Chapter 10 version 2
1981
Tanya spent a week studying the books she had bought, memorizing codes of conduct, ways of addressing leadership and every other little fact she thought might be in the test. When she was not doing that she was sparring with Hitsugaya. After a full week of study she had Matsumoto request an entrance exam on behalf so she may attempt to enter the academy. Matsumoto told her Captain Shiba had already gone ahead and done that and the examiner would meet with her in 2 weeks.
So for the next 2 weeks, she lived in the 10th Division barracks. She adapted to the environment of barracks life well, and had a few practice spars with some of the other Soul Reapers in the 10th when she was not dragged out shopping by Matsumoto. Thankfully she didn't lose any money as Matsumoto had convinced several other female Soul Reapers in the division, which there were not many from what she had seen, to chip in and get her civilian clothing. A relatively simple and old-fashioned styled Green Kimono, it was not a style she would have chosen, however it was better than wearing her steadily disintegrating uniform or the simple and unprofessional cloth shorts and shirt she had picked up from the Lehrgen's every day.
And it allowed her to get her dress uniform completely patched up and cleaned at a local cleaning service. Considering she would be getting a new uniform when she attended the academy, she may not have even bothered as it was not likely she would be wearing it again. But something could always go wrong. She had gotten used to the uniform, and it may be important one day to show who she had been, it would be prudent to keep it. It would be a shame to lose something she had earned with blood and sweat.
At the end of those two weeks she had prepared herself as best she could to take the exam and found herself at the spiritual arts academy to take the test.
Tanya was surprised by what she found at the academy. When she heard about the Spiritual Arts Academy she had assumed it would be as challenging to get into as the war college. However, that would appear to be a misconception she had. The entrance test seemed too easy in her opinion.
Most of the questions were not about Soul Reapers themselves or their obligations. They were poetic nonsense about protecting one's friends and comrades. There were a few questions that amounted to I will protect humanity and a couple of others seem to be there to gauge one's ability to follow orders. They were all done so poetically she wasn't completely sure what they had meant.
She must have done something right though because she was informed that she had passed the 50 question test. "Most likely by the skin of my teeth." she thought to herself. Next came the spiritual energy check part of the admissions process. To show she could use her spiritual energy she created a barrier spell. She was still having issues with over and underpowering it but it held up to their scrutiny in fact her examiner had asked if she was willing to share the process by which she was able to cast her "chantless Kido".
She was a bit worried about giving up that advantage but this was most likely a give or take situation. Exam taker would guarantee her entrance into the academy if she gave him the mathematical formula she used. So she had somewhat reluctantly written down the one for barrier spells. There was no guarantee they'd be able to figure out how to use it or solve the energy problem. So she assumed that it would probably be lost in some dark library of curiosities before long.
Hopefully before anyone went looking into that library she would solve the problem herself. The fact Kido spells existed with some sort of chant made her believe that if she could figure out how to translate the chant into a mathematical basis she may be able to solve the energy issues. She was no genius of mathematical magic though. It would probably take her decades to solve the problem.
It's funny how near-immortality changes one's outlook on time distribution. While alive decades to complete a project this complex alone would not have been worthy of her time. She would have moved on to something else and filed it away for later. But now with a lifespan longer than some countries, such a project seemed downright reasonable. She wasn't a genius. The best her salaryman life had ever done in academics was third place in Nationals. So there is no way this project would be done within even 20 years.
But with her academy spot secured she had two weeks before her career began so she continued her practice bouts with Hitsugaya. "Hanging out" with Matsumoto which amounted to making sure she got home safe from benders at local bars. The time would have been forgettable if not for the day before she moved out to the academy where she had an odd meeting with her prospective commander.
"Getting ready for academy barracks I see," Came the loud and distinctive voice of Captain Isshin Shiba from the doorway to her room. He was looking at her old uniform which was hanging on the front of the closet.
Turning from where she had been packing her rut sack, Tanya gave the bow his position expected, and said. "Good morning Captain Isshin, I'm just finishing up in fact, I do not want to be a burden on the division in any way longer than needed"
"Huh? Not really a burden from what I saw on the practice field yesterday, what was the win, lose yesterday?" he asked.
"I believe I officially had 10 wins to 8 loses, though I believe a few of those wins were Hitsugya going easy on me, and I still have no way to properly counter Shunpo" She said.
"You'll master it in no time, but I noted your style is still a bit on the responsive side, it works, but in a fight you need to be more aggressive. Have you attempted to commune with your sword spirit to see if it has any idea how you could improve?" Shiba said looking at the sword she left leaning against the dresser.
"I have not had the chance yet, I have been told that was something I would learn at the academy," Tanya said wondering where this conversation was going. She had not spoken much with the captain since their initial meeting, so she had no measure on the man's motives.
"Ah yeah, always forget the academy tries to take all the credit, listen closely because this is what they're going to tell you when you get there. Your sword spirit will appear under great stress and it wants to kick your ass for getting into that situation, or meditation. Lots of meditation or a little, depends if the spirit wants to talk to you." the Captain explained.
"So near-death experiences will trigger meetings? I expect sword spirit to get sick of my visits pretty quick then." Tanya mused with humor remembering her first fight over Norden.
"Ha! That's one way to put it. Didn't think you had much humor being from one of those great wars," Shiba commented.
"Trench humor is a good way to stay sane at the worst of times, and it's best to sharpen it every once in a while." Tanya said with a smile.
"Ha! Well keep that trench humor sharp, the day will come where it saves your life I'm sure. Later kid" Captain left leaving her to wonder what he meant. What event would require trench humor that he felt he needed to warn her about?
Dressed in her new white and red uniform Tanya approached the academy energy in her step. Education always improved her mood, some of her happiest memories in both lives were attending school. The ability to improve one's worth matched with the ability to compare yourself to your peers was an exhilarating process. Today though she expected not to get much education from the academy. From what she understood the first day was generally about attending an opening ceremony and finding the barracks she would be sleeping in for the coming six years or less.
The academy was a lovely-looking building from where she stood. A walled complex with a red Asian styled tiered roof sitting on a three-story building. Its walls gleaming white with several wings coming out of the main building of the complex.
From what she had been able to dig up, the building was newer than the academy, the institution had been around for some 2000 years, possibly created by Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the commander of Gotei 13. It was theoretically possible the building was that old. But the windows looked too modern, so it had either undergone renovations over the years or they built a new building in the last 200 years.
Stepping through the gateway to her new education, she was met by a crowd gathered around what sounded like two individuals yelling at each other. Any other day she would have walked past the gathered crowd and got on with her education, but she was hearing an uncomfortable amount of german. If it got out that she spoke a similar language, teachers may wonder why she did not break up this fight, and that would affect her future prospects.
"'Join the military' you said, 'it would be easy' you said WE'RE GOING TO BE FIGHTING MONSTERS!" a female voice yelled, triggering memories of the stout fourth company commander Rhiner Neumann.
"Hey you're the one who wanted to get out and do something more than wandering districts doing odd jobs for food, if you don't want to fight monsters you can always try to convince folks you're a noble again, sure that will be a success story this time." that voice she recognized without question.
Shaking her head she pushed her way through the crowd using her barrier spell to part the more stubborn individuals from their spot. When she broke through, the sight before her would be comical if it wasn't such an embarrassment. Standing before her were two individuals in academy uniform, a man with short blond hair green eyes, and a short white-haired woman with long hair, somehow stayed styled in odd drill points two in front and four in back with green eyes. The two were locked hand in hand trying to push each other back. If she didn't know the two she put money on the man, but she did, she had seen them do this before, as they were both practitioners of germanic martial arts, and they usually started this way.
In German she raised her voice to be heard over the arguing "Second Lieutenant Vooren Grantz, and color me less then shocked, Second Lieutenant Nicole von Levenshtein. I knew you two were close but to die together, I have to wonder if there were things going on in the tents I should have come down harder on." The second in command of 2nd company and 4th company of her old battalion. It would figure some of her battle maniacs would join the Soul Reapers. She would have to set them straight so they didn't cause the academy any problems and she had some responsibility for them being here, it was the least she could do.
The two individuals stopped their contest, their eyes going wide before both shifted into perfect germanian salutes as they faced her. "Sorry for the disturbance Lt. Colonel von Degurech-"
"Stop that," she commanded, cutting them off. "Look around you, you two have drawn a crowd of your fellow students for an argument that should be handled in private. You two will most likely have a harder time getting through the curriculum as word of this argument will get back to your teachers." she reprimanded the two.
"Now that that's settled, drop the salutes, our ranks, and titles mean nothing here, I was Lt. Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff, now I am Tanya Degurechaff, and until I achieve something I am no better than either of you." She noted the two dropping the salutes in confusion.
"Sorry… Degurechaff?" Grantz asked and she nodded her approval. "We signed up not knowing what exactly we would be doing."
"I would have thought the test was very self explanatory" Tanya questioned them wondering how they missed the references to Hollows.
"We don't exactly have a good grasp of Akitsushima yet" Levenshtein said "I happen to know little because my uncles took diplomatic trips, but I didn't get the monster bit till I was going through paperwork today." well that would make some sense, Levenshtein was a born noble, she put in hard work at Tanya's training camp so she wouldn't hold against her, but she had connections Grantz didn't. They probably survived off that little bit of Akitsushima but they didn't have enough.
Tanya shook her head wondering how they passed the test then, before asking, "What class were you assigned?"
"Class 10, we were told it was the lowest," Grantz said. 10 that was good, it meant they were not going to be in her class, and if their acceptance got them ten, she could make some assumptions then.
"I would assume that class teaches Japanese which is what they call the language." Hopefully she could keep the two from talking about other worlds. Until she achieved something that would protect her from being shipped to a local asylum it would be better to keep that talk to a minimum.
"Keep talk of the Empire to a minimum, things are not as they would appear, and I do not have time to explain everything yet." she said in german starting to walk toward the door to the school.
"Yes ma'am," The pair responded.
"It's good to see you again Von Degurechaff, " Levenshtein said.
"It's Degurechaff, Levenshtein we're no longer nobles, and it's good to see you two as well." Tanya said over her shoulder before entering the doors.
Each class apparently had their own opening ceremony in their own classroom. The classroom in question is more of a lecture hall with a central area for the lecturer to speak from and three of the four walls having ascending seats up towards a second floor. The room could fit maybe 40 to 60 other students.
Unfortunately, her meeting with two ghosts from her past had delayed her to her class. She was forced to take a seat near the back of the class behind a mountain of a man whose shoulder blocked out her view of the lecture area.
A terrible position in any educational situation. She looks like she was hiding which would most likely make the teacher consider her a possible troublemaker. She would have to find some way to ingratiate herself or be more on time to make sure this position did not become how the teacher saw her.
She was just about to see if she could ask to trade with anyone near the front when the teacher entered the room. A bald Stern looking man with glasses. He looked around the room before he began a little bit of a speech.
"I am Gengorō Ōnabara and I'm going to open this class with a congratulations. If you are in this room you scored in the top 10% of the applicants this year. This means there's a good chance you will go on to become the elite of whatever division will take you on. And with higher expectations comes a higher standard of training."
The man was giving a good speech but he'd also screwed over Tanya's plans. She suspected she would be above average at best in the test assuming that the mathematical formula would secure her seat and she wasn't doing well. If she'd somehow ended up in the top 10% obviously she had done better than she expected and the formula had done more than just secure her a seat.
Calming herself she focused back on the class. Yes, things have not gone to our plan but this was not a terrible position she found herself in. Being in the top 10% meant she had opportunities that may have taken longer to reach. She may even be able to get an officer seat when she leaves for a division.
"You will be heavily trained in the four combat arts of Soul Reapers Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. You will need to know them to protect not only yourself but your friends and humanity from the monsters of the Hollow."
Tanya stopped leaning around the mountain of a man hearing that the speech was degenerating into a general lecture of what was expected. There was no reason to watch what could be listened to.
"I will be overseeing a good portion of your tutelage but there are elective classes that you can pick up as well. Some of these classes are not necessary for your duties but I would recommend picking up a few of them as they will help integrate you into Soul Reaper culture at a faster rate. I will also be having a few substitute teachers from the divisions come in."
Tanya was generally just taking notes at this time, it was obvious they were now entering a part of the lecture that was more about what would be coming in the coming days. He went on for a good 30 minutes explaining various concepts and items that they would need to know for their training and then something happened.
"I mentioned earlier we would be having substitute teachers. Well, we are having a treat this year. I've asked for many years for a combat teacher from the 11th. I'm not as spry as I used to be and the techniques that 11th work on over there has always been rather charming. This year a former student of mine who joined the 11th volunteered. Please give a warm welcome to the 10th seated officer of the 11th division."
Tanya was paying attention as best she could, from what she knew about the 11th they were a division she planned to avoid at all cost. It was good they were getting an actual combat veteran for a teacher but she was not interested enough to lean over to look past the mountain of a man blocking her view. That was until the 10th seated officers' speech started.
"Good morning maggots, I see that the Soul Society has been graced with another underdeveloped lot of children ready to play the hero."
That speech sounded familiar, hitting several beats she had used over the years and the Voice. There was no way that could be who she thought it was. She got up from her seat to look over the flesh wall blocking her view to assure herself that this was not happening.
"I am the 10th seated officer of division 11, Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakova. You follow my combat training to a T and you will survive anything you come across, this I guarantee. If you take this training lightly or find ways to not do your job I will remind you harshly of what you are supposed to be doing. If you don't like that, maybe you should ask to be removed from class 1, I'm sure class two and three have room."
And there she was, the Brown-haired blue eyed girl Tanya thought she'd probably never see again, looking almost no older than the last time she'd seen her. She wore the black uniform of the Reapers and had a sword tied to her side. She was staring down the class like they were communists needing to be removed from her sight. Tanya briefly wondered what hell had she seen to be able to master that look, then Visna spotted her. Her face shifted from one looking sewer scum, to a pleasant happy smile. Before she continued her speech "Ah at least I see some of you will have a chance," Most folks looked at the wall of flesh allowing Tanya to take her seat back and think through this development.
First Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakova had served with her since the Rhine front, she was her closest thing to comrade and perhaps more when she was in an emotional state. She was really the only person she could think about when Being X had said he said those who meant something to her here. But what was she to do about this situation? If Visha was an officer of the 11th division, she may pull strings to have her join that cursed unit… Then again, with her around it would not be that bad… 'NO!NO off front lines' Staying off the front lines, that was her goal, perhaps she could convince Visha to join her in one of the safer divisions but she could not let temptation pull her from a safer position.
Either way she needed to have a conversation with her former adjutant. She could hear Visha exchanging pleasantries with Gengorō before she said she would step out of the room. She noted some of the students were snarking as she left the room, reminding her of her own time as a provisionary teacher at a Military Training Camp near Buran. No doubt they didn't realize Visha was one of the most dangerous people they probably ever met. She survived the Rhine front, the hellish training she put her battalion through, and years on the Russy front, helping Tanya fight the Berserker. All without the aid of Being Xs mentally corrupting power. If there was anyone who had a chance to fight monsters, it was Visha.
Before long professor Ōnabara finished his first day lecture, told the class they could pick up paper from his desk that had a copy of the imported info about their education they would need to know, and the location of their campus barracks.
Seeing the other students rushing to leave, Tanya took her time, not wanting to be trampled or kicked by their mad scramble to leave. As the room emptied out she got up and stared down the stairs when Ōnabara spoke up. "Tanya Degurechaff is it?"
She stopped and said "Yes sir."
"Thought as much, from what I understand you created a mathematical formula that allows you to cast Kido like spells in silence," Ōnabara said while observing her.
"Yes," it was not exactly true but the truth would require explaining multiword theory explaining a century of magical innovation so she let that statement stand.
"I have taken a look through the barrier spell you provided, and I have to say it's innovative, but from what I understand of it, it uses a potentially larger amount more spiritual energy if you just cast the Kido normally, I wondered if you knew that?" He said, taking a seat at his desk.
She hadn't but she suspected it might have something to do with the pressure problem she was having. "I was aware there was an issue, but I believed I would solve it sooner or later."
Ōnabara nodded "Experimentation is good, but and I'm sure this avenue of research will be interesting in the future, but for now I would like you to focus on learning Standard Kidos instead of your experimentations, it seems to me you learned to run before you learned to walk, and that means your balance is not trained yet. A misused Kido can have horrible consequences when a person has that training, I hate to hear promising students caus her classmate's limbs to be ripped off because they tried to use Bakudō # 1. Sai with untested experimental casting."
Tanya nodded understanding, it was expected really, new magic carried risk, better to put the one testing that magic on a leash than to let them run wild. She has been warned that they didn't like messing around with magics so she would be a good student and learn their system, and refrain from using anything new. "Understood Sensei, I will refrain from experimentation."
"Good, see you tomorrow miss Degurechaff"
Taking that as her cue to leave she nodded and stepped outside.. Only to be assaulted by some pulling her in to hug.
"I'm so glad you're alive Lt. Colonel" a familiar voice said from above her head as Tanya attempted to push herself free of the other girl's chest.
"And I'm glad to see you too Visha can you let go for a moment," She said before she was freed to get a breath. "Take you out of the military and you start hugging your superior officer, guess I can't complain, the military is not likely to get my letters of complaint here."
"Ha, well you could always try to complain, say teacher having an improper relationship with a student" Visha said in a humorous tone.
Tanya did double-take at that statement not sure what she meant, it was definitely Visha a few years older if she had to guess. "Well, I see you outlived me on the Russy front, that's good. I was worried about what the battalion would do without me. How long has it been since I died for you, for me it been about 5 months"
Visha's face became a bit sadder, before she said "I made 6 months on the front, before a Commonwealthmage broke my shield," Not good, Commonwealthmages tended to ride flight gear with a Gatling gun making up the front of the gear. Without a shield she would not have lasted long. "But that was 8 years ago, so I don't think about it very often."
"8 years?" Tanya said wondering what she had been up to for the 8 years, 6 were mostly likely spent at the academy so she had two years unaccounted for.
"Another time I'm afraid, I need to get back to my division before my Lieutenant gets worried, and I'm already a bit late since I had to wait for you, I'll have time to talk more with you soon till then," Visha pulled her into another bear hug. "I'm just glad you made it to central okay." She let go "See later Lt. Colonel," and started towered the main entrances to the building.
"It's Degurechaff, I don't have my rank anymore, Visha" She called after her.
"Right, good night Degurechaff" She said smiling, before she left the building.
After a long day Tanya took a seat on her bed in new barracks, finding three of her old battalion had been an unexpected surprise, but one she would have to deal with. They were here because she was in a way, so she would have to take responsibility and look out for them. How she would do that she was not sure yet, and Visha had basically had a decade to settle in it seemed. She doubted she would want to leave the 11th just because Tanya pointed out a division was safer.
Looking around she saw most of the other students in the 10 person barracks were already near or completely asleep. Most of the lights above were already out beside the ones needed for people to find their way to the bathroom in the night. Laying back on the bed she decided that this was a problem for the morning, right now, she needed to get some sleep, then she remembered what the commander of the 10th had said about meditation helping her contact her sword spirit. Out of curiosity more than anything, she closed her eyes and tried to silence her mind. If she failed she figured she would just fall asleep and there would be no big loss.
After a few moments she noticed something was off, she could feel sunlight on her skin confused, she opened her eyes, a blue sky with towering skyscrapers reaching up. Sitting up she looked around, she appeared to be sitting in the middle of an empty street with miles of endless towers reaching in every direction.
"So the Salaryman finally dains to visit me, what an honor." a snarky voice came from behind Tanya. Turning she was left a bit dumbstruck by the scene before her. Sitting in a chair at a curb-side diner with outside tables was a short woman, in her early 20s, sipping from a cup as she watched Tanya with a bemused smile. She was wearing that cruel dress the propaganda department had made Tanya wear for a camera shoot in the early days of the war. The woman's eyes were greyish-blue and her hair was blond that seemed to have been drained of its color. Besides those changes, the woman was wearing an adult version of Tanya's own face, simply highlighted by makeup. "OR I guess I should be calling you the Salarygirl"
To be continued,
Author's note
Point 1: yes I am a cruel asshole who will use to be continued, I haven't done it in this story before because I'm trying not to do that as much.
Point 2: Nicole von Levenshtein is canon… sorta, she canon to the gotcha game, but we get references in the manga to another female soldier who is short, Nicole is short so she most likely meant to be that short member of the battalion of the manga.
Point 3: you get Visha and Tanya sword spirit in this chapter… I'm slightly worried about it being too much too fast, but this is kinda how I had it planned, so not much to do there.
Point 4: bit worried the success I had the last few weeks is going to my head, let me know when that does me in.
Point 5: Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Betad by: BuzzTech
Review responses
AnimeA55Kicker: a big shovel by the looks of it from this chapter
NightmareKnight1: and why would I change something I never confirmed MAHAHAHAHAHA
Askaroth: thank you as long as people finding some kind of entertainment in my work i think I'm doing good job
Grocamol: well you got the gender right, what else she is will see NEXT TIME on BLEACHED TANYA
EricFreak: here to glorious misunderstandings here hoping this chapter was enjoyable
skrapsynneh: here new for ya
Kokomo: to the truth about them? not well I would assume
bcchamorroc: well it is crazy combinations, but just because it is crazy does not mean it won't work, just means you have to hope you the right writer for the job. so far it seems I was the right writer, enjoy the update, and have a great night.