“Hey, so I was wondering, Sakura…”

“Yes?” She’s been following me around the pharmacy for a little bit, so I figure I might as well ask her this.

“Did you get that name because of the color of your hair?” It was a little difficult for me to tell at first with the white hat she’s been wearing, but she does indeed have pink hair. Can’t say I’ve seen many other people with that.

“Mm-hm.” She nods. “Father always liked the cherry blossoms that he saw on Earth from the pictures and videos he’s seen. He would always say that his own mother and father took those pictures and filmed those videos so he could see how beautiful Earth was.” A bittersweet smile. “He said the color of my hair, and mom’s hair, too, reminded him of those cherry blossoms.”

“Hm… so, did they have any cherry blossom trees on the planet you were from?”

“I don’t think so. I always heard it’d be very hard to plant cherry blossom trees out in the Empire. I’ve never seen a real one, myself.”

“I see.”

“I wonder…” Sakura has a far off look in her eyes. “Could it be that he just wanted to see them?”

“Hm…”

“Anyway, Solo. Please don’t be sad.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to feel bad about what I’ve told you. I imagine you’ve already got plenty to worry about, yourself.” I mean, she’s right, technically, but…

“...I dunno, I can’t help it.”

“You do seem overwhelmed, though, at least to me.” Geez, is it that obvious? “How have you been getting by so far?”

“John, Aeon, and Marie have been helping me a lot, honestly. If it weren’t for them, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“You’d have died? What happened?”

Awkward silence.

“If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“Angels came after me.”

She doesn’t say it, but I can tell Sakura is surprised to hear that. “And I guess you don’t know why, huh?”

“Not a clue.”

While she thinks, I try to go back to searching the shelves for what I’m looking for, hoping to distract myself, somewhat. Am I even in the right aisle? Maybe I passed them up already?

“…”

“Is something wrong? Now you’re the one that seems sad.”

“So, you really don’t remember anything from before you came here? No friends or family, no hobbies, or songs, or happy thoughts from your past, or anything?”

“Not at all.”

“Does that not sound sad, to you?”

“I, uh, haven’t really thought about it.” Should that be a sad thing? I’ve been more irritated by it than anything, but I don’t think ‘sad’ is a word I’d use to describe how I’ve been feeling about this situation.

“Solo, our memories are such a large part of what makes us who we are. Even though I lost my father, it’s those memories with him, and mother, that make me want to survive and make it back. It’s my past that defines so much about me. Losing your past is like losing some of yourself.”

I open my mouth to argue against that, but then I realize that I can’t really come up with anything. “I guess you have a point.”

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“Solo, what if you were a very different person when you had all of your memories? What if there was something really important you had to do, or someone you cared for that you wanted to return to? Think about that, and consider that that task could end up unfinished forever, or that your loved ones could never have you back. Wouldn’t you also feel sad for the ‘you’ who once was?”

“I get it, I get it,” I say, with a sigh. “I’ll worry about myself a little bit more. That way, you won’t have to worry so much.” Before I go back to shopping, I look at her one more time. “That’s okay, isn’t it? I’d hate it if you felt bad about this when, really, I think we can handle this.”

“Um, yeah. I’m sorry for making it awkward.”

“No, no, I think it’s probably good to have an extra person looking out for me,” I say, trying to laugh it off. “Just don’t overdo it, y’know? There are already three other people doing that.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Now, Sakura smiles again. “Thanks.”

“Okay, then. Now, where are those Nanomates?”

“I’m pretty confident that they usually are here,” Sakura says, looking around. "Maybe they aren’t on the shelves, anymore. Let’s ask if they have some behind the counter.”

“Good idea.” With that, Sakura walks off, and I follow.

As we make it through the aisles, we find ourselves running into Aeon, who is also shopping.

“Oh, hey, Aeon. What’s that you’ve got there?” I look at the basket he’s carrying around. There are four small, blue bottles inside. I can’t quite read the labels on them.

“Hm. You might find this interesting, Solo. Check it out,” he says, pulling out one of the bottles and letting me read what it says.

“’Aether Energy?’”

“This specially made beverage is really useful for Aether Adepts like myself. If you burn yourself out using the Aether, this should restore your Sense in seconds.”

Aether? Adept? Sense? “I’m sorry, could you elaborate?”

“We’ll be able to talk about it later,” Aeon says, putting the bottle back in his basket. “I’m actually looking forward to talking about it. Although I feel like we should wait until we’re back home so I can explain it after we’ve had a chance to relax.”

“Hm, okay, sounds good.” I walk past Aeon, who still seems to be scanning the shelves for something else he might want.

Finally, we eventually make it back to the counter at the front of the pharmacy.

“Greetings. Can I help you?”

“Hello. I couldn’t find any Nanomates on your shelves. Are you all out?”

“Oh. No, we still have them, but the shelves haven’t been restocked, yet. That doesn’t surprise me, considering how dangerous it’s been here, lately.”

“Heh, yeah, no kidding.”

“Well, it’s still perfectly okay for me to sell them from behind the counter. Do you still want them?”

“How much will they cost me?”

“Uh, 25 stars each.”

“Damn, seriously?” While I was having this conversation, John has walked behind me and has been observing. “I swear it used to be twenty.”

“Yeah, I know, but supply and demand, and all that.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” I take out my Personal Card and hand it to the girl standing there. “I’ll buy four of those things. I’m sure that’ll be enough.”

“Okay, then.” She takes the card and puts it through her machine. Beep. “Approved. Here.” I take the card back. “Just one second.” Ducking behind the counter, she disappears from sight for a moment. When she pops back up, she has four small square packages in her hands. “Alright. Would you like me to bag these for you?”

“Yes, please.”

She grabs a plastic bag from under the counter, puts everything in there, and hands it to me. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” I say, taking the bag. I start to walk out of the building.

“Be careful out there.”

“Aeon, Marie,” John shouts, “we’ll be in the car.” With that, he walks out, too. Once we’re outside, John opens the car, gets inside, and starts it up. Seeing as he’s also opened the back door, I get in, as well. “Shouldn’t take much longer for them to come back.”

“Alright.” I look over and realize that Sakura got in the backseat with me. “You don’t want to sit up front anymore?”

“No, this is okay,”she replies. “I feel like the backseat is more comfortable, somehow.” Personally, I haven’t really noticed much of a difference, but who knows?

Suddenly, there’s a tap at the right window. Sakura rolls it down. “Please, make some room, would you?” It’s Marie. Aeon is getting into the front seat next to John.

“Alright, let’s roll.” John hits the gas, and takes off.

“So, Solo,” Aeon says, watching the city whiz by, “you don’t remember anything about Aether, do you?”

“Not even the first thing.”

“Yeah, I should have guessed. Don’t worry about it, though. We’ll fix that soon.” Aeon holds up the plastic bag he has.

“Hm?”

“I must say, if I were in your position, I’d be getting a bit bored with all the lectures I’d have to sit through.” He looks back at me, and smiles. “I’ve got a feeling that you might find this next one a bit more interesting.”