The next day, the girl woke up when it was barely dawn. She ran out of the downloaded videos much earlier than she thought, so she had to go to sleep soon after the dinner.

Stretching out, she looked around the room. Whether because Rue's preparation moved out everything or her son only used the room to sleep, but it only had a window and a bed going for it. If it wasn't for her bag and the phone, it would look straight up empty.

Looking at the phone clock, that showed that the library would open in several hours, the girl turned to the window. The sun painted the yellow houses with gold and reflected of the white feathered birds that flew through the streets.

One of them landed on the outer windowsill and hopped to the corner, ignoring the girl even when she tapped the glass.

Given that they flew completely undisturbed, the city's sky was free from a wireless power grid. Unless most of the facilities were underground, it lent proof to Rue's claim that this place never knew war.

Shaking her head, the girl stood up to dress. The view was so peaceful that it made her feel like she didn't belong here.

-

Tsune spent her time watching the ancient architecture from the kitchen window as she munched on fresh apples. Fruit by fruit, she emptied an entire bag before an older woman walked in to prepare the breakfast. Unfortunately for her, it was Rue.

'You already had your fill, I see. Did you cook anything?'

Slightly embarrassed  Tsune shook her head. Not because she didn't touch the kitchen utensils but because the thoughts of preparing food for others have never occurred to her.

'I see. If you have no interest in learning, then run along to the library. I'll tell your mother when she wakes up. Honestly, her tales of always being up before others are hard to believe.'

Nodding, the girl slipped away to get the map. And then left the house.

-

She met a familiar face in the library. One who put a pillar of books on his table and was already far into the first one.

"What is he doing here."

Tsune stopped right after the entrance, after a step to the side so that she wouldn't obstruct other visitors. The boy in the casual black clothing didn't notice her yet, so she had time to think.

But that time went unused. She wanted neither stand here long enough to download a day's worth of content, nor leave without it. Besides, maybe she could ask him for an advice.

She sat at the desk near the boy, started all of her downloads, then turned to him.

'So, Hem, can you recommend me a book?'

The boy, who was about to flip the page, froze in place. The page started to tremble between his fingers but he didn't look her way. It was like he didn't want to meet her here.

If Eider was right about him staying in the hangar unless lured out, this was suspicious. Unless Eider was back to setting them up for dates. And she thought of a way that could tell her that.

'I missed my chance to get the card but this isn't your first time here, right? Can I borrow yours?'

The silence continued for almost a minute but Hem was the first to break it with a barely audible agreement. He took out his card, a blue rectangle from thick paper and a magnetized line, and stood up to offer it to her.

As she thought, it had a release date of yesterday. Meaning he came here soon after the team dispersed for the summer. Hem noticed her attention to the date and rushed to clear the misunderstanding. All of them at the same time.

'I'm here just to research. Mostly animals, because our robots are animals too. And I'm not here for the first time, so I can pick some books for you. If you want.'

"Awkward as ever."

Tsune mentally sighed as he continued to speak. Then again, him being naturally awkward was probably better than trying to follow a script. And she wasn't against his offer.

'Maybe about space exploration?'

'You are interested in space?'

Hem blurted out his question before he realized it and his face rapidly went through several expressions. First he wanted was to take his words back, then thought to turn them positive and finally decided that excuses were a bad idea.

As he went through the motions, the girl took a lock of her hair to show the green ends.

'At least one of my parents thinks so. Something historical about Venus, or maybe interplanetary flights, if you can.'

With a nod, her teammate left to be alone for a while and Tsune used the opportunity to look through his books.

On the first glance, the boy was telling the truth, the open book and the top of the stack really were about animals and their behavior.

But as she took the pillar apart, she found a book small-scale propulsion and batteries, another about autonomous orientation and control. They turned up the half forgotten memories of making drones to pilot them in arena battles.

'Do you like these books too?'

When Hem returned with several books, that he put on her desk, Tsune shrugged. She couldn't explain the real reason.

'I liked making toy robots for friendly arena battles. Then others grew bored and I quit.'

'But what about you? What are these for? I never heard about arena battles in the Academy or on the net.'

His hand flew up to scratch the back of his head.

'Ah, no. There are people who do that but I'm not one of the fans.'

He carefully went around her to pull the notebook from under the books. His finger moved around a schematic that took both pages as he stuttered to explain.

'I just want to make a... I want to make a device that would follow somebody like a pet. As good... No, at least close to good.'

Seeing his composure melt figuratively, and literally if she looked at his posture, Tsune took pity on him. If her close presence was that difficult for him, it was high time to give him some room.

She returned to her desk, straightened the shirt covering the top of her dress, and opened the book about history of space exploration.

-

An hour later, Tsune had to make a decision. She was interested in reading more about the First Interplanetary Phase that terraformed Mars. It used a new spaceship drive technology to put tens of thousands of colonists there in the span of days. And she was about to start the timeline of its successor Phase.

But to keep reading, she would have to take them home and ask Rue to return them. Or keep reading here and rely on Lady Red to bring her for the Central Institute appointment. And in the end, the wish for immediate gratification won.

The girl frowned when she read that the focus of Second was development of first interplanetary drives. She turned back to the First to recheck and, curiously enough, the discrepancy remained.

She was all but finished with Second, that settled Venus and Jupiter bases before the efforts were cut short by mechamonster appearance, when an unknown female voice called her from the entrance.

'Tsune Red, are you here?'

Looking up, the blonde saw an unknown woman. She was taller and older, but her thin figure made her look only several years older. And her casual clothes had an armband with the Water sign of the Zodiac team.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

With a sigh, Tsune closed the book and left them on the desk. If the pilot of their escort mech was here, then it was probably urgent.

'I'm coming.'

Her reply caught attention from other visitors, who also realized who the visitor was. And for a second, she thought she understood Rue's dislike of the net better, because their jealous stares followed her all the way to the exit. There was no way those teens cared about this serene city enough to stay.

-

As they walked through the park that surrounded the library, Tsune used the opportunity to ask. She trusted her mother's word, but hearing it from somebody with combat experience was different.

'I heard in the museum that mechs can be controlled with crystals. And it feels like you are moving your body.'

The woman gave her a sharp look and answered in a dry tone.

'My advice: Don't even think about it. Those are the most twisted things I have ever seen.'

'But the father of one of your team mates used one.'

'You know that? Then you also know that it's rare to find anyone who would be even close to the *Monster*.'

Her voice suddenly changed to a normal one.

'How is he, by the way?'

'Staying in a rundown hangar that he turned into a museum, I think.'

The woman's sigh of relief contrasted with the girl's sad tone, so Tsune changed the topic to keep herself from arguing in his defense.

'So, where are we going?'

'Central Institute.'

'By the way, you are about to start live missions, right? Did they say that you'll need to be self sufficient and keep the freedom of choice in return?'

The blonde nodded, unsure where the Water pilot was going with this.

'The lessons put it more like a tradition,'

'Well, the choose everything by yourself part lasts only until Command, or one of the important pilots tells you otherwise. Then you'll be wasting several days of your time.'

'But aren't you rewarded for this?'

The woman shook her head in response.

'That reward is not nearly enough to replace our costs.'

'I mean, would you ever pay to watch a mission where the mech stood still for several days? The best we could do with this is to make a new background animation.'

"I see. Maybe if there was bonus material though, then I'd buy it."

Tsune recalled that Aery practiced her singing to advertise their team and cringed at the thought of helping with that.

Soon they exited the park and the girl saw an automated taxi, just like in her home city.

'Why is this here?'

The woman got into the vehicle and opened the door for the girl.

'Because I don't trust manual. Get in.'

-

Upon arrival, the pilot left without even a wave, and Tsune went to the familiar hall.

To her surprise, the doors to the examination room were open wide and quite a lot of chatter and noise was coming from within. Peeking inside, she saw that it was a lot more busy than before. At least ten people were either working with equipment deployed on the floor and near the walls, or walked around to make sure that everything was connected.

One of them, the scientist she saw before, noticed the girl and welcomed her in. Thinking he would just hand her some papers and be done with, Tsune walked in.

'Young Red, everything is almost ready for the second test.'

'Second test?'

The girl looked around again and this time, the amount of equipment and people impressed her far further. Even if she didn't understand their purpose, they looked like they would make this already long day a lot longer.

'Yes. Now if you just lay in the chair like before. You don't need to breathe the gas, we will induce the sleep from range.'

Subtly shrugging as she resigned herself to going through whatever they had in store. The chair was unchanged, except for the metal tray on the side that remained empty.

-

She didn't know when it happened, perhaps as she blinked, but the room around her has changed. She was alone among the wealth of equipment and the door was closed. And a quartz looking crystal now lay on the chair tray.

At first she didn't pay any mind to the transparent rock, thinking that it was yet another idle instrument. But then she realized that she had seen it.

Taking it for a closer look, the girl turned it around. It had an irregular flat shape and judging by the cracks,  several pieces near the sharper end were forcefully chipped off. It really was the same piece as before.

She flipped it back for an easier hold and stood up. It was time to investigate this dream.

Walking around the equipment, Tsune looked out of the window. Unlike the previous dream, that showed her memories through the cave walls, she could see the regular city life through regular clear glass.

"Should I try to break it?"

The blonde touched the glass with the sharp end of the crystal and moved around, trying to understand how to break it better. But even if she stood on the side, covered by the wall, her hand would still get showered by glass fragments.

And, if she thought about it, the previous dream ended not after being showered with crystal fragments, but after she found an exit and closed her eyes. There was no need to test how realistic this dream was.

She walked along the walls, trying to see if there were any hints, but the only crack she found was between the door and the doorway. Looking through it, she saw an empty hallway and a strip of metal that kept it close, a latch. But the crystal piece was too thick to reach it.

The hint to transform it again was clear, but the normal surroundings made it harder to take this idea seriously.

"But that's probably the point, right?"

Eventually, the girl managed to concentrate and mentally overlay an imagine of a long thin stick on the crystal in her hand.

A minute has passed and Tsune started to feel silly for even trying this. She stood before the door, trying to change an item with will, imagination and the power of her stare. But she persevered.

Without warning, the image of the crystal in her hand started to blur. It shimmered, as if she looked at it through a heated air lens, but the distortions of shape and details were with a purpose. The visual changes that made it look thinner or longer remained, and according to her sense of touch, they became real.

She didn't know for how long she was watching, but after enough transformations, the distortions stopped. And she was left her with a thin stick. She removed the latch, opened the door and closed her eyes.

-

Tsune opened her eyes and just like she hoped, she was no longer asleep. The unchanged crystal remained on the tray and the familiar scientist stood nearby, offering his help to stand up.

'This attempt was a success. Young Red, do not forget to receive the return flight ticket at the reception.'

Feeling woozy, the girl accepted his help. Giving the crystal piece another look, she left the room.

Outside she saw that her mother was already waiting for her with a car and gladly fell into her seat. Soon, she was asleep.