VALKYRIE SMASH

The door Nine pulled Sam towards led outside, which he found somewhat surprising and after a moment of thought he soon realized what the blond Valkyrie intended to show him.

Following the outer wall of the base they arrived at one of the corners where a small garden was build. A number of flower beds came into sight, each having different colors.

"Are you the one who's planted these, Nine?" Sam asked.

"Yes." Nine said with a proud smile. "It takes a lot of effort, but it's incredibly fun."

The Valkyrie then went of to describe some of the flowers and how difficult they are to take care of. There is the Amaryllis belladonna, known as the jersey lily, the gazania which is called the African daisies. There is the Lily of the Nile, some Gazania rigens as well as sun flowers.

"You're really knowledgeable about flowers, huh?" Sam asked, honestly impressed.

"Pretty, aren't they?" Nine said, her cheeks a little red.

"Indeed."

With how boring things tend to get around the forty sixth base, some of the soldiers took farming and gardening as a hobby as well. The tools and seeds were scavenged from the ruins of a nearby city, some of which ended up in Nine's possession after she made a formal request to the commander.

"It's good to see that you have a hobby to keep you occupied." Sam said with a nod, a fake smile plastered on his face. "Though I wonder why you would feel the need to sneak around in this case."

He was referring to the time he met her in the library. Nine averted her gaze, looking somewhat nervous. After a couple of seconds she gave the best excuse she could come up with.

"Even with this I still end up with a lot of free time! There is a limit to what I can do here, and if I expand the garden it will become too much to take care of!"

"You are supposed to be on standby in case an enemy attacks, how you feel about it is irrelevant." Sam said. "I don't need to explain why you must avoid wondering around the base, right?"

"You say that, but!" Turning away, the blond Valkyrie puffed her cheeks. "You invited Three for breakfast yesterday. Why is it okay for her to go there while we are prohibited?"

"There is a difference…" Sam let out an exasperated sigh. "You can't just wonder around on your own. We don't know what problems that might cause so it's for the better if you limit yourselves to your quarters."

"Doctor."

Turning around Sam saw that Zero Five was looking at him with knitted brows.

"I also think that it is unfair for Three to receive special treatment."

The young Valkyrie had backed away a few steps pretending that she had nothing to do with the matter.
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"Alright, alright, I get it already." What started as a kind gesture to make a little girl feel better had unexpectedly turned into an annoyance.

Sam could only curse himself for not being careful enough about it. The two were created to be virtual lovers, and with Sam being their master it was only inevitable that they would feel jealousy if he treated another woman better than them.

Now that I think about it, wouldn't they cause some problems if they find out about my relationship with Shizuru and Alice?

Suddenly the problem sounded way worse giving him another reason to prohibit them from wondering around freely.

"To make things fair I'll invite you two at some point." Sam said, looking at Nine then Zero Five. "Only once though, and you have to promise not to cause any trouble."

"Understood." Zero Five answered with a nod.

"Doctar is really nice." Said Nine, her gentle smile returning.

"Hey!" Zero Three called.

When the others turned to look at her she seemed to freeze for a second before averting her gaze and saying.

"I want to go too."

"You already had your turn, Zero three." Sam said, feeling the growing pain.

"But… but… I really liked it there." The young Valkyrie said, her gaze cast down. "And… I want to see Shizuru again…"

"Shizuru?" Nine asked, causing Sam to slap his facepalm himself.

"She's the old man's coworker. I was hoping we could become friends."

"A she, huh…" Nine turned to Sam with, her smile unchanging despite the heavy air surrounding her. "Does Doctor have a lot of female acquaintances?"

"Alright then!" Sam clapped his hands pretending he didn't hear Nine's question. "We don't have much time so let's continue on with the tour!"

As if to confirm his previous guess, both Five and Nine showed signs of jealousy at the mention of another woman, just like how a wife would react when her husband mentions a female coworker he's getting along with.

Hey, Odin, did you really have to go this far? Sam though to himself, walking toward the door and ignoring the calls coming from behind him.

The next room they went to was one he never expected to see in the Valkyries' quarters, a fully equipped gym.

"I tend to spend a lot of time here." Zero Five said.
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"Wait, really?" Sam asked, looking way more surprised than when he saw the garden.

"Yes. Working out feels good, even if it doesn't have the same effect it as when humans do it."

The Valkyries are basically robots so no matter how much they train their bodies nothing will change, however it seems that they have been programmed to feel good about exercising, just like how a normal human would.

Odin really didn't leave any detail out.

"Speaking of training." Zero Three spoke, looking at Sam with a smirk. "You look like you need some exercise yourself, old man. Compared to the other male soldiers you're way too skinny."

"Well, I'm a noncombatant." Sam replied. "But I guess you have a point."

"Eh? Really?" The young Valkyrie seemed taken aback by Sam agreeing with her remark.

The truth is that he had neglected his physical training after graduating from university, focusing most of his time on his research. Seeing that things had slowed down for various reasons he believed that it would be for the better if he dedicated some time to get back in shape.

"I might stop by in the morning from now on." He said, looking over the equipment.

"Then let's work out together from now on!" Zero Five exclaimed, a rare smile appearing on her face.

"Y-you can always stop by the pool as well!" Zero Three said, crossing her arms with a proud smile. "Swimming is an all rounded activity that-"

She then went on to list the benefits of swimming and why it's one of the greatest workouts. Listening to her one would forget that she isn't a human and none of those mattered to her. In conclusion Zero Three really loves swimming and as long as she is having fun with it nothing else mattered.

Next the group visited the play room. It was a recreational space with multiple ping pong and pool tables as well as some arcade games, TVs and consoles.

"Yeah we rarely ever come here." Zero Three commented, surprising Sam once more.

Apparently none of them found the stuff there interesting and would rather do other things. That made him wonder if their special character traits prevented them from being interested.

That was the last room on the first floor so they moved on to the second one where the bedroom are. The residence has quite a few in case more Valkyries were allocated to the forty sixth base, however at the moment only three were occupied.

"This is my room!" Zero Three spread her arms, exclaiming with a huge smile.

Though it wasn't as big as Sam's chamber, it still felt far too big for a one person room. It had no windows for some reason which made it feel rather stuffy. That said, it seems the young Valkyrie spared no effort in decorating it. The walls had posters of female athletes, mostly swimmers. Her bed was neatly organized with multiple plushies on it, some of which were penguins. It also had a desk with notebooks and study materials on it. When Sam asked he found out that Zero Thee has been following the curriculum of a standard first year high school for the past year or so.

As if he had yet to be faced with such situation, Sam once again wondered why a robot would feel the need to do something such as studying. But then he realized that the young Valkyrie was just acting the way someone her age would act. If she was a real girl she would've been in high school right now, instead she is forced to face the horrors humans are too weak to face.

Holding one of the notebooks in his hands, Sam felt grateful for the fact that the Valkyries are nothing more than software loaded into an intricately created shell. If that wasn't the case, he didn't know how he would feel about sending a young girl to the battlefield while everyone else hides from the enemies they're supposed to face. The kind of psychological damage those battles inflict is too much for battle hardened soldiers to deal with. Thankfully being a human creation made their emotions much easier to control, otherwise the Valkyries would've gone insane long ago.

No… Sam thought, seeing the brown haired girl smiling at him. That doesn't make it any less despicable….