GuP: A Saga of Jouko

Chapter One: Beginnings at Continuation

Not again.... This was Jouko's 3rd nosebleed in Japan, apparently the change in climate is very hard on you at first.

"What do we do?!" Löfström was panicking. The student council president was on the podium, speaking to the assembled audience of students, and they were gonna be acknowledging the foreign students soon. "This is the third time... I told you this was gonna happen." Hannes didn't want to get embarrassed on their first day of school, neither did everyone else. The president blabbered on, "Of course we have some students from the province of..." Frisell was trying to help stop the bleeding, keeping Jouko's head up to allow the blood to flow back in.

"I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge our students coming from abroad! May all of our foreign students please stand?"

OH NO, WHY NOW??? 

Jouko's, as well as everyone else's, heart was racing, if everyone saw Jouko with a bloody nose, this would be very embarrassing for her and her friends. "Just keep your head upright, Jouko, don't let blood flow out!" But, she had been taught to overcome all challenges that came her way, so what could a little mockery do to stop her? "Frisell, she'll look ridiculous looking at the sky, don't be stupid!" On the other hand, what's the use? "For goodness' sake." Hannes went ahead and whispered to Jouko, Oh, just stand up. 

Jouko suddenly felt being pulled up, and facing her head downwards to fix her clothes, blood again rushed downwards, and began staining her handkerchief again. As she looked around, she tried to make out how many other foreign students were there, aside from herself and her friends, all while ignoring the stares the crowd was giving her. To her surprise, they were the only foreign students. Jouko tried to keep a positive profile by smiling to the crowd, trying to hide her fear and embarrassment. "It seems we have a few foreigners from Finland, one with a bloody nose. Don't get too worried over there, it happens while adjusting to the climate!" As the students greeted the foreigners accordingly, Jouko was greeted with smiles and handshakes, albeit a bit awkward given her right hand was somewhat stained with blood, but it helped in easing her up. As she sat back down, the student council introduced the electives, including Sensha-do. When Sensha-do was mentioned, the crowd erupted in a flurry of excitement. Jouko could hear the other students speaking in Japanese, which she had learned by now:

"Sensha-do sounds lots of fun!
"I'm joining that as soon as possible!"
"I can't wait to show my boyfriend how great it is to go around in tanks!"

Jouko kept quiet, however. 

As the meeting drew to a close, the students quickly left for their first classes. Along the way, the four friends bumped into Mika, a fellow freshman who always carried around a kantele at all times, and Aki, her friend from elementary. Jouko, seeing the kantele hanging from Mika's shoulder, stuttered, "You-you play the kantele?" Mika gave a subtle nod, explaining how she came to play: "My parents gave it to me as a gift from our relatives in Finland when I was only 6 years old. It is a very delicate and beautiful instrument. My parents were pleasantly surprised at how fast I learned it, and pretty soon I was the star of my elementary school's talent shows. Heh, how time flies..." Jouko and her friends listened intently; Hannes was about to speak but was interrupted by a shout from across the hall:

"HEY THERE!! WERE YOU THE KID WITH A NOSEBLEED?!"

It was Mikko, the hot-blooded, impulsive, eccentric student, also a freshman. Jouko was frozen cold by this, but quickly regained composure and cordially greeted Mikko.

"I-um, it's very nice to meet you... my name's Jouko, and these are my friends-"

"Great to meet you too! Name's Mikko, great to see a student from around the world as always! What's the deal, Mika?"

"Oh, nothing, just talking with our new friend here. He has followed the wind to distant lands."

 Taking a quick glance at Aki, Jouko could see her rolling her eyes. "What's the deal with Aki?" Aki piped up: "Oh, Mika's a very cryptic girl, she always talks about the wind. I don't understand what she means most of the time. Don't worry, you'll quickly get used to it."  The seven of them continued on to start their first classes after talking for a few more minutes in the hallways. 

Although she spent some time socializing with her classmates, Jouko was hard-affixed to the lessons at school, determined to finish everything as fast, precise, and correct as possible. She took each lecture, problem, and solution to heart, taking notes and leaving no room for error. Her classmates often approached her for help in solving difficult problems, and Jouko was always able to help, explaining complex solutions in simple terms for her colleagues to understand. However, her main aspiration was Sensha-do. It had always been Sensha-do, ever since she was 7 years old and took up sniping, Sensha-do never left her mind. She wanted to sign up at the first opportunity, to honor a great family friend and legend to her native country, and when it came, it came quick. During lunch break, she was conversing with her three friends and Mika, Aki, and Mikko when the school's Student Council arrived to hand them the papers to choose their electives. They barely got to name the electives before Jouko grabbed a paper and pencil, and crossed off Sensha-do, choosing that as her elective. Her friends also signed up. It was official, Jouko, Löfström, Frisell, Hannes, Mika, Aki, and Mikko were now to take up Sensha-do as an elective. Jouko's dream was coming true, all she needed was to secure a gunner position in the tank of her choosing.

The next day, an assembly was called for all who had signed up for Sensha-do, and the hall was, although less packed, still pretty full of students. The Student Council presented a video outlining Sensha-do, and the school's previous history regarding Sensha-do. It turns out that the school had never won a single tournament, given their materiel was not on par with the major schools that participated in Sensha-do. The martial art is by far the biggest in Japan, and the elective most students tend to choose. After the introduction, the Student Council gave a lineup of the tanks in use by the school: as the screen showed the Sturmi, a variation of the StuG III, Jouko's eyes lit up. An assault gun with no rotating turret, it had long range and a powerful barrel, perfect for sniping. Mika, seated next to Jouko, whispered quietly: "It seems the winds have blown you to your destiny."
Indeed, Jouko had found her tank.

Weeks passed by. Jouko continued to vigorously pursue her school studies and finishing important lessons, doing all her assigned homework before something happened that caused Jouko great anxiety.

One morning, Hannes tapped Jouko and handed her a note. It read, The headmaster wants to see you, report to his office as soon as possible. With her heart racing like never before, Jouko stood up, told her reason for leaving class, and after being excused, walked towards the headmaster's office to deal with whatever was about to happen. She was scared, as she had done nothing wrong, she had been sticking to her studies very well, and her grades were good. She had been behaving like a good girl in class, making new friends and just being an all-around great kid to be with. Had she been unintentionally involved in some illegal ring of sorts? Was she associated with any delinquents or criminals or something? Had she participated in gambling activities? She didn't seem to encounter anyone bad. As she opened the door to the headmaster's room, she felt faint. Sitting rigid on the chair she was invited to sit on, she expected the worst.

"Jouko, your grades are all-around great. Your studies are paying off well, and you're outperforming her class to the extent you're now being allowed to work ahead, and within a few weeks of school starting you've already finished with most of the work, with high scores in each lesson. I'm thoroughly impressed with your performance, and it seems I'll allow you to prioritize Sensha-do over school work, since you're doing so well at school."

Jouko was left stunned. "Is-is there anything to this?" The headmaster handed her a simple paper that said "SENSHA-DO EXCUSAL COUPON".

"This will allow you to skip as many classes as you like in favor of practicing Sensha-do. Speaking of which, your friends seem to be having good grades as well, so I'll be sending 3 more passes their way. In the meantime, you can finish your class or start taking a look at your tank."

"It's a Sturmi, by the way."

Jouko left, this time with high spirits. She wouldn't have to worry as much about her school work anymore, now she could focus on Sensha-do, her true passion, as well as her three friends.

The next day, Jouko went to go view her new tank, the Sturmi, with her loyal trio. Peeking inside, they saw it could hold 4 people, and the commander's cupola was also the gunnery seat, perfect for them. Jouko carefully studied the tank's mechanisms, complements, armaments, and whatnot. As the four continued looking, they were greeted by Rumi, the school's Sensha-do commander for the past 2 years. This was her final year in Continuation before she left for the All-Stars University Team, and was particularly interested in Jouko.

"I'm Rumi, Continuation High School's Sensha-do commander. Pleased to meet you, Jouko."

Both girls shook hands, and began to converse about their respective backgrounds. Rumi listened with great interest in Jouko's backstory, and thought of all the possibilities this young freshman from the other side of the world could have. "Well, it was nice hearing about you, Jouko. Our first practice match takes place tomorrow morning, I hope you will be prepared." Jouko readily nodded, and ran back to her friends.

"Oh, Jouko, I see you talked with Commander Rumi over there." Aki was curious on what they had talked about. Jouko responded, "Rumi seems to be very interested in me after mentioning my sniping back in Finland, and I think I can see why." Mikko was up next. "Well, what a pleasant surprise! I hope you'll be able to help us get our first-ever tournament victory, the next one's coming up soon!" "Well, I'll try my best. In the meantime, Hannes, Löfström, Frisell! We're trying out the new tank, we'll do a bit of driving around to get ourselves used to our positions. I feel we've decided which roles we're taking?"

No response.

Letting out a sigh, Jouko finalized the roles. "Alright, I'll be the gunner, and since the gunner is also the commander, looks like I'm commanding the tank as well. Frisell, you have good communication skills, so you're going to be our radio operator, telling our teammates of our plans. Löfström, you've got lots of strength and endurance, so I don't think you'll do too bad as the loader. Hannes, from what I've heard you've been practicing driving around on old cars. I don't think a tank will be too hard to get used to. Is everything good with you?"

Affirmative noises were enough to convince Jouko she had the perfect tank crew on her hands. The quartet spent the rest of the day practicing on their tank, getting used to the mechanics and coming up with some techniques that would help with their tankery.

As word of Jouko's background spread throughout the school, many suspected that this would be a turning point in Continuation's history, maybe they would get to winning their first-ever tournament. All the past tournaments they'd participated ended in them getting knocked out either in the first round or the quarterfinals, and this was their chance to go beyond that. As a result, Jouko began to be treated as a VIP of sorts, though she did try her best to avoid the attention and focus on finishing her school work, as that was what mattered the most at the end of the day, after all. She didn't use her Sensha-do coupon much, and still regularly attended class, albeit less often than usual.

Later that night, she called her family and friends, and told them all about what had happened on her first few weeks of school, and told them how excited she was to finally participate in Sensha-do. Her two friends were also getting ready for a shooting competition for their school which was to take place in a few months' time, and thanked her for her advice which had been helping them greatly. As the call ended, Jouko turned off her phone, and did her nightly devotional: reading a chapter from the Bible, reciting the Lord's Prayer, saying her personal prayer, and went to sleep, ready for tomorrow's practice match.




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Author's Note: Well, Jouko's now arrived at school. So far, things have been going well for her, the headmaster has allowed her to prioritize Sensha-do over her schoolwork since she's doing so well, and now she's found her dream tank. Feel free to let me know what should be improved, and I'll work on it. All feedback is appreciated!

Author's Note 2: Added many more details to help implement Jouko's friends into the story.