Chapter 19. Over the River and Through the Woods.

  Tuesday January 21st, 2014.

  Sonoko came inside after hanging up the laundry. The rice porridge she had started before she had gone out was just about ready, so she busied herself preparing her husband’s favorite morning tea while she waited the last few minutes. She had been preforming this same routine for years now, to the point that her mind was left to wander freely. As was often the case these last six months, her thoughts kept turning back to her late son and the hole in her heart from his loss.

  Soto had always been a serious little boy, who grew up to be a very rational and solitary man. As his mother she had tried to raise him into a proper man, one that’s calm and collected, who doesn’t wear their heart on their sleeve. She had made sure not to spoil the boy growing up, and to treat him strictly. It was perhaps one of her deepest regrets.

  She had been taught by her mother that it was not appropriate to coddle boys. That giving them too much affection or showing too much emotion would make them weak and unable to handle the trials and stresses of life. What a mistake.

  As much as she honored and respected her mother, she realized that they both had grown up in much harsher times. Times before and after the war, when life was truly lived day to day, by the skin of your teeth. Where the weak died, and the generous and kind went hungry, due to their own foolish generosity.

  Yes, she had made a mistake, she had raised her son as if he lived in the same world she had grown up in. Now she regretted it, but there was no medicine for regret, and she was not raised to just lay down and die. No matter how much she felt like it some days, so she soldiered on, day after empty day.

  She snapped out of her dark thoughts at the sound of the ding coming from the rice cooker. Moving over to it, she served up two bowls and set them on the tray with the teapot. Leaving the kitchen, she settled herself down across from her husband and began serving the food while he read the morning paper.

  She wouldn’t ever call her husband Seiji the love of her life. They were both too practical for that. They had married for practical reasons and their love for each other had grown in the steady practical manner that naturally occurs when one shares so much of their life with another. She had given him her body and soul, working each day to be a good wife and take care of him and their home.

  In return he had given her his loyalty and protection, providing her with all her needs and many of her wants and desires. He had given her a son, but now that son was gone. He had held her as she mourned the loss of their child, allowing her to express her grief even as he restrained his.

  She knew he hurt just as much as she, but he would wait until he felt she was ready, before he took his turn to truly grieve.

  Reading one of the headlines from the paper, she engaged him in conversation.

  “Oh, did you read about this? Apparently, the police made a major gang bust. Taking out a huge group of human traffickers and rescuing dozens of victims.”

  “Just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. It seems like the Government has proven more ineffectual at preventing these crimes than many originally thought.”

  “Those poor girls, I wonder what’s going to happen to them?”

  “The sad truth is many of them will end up back in the same industry in just a few years. Between the organizational failure that is our orphanage program and social stigmatism, many of them will find themselves left with limited education and few other options for gainful employment. It’s a vicious cycle, society will always see them as damaged, and unless they can get the proper support, they will never dig themselves out of the hole they’ve been cast into. What a waste of human potential.”

  Seiji stopped talking to take a sip of his tea and began eating. Leaving Sonoko with her dark thoughts. She worried that all the news seemed to be bad recently, even supposed good news turned dark after a discussion.

  Light, happy things just couldn’t seem to breach the gloom they found themselves in. Things were starting to slip and cracks were forming in their orderly lives. She hadn’t dusted Soto’s old childhood room in months, even though it was more of a library than his room anymore.

  They had visited his apartment after the incident, but other than grabbing a few things they had both turned and left after a few minutes. Seiji simply stated, “we’ll get movers to pack up everything and store it before we sell.”

  That had been nearly six months ago, and still no one had been called. His apartment just sat there gathering dust. She had gone there once alone and just walked through the rooms. His rooms.

  Sonoko took a bite of her porridge even though it was still a bit too hot. It gave her mind something to focus on other than those empty rooms, lifeless and stark. She tried very hard in that moment not to look over at the memorial tablet set up on the back wall of the room.

  She felt a hand brush against hers, and looking up, met her husband’s eyes as he reached across the table, taking her hand in his and giving it a firm squeeze.

  The two silently finished their meal, her husband taking a little longer, as his dominant hand was occupied.

  ~

  The call came as her husband was getting ready for work. He often went into the office later these days. Picking up the phone, Sonoko was surprised by the stern voice on the other side.

  “Hello, this is detective Tsuruga Ren with the Minato Ward Police Station. We have some information regarding your son’s death that we would like to review with you. Would you and your husband be available to come down to the station today at noon?”

  “Let me check with my husband but that should be fine.”

  Waving her husband over and explaining the situation, he swiftly took the phone from her to speak to the detective.

  “Detective Tsuruga, this is Mr. Kaizaki, I thought my son’s case was closed, what new information could you possibly need to go over with us?”

  Seiji asked his tone angry and accusatory.

  “It’s best if I share the news with you in person, please understand.”

  “Very well we will be there at noon. Goodbye Detective.”

  “Goodbye.”

  ~

  The same day, Minato Ward Police Station.

  “Here is a photo, please take your time and if you have any questions don’t hesitate.”

  Sonoko pulled the picture of a pale, grey-blue eyed young girl towards her. The girl wasn’t smiling in the picture, instead she had on what would be called a serious expression, if you could discount the young face it belonged to. Her eyes teared up as she recognized that expression from another far too serious young face. Soto.

  “She has his nose.”

  Seiji stated plainly his tone even, as if describing the weather. But Sonoko knew, the fact that he had acknowledged the resemblance so readily showed his true feelings on the matter.

  So, this was their granddaughter.

  There was a hole in Sonoko’s chest, an ugly black void that had been slowly consuming her. Now, however, a bright light had begun to shine in the darkness. She had a granddaughter!

  Her son wasn’t completely gone, he had left something of himself behind for them to hold onto, a daughter, her son had a legacy.

  Tears now poured freely from her eyes, but her voice was firm and strong as she asked the detective.

  “When can we meet her?”

  ~

  Tanya was already missing the weekend and it was only Tuesday. After their shrink visit on Saturday, she and Visha had wasted the days away relaxing and eating. Aside from a few household chores and one outing to a nearby convenience store for snacks, it had been completely uneventful.

  Then Monday had come along and they had to return for another session with the shrink.

  Tanya tried to think of the sessions as like any other form of training, a way to improve herself and fix holes in her defenses. But it was difficult to remain objective when she felt like innate aspects of herself were being questioned, rather than just improving some learned skill or lack of knowledge and experience.

  To sum it up, the sessions were an incredibly uncomfortable experience for her and she wished she could just leave it at that. However, Visha seemed to thrive during said sessions, and after each one, it was as if a visible weight was being lifted from her friend each time.

  Like, bit-by-bit Visha was shedding the shell of her war veteran self and more of the naive young girl Tanya had first met on the Rhine front was being revealed.

  Tanya felt a tinge of guilt thinking about Visha, as much as each session seemed to help Visha, Tanya knew that she would never really be able to completely get the help she needed from a therapist in this world. Tanya recognized the necessity of talking to a therapist about the stresses and horrors of war, but how could they explain their real history to anyone, even with doctor patient confidentiality. They would come off as insane, and likely be committed.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  No, when Visha needed to talk about her traumas from the war it was going to have to be with her, and Tanya would need to know how to handle the conversation without causing further stress.

  Tanya sighed as she added another series of books and topics to research to her mental list. Maybe she could take a phycology course at whatever college she managed to get into. It’s the least she could do. After all, she wouldn’t want Visha to have a violent episode after a bad dream one night and blow up their apartment. It was in her own interests to secure Visha’s mental health.

  Pulling a vitamin bar from her pocket Tanya took a bite, while not exactly delicious, the supplement bar did contain some sugar and therefore didn’t taste too bad. Her time in the military was at least helping her force down all the supplements she had been prescribed with ease.

  Anything tasted better than ersatz and K-brot after all.

  Stuffing the wrapper back into the pocket of her overalls, she took a long drink from her water bottle, before getting back to sweeping leaves and gravel from the garden walk-way after yesterday’s wind and rain.

  She saw Visha turn the corner and began working her way towards Tanya, her own broom making quick work of the lingering mess.

  Tanya felt a familiar heat at the back of her neck, as the sight reminded her yet again that they were in matching outfits. She didn’t know why it bothered her so, they had spent years together wearing matching uniforms and Tanya had never given it a second thought.

  Well, that was a lie, Tanya did know why it bothered her, but she wasn’t the problem it was everyone else. If they could just keep their mouths shut, then she wouldn’t have to fantasize about shutting them.

  Why couldn’t they keep their comments and complements to themselves?

  It was especially annoying because wearing them brought Visha no small amount of joy and since it was technically Visha’s first gift as her best friend, Tanya was socially obligated to wear it. At least it was rather handy with all the pockets, though Tanya objectively refused to think about the undershirt that came with it.

  Focusing on the task at hand Tanya continued sweeping her way towards her friend. The two meeting up and putting away their brooms before making their way back indoors.

  Tanya quickly grabbed the back of Visha’s overalls as she made a beeline for the TV room once they were inside.

  “Not so fast Visha, you have an hour-long language study session that I booked for you on the computer. And if I find out you minimized the page again to watch online videos, I’ll revoke your T.V. privileges for a week.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair, it’s Momo’s fault for showing me how to do that, I can’t be blamed for giving into temptation.”

  “Momo has already learned the error of her ways, and I do expect you to resist temptation, just like how I am currently resisting the temptation to run live fire exercises. Am I understood?

  “Yes ma’am!”

  Visha shouted clicking her heels, before sticking her tongue out and running off to the community computer.

  Tanya just sighed as she watched her cheeky former subordinate run off. Honestly why was it that she had somehow still ended up with all the responsibilities and duties of being in charge but none of the pay or perks that were supposed to come with the job?

  Tanya went off to go make a few calls to see how her own projects were coming along, as well as check on that trouble maker of a roommate she had assigned so much homework.

  ~

  “Miss Kaizaki there’s a phone call for you; it’s the detective handling your case.”

  “Thank you, I’m on my way.”

  Tanya took the phone and answered in her usual professional manner.

  “Kaizaki Tanya speaking, how may I assist you?”

  “Miss Kaizaki, this is Tsuruga Ren, I’m the lead detective in charge of your case. I am calling to inform you that we got the DNA results back from your paternity test. The results came back as a positive match for Kaizaki Soto, he really was your father. Due to your current status as a minor, we have contacted your grandparents to see if they would be willing to add you to their family register. Otherwise, your naturalization process might get a little more complicated. Do you understand me so far?”

  “Yes detective. So, you contacted them already. What did they say?”

  Tanya asked feeling just a bit of trepidation entering her heart, but still managing to keep her voice calm and professional. She wouldn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the man who was currently handling her case file.

  “They accepted the results of the test and expressed an interest in meeting you at the first available opportunity. I am calling to inform you that they are on their way to see you.”

  “Oh, well, thank you Detective, this is quite the surprise, I wasn’t expecting I’d be meeting them this soon or possibly at all for that matter. Sorry, was there anything else you wished to speak to me about?”

  “No, miss Kaizaki that is all, have a good day… wait.”

  Tanya heard a sigh come through the receiver before the detective continued.

  “Miss Kaizaki, when you meet them, please bear in mind that the two of them have just lost their only child. Try to be a little sensitive to that when you speak with them. Ok?”

  “Yes, of course Detective, thank you for the concern and the reminder. Will that be all?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well then please have a nice day.”

  “You as well.”

  Tanya hung up the phone and took a few slow deep breaths before turning on her heel and marching to her room. Closing the door behind her, she began pacing the room back and forth. Scrubbing her face with her hand she paused as she noticed how much her hand was trembling. Clenching it into a fist she brought it down hard on her chest over her heart, hoping to squash the gripping, tugging sensation there.

  It was no use.

  Her blood was pounding in her ears and she felt the room narrow down to just two pinpricks in front of her. She was gasping for air but couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen in her lungs.

  Tanya’s survival instincts kicked in and by habit she spun up an oxygen generation formula.

  Taking a deep breath and feeling the mana coursing through her body snapped her out of her panic. Realizing what she’d done, she cut off her mana use, grimacing at the waste.

  Slowly she got herself back under control, and turned to the mirror to make sure she still looked presentable. She nodded to herself in satisfaction just as the door burst open to reveal a frantic looking Visha.

  Visha glanced around the room looking for danger before she straightened up and closed the door.

  “What happened Tanya? I felt your magic signature. Are you alright?”

  “It’s nothing Visha, just an accident, I didn’t do anything that would get noticed.”

  “Tanya, what’s going on, please be honest with me.”

  Tanya looked at her friend’s concerned face and turned away, choosing to speak to the wall instead.

  “My parents are on their way, they know I’m their granddaughter, and want to see me. I…I suddenly didn’t know what to do and I had a moment when I lost focus, I froze up and couldn’t breathe. Had to use an oxygen formula, the mana shocked me out of my funk…Honestly Visha, it just surprised me for a moment and I didn’t know how to react, I’m fine.”

  Visha slowly crossed the room and stood in front of her, before slowly spreading her arms out.

  “It’s ok Tanya,”

  She said before pulling her into a hug. It took a few seconds for Tanya to reciprocate, but she did eventually wrap her own arms around her friend.

  The two stayed like that for a moment, before Tanya pulled back and sat down on the bed. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked up at her friend and companion and asked for a favor.

  “Do you think you could come with me, to meet them? I would feel better if you were there to watch my back.”

  “I’ve always got your back Colonel, you can count on me.”

  “Thank you, but I still need to change and get ready, I need to make a good impression. Visha, do you think you could help me put my hair up after I change into my slacks and dress shirt?”

  Tanya asked as she began rummaging around her wardrobe, only to pause as she felt a hand slam down on her shoulder in and ominous manner.

  “Oh, Tanya, I’ll fix your hair for sure, but there is no way I’m letting you meet your grandparents dressed so formally. No, what your wearing is perfectly fine, but you’re right, your hair does need some work.”

  And with that Visha got to work. Tanya struggled for a moment beneath her iron grip, but without magic she lacked the strength to fight free. Resigning herself to her friends will, she gave up and let her head be pulled this way and that as Visha got to work on her hair.

  ~

  “They’re waiting for you just through this door in my office, if you need a moment, just take your time, call me if you need anything.”

  Leaving them with those words, the assistant caretaker nodded and went about her duties, leaving the two girls standing before the door to the office in silence.

  Tanya took a deep breath and steeled herself, dredging up memories of all those times visiting the General Staff. With her mind and heart resolved she checked one more time, reassured that she could feel Visha’s presence at her side like always. And with that, Tanya stepped forward and opened the door.

  Entering the office, she noticed the cluttered desk off to one side of the room at a glance, but her eyes quickly locked onto the two familiar figures sitting in a couple of chairs against the far wall facing them.

  Schooling her face, Tanya managed to keep up her professional mask, despite the hand that her mother had raised to her mouth as soon as they had walked in. Tanya’s sharp eyes noticed her father’s back straighten as his own face mirrored hers, shifting into the familiar professional mask he wore when hiding his thoughts.

  A chair had been set out before the two, clearly left for Tanya’s use. Glancing around the room she spotted another and rather that making Visha get her own chair, she decided to make a statement by walking over and retrieving the chair before setting it down next to hers.

  Nodding for Visha to sit down, Tanya faced her former parents, now grandparents, bowing low and holding it, she introduced herself.

  “I am Degurechaff Tanya, my father was Kaizaki Soto, I am so sorry for your loss. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. Please forgive me for not reaching out to you all this time.”

  Tanya waited a moment for her words to be acknowledged before straightening from her bow, but none came. Ending her bow, she simply nodded her head one more time and sat down, leaving the ball in their court.

  Tanya’s grandmother seemed to be struggling to hold something back as she let out a slight noise of distress before tapping at her husband’s leg, making him look over. The two shared a nonverbal conversation for a moment before Tanya’s grandfather began to speak.

  “Miss Degurechaff? You go by your mother’s name? You do not wish to be associated with your father?”

  “I did not want to be presumptuous in assuming I would be welcomed in doing so, after all the circumstances of my birth are by no means reputable. I, of course, would be happy to be allowed to use the name Kaizaki with your permission.”

  Tanya of course was lying through her teeth, as much as she respected her parents, if they tried to disown her, she would of course seek every legal means to ensure she got every bit of her hard-earned assets she possibly could.

  Tanya thought she saw the hint of a smile on her grandfather’s face as she spoke, and she felt a chill run down her spine, when she saw the glint in his eye almost as if he was reading her mind.

  “Kaizaki Tanya, we acknowledge you as the daughter of our son Soto, and as our granddaughter! Please feel free to greet us as your grandparents.”

  Tanya stood up again and bowed low once more to each of them, unknowingly smiling the whole time.

  “Greetings grandfather, greetings grandmother, it is nice to finally meet you, I hope to get to know you well in the future, please take care of me.”

  Things are going better then I hoped, thought Tanya, just before all hell let loose and she found herself doubting if she had been transported to the right version of earth. If that so called God got this wrong, I’m going to sue.

  Tanya was currently being held in her grandmother’s arms, she didn’t know what happened. One second, she was bowing and giving a textbook perfect greeting, and the next she found herself in the crying woman’s arms as she stroked her hair, promising that everything would be alright.

  Tanya looked over to her grandfather for help, but the old man was just staring on with a fond look in his eyes, not moving a muscle to intercede on her behalf. Visha would be no help either, she was sure of it, if anything that uzai onna was probably trying to sneakily take recordings on her orb again, just like after they had gotten dressed in their matching outfits.

  “Tanya-chan you’ll come home with us, don’t worry about a thing, grandmother will take care of you from now on.”

  Her grandmother had finally pulled back and was holding her at arm’s length with her hands gripping her shoulders as she spoke. Tanya had almost never seen his mother cry and certainly not while holding him. It was a surreal experience having to force herself to see the woman as her grandmother and not as the mother he remembered.

  An annoyingly familiar heat was creeping up the back of her neck as she looked into the old woman’s eyes. As her own eyes began to get blurry, Tanya stepped back and rubbed them clear before speaking.

  “I can’t come back with you, at least not yet, I have to take care of Visha here first. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce her.

  Coughing the dry crack from her voice and blinking her eyes clear, Tanya signaled towards her friend with her hand.

  “Allow me to introduce my best friend, Serebryakov Ivanovna Viktoriya, you can just call her Visha-chan. She and I have been through a lot together and she currently isn’t a citizen, so I am working to get her a long-term visa and eventually make her a citizen. She doesn’t speak Japanese, so she doesn’t really understand anything we are saying but I’ll fill her in later.”

  In German she spoke to Visha.

  “Visha, please introduce yourself.”

  “Hello, I’m Visha it’s nice to meet you.”

  Tanya’s grandparents looked at each other a moment, talking back and forth a bit, before turning to speak to them.

  “What do you mean, you can’t come back with us yet?

  Her grandfather asked.

  ~

  ~To be Continued~

  Pretend you see this with the One Piece font.

  Glossary

  "Uzai onna" translates to "annoying woman" or "bothersome woman" in Japanese, often used to describe a character or person who is nagging, clingy, or constantly intrusive.