Clone Girls

“Feeling better, girls?” Rika asked as both Lidia and Nia stopped crying in her embrace. Both of them nodded.

“Yeah…”

“Yes…”

“Good.” Rika nodded as she let the girls out of her embrace. It was time to move on.

A yawn escaped Nia’s mouth, and Rika commented. “You look tired, maybe you should go to sleep now, Nia?”

“Don’t wanna.” She replied immediately.

“Really?” Rika frowned, not convinced. “But…”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry~. It’s not the first time I stay up when I’m supposed to sleep.” Nia said confidently, jumping around as if to prove her point.

“Oh really?” A voice said from the side, and when Nia looked, she was startled.

“Uwah!? W-what’s with that face, sis!?”

“Nothing.” Lidia replied, her eyes were judging her sister with an expressionless face, but the tips of her lips were slightly curled upwards. “I just got some juicy information for mother, that’s all. Sounds like another flight is gonna happen.”

“Ah, don’t do that sis! I don’t want to do the plane again!” Nia’s face paled at the mention of the word ‘plane’, which made Rika curious. The girl seemed scared of nothing, yet showed such a strong reaction for this simple word?

“Plane?” She asked.

“Mother’s special punishment for Nia.” Lidia replied in her sister’s place, and now Rika could see why the girl was so desperate. Lidia sighed again, before facing Rika. “Anyway, don’t worry about her, as you can see, she’s still full of energy.”

“Yeah, yeah, I am!” Nia nodded her head strongly, having already recuperated, but then, she meekly asked her sister. “But… sister, are you really going to report this to mom?”

“...Perhaps.” Lidia replied mysteriously, still with her lips slightly upwards.

“Pl-please don’t! I’ll do everything you wish!” Nia pleaded, but before Lidia could reply, Rika, who had been enjoying the interactions between both sisters, interrupted them.

“Ahem, Sorry to bother your sisterly bonding time, but I need to go back to work right now. You stay there and wait patiently alright?” She said, before scratching her head, smiling bitterly. “Sorry, there’s not really any games you can play…”

Rika had not taken anything that was not work related, and she was ashamed to admit to herself that she was as much of a workaholic than Ticia…

“Then, can we follow you?” Lidia asked, and Rika slightly frowned. She wasn’t expecting the girls to follow her. If they want to leave, now would be the best time to do so… She thought. Well, it seems like I’ve truly gained their trust.

This made her happy, but she did not show it, too used to her everyday mask as an officer. She just shrugged at the girls.

“I guess that’s fine, It’s just in the area we’ve been in before.”

“Yay!” Nia said, she seemed very happy for some reason…

“But are you fine with leaving your sister alone here?” Rika reminded the two girls, pointing at their sister who was sleeping soundly on her bed.

“Ah, you’re right!” Nia exclaimed as her ahoge was raised straight. “Just give me two seconds…”

She then grabbed the helmet, which Rika had completely forgotten about, and put it in Mia’s hand. “There you go~. She should be fine now~.”

“...Will she?” Rika asked with doubt. Would a helmet really help her sleep well?

“Yup! Mia always sleeps with this helmet, it makes her feel secure~.” Nia said, and true to her words, Mia began to hug the helmet as if it was a plushie, a smile appearing on her face.

“Hehe~.”

“See? She’s smiling!” Nia said proudly, as if she was the one who accomplished the act. But then, Mia’s sleeptalk froze all of them in place.

“Rabbit~, I wanna dissect you to know all your secrets to cuteness~.” The girl declared in her sleep, beginning to drool. Whatever dream she was having, everybody present had a hard time deciding whether this was an innocent, cute dream, or a scene that shouldn’t come from a kid’s mind.

““...”” Both Lidia and Rika looked at Nia, in search of answers to this debate.

“Erm, hehe… She’s joking~... Probably…” Nia answered as she forced herself to continue smiling. even her was unsure of what would happen next! “A-anyway! It’s fine to leave her alone!”

“...I’m a bit worried, but this place is safe, so…” Lidia commented, still debating. Rika could understand the girl, she was the eldest present, she wanted to protect her sisters. But again, Lidia nodded to herself as she reached her own conclusion. 

“If anything really happens, I’ll just have to deal with it.” She said, letting out a bit of her killing intent.

“...” Rika did not know what to do about that, so she decided not to comment. Only Nia’s mumble reverberated in the room as both left it.

“Uwahh~, sis is making a scary face again…”

 

***

 

“Hey, miss, what do you do for work?” Nia asked, full of curiosity as Rika took place at her desk and lit on the integrated computer.

“Work? Well that’s…” Rika did not know what she should answer to that. She could see the girl would not leave her alone so long as she did not give a satisfying answer however, and her sister also seemed interested by the subject…

“We know you’re a soldier, but judging from your attire, you’re a high ranked officer, right?” Nia continued her train of thought, and Rika was a bit surprised, the girl had managed to deduce she was a high ranked officer just from her uniform? Did that mean that the girls were knowledgeable with military ranks and all?

“Yes, that’s right.” She ended up saying, nodding in affirmation.

“What is your rank?”

“I’m a brigadier-general.” Rika said, pointing to the insignia on her shoulder pads. Two golden stars were engraved on them.

“Whoah! That’s a high rank!” Nia exclaimed, eyes big and round, she then looked over to the tent’s entrance. “Then, the people outside…”

“Yes, they’re my underlings.” Rika replied, nodding. “I’m at the head of an entire brigade.”

Somehow, she felt pride in telling the two girls about how high she was in the hierarchy.

“Amazing! That’s, like, a lot of soldiers, right?” Nia said, gesturing around with her arms.

“Yeah, and right now, I’m reading the various reports I received from my underlings.” Rika replied, pointing at the blue screen in front of her. A report as open, and she was currently reading it.

“I see, I see, well, good luck, miss.” Nia replied, and that was the end of it. The girl began looking around for something else that raised her interest. Meanwhile, Rika resumed her lecture, only to be interrupted again.

“Can I help you?” Another similar voice asked, startling her a bit. She had been so concentrated that she had not seen the other girl approach her.

“Lidia? Well that’s…” Rika was about to politely decline, after all, the girl was young, and this was a very serious job. But before she could finish however, lidia pointed to the screen.

“This report is of high importance, and this one is about the number of prisoners made.” She declared.

“!?!” Rika was under shock, how did this little girl know that?! All the reports in her brigade had names that were a continuity of numbers and letters. This was a protective measure against anybody that tried to search for a report without getting authorizations!

There shouldn’t be any other copy of this code! Just how?!  Rika began to think seriously. She and Ticia had made this code themselves, and it was unique to her brigade. Did it somehow leak? If so she would need to lead an investigation, and she would first ask this girl.

“How did you-”

“Secret.” Before she could finish her question however, Lidia said. A tense silence ensued, as Rika stared back at her, but the girl seemed determined to keep the secret, she would not get anything from her. In the end, Rika sighed.

“Well, if you know that much, I guess that’s fine. You can be my secretary for a while, I guess.” She said, taking out a tablet from under the desk.

“Waaaah, so lucky sis. Hey, I wanna play too!” The disinterested girl said, going back to Rika’s desk. It made Rika wonder whether she would finish her work today…

That’s not a game… She commented to herself, it seemed to her that the girl was only playing around. Where has the seriousness from just before all gone?

“So? What role can you give me?” Nia said, excitedly waiting for her to receive her task. Rika began to think about it seriously.

“...Random civilian?” She said, tilting her head.

“Unwanted perturbator.” Lidia gave her own mind nearly at the same time.

“Wha-!? You’re both mean again! Two against one is just cheating!!” Nia said in protest, feeling betrayed.

“Sorry.” Rika ended up blurting out, what she just said came out without her realizing it. Maybe she was too tired?

“Hmph, then I’ll just find something else to do while you two ‘work’!” Nia said, pulling out her tongue and making a grimace. Then, she moved away from the desk, pouting cutely.

“So long as you don’t leave the tent.” Rika commented, getting very tired, but work was still waiting. More particularly, her new ‘assistant’ was awaiting orders.

“As for you, here.” She said, giving the girl the tablet. “After reading the documents, arrange them into those three folders over there depending on their priority, and I’ll do the rest.”

“Roger, what is considered as urgent to you?” Lidia said, asking for precisions.

“Things like casualties, state of supplies, and morale.” Rika said, not looking at the girl anymore, she was concentrated in the report she was reading, and an element caught her eye.

Right, I need to take care of that. She thought to herself, before creating another folder and pointing it to Lidia. “Also, that folder, put any reports that have any related information about you and your sisters in there. I need to do some… ‘rectifications’ to them…”

“!!!” Lidia immediately caught on to what Rika was saying. “Roger!” The girl saluted for some reason, before sitting on the ground next to Rika’s desk, concentrating on her work.

“Good, I like hard working people.” Rika nodded, and her hand reached out to pat Lidia’s head, but she stopped herself before doing so.

What am I doing? She asked herself, closing her eyes and retracting her hand. Why did I suddenly have the urge to pat her head?

Rika knew the act was rude, only close people to family could do such acts. For a stranger to do it, that would just be weird… She would first need to ask permission, but now was not the time.

She refocused on her job, and surprisingly enough, she progressed more smoothly now that she got some help. This was unexpected, to her, Lidia seemed to exceed at doing paperwork, and she progressed at a faster rate. The girl was silently organizing the reports for her, making the task easier than before. It made her wonder why she had not engaged a secretary before.

Oh, right, Ticia was supposed to fulfill that role as well. She realized, but Ticia seemed a bit lazy, and often let out important details, so she had deemed her unqualified for that role, and had taken the girl’s workload for herself.

Really, why was she lazy at such moments… Rika sighed, smiling bitterly at the memory. Ticia appeared like the best soldier on the outside, but when you knew her personally, you could tell she had her defaults. Rika was probably the only one who knew so much about the woman.

“Hey, hey, miss, what’s under this tarp?” Rika’s nostalgicrecolection was interrupted by a childish voice full of curiosity yet again.

What does she want again? Rika asked herself, getting tired of the girl’s continuous interruptions, but she would not let out her frustration on the kid after what the kid had said before…

When she looked over to where the voice came from, she saw Nia standing right next to the tarp under which she kept the hoverer bike.

“Oh, it’s a hoverer bike.” She commented, not saying more, but this was enough to raise the girl’s interest to its maximum.

“Really!? Waaah I’ve never seen one before.” the girl said, star in her eyes, she then looks straight at Rika with puppy eyes. “Can I see it?”

Rika froze for a moment, not used to this look. She was going to refuse, but Nia looked… so pitiful. she ended up yelding before realizing it.

“Sure, but it’s broken, girl.”

“Is that so?” Nia just said, thinking, before her ahoge straightened again, Rika knew what this meant, she had deciphered this as Nia getting an idea!

And she wasn’t proven wrong, only seconds later, the girl exclaimed excitedly. “Then I know what I’ll be! I’m gonna become your personal mechanician!”

My what now? Rika had a hard time believing in what she just heard. Probably another game. Oh well, let’s play along. She said to herself. Glad I put away the dangerous pieces.

“Sure I guess, just don’t break anything and don’t hurt yourself.” She said, trusting the girl would not go too far, as she herself went back to work.

“Ok!” Nia replied excitedly, before pulling the tarp to the side, revealing the hoverer bike in all its splendor.

“Whoaaaah~. This is a hoverer bike? So beautiful…” Nia mumbled in amazement.

Rika’s hoverer bike was a collection class bike from a long dead company. It was an old sport model, and its elegance had struck her younger self. She had worked on repairing the bike herself, after buying it from its former owner using the pay from her own work, and not from her family, so she was attached to it, and would never let anyone touch it. Even Ticia had not dared touch it out of respect for her superior.

Unfortunately, despite its flashy colors, the bike stayed unanimated. It had broken down at the beginning of this operation. At its foot layed a toolbox, as well as other boxes containing the necessary material to fix the bike, but they were left there due to the lack of time of their owner…

“Look at those curves…” Nia said, putting her hand on one of the bike’s plates. She seemed fully absorbed into her own world.

“Alright.” She nodded to herself, before declaring, hands on her waist. “Don’t worry, little bike, I’ll make you even more powerful!”

“...Don’t overdo it, Nia.” Lidia commented, raising her head and looking at her sister. Unlike Rika, who had only thought of this as a child messing around, Lidia knew what her sister was truly capable of.

“I know, I know~, sis.” Nia said, dismissing her sister’s warning.

She opened the boxes lying around. “Oh good, there’s everything I need.” She said, nodding in satisfaction, before looking at the tools inside the toolbox. “Mh, a bit rudimentary, but they will do.”

“Alright, time to get serious.” She mumbled as she faced the bike again, and the atmosphere around her suddenly changed. Instead of her usual childish mood, Nia became incredibly serious, showing little emotions on her face. This… was her battlefield. The one in which she excelled the most, and which Mia was jealous of.

She took out four screwdrivers and a hammer, and then… she left an afterimage.

A series of metallic noises startled Rika out of her concentration.

What’s happening? Intrusion? She looked around the entrance, but saw nothing. No, wait, the noise is coming from-!?!

She realized the origin of the noise, and she had a hard time believing what she was seeing. Right now, somebody was doing something to her bike at an incredulous speed! Each time that person appeared, a multitude of noises echoed as one piece disappeared from the boxes lying around, and another, broken one, made a clunking noise as it landed on the ground. Just who…?

No, I know who it is! She said to herself, realizing the identity of the afterimage, thanks to the peculiar white hair and the person’s defining trait to Rika, her ahoge.

“What in the world is she doing…” Rika weakly said, having a hard time believing what she was seeing. But she could only admit it from the destroyed pieces that were lying around. True to her words, the childish little girl was repairing her bike at an alluring speed!

“No,no,no, this isn’t the time to be surprised, I should stop her before she gets hurt!” Rika exclaimed, raising from her seat, only for her path to be blocked by Lidia.

“I appreciate the thought, but you better not do anything right now…” Lidia said, sounding extremely serious. “Right now, if you get in her way, my little sister won’t take it well.”

Lidia had once seen Nia work on a machinery that had broken down back in Clone installation 3. Ticia had caught her, and immediately tried to stop her, but Nia, plunged into her own world, had attacked their mother, to everyone’s general surprise. Of course, just after that, Nia immediately apologized profusely to their mother, and the incident stayed there without any punishment from Ticia, who was more interested in what Nia just displayed. Remembering this, Lidia trembled a bit, if she was in her mother’s place, would she be able to avoid Nia’s screwdriver throws? She wasn’t sure…

“Trust me, if you don’t want a screwdriver down your throat, you better let her do her work…” She said to Rika, the look resembled more a pleading rather than a confident look.

“...Alright.” Rika ended up nodding under the gaze of the little girl, and she began to observe what Nia was doing. She concentrated, trying to follow the girl’s movement, and thanks to her good eyesight, she managed to catch the girl, but as a result she suddenly let out a gasp of surprise.

“...Ticia?” She said weakly, still under shock of what she was witnessing. The expression Nia had on her face… She recognised it. In fact, she only knew one person who had such an expression…

No way… But… Rika seemed in denial of something, and her face paled. Each time she took a glance at Nia, her old subordinate’s face overlapped. It was a perfect match.

Just WHO are these girls… She asked herself, focusing on what Nia was doing as her mind raced to find a solution that made sense to her. She did not even remark the questioning stare that came from right next to her.

 

***

 

Lidia could not hide her shock, did she hear things right? This woman called out her mother’s name, no? Perhaps… Maybe they knew each other? If so, was she a friend, or an enemy…

Thinking back, she once had been into her mother’s room. She remembered seeing a gray uniform put into light near the clothe’s closet, as if enshrined. She did not remember in detail as she did not pay much attention to it, but the colors were the same as the ones Rika’s uniform had.

Then another thing popped out in her mind, something that Ticinia had actually brought up, actually…

‘Big sis mentioned one time that she had a ‘superior’!’

‘Are you talking about the report you made some time ago about the lullaby?’

‘Yes! That one! Maybe you will meet her?’

“Haha…” Lidia could not help but let out a small laugh of disbelief. Did she really just meet the person her little sister had been the most curious about? Even if she tried to deny it, various elements stuck together as evidence, and one of the most obvious was when she fought against Rika…

At that time, Rika had definitely said to her…

‘...I recognise some of those moves… Who taught you that, girl?’

She's my mom’s old superior! Lidia concluded, and her whole vision of the person called Rika Doesson changed from a ‘friendly person’ to ‘mom’s friend’ in her mind. After all, her mom had always recollected that person with a sad look, recalling good times, so she could not be a stranger, right? Also, Rika reacted weirdly when she first met them, and said that they reminded her of somebody. there definitely was a link…

I can trust her then! Lidia was about to call out, but then, she stopped.

Wait a minute, why is she not with mom in the first place? She asked herself, this was weird, right? Ticia was part of Rika’s brigade, right? Why was Rika’s brigade part of the bad guys who were attacking her home? She would need to investigate a bit before telling anything about her mom to Rika…

Let’s proceed with caution… She decided. Better safe than sorry.

Ticia had taught her and her sisters about this code she had just seen on the reports, so all she had left to do was what she knew best to do. Sneaking around.

Tonight, I’ll search the files of this brigade. She declared to herself, motivated to find the end of this story, and refocused on looking over at what her sister was doing.

…But strangely enough, she could not stop sending glances over to Rika, as if she was attracted to the woman.

She’s so cool… She ended up thinking to herself as she looked at the woman’s figure, standing straight. What appeared to be scary scars now seemed like heroic distinctions in her eyes… Nonono! What am I thinking!? She shook her head strongly, blushing. Right now, she was thinking it would have been nice to have this person as her commander.

No! Mommy is MY ‘leader’! She reminded herself. Ticia would always be her mother, and she would follow her mother’s words. She was her model, a strong, independent woman who could beat her in stealth, yet also spoil her rightful mother!

I’m not giving that right to anybody else! Never! She declared. But then, she began to compare both Ticia and Rika. If you compared everything except their personalities, weren’t they the same?

Besides, Rika had also beaten her in a fight, so she was also skilled in the art of war…

An imaginary scale formed in Lidia’s mind, on one side was Ticia, her mother, and on the other was Rika, the cool officer who was hiding them right now…

Both parties were at equality if alone, but then she though of something.

Mom is the perfect soldier…The scale weighed in Ticia’s favor.

B-but, Rika’s higher in grade… It came back to the middle.

Only mom can spoil me the way I like! She sliced in Ticia's favor, the scale tipped again in Ticia’s favor.

But I like Miss Rika’s cool demeanor…

…The battle continued in Lidia’s mind, going over silliest things.

M-mom has bigger breasts!

B-but Miss Rika’s taller!

Ugh, But mom also has the same eyes as me!

Yeah, but deep blue is also beautiful!

Lidia was struggling, but the match came to an end with only one factor.

As long as I stay with mom, then I can have my fill of Ticinium!

Ticinia popped out in Ticia’s arms, and the scale suddenly weighed strongly over to her mother’s side!

Yes, how could I ever betray mom (and Ticinia), I shall always stay loyal to mom!

The debate was closed, and Lidia ended this stupid struggle of hers. Now she had decisively sliced who she loved (?) the most.

She watched on as Nia was nearly finished with whatever she was doing, Lidia had completely forgotten at this point.

She did not realize however, that she was standing closer to Rika now, and that her gaze softened when she thought about her.

…The scale was slowly, very slowly, re-equilibrating itself…