Girls und Panzer: Downfall

A Christmas...accident

"The food was great…" 
Michael pat himself on the belly a few times and sighed in satisfaction. He'd eaten so much he felt he was about to blow up any second. 
"I'm glad!"
Koume took a look at the exhausted Michael laying in front of her, on the bed, and couldn't help but let out a muffled laugh.
"What?" Michael asked, faking being offended. 
"You're so funny sometimes, Michael…" Koume mused, shaking her head. She was wearing a pair of black jeans and a light pink sweater, which Michael found really nice. 
"And why's that?" He continued, with a knowing look. 
"Oh, I'll leave that up to you…I'm going to the bathroom, be right back!" 
Koume trotted out of the room and headed to the bathroom. In the corridor in front of her there were two doors, one on the left and one on the right. The one on the right was further back. As she neared the door on the left, she thought she'd eavesdrop on the conversation going on between her parents and Michael's father, so she stopped and listened closely. 
"...ah, yes, she's always been like that. She's so friendly and nice towards everybody." Koume's mother said.
"Ah, I got it. Michael's…well, he's never been the most sociable guy around, but he knows how to be good." 
That was Michael's dad, Koume thought.
"Well, but judging from what Koume told us and what Michael told you, he gets on really well with our daughter." Koume's father added. 
"Ah, for sure. I'm pretty sure he has a crush on her." Hiroki continued. 
"And we're pretty sure Koume feels the same way. But let's not meddle with those two's affairs, let them do their thing." Koume's mother finished. The girl then rushed past the door to the dining room and locked herself in the bathroom. She looked herself in the mirror and saw her hands were shaking. 
"Calm down, Koume…this is nothing to be worried about. You just…" 
She couldn't finish the sentence. She started taking deep breaths, and after a minute or so she managed to finish what she was saying. 
"...l-like him." 
She didn't want to open up to Michael so much, for some reason. But it was happening, and she felt there was no way to stop it, or at least slow it down. She knew Miho liked Michael too, and she felt selfish about the fact that she got to spend all the holidays alone with him, other than feeling very lucky.
"Just…I just gotta act normal…I can do this…" 
She freshened up and walked out of the bathroom, heading back to the bedroom where Michael was supposed to be. She found him exactly where she'd left him. 
"Still too fat to stand up?" She said provoking him. 
"Are you trying to make me get up? 'Cause it's not gonna work." Michael answered, keeping his eyes stuck on the ceiling. Koume then thought that was a great opportunity for her to tell Michael the truth, but also to conceal it in the form of a lie.
"Are you sure? Because going to the bathroom  I overheard your father talking about the fact that you might have a crush on me…" She said, putting a lot of stress on the word might. Michael then did a reverse flip on the bed and stood up straight, facing Koume with a look that spelled "I'm not buying that". 
"Well, I won. You stood up." Koume announced proudly. 
"Dammit. Well played." Michael said snickering. 
"Michael!" A voice called from the dining room.
"Yeah?" He shouted back. 
"Get ready, we'll leave in 10 minutes!" 

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

10 minutes later…

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

"Alright…so…I guess I'll text you tomorrow?" 
Koume nodded with a genuine smile, looking in Michael's eyes. Michael's face gradually heated up as Koume kept looking at him. Even though her look wasn't scary or intimidating, he felt she was looking through him with ease. He felt like he had no secrets for her. Of course, this was almost all paranoia. 
"Great then. So…bye…" He muttered and looked down, almost scared to look her in the eye. On the other hand, Koume found the courage to hug Michael right in front of their three parents. 
"Bye…I'll see you tomorrow…" She whispered in Michael's ear. 
"Yeah…"
Michael broke away and smiled at Koume with a very embarrassed look, then he and his father left the house, heading to their car. They got in and Michael sat on the passenger seat, beside his father. Hiroki started driving, and Michael looked outside.
"You know, Michael…you two are very cute." His father said at some point, making Michael's face become as red as a tomato. Since it was dark though, Hiroki didn't notice.
"And why w-would you say that?" Michael asked trying to keep his cool. 
"You two have such a big crush on each other, but you're both too shy to admit it. You have a lot in common with her." Hiroki said, too casually for Michael. 
"Ah…b-but I…" Michael started, then realizing he didn't know what to say. He suddenly felt a hand gripping his shoulder, and he calmed down a bit.
"I'm not pushing you to do anything. I'm just telling you that you have the green light, if you ever think of making a move. Okay, Michael?" 
Michael, once again felt reassured by the same man that had embarrassed him to death a few seconds earlier.
"Yeah…thanks Dad." He muttered, letting out a sigh of relief. Hiroki took his hand back and focused on driving. The boy felt a weird sensation. He caressed the scar on his forehead and smiled melancholically, looking at the rain that had started falling. 
"Not a problem, son. You know helping you and being there for you is my job. A job that, unlike your mother, I am not going to give up on."
Having heard that warmed Michael's heart. He'd had nobody to look up to except his dad his whole life, and the fact that he was willing to stick with him and be there for him gave him strength and determination. At some point as the car reached a roundabout, and as Hiroki entered said roundabout, a car popped up on the roundabout, heading in the wrong direction at full speed, which meant that the two cars were about to have a collision. All that Hiroki could do in the space of a few seconds was bank to the right. The collision did happen, but the side of the car that got hit the hardest was the left one: Michael's side. He immediately lost consciousness. The car heading in the wrong direction was being driven by the usual group of adolescents who were drunk as hell and weren't paying attention to the road. As the two cars came to a stop, and as Hiroki realized what had just happened, he immediately kicked the car's door open, dragging Michael's unconscious body outside. He then immediately proceeded to call an ambulance.
Koume, who in that moment was quietly sleeping in her bed, didn't yet know she wouldn't have heard from Michael on the next day.