I changed back into my clothes from earlier and went to meet up with Rachael. We planned on talking with some of the other school's commanders, hopefully getting them to spill some information.

I then felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and saw that Rachael had texted me.

'You're going to have to do the info gathering on your own. Have fun ;)'

I mentally cursed her, but then I realized I was alone with no one around.

"Motherfucking flake!"

I was never good with social interaction, and I was planning on relying on her to start up conversations. I sighed and walked to the main nexus.

I looked around and saw some commanders milling about. I thought of an approach to try and get a conversation going.

"How's the weather? No that's too awkward. Nice weather we're having? No, that's the same thing. Hi! My name is Avery! No, that'll make me come off as weird..."

"Avery? Who are you talking too?"

I heard a voice call out from behind me, just barely close to giving me a heart attack. Whipping around I came face to face with Miho.

"Oh, hi Miho." I said to her with a sheepish smile.

"You didn't answer my question." Miho said back.

I thought of a way to get out of this predicament but Miho spoke first.

"Are you practicing hitting on girls?" She said with a grin.

Seeing as I'd only make it worse denying that, I went with it despite every nerve in my body telling me not too.

"Y-yeah..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

Miho was a little surprised, but giggled a bit.

"You know, I didn't take you as someone to be hitting on girls like this."

"Yeah, I guess first impressions don't exactly show a person's true colours." Oh how true could that get.

"I guess you're right. Though I still don't know what I should think of you. Maybe you'll try and flirt with someone I know?" Miho said.

"D-don't worry, I don't think I'll try today." I responded.

"It's okay Avery." Miho said, "Maybe let them come to you? Girls prefer guys who are themselves."

"Yeah, I'll try that." I said. I decided to change the subject to try and get some info from her.

"So you're the overall commander of Ooarai?" I asked, despite already know the answer.

"Yup! We don't have that many tanks though." Miho said.

"How many tanks do you actually have?"

Miho thought for a second before giving an answer.

"We have only nine in total. So if you see one of our latest matches, what you see is what you get."

I remember the website I read saying they only had eight, so I tried to ask her about the new addition.

"Did you get any new tanks?"

"Mmhm." Miho responded, "We got a new MK IV Heavy!"

A rhombus tank from the First World War. Famously known as being one of the first tanks to have a duel against other armored vehicles.

I tried to get her to talk about the other schools but was stopped when one of Miho's crew mates called her over.

"Well, it was fun talking to you!" Miho said with a smile, "Good luck on finding love!"

"You too." I said to her as she walked off.

You too? You too!?!? God I need to work on my social interactions with people.

I face palmed and walked away. I needed to get to work anyway.

*Miho's POV*

"Miporin! Where were you?" Saori asked.

"Sorry, I was busy eating cake..." I said.

"If you eat so much cake you're going to get fat." said Hana.

"Anyway, was that Avery you were talking to?" asked Yukari.

"Mmhm!" I nodded.

Saori then grew a smug mischievous grin.

"Was he hitting on you?" She asked.

I felt my face burn up, with it most likely resembling a tomato.

"N-no! It wasn't like that! We only talked! We weren't flirting or anything!" I said, a little too loudly. I could hear Rabbit team gossiping not too far away.

"Did Miho-senpai get a boyfriend?" Azusa asked.

"What if they knew each other before?" Yuuki added.

"Are you saying that they kept their relationship hidden all this time?" asked Aya.

"I wonder how far they've gone?" Wondered Yuuki.

"I didn't know Miho-senpai was so bold." Karina said.

Saki remained silent as she looked at a painting of a blue butterfly.

I felt like I was going to faint from embarrassment. Although I couldn't see it, I could tell that I had a huge blush across my face.

I squatted down and covered my face with my hands, trying to block out the rest of the world.

I felt a hand pat my shoulders with Saori's voice along with it.

"It's okay Miho, we get it! We were just having fun!"

"That was mean, Saori." I said back at her.

"Though it did look like the two of you hit it off." Hana said, "Maybe this is the start of something?"

I didn't think my face could get any hotter, but it started burning up again. This is the first time I actually talked to a boy about Tankery too, and after realizing that, I felt like I was about to just drop and die from all the embarrassment.

"Let's lay off of Miho-dono now." Yukari told them.

Hana and Saori both agreed to stop teasing me thankfully. Mako was still looking bored out of her mind. The five of us all walked outside where we mostly looked around the city. There were a few shops that caught our attention. Hana saw a flower shop, Yukari was eyeing a store with a historic element in it, Mako wanted to go to a library, and Saori wanted to check out the magazines in there.

We all decided to go to each store since we were going to be here for the duration of the tournament. We might as well enjoy it.

*Timeskip brought to you by Chibi Anglerfish team running around LA*

After two hours of checking out the different stores, we all were about to find a bus back to the port until we all heard a loud grumbling sound.

"Sorry, that was me." Yukari said.

"It's okay! I think we're all hungry." I reassured her.

Saori got an idea, "Let's get something to eat then!"

We all agreed to find somewhere to eat and after a little research in which restaurants had the best prices and quality, we settled on a place called 'LeBlanc Nouveau'. Luckily it wasn't that far and was walking distance away. The establishment didn't need a reservation so there was no need to wait long.

Once inside we noticed that it was somewhat like a small room with the hostess in front. The five of us approached the hostess and asked if they have a table for five available.

"Certainly! You're just going to have to wait a few moments for us to prepare your table." The hostess then walked off into what we assumed was the dining area, most likely to get our table ready as she said.

Moments later she came back and told us that our table was ready. We followed her and were seated in a small little booth by the wall.

*Avery's POV*

"Hey, kid! Go ask table 11 for their orders will ya'?" Charles asked.

I nodded, "Got it boss."

I took five menus for table 11 and went into the dining area. As I approached the table, I saw a familiar shade of brown hair poking out of the booth.

I put on a smile and walked towards Anglerfish Team. Of all the places they decided to go, they had to choose this one? I'm not complaining actually, maybe I can use this to pry some information about the other schools out of them? Unfortunately I didn't think I'd get an opportunity to talk to them since I was still working.

I stopped right at the side of their table and started speaking to them.

"Hello, and thank you for choosing LeBlanc Nouveau! Here are your menus and I'll come back for your orders later." I said with a somewhat forced smile.

I hoped for them to not notice me since I wasn't wearing the hat, but I guess they did.

"Avery? Is that you?" Miho asked, which grabbed the attention of the others, heck even Mako seemed somewhat interested.

"Y-yeah." I told them, "I live by myself, I need some sort of reliable income. Anyway I'll come back later for your orders, so take your time!"

I walked off to check up on the other tables and afterwards walked back into the kitchen to get people's orders out.

*Miho's POV*

It was quite the surprise to see Avery again today. We had already talked twice before and we have only just met. I put my focus back onto the menu and looked for something I was interested in.

I found different kinds of curry being served, with there being the choices of having it spicy and the choice of meat.

I settled on the chicken and rice and looked up at everyone else. Mako looked like she had made up her mind already. Saori continued scanning the menu, occasionally asking Hana what a certain item was.

"Hana, what's Pancit?"

"It's like noodles with some vegetables and meat in it."

"Ooh..."

Yukari also asked Hana the descriptions of some of the menu items occasionally. However for the ones she did know she would try and associate it with some historic event. Mako most likely chose something sugary.

"Did you pick something, Miho-san?" Hana asked.

"Mmhm! Did the rest of you pick something out?"

Saori, Mako and Yukari all nodded.

"I guess we wait for Avery to come back then." Hana said.

After a couple of minutes Avery checked up on us to see if we picked out anything.

"Have you figured out your orders?" He asked us flipping a small booklet to an empty page.

"Mmhm!" Hana spoke up on our behalf, much like how she did back at the tank café, "I'll have the Adobo, Miho and Saori will have the chicken rice curry, Mako will have the chocolate cheese cake and Yukari will have the California Rolls. For drinks we'll have iced tea."

Avery continued writing before looking back up at us, "Is that all?"

"Yes!"

"Your orders will be here soon then." Avery then walked off, leaving us to wait for the food to arrive.

"So, Yukari, do you know anything about Smigły?" I asked to break the silence.

"Yup! They use Polish and Soviet tanks." Yukari answered, "The ones they mostly use are T-34-76s, 7TPs and SU-85s."

"They're kind of like Pravda!" Saori said.

Yukari however shook her head, "Smigły uses guerrilla tactics and only openly attacks when their enemy is weak enough."

I thought of ways to try and work around their tactics, but even then my plans may not work.

"What about their commander, Yukari?" I asked her.

"His name is Aleksander Bartek, and his command tank is usually an SU-85. He's usually seen hiding somewhere in the field far from his own forces."

Right when Yukari finished talking Hana noticed Avery walking towards us with our orders and a pitcher of iced tea.

"Here are your orders." Avery started placing them in front of us, but asked for Saori to give Mako her plate.

"Please let us know if something isn't right." As Avery finished saying that, he walked away.

The food in front of us looked really good! My curry produced a good amount of steam and simmered a little. I took my spoon and took some curry into my mouth. As I bit down, the flavor enveloped my tongue. It was great! I looked up and saw the rest of us with the same satisfactory faces.

Avery came by again to check up on us.

"How are you girls liking your food?" He asked.

"It's really good!" Saori shouted. Avery slightly recoiled in response, "Ah, sorry for yelling."

"It's fine, just try not to do it again." Avery reassured her, "If everything is to your liking, I'll leave you to it then!" Avery then walked off once again to continue his work.

*Avery's POV*

"Hey, Avery!" Charles called out, "It's quittin' time for you."

"Got it chief." I walked into the change room and got into my casuals from earlier. I then went into the parking lot and found my bike not too far from the exit. Taking out the keys, I hopped on and drove off towards my apartment. Thankfully it was the weekend, so I could afford to stay up longer than usual. I needed to get some research done on the JSF schools.