At Bellwall, Minami Youko gives an enthusiastic self-introduction and says she likes Chinese tanks, impressing both Neko and Chifuyu. Emi counts 19 members, including the applicants, and says she recovered two tanks that were being auctioned (which makes me wonder whether this is in addition to the two they got in the previous chapter). Hitomi gives Emi a hair clip to keep her hair out of her eye, and Emi eagerly awaits the first match in two weeks, while a girl nervously looks in on them.
Emi discusses the upcoming match with "Seiguro" (it's amazing how differently the Japanese abbreviations of Anglicized names are spelled before you sound the out; the series is known as "Garupan"), and is in awe of their strength, but Neko and Chifuyu are fairly dismissive of them, in stark contrast to how Oarai's student council regarded St. Gloriana as a credible threat, and the two make fun of their commander drinking tea all the time. Emi want to participate in the "Commemmorative cup", apparently in addition to the national tournament, and is eagerly looking forward to facing Oarai. Emi gets the team motivated by telling them not to chicken out, and they're fired up for practice; already, it seems Emi's significantly more forceful than Miho.
The girl from before shows up again, and Emi surmises that she's also a New Transfer Student. Her name is Shiratori Nagisa, and she's a first-year who's quite a Shrinking Violet, enough that Emi gets quite irritated talking with her. Perhaps excessive timidity can get on people's nerves, but they tend to come off as jerks if they openly express that. Hitomi notes that it's "Emi's syndrome" at work, and urges Emi to get along with her. As Neko calls Emi over to practice, Emi tells Nagisa to come with her for practice.
This approach goes surprisingly well, as Nagisa enjoys herself. Kita and Takami introduce themselves as driver and radio operator, respectively. With Emi as commander and Hitomi reprising her role as loader, they have a spare spot- the gunner. Kita wonders if Nagisa's actually a newbie, but Nagisa is actually somewhat experienced, but convinced she'll miss. She's reminiscent of Miho in some regards, although far more nervous and self-deprecating than Miho ever was. Emi, in a show of kindness reassures Nagisa that no one expects that of a newbie, telling her to have fun while doing tankery and be confident in herself. Nagisa takes aim, fires and hits.
Nagisa Glomps Emi, who's quite embarrassed, even more so when Kita jokes about her being popular. Nagisa's happy to hit the target, having only done chores until then. It should be noted that, at least from what I've heard, many Japanese sports clubs assign the junior members menial tasks, and they only really have a chance to get onto the team in their second and third years.
As they walk home after dark, Takami compliments Nagisa for hitting 12 out of 15 targets, and Nagisa in turn thanks Emi, who tries to downplay her involvement. Nagisa asks Emi to become her master, and Emi, after some teasing from Kita, reluctantly agrees (interestingly enough, she only uses "-san" rather than "-senpai" on her), but says she'll be strict with Nagisa, a stipulation Nagisa accepts. It's interesting seeing how Emi contrasts with Miho, and how Emi's more forceful (but still kind in its own way) approach works well at a school like Bellwall.
They're about to throw a welcome party for Nagisa when her phone rings. Nagisa runs off and, taking the call says she has "gotten close to Bellwall's strategist." It's interesting that Bellwall already has a spy in their ranks, something we never saw in Girls und Panzer.
Emi takes a bath, and notes that the day was tiring but fun. She notes that Nagisa was "interesting," and hopes to catch up with Miho soon.
On the way to school, two days before the match, Hitomi's already so excited she can hardly sleep, with Emi jokingly saying that the same goes for her. They barely dodge an airdropped tank, which they recognize as belonging to "Seiguro." From the tank emerges a dead ringer for Darjeeling- Kilimanjaro, who is West Kureouji Academy's commander. After a moment, Emi realizes that the two schools, as a result of an Alternative Character Reading, have the same abbreviation, and is furious that she didn't catch that.
So it seems that we have some explanation for why "Darjeeling" was acting as she was in the last chapter. It's a bit surprising how much West Kureouji's uniform is similar to St. Gloriana's (the only difference is that you can't see the crest on the West Kureouji uniform's sweater).
Kilimanjaro says that she came to say hello, notes that Bellwall wasn't active for almost a year, and reminds them of the terms. Emi is furious to hear that she wasn't informed of what was at stake- the right to participate in the cup- and Neko nonchalantly says that it's the same if they win. Kilimanjaro snidely points out that Bellwall's teamwork is unimpressive, and says that Emi is hardly living up to her reputation. Emi then goes into Tranquil Fury, says that Kilimanjaro has crossed a line, and says that she won't get away with it. Kilimanjaro then recites the names of the tanks, and declares that her Centurion will defeat them.
Kilimanjaro then leaves, throwing the Kashiwaba sisters a card to pay for the damage her tank did to the road, saying that she can pay, as she's rich, and leaving the sisters speechless. Emi fumes over the pre-emptive attack, but as Hitomi notes that Kilimanjaro angered all the Bellwall students and some of the others plot payback, Emi decides to beat her fair and square in tankery.
The team assembles on the day of the match. While everyone else in Bellwall is fired up, Nagisa is nervous, and leaves to wash her face. Emi, worried about Nagisa, follows her, and finds her talking to Kilimanjaro, begging her to fight fair and square. Kilimanjaro smugly asks if Nagisa is trying to blackmail her to discard the information she spied for her thus far, and that if it comes out that Nagisa engaged in espionage, she'll never be able to do tankery again.
- Next Installment: Outnumbered, Emi's plan hinges on outmaneuvering the enemy and one crucial member doing her job.
