Tanya always tried to keep her morning routine efficient and orderly; whether in her first life getting ready for work, in that orphanage at the beginning of her second, in the many, many places that the army allowed and forced her to sleep or nap in, and even in her third attempt at life, she'd tried her best to wake up in an orderly fashion in order to attend to her business as soon as possible.
Granted, she'd given herself wider margins for error in this life due to how laid back it was compared to her second life and, more generally, how deadlines were much more relaxed without precise timekeeping devices. In this instance of her third life, however…
Well, the soft tickling sensation nipping at her neck and ear, the warm arms curled around her midsection, and the body pressed into her back made the idea less important by the second.
A faint blush creeping up her cheeks, she decided that, with the party that had taken place last night, she could afford to stay in bed just a bit longer.
As she inched backwards, she felt her blush ripen as a long, drawn out sigh was emitted by her…
Tanya's brows furrowed for a moment – what were they exactly?
Girlfriends? Partners? Really close friends… well, not that last one, but the question remained.
The ahoge on top of her head twitched, and Tanya sighed-
Her… partner's arms tightened around her, and Tanya decided she would stay in bed for another hour and to leave her questions for later. She wouldn't stay in bed any longer. She didn't want to turn into Kazuma and become a NEET, after all… although she was sure she had a much better reason for staying in bed than he ever had.
Tanya too, sighed. She'd bet almost anything that whatever conception of Heaven that Being X had up there didn't have anything on this.
-OxOxO-
"Tell me just how it's possible you're more happy than we are that we're together?" Viktoriya asked Lorelei.
Instead of focusing on how incredibly smug Lorelei's face was at that moment, Tanya instead focused on the end of Viktoriya's statement and the fact that they were currently holding hands. Logically, of course, it was just a small, almost insignificant display of mutual affection for any normal couple…
But then why did hearing those words and feeling the warmth radiating from Viktoriya's hands feel so… important?
Despite how… unusual it was to feel this way, Tanya resisted the urge to push down the feelings. The feelings she was experiencing were much better than the usual ones she had to ignore, and doing that in this circumstance was neither needed for some professional reason nor desired by her company – even if one of her two current companions was entirely too smug about the whole situation.
Somehow, their friend only got more self-satisfied as breakfast wore on. They hardly noticed, though – they were much more interested in the potato pancakes and the chocolate syrup and the delicious coffee.
"Soooo… what're your plans?" Lorelei asked.
"Well, my plans are to finally give you our presents," Viktoriya declared. Tanya felt an incredulous but pleased smile creep onto her face. "I'd say you shouldn't have after yesterday, but this was probably your best bet if I wasn't interested."
Viktoriya and Lorelei snorted at that. "Ha! I'm sure you'll find it amusing, so I'll tell you about the… Herculean task it was to actually… tell you. After the present, though!" Viktoriya quickly qualified. Tanya just nodded, closing her eyes when Lorelei motioned for her to do so. As she was opening them-
Smooch!
Dammit, her face was heating up again! Stupid biological responses to her feelings! They were entirely too embarrassing… and nice.
Her eyes snapped open, and she found Viktoriya smiling and Lorelei smiling coyly, along with two wrapped presents…
Her attention was drawn to the one sitting in front of Viktoriya. The wrapping paper said 'I Love You.' It was so… sappy. Embarrassingly so… almost.
For a moment, as heat welled up her face, she pictured how she would have felt about where she was now in her first life; her thoughts and decisions constantly impacted by her feelings instead of unassailed by them and using her normally cold logic to support her feelings instead of suppressing them.
She shook away the picture in her mind as she tore into Lorelei's present – she'd changed since then, she liked to think.
Tanya blinked in surprise before glaring at Lorelei. The woman had been lying, then, when she said that she didn't have another suit.
She scoffed. "Well, you couldn't have worn it, and all I said was that I could recreate the suit I showed you. This one isn't that suit."
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's…" she began to say, before stopping. This suit was…
She looked it up and down again. It wasn't a perfect match, as it was adjusted to fit her current frame. She checked the tag. She checked the inner lining. She checked the left pocket for- yes, that loose thread.
Lorelei's gift was a suit, yes, but it was her suit.
It matched the one she'd been wearing when she died. "I… how did you do this?" she asked half-rhetorically – she had a guess, but this was still…
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Later. On to the next one!"
Tanya just rolled her eyes and opened Viktoriya's present. Inside, she found a neat wooden box, inside of which was…
Another blast from the past. It seemed to be a recreation of a sake set she'd gotten for herself when she'd gotten her job in HR, complete with a bottle of sake.
Viktoriya was oblivious to Tanya's incredulous stare. "Bill was more than willing to help, even if that rice was hellish to battle. I thought you'd appreciate it."
"I do, of course, but… how did you get this?" she asked.
With that, they began to explain Viktoriya's long, uphill battle to accept that yes, Tanya did indeed love her. Lorelei efforts to help them realize what everyone around them saw. The help provided by Aya, Takashi, and Shizuka.
They all laughed some, and Tanya had to marvel at how ridiculous this life felt compared to her first two occasionally, but it was fun…
Until, at the end, they had… a discussion of Tanya's, failings apparently.
Tanya had to admit it felt somewhat uncomfortable, for them to interrupt their story about Viktoriya's attempted confession and Tanya's apparent obliviousness to it. "I'm not oblivious, and it was Johanna's fault."
Viktoriya merely raised an eyebrow. "Tanya, when I confessed to you last night, you tried to deny it, despite how clear I was making myself."
Tanya ignored her for the moment. "Well, I didn't know that Being X was allowing me to 'have' this. I…" she began, contemplating her next words before settling on how to phrase it, "I am not sure what Being X will try to pull, or if he's even going to do anything – Kazuma told you that while drunk, after all. I wouldn't have it any other way, of course, but…"
"Regardless of what he pulls, I still don't see why you think I was oblivious," she said. Viktoriya remained composed, but Lorelei apparently thought that that was hilarious.
"Remember how Takashi has a copy of your memories?" Viktoriya said. Tanya nodded slowly – she still wasn't sure if it was a good idea letting him walk around, but it had had at least one positive outcome if it had helped Viktoriya to confirm her feelings.
They were looking at her expectantly, but she couldn't read minds. "And? What else was in there?"
Viktoriya sighed. "Tanya, to the best of your knowledge, who did the Nazis from your first world persecute?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "You mean besides the Jews, their political enemies, and minorities?" she asked. Viktoriya just nodded. Tanya rolled her eyes – she hardly understood what this would accomplish.
"Alright… political enemies, Jews, minorities, criminals, the 'racially inferior,' uh… the roma?" she asked on the last one. Viktoriya nodded again. "And?"
'And?' Who else was there? Tanya rolled her eyes. She wasn't some loser who thought that obsessing over an ideology that had been functionally dead for close to eight decades was a good use of her time. Still, she sighed again, trying to-
Wait…
Oh.
"Oh."
Oh.
Oh no.
The look of patient relief on Viktoriya's face didn't save Tanya from the sheer glee that Lorelei apparently felt at the riot of emotions warring on Tanya's face as she tried to offer an explanation or an excuse for why she'd managed to forget that, quite logically, if the Nazis had persecuted homosexuals, then homosexuals had obviously existed and been willing to choose who they liked with no regard for their future – hadn't she been the one to say human beings preferred emotion over logic?
She had to prevent herself from offering an explanation and swallow her tongue when Viktoriya mentioned that there were a few communities in Berun, even. Viktoriya didn't know much – she hadn't known about them at all until her friend had mentioned a few tidbits in a letter some years ago – but if Tanya had explored Berun a bit more…
In the end, she could only sit there and stew in what she had to admit was a failing of hers. She admitted as much out loud.
"But!" she declared, cutting off another round of Lorelei's snickering, "the fault was not in me being oblivious… I just forgot a crucial detail that happened to destroy part of the foundation for my very logical argument."
Both of them were skeptical, and she let out a sigh as she rested her head in her hands, admitting defeat. "Can't we just blame Being X?"
Viktoriya nodded. "Of course. In part, anyway, but we both share part of the blame as well."
Tanya grumbled at that… but in the end, Tanya had been unwittingly helping Being X keep them apart due to her thinking, and, according to Viktoriya, if she'd been more direct about things, they would have figured this out years ago.
They sat there in silence – Tanya would have thought it was companionable in any other circumstance – for a few moments.
"Well now what?" Tanya asked.
Lorelei's unspoken suggestion, based on the suggestive movement of her eyebrows, was only answered by a roll of Tanya's eyes. "Not yet."
"No, we need to discuss what's going to change… along with our trip to the Crimson Demon Village so I can take back what Being X stole from me and get those rings," Tanya said. The other two nodded, and Lorelei stood.
"Well, if you two are going to discuss your relationship, I suppose I'll go check on the town. See if anyone has heard yet."
"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Tanya asked. Lorelei shook her head. "No… but I doubt it'll stay secret for long… not that many people didn't already think you were dating. I don't think there was a single noble that wasn't at that party last night."
Tanya sighed at that. She'd have to talk to Alderp later…
But, with Lorelei gone, it was just her and Viktoriya sitting in the brightly lit dining room, twiddling their thumbs and trying to think of what to say.
"It… this feels almost like a dream," Viktoriya finally said. Tanya felt some of the tension release from her shoulders. "I… it feels the same for me." Of course, there was also just a bit of muddled embarrassment and shame that it had taken them so long, but those were just details that they shouldn't dwell on.
Really.
Another prolonged silence. Tanya felt the urge to think about something else… but that was an old habit she was going to have to break.
"I… you don't mind that I want to get to the Crimson Demon Village before we do… anything major?" Tanya said.
Viktoriya winced and began to apologize. "Of course! I- dammit, I knew you'd think I was pressuring you-"
"No! It's…" Tanya felt embarrassment sticking to the roof of her mouth. She looked down. "I… just haven't ever felt as… like I'd be… okay. In this body. As long as it were… you."
She couldn't even think of the right word. Needy? Yearning? Craving?
When she looked up, the feeling swimming in her stomach ballooned. Viktoriya's face was tinged pink, with an expression of love and hunger mixed equally. Tanya licked her lips nervously.
…It took Tanya a full five seconds of drinking in that expression to shake herself out of her stupor. "Uh… regardless, I would prefer to wait…"
Viktoriya's expression faded back into something resembling lucidity. "Well… let's employ some logic. Will you regret it if we do it now? And would you regret it if we waited until later?"
Tanya took a deep breath. Logic. She loved logic. It was infallible. Most of the time.
It was unlikely that, if they waited until later, Tanya would regret it. Even then, if she regretted it, she would likely regret not doing it sooner, which Tanya and Viktoriya could make up for…
On the other hand, if Tanya did it now, there wasn't really a way to undo it. Perhaps things would be fine, but she'd rather not remind herself of that monster, especially if a memory could taint her and Viktoriya's relationship in the future.
Tanya nodded to herself. "Yes. Let's wait. Besides, isn't the saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder?'"
After a moment of thinking, Viktoriya nodded and agreed.
Tanya breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, the next question is whether we tell people."
Viktoriya scoffed at that. "It's not like their disapproval is going to change our minds. Besides, don't most of them think we're dating already?"
"Their disapproval won't change how we feel, obviously, but there's a difference between rumors and fact…" Tanya said. "However, if we're going to be run out of town because we like each other, I'd like to know ahead of time."
Viktoriya conceded the point. "How do you plan to find out, then? We know the Axis Cult would be okay with us and that the Eris Cult wouldn't be… I mean, it's not like we can ask anyone."
Tanya almost nodded – she had considered asking Luna, considering she had been the first person to ever suggest that Tanya was an Axis Cultist – but then she remembered that they did have someone they could ask.
-OxOxO-
Mitsurugi glanced at the entrance to Keele's dungeon, its cave-like appearance just a cover for the cut stone he could likely find within. Once, long, long ago, he'd thought that this would be the first place he would explore. He'd take his sword and conquer this dungeon, like you were supposed to do in these kinds of scenarios.
Then, of course, he obtained more information. Not only had this place been cleared out of anything strong or important long ago, but, as a Hero Candidate, he had to go to the capital to help defend the Kingdom on the frontlines. Instead of hanging around Axel for long, with its idyllic landscape and easy-to-kill monsters, he'd been shuffled to the frontline quickly.
He smiled absentmindedly. And now, after all that, he was here.
He shook his head and sharpened his focus. His dreams had told him to go to Keele's dungeon in order to receive a boon that would help him fight Degurechaff. He didn't have any clue where a Divine Relic of such power could be hidden – the place had been empty since he'd arrived in this world, according to the guild. What would…
But then he felt a sensation pulling him away from the entrance to the dungeon and towards the small house nearby that was set up as a refuge for adventurers who explored Keele's Dungeon.
Entering the house, he looked around, hoping for the feeling again. Instead…
He leaned towards the row of beds on the far wall set up for emergencies and for parties that didn't want to travel at night from the dungeon back to Axel. He listened closely…
Yes, in the distance, he could hear a noise. He stepped forward, trying to hear whatever was. He got down onto the wooden floor and lifted up the bed-
And he was falling downwards, hurtling down a slide of some kind. He cursed and felt himself begin to slow down thanks to one of his many enchanted rings. As he reached the bottom, he sighed in relief and then looked around, brandishing his sword… around… the…
Well, there wasn't much to the room. A bed, a suit of armor, and a bookcase filled with…
He raised an eyebrow and let down his guard – whoever had been making noise seemed to have left. Investigating the bookcase, he confirmed his suspicions: it was filled with manga.
He rolled his eyes at that. Lots of manga had begun appearing in the stores around Axel, and thanks to the governor's alteration of the laws banning the publication of indecent material, hentai had also begun appearing in sections of the stores run by the Librarians Guild – a misnomer provided by Reincarnates, if he had to guess.
Really, according to them, she was the be-all-end-all compared to the former governor. She'd relaxed the laws and instead instituted an additional tax on any such material that was sold – it was still cheaper than anything you could have gotten illicitly, so the Librarians were happy. Plus, it seemed she'd also helped them with translations?
Honestly, they had talked his ear off for much longer than his passing curiosity at a reminder of his homeland should have warranted, but his desperation for anything to use against the governor had driven him to listen politely… for a time.
He shook his head. It didn't seem like there were any ways out of the room, so…
He raised his sword again. "Where are you? I heard you from the top of the slide. Not expecting someone to survive the fall?" he taunted, hoping for a response to help him.
Of course, they might have a hidden door, but he couldn't be sure…
When no one appeared, he began to inch closer to the armor. The dream had been very specific – the armor was the Sacred Armor Aigis, and it was impenetrable.
He had been skeptical that it would work any better than his Adamantite armor – not that he'd tested if it could block bullets – but seeing it now, he recognized it as Orichalcum.
Kyouya did not lack for money, but he did not doubt that the metal contained within the armor could easily buy an entire country.
He stretched out one hand, ready to swipe it back at any moment. The dream had warned of the armor's immense power bearing a cost, but the dream hadn't specified what the cost was, exactly… although, if the curse equaled the protective power of the armor, then it would have to be a horrible, horrible-
"Hey, don't touch me so carelessly, boy. I'm keeping myself pristine for my master, the lovely Lady-"
Kyouya jerked back, readying his blade. So, the owner was hiding inside of the armor, then?
"Whoever you are, I need that armor! I am on a quest to-"
"Hey, there's no one inside me! Weren't you listening, or are your looks as good as your brains are bad?"
Kyouya blinked. He… wasn't actually hearing that with his ears. It was a voice inside of his head!
He blinked after processing what it had said. "Oh, you're… sentient?" he asked. He hadn't encountered many people – or monsters, even – that could speak psychically.
All sorts of rumors had sprung up about his own sword – anyone who had seen him fight knew it was a magical sword of great power, and he assumed that someone had invented stories about it to sound cool. Those stories had turned into rumors, and while magic swords did choose their owners some of the time, that didn't mean they were sentient like this armor appeared to be.
The armor began to move animatedly. "Of course! Who are you, to intrude upon this place given to me by Lady Eris?"
Kyouya blinked – was that who was giving him the dreams? – and then shook his head. "Oh, I am your new master-"
"WHAT!? Lady Eris, she…" the armor trailed off before hopping down from the armor stand it had been set up on and rifling through the bookcase. It pulled out a book and took out a slip of paper which he assumed the armor had been using as a bookmark.
The armor began to mutter. "Sacred Armor Aigis, I have duties… I trust in you to… aid… Aha! Soon, your new master will be here to don you in battle against a most dangerous foe AND THEN your next master will be a most beautiful lady! That-"
Honestly, Kyouya would have been more amused by the tantrum the armor was throwing if he wasn't reeling. Eris was helping him? As in, the Goddess whose religion preached against him?
He shook his head violently. He shouldn't despair – that girl was obviously a more immediate threat to him than the Eris Cult, considering the cult was more focused on the Demon King. Right now…
He found that the armor was sulking on the bed, reading the manga. "Sacred Armor Aigis-"
"Shut it! How would you like to get sliced, chopped, stabbed, and attacked all the time? Sure, it won't kill you or me, but it still hurts! The least I deserve is to be worn by a beautiful woman who is exactly the type of woman I like."
Kyouya resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. If he was working with the Eris Cult…
"Sir… Aigis, if you do not wish for me to don you, then why not simply leave?" he asked, looking around.
The armor put the book down, its posture suggesting… embarrassment. "I… can't leave. The only way in or out is through that hole, and I don't have any way to climb it."
Hmm. Well, he could take advantage of the armor… but it seemed they were both in a pretty rough situation.
Part of him was nervous about having to act like a pompous idiot 24/7 with Aigis around, while the other part of him knew that he'd have to compromise if he wanted to get rid of her.
And he did want to. Oh, he did.
"Sir Aigis, the town of Axel requires our aid, and I have an offer. I will rescue you from this place, and in return, I only ask that you help me for a month, after which I invite you to leave if Eris hasn't upheld her bargain," he said. The armor glanced up from its manga.
"Why shouldn't I just leave once we get out? I've heard rumors of… places I could go if I wanted to meet beautiful women," he groused. Kyouya shrugged.
"I swear, we will not be facing the Demon King or any of his Generals. And… if beautiful women are what you desire, would Eris not have more knowledge of where to find them, being a Goddess?" he asked as he ended his plea.
It seemed to be thinking, rubbing the spot where it would have had a chin. "Hmm… I suppose… we're not killing any beautiful women, right?"
His first urge was to say 'no,' but he stalled his response. He might not find them attractive, but he was fairly sure that both of them were pretty by most people's standards.
He went with a more neutral response. "One of them is stuck looking like a child, while the other… might be conventionally attractive, but the things she's done are probably horrible," he finally settled on.
The armor let out a frustrated sigh. "Why must everyone try to use me to kill beautiful women? First, I am told to fight the Demon King, who is rumored to have beautiful demon girls and monster musumes working under him. Then, I am told that his tastes include harming beautiful women, who would need saving. Now, I have to team up with a foppish pretty-boy…"
Mitsurugi raised an eyebrow at the last part of his description… but he kept his tongue in check. He'd have to keep up his charade for a while or risk Aigis spilling the secret that he wasn't actually a 'foppish pretty-boy.'
He sighed… and then rounded on Mitsurugi. "The girl I get better will be an 11 out of 10!" it shouted, casting the gaze of its helmet skyward while shaking a fist.
Kyouya rolled his eyes. "Such matters are between you and Eris. Are my proposals amenable?"
It grumbled. "Fine. In order to wear me, all you must say is 'Combine!'"
Kyouya nodded. In a few minutes, Kyouya was clad in the new armor. He'd used the sheets on the bed to bundle up his old armor, and was now trying to ascend up the slide that had gotten them stuck down here.
The key word was: Trying.
"How did she get out of here?" he shouted, trying to maneuver the Cursed Sword Gram in the dark, cramped space to stab it into the wall to afford some kind of purchase. He also wondered when and how a Goddess had had the time to construct this place, but he sincerely doubted the Sacred Armor Aigis knew the answer to that question.
"She had daggers! Or, she did sometimes. When we first met, she appeared to me as a Thief and transformed into a Goddess. Then, when we were down here, she transformed back into a Thief and climbed up. She's been bringing me manga to occupy myself occasionally – can we go back for it?"
Kyouya sighed. The armor, sometimes, would move around on its own. Getting it to work in tandem with him would be a nightmare… but the powers that it had were great. Hopefully, this would all be worth it. He could take down Degurechaff and then it was on to the Demon King…
He scowled for a moment. Hadn't he been looking for something before he'd found out about Degurechaff…?
-OxOxO-
Tanya was appalled, Alderp was smirking, and Viktoriya was wondering why Alderp hadn't been some sort of gossip-monger instead of running Axel…
"I mean, c'mon. You've talked with Darkness for more than five minutes."
"But… every noble? Is the inbreeding that bad?" Tanya asked. Alderp nodded. "I have lived for centuries, and there is not a single noble that doesn't have some kind of weird desire or kink. It's only gotten worse over time, too, though being closer to the royals helps to temper it."
"But… all of them?" Viktoriya tried.
Alderp rolled his eyes. "Fine, I cannot say that I've personally talked to every single noble, but what're the chances that I've met only weird people and all the other nobles who I've never talked to are completely fine?"
"And you?"
He scoffed. "First of all, I stole this body, so I wasn't born with anything. Secondly… I mean, you remember I wanted to marry Darkness right? And sure, it was mostly to gain power, but the sex wouldn't have hurt."
Tanya groaned, placing her head between her hands. Alderp decided to turn to Viktoriya. "Speaking of, why, exactly, didn't she want to marry me? I'm pretty sure I meet her standards of a deadbeat, unless those servants I bribed were lying…"
Viktoriya raised an eyebrow. "My understanding is that she wants to wed someone who treats her like garbage and the townspeople like a saint."
"Huh. Really?" he asked. Viktoriya nodded stiffly, while Tanya sighed again.
"Alright. So… they'll be fine with us being gay?"
Alderp nodded slowly. "For the most part. No nobles will judge you for your morals or race – as long as you do the same. Broaden your horizons and don't think twice about it," he said nonchalantly.
His gaze suddenly sharpened. "However… the Eris Cult will detest it… but you've already undermined them. Just remind them of their place and you'll find no opposition from them."
Viktoriya tilted her head. "We have?"
Alderp raised an eyebrow towards her. "Of course. The Mithril Foundation competes with the Eris Cult for charity-based events, the reforms you've carried out since my removal have strengthened the government and made it seem more legitimate, and the split in their ranks has been weakening them."
Viktoriya opened her mouth, but Tanya spoke first. "Yes, well, of course. Anyway, what about the normal people? The merchants? The adventurers?"
Alderp shrugged. "Keep running the town effectively, make the money go round, and ensure that jobs get posted and they'll all let you get away with just about anything. There have been worse people who've gotten away with more… like myself."
Tanya thanked him, but as they were about to go, the man cleared his throat. Tanya turned around with a questioning eyebrow raised.
"Perhaps, for all the help I've given you, I could… step outside of this cell? It's become… dreadfully boring in here," Alderp asked politely.
Tanya glared, for a moment, and then nodded her head. "We should be leaving relatively soon. I'll get you the guards' timetable so you can walk around – we'll discuss this more later."
The fat man nodded his head and sat down on his bed, writing – he'd apparently taken it up as a hobby, and considering how boring it must have been to sit in there all day, Viktoriya didn't blame him.
She wasn't sure it was a good idea to let him out, especially when they were gone. More than that, she felt… revolted at the idea of having her or anyone's body being taken over, after Being X and Johanna. Not to mention everything else he'd done…
Still, as they walked towards Tanya's office, Viktoriya did have a question. "Tanya… have we been undermining the Eris Cult? And what did he mean 'the split in their ranks?'"
Tanya winced. "Well… I'm not entirely sure, but-"
"Did you ignore them because they're religious? And you don't think highly of their ability to do… anything?"
"NO… t entirely. I have been getting reports from some of the guilds and the police about the Eris Cult. A few complaints, a comparison to the Axis Cult, and… not much else," Tanya said.
Viktoriya raised an eyebrow. "Is that smart? I mean… I wasn't the best student of history, but didn't splits in the ranks of the religious have some very serious consequences?" she asked. Tanya nodded slowly.
"You're right… maybe we can check up on them later this week? We do have some work to catch up on after the party," Tanya said. Viktoriya nodded.
She grinned as she listened to Tanya plan their time together. Back in her first life, in the army, whenever Major Degurechaff had told her about a plan that was coming together, Viktoriya had never really felt that she was asking for input.
Towards the end, Tanya often used the 203rd as a soundboard for ideas. In this world, it was more of a collaborative effort.
She sighed happily. Maybe they wouldn't have been able to overcome their station in their first world to tell each other about what they felt, even without Being X. Maybe they would have.
Grinning, she spun Tanya around right as she was about to jump into her seat. Unbalanced, Viktoriya relished the look of confusion and then glee when she kissed Tanya.
As lovely as those plans were, and as wonderful it felt to get to work, together, with a complete understanding of each other, she thought that this would be a nice distraction after talking to Alderp.
Tanya certainly wasn't complaining.
-OxOxO-
Dinner was a nice affair. A local song was playing on the record player – Viktoriya thought that the music of this world was very very fast compared to her world, but Tanya claimed it seemed inspired by her original world's pop music. Lorelei just liked the melody.
"So… we're going to the Crimson Demon Village? You two are going to wait? Because I-"
"Yes, Lorelei, we know you have some tips for us. We haven't forgotten since the last time you told us," Tanya remarked while eating her noodles while side-eying her friend. Lorelei just cackled.
"Speaking of, will you be coming with us?" Viktoriya asked.
Lorelei blinked. "Are you kidding? Of course! What else am I going to do around here?"
"If you're asking, you could run Axel-"
"There isn't enough money in the world to justify that."
The conversation paused, for a moment, as they relished in their enjoyment of the banter.
"Anyway, we could stop in Alcanretia on the way there."
Tanya blinked. "Why do I recognize that name?" she asked, shuddering slightly as if a stiff wind had blown through the mansion.
"It's the headquarters of the Axis Cult," Lorelei replied.
Ah, right. "And why, pray tell, would we want to go there? To a place filled with people like Aqua?" Tanya asked. Seriously, there couldn't be a single redeeming-
"They have the best hot springs in Belzerg," Lorelei said.
Tanya shrugged. "Alright, fine. That is a redeeming factor. Is it enough to justify us stopping there?"
Lorelei shrugged again. "Well… maybe? Last time I was there, they were pretty obnoxious about getting you to convert… but they wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Although," she added, sounding unsure, "I've heard that they've gotten even worse."
Tanya shrugged. "Let's just skip it, then. I don't really have any desire to go to the hot springs, what about you, Visha?"
She shrugged. "I'm fine."
With that decided, they began to plan out the trip… only to realize that they still needed to consult Megumin.
But, they were more considerate than she was – probably – and decided to wait until tomorrow. Since it was a Monday, they knew where she'd be and they could force her into talking to them when she inevitably used her Explosion spell to kill steal during the outing. Besides, they needed to keep their skills up, even if they had just dealt with that Undead Mage.
-OxOxO-
Later, during the night, Tanya laid awake, unable to sleep. Visha laid next to her, softly breathing, her comforting presence at her side. And yet, despite how much she wanted to sleep, she could not.
Well, half wanted to sleep. The other half was begging her to ignore her trusty logic and dive headfirst into her feelings, which included a frightening amount of lust.
Despite these two halves, Tanya defied the logic of math by having a third half which plagued her mind with some very hard questions which were keeping her awake.
She sighed to herself again as that half quickly won out against the other two.
"I love you," she whispered to herself, declaring it once more for the world to hear.
She loved her. She had for a long while, and she'd never felt anything as powerfully as this love for Viktoriya.
Not her fear of Being X, of that bastard, or of dying while fighting on the front.
Not her rage at Being X, at her own helplessness, or whenever things didn't turn out how she wanted.
Not even the joy of finally getting to drink, with the worst of the war possibly behind them, compared.
Not even close.
She turned, slightly, to get a better look at Viktoriya. "I love you," she whispered again for the world to hear.
But it wasn't the world listening, was it? No, she had no privacy. If Being X wanted, he could simply stop by for a chat and mock her for her inability to put things together. He hadn't helped, yes, but Viktoriya had still managed to try and declare her love for her, those years ago.
Staring at Visha's sleeping face, she felt her love for this woman fade to be replaced by fear.
Not for Tanya's life or health or status in society, but for her. She'd grown to care for her entire battalion, for the place she called home, but this fear…
The pressure behind her eyes, just barely kept from forming tears. A shaking breath she could just barely hold from clawing its way out of her mouth. A void as endlessly infinite as the love that Tanya felt for the woman she loved.
She turned away from her, staring up at the ceiling. She was still indecisive about what exactly the form her vengeance would take if the chance ever presented itself with Being X. In time, she'd figure something out.
She did not, could not, contemplate a life without Viktoriya anymore and what she'd do.
The fear she felt consumed her chest.
What if something happened to her? What if she was hurt? What would she do?
She set her jaw. No, she…
But the promise she wanted to make withered away. She could not swear Visha would never be hurt, no matter how much she wanted to. The world was too chaotic, and the only way she might be able to ensure Visha was never hurt would be to lock her away.
To take away her freedoms. To keep her in a gilded cage. Something she despised so much, her belief in a person's freedom was inseparable from who she was.
And yet.
And yet, the love and fear she felt told her that it didn't matter. Couldn't she be greedy? If Viktoriya were safe, everything else could go to hell.
And that scared her almost as much as the fear of losing her.
She gulped again, wondering if Being X were watching, listening to her thoughts.
But how much did he matter, in comparison to Viktoriya?
She let a wavering breath escape her chest, slowly. It terrified her, how much she cared.
It hurt. The fear hurt. It terrified her.
The love… the fear she felt could not be matched by the love. No matter how all encompassing and how it gnawed at her body and mind, the warmth banished all of it away.
She did not know how far she would go if Viktoriya were hurt.
Letting out another shaky breath, she opened her mouth-
"I love you too."
Tanya's breath caught in her throat as one of Viktoriya's arms snaked around the top of her chest. The pressure behind her eyes grew and grew, and she could not hold it back any longer.
Tanya cuddled into Viktoriya's embrace and hid herself from the world and her fear. She let the tears of her love, her fear – her passion – fall, and she grabbed onto her love, wishing for the moment to go on forever as she drifted into sleep.
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: I live! And I come bearing excuses!
My computer straight up killed itself in March. The screen just decided it wouldn't work if I was doing anything but accessing settings. I managed to backup the computer (not that that would have destroyed any of my writing since I've got it all stored elsewhere).
Then a month or two later, all of my documents were suddenly too big, so I had to download them as a word document and rearrange everything and go through the entire story reapplying all the formatting because I've made some changes to every single chapter and haven't updated them yet.
Also, I've been finishing up my Associate's Degree, which is done this week. And I had writer's block.
Despite all of this, I really should have been writing and updating, because I still had plenty of time to do so. My apologies!
Anyway, the website of the Patrons. Two new chapters of TTtC a month + a chapter of some other story + Patron voting on a fourth chapter to post. Plus, anyone who donates gets access to over 100 pages of timelines and summaries of the KonoSuba Light Novels I put together for my own reference. I doubt what I've got is perfect but it is what I'm using, and you can use it too, if you pay.
For more info, look me up on the website of the Patrons. If it isn't up right now, wait a day or two.