?


    "Hm? What''s wrong with her?"


    After a long day of work, Nana returned to the Valkyrie residence to take a short break before returning to her post. She removed the hairpin she usually wore letting her silver hair cascade down to her shoulders and as she was about to take off her sses she noticed a rather odd sight in the living area.


    "Oh, she''s been like that for a while now." A passing Valkyrie answered, looking at a blond young Valkyrie sitting lifelessly on one of the couches. "I have to say she''s doing much better than the other one."


    Nana followed the Valkyrie''s line of sight to one of the corners where a ball of blond hair rested.


    "This… doesn''t look good at all…" Nana said with a sigh, shaking her head in disapproval.


    As she mindlessly stared at empty space Miku noticed the silver-haired woman approaching her. She immediately sensed the lectureing her way, but even though she wanted to teleport away her depressed mind prevented her from taking any action.


    "What do you think you''re doing?" Nana asked, crossing her arms and staring down at the young Valkyrie.


    "Feeling miserable, I guess," Miku answered with a sigh.


    "And since when did you have the time for that?"


    "Ever since… ever since…" Miku tried to but the words refused toe out, not until the tears began flowing first. "Ever since Doctor abandoned me!!!"


    Not a couple of seconds in and Nana was already sure that the waterfalls wouldn''t stop. Unable to bear watching her little friend bowling her eyes she reluctantly sat down and pulled the crying Miku into her arms burying her head into her ample chest.


    "Now now, I''m sure there is nothing to worry about." Nana spoke in a warm and caring voice, her hand gently caressing the golden hair.


    "But… but… he left me behind! Even though I''m his personal Valkyrie!"


    "And?" Nana asked.


    "I''m supposed to be by his side!" Miku shot back, looking up with red eyes. "He went on a mission to another world! Do you know how significant this event might turn out to be!!? The ones that went with him will definitely have the chance to leave a big impression! By the time they return they''ll be far ahead of the rest of us!"


    "I''m… not sure I''m following here…"


    "Seriously?"


    The confusion Miku felt at that moment caused the tears to dry out. When she gave it some thought she realized that the concept might be foreign to her friend so she decided to exin it to her.


    "Do you know what a harem is?" The young Valkyrie asked as she grabbed a tablet from the nearby coffee table.


    "Enlighten me." Nana said with a sigh, relieved that the crying had stopped.


    "Well, it''s when a number of females have a rtionship with the same male."


    "O~h…"


    "Doctor is the only male on this base so technically we are all part of his harem."


    "Did you forget about General Schneider?" Nana asked, recalling that their old boss was in fact a prisoner.


    "The old man isn''t interested in any of us so he doesn''t count." Miku answered. "Anyways, what I''m trying to say is that we are all Doctor''s potential love interests, and since there are so many of us it''s inevitable that some will get preferential treatment over the others."


    "O-okay…"


    "Let me put it like this. There are many females, us Valkyries, and only one male, which is Doctor." Miku exined and Nana nodded along. "Since there is only one Doctor, the amount of time he can allocate to each of us decreases with each Valkyrie that gets close to him."


    "Makes sense…"


    "Of course, since Doctor is the one who decides how to distribute his time, It''s only inevitable that some Valkyries will get more than the others."


    "I see…"


    "In order to increase the time Doctor gives us, we have no choice but to try and leave an impression on him to draw his attention."


    "Hmm… is that why you wanted to go with him?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As Nana understood it, what Miku and some of the other Valkyries were doing was trying to stand out so they would get to spend more time with Dr. Sanderson. Being favored by their leader meant that they would have a higher status than other Valkyries. Though ranks weren''t important before -since none of them had any authority before- a lot has changed and the Valkyries were responsible for managing themselves now. As the leader of their organization the Doctor will be the one to decide which roles they''re going to y so the better his impression of a certain Valkyrie is the higher the likelihood of her getting an important rank.


    Nana was satisfied by the conclusion she reached and for a moment she thought she understood what her friend was getting at, but apparently there was more to the exnation.


    "Now imagine we are characters in a book." Miku said while pointing at the tablet in her hands. It showed an illustration with strange deformed characters which had colorful hair andrge vibrant eyes. At first it looked like a normal drawing but when she gazed at it for a few seconds Nana realized that all of the characters were female besides the one in the center. "In a romance story where there are multiple love interests, or heroines as they''re called, is determined by how big a role she ys in a story."


    "I… see…?"


    "If one of the heroines doesn''t y an important role, she would slowly fade into the background and eventually get forgotten, like these two over here." She pointed at two characters near the frame of the picture. At that moment Nana understood what the picture represented; the male character was at the center and the importance of a female character was represented by how close to him she is ced.


    "The story usually revolves around the protagonist, who is Doctor in our case." Miku went on. "That means those who went with him to the other world are heroines who have important roles to y while those of us who stayed behind are just background characters who won''t get the chance to shine! Doctor will pay more attention to them and by the time hees back he would no longer care about any of us!"


    Even after all of that, for some reason Nana''s understanding of the situation didn''t get any better than before. She held a hand to her cheek as she contemted the situation some more. With how busy she was ever since she moved to the forty sixth base the silver haired Valkyrie was among those who have yet to learn about romance and rtionships. She had no idea what the terms Miku used meant so it was difficult to understand the second part of her exnation. That said, Nana wasn''t about to give up on trying to cheer her friend up so she quickly came up with something using her limited understanding and hoped that it would be enough to ease the young one''s worries.


    "Miku, I think you''re forgetting an important part." Nana said. "We aren''t characters in a book. You can''t apply the logic of a fictional story to our lives."


    "Well, I know that, but…"


    "Just think about it. Despite barely spending any time with him, the Doctor made you one of his personal Valkyries. By your logic that shouldn''t have happened unless you went on some grand adventure with him."


    Miku remembered reaching out to Sam because she wanted to try having sex. She fell for him on the spot and despite ying less of a prominent rolepared to the three from the forty sixth base in the end she became his personal Valkyrie and achieved her goal of being with him. Still, a part of her was afraid of being neglected once again. She understood that the Doctor had no choice as he couldn''t be everywhere at the same time, but that''s precisely why she wanted to go with him to the other world in hopes of making him recognize her value so she could stay by his side more often.


    Turning the tablet toward herself, Miku stared at the picture on its screen for a few seconds.


    "I just… I just wanted to be the main heroine this time…" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.


    Nana remained silent, not sure how what to say at that point. Thankfully the young Valkyrie seemed to bounce back right away, jumping to her feet and wiping her tears away.


    "You know what? You''re right, Nana." She said, eyes full of determination. "We aren''t just some characters in a poorly written book! We control our own destiny! And we decide what role we y in life!"


    "Yes, yes, that is correct!" Nana said, encouraging her with a smile.


    "Also, even if I didn''t get to assist Doctor this time, I will surely get my chance in the future! I''m his personal Valkyrie after all!"


    "That''s right!"


    Nana and Miku were too focused on their conversation so it startled them quite a bit when Nine suddenly appeared beside them.


    "Since when-"


    "Doctor chose us to be his personal Valkyries!" Nine said, interrupting the surprised Nana. "We have been by his side from the very beginning! There is no way we can just be reced!"


    "No, I think he really is done with you." Miku said, waving her hand dismissively. "He was really angry at you after you destroyed half of the base."


    "But-"


    "And you got me dragged into it as well. Seriously why do I have to be punished for a mistake you made?"


    With those harsh words directed at her, Ninepletely lost the spirit she had just regained and went back to sitting in the corner.


    "Did you have to bring her down like that?" Nana asked, displeased by her friend''s behavior.


    "Serves her right." Miku replied, not feeling sorry for her fellow Valkyrie at all.


    Despite what the young one said, Nana was sure everything would be back to normal once their punishment ends. She didn''t know the Doctor very well but from the impression she got of him Nana found it hard to believe that he would simply discard someone close to him just because they made a mistake, no matter how big that mistake might be.


    "The Doctor, huh…" Nana said, her mind wondering about the recent events. "Now that I think about it, it''s very strange that he decided to leave you two here when he''s going on such an important mission."


    "I know, right!?" Miku eximed. "I mean, he took multiple Valkyries that are much less capable inbat. And only Three and Five have experience guarding him!"


    Most Valkyries were vanguard fighters who know more about destroying enemies than protecting allies. Among them Miku should''ve been an obvious choice to take along since she served as General Schneider''s bodyguard for quite a while. The Doctor''s personal Valkyries should''ve been his most trusted subordinates. Their punishment being a reason to leave them behind seemed reasonable, but the more she thought about it the more Nana was unable to shake the feeling that something was off.