Starting Line Pt 1

I can't make heads of tails of it. Every time I expect one thing from her, she goes and does something else.

The Rusted Silver, protecting innocent people? I never thought I'd see the day. Yet, she took on that monster of a girl without hesitation. The same girl who'd knocked out those three crazy strong horned people just by powering up.

Then, Degurechaff even massively fucked up her own arm, and for what? A mildly itchy red mark on the pink-haired girl's exposed stomach?

To stall for the arrival of Mister Blue Jelly himself, apparently. Had she always so readily handed out her trust? That didn't fit. None of these scenarios fit. I just don't understand.

I'm no closer to understanding my question: who is Tanya von Degurechaff? Every answer I get seems to contradict what I knew. What I thought I knew. It's the opposite of a consolation.

I guess I can't get anything right. God, Degurechaff, myself... everything is all wrong, wrong, wrong.

… Why does that make me feel so empty? I'm so tired.

-=-

Noon

Assembly Hall Dining Room

Tempest, Jura Tempest Federation

Lunch was often a lively affair. With the sort of people and personalities Tempest attracted, this should come as no surprise. In fact, this was an understatement when it involved Rimuru and his Executives. With the Jura Tempest Federation's strongest gathering together in one place, well…

There was a reason the Assembly Hall's dining room was one of the most reinforced rooms in the entire building.

"Whoa! This "curry" thing is really good!" Milim exclaimed, before proceeding to shovel as much of it as she could in her mouth.

Of course, the addition of Milim to Tempest had only made this fact more apparent. The doors to this room alone had already been replaced three times.

"Oi. Don't talk with food in your mouth." Tanya said around bites of her own curry.

You're doing it too though. Rimuru sweatdropped, glancing between the two.

It still surprised him just how ravenous Tanya could be at times. Not that she lacked table manners. Far from it, and in fact she was actually far better with table manners than all Rimuru's subordinates save Shuna and Hakurou.

Still, he really would have expected her to be much more… dainty? Elegant?

Then again, given she'd spent her second life in an orphanage and on the battlefield, it made sense that she'd positively devour Shuna's delicious cooking. Even if she did such devouring with a frankly unnatural level of grace.

Quite unlike Milim, who for all intents and purpose was Tanya's stark opposite. It was such that the tension between the two was almost palpable, though in truth he doubted Milim even noticed.

"You're doing it too!" Milim said, pointing.

She said it!

Tanya very deliberately swallowed her next mouthful of curry before responding. "Don't be ridiculous. That'd be impolite of me. Like you are being."

So petty! Rimuru glanced down the table, noting the looks of amusement on Shuna, Shion, and Hakurou's faces. Benimaru and Souei had been here earlier as well, but had been forced to leave due to unrelated business elsewhere.

"Wahahaha! I'm a Demon Lord! I'm not impolite!"

"Those two things don't coincide. And you aren't impolite? Then why are you still here?"

"Because I live here now! With my bestie!"

"You have your own people-"

Rimuru sighed, tuning out the now-familiar argument. A mere week in to Milim's stay, and the two had already butted heads countless times.

He tuned back just in time to hear himself get involved.

"Rimuru is busy enough running the Jura Tempest Federation. Your presence is dragging not just him down, but the nation itself."

"Oh, I see!" Milim hit her fist on her palm, "Why didn't you just say so?"

Tanya blinked. "Eh?"

"You're jealous, yeah?" Milim grinned. "Don't worry, you and I can be besties too! Even though you're a human, you're stronger than a few Demon Lords already, so I'll allow it!"

"No chance." Tanya deadpanned. She pointed at the other girl, "I'm not getting anymore mixed up with you than I have too. There's only one person I'd consider anywhere close to a 'bestie', and they're in another world. Rimuru can keep your crazy ass."

"H-hey." Rimuru shot her a slightly pained look.

Come on now. Don't just dump everything on me. He tried to convey with his eyes.

"Ah, come oooonnnn!"

"No." Tanya would not budge.

"Ah!" Milim stood excitedly, as if she'd found the missing piece to this friendship puzzle of hers. "You can be one of my majin!"

"Hah?" Tanya crossed her arms, "Is 'no' not clear enough for you? Take the hint!"

Rimuru leaned forward again, ready to interfere, when he noticed something.

Huh? Rimuru blinked. She's…

Despite how irritated Tanya sounded, how angrily she denied Milim's whims…

She was smiling.

Ah. I see, I see. Rimuru glanced around the table again. Hakurou was calm as ever, drinking his tea with the sort of wise and distinguished look he was known for. Shuna and Shion were conversing excitedly, avidly discussing something or other using words like "outfits", "dress", and "bunny".

For some reason, a chill went up Rimuru's spine at that. He shook it off.

Milim and Tanya were still arguing, though now that Rimuru looked closer, it more resembled heated banter over anything else. Milim's speech was interspersed with her patented "Wahaha" laugh, and Tanya had hints of resigned amusement along the lines of her face to match her half-smile.

Huh. They'd all sort of settled in now, hadn't they?

Notice: The individual known as-

Rimuru listened to Great Sage closely.

Hm, you make a good point. Tanya's loosened up a bit in the past month and a half, and Milim already made herself at home in just a week. But, that still leaves…

"Hey, Tanya."

"Hm?" Tanya looked his way.

"How's Mary Sue settling in?"

Rimuru could literally see her mood do a 180.

"Hm." Tanya took another spoonful of curry, slowly chewing with a contemplative expression.

"Oh!" Shuna leaned forward in her own seat, her conversation with Shion apparently having come to a close. "Is she getting enough to eat?"

Tanya swallowed, glancing her way.

"Yes. She is eating, I know that much. The bento you make for her is always empty when I come back to collect it. And as for how she's settling in…"

She turned back to Rimuru, "Poorly. She hardly leaves her room, just like her first month here. Any progress she'd gained in the past two weeks seems to have largely disappeared."

Tanya went to get another spoonful of curry, before realizing her plate was empty. She laid her spoon down with a mildly displeased expression, and instead reached for her cup of tea.

"Though, occasionally I feel her tailing me on my walks through Tempest." Tanya lifted the cup to her lips and drew deeply. Her expression twisted noticeably for a split second, before fading into her usual mask of calm. A moment later, she pulled away, letting out a sigh, "I'm not quite sure what to do with her, if I'm being honest. These sorts of things are not… quite in my area of expertise."

Whoa, it must be serious if she's admitting it. In the relatively short time Rimuru had known her, Tanya at times really felt like the living embodiment of the phrase "if you need something done right, do it yourself". She was a perfectionist at heart, and was damn good at creating that perfection through her own work, so for her to admit to being at a loss so freely…

"Do you know why she's," Rimuru tried to find the right word, "regressed? Like you said, she was out around Tempest a lot just a little over a week ago. Has anything happened?"

"…Ah, well, there was one thing."

Rimuru raised an eyebrow, then motioned for her to continue.

"It was after you'd" Tanya glanced across the table, "befriended Milim. Remember, I told you I had some business to take care of?"

Rimuru nodded.

"Well, it was Sue. She was hiding in the tree line, waiting for me."

"Waiting for you?" Shion interjected.

"Not like that." Tanya snapped, rolling her eyes, "She wished to confront me over something or other. Some sort of crisis of faith she's been dealing with, or something like that. 'You're a Devil. Why is someone like you protecting them", is what she said to me. Then, she attacked me with the spare knife from my flight suit's harness that I'd earlier thrown to the side."

"She attacked you?" Shuna also entered the conversation, tilting her head in concern.

"Well, 'attack' is being too generous." Tanya amended. "And even if she were really trying to hurt me, she would have failed."

"But this was right after you fought Milim, right?" Rimuru felt the need to bring it up. "Are you sure it's fine?"

"It's not like this is the first time, as you know." Tanya pointed out. "At worst, I had mostly exhausted the mana stores of my Unique Skill. I may have been worn out, but I am more than capable of handling her without magic or Skills. I'm sure Hakurou here can attest to my skill if you're worried."

Hakurou nodded, taking a moment away from his tea to respond. "True enough. Though I do wish you'd stop by for training more often. Your insights on training exercises are always, shall we say… enlightening."

Far across the city, Gobta and his friends shivered.

"Oh, by the way, I wanted to speak with you about that. You see, it turns out my knives aren't applicable to the long-range magic I like to employ. If you don't mind, I'd like to drop by the training field tomorrow morning and speak with you more about an alternative."

"Of course." Hakurou nodded his assent. "You know when to be there."

Tanya nodded back, before turning to address Rimuru again.

"In any case, I was able to handle the situation without injury to either party, even when she used her own Unique Skill. And like I said, there was no real intent to kill behind her attack. If there was, I would have already chalked up my own mercy to her a month and a half ago as a mistake and dealt with her appropriately."

"Uh…"

"No, I wouldn't have killed her."

"Well alright then." Rimuru made a mental note to – discretely – check Tanya for the ability to read minds. Again.

Then again, if she could read minds then she'd already know about this mental note, making it effectively useless. Damn.

"So, why did she really confront you, you think? If there wasn't intent to kill?"

"It's obvious!" Milim, seemingly bored of playing bystander, banged her fists against the table. The wood creaked painfully under the assault. "She was challenging Tanya! She wants to prove herself!"

"That makes sense!" Shion added excitedly. "It was a fated duel between rivals!"

Rimuru tried to be the voice of reason. "Um, I don't think-"

"Maybe that's not too far off." Tanya mused, setting her cup back on the table and putting a hand to her chin.

"Tanya?"

"Well, it's nothing as cliché as a "fated duel between rivals", but it could be that Sue is lashing out. From a combination of restlessness and listlessness, perhaps." Tanya nodded to herself. "I'm no psychologist, but now that I think about it, it really seems like she's lashing out because she has no other options. Or rather, she doesn't know of any other options."

Rimuru watched as the gears turned in Tanya's head.

"It's true that this is the first time in years that Sue's mind is her own. Furthermore, it's true that her entire worldview has been completely broken down over the past month and change. Her entire scale of good and evil has effectively been upended. So as contradictory as it may sound, she is both restless, from not knowing what to do or how to do it, and listless, because her purpose in life was completely stripped away from her in the blink of an eye."

The others stared at her for a moment. That was… an oddly thorough assessment for someone who claimed to not be a psychologist.

"From what you've told me, it sounds like she used to deal with things like this by attacking you." Rimuru said drily, "So, are you trying to tell me it's an 'old habits die hard' situation?"

"Perhaps." Tanya shrugged. "Then again, I can tell she's also frustrated. Her God, that bastard Being X, used her for his own ends then disappeared. And even though that means she is free, she is also chained in a way she never has before."

"Hm?" Hakurou seemed mildly interested now. "How so?"

"Her abilities did not carry over upon her reincarnation, the way mine did. Her latent power, while great, is just that: latent. I believe this also contributed to her acting out a week ago. She remembers that power. Remembers flying to great height, moving at great speeds, being one of the strongest around. Anyone would feel restless having lost that, especially when you can still feel it inside of you."

The table was silent. Even Milim seemed to get the memo for once, taking the time to quietly sneak some leftover curry off of Shion's plate.

Notice: If the individual Mary Sue lacks purpose, then it would heavily benefit Tempest if-

Oh, that's makes sense!

"Well then, I suppose we could just give her purpose again." Tanya mused aloud.

She really is a mind reader! Rimuru willed his shock away. "I was thinking the same thing. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, Sue's really just a liability right now. She contributes nothing to Tempest, and to be honest, her attitude is sort of depressing to be around, even when she's hiding herself away in her room. If her problem is a lack of purpose, then we should give her a purpose. Make something useful out of her."

"How will you manage that, I wonder." Hakurou said. He glanced her way, seemingly communicating something with his eyes.

"I'm glad you sound so interested, Hakurou." Tanya grinned. "Say, would you mind if I bring a Plus One tomorrow?"

-=-=-=-

Next Day, Crack of Dawn

Tanya's Home

Tempest, Jura Tempest Federation

"Wake up."

"Mm- wah?!" Mary tumbled out of her futon. "You damn-"

What followed was a string of tired and muffled curses that would have had left even Neumann in mild awe

"I'll allow that." She said after a beat, before grabbing Mary under the arms and forcibly hauling her to her feet. "But only because I'm in a good mood. Here."

Mary could only blink as a hot drink was forced into her hands.

"Again, I am in an exceedingly good mood right now. Do not expect this sort of nicety ever again." Tanya made to leave. "Drink that, then eat something. Or don't. I don't care. Be outside in 15 minutes or I'll come back in and drag you out."

With that, Tanya left, leaving Mary with far more questions than answers. And also anger, though it was largely tempered by her exhaustion. What time was it…?

She glanced out her room lone window, then did a double take.

The Sun was hardly up yet! What the hell did that Devil get off on, thinking she could just waltz in and forcibly wake her up at the ass crack of dawn?!

For a moment, Mary considered ignoring her entirely and going back to sleep.

…Fuck.

There was absolutely zero chance Degurechaff wouldn't make good on her word. If Mary wanted to leave this house with any sort of dignity intact, she had to go along with whatever bullshit this would turn out to be.

It was amazing how a mere month and a half ago, she would never have even considered listening to the other girl in any capacity. Now, she was willingly going along with… what even was this? Surely it was not some inane attempt at reconciliation or, Lord forbid, bonding.

Mary scoffed.

As if. Like that could ever happen.

She made her way over to her closet, cautiously sipping at her drink. Then, she took another.

…Not bad. She wasn't really a tea kinda gal, but this was pretty good all things considered.

-=-

Mary exited the house in 16 minutes.

"Good, you're early. Let's go." Tanya straightened from her spot of leaning against the house.

"Early?" Mary blinked. She said 15 minutes, I thought.

She looked over herself, for a second worried she forgotten something and gotten out earlier than she'd intended.

Ankle boots, jeans, long sleeve… I did not forget anything. How did-

"I can hear the gears turning. Don't kid yourself." Tanya glanced at her with muted amusement. "You're one of the least subtle people I've ever met. Wasting a minute of my time is exactly the sort of petty shit I'd expect from you. Which is why I told you 15 minutes instead of the actual 20 I'd accounted for."

She explained it as though talking to a petulant child.

This damn- Mary grit her teeth. Don't give her the satisfaction.

Degurechaff really knew how to press her fucking buttons. She dug her nails into her palms, forcibly working to calm herself down. It was amazing just how easily the other girl brought her temper to the surface, even after the past week of zero interaction.

"Oh?" Degurechaff watched her with a raised eyebrow. "No retort? Maybe you have learned something over the past month and a half." An amused half-smile formed on her face. "It's always nice to see improvement. Good girl."

Sleep with one fucking eye open! Mary had to resist the urge to throttle her, a flush of anger burning her cheeks. Judging by Degurechaff's obvious amusement, she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Alright, I've had my fun." She turned on her heel, beginning to stroll down the street. "Let's get going for real this time. I'd rather not alter my schedule today, so make sure to keep up. If you're capable of it, that is."

Now, the thing is, Mary knew she was being played. But if this damn girl thought she couldn't keep up with anything thrown her way, after all the bullshit she'd been through? Then, out of spite if nothing else, Mary would prove her the fuck wrong.