Chapter 14. We Were Soldiers

  The four roommates made their way down to breakfast. Finding it a lot more chaotic than the dinner the night before. With girls coming in and out starting or finishing their own meals. They soon found a space in the chaos at one of the long tables and sat down as a group.

  Their food options were limited to rice porridge, or eggs and toast. The meal schedule listed out the options available for each day.

  While various teas where available, Tanya was able to spot a pot of drip coffee where the hot water dispenser was located. Scoring a couple of cups for her and Visha to have with their breakfast.

  Tanya stuck to the porridge, while Visha unsurprisingly helped herself to generous proportions of both options. Having gotten used to her bottomless stomach Tanya remained unsurprised at the figurative vacuum cleaner that was Visha.

  Reimu and Momo however, were left stunned, and almost forgot to eat their own breakfast so fascinated were they with Tanya’s subordinate’s abilities.

  After breakfast they made their way to their assigned mail cubby, and picked up their schedules for the day.

  For Tanya and Visha, they would be returning to the hospital for most of the day. Tanya to meet her dietitian, while Visha had an appointment with the mental health specialist. Tanya’s own mental health visit was scheduled for the timeslot after Visha’s. In the afternoon they would be meeting up with their assigned van group to go shopping for clothes and other supplies not provided in the initial onboarding.

  Reading over hers and Visha’s schedule Tanya nodded her head and looked up. Only then noticing the tears on Momos face and Reimu’s concerned look.

  “What seems to be the problem Momo?”

  Momo’s choked voice answered, while quickly wiping away her tears

  “It’s nothing, don’t’ worry about it. I’m just feeling a little emotional, I’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not nothing.”

  Reimu interrupted.

  “For those of us with family the police tried to contact them as soon as we gave them our information. My schedule shows that my parents have been contacted and will be arriving later today to. I’m supposed to call them in a few minutes, it’s likely that I will be going home with them today or tomorrow.”

  “That’s wonderful news.”

  Stated Tanya, but Reimu wasn’t finished with her explanation.

  “But on Momo’s schedule the police left a note saying that they haven’t been able to get in touch with her grandparents.”

  “That’s nothing to cry about, these things take time just give them a day or two and everything will work out.”

  Visha tried to comfort the girl, after Tanya had informed her of the conversation.

  “That’s, that’s not it at all. Those old grouches probably just ignored the message. They never wanted me around anyways.”

  Momo managed to get out before breaking down into sobs.

  Tanya could see why the young girl was so troubled. She felt something similar when she was an orphan, not having any sense of financial security, or potential for economic growth. Not to mention the decreased social status.

  But in this modern world there existed programs to help impoverished and destitute youths. Especially ones like Momo, who had been taken advantage of due to a breakdown in the system.

  Tanya opened her mouth to tell Momo about her other options, when Visha caught her eye and gave a subtle shake of her head.

  Tanya confused, decided to heed her adjutants warning and stayed silent watching as Reimu and Visha comforted the girl with gentle words and pats on the back, until she calmed down.

  Their group split up shortly after, Reimu going to call her parents, while Momo headed to the room to change. Tanya and Visha made their way to the laundry room to get their clothes from the night before.

  After collecting their clothes off the drying lines, the two went about the laborious process of folding and ironing their uniforms back to pristine condition. Making sure everything was in order. Tanya only lamented the lack of shoe polish, so she could finish the whole ritual.

  Work done they made their way back to their room, finding it empty.

  After stowing her flight suit in the closet, Tanya moved over to her bed and began putting on her uniform. Starting with her undershirt and just getting to her pants when she noticed Visha hesitating to the side.

  Tanya gave her a questioning look.

  “We aren’t in the army anymore ma’am. No, Tanya.”

  “What are you trying to say Visha?”

  “The army doesn’t even exist in this world. We don’t need to wear the uniform anymore. I, I don’t think I want to wear it anymore. I still want to honor our brothers in arms, so I’ll always take care of it, but if it’s ok with you Col… Tanya, I’d like to wear civilian clothes. I’d like to live a civilian life.”

  Visha spoke a tremble entering her voice as well as her knees. Tanya couldn’t understand what had come over her Lieutenant.

  Did she think she wasn’t a civilian right now? That Tanya still had control over her as her commanding officer? If that was the case, then Tanya needed to set the record straight right now. She was not going to be like that hypocritical Bing X, taking away the freedoms and individuality of others.

  No, Visha was her own person, and she needed to see that.

  But first, she needed to stop that pathetic trembling. After all she still represented Tanya as member of the elite 203rd Arial Mage Battalion.

  “ACHTUNG!”

  Visha snapped upright, standing at attention her arm raised in salute.

  Tanya stood to face her, grabbing her jacket from the bed and calmly buttoning it up all the way. She then affixed her rank insignia to the jacked and placed her silver wings in its proper location.

  Finally, she pulled her officers cap from its pocket and shaking it out, placed it on her head. Taking care to make sure it sit properly.

  Now fully dressed as per regulation Tanya cut the perfect image of an Imperial officer. Looking at her subordinate Tanya gave her final command.

  “First Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov, I, your commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Tanya Von Degurechaff, do hereby discharge you from your service to the Imperial Army.

  “According to the reports of your senior officers and subordinates alike, you where an exemplary officer and soldier. Your service record shows you as an elite, an Ace of Aces, a distinguished holder of numerous awards and medals.

  “As both your commander and wing mate, it was a pleasure and a privilege serving with you, and a true Honor to die by your side.”

  “First Lieutenant Serebryakov!”

  “Ma’am!”

  “DISMISED”

  Tanya saluted Visha, who dropped her own salute with tears in her eyes.

  Tanya turned, walking towards the door, struggling with a choking sensation in her throat and chest. Tearing her cap from her head, she barely noticed the two young girls standing at the doorway, as she stuffed it back into her pocket. Choosing to ignore them, she swiftly made her way downstairs and into the rec room.

  Finding her target, a free-standing punching bag she had noticed sitting in the corner the night before. With the target I range, Tanya began wailing on it with her tiny fists. Working out a range of feelings and sensations that she did not enjoy but at the same time very much did.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  If anyone else had happened upon the scene at the moment, it would have looked like the actions of a little girl throwing a temper tantrum. Luckily no one was around to bear witness to this scene.

  ~

  Feeling physically tired but mentally light, Tanya made her way back upstairs to find her three roommates gathered around the rooms lone mirror.

  Tanya found herself stunned.

  Not at the image of Visha in a light blue dress. She had seen the girl in civilian attire before. No, she was stunned at the look of absolute joy on Visha’s face as she was fussed over and pampered by the other two girls.

  Tanya knew that in social situations such as when a female colleague got a new hair style or changed their look, it was considered a social necessity to complement them on the change. So Tanya, endeavoring to be a good former boss and future colleague paid her respects to Visha.

  “You look wonderful in that dress Visha, definitely like a lovely young woman and not some rough veteran soldier.”

  Smiling at her long-time buddy Tanya nodded to her to confirm her words, before moving to the dresser and removing her silver wings badge and putting it in the drawer. Not noticing Visha’s eyes go misty as she held back tears and got her face under control. With a shake of her head, she moved over to her friend.

  “Here Tanya, if you’re going to insist on wearing that, then at least let me get your hair under control.”

  ~

  

  Momo and Reimu stood awkwardly waiting to enter their own room. They had heard someone talking as they walked up and recognized harsh, guttural language that Tanya and Visha spoke to one another. Momo opened the door a creak only to freeze at the scene she saw. Holding up her hand to silence Reimu, she held absolutely still so as to not disturb the occupants of them room who appeared to be having a moment.

  They heard a shout and Reimu began pushing her way forward crouching under Momo’s tall frame to get a view. Visha was standing in a soldiers pose, back ramrod straight, legs and heels together with her feet at a forty-five-degree angle. What transfixed both girls was the look of absolute concentration and seriousness she was presenting. Then they felt a presence fill the room.

  Tanya stood up from where she had been crouched over the bed and began buttoning up the military jacket she had been wearing when they had been rescued. Putting on each metal pin and medal with purpose. The beautiful silver one with the angel wings in particular catching their eyes.

  Standing erect, the young girl no longer looked like the shortest of the group. Her small frame seemed to swell in their minds as she began speaking in a clear commanding tone. The power and authority emanating from the figure before them was no longer that of a little girl.

  They didn’t understand what was said, other than Visha and Tanya’s names. In fact, the two were very confused as to what was going on.

  Were they acting out a play or a scene for cosplay? But then why was Visha having such a strong reaction. Was that all part of the scene?

  They were so caught up in the moment, that they didn’t notice it end, until Tanya came stomping towards the door. Barely managing to step back from it in time. The two tried to make themselves very small, as they watched Tanya march passed them and down the stairs, her face like frozen granite.

  Turning back to the room they saw a smiling Visha with tears in her eyes. Momo gestured and tried to ask what was wrong, but Visha just shook her head, her smile growing wider as she gestured towards the dresses hanging in the closet.

  Walking over she pulled two out and held them up, one in each hand. They got the message and with smiles of their own, joined her in deciding which dress would be best to wear. Ignoring all the burning questions they had about what had just transpired.

  ~

  Dr. ōkido Yukinari disliked consulting for the police department. They often wanted quick diagnoses, from very little data and few interviews. What was worse is, for them the health of the patient wasn’t the main concern. They just wanted a label they could put in a case file or medical record.

  Dr. Okido prided himself on his patient care and professionalism. He often went the extra mile, not out of vanity or desire for public acknowledgement. But because to him the health of the patient was paramount, and that is what made him a true professional.

  So, when he was called in to evaluate the mental health of over twenty recently trafficked young women, well he did the only responsible thing a professional could do. He asked for help.

  Spreading the patients among a few colleagues with the worst cases being immediately recommended to specialists. Then he asked for the case files for each individual he had assigned to him, poring over the interviews and comments each officer added to the files.

  When he had time between sessions, he made a point to observe the patients as they sat in the waiting area of the hospital he worked in. During sessions with individual patients, he would subtlety ask questions about how the patient viewed the other Victims.

  Dr. Okido knew that he had limited time to help these girls the best he could. So, he made sure he had as much information as possible, so as to get a more accurate diagnosis of their traumas and behavioral patterns that formed as a response to said trauma.

  While Okido might not see these patients more the one or two times in most cases, he hoped to be able to pass on his findings to their future doctors and therapists.

  It was due to this diligence that Dr. Okido found himself noticing two anomalies. While going through the files and interviews of miss Kaizaki and miss Serebryakov, He made note of a few inconsistencies in their stories but chalked it up do a desire to hide traumatic details. As was often the case in these situations.

  But after passing by the waiting room numerous times and listening to the views of other patients he was finding a strange pattern. Their claims of Serebryakov’s supposed dependence on miss Kaizaki, a claim that the police had expressed an interest in either validating or disproving, turned out to be truer than any had first thought.

  From what he had been able to observe, miss Serebryakov exhibited signs of severe dependence on miss Kaizaki. What’s more is unlike the police report, this was a clear case of codependence.

  The signs were nearly textbook when he had observed them during his breaks. It wasn’t in the details the police had included in their files that clued him in on it. No, I was the way the young girls were constantly aware of where the other was at all times. They were so perfectly in sync, he found himself amazed at times.

  He had watched as miss Kaizaki began eating a candy bar, only for miss Serebryakov to open her mouth. Without either girl looking or making a sound, miss Kaizaki while reading a financial magazine smoothly reached over and fed a bite to her friend. Neither girl reacted in anyway other than to continue with what they had been doing all along.

  The action had been so natural that he doubted either girl even noticed.

  As for traumas, both were certainly suffering from some form of PTSD. But it was strange the way their behavior had formed to react to triggers.

  If startled by a loud noise or sudden movement rather than cower or tremble in fear, the two reacted with a fight, rather than a flight response. Both would tense up and secure their footing, scanning the room for danger with focus and calculation in their eyes rather than fear. It was fascinating to see how different minds came to handle stress.

  There was however a clear leader in the dynamic. Oddly enough though it was the younger, smaller one who was clearly in charge. It was the kind of social dynamic Dr. Okido would love to study as part of a university research case.

  He was looking forward to his first session with miss Serebryakov and hoped to be able to help her work through her traumas in a manner. He was also looking forward to what new details he could glean about the reasons behind their codependency and how it had come about.

  Their session was scheduled to start in a few minutes, and he needed to get ready, but he wanted to observe one more time how the two interacted beforehand.

  Miss Kaizaki was seated in the waiting room together with Serebryakov, who was reading a children’s magazine backwards. Miss Kaizaki on the other hand had bundle of papers held together with various paperclips and was currently making notations with a red pen in the margins. How interesting.

  He made note that of the two only miss Serebryakov was dressed differently today. She now wore a lovely blue dress that suited her well. Miss Kaizaki on the other hand was wearing the same uniform she had been in the day before, though notably it had been cleaned. Interesting indeed.

  A nurse called Kaizaki Tanya’s name, and she packed her materials up and handed them over to miss Serebryakov to hold while she went to see her doctor.

  Out of time to continue observing, Dr. Okido took one last glance at the calm focused look that had settled over miss Serebryakov once her companion had left the room. But her eye stayed fixed on the door she left through for a long time before the dropped back down to her magazine.

  Walking back to his office, Dr. Okido sent his secretary to go and notify the patient and her translator Dr. Sergei. It had been quite the hassle to find a timeslot that worked for both doctors but in the end the two had made it work for the good of the patient.

  Miss Serebryakov arrived first and introduced herself in passable Japanese before bowing and finding her seat at his gesture to do so. The girl looked nervous but not frightened, and she seemed to perk up as Dr. Sergei entered the room greeting her in their native tongue. Before he too took his seat and settled himself.

  With the Translator now here, Dr. Okido formally introduced himself and shared his hopes for what miss Serebryakov would get out of these sessions. Putting special emphasis on how this was another form of healing and not an interview for the police.

  A statement that was nearly entirely true. The only details he would be sharing with the police were whether or not the patient was a danger to herself or others, or any admittance to past crimes.

  That out of the way their session had truly begun.

  After a moment, Dr. Okido asked the patient how she was feeling and if she had any thoughts that were weighing her down.

  That opened the door for Serebryakov, or Visha as he was permitted to call her, to start talking. The more she talked, the more she seemed to need to get off her chest. Concerns for the future, fears from the past, pressures she had been dealing with that she had only felt lifted from her recently.

  There was a haunted look in her eyes as she vaguely spoke about responsibilities that she no longer felt over others. A raw emotion in her voice as she spoke of her pain of loss, remembering those she had left behind, never expecting to see again.

  The poor girl didn’t even know where exactly she was from. The name she had for the village where she grew up not appearing in any search Dr. Sergei had done. She only knew a general area of where it had been located in Russia.

  What’s more was her fear that she would end up back in the same situation she had been rescued from if she was sent back home. A likely outcome in Dr. Okido’s opinion.

  However, by far her biggest concern was being separated from her friend Tanya. Digging into that line of thought opened up a world of complex feelings the girl had about her “leader and friend,” as Visha had described miss Kaizaki.

  She spoke as if the younger girl had saved her life, and maybe she had with the life they had been thrust into, thought the doctor. Tanya had protected her, taught her, and guided her through many tough situations. In the girls own words “I never want to be separated from her. I’ll fight against even God if I have to, so long as I can stay by her side and watch her back!

  Dr. Okido felt vindicated, the level of dependence this girl had for the other went beyond normal friendship, and had entered into the type of relationship that was shared typically by those who one: Either had shared multiple life and death situations with another. Or two: had a very unhealthy obsession that typically ended poorly.

  The possibility of the two being in the first category was very high just based on their shared trauma and history.

  Dr. Okido did not think he would have the time to gain the necessary trust for either of the girls to share the details of what had bonded them so closely.

  Especially given what they had been rescued from. Well, he had a good idea of what the two had gone through, and given Kaizaki’s upbringing, it made sense why she had taken the lead and why Visha followed her.

  Too soon the session came to an end and Dr. Okido found himself looking forward to his next patient and what answers she would bring to all the questions inside his head.