Part 1
Breakfast the next day was mildly disappointing for Visha. Sure, she enjoyed the interesting take on an omelet that she was served, but after yesterday’s lunch at the café, she was having a tough time enjoying the cup of coffee before her.
Visha had checked multiple times now and they had the funds to buy their own equipment for making a proper brew. Still, Tanya insisted they not waste their money buying subpar tools when she already owned the right stuff and that they just needed to exercise a bit of patience.
Visha saw through her friend though, her face had been twitching throughout her whole denial speech. Tanya missed good coffee probably more than she did, but if her friend could be patient than so could she.
Her mild irritation at the coffee however, could only do so much to prevent her thoughts from turning back to the intel about Momo that Tanya had shared with her.
Yesterday on the walk back she had been hit with a bombshell of a revelation regarding what their friend was struggling with.
Visha was at first confused at the terminology used, but after Tanya had haltingly explained things, Visha had to cover her mouth in horror at what foul deeds had been done to her new friend. She had no idea that such a thing had been a possibility, it was so immoral. The idea that someone would record such an intimate and shameful act and share it with a mass audience was incomprehensible to the old her. Sure, the capability of recording images was possible and easily done, especially for a mage, but to use such a technology to record and share that type of scene, she just couldn’t image how society could have allowed it to happen.
Visha was no prude, she was well aware of what happened behind closed doors between men and women at brothels and the type of men who visited women of such establishments. She had also heard of dancing girls who would disrobe before a crowd of drunken men. But in her mind, these were the acts of desperate downtrodden women, who had no other options to turn to for survival. Never did she think that a woman would debase herself so openly before others voluntarily, much less a friend of hers such as Momo.
Momo was sweet and kind, always quick to laugh and jump in to talk to new people. Not…not, some trampy harlot flapping her skirts on a stage. That couldn’t be their Momo, could it?
Visha took a calming breath, centering herself. She felt like she owed Momo an apology. Even though she hadn’t said anything, Visha had found herself acting a little differently around her new friend last night. God, she hoped Momo hadn’t noticed, she prayed it was so.
After staying up late into the night thinking about it, she supposed she had been too cavalier about what the rest of the girls at the shelter had been through. Talking with Tanya about Momo had made her actually think and imagine what it was they had been through, what had been done to them.
When they had first arrived, she had felt rage at their situation and promptly taken her rage out on the responsible parties on hand.
But as usual once the objective had been completed, her mind had shifted to the next phase of the operation, completely forgetting—no, avoiding what the aftermath of her actions left behind. And now she was being forced to see what she had been purposefully overlooking in her desperate search for her own selfish peace and happiness.
Momo was hurting, all the other girls were hurting too. They were damaged, wounded, just as assuredly as any soldier returning from the battlefield carried wounds, some covered by red soaked bandages, others hidden in the darkness beneath their helmets. She had thought she was free of all that when she left her final battlefield. But she supposed God had other plans for her.
Visha had never left any of her comrades to suffer alone and she wasn’t going to abandon her new comrade now just because she was desperately searching for something to fill the void in her heart. Visha knew she couldn’t help all of them, just like she couldn’t save every soldier on the battlefield, but Momo, she was in her squad, she at least, Visha would not let fall.
Mind made up, Visha finished her breakfast and decided she would follow Tanya’s lead on this going forward. Well, she would have to make sure Tanya covered all of Momo’s necessities and didn’t leave out any of those pesky emotional needs.
Sighing, Visha cleaned up her plate and made her way to their room to get dressed for the day, and oh what a day it was going to be, she thought, throwing off her dark mood. Trying to cheer herself up, she thought about all the places she and Momo planned on going today.
Whistling to herself as she got dressed in the same dress she had used during her last visit to the mall. Visha looked herself over in the mirror for a moment before sitting down to pull on the thick stockings that were required to wear such a dress in the winter.
Smiling at Tanya as she came into the room Visha continued getting ready when she noticed a disturbing situation. Moving over to the doorway she stood beside the closed door as her erstwhile friend finished getting ready in her usual efficient manner and made her own way towards the door before sliding it open.
Oh no you don’t!
Visha exclaimed internally, deciding to take matters into her own hands. No way she was letting Tanya go on a social outing dressed as she was it was disrespectful to Tanya’s grandmother, Momo and to Visha herself.
~
Tanya had just finished getting dressed for the day, and was preparing to go start getting what she needed done before her grandparents came and they all went on this shopping trip Visha wouldn’t stop talking about.
Moving towards the door, Tanya nearly had to step around Visha as she slid the door open. When suddenly an arm shot out and slammed against the doorframe, baring her exit.
“And just where do you think you’re going young lady?”
“Visha, I don’t have time for this, I need to get some paperwork done before we leave this morning. I don’t want to make my grandfather fill out all the exit forms by himself again. Or did you not want to go on this, “shopping outing,” you’ve been going on about?”
Tanya asked, using her fingers to make air quotes. A gesture she knew had both puzzled and frustrated Visha in the past.
“Oh Tanya, we are most certainly going, but what are you wearing? We can’t go shopping with your grandma dressed like that. You need to dress for the occasion; I keep telling you it’s just like those job interviews you always bring up. For a shopping trip among women, it is common courtesy to dress with the same level of care and formality as the rest of the group. Your grandmother as the elder does get some leeway, but we are expected to dress in at least in a similar manner so that no one person in the group feels out of place.”
“So, your saying, if you’re wearing that, then I’m…”
“Yes, Tanya you will need to wear a dress as well or a skirt, but you don’t currently own one, hence the shopping trip, but I do know of a perfectly sized dress, that’s quite appropriate for the occasion, a dress that you DO own.”
Following Visha’s gaze, Tanya’s mind was so occupied by her impending doom that her mind completely skipped over the line Visha had mentioned about buying skirts, and solely focused on the blue and white thing that was conspicuously not hanging in the closet where she left it days ago. Instead, it was now hanging from the bed, how Tanya had missed it when getting dressed she would never know.
Turning piteous eyes Visha’s way, Tanya tried for an escape.
“Grandma wouldn’t really care if I went like this, would she? I mean, I’m dressed neat enough and it’s not like slacks and a polo are too casual right?”
Visha just shook her head, closed the door and moved over to the dresser pulling out another pair of warm stockings and while tossing them over, said.
“Here, it’s cold this time of year and I don’t care what the current trend is, its downright improper for a lady to go out in public with her legs bare.”
“You’re going to eat those words one day, mark my words.”
Tanya mumbled in response, her words too low for Visha to hear.
Sighing in resignation, Tanya moved over to the dress and began stripping off her current outfit in order to exchange it for a lesser one, at least in her opinion. It didn’t take long for her to slip the dress over her head, after which she rolled the stockings up her legs and looking herself over in the mirror. Visha came to stand beside her and Tanya noted that the two of them made a lovely pair, before shaking her head of the errant thought as Visha commented.
“You’ll need a shrug for this weather, we’ll have to make that the first stop. Luckily, it’s supposed to be warmer today so you should be fine for now. You’ll also need a new pair of shoes, nothing you have works with this outfit, I’ll have to check and see if Momo has anything, she’s about your size. Now, what do you want me to do with your hair?”
Sometime later, Visha sighed in frustration.
“I don’t get it, not matter what I do I can’t seem to get this one bit of hair to act properly, it just keeps popping back up. I can’t believe this, каждый чёртов раз!” *
Tanya heard what she was pretty sure wasn’t a very lady like Russian expression, come from Visha’s mumbling lips. Heh, serves the little zicke right.
*(every damn time!)
~
Sonoko was both very grumpy and also inordinately pleased at the same time. She would soon be shopping with her precious granddaughter, and if they even visited half of that list Visha-chan had sent her. Well, she had made Seiji—Grandpa look up some of them on the computer after he had shown her the list. Oh, the clothes just looked adorable.
However, her grumpy mood came from the fact that all of her own clothes were decades old. Seriously, had she let herself go so much over the years that she didn’t have a single outfit that wasn’t made in the 90’s or earlier?
Looking over her wardrobe Sonoko asked herself with no small amount of shame. What would Tanya think if she showed up to their outing dressed in any of this? Would she be too embarrassed to be seen walking around and shopping with such an out of touch old woman?
Sonoko could just see it now. Her dear Tanya, awkwardly shuffling away from her and then ditching her at the store’s entrance to run off and shop alone with her friend Visha. Picturing the scene made her grumpy mood worse, and she could already see the smug look Visha-chan would shoot her way, as the two of them went off together leaving her to shop alone.
No, no, that wouldn’t happen her little Tanya was far too polite and sensible to do such a thing, she was just getting in her own head. Grabbing two different outfits she made her way to her husband’s old room to get his opinion on which was the better fit for the outing.
Finding the old man, already dressed and going through the process of packing up his old room, Sonoko thought that it was a bit early to start doing so. After all, they still hadn’t confirmed that Visha would be staying with them yet. Deciding to interrupt him she coughed to get his attention before asking.
“Grandpa, which of these do you think better suits the mood of the trip?”
Sonoko almost burst out in laughter at the confused look on her husband’s face. She really couldn’t blame hime though. In all their years of marriage, if she counted up the number of times she had asked this question she just barely might need to use more then two hands to do so. But none of that mattered this was important and she didn’t have time for him to get over his bafflement. Urging him on she gently shook each outfit up and down to draw his attention.
“Well?”
“Do you have something in blue?”
Blue, why blue? She thought incredulously before speaking out her mind.
“Why blue? Neither of these are blue I’m going to have to go back in and start all over to find something that works.”
She didn’t mean to but there was a clear pouting tone in her voice as she asked him to clarify.
“Well dear it was in the email, Serebryakov will be wearing an off blue dress and Tanya will be in a white dress with blue flowers, if Serebryakov can convince her to wear it. So, I think you should wear something that is or goes with blue, but this is out of my area of expertise, not to mention my interests so off with you now and leave me to pack.”
Sonoko left with a huff before scurrying off to her wardrobe to find something blue.
~
Tanya found herself being grateful for the stockings that Visha had forced on her. The day was warm for January, but every now and then a chill breeze would blow past, sending cold air swirling past her ankles and up her dress causing it to flutter and swirl around her. She admitted it was incredibly eye catching and would have been a pleasant sight to see, on any girl other than her.
Though in retrospect, she supposed she shouldn’t feel too much gratitude to Visha, after all it was her fault that Tanya was in a situation that required stockings in the first place. Seriously what’s wrong with pants, plenty of women wore pants, she saw them every day. Why did she have to be subjected to what was an objectively inferior wardrobe choice given the weather.
And for what, the sake of fashion and to conform to social norms. Well, that last one was important after all, so here she was, waiting in the cold as her grandparents pulled up in a rental car they must have gotten for the day.
Moving over to the van Tanya quickly opened the door for her grandmother before stepping back and greeting her grandfather as both he and her grandmother exited the van. The group moved inside and began discussing their plans for the day.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Since it was still morning, Visha and Tanya’s grandmother were awkwardly going over their lunch options while Tanya and her grandfather went over the paperwork necessary for them to check the girls out of the shelter.
Tanya was surprised to learn that her grandfather had been quite efficient in completing the necessary paperwork required for Tanya to be adopted into the family and get her official Identification and citizenship paperwork. Today he would be going down to the Office of Immigration and Citizenship Services due to Tanya’s unique situation, to sign the final forms and get those documents processed.
Excited, Tanya asked if she needed to go with him and was told that while it would make things easier, it was ultimately unnecessary, since she was underage, and he had just been recognized as her legal guardian by the police.
It was at this time that grandma butted into the conversation and made it clear, in no uncertain terms that.
“Grandpa will handle all that boring paperwork stuff while we spend quality time with one another…shopping.”
Tanya had to resign herself to the fact that there seemed to be no getting out of this or chance of shortening her sentence. When Momo came in with a downcast look on her face. After being asked what was wrong, she explained that her doctor had called, and she was being rescheduled for an earlier session, and thus wouldn’t be able to go with them. Apologizing and wishing them to have a good time.
Momo made to leave the room, only to be stopped by the firm grip of Tanya’s hand.
“Hold on a bit Momo, what time did you say your appointment was?”
Tanya asked.
“Twelve forty-five.”
Momo answered in a quiet voice, that Tanya could just make out was tinged with bitterness. Looking at her face, Tanya could also see a hint of self-blame and shame.
Looking toward her grandfather, Tanya received a head nod from the old man and so she continued speaking.
“Well, that works out perfectly then. I still need to go to the J.I.C.S. Office to sign some paperwork and if we get that done in time it should leave us with plenty of time for lunch before coming to the hospital to pick you up for shopping. I believe a few hours after lunch would still be plenty of time to get everything we need.”
Momo had faint tears in her eyes as she objected.
“Don’t trouble yourselves on my account, it is no big deal to miss out on this trip. Seriously you don’t need to worry about me I’ll be fine.”
Tanya was having none of it though. Finally, a perfect excuse had come along that cut their shopping time nearly in half and she was not letting it go no matter what. Oh… and she supposed it would be wrong to leave Momo behind while the rest of them enjoyed themselves as well.
Shaking her head and turning her wide, unblinking eyes toward her grandparents, Tanya begged in the sweetest voice she could muster.
“Would that be alright, I don’t mind going with Grandfather and while you wait, You and Visha could go and pick me out a better pair of shoes for this outfit, Momo’s are nice, but the size is just a bit off, so they are little uncomfortable, Visha knows my size, so it should be fine.”
Tanya saw a twinkle enter her grandfather’s eye and he nodded his assent; her grandmother hesitated for just a moment longer but glanced down at Tanya’s shoes before also giving her consent.
“That sounds fine dear, Grandpa can drop Visha-chan and I off at a shoe store on the way. When you’re done you can meet up with us for lunch. But first, Tanya dear, can you please help me, I’m having trouble explaining to Visha-chan that ramen is a bit too heavy to have as a lunch if we plan on walking around shopping after.”
“Oh, I see your problem. You see the concept of being too full to move around comfortably doesn’t exist for Visha. She’s like a bottomless pit when it comes to food Grandma, you can just keep dumping more and more into her and she will never be full. On that note we may need to buy a bigger rice cooker for when we move in together.”
Tanya explained while laughing, her grandmother’s eyes crinkling into crescents as she too joined in on ribbing Tanya’s friend, letting out a few matronly chuckles of her own.
Visha just looked on in confusion, having recognized her name multiple times but not getting the context in which it was used. Eventually relying on Tanya’s grandfather to interpret for her, since Tanya was still busy chuckling with her grandmother and Momo.
With a pout and a glare thrown Tanya’s way after she was made aware, Visha huffed and turned her back to the rest of them, before saying she needed to go grab her bag, and skipped off.
Tanya’s grandparents soon went to hand the paperwork to and speak with the Matron, leaving Tanya behind with a more subdued Momo, her levity leaving with the others.
“You didn’t have to do that you know, change your plans for me.”
“It’s no bother really, if anything you are doing me a favor by cutting into the time that they get to play dress up with me.”
“Wait, you knew?”
“Oh, please, Visha forgets sometimes that everything she knows she learned from me, and that’s a fact. I’m more surprised she thought she could get away with it, she’s gotten a lot bolder lately.”
Tanya said conversationally but the last part was spoken almost to herself as if finally recognizing a pattern.
“You knew but you still went along with it, Why, I thought you hated this girly stuff?”
“Why? Well, because it makes them both happy and I owe those two a lot.”
“I… I can’t believe…no wait, why am I talking about this? Don’t change the subject, you shouldn’t have changed your plans because of me!”
Momo exclaimed, but in a much quieter voice she finished
“I’m not worth it.”
Knowing that she was not meant to hear that last part, Tanya decided to ignore it for the sake of Momo’s pride and moved on.
“Really Momo, it was unfair that your plans got changed by the hospital with no prior notice, you were always meant to come along with us on this outing. So, we are just adjusting our schedule to keep you involved as was planned initially. It’s really nothing to get worked up over.”
Tanya kept her tone light and matter of fact but midway through her sentence, she noticed Momo’s face darken and she responded back with an angry tone.
“I don’t need your pity Tanya, you or Visha’s. I know you know, Visha too, right? She was acting strange last night and now here you are, going out of your way to make me feel good when everyone knows that’s not something you care about.”
Tanya was surprised by the heat and venom in Momo’s voice as she lashed out. She wasn’t being particularly loud, but the intensity of her words certainly made up for their lack in volume.
Looking around the room they were in, Tanya noted the distinct lack of privacy given the open entryways.
Turning back towards her wayward roommate, Tanya allowed the professional mask to slip from her face. Nailing the young woman with her gaze, she noticed Momo freeze and begin to softly tremble before her. Reaching her hand out and grabbing the young woman’s arm Tanya gave a single command.
“Come!”
Making her way to one of the care worker’s offices Tanya entered and noticing the occupant, gave the woman a look and simply commanded.
“Out!”
The woman was surprised but quickly obeyed Tanya’s order slipping past them and closing the door behind her without a word.
Tanya released Momo’s arm and turned to face her roommate and prospective friend. Deciding to proceed with care, she softened her voice as she spoke to the still trembling girl.
“Of course I pity you, you think I don’t pity Visha as well? That girl lost her whole childhood to…our struggle and not just her childhood, everything and everyone she’s ever loved is gone. And that’s not to mention my own situation, I pity myself as well, I spent years building up my future and poof, up in smoke. The only difference between us is I know some of what you have gone through, but you have no idea what Visha and I have seen, or what we’ve done. And no, I won’t be sharing that with you right now, but suffice it to say that if given the option I do not think you would choose to switch places with me. Such is the nature of trauma, I guess everyone always feels like theirs is worse than everyone else’s.
“Look I’m not trying to be all self-righteous, I hate that shit. I want you to know that while yes, I feel bad for you and I will never likely understand how you feel, I want you to know that it’s ok to be pitied, just don’t wallow in it.”
“That’s easy for you to say, you still have your grandparents who want you. You still have Visha!”
Momo’s voice was weak and frantic as she threw her arms in the air.
“And you have both me and Visha! Momo, we aren’t going to just leave you here. You’re our roommate, one of us now, a member of our squad, our comrade, and we don’t leave someone behind just because it’s inconvenient. Just because you have a wounded soldier doesn’t mean you abandon him when you retreat back to base. Wounded men can get better and return the favor next time, and if not, well you owe it to them anyway just for having come along with you this far. Crap I’ve lost the metaphor, but the point is I don’t care if your hurt or broken, I’m bringing you back to base with us. I’m not letting a member of my squad down.”
“Tanya—sniffle—you talk so weirdly sometimes, you know that. I don’t understand half of what you said but why? I mean why me?”
“Because you didn’t just stay in that village and grow old and die, having lived a sad mediocre life. You took a chance to make a better life for yourself; you made a choice. Granted it was a bad one, but the fact that you had the drive to go so far to try is enough for me to work with.”
Momo interrupted her.
“But, well, you know what I’ve done right? What I did even though we’ve already been rescued and just taken out of that life, I, I tried to get back into it, I tried to feel special again. I’m so pathetic. Don’t you find me disgusting, shameful, why would you want a friend like me?”
“It would be incredibly hypocritical of me to look at your past actions with disgust given your lack of choice in the matter, and as for your more recent actions…I too have struggled not to fall into some of my previous habits. I don’t particularly find the act itself that shameful even. It is a matter of supply and demand. There is demand for a service so, eventually someone will supply that demand. I only disapprove of the nature in which that demand was filled, it is much better for the market if it is done voluntarily. As for your participation well, I only wish to extend my concern that participating in such a profession will limit your future options for employment going forward. I would hate for you to do that because I see enough potential in you that I feel like such a limit would be a terrible waste of said potential. I don’t judge your character one way or the other for the act, I only feel like you are being short sighted by cutting off future opportunities.”
“So, you don’t care that I did…those things for money, that I miss the attention? It doesn’t bother you at all?”
Momo asked mostly with accusation in her voice but also a hint of absolute bewilderment.
“Why Would I? I have done much worse for money.”
Momo stared at Tanya shocked at her revelation. Tanya not wanting her friend to dwell on the implications of her admission pushed on.
“Listen, I didn’t want to get your hopes up because I haven’t gotten everything ironed out yet, but I have a plan for you going forward and it doesn’t involve you shaking your ass for NEETs online. I’ve looked the test scores from those workbooks I made you do and when I called your old school they sent me a fax of your grades. You’re not stupid, your scores were pretty good and while you certainly won’t be going to any famous universities, I see no problem in getting you into a mid-tier college or tech school. We just need to find something you excel at to focus on as your major.”
Momo was shocked at what Tanya was saying. At most all she had ever thought she would be able to do was maybe end up being a convenience store clerk or grocery worker after everything that had happened. Now Tanya was painting a picture of a future she had only ever dreamed of. Her grandparents had always shot her down or belittled her whenever she had brought up going to university, eventually she had just stop seeing it as something she would ever get to experience.
Closing her eyes she imagined what it would be like just as she had done as a child after watching shows and movies that featured characters going to university. Playing with roommates late into the night, trips with friends during summer breaks. Relationships and love, friendships and hardships. It was a fantasy that she had stopped herself from having long ago, and here was Tanya offering it to her on a platter as if it was a forgone conclusion. Confused as to why she would give up such an option to seek money and attention in a different way, not understanding that to Momo there were few other options available, or so she had thought.
“Really?... You really think I could go back to school, graduate like everybody else and move on to college? Me?”
“Of course.”
“But how? How would they let me in, who would pay for it? I’m, I’m me, I can’t go to university.”
“Like I said, I don’t have everything ironed out yet but for starters most colleges, tech schools and universities desperately want students to go to them, that’s how they make their money, only an elite few get to be too picky on who they let in. As for paying for it, that’s the easiest part, did you not read that binder of papers they gave us a few days ago? It’s chock full of information and has an entire section on what funds we are guaranteed as citizens who are victims of human trafficking, as well as a long list of government aid programs, grants, and private charities that we can apply for. As long as our college admissions test results are good enough an entire grant program is available to us as displaced citizens. Most of our tuition and housing costs will be covered by that program alone not to mention the six or seven others I have looked into.
“As for your living arrangements, well, Visha and I won’t always be able to live with my grandparents, right? At some point soon, we too will have to move out for school or college. Depending on how things go, well, I would be honored to be your roommate again in the future.”
Tanya was about to continue explaining more about her plans when Momo launched herself into Tanya. Having barely enough time to get her arms up and out of the way, Tanya caught the excitable young girl, hoisting her up as she let her legs go nearly limp putting most of her weight on Tanya and cried into her neck.
Tanya’s only thought in the moment was to wonder if enough tears and snot made it onto her dress, would that mean she would be allowed to change?
~
Tanya had been waiting in line with her grandfather, for what felt like hours. Checking the clock, she saw that it really had been hours since the two had started the process of submitting her paperwork for final review and approval. It galled her that even after all this they were still looking at up to a month of turnaround time before she would get a copy of her household registry and ID card.
Sighing Tanya stopped herself from yawning as the two of them finally made it to the front of the line and watched as their documents were stamped and filed for final review.
Luckily, Tanya had been able to file some of Visha’s paperwork as well while dealing with her own. Though unfortunately it looked like it was going to take a lot longer than a month for Visha’s to get processed and approved.
One of the only positives of the whole experience was all the time wasted waiting in line was also time spent avoiding the shopping trip that was soon to follow after their meetup and lunch with the others.
She had also enjoyed conversing with her grandfather and the two of them had passed the time in either amiable silence or discussing the intricacies of law or various business models. She had had to act surprised to learn that her grandfather was a lawyer at a small firm that mostly handled small business law. Her grandfather specializing in copyright and trademark law. He had spent no small amount of time complaining about how many cases he had delt with over the years involving businesses suing each other for using the same name for their brand. Most of those cases got bogged down in whether having a different flourish or style of Kanji for the name constituted a significant difference so as to not cause brand confusion to the consumer.
Even though Tanya had heard these same complaints many times before she still humored the old man and readily engaged in the conversation. Dredging through her memories she pulled up half remembered arguments and case law, as she played devils advocate in opposition to her fathers—grandfather’s points.
Arriving at the restaurant they had agreed to meet Visha and her grandmother at, Tanya was stunned to see her grandmother chatting away at her old adjutant as they waited for them. Both were smiling and Tanya was surprised to see Visha nod along a few times and talk as well.
During lunch Tanya noted Visha’s increased confidence in at least trying to speak the language, though it still lacked a lot of the proper tense and was often missing words. But rather than shying away and going quiet as she had been doing before, instead she kept pushing on and trying to engage in her grandparent’s conversation with them.
Looking over at her grandmother, Tanya felt a new surge of appreciation towards the woman for going out of her way to spend time with Visha and get her to feel comfortable with at least trying to talk. Tanya knew her grandmother could have just gone through the motions of the mission Tanya had assigned them, not really engaging Visha and keeping her at arm’s length. That she had not and instead seemed to have gotten closer to her friend, sent all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings down her spine and into her stomach. Smiling at the woman Tanya reached over and set one of her sashimi onto her grandmother’s plate.
~
Sonoko didn’t understand what had caused it but her little princess had been looking at her warmly all during lunch, and now the little angel had just given her the brightest most sincere smile she had ever seen her make, her usual smile being a polite, practiced, plastic thing, but this one warmed Sonoko’s heart in a very pleasing way. Especially when the little cutie shared some of her precious food with her, even her friend Visha, had previously been viciously blocked from sampling even a single piece of it. And now here she was, taking a bite almost directly from her granddaughter’s plate. It was the most delicious bite of food she could ever remember having eaten.
~
~TO BE CONTINUED~
Chapter 24. Glossary
- "Enkelkinder sind zum Verw?hnen da."
- Translation: Grandchildren are there to be spoiled.
The Russian phrase "" translates to "every damn time" or "every fucking time" in English. It is a vulgar, emphatic expression used to express extreme frustration or annoyance that a particular event or problem keeps happening repeatedly.
"Zicke" is a colloquial German term for a moody, snappish, or difficult woman/girl, often translated as a "bitch" or "diva". Derived from the word for a female goat (Ziege), it is used as a teasing insult to describe someone being petty, stubborn, or complaining. Related terms include zickig (adj: moody/bitchy) and rumzuzicken (verb: to act like a Zicke).