was still in the tank.