The Bellwall girls take a ferry to the Oarai port, and are amazed at everyone who's there; so many schools are coming that they need to use ferries. Hitomi recognizes Pravda's uniforms and knows that they're the previous champions, but Emi not only mispronounces Pravda but mistakes Katyusha for an elementary schooler.
The opening ceremonies for the commemmorative cup begins, and Miho steps forward to make some brief remarks (essentially the standard "Thank you for coming, let's do our best" speech, but it does show she's a better public speaker than many think), while Emi's mainly focused on Miho, who can't seem to see her in the crowd.
The rules are then explained, and it's a tournament in which 16 schools seem to be participating. At most 10 tanks can participate and the flag tank rule is in effect, and the prizes for the first three placers (given the tournament structure, I have to wonder- would that be the winner, other finalist and winner of a match between the two defeated in the semifinals, in that order?) are goods produced in Oarai. The rules seem to be as favorable to Oarai as they could be expected, and probably as good as Bellwall could hope for.
Hitomi eagerly wants to see Miho again, anticipating how surprised she'll be, but Emi passes, not having fulfilled her promise yet, so Hitomi defers to her. All this seems somewhat reminiscent of how Nodoka's old friends are a bit hesitant to see her again until they face off in the tournament in Saki Achiga-hen; not only won't there be as much tension and drama if they don't feel as though they have to get that far, but it's somewhat understandable that Miho and Nodoka's old friends would want to face them as successes.
Until the matches begin, the participants are free to look around Oarai, so Emi tells her teammates to look around. While the others are enjoying themselves at various local attractions, Emi's crew visits a tankery club. While there, they encounter Kay and her friends, mistaking them for actual Americans, particularly since Hitomi notices that Kay is better-endowed than Emi. Darjeeling greets Kay, who gives some good-natured teasing about leaving her teacup behind, and Emi initially thinks she's Kilimanjaro before realizing that she's "the real thing," and it's implied that those two are up against each other in the first match. In the middle of it all, Nagisa gives Darjeeling a gift on her older sister's behalf, which Darjeeling graciously accepts, and it's indicated that the Shiratori family has coffee plantations.
Elsewhere, the two groups of Delinquents are bickering over pasta until Anchovy arrives with enough supplies to feed both groups. Among all the returning canon characters, there's a surprise- Yoshinaga Jinko, the previous commander. Someone from Bellwall calls her on the carpet for suddenly abandoning them, leading to the Succession Crisis, but Jinko says she was scouted, and eagerly accepted, not wanting to deal with "dumbasses like you." The others notice that she's wearing Gilbert High School's uniform, and not only does that school has a great deal of hype in Monthly Sensha-do, but they're Bellwall's first opponents. Jinko smugly says that she's their commander, but changes the subject to Emi taking over the team, calling it "lame" and walking off, hoping to plant a seed of discord and break up the team in the match.
While one might imagine that Jinko getting tired of Bellwall's team's shenanigans would be understandable, the fact that she doesn't seem the least bit sorry about the team falling apart in her absence shows that she clearly cares about her own personal advancement more than loyalty to her school. If Jinko gets a more generous offer than Gilbert, all bets are off.
Meanwhile, Emi is becoming agitated over the two groups, wondering where they are and fearing that if they cause problems, Bellwall will be disqualified. The Kashiwabas arrive, and after Emi jokingly acting as though she forgot they're on the team, she confirms that the two groups are at the stall. On the way there, Emi literally runs into another girl, who seems to know her name, much to Emi's surprise. It's an interesting development, as most of the time, two people brought together once again by chance know each other, and I'm interested in finding out who this girl is and what her story is.
- Next Installment: Oarai's battle against Maginot concludes.
Comments
