Chapter 129: Family Problems

"...What do you want? It’s been years since you actually cared about me. At most, you send me generic prerecorded messages..." Tanya says in an extremely irritated voice. She received a call from her real parents, but she isn’t happy about it. They had sent her a notice beforehand saying they would call to talk about her position in the army and her rank.

What irritated her was that her parents never showed up, and now they had told her to make herself available for a mere phone call, not even bothering to show up in person to congratulate her. That leaves her furious and hurt by all of them.

"...Daughter, you don’t need to be so hard on them..." Neo says to Tanya, who ignores her. Even on the television in her room, there isn’t even an image of them. Her parents didn’t even want to appear on screen, leaving only their audio.

"Is that how you talk to your parents, Tanya? Your mother will be hurt if you continue being so disrespectful." Her father speaks in an irritated voice, angry at his daughter’s lack of manners.

"You’re not here, so you think you can complain about my manners now? If you think they’re so bad, you should’ve been here to teach me how to behave properly instead of leaving a robot to take care of me! Just tell me what you want already. I’m busy. I had to skip today just because you wanted to say some bullshit to me."

"Daughter, watch your tone when you speak to me! Don’t use vulgar language like the riffraff who live on the streets." Her father raises his voice upon hearing the way his daughter speaks to him.

’At least the people who live on the streets are better than you. Professor Zenith is proof of that.’ Knowing that Zenith came from the streets and rose to the top, Tanya doesn’t disrespect ordinary people like her parents do. She might have done that before meeting Zenith, but now that she respects Zenith, she has changed a lot.

"All right, let’s get to the point. After all, time shouldn’t be wasted on trivial things. We heard that you’re going to graduate, and all that’s left now is to finish the last month and—"

"It’s not just one month left...you don’t even know when I’m graduating...what a great father you are." Tanya interrupts him sarcastically, pointing out that her father doesn’t even know when she will actually graduate, showing just how "great" his interest in her is.

"Don’t interrupt me again, Tanya."

"Or what? You’re going to discipline me? You could at least show up here to do that. Of course, it would be funny watching an absent father like you try to discipline me. What right do you have to punish me for anything? Besides, I’m already an adult. You don’t control me anymore."

"Stop being so rebellious, Tanya. We’re here for more than just listening to your arrogant criticism. We came to offer you some help."

"...Help? And what kind of help can you give me?" Despite refusing to admit it, Tanya still has some hope that they might actually pay attention to her, that they might be trying to get closer to her after all these years.

"Yes. We want to offer you help regarding your role in the army after you graduate. We can put you in a higher position, one worthy of our family." Tanya looks at the screen doubtfully.

"Seriously? You’ll do that? And why would you do it?"

"Yes, we can put you in a higher position than the one you currently have. We can place you in a Vice-Commander position, and with a little more time, move you up to Commander afterward." When they tell Tanya this, she is initially excited.

Until she remembers Zenith’s words. She remains silent for a few seconds while her father explains how it would work. That is when she realizes she is only being used.

"...And what if I don’t want that position? You don’t even know what I actually want..." Tanya tests him, trying to see whether they are really offering this help as a gift or whether they are trying to use her.

"What are you talking about, you ungrateful brat?! We’re offering you a good starting position! You won’t have to start with the riffraff at the bottom! You’ll have initial privileges and room to become a Commander within one or two years! In five years, you could really be in a position of value." The contempt in her father’s tone makes her bite her lips.

’A position of value?! So he thinks anything below Commander is worthless...’ She bites her lips hard, filled with rage at her father’s blatant contempt for so many people when he doesn’t even do anything to help with the island’s security.

"...Then you should know that I don’t want this shit! I can get there on my own. I’ve never needed you for anything, and I won’t need you now!" She says angrily to her father.

"Are you seriously saying that? You’re going to refuse our help? You’d rather start at the bottom?! Have you forgotten whose house you live in?! And who Neo belongs to?"

"Whatever, you stupid old man. I don’t need this house. I’m leaving it, and you can keep that stupid robot that tries to be my mother. She doesn’t even have emotions. She’s just a fake old tin can. I never cared about Neo!! You think she’s a good substitute for a child?!" Tanya says this more out of hurt, despite genuinely caring about Neo.

"Do you hear the nonsense you’re spewing, Tanya?! You’d rather live on the streets than accept your father’s help?!"

"You’re not helping, you senile old man. You just realized I’m not the academy screw-up who needed a private room anymore, and now you want to use me!! Well, you should know that I’m not going to be your pawn or whatever the hell you need me to be, you old fuck."

"I’ll take care of my own life myself. I’ll start out like Kaira and rise on my own, with or without you. You never actually helped me with anything. You did nothing more than the bare minimum by giving a daughter you chose to have a roof over her head and food!"

"If you think doing the bare minimum as a father is enough to give you the right to order me around, then think again. You have no rights over me!"

"You want to be disowned, Tanya?! Fine, then I’ll take this house out of your name and cut off all the financial support I’ve ever given you! You’re homeless now, you ungrateful brat."

"...PERFECT! I DON’T NEED THIS PLACE!" Tanya releases a massive wave of heat, melting the entire house except for the room she is in, showing far greater control over her power than she had when Zenith first became her teacher.

"What was that sound?! Did you destroy my house?! Do you want to be arrested?"

"Do whatever you want. Threatening me with prison only shows how little you care about me. This house is still in my name, so I have the right to destroy it if I want to, even if you can revoke that right. Now keep these ruins and this old scorched piece of land. We’re done. You’re not my father anymore."

"And keep that old tin can called Neo too, since you wanted to threaten me by bringing her up. Do you really think I’m going to feel any empathy for that scrap or beg for her? Call me again and you’re the one who’s going to have problems!!"

"You’re threatening me now?! Have you forgotten who I am, Tanya?!"

"And you, old man, have you forgotten who I AM?! I can obliterate your house from here if I want to!! There isn’t a damn amount of money in this world that could stop me if I decided to take you out! Watch what you say!!! If I find out you’re interfering with my life, influencing my military career, or trying to use me, I’ll turn more than just your house to ashes!"

"...You rebellious psychopath! That’s why we never wanted to keep you!"

"You didn’t want to keep me because you’re a coward!! You were the one who wanted to put that damn core inside me, and then you chickened out when I became far more dangerous than the showpiece you wanted to brag about!"

"Look—" Before Tanya’s father can say anything else, she completely destroys the communicator in the television, which was already starting to malfunction because of the heat in the room. Neo stays quiet, watching Tanya, and then begins to speak.

"Daughter—"

"Don’t call me daughter, Neo. I hate it when you call me daughter when you know I’m stressed." Tanya opens the door to her room. Everything outside the room is nothing but ash and melted metal.

’Great...now I have to find somewhere to stay...I wonder if the academy dorms are available?...’ She grabs her phone, but sees that the battery is dead, so she simply bites her lips and starts leaving the property.

"..." Neo remains standing there without following her, but soon receives a notification in her internal system. Her system is ordering her to return to her true owner, showing that the moment he got the chance, Tanya’s father really did take Neo away from her.

"...I guess Professor Zenith would call me an idiot...I could’ve used my annoying old man to get a head start in the army...but I don’t want to owe that piece of trash anything..." Tanya would rather start from where she is than owe anything to her parents.

"Now I’m homeless and broke...I guess even if I didn’t want to be part of the army, I wouldn’t have much choice...good thing I want this..." At first, when Tanya entered the academy, she didn’t want to attend it or join the army. She hated the idea.

But after seeing how Zenith acts, the things Zenith does and has done, and how hard she worked for everyone, Tanya ended up changing her mind, realizing that there is more to the army than just being a weapon.

"I think it’s better not to tell the professor...I’ll just ask Principal Astrid for a place to stay in the dorms...I can eat at the academy cafeteria too..."