Huis followed behind Amberlee and Hajime on the walk to the starside bar through one of its sleek corridors. The soft hum of the ship’s engines accompanied their footsteps, and the distant sounds of the party grew louder as they approached. He trailed them slightly, observing their conversation. It seemed like both were now playing along to some degree.

Amberlee’s voice was curious. “I remember that talk show. You didn’t look dumb, you know. But you... you didn’t know what you didn’t know."

Hajime nodded. "That’s because I didn’t. I knew of math. I could recite formulas, answers, even some proofs. But I didn’t really know it. They taught me to memorize individual instances of it, like a machine. Plug in the right input, get the right output. But I never saw the system behind it all. I never learned math—just did it."

Amberlee raised an eyebrow. "You’re telling me you could solve math problems without knowing what they were connected to?"

Seemingly embarrassed, Hajime shrugged. "Yes, I knew solutions without understanding why they worked. That’s what I’ve been trying to change. My PAI, it helps me fill in those gaps. Makes me learn faster than I did before. But the things I know... they were given to me. I didn’t earn them, not really."

Amberlee’s voice softened. "So you're trying to fix that? Make sense of what you’ve been handed?"

Hajime nodded. "Oh yeah."

"That’s more interesting than half the people I’ve met," Amberlee admitted.

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Hajime half-bowed, somewhat gratefully.

Huis, watching the dynamic between the two, decided it was time to stir things up a bit. He stepped forward and interjected smoothly, his voice casual but cutting through their conversation. "Let me ask you both something, since we’re on the topic of what we used to be versus who we are now... What’s it feel like, being left out solo from a musical act?"

Amberlee and Hajime exchanged a look, and a brief but palpable tension filled the air. Hajime, once part of a trio, and Amberlee, formerly part of a duo with her twin sister, Molly Cat. Both had been cut off from the other inhabitants of their former worlds.

Hajime, her voice soft, as though considering the question herself, spoke slowly. "It feels... different. Lonely, sometimes. Like the rhythm is off and you're missing something you once relied on. But at the same time, it’s freeing. You don’t have to harmonize. You get to figure out what your own voice sounds like, for the first time."

Amberlee’s response was cold and direct. "Yeah, but when you lose that other half, it’s not like finding freedom. It’s like losing your reflection. You spend so long seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes that you forget what you actually look like. And then, when they’re gone... you have to figure out who the hell you are without them."

Huis watched closely, noting Amberlee’s sharper edge, the weight of her words. Her sister Molly Cat had died three-ish years ago, and while Hajime's separation from her trio might have felt more professional, Amberlee’s was personal. Deeply personal.

Huis nodded slowly, not pushing further. "Sounds like you both are still figuring that out."

Amberlee shrugged, her tone clipped. "Yeah, well, it’s a long process. Some of us are better at faking it than others."

Hajime quietly added, "And some of us are just learning for the first time what we missed."

The trio walked in silence for a moment, as the sound of the party grew even louder ahead of them.