After their visit to the hospital was completed, they made a quick stop back at headquarters to collect the rest of their group. After considering their destination and her desire to blend in. Tanya decided to change into the same track suit that many of the other girls were wearing. It was just formal enough to not look out of place in public, but yet too casual for any sort of real social visit.
It was at this time the matron handed them each a bank card connected to the account their weekly stipend was deposited.
Bording the van Tanya noticed an air of excitement among the girls that hadn’t been around the previous day. Though Momo remained noticeably subdued.
Parking in an underground garage, Tanya noticed the driver and his partner take their uniform off and shrug into more civilian looking attire.
With the group together they made their way into the indoor mall they had parked under. Exiting the elevator, Tanya heard Visha gasp in shock as she looked around at the sheer scale of goods and services offered.
“What is this place? I thought we were going to a market or a shopping center. This is insane!”
Visha exclaimed with shock and awe on her face, her eyes darting from one advertisement to the next.
“This, Visha!”
Tanya exclaimed, arms spread wide.
“Is the glory of the Free Market.”
“It’s incredible Tanya, how many free markets are there in your country or is this the only one.”
Cette chienne inculte, grumbled Tanya in her mind. She really needed to get to work on broadening her former subordinate’s education. Her mind was probably only filled with fighting and those frilly dresses she kept gushing over.
Tanya was fine with her friend appreciating fashion as a hobby, but why did she feel the need to share the moment every time she saw something she liked. If one more magazine got shoved in her face with a request to translate what the advertisement blurb said, she was going to lose her cool.
Leaving those thoughts behind Tanya turned to Visha and explained what she had meant about the glories of the free market. How thanks to businesses being able to compete and thus drive capitalism forward…
Thirty minutes later Tanya was inside a clothing store holding several different tops as well as an ankle length skirt and one dress. Patiently explaining how supply and demand factored in not just the price of goods but also skilled labor. While Visha made use of the changing room.
Twenty minutes later, in yet another store Tanya sat and explained how pivotal private ownership was to maintaining fair competition and preventing crony capitalism. As Visha tried on shoe after shoe, before finally settling on a pair of what she called flats and a pair of sneakers. Tanya picked out her own pair from a brand she recognized as being of good quality.
It was ten minutes later that Tanya was interrupted mid explanation of the effect taxes had on a thriving economy.
“This store ought to have something in your size miss Kaizaki.”
The police officer/driver noted in a helpful tone.
Confused, Tanya looked over at the sign for the clothing store they were all stopped in front of. It had bright chibi characters plastered all over the entrance, Tanya recognized a Hello Kitty character among them.
Turning to glare at the police officer Tanya was surprised to find that he wasn’t there, in fact looking around he was nowhere to be seen.
It was at that point that Momo, having shaken off some of her sorrow from earlier, grabbed Tanya’s sleeve and while pulling her into the shop said.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, shopping at a kid’s store doesn’t mean people still see you as a kid. Heck, whenever I look at you, I have to remind myself that you’re not some forty-year-old adult man with the way you talk. Now come on, you don’t have to buy anything with print on it. Just grab something plain in your size if you don’t like the characters.”
Tanya found herself with no arguments and allowed herself to be dragged into the store and over to the girl’s section. Where she promptly began rejecting everyone’s recommendations.
~
Visha stepped out of the van into what could have passed for the Empire’s most secure underground bunker. The amount of steel and concrete that must have gone into constructing this monstrosity boggled the mind. And it was only a parking lot. For cars, lots of cars, she couldn’t get over just how colorful everything was.
Following Tanya and the rest of their party into the elevator, Visha made sure she stood next to poor Momo giving her her silent support. She even made a point of bumping her and pointing at the display screen on the wall every time another one of those cute characters popped up in an advertisement.
It was a bit of a chore to speak using mostly gestures but she got her point across, and Momo was starting to shrug off some of the cloud that had been hanging over her all day.
Stepping out of the elevator, Visha followed the group out of a short hallway and out into sunlight. Wait, what? Looking up, instead of seeing a concrete and steel beam ceiling as she had been expecting, she found herself looking up at the sky instead. A huge glass atrium spanned the full length of the structure, that itself was larger than even the training fields they had conducted military drills on.
The closest building she could compare it to in her mind would be the Berlin Hauptbahnhoff train station. But even it was dwarfed by the scale and complexity of the building Visha now found herself in.
“What is this place? I thought we were going to a market or a shopping center. This is insane!”
She found herself exclaiming as she looked around, noticing all the various shops and what they had to offer.
Looking towards her friend for an explanation Visha was stunned seeing Tanya with a bright genuine smile on her face, her arms sweeping out to the sides as if to display the majesty of the architecture.
“This, Visha!”
“Is the glory of the Free Market.”
“It’s incredible Tanya, how many free markets are there in your country or is this the only one.”
Visha supposed it was a good enough name, but it lacked grandeur. The Free Market sounded like something you would call farmers setting up stalls in a local town square, not this wonderful building.
Meeting eyes with Tanya, Visha knew she had misspoken. Her friend looked like someone had requisitioned all their armor again. Visha held in both a sigh and a laugh when Tanya literally stomped her foot in anger, before calming herself, though not before shooting a dirty look Visha’s way.
Oh boy, she had seen that look before, and she reckoned her dear friend was grumbling to herself about incompetent idiots or some such insult. Visha didn’t take it to heart, especially since she remained confused as to what had set Tanya off so much.
Deciding to cheer her friend up, as the group picked a direction and started walking. Visha moved closer as Tanya began explaining what she had really meant by the Free Market, as well as giving her the real name of the mall, as Tanya called it.
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Visha listened attentively to everything her good buddy and former commander was saying about capitalism and free trade, for a while. Slowly the words seemed to blend together, and Visha’s mind kept getting distracted by the sights around them.
Thankfully, Tanya seemed to be on autopilot as she followed Visha around the various shops they visited. It turned out that Tanya was so engaged with “teaching” her, that Visha was able to use her as a bag carrier for quite some time. So long as she left one hand free for Tanya to gesture around with.
The only downside was her lack of engagement in the activity at hand, Visha had asked several times for Tanya’s opinion on a skirt or other article of clothing, only to receive the most basic of disinterested responses. Though she was helpful with the shoes, she still lacked any of the excitement or energy that many of the other girls were exhibiting.
It was a shame, but Visha reminded herself that this was going to be a battle of attrition, so she decided not to wear herself down prematurely.
Hearing Tanya talk was a nice distraction as well. So far, she had been able to hide most of her shock at the types and cuts of the various outfits. She was finding it easier to adapt by the minute. After all no one else was making a fuss so why should she?
It helped that there were plenty of clothes that while looking different were essentially the same things she had grown up with. A skirt was a skirt after all; there wasn’t much that could change other than length and material. Pants also fell in that category; she had gotten used to them in the army and was relieved to see that they were common among women of this era.
She had been nervous at first, thinking she was doing something wrong, since she kept getting glances from people walking by. But she soon noticed that Tanya received the same number of glances, and she wasn’t even shopping. It took an embarrassing amount of time for her to finally figure it out. It hadn’t clicked until she found herself staring at a white foreigner couple walk past. She looked different than all of them, she stood out.
Visha didn’t like the way it made her feel, being the odd man out. She had experienced enough of it when she was just a Russian child trying to fit in with all her German neighbors. At least back then she hadn’t looked so different, here learning the language wouldn’t be enough to ever let her truly fit in.
Stepping out of the dressing room she saw Tanya talking while holding more clothes for her to try on, as she tried to include Momo in the “lesson.” No doubt it was Tanya’s own way of trying to cheer the girl up. Shaking off her dark thoughts from earlier, Visha remembered that Tanya was likely suffering from the same isolation as she was. Yet Tanya soldiered on, and so would she. They’d do it together.
Now if only there was a way to get them in matching outfits, without Tanya noticing. Most of the men of the kampfgruppe forgot this, since Visha stood in Tanya’s shadow, but she too had been to officer’s school and spent years being around and trained by one of the greatest strategists of the war.
That is to say that Visha was no slouch when it came to devising traps and ambushes for her enemies. Putting her mind to it several strategies came to mind; she just needed a little information and the right situation.
She decided that some recon in force was in order and moved to talk to Momo, who’s English was barely understandable even when she could understand what Visha was saying. Reimu’s English was much better, but she wasn’t here, having met up with her parents earlier and gone to the police station. So, Visha used what resources she had available to her.
While Tanya was distracted Visha had used a combination of English and hand signals to get the information she needed. Pointing out a red sign over some clothes and asking what it said. Then holding up two fingers then one. Finaly Momo seemed to understand and showed her what a two for one sale sign looked like. as well as teaching her what a buy one get one half off looked like of her own initiative.
Visha felt proud of the young woman for her forward thinking. She would have made a good officer or platoon leader, she thought patting the girl on the arm. Smiling, Visha now had the how and the what, all she needed was the where. Humming a merry little tune, she had often heard the commander hum, Visha turned around and rejoined her friend.
Several minutes later Visha found an unexpected ally in the form of their driver. A pity the man had to run to the restroom before he could see the results of their joint efforts. The mission was a Go!
Momo, having completely shaken of her gloom, was also proving to be an unexpected ally literally dragging Tanya by the sleeve into the cutest store Visha had ever seen. Why the sleeve though? She thought, this was like the second or third time she had seen someone grab somebody by their sleeve instead of the hand or wrist.
Shrugging she put the thought off for another time and dived in after her friend, looking around for the symbols she had memorized. Eyes that had been trained for years to spot every detail on the ground and every enemy in the air roved over the shop. Several patrons flinched as her intense gaze passed over them, but she paid them no heed, she was on a mission.
Spotting her optimal target, as well as several back ups should the first attempt fail. Visha soon arrived at Tanya’s side and began the first steps of her plan.
~
Tanya was having none of it. It seemed like their entire group had no shopping of their own to do and promptly decided to help Tanya with hers. She was seconds from reaching for the Type 95 and commissioning their souls to the Lord. Two things stopped her, one, as far as she knew Being X had been fired, and two, she no longer had that ticking curse strapped to her chest.
After a short eternity they seemed to get bored of her rejections and settle down, moving off to do their own thing.
Visha was as ever, a great help in all of this, while everyone had been pestering her, her good buddy had actually acquired some sensible clothing. Tanya was impressed by the practical selection she had picked out.
They were several plain tan and black canvas pants, a pair of sturdy jeans, and one pair of grey slacks. As for shirts Tanya had already picked out a few polos, Visha’s addition of a few button-up collared shirts was a God send, greatly appreciated.
Then her former subordinate threw her a curveball. She wanted to get matching bags; Tanya would have been fine with that, if it wasn’t for the ridiculous kitten on the front waving at her. Tanya put her foot down no matter how much Visha thought it was cute or whether it was buy one get one half off.
There was a limit to what kind of ridicule she would submit herself to, even for a friend. Thankfully, Visha waved the white flag, if only her countrymen had been as swift to do so, Tanya might not have lost out on her second retirement. While her adjutant pouted, the two made their way towards the changing rooms to try on the clothes. Only for Visha to sidetrack them.
“Tanya, look at that outfit. It seems pretty practical and I’m familiar with the style from back home. My mother used to wear something like that to garden. Come on I want to see if they have one my size.”
Visha exclaimed in excitement and pulled Tanya along by her sleeve. Having enough, Tanya shook her arm free and followed Visha voluntarily over to a section of the wall that had a selection of canvas overalls.
Visha was riffling through a selection of khaki overalls that came with a white undershirt as part of the outfit, clearly looking for her size.
Then she felt it, something was just a little bit off. The back of Tanya’s neck began to tingle, and she felt the small hairs there and on her upper arms stiffen and begin to rise.
She felt like she was walking into a trap. But there was no enemy here, no guns, no mages, no artillery. What on this earth did she have to fear?
Tanya laughed internally at her own paranoia, maybe she did have PTSD, and she was finally feeling shell shocked after all this time. Seriously jumping at shadows, get a grip.
Then Tanya noticed something, Visha already had one of the outfits slung over her arm, but she was still looking through them searching for another. Did she want to try on a different size? She questioned, refusing to admit what her subconscious had already realized. The outfit slung over Visha’s arm was clearly labeled in her size.
Tanya watched as Visha finally found one in her own size and turned to her, handing one of the matching outfits to Tanya.
“Here Tanya, this one should fit you. Look, it’s buy one get one free, and I don’t need two of the same outfit. I figured it would be more cost efficient this way, you’re basically getting a free outfit. Can’t argue with that kind of logic can you, it’s some clever marketing don’t you think? Wow, I love capitalism!”
Her buddy was so excited that she had completely fallen for the simple marketing technique. Tanya was positive they were going to be paying the cost of both outfits, but well it wasn’t too bad of an outfit, she supposed. She certainly didn’t think she would be wearing it for any job interviews but for around the house it should be fine.
As they made their way to the changing rooms, Visha bragging the whole way about her new acquisition. Tanya didn’t have the heart to tell her friend or admit to herself that they had just left a clothing section labeled Mother-Daughter outfits.
Tanya didn’t bother trying everything on like most of the other girls. Firstly, she knew what her size was, and secondly, they were running out of time. Since she was basically the only one who had purchased anything from this store, she didn’t want to make everyone wait on her. So, she stuck to trying on just the slacks to make sure they fit well and were presentable and the jeans to check the fit.
This would be decision she would later come to regret.
After paying, they finally left the cursed store and made their way back out towards the parking level and to their van. Riding along on the way back Tanya couldn’t help but notice how often Visha would look down at their shopping bags and let out a soft smile. Her eyes would often light up in those moments, bright enough that Tanya had to check to make sure she wasn’t using mana.
But no, her friend was simply happy. She suddenly found herself infinitely glade that Visha had decided to come along with her. As Tanya looked out the window at the city’s skyline, she silently vowed to make sure her friend never came to regret it.
~
Visha couldn’t believe it. Had God truly been on her side or was it that elusive mistress of luck that finally turned her double face her way. Tanya surely hadn’t bothered to try on the outfit Visha had picked for her. For if she had, she would have noticed that the white undershirt that came with the overalls as part of the outfit had a cute drawing of a kitten hugging a heart printed on it. Said drawing had been hidden behind the bib of the overalls.
Glancing down at the treasure at her feet, Visha smiled to herself again and leaned back enjoying this new life she had chosen.