Miho Nishizumi and Anzu Kadotani were left a little dumbfounded by the aircraft carrier onee-sans' words.
Due to funding issues, Ōarai Girls' Academy really didn't have any decent tanks.
The only one that could be considered heavy firepower was a single Tiger (P) heavy tank.
They were indeed quite envious of other schools, who could casually field dozens of Shermans, T-34s, or even Pershings.
"Eh? Is that okay? But... why are you helping us?"
Miho cautiously studied Formidable and Victorious.
"Just think of it as letting you experience advanced civilization tech ahead of time."
Victorious giggled behind her hand.
The higher-ups in charge of conquering this world and dealing with other nations were other shipgirls.
They just wanted to have some fun with the protagonist group from the Girls und Panzer world.
Once they got friendly, it would be much easier to pack them up and take them along.
"Umm..."
Miho looked over Formidable and the other shipgirls behind her.
They were all dressed in standard military uniforms, with varying hairstyles and hair colors.
The uniforms reminded her of her older sister.
She didn't quite understand everything, but this wasn't the time to overthink.
The showdown with the university selection team was tomorrow. They had to find a way to increase their strength.
No matter how absurd the method, they had to give it a try.
"So, what kind of advanced tanks are you talking about?"
Anzu asked curiously.
"Follow me."
Formidable led the two girls into her ship.
Inside the spacious hangar, rows of various kinds of equipment were neatly arranged.
"Take your pick."
She first pointed to a mech roughly 20 meters tall.
"Anyone here know how to pilot a Gundam?"
The two girls looked completely lost.
They had only trained in tankery—not in Gundamry o whatever else.
"This is the MK3 spaceborne mecha. A single unit can destroy most of Earth's pre-space-era air forces. Interested?"
"Uhh... we don't know how to fly..."
"How about the Saiun-class interstellar escort ship? It has two positron siege cannons and forty missile pods. Interested?"
"Umm... we don't know how to pilot that either..."
After a full look around, Miho and Anzu were utterly stunned by the shipgirls' equipment.
Everything here looked like something out of science fiction, capable of crushing modern armies without breaking a sweat.
If they deployed any of these, never mind the university selection team—they could beat actual national militaries.
The only issue: no one in Ōarai knew how to pilot a Gundam, a fighter jet, or a starship.
"How about we send in some universal angels to assist you?"
Yukikaze raised her hand.
"..."
"I really appreciate the offer, but tankery rules don't allow that."
Miho answered apologetically.
"The match only permits tank models from before 1945. No planes, mechs, or warships allowed."
"We also can't bring in help from outside the school."
"Such a serious, rule-abiding, and stubborn girl."
Formidable patted Miho on the head, then smiled after a moment of thought.
"In that case, how about we help you modify your tanks? There shouldn't be any rules against that, right?"
"Eh?"
Miho blinked.
"That's actually a great idea!"
Anzu agreed at once.
"But there's only one night left. Modifying that many tanks... isn't that a bit much?"
"We don't have enough personnel for repairs..."
Clank clank clank—
With a wave of her hand, Formidable summoned a row of purple Bulins carrying wrenches.
They lined up neatly in front of them.
"Leave it to us. Lead the way."
...
Miho Nishizumi brought Formidable and the Bulins to Ōarai Girls' Academy's garage.
Inside, eight tanks were neatly lined up—Ōarai's entire combat force.
"...These look kind of familiar."
Formidable, Yukikaze, and a few other shipgirls showed nostalgic expressions.
Panzer IV, Jagdpanzer, StuG III, Type 3 Chi-Nu... quite a few were models they had seen back on the battlefield.
As navy units, they occasionally encountered these tanks.
There was even a Mark IV tank—a complete antique.
If nothing changed, tomorrow Miho would lead these eight tanks against the University Selection Team's 29 Pershings and one Centurion.
A hopeless fight.
"Alright then, leave it to the Bulins."
Formidable patted a purple Bulin on the head.
"Modify their tanks—but don't go overboard. We don't want anyone getting hurt."
"Bulin understands!"
A few purple Bulins pulled out wrenches and eagerly got to work.
In tankery matches, the tanks' cannons and shells are specially modified to be non-lethal.
A damage recording device inside each tank determines whether it has been damaged or destroyed.
For the Bulins, this kind of work was even easier than building houses.
They immediately got to modifying Ōarai's tanks.
Clang clang clang—
The garage was soon filled with the sound of tools at work.
"???"
"Wait! Why are you taking out the engine?!"
Miho panicked as she saw the Bulins strip her Panzer IV down to bare parts in just a few moves.
"We're installing a reactor, bulin!"
A purple Bulin tilted her head innocently.
"What?! A reactor?!"
Miho was filled with question marks.
She noticed the Bulins moved unbelievably fast—way faster than the school's tech team.
Disassembling and reassembling, they constantly pulled strange materials out from their ship-rigs.
"Tell me—how do you want your tank modified? Bulin can make it happen."
Formidable generously asked Miho.
"Um..."
"The Panzer IV uses a 75mm L/48 cannon, which can't penetrate a Pershing's armor from the front. Can we get something stronger?"
Miho mustered her courage to make a request.
"No problem. We'll give you a positron siege cannon. It's one we took off the Commander's Strike Freedom. Can punch through 200 Pershings in one shot."
Formidable patted her on the shoulder.
"Huh???"
"Can we reinforce the armor too? Enough to block small-caliber main guns would be great..."
"Bulin, install a Klein Field on Ōarai's tanks."
"???"
"With all these upgrades, what about mobility? Can it still do 40 km/h?"
"Bulin, slap on an aerospace thruster. 20 Mach shouldn't be an issue."
"WHAT?!"
...
The Bulins enthusiastically performed a total overhaul, leaving Miho and Anzu completely dumbfounded.
Within an hour, her tank was disassembled and rebuilt.
At first glance, the Panzer IV didn't seem drastically different on the outside.
It still had its gray, boxy armor. The turret, side skirts, and treads had all been kept.
But upon closer inspection, the details had drastically changed.
Observation ports and machine gun slits were gone.
The armor was now sleek and smooth, without a trace of the wear typical of WWII tanks.
The main gun had been replaced with something resembling an energy emitter—a hexagonal barrel that looked distinctly sci-fi.
"???!"
Miho stared for a while, knocked on the armor, then climbed in to take a look.
The interior of the tank had been completely overhauled, now modeled after a starship command console.
Holographic interfaces and newly installed radar detection systems filled the space.
It could monitor the surrounding environment in 360 degrees, with zero blind spots.
"???"
"What did it turn into?!"
Miho Nishizumi couldn't close her mouth.
"We did a light starship-grade modification, and adjusted the weapons system to reduce lethality—just enough to be competition-appropriate."
"Of course, you can also disable the limiter and activate full power mode. As for combat potential... taking over the entire island nation wouldn't be an issue."
Victorious spun her eyes playfully, seriously considering it.
"Huh?!"
Miho just wanted to restore Ōarai and avoid the school getting shut down—world domination was not on the agenda.
"Want to give it a try?"
Formidable asked.
Miho immediately pulled out her phone and summoned her still-sleepy teammates: Mako Reizei, Saori Takebe, and Hana Isuzu.
A few minutes later, the girls—all wearing sailor uniforms—stood in the garage, rubbing their eyes.
They were the Panzer IV's crew.
Seeing the now-ultra-futuristic tank, their jaws dropped.
"Miho, what is this? And who are they?!..."
The black-haired, black-eyed Rinka stared in confusion at Formidable and the Bulins.
"Uh, um, they came to help us upgrade our tanks..."
Miho realized she actually knew nothing about these shipgirls.
Her mind had been completely focused on the university team match, so she had absentmindedly agreed to Formidable's suggestion and brought them over for a full overhaul.
Fortunately, nothing had gone wrong. If the tank had been ruined, she really would have cried.
"Uhh..."
Driver Mako Reizei climbed into the seat and was immediately overwhelmed by the interface in front of her.
"How do you even drive this tank now?!"
Yawning groggily, she pinched her cheek, wondering if she was still dreaming.
"Press this, then this, and finally this—bulin!!!"
A Bulin energetically guided her through the start-up process.
"Oh—"
Mako pressed a big red launch button.
Woooooo—
Thanks to the anti-gravity system, the tank slowly floated into the air.
Then, red ion jets burst from the back as the thrusters ignited.
BOOM!
The tank smashed through the garage doors and soared into the sky.
The screams of Miho's crew echoed into the night:
"Why is it flying? Aaahhh?!"
"Isn't this a tank? A tank?!"
"Is that a Boeing 747 in front?! We're going to overtake it! Aaahhh!"
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