09 - Not so Easy

Earth in Words Institute, Abandoned Underground Parking Lot

As Seijuro glances around the vast empty place, she realizes she had nearly forgotten how big it is.

The large underground was designed with the Institute's numerous staff in mind, though unfortunately, after the Central was built, and cars banned inside Fioro, the place lost its purpose, becoming obsolete. Unused, except for…

Seijuro stares at the approaching lights until she finds herself facing her tired expression on the car's back window as it smoothly stops in front of her.

"Yo," Kuro greets, as soon as she gets in and their eyes meet through the rearview mirror, "The apartment? I grabbed coffee again, by the way, in case you need it," he comments as the car takes off.

Seijuro nods gratefully, although the second part brings an ironic smile to her lips. It doesn't escape her attention he looks as energetic as always. "I have a dinner planned, at eight tonight."

"So soon!? Who is the unlucky plebeian I'll be ordered to kill?"

"Ha. Ha," Seijuro mimics sarcastically, "I wish. I'll be seeing my father, at the Seven Seas."

Kuro hums. "I'm glad His Majesty has decided to spend some time with you. You're still family."

Silence fills the car for a moment as it moves through Fioro's large, filled streets, creating a small echo of what once would have been its original traffic, now distant points in the sky, or mechanical worms underneath the ground.

Had it come from anybody else, Kuro's comment might have upset or annoyed Seijuro. As it is, she simply grabs the coffee he brought her, which is still warm this time, and sips from it as she watches her city passing by.

"You know it's more complicated than that. He's a busy man," Seijuro says as she feels his gaze on her, then completes, "I'm a busy girl."

"Do you want me there?"

Seijuro scoffs. "And you'll stand up to my father how, exactly? Did you forget who's the one paying that ridiculous salary of yours?"

"As if you'd spend a day without reminding me of the worthlessness of my existence, my Princess. Don't worry, I'm well aware of my place."

Despite their usual banter, Seijuro ends up frowning over his words, her fall out with Melinda flaring to life in the back of her mind. "He mentioned having something for me. I appreciate the offer for backup, but I'd hate to have you climb up there just to be told you have to wait outside."

Kuro sighs dramatically. "Did I not know better, I might actually think you're concerned for my feelings. I must say, Your Highness's acting skills improve by the day."

"Shut up, dumbass. You damn well know I'm not that heartless."

Kuro chuckles softly, his laugh barely perceivable underneath the car's nearly silent engine. "If you say so. How was school?"

"Boring."

"May I beg you to elaborate?" Kuro insists while throwing a flick of his gaze in her direction, "You know, I can tell you're upset. And not just because of your father, for once."

Staring into her cup of coffee as she runs from his gaze, Seijuro stirs the dark liquid thoughtfully for a moment. With how much of it she has been drinking lately, she might as well invest in getting something able to prepare it on the spot, or at least able to keep it properly heated for more than a couple minutes.

"Advanced Politics was as exhausting as ever. Miss Ford made us draw the connections between the geographical uncovering of Ether and the raising of some of the companies which control the global scene today," Seijuro explains absently, "Our assignment for the weekend will be to elaborate on how this changed, or even formed, some of the countries existing today. I'm considering Crecia for my pick."

"Crecia? Why?"

"It's an interesting country. And I met their ambassador this morning. Apparently, their runaway prince is attending Earth in Words."

"You can't fix the world on your own, Seijuro."

"No," Seijuro admits. "But sometimes, I wonder if Elysium could do more."

Kure gives her a frustrated gaze as Seijuro raises her eyes to meet his.

"You know these are things I have to consider."

He is the first to avert his eyes for once, though Seijuro doesn't feel particularly thrilled over the small victory.

"Your father is still going to call the shots for a while longer."

Seijuro's hand suddenly clenches around the cup, her breath stopping only short of a scream as she abruptly clenches her teeth.

Not here. Not now.

Forcing herself to complete a trembling slow breath, Seijuro gradually releases her steel grip as she manages to retake control of her body.

"Seijuro?"

"I-it's nothing. I'll be fine."

"It's obviously something. Did what I said remind you…? Should I stop?"

"No. Keep going."

It's her burden to carry. She's in control.

"It's always the most random things," Seijuro comments, a self-deprecating smile taking over her expression. "Thank you for looking out for me. I don't think I say that enough."

"I'm sorry."

Kuro's frustration is visible, notable in his voice and expression. But Seijuro falls short of facing his eyes this time, afraid of what she might find there.

His pity would be too much.

"By the way, my second class was Quantum. And what a horrible mistake it was choosing it."

"Quantum? Like, in advanced physics?"

Thank you.

"No, like, in advanced advanced physics."

"Of course. My apologies for not assuming as much."

Seijuro laughs. "I mean it literally! I had Advanced Physics last semester, and I never thought or felt I couldn't handle it… But Quantum felt like a different language altogether. It might as well have been gibberish."

"It's only the first day, I'm sure it'll make more sense with time. Also, you can still change it for something else, right?"

Seijuro shakes her head as she takes a careful sip of her coffee, intentionally ignoring the residual shaking of her hand as she does so. "It'd be no different from flunking. I will probably have to hire a private instructor in secret. It won't have been the first time."

"You care far too much about what they think of you."

Seijuro waves her free hand dismissively. "They're my subjects, of course I care for what they think of me."

"Really now?"

"Yes. As royalty, my reputation is everything. As long as people respect me, things will continue to run as they should."

Kuro laughs. "If only they knew what hides beneath all of those smiles."

"I think they might have an idea," Seijuro says, admitting to herself she has been less than stellar at maintaining her facade over the years.

"You never told me about your morning. Club activities, right?"

"Yeah. Modern Fashion, today. It was fun."

"Fun?"

"Yeah. Can't I have it sometimes?"

"All in the world, my Princess."

Faced with his shit-eating grin, Seijuro rolls her eyes, though she can't avoid a smirk of her own.

…

Once Kuro stops the car in front of Seujuro's apartment, evening is all but upon the city, changing it in many ways, but far from quieting the place; Fioro isn't the type of place that sleeps, after all.

In the back seat, Seijuro hesitates instead of leaving the car immediately as usual, which makes Kuro glance curiously at her.

"Something else happened today…" Seijuro starts, only to have her voice fade middle sentence.

Kuro scratches his head. It isn't like her to be this… normal. Maybe the encounter tonight is affecting her more than he thought?

"Was it the speech?" Kuro asks, without giving voice to his inner thoughts. "You shouldn't worry about it too much. I watched it, and you were wonderful."

"No, the speech was okay… Better than I expected, actually."

Seijuro shakes her head, then becomes silent again. This time, Kuro lets her take her time.

"During vacation, I… have been thinking."

Seijuro glances down, finds Kuro's gaze, and then glances through the window again. Kuro could bet his life she isn't seeing the same view as he is. She rarely is.

"Do you have friends, Kuro?"

Surprised by the sudden question, Kuro can't stop himself from smiling bitterly. "I have found a couple here, yes."

"Do they annoy you?"

Strangely, the princess sounds hopeful.

"Sometimes," Kuro answers, after cleaning his expression, "But only the good ones."

"So how do you differentiate between a friend and someone who is just annoying!?"

Hearing the frustration in her voice, Kuro laughs, which causes Seijuro's expression to sulk.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget how young you are."

Seijuro rolls her eyes. "You're not that much older than me. And besides, I'm not a child anymore."

"I guess… you are not," Kuro admits, "Perhaps you're old enough to know that… You just don't. You jump into it… and pray for the person to respond. That's how friendships work."

"It sounds hard," Seijuro complains, though her dark eyes have a glow of acceptance in them.

Staring into the gaze of the girl he learned to love, Kuro feels his heart skips a beat. Why does she have to be so…

With a sigh, Kuro averts his eyes as he murmurs, "Isn't it always?"

"I had… A fight with Melinda."

Melinda?

"I remember her. What was the fight about?"

Teenagers. It'd be weirder if they didn't have any fights or disagreements. Though, obviously, Kuro isn't about to tell her that.

Seijuro sighs, something in her black eyes telling him she might be aware of what he's thinking. "She's obsessed with defeating me since… ever. She's the most stubborn girl I've ever met."

"Defeating you? Why you, specifically? You're still ranked second, right?"

"Yes! But to her, it doesn't matter! She has this weird fixation-"

"How many times how you fought against each other?" Kuro interrupts, taking a silent mental guess at where this is going.

"Never!"

Kuro groans. "Seijuro, how many times have you sparred against each other?"

Seijuro blinks. "I… I don't know. Hundreds? System, how many times have I sparred against Melinda Cornell before?"

This time, Kuro remains silent, containing his exasperation.

"Two hundred and one, apparently."

"And how many times has she won against you?"

"What? There's no real winner during a spar. The objective is to improve."

Kuro sighs, smiling in spite of himself as he meets her eyes with what he suspects is the driest gaze he has ever managed to produce. "Seijuro."

Seijuro's mouth sets itself as a line. "What?"

"I'll take a guess. Two hundred and one… To zero. Does that sound about right?"

Seijuro bites her lip, both hands clenching around her cup as she averts her gaze toward the many apartment buildings towering over them.

"I'll take another guess," Kuro continues, although not without sympathy in his tone, "The only reason you've never fought is because a certain princess pulled some strings; called some names."

Seijuro doesn't react, though her expression has returned to a distant tone of neutrality more befitting the royal blood she carries.

"Seijuro, I'm not your enemy," Kuro continues softly, "Nor am I here to judge you."

"So, I didn't want to beat up my only friend in front of an audience," Seijuro whispers softly, "Didn't want her literal blood on my hands. What was I supposed to have done when she is so determined on… On…"

"You think she has no chance?"

"You've said it yourself. Two hundred and one to zero," Seijuro says, sounding tired. "Melinda is a good fighter, but her style is a bad match against me. The harder I crushed her during a spar, the more determined she seemed to become on defeating me. Even after I started to pretend my skills were rusting for lack of practice, having our spars less and less one-sided in the hopes she'd lose interest in somebody who doesn't care… Instead, she became angry because she thinks I don't take her seriously anymore."

"And that's why you fought."

"Yes."

"Why not lose?"

Seijuro frowns. "Lose?"

"Yes. Pull the band-aid. Pretend she has surpassed you. You did say you were thinking of stopping with the fights and letting your rank drop. I know you enjoy it, but your father never approved of you fighting in front of an audience… Not that it has stopped you before."

"Lose…?" Seijuro repeats, as if the idea had never occurred to her. "She'd be furious if she realizes I fixed the fight. And as for dropping out of the Fighting ranking, I don't know… It is frustrating to not be able to fight seriously, but what I am tired of is having to pull back my punches for the sake of my image."

Kuro snorts. "How magnanimous of you to rise only to second rank."

Seijuro rolls her eyes, settling her half-empty cup as she gives Kuro an exasperated gaze. "Should I have made myself a laughing stock instead?"

"Seijuro, I doubt rank ten or twenty would have people laughing at you. Face it, you're a sore loser. The reason you've never considered losing to Melinda as an option is because you'd rather pull teeth than lose to somebody at something."

"I'm not a sore loser."

Kuro laughs. "Right."

"Fuck you."

Forcibly containing his smile, Kuro turns on his seat to face his princess for real, mostly so she'll finally stop squirting around the edges of the conversation.

"Seijuro."

He waits until her gaze has met his, ignoring her pouting expression.

"You're smart enough to know postponing the problem will only lead to a bigger problem. I don't think you're unable to find a solution to this. I think you're scared of the solution."

"What do I pay you for? You're supposed to tell me I'm right and the world is wrong."

Kuro raises his eyebrow. "Your father is the one who pays me. Should I connect and ask whose side he's on?"

Seijuro sighs, closing her eyes as she hits her head softly against the back of her seat. "You know the most infuriating part? He'd probably answer since it's you."

He'd answer because I'm supposed to be watching over you. Of course he won't ignore a call coming from his daughter's bodyguard.

After a moment of silence, Seijuro raises her left hand, palm facing up.

"An honest conversation, where I explain that I don't want to hurt her."

Then, she raises the right one.

"I crush her."

As she opens her eyes, Seijuro finds Kuro's gaze, patiently waiting for his answer.

Kuro sighs. "I think I can tell how that conversation would go. Melinda doesn't sound like the type to accept being looked down upon."

Hands still raised, Seijuro snorts. "You don't know the half of it."

"And as for the other option… Regardless, there's a high chance she won't remain your friend after the fact. I understand why you've hesitated for so long. You really can't think of anything else?"

Seijuro closes both hands at once. "I'm open to suggestions, idiot servant. Why else would I have brought it up to you? Idiot."

Instead of taking her bait, Kuro scratches his chin in thought. "I think… You'll have to trust she'll understand your point of view, or hope she'll still want to be friends after taking a public beating. If she rejects your friendship after the fact… You'll just have to live with it. Sometimes things don't work out. It happens."

"It happens, my ass. She has this stupid idea about joining my Guard after school is over. She says she'll spend her life protecting me so we'll never be apart again… But it'd be a disgrace if the bodyguard was weaker than the queen. She is… my first friend. My only friend."

"I thought you didn't want a Guard?"

"And when have I ever had a choice regarding my own life?"

"Point."

"Kuro…"

Kuro sighs, closing his eyes for a moment as he presses his fingers against them.

Her only friend? Really? He knew her position made relationships complicated, but for it to be this bad…

"Okay, I got it."

"I'm listening."

"You beat the shit out of her."

Kuro opens his eyes to find that, yup, she does not look amused.

"I know you don't want to, but does Melinda sound like the type to listen?"

"No," Seijuro admits somewhat begrudgingly.

"Then it's simple, is it not?"

"She'll always feel inferior."

"Perhaps. But she's leaving you no choice. Do you think you have what it takes?"

"To kick her ass? I guess we're about to find out."

***

Inner City, Outskirts

"We don't have subways, okay!? You are being insensitive!" Uren complains, though a small smile still upturns his lips as he climbs after Sara.

"Insensitive?! I don't know to whom you could possibly be referring! I'm the most sensitive person you'll ever meet!"

The people, the noise, the colors… Flashing commercials about one thing or another, dozens of new snips of conversations after each step given…

Releasing a sigh of relief, Uren gives one last glance down the well-illuminated, massive tunnel filled by Fioro citizens going about their day.

Overwhelming. He doesn't understand how these people manage to live in a place such as this. Are they not consumed by the stress, hyperactivity of it all?

And yet, Sara's blond head wobbles through the crowd seemingly without a second thought, dodging pedestrians with practiced ease even as she continues throwing teasing grins at him over her shoulder.

"C'mon, country boy! We don't have all night!" Visibly out of breath, Sara smiles as she waits for him to finish coming up.

"You really should exercise more, if this was enough to wind you."

Her smile vanishes into a frown. "You too? Fuck me, I guess everyone's a critic nowadays. Sara, eat your vegetables! Sara, sleep more! Sara, read more! Exercise more!"

Facing Sara's blue, smiling eyes, Uren feels his heart skipping a beat. Just what in the world is he doing?

"Sorry?"

"Fine, forget it! C'mon!"

Fioro is big. Bigger than Uren could've imagined possible before seeing it with his own eyes.

"You said you've been here for a month already?"

"Yeah," Uren confirms absently as he stares up at the many sky-high buildings around them, many of which seem to be reinforced by glass, instead of concrete. How did they do it?

"And you never used the Central before?"

"A couple of times." Reminded of the experience, Uren shudders. "But I usually fly in one of those hovering taxis you guys have."

"Right, because of course you do."

"What?"

Uren lowers his eyes to find Sara's flat gaze pointed in his direction.

"I keep forgetting you're an actual prince."

"I don't understand?"

"Do you even know how many credits-"

But Sara seems to give up her point midsentence as she shakes her head, then points a finger in his direction.

"You know what? I've decided where I'm taking you, Mr. Prince."

Uren laughs. "You're not much for planning ahead, are you?"

"Fuck off. I'd be a master strategist if I put my mind to it. It's just… more exciting to face your opponent head-on, take whatever tricks they might throw at you, and still win! Like going outside without a destination! Don't tell me you've never done it before?"

"You're so full of shit! Those things have nothing to do with one another! I'd bet you're the type of player who likes flexing their skills bullying noobs!"

Pretending a sudden fit of coughing, Sara averts her eyes guiltily.

"I knew it!"

"What's up with you not being able to take the subway, anyway?"

Uren rolls his eyes, though he doesn't mind the change in subjects. "I don't like cramped spaces. Being underneath the ground just doesn't feel right. I understand there should be no reason to fear, rationally, but…"

Uren shrugs, ignoring the way Sara's gaze makes his stomach churn as she turns and begins walking backward, of all things.

Does she have not a single bone of embarrassment in her body?

"How was it?"

Uren blinks, forcing himself out of a hypnotic daze caused by his hormones. "What?"

"To have your ship implanted."

"You don't remember?"

Shit, why does she make it so hard for him to maintain a coherent thought?!

"I was five. Most people have it done on the day after their fifth birthday. It's something of a tradition, and I heard it helps to have it done earlier rather than later."

"You're gonna hit somebody."

"I'm fine!"

"At five? I suppose it makes sense. I went through a lot of physio after the surgery."

Two months of it, to be precise. Not exactly his most pleasant memories, to have his body unable to answer his commands anymore.

"Sounds like a pain. Did it feel different afterward? Like seeing the world through new lens?"

Uren hops forward to stop Sara from crashing against a hovering stand of street food, leading her by her shoulders to change directions as she laughs out loud, ignoring the stall owner's stink eye.

"I don't know. Maybe? Sometimes I forget it's there, but… It's strange to have another voice in my head, I guess."

"I suppose I wouldn't know, having grown up with it and all."

Sara suddenly stops, forcing Uren to stop as well. Given the busy street, a flow of pedestrians forms around them nearly instantly, though Sara doesn't seem concerned by the fact, blue eyes gleaming with mischief as she smiles and offers her hand as if for a handshake.

"Here."

Uren hesitates. Just what is she planning this time?

However, before he can reach a conclusion for himself, Sara rolls her eyes and grabs his hand on her own.

"What-"

'Citizen Sara Palmer desires to create a link. User Uren Hoxha Juric, do you accept?'

"Yes?"

Sara smiles, though she immediately releases of his hand before continuing on her way as if nothing happened.

At least she went back to walking normally. Small blessings.

"What was that about?" Uren asks once he catches up to her.

Sara smiles mysteriously at him.

'It's a connection. We're linked now, which means that, as long as we're both inside Elysium, we'll be able to talk to each other… Among other things.'

"A-at any point?" Uren stutters, trying, and probably failing, to not let his shock show from suddenly having somebody else's voice inside his head. "This doesn't mean you can read my thoughts, right?"

'Something to hide, Mr. Prince?'

Containing his exasperation, Uren makes a show of staring down the curve of her back as she walks. "I could be imagining you naked right now."

'How horrible! How could I ever go on living after seeing my own naked body!?'

Needless to say, Sara's tone drips with sarcasm, though Uren thinks to notice a slight blush under her eye roll.

"Seriously though, can you explain why am I able to hear you in my head?"

'Fine, you scared cat. This is more or less like when we were playing FG earlier, but without the game acting as the intermediary. The System is connecting our ships directly, which means we can talk to each other, share feelings, sensations… Don't worry though, you won't send anything without an explicit intention. Which is to say, no, I cannot read your thoughts, not unless you purposefully send them to me.'

"But-"

"Nope!"

Sara stops for long enough to place one hand against his chest and the other against her own lips, blue eyes staring into his for a long second before she continues walking ahead.

Ignoring his increased heartbeat, Uren takes a deep breath.

'…Hello?'

'Welcome to civilization! First stop, Intimate Links 101 with Sara Palmer!'

Uren laughs in spite of his nervousness as Sara yelps in response to his playful shoulder shove.

'Firstly!'

'C'mon! Just explain it normally!'