Girls und Panzer: Downfall

Making friends

Michael picked up his tray and looked around. He thought he should have found all his crew members and have a chat together. He wanted to know them better, also because they’d have stuck with him for his stay in Kuromorimine. Luckily he found that they were already sitting all together, so he joined in. 
“Hey guys.” He said feeling a bit nervous as he sat down.
“Good evening Commander!” The twins said together. Ren cracked a smile and nodded at him, while Sakura just murmured a "hi".
“You can call me Michael while we’re here, you know. I mean, I do want the respect that a Commander deserves, but I don’t wanna be a dictator or something. We all know how that ended up.” Michael said kindly. The 4 looked at each other and then back at Michael. Somebody nodded, somebody said okay. 
“Good then. So since we’ll be stuck together for a good while, I thought I’d like…get to know you a bit better or something…” Michael started. 
“Sure.” Ren answered. 
“So…I’ll start by telling you all a bit about myself. So…I’m 14, like probably all of you, I used to live very far from here, with my dad, since...well…my parents are divorced. They’ve been divorced since I was 7...and my mother at that time left and took my sister with her. I haven’t seen them both in years…nor do I know where they are…or what they are doing with their lives…” 
Michael stopped as he realized he’d gone too far. He was also getting emotional, so he took a deep breath and bit his lip, cursing himself for having let that out so randomly. An awkward silence filled the table for a few seconds, until somebody decided to speak up. 
“Why did your parents divorce?” Sakura asked. She’d lifted her head up and was looking at Michael kinda curiously.
“Well…my dad never told me himself…but I found out anyway. My mum thought my dad was a failure, and she thought the same about me. So she disappeared after the divorce and took “the good sibling” with her.” Michael explained reluctantly. 
“That’s cruel! Why did she do that?” Ren asked. 
“She’s German. She met my father in one of her travels and she moved in with him. Then she got tired of him and ruined his and my life. But he’s such a great person, I have no idea why she’d do that…” 
“You’re half German?!” The twins asked together. 
“Yeah. But at this point, I don’t even feel like it. I’ve never met the German side of my family, while my mum could throw all the shit she wanted at the Japanese side of the family. I can speak German no problem, but I don’t feel German at all. I’m an empty shell of a German. I wish I could be like Stalin sometimes. He wasn’t Russian, but the Russian world had no secrets for him.” 
“Wait…Stalin wasn’t Russian?” Ren asked. 
“Nah. He was from Georgia. It’s like a small useless country in the Middle East.” Michael explained, not minding the fact that he'd once again been sidetracked.
“Huh…” Sakura muttered. 
“He also worked in Venice as bell ringer in a church when he was young. Anyway, we’re going off track here. There isn’t much else interesting to know about me, other than the fact that I like history.” 
“I could tell…” Sakura commented, rolling her eyes
“So, who’s going next?”

_-_-_-_-_-_-

An hour or so later…

_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Bye everybody, have a good night and I’ll see you tomorrow.” 
Michael waved at his crew members and walked off on his own. He was feeling a bit down, for some reason. He always felt down in the evenings. He started singing a classic German war song he loved. He was a bit out of tune, but he loved singing anyway.
"Ob's stürmt oder schneit, ob die Sonne uns lacht…der Tag glühend heiß, oder eiskalt die Nacht…bestaubt sind die Gesichter, doch froh ist unser Sinn, ja unser Sinn…es braust unser Panzer, im Sturmwind dahin…" 
Since the song's lyrics weren't much other than that, he switched to whistling. He didn't know exactly where he was going, if somebody saw him they'd have said he was just walking around aimlessly, and they wouldn't have been completely wrong. 
"Michael?" 
As Michael heard that familiar voice behind him, he jumped and turned around. He saw a middle height girl in front of him, wearing Kuromorimine's tankery uniform. She had light brown hair and light brown eyes. The grades on her shoulders identified her as the vice-commander.
"Oh, hey there. You startled me." 
Miho wrinkled her forehead and took a step forward. 
"What are you doing out here all alone?" She asked. She was getting very worried about Michael with having known him only for a day, which to herself was quite surprising.
"I could ask the same to you." Michael replied winking.  
"A-ah, right…well…I w-was…" She stuttered in response. 
"Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna bite you, you know." Michael said kindly. 
"W-well…I was taking a walk to…um…think for a bit. Would you…mind if I talked to you for a bit?"
Oh, she's interested, Michael thought. He didn't have any experience on girls whatsoever, and he wasn't sure on how to act, but he couldn't say no to such a cute face. 
"Sure. What is it?" 
The two walked to a bench and sat down. There was a lamppost behind them that gave them just enough light to see each other.
"Well…this year, Kuromorimine is aiming at winning the Nationals-" 
"For the tenth time in a row. I know." Michael said interrupting Miho.
"Yeah…and, I mean…everybody looks up at me with admiration, and I'm supposed to be the best, and…it's frustrating…" Miho whispered. Good thing for her, Michael knew a thing or two about peer pressure.
"Ah, I know how you feel. You are afraid to let everybody down, to destroy their expectations. It happened to me too! But I bet you have a ton of friends to rely on." Michael said with an upbeat attitude, trying to cheer Miho up.
"Who me? Well…but none of them are true friends…the only true friends I've ever had have been my sister, before she entered middle school, since she's been super busy since then, and my Boko." 
That's cute, Michael thought. He also thought it was a teeny tiny bit childish, but that didn't matter much. 
"That's been the same for me. But my only true friends were my dad and myself." 
The two were similar, according to Michael. They both had some…family issues, and they both had an elder sister. They also both were a little socially awkward. Just a little.
"But wait…your mother?" She asked.
"Divorced. She left with my sister when I was 7. Never saw them since." Michael answered coldly. 
"Oh…I'm sorry about that…" Miho muttered. 
They found themselves in a situation where neither of them knew what to say. Michael had to speak up. 
"By the way, I'm sure you'll do just fine. You're probably just thinking about things too much. Relax and go with the flow…or something." 
The boy had honestly no idea what he was saying. He was just spitting out anything coming in his mind that he judged to be not too absurd.
"Yeah…you're probably right." Miho said reassured. 
"I-I am? Ah, I mean, I'm happy I could help." 
Michael was expecting an opposite reaction. He would have imagined Miho laughing at him and walking away, or something similar.
"You know, you're nice Michael. My sister and mother say that people like you and me don't go very far, but…I don't believe that. I think that happiness is worthless if it can't be shared with somebody, either a friend, a family member or…anybody else." 
Michael was astonished at what Miho had just said. She was only about his age, but she was very wise. He wasn't expecting teens to be that wise or smart.
"That was a very smart thing to say." Michael commented. Miho smiled and stood up, stretching for a few seconds. Michael stood up as well, giving her an interrogative smile. 
"I'll head home, if you don't mind." She said, yawning. 
"Well, we can head there together. We live in the same block, remember?" Michael reminded her, making her blush and laugh. 
"Right…I'm so stupid…let's go." 
The two walked to block F together, in complete silence. When Michael saw they were in front of his home, he stopped and pointed behind him. 
"This is my stop." He muttered, glancing at the door of his apartment.
"Alright then!" Miho answered smiling.
"So…I'll see you tomorrow?" Michael asked full of hope.
"You will. So…friends?" 
Michael thought he'd misheard. She couldn't possibly have asked for his friendship with having known him for two days. Friendship didn't work like that, did it?
"F-friends?" He stammered. He was still confused, but then realized Miho probably knew more about friendship than him.
"Well…yeah…only if you-"
"Of course!" Michael said very excitedly, interrupting Miho.
"Great then! I'll see you tomorrow!" 
Miho smiled cutely and walked off, leaving Michael standing there with a glassy-eyed look.
"Well...I just made a friend."