-

Tsune read page after page until the text blurred together and lost even the little sense it had. The girl shut the book and rubbed her eyes, while the words reverberated in her mind like a feverish song.

She threw the book near the stack that barely halved over the last two weeks. Then laid back to listen to the rain outside. After a minute, turned to the side. Turned again, this time to fish out a crumpled reading list from under back.

Finally, she left the room.

Outside, a familiar taxi welcomed her with a honk. With the river fed by the constant rain, the riverbank cars fished for clients on their street. She waved it away, and leaned the umbrella back for the cool wind to make the humidity bearable.

-

With the market street empty, the square flooded and the hangar closed, the temple looked abandoned. But as soon as she approached the main building, Rei slid open the door.

With a hot drink in her cold hands, she listened to the boy's question.

'A new idea today too?'

'Yeah, it was an interesting read. But the more books I cram into my head, the hollower it gets.'.

'Perseverance is important for training.'

'Everything is training for you, isn't it. Do you ever get tired of living like that?'

'Focus removes mental noise you call being tired.'

'Right, right.'

Saying *avoiding obsessions can be an obsession in itself* became more enticing by the day. But she returned the empty cup and gestured for him to leave.

-

Some would call the crystal in front of her the best company one can have. It listened to her every word and thought with no activity of its own. Today was no different and she turned away. As if on cue, Rei cracked the door open.

'Trouble?'

'It's just... It was an interesting read, but *One's mind is a reflection of itself from a higher dimension*. How am I supposed to use it here?'

Rei glanced back into the main room, then quietly closed the door behind him.

'Our teachings have a similar line.'

He sat nearby and the crystal showed him in an empty room. The boy inside looked up and met the eyes of his counterpart. Their fingers met on the surface.

'Look into the mirror. See that it's your reflection that looks into you.'

Mirror Rei put his other hand on her side of the prism. Tsune smiled and touched the cold stone. Then shook her head and broke the contact. If she indulged him, her time would be spent on her entertainment and his practice. Thankfully, Rei understood as much.

'Time is yours. I'll cook for sunlight.'

-

The meat burned her mouth with spice and even made her lips feel slightly swollen. Tsune scooped the sides and bottom for one more spoon of porridge, then looked for the drink. But Rei left the it closer to their door. When mumbling inside replaced the sounds of kitchenware, she tip toed forward to grab it.

'...leave after the Youth Festival.'

'Might;'

'Even the son of *Monster* made this decision, so I sufffer no disgrace. Even if I am the last to teach here, the knowledge is preserved.'

'My training yields results, I will keep our skill alive.'

'Your devotion is never in doubt, but is it fit for a warrior to stay on a path where he cannot protect others?'

'Betray yourself and you'll open to betraying others. Your words, teacher.'

'How will you gain students? Should a master be alone in his temple?`

The drink have already extinguished the spice flame, but Tsune's cheeks still burned up. Her fingers went to the hem of the dress, pinching the folds together. The fabric refused to hold but she kept trying, while listening into private life of two people that argued about path of honor.

-

Back home, Tsune flopped onto the bed. The shadow from the book pillar extended over the floor almost up to the wall, so that left a whole hour of entertainment after a bothersome day. But instead she forced herself to make a trip for today's book. Even if she already discarded it, several parts had a useful grain. She just needed to understand them better, with a dictionary.

"Magnon is a..."

After twenty minutes of going down the hyperlink chain for one word, the book flew back into pillar that collapsed and spilled over the floor. Tsune struck her pillow with her palm. A dictionary? She needed a grade teacher.

-

A week later, came the second month of autumn and with the first day came the festival. Tonight, every window had a lamp that lit the streets as bright as day.

Tsune stepped over a pile of abandoned books to the mirror. She pressed the sundress to her body and wiggled her nose in displeasure. All those stairs and walking made her legs contrast with her smooth arms.

She gazed at the bodysuit that Aery forbid her to wear and took the temple dress. It hid her legs, but festival videos were the team building series for the front page. Even if tightly laced, she still risked flashing skin on the sides.

After several minutes of twirling to confirm the fear, she threw her hands up. Besides, foot tapping at the entrance turned into steps. First, that girl refused to share plans for the evening and now this.

Tsune glanced at the mountain that drowned in light and rushed to catch up with the team.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

-

Soft yellow light permeated the square before the restaurant. Tsune put her palms together and a dust sized drone hurried in. Its soft light eliminated even the miniscule shadow between them. .

"That's taking the festival's meaning too literally."

But the complaints about tradition had to wait, as a waitress came out to take her hand. Another took Aery's and the girls separated under the entrance arch.

-

The room inside was small, its chairs, table and walls decorated with white paper and red wood. Tsune managed to sit the phone on one of them, while thinking about who her partner might be. Same as interview, right?

Although, Den wanted to promote the team with a memorable story and Aery was in charge, it could be romance that kept her away from them. A tale of a fresh graduate that came to a foreign city. Out of her depth, she meets a young man that dedicated his life to a failing cause.They met almost every day at the city's famous location, an old traditional temple, until a local festival dedicated to the youth led to a promise...

She stood up to pace back and forth. The suspicion became more believable with every sentence she added.

When the door slid open, she noticed it late, too busy with going the latter stages of grief. First came a big plastic box, with a sealed plate on top, held by white gloves in ornate white sleeves. Hem pushed it closer to look out from behind and the pressure squeezed a bottle out of his elbow hold. He moved the arm down, trying to readjust, but made the box lean and the plate slid off.

The bottle rolled on the floor, Tsune caught the dish, a full course of Z Cafe desert. She quickly turned back to the table to check if her chin was dry. Almost a month of nothing but seafood hit her harder than she thought.

-

As he placed the dinnerware, Tsune caught herself glancing at the camera. Couldn't even ask questions directly.

She raised the thin glass to be filled with the sparkly local drink.

'Eider really outdid himself this time. Even learned about my favorite desert.'

The bottle clinked against glass. Hem stole a glance at her and switched his hold to thin the stream.

'I haven't talked to him for months.`

'Right. Aery is the one with talent for dressing others.'

The bottle momentarily swerved, several drops trickled down the glass and the back of her hand.

'I didn't mean to,'

Hem yanked the handkerchief out of his breast pocket, but Tsune motioned him to his seat. Thankfully, he moved without her asking to start the evening already.

The two glasses met with a resonating clink as both said their cheers.

-

Soon the bottle and dishes showed their bottoms. Hem finished first and plopped his glass on the table. It wobbled and rolled over from the hasty movement; his fingers chased after just to bat it off. The hit against the box and the sound of glass rolling on the floor reverberated through the room.

"How are you always like this."

Tsune watched the boy turn a single mistake into a skit and couldn't help but mentally sigh. But when he turned back, with a strained smile and glass in both hands, her smile was gone. Even if Aery played matchmaker, it wouldn't be fair if Hem had a shame meltdown before his main event.

-

Hem tugged on the uniform collar and dried his hands. He took her open hand, barely touching it with his finger tips, and faced her palm upwards. Tsune waited for a prompt, then closed her eyes herself.

The cold metal weighed on her hand, its flat bottom pushing down but not enough to strain her muscles. A vase? No, he wouldn't think of flowers, that much she knew. But what gift would give off low electronic humming and metallic clicks? Although knowing this city, maybe it was the flowers...

When the present moved with another click, she peeked through her eyelashes. Then opened her eyes wide.

A robotic bird of familiar design was perched on her hand. Its wing joints clicked in unison when it abandoned the precarious balance to land on the table.

Her hanged in the air for several seconds more, before she found refuge in her drink. He was supposed to gift that to another girl months ago, right after the summer tournament. She saw him leave with it with her own eyes.

Tsune watched him through the clear glass. His fingers interlocked, the lips tensed nto a line, his eyes inspecting the empty dish. All of this for a promo video?

'It was supposed to say the birthday wishes, but it looks like it didn't workHappyBirthdayTsune.'

His words grew barely recognizable, but, nevetheless, she carefully put down the glass and accepted the gift with a light bow.

Not as bad as she expected, but Aery stayed true to herself. A birthday subplot made them stand out and tied them together in the eyes of the audience.

'This is the kind of present you'd want to hear a story about.'

'Oh. Mmm, it's a long story.'

Tsune took the bottle to slowly refill her glass.

'Ah, how do I put it. I started the blueprint draft in our first year together. It had to be small so it wouldn't be a bother and mobile so it wouldn't be left in a drawer. But its shape was too similar to ... my inspiration for it.'

The tale of his development struggles took him to the old capitol visit, which, as he stressed, happened only on impulse. Then he skipped her involvement and mentioned working for another team, despite the risk of Den's ire.

She barely knew him outside of Eider's schemes, didn't she. The boy who lived in his dusty workshop of a home and went for self-promotion in a team video. Maybe she misunderstood him and the bird was made not for a girl but as a debut work for the summer job. Then, tonight he made the gift to tie it to a famous name and wanted her permission for it.

'I heard that my father showed interest in it?'

'That was, of course was, a huge impression! I hardly believed my eyes when his first message saw through me as an engineer.' She gestured him to continue. 'To, ah, work side by side with him, and, and his family.` His face flushed after the last word. He ignored her next sign and looked away.

Tsune looked at the camera and rolled her eyes. Aery would fume about an unnatural last part and more editing, but this was where she drew the line for both of them.

-

Tsune sprawled on her bed, idly watching the opposite wall mirror.

"That was a good day."

The glowing city, the shame over reaction to sweets, the pet that Hem carried back. Memories of tonight swirled and went away if she ignored them.

But soon she propped herself up, still awake. The mirror grew from a lullaby to a source of anxiety about an idea that could combine the swirl of thoughts into a puzzle.

"Why did I even get all of these."

Ground slipped from under her and Tsune stumbled into the book pillar. Her hands flew to the sides to keep the balance but the stacks spiled all over. The offending book was, of course it was that one. It tripped her even with a dictionary and now it tripped her in a literal way.

Actually, *Your reflection looks into you* was it?

The tips of her fingers touched the cool glass. She stuck out her tongue and tried to touch her nose. It lasted only for a few seconds but the unlikely expression helped with perception change. Now, the mirror Tsune was the one who made the silly face and reached to connect their fingers. Also, the dried mineral; trace on the reflected hand looked like a scar.

Tsune snapped her fingers. That rare weird dream about an azure plane that surrounded her with mirrors. The first one was right before Lyle found himself here.

And that spaceman from monk's history tale, also with blank crystals after the incident that made the world feel foreign to him. If she knew his full story, she could piece together what her father's planned for her.

She looked at the window right when the artifficial lights went out, replaced by the faint early morning light.

'Old Capital, was it.'

-