Sora looked around the airtram station. She had never seen anything so overblown and elaborate. The first thing that came to her mind when she saw the marble flooring, gold accents, and portraits was how much money it cost to make this place. Many of the other students were looking around at the portraits, reading the little captions at the bottom.
The airtram station in Hirukaze was a concrete building that was covered in graffiti and smelled of piss. It was hard to believe that two completely different places were only an airtram ride away from each other.
"Look at these portraits," Usagi said, pointing to a bunch of stuffy old animari and mahonin with stern faces. "These are apparently the people who funded the project. Aoiya was established as a city in Solar Year 27 as Lord Hirotaka Akukami took over the world of Atheria after the Red Rebellion."
Though more written, Usagi stopped reading, her nose scrunched up in disgust. She ignored the rest of the stuffy old men portraits and came to a division in the airtram station path. There was a sign that pointed to the left for arrivals, to the right for departures, and straight ahead for the exit. Usagi waited for them to catch up.
As Sora passed the pictures of the old men, she felt like their eyes were following her as if to say "You're too poor for a place like this." She followed Taiyo, Arashi, and Usagi towards the exit.
"Hey, this is where the famous goddesses and kasui are," Usagi said, pointing to a portrait of a woman with long red hair and grayish-green eyes like jade. Everyone recognized this woman, Laura Falon-Remmington, a manipulator of water and the presiding Deva goddess for Moraa for a number of years until she was killed in a brutal pirate hijacking.
Next to her was Laura's daughter, Celesta, who took over the role as Deva goddess. The young woman had curly red hair, gray eyes, and very light freckles on her face. The portrait looked fairly new, as if whoever was in charge grudgingly put it up there. Celesta caused quite the scandal because she wasn't fully trained and was married and pregnant before the designated time slot determined by the World Goddess Federation.
There were other goddess and noteable kasui that Sora more or less recognized, but didn't care to know more about. Once they had made it to the surface, Sasuke had told the group to meet at the tram station by 8:30. He wasn't going to wait for anybody who was late. The group split up in different directions.
"I'm hungry," Takun bellowed out, his deep baritone echoing down the hallway. "We should eat."
"Wait a minute," Sasuke said. "None of us can afford to eat in Aoiya."
Takun took several metallic plastic squares from his pocket and fanned them out like a deck of cards. "Pick a card, any card."
Sasuke picked one out and the other students gathered around to look at it.
"It's so shiny, " Usagi said.
"What is this?" Sasuke asked.
"It's a credit card imported from Koudo." There was a smug look on Takun's face.
"Hey, look at that little world on it," Sirod said pointing to a little globe in the corner. "It moves when you turn it." The group "ooohed" more enthusiatically than they had when Sasuke was giving them the tour of the countryside. Sasuke moved it back and forth with a child like fascination before handing it back to Takun.
"Are you sure we can pay with these?"
"Yeah, you just swipe it and get stuff," Takun said.
"I guess we'll go eat then," Sasuke said.
The restaurant they found was definitely better than the ones in Hirukaze, but Sora could tell it was low class in a place like Aoiya. Despite that, the people gave them all weird looks when they walked in, just like the portraits in the airtram hallway. The greeter seemed to recognize Takun, but looked at rest of the group with disdain. Sora decided that she didn't like Aoiya.
Even though it seemed at the lower end of the Aoiya restaurant hierarchy, it was still packed with people.
"Hey there, Chief," a very rotund man with white cat ears waved them in. "Long time, no see."
Sora noticed that Takun had relaxed a little, she didn't even realize that he was tense until he slouched a bit and stopped hunching his shoulders.
"Same here."
"You got a big group," the man said, his accent was thick and gruff, like he had grown up in the streets of Crescendo.
"Yeah, I got a credit card too," Takun said, whipping out the one with the holographic globe and handing it to the cat man. They talked for a bit while the man swiped his card. Sora couldn't figure out why Takun had chosen this place. Sasuke and Sirod looked pleased though, so she supposed she could trust their judgment.
"Sit anywhere you'd like."
Takun, Sirod, and Sasuke didn't sit anywhere, but grabbed a few plates and went to another area around the corner. Sora and her friends followed and realized that they were at an all-you-can-eat-buffet. She was a little disappointed that they didn't get to eat at a more upscale place since they were in Aoiya after all, but she felt comfortable with a setting that she was already familiar with.
She grabbed a plate and tried to decide what to get.
"Hey," Takun whispered in her ear, causing it to twitch involuntarily. Sora felt a chill run up her spine. "Sit next to me, okay? We need to talk."
"What if I don't want to talk?" Sora said, moving down the row and getting a serving of macaroni and cheese, roasted pheasant leg, and fried shrimp.
"It wasn't an option," he said coolly before piling his plate with fried food.
"What did he say to you?" Arashi asked, standing on the other side of the buffet line.
"He wants to talk," Sora stated. Arashi's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
"It seems that everybody wants to talk, but nobody wants to listen," Taiyo said, giving a dark look at Sasuke, who was at the salad bar with a plate overflowing with pineapples. He glanced up at her, then feeling everyone's eyes on him, turned on his heel and walked away towards the teriyaki chicken.
Sora decided that her plate was full after getting a small salad and a bowl of wonton soup. She glanced around to see how much everyone had their own plates. It's not that she could put it back or anything, but she didn't want to seem like a pig. Sasuke and Sirod had more than the other girls, who seemed to be holding back as well.
Takun was sitting in a dimly lit booth. He waved her over.
"Well, I'll go see what he wants," Sora said to her friends. "If I don't come back..."
"I'm taking your dorm room," Taiyo stated.
"And I'll be taking that shirt you have on," Arashi said. "If Takun hasn't taken it off already." She winked.
"We'll be sitting over there if you need us," She added. "If we had portalphones, I'd give you a ring and saw that there was some type of emergency or something just in case it started getting awkward."
Sora smiled at the fact that these people that she had only met today were willing to save
her in times of trouble.
"I should be all right," Sora said. "I'll see you guys later."
Sora walked down the aisles to where Takun was exuberantly wolfing down his meal. She sat down and he stopped in mid chew, while both of them pondered over what to say.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sora asked, daintily eating her macaroni and cheese noodle by noodle.
"I think you know," he said, looking at his half empty plate.
The silence was unnerving.
"Why did you leave?" Sora asked, deciding not to skirt around the issue. If they both had done it, it would have been an endless tango of half answered questions and half told answers. She wasn't in the mood for it.
"I left because I had to," he said. She gave him a look urging him to elaborate. "I couldn't stay in that house. Mayura hated me for getting the company and I don't blame her---not for that."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, if my husband's bastard son got the company I thought I was supposed to get, I'd be mad too," Takun said. "She probably would have killed me if she thought she could get away with it."
"Why didn't you say good-bye?"
"I'm sorry about that," he said sincerely. "So many things were going on at once, I just had to get out."
"I understand," she said. She truly did know what it felt like to lose everything. "You know you could have talked to me. I thought that we understood that part about each other."
"I know, I just...," he was searching for words.
"Didn't want me to hold you back?" Sora filled in.
"It wasn't like that," Takun said. "I mean, Kuroshiro mansion was a safer environment than where I was living. Something could have happened to you out there and I'd have to blame myself. I can't live with anymore blame."
"Ryo's my cousin," Sora said. "I went to go live with him anyway."
"That was after he got his act together," Takun stated. "I mean, I was fifteen, you were only thirteen. Do you know what could have happened to you out there?"
Sora knew. She ran the risk of getting kidnapped and sold on the street. She knew that some people were sick enough to pay extra money for a child under the age of consent. Justice never came for those children, their spirits crushed into a life of learned helplessness.
The sad part of her situation was that she didn't think Ryo would have done anything to protect her at that point. He was too drunk, too drugged up, and too desperate to have done anything. He might have even sold her out just to get money for another fix. He was better now though. She was glad for that.
"So you know why I had to leave?"
"You should have said good-bye," Sora said. "You could have been dead and I wouldn't have known it. I was scared for you."
"You were?"
"Why wouldn't I be? You were my best friend," Sora said.
"Were." There was such a finality in his voice. Sora nodded.
"I couldn't wait around forever," she added. "You didn't wait for me."
His lips turned up into a sardonic smile. "I couldn't wait for you, no matter how much I wanted to. After I got kicked out of the house, I had to take care of myself. That made me a different person, not really a better one, but different all the same."
"That doesn't mean we can't be friends," Sora suggested.
"We could never get things back to the way they were, could we?"
They were buddies, they used to play together and spy on people. They used to share ice cream right out of the tub and share the same bed. Sora blushed at what that implied, even though they didn't do anything.
"I don't think so," she said. "But we're different people now and I guess our friendship would have evolved on a different level."
"Like you being my girlfriend?" There was a twinge of hope in his voice.
"No, not like that," Sora said. "Not now at least. Let's just start as friends and try to catch up."
He smiled. "Well, you look nice...good. Filled out in all the right places," he said, the last part muttered under his breath. She blushed anyway. He looked more exotic than she remembered him with that light bronze complexion and those stormy grey blue eyes.
"You look...well-fed," she said. His physical build was more like those born in Azpa; hearty, thick magical creatures who were labored the land for centuries. In Rashia, where nearly everyone was moderately skinny and svelte, he stood out. Especially in Aoiya, where superficiality was taken to the extreme.
"Yeah, thanks," he said. "How's the family?"
"Ryo's good, he's working on his fashion line." That statement meant nothing as Ryo's fashion line seemed to be at a standstill. "Giselle's fine. The kids are okay. Jake's ten now and Vivi's four or something. Everyone's okay."
"That's good," he looked at his empty plate. "I'll be back."
"All right," Sora said. Sora saw Arashi, Usagi, and Taiyo approaching her table.
"So how's it going? Do we need to call security?" Arashi asked.
Sora glanced at Takun, who was mulling over desserts.
"It's going okay," Sora said. "He's really nice at the moment. So, have you asked for any donations?"
"Yeah, I got three hundred royale so far from the owner. He said it was a good idea and if I needed a place to work or anything, I can use the back room," Arashi said.
"Are you sure that I don't need to call security for you?" Sora asked. Arashi smiled.
"His wife is a mizukasui, so the attacks hit close to home," Usagi filled in. "We haven't actually asked anyone in the restaurant yet, but we might go around door to door."
"I'd ask you if you want to come," Arashi trailed off. "But it looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do."
"Sasuke wants to speak to me," Taiyo said. "I don't think I'll be joining you tonight."
"That's okay. I think the better thing to do is hit up people on Friends and Family Day tomorrow. They might be more willing to give if their families were watching," Arashi said.
"Good strategy," Sora stated.
"Well, have a good evening," Usagi said. "We'll see you at the airtram station at 8:30."
"Tell Takun thanks for paying," Arashi added in. Sora nodded and waved good-bye as they headed over to the buffet area.
"You're not getting another plate?" Takun asked, sitting down with three full plates of dessert as if he hadn't eaten anything before.
"I'm full," Sora said. "But I did save room for dessert. I'll be back."
Sora went up to the dessert area and looked over the array of cookies and macaroons. Sasuke was there as well, grabbing a pineapple and coconut macaroon and a iridela-flavored frozen yogurt that he topped with generous amounts of hot fudge and caramel topping.
"If Takun is bothering you, let me know," Sasuke whispered, giving a sharp look to the guy in question. Takun's ears had flicked in their direction and Sora could tell that he was trying his best not to turn around.
"It's nothing I can't handle," Sora said, glancing to see if Takun had a reaction. She was glad he was sitting with his back to them.
"Good," Sasuke said. "You're a smart girl, but if he does ever go too far, talk to me, I'll straighten him out."
"Thanks," she replied, not sure what else to say. Sasuke glanced at Takun again.
"No problem." Sasuke grabbed a few more macaroons of various flavors and joined Sirod at their table.
Sora grabbed a white chocolate and coconut cookie and mango frozen yogurt topped with condensed milk and iridela jelly cubes.
"What did he say to you?" Takun asked, as if he didn't already hear. He had amazingly acute hearing, though it wasn't a surprise with his large ears.
"He said if you ever bother me, he'll straighten you out," Sora replied. She found Sasuke's statement humorous. Sasuke was tall and wiry while Takun was husky. The idea of Sasuke "straightening out" Takun was absurd, but Sasuke looked like he had seen a couple fights in his days on behalf of people who couldn't stand up for themselves.
"How do you even know Sasuke?" Sora asked. It was hard to think that the scrawny little hyperactive boy she knew was now this tall and husky young man.
"Our fathers were friends in school," Takun said. "They went to Cadenza for alchemist
training, before they only started teaching mahonin and gehin. We lost contact for a while, but then I heard that he got a scholarship here."
"Is that why you went to Aoikin?"
"No," he said. "This was the only place that really would accept me. I mean, I never went to school."
"Not even as a kid?"
A tragic smile graced his face. "I went to school for a while, until my mom got sick."
"When did you stop going to school?"
"When I was seven," he said. "Then when she died, my father and I were on the road a lot so I never went to school then."
Sora felt like she should have known this stuff, but when he was living in Kuroshiro mansion he only mentioned that his mother had died and nothing else. Sora knew when she was being taken from the orphanage that her job was to entertain the "young master" to make his transition to Kuroshiro mansion as smooth as possible. Delia, the head servant, had told her this when they drove home that day. She thought she was being pimped out to an old man, but she was relieved to find a shy little boy with white and black hair.
"So when Mayura put the stipulation that I needed a college degree to get my inheritance, I couldn't get in by merit or celebrity. I had to pay a hell of a lot of money to get to this school. Sasuke coming here was just a coincidence though."
He took a huge bite of food. "So, how was life after I left?"
"They had me look after Mimi," Sora stated. "And when she died, they sent me back."
"Sent you back where?"
"To the orphanage," Sora snapped as if he hadn't known. She didn't mean to snap, but she also didn't want to be reminded that she was just a commodity, something to be bought, traded, and returned. "I stayed there and worked, went to school for three years until Ryo got me. I basically lived with his wife and watched his kids while he was out getting wasted and getting high."
"I see," Takun said awkwardly. "Is he coming to the Friends and Family Day tomorrow?"
"Most likely," Sora said. Takun nodded, the expression on his face was a mix between embarrassment, satisfaction, and nervousness.
"Do you still have feelings for him?"
"I can't have feelings for someone who mistreats people," Takun said. "Ryo's not a nice guy nor will he ever be."
"He's changed, still mean, but he's trying," Sora said.
"We should go," Takun said, shoving his remaining food in his mouth and gulping down his drink. "I have something I want to show you."
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