[March 17th]

The two stood at the front doors of a local fire department that morning, waiting for Sarah.

"I won't be of much use - but I'll stay close by." said Matoi. "You've trained with fine control at low temperatures, and here, finer control at higher temperatures."

Mia saw a green pickup truck pull in to the parking lot and stop underneath a live oak tree. She watched the figure inside pull a cosmonaut helmet off the passenger's seat, then put it on before stepping out in their cosmonaut suit. Patting the back of their legs, they paused as if they were cursing before coming over.

"Rain-On-A-Wedding, Swarm?" Her voice was distorted through a heavy filter. "I'm Reentry - Sarah." She shoved her hand out. "Mornin'."

Mia awkwardly took it. "Good morning. Thank you for letting me train with you."

"I apologize for the short notice." said Matoi, exchanging hands.

"Ah, that's no problem, I've been hoping somebody would come visit me." said Sarah. "Now, which one of you has the water Revenant?"

"Er, ice, but also water." said Mia, following her inside to the engine room. "Will that help?"

"Sorta. There's some fires you won't want water for - oil spills, electrical fires, but if you can put most of 'em out and kill hosts, well, that'll suit me to a T. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good, good. Now, we - actually, what've you got, exactly? Just to make sure we're all on the same page."

"Fire, ice, and electrical scarabs." said Mia, showing each.

"No fourth element?"

"The fourth element is a sword." she chimed. "Er, did Matoi not..."

Matoi shook her head. "I thought it would be better to -"

- an alarm filled the building, and Mia & Matoi's eyes deferred to Sarah.

"Not us." Sarah's helmet shook. "They've got a special alarm for Revenant fires. Now, I hate to tell you, but we'll need to ride in my pickup for that."

"That's alright." nodded Mia.

"It only has two seats." she said, then laughed as she saw their expressions. "I'm kidding you, it's got four seats. But I will need to get something out the back." She turned her right leg, showing them a puncture in her suit. "I got this from - we'll call it a hunting accident."

"From a host?" said Mia.

Sarah laughed. "You know, I've been here four years and I still ain't got used to that. No, an actual hunting accident. I was up in Vermont a week ago chasing after this deer, and I don't know if it was after me or what, but alluvasudden this big grizzly comes charging at me out of nowhere. I went to dodge it, but it still almost took some skin with it. I decided to get out on my way."

"It might have been protecting its young." said Matoi.

Sarah nodded. One or two more embellishments like this and she might start to impress this other woman.

Mia blinked. "…you were still wearing your suit?"

A little embarrassed, Sarah said: "Well, I - i-if a host showed up. But, but I've got these patches from that one girl with blue hair - she's a student. Said that it'll repair my suit right up if I fix it right. I could send it off to NASA, but they said they would take it out of my salary for three months. That's the government for you. They don't do nothing unless they can find a buck in it."

"I suppose we all work for the government." muttered Mia, relevantly.

Sarah nodded. "Still, if you ever want to work a decent-paying job, this is it. They let me start working in my third-year, and it's just about impossible to get fired from. For better or worse." She glanced outside. "Still, I've got some stuff set up a few miles from here we can train with. Ain't nobody sets fire till they've had breakfast."

◆◆◆◆◆◆

Taking a remote out of her truck, Sarah brought them to a line of wooden cabins in the middle of a wide clearing, and they came up to the entrance of one. "Alright. I've got the trigger, and the dummies are all set up inside…"

Mia nodded, pressing her hand to the door. "I'll be alone, then?"

"Yep. Get to skip a lot of training with you, since you're immune to fire. Whenever we go out, Matoi'll stay outside and keep anyone we drag our safe. Gonna be a lot of fire in there - just extinguish and rescue. Right? You just worry about the inside for now."

"Are there - er, any enemies?"

"Nope. Four civilians." Sarah stepped back a distance away from the entrance, Matoi beside her, and as she flicked the switch -

- the outer walls of the home burst in to flames, and with no time to waste, Mia threw herself inside, smoke drowning her as she rushed in to the hall, two doors on each end. Her ice scarabs extinguished on the floor, slickening her step as she burnt down the first left door & went in to the bathroom.

'Bathtub civilian.'

She threw the bathtub's mannequin over her shoulder, rushing back the way she'd came. Sarah caught it as Mia threw it over, and she rushed back in to the hall, then in to the living room right, fire's source at the television's outlet on the other end, two mannequins on the couch. As she ran across the room, her fire&ice readied for a water spray as she rushed past the couch -

- and halted as she saw a third dummy danger close underneath the flame, and as a swarm of ice scarabs extinguished the fire -

- she cursed as she saw the next instant scene. The last of the fire melted the edges of her ice, water streaming down the outlet & on to the floor, forming a current between the third mannequin and outlet -

- and scorched the dummy's skin. Disappointed, she rushed to the two surviving mannequins and threw both over her shoulders, then ran out to the hall, to Sarah laughing at the front entrance.

"Yep. Told you - some stuff doesn't work well with water." She shook her head and smiled, seeing Mia deposit the two dummies at her boots. "Still, you -"

" - one second." said Mia, turning back in to the home and running down the hall, in to the electrical fire room again. Her electrical scarabs plunged the television in to renewed flame, and as she sprayed ice at the blaze, new mist formed -

- but a second set of scarabs froze the steam to ice, steady breath as steady spray kept a perimeter around the burnt mannequin.

'If I can keep it cold enough, it won't have time to drip.'

She stayed there for a few seconds longer, ensuring she could pick up the burnt husk with no drops. She soon came out with the cargo, and Matoi and Sarah, both perplexed.

"I wanted to try something." laughed Mia. "If I keep the temperature cold enough, I can prevent water from forming."

"Will it, uh - not cold enough to hurt any civilians, right?"

Mia shook her head. "I don't believe so. I'll only use it as a last resort."

Sarah's helmet nodded. "Sounds good. Put the rest of the fire out, and we'll head on to the next."

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 18th]

Matoi had left early and asked Mia to come after breakfast for another day of training. She arrived at a cabin's entrance, with only Sarah waiting there.

"Hope you're all rested." chimed Sarah, detonator in her hand. "Seriously, though. You should consider doing this for a living if you ever get bored of fighting. Gets lonely being the only host."

Mia suspected that didn't just apply to firefighting when it came to Sarah. "Er, perhaps. Is Matoi not joining us?"

Sarah gestured to the door. "Nah. Doing uh, you could say 'damsel-in-distress' training. I told her it'd be good to test with an actual human - one that, sometimes, might not really want to be saved." She stepped away from the door. "She doesn't have the fire immunity you do, so make sure she doesn't get hurt."

"She would probably enjoy it." muttered Mia to herself, putting her hand to the door.

"Go!"

The house erupted in to flames, and one fire scarab burnt down the front door, frame of ice forming to keep the heat from spreading. She ran down the hall and burnt down more doors as she went; the first left was an empty bathroom - the second left was an empty study. The second right was an empty living room, and as she peered in to the first right -

- she found an empty closet and cursed her luck as she ran down the hall, rushing through the final door in to the dining room & kitchen. Matoi was sprawled out on two chairs at the table, and as Mia rushed over to the fiery stove adjacent -

' - grease. Of course.' she thought, a cloud of ice scarabs flying in to the blaze, and as it erupted outward in a burst of oil -

- a globe of ice formed around it; immediately starting to buckle inward, Mia kept her cool up -

- and even an oil fire couldn't withstand the frozen strength, snuffing the blaze out. With a satisfied nod, she ran over to Matoi, white wedding with veil and eyes closed. She hooked her arms underneath, and as she readied to bridal carry her -

" - er - drag me across the floor, Mia." muttered Matoi. "It's the proper technique."

" - I - of course." said Mia, laying Matoi face-up on the floor. She dragged her along by her shoulders, ankle-high barriers of ice forming to keep the heat from spreading.

The two soon came out to a laughing Sarah, and Mia deposited her cargo against the outer wall, still a bit embarrassed.

"Looks cute with that wedding veil on." said Sarah, helmet shaking. "Like you two just got married."

Mia nervously laughed, as did Matoi.

"…uh. Did I say something off?" said Sarah. She pulled her helmet off, revealing her freckled face beneath. "God damn, that thing gets hotter than a witch's tit sometimes."

"She's ... dating Aimee, Sarah." said Matoi.

Sarah's face went hot as a witch's tit. "I - oh! I - guess you can tell how much I, uh - pay attention to campus news, huh?"

"I - yes." nodded Mia. "We're very happy together."

"Ah." Sarah nodded. She had been around Urasaria long enough to know her own tendency of preemptively seeing every pretty woman an opportunity. "That's good. Let's run a few more drills."

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 19th]

"Alright." chimed Sarah, the three in one of the cabin's bathroom. "This time - just treating burns. Civilians can't rescue and help someone cool off at the same time, but you can. Matoi, you volunteered, so uh, go ahead. Remember that you'll need to adjust the temperature for civilians."

Matoi sat in the tub, extending her unsleeved left arm out. "Go ahead."

"…I, er." murmured Mia as she crouched, placing her hand on Matoi's arm. "Are you not going to -"

" - I - not today, no." Matoi's head shook.

"What's up?" said Sarah.

Mia started to speak, but stopped as she realized how it'd sound to anyone without Matoi's mind.

"We were training her elements a week ago." said Matoi. "I had to undress so my clothes wouldn't be burned."

A scarab scorched a ring in her skin. With her other hand, Mia crushed a stream of water between her fingers, dripping down cool.

"It - took a while to get used to." nervously laughed Mia and Sarah nodded.

"No-no, I see the idea in it. I think everyone at Urasaria's a little, well, weird. Least it isn't like my mentor. She had a habit of forgetting to put towels out before she showered." She paused. "Or keeping the curtain closed when I came in to give her one."

"She - what?" said Mia.

"You want me to expand on that?"

"I - yes." sputtered Mia. "How - she was your mentor?"

"That's right. Me, well, I was 18, so I didn't think much - lemme rephrase that. I *did* think much of it. I liked it at the time, but when you're young or younger, that tends to get in the way of recognizing somebody doin' something they definitely shouldn't've. I think there's some women who join Urasaria for that, sometimes, sad to say. People'll do the weirdest things for sex."

Mia felt Matoi's arm tense. She wondered if something had happened in her past; but in truth, Matoi's discomfort towards sex was more tied to her radical feminism than it was anything quite so Freudian.

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 20th]

As Mia & Sarah ran up to the driveway of the burning mansion, Matoi stepped out to the road and glared at the culprit staring at her from further down. He was a teenager, and she would fight him like a man.

A hundred feet separating the two, Matoi rushed forward, sword outstretched & Wedding readied; an explosive barrage erupted from her shoulders and shot towards him -

- but his hands caught the projectiles and halted them mid-flight, sudden cogs present on each, and as his fingers turned the missiles back -

- they were thrown with far greater speed at Matoi, smashing her arms and cracking her bones; she stumbled back as she glanced away, the missiles flying close to another home in the distance.

'Attacking a student. The sentence is death.'

"Wedding - Beam!" she shouted, and too quickly for the sight to follow -

- the lasers erupted from Wedding's eyes, the scorching beams scraping the boy's shoulders -

- but a sweep of his hands placed a second and third cog on the beams, freezing them in place as if they were live, trapping Matoi to her own lasers as if she were affixed.

A second volley of missiles blast the asphalt ahead, sending a cloud of smoke and a concrete fissure down the road. Asphalt pockmarked underneath, her foe stepped closer & closer, over the cracks in the road -

- and as he heard the launch of missiles behind, he was doomed and he knew it.

A dozen missiles burst out from where they had burrowed during the volley prior, previously hidden by the cloud of smoke, and as the missiles struck his skull -

- a dozen explosions tore his body to bits, blasting crimson rain overhead.

"Rain-On-A-Wedding." droned Matoi, and the lasers retreated once more.

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 21st]

Mia & Sarah ran in to another burning home the next day. Smoke filled the living room as they ran across, scarabs extinguishing the embers as they rushed to the door at the other end; a single fire scarab burnt down the door, and as they ran in to the hall of doors beyond -

- a woman burst out of the door at the other end, scorched&shadowed eyes, seemingly unaffected by the blaze -

" - civilian?!" shouted Sarah, far more for questions than Matoi, and in the next instant -

- a gust of smoke erupted from the woman's eyes and blasted Sarah back -

- but she stopped suddenly in midair as if she'd hit an invisible wall; another gust of smoke blasted Mia back -

- but another invisible wall caught Mia at the entrance of the hall, Sarah catching back up with her. Corridor filling the smoke, the two dodged blindly underneath another blast -

" - spray water out, alright?!" shouted Sarah, and as Mia sprayed the smoke around them -

- the mist dispersed as if the water had swallowed it, clearing the corridor and their vision, now seeing the woman rushing towards them. Sarah yanked Mia and rushed left, burst through the door at their left and released her just as quick, the kitchen covered in smoke like the previous. "Back wall - back wall, got it?"

The two rushed further back in to the kitchen, feeling their foe in pursuit, and as Mia's hand touched the back wall -

" - nah, no need to escape, Swarm. Pneumatic!"

- and the next scene was instant.

The pressure of the room drew low, and the door slammed shut as if pulled; gusts of wind filled the rooms, tornados forming and screeching, and as the wind descended upon their foe -

- the gusts tore the skin clear off her bones, unfurling her muscles & sinew in to a web of gore -

- and as she fell dead to the ground, the pressure equalized once more. Gusts of wind extinguished the blaze and evicted the smoke out of the house.

"Always a treat when it's that easy." chimed Sarah, walking over to the corpse. "Sorry if that popped your ears. Just need to get a good yawn in."

"You have a wind Revenant?"

"Nah. Pressure control. That smoke back there was because gasses dissolve easier when the pressure gets high. I know it looks like a wind one, too, but I swear it's got about twenty times more kick to it. One time had some sumbitch come close enough that I could depressurize his organs - he looked like he'd been popped. Let's extinguish this house, check for anyone else, head back out."

They extinguished the house, checked for civilians, and headed back out to Matoi. She laughed as she saw the blood, mentioning she thought she had heard something.

"Fight went just as good as ever." chimed Sarah. "Wish I had Pneumatic from the start."

"Pneumatic?" said Matoi. "I thought your Revenant was Kraken. You had it removed?"

Sarah nodded. "Yep. Bit risky to make a decision like that, but I just got sick of… fightin' crime, as you might put it. Well, I still gotta hurt people now, but you know what I mean. It helps more with the firefighting. Besides, some Revenant fires ain't actually -"

"- you - wait." said Mia. "This isn't your first Revenant?"

"Nah. Most of the ones that get picked up go to waste, really - you ask around in the right places enough, you could get a swap, if you want. Free for students."

"Someone would come back and kill me if I did."

"Revenant's that important, eh?" Sarah laughed. "Not gonna ask. Still, sucks, barely anyone does it, cuz you gotta go back to square one - but if you've got a specific career real set in mind, sometimes helps to have one that suits you better. Better than the colony just dying out."

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 22nd]

The three waited all day for an alarm that didn't come, leaving a disappointed Matoi and Mia.

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 23rd]

Another alarm came for the women that afternoon, but as Sarah had said, not all Revenant fires were Revenants. A superstitious couple had called in their dryer fire, and though they couldn't save the clothes, Mia and Sarah proved more effective than the regulars.

With the women's job ending tomorrow, Sarah asked the two out for a celebratory round.

◆◆◆

[March 24th]

The three went out that evening.

The three went out that evening. Matoi had drank the most so far, as she recognized the bar's brand of sake.

"Be careful." murmured Mia, tapping the table in front of Matoi. "Wedding won't protect you from that."

"Last - final one!" chimed Matoi, downing her sixth glass; Sarah took it from her to keep her from smashing it on the table.

"Make sure she doesn't order more for a while." laughed Sarah, her helmet off, giving a vague shuffle to Mia at her side. The two stood, and Sarah went to the bathroom while Mia sat down.

Matoi started to lean close with a smile. "Mmmmia. Mmmmia Schultz."

"E-Er, yes, Matoi."

"Do you love Aimee?"

A little relieved, Mia nodded. "I do."

"Good." Matoi's eyes closed. "I wonder how straight female students feel. It must be awful to have your only options be men obsessed with sex or Samuel."

"…obsessed with sex?"

Matoi nodded like Mia hadn't asked. "He does his own housework. He cleans up after himself. He can talk to a woman without trying to fuck her. Sometimes I wonder if he was born as Samuelina." Matoi laughed at her own joke. "Mmmmia, have you ever thought about why women join Urasaria?" Without waiting, " - because they're fangirls."

Mia nervously laughed.

"And men." muttered Matoi. "Men love violence. Especially young men."

"You were a fangirl?"

"No. I love blasting men who think they're hot shit in to twenty pieces." Matoi grinned. "But everyone loves the idea of violence. Reading about it. Watching stories with it."

Mia nodded. She watched a man at the bar lean over to speak with a woman, whose expression curdled as he placed his hand on her back. Clearly, he wouldn't have any success tonight.

"Disgusting." muttered Matoi. "Spend the entire night trying to fuck her and call her an ugly cunt when she refuses. Castration would be too good to him."

Mia laughed thinking she was joking. Matoi started to get up, but Sarah came back and she stopped.

"Hey, you guys." chimed Sarah. "I gotta head out in a bit - but put anything you want up on my tab. Was really nice getting to know you, Swarm and Rain-On-A-Wedding."

"You too." Mia smiled, then glanced at Matoi. "We should be heading home as well."

"Aw - you don't have to do that on my account." laughed Sarah. "Firefighters make pretty decent money. You might wanna become one once you graduate, if you ever get tired of fighting."

"Perhaps. Er, but - still, our training continues tomorrow, and Matoi is - very drunk."

She felt Matoi's smile on her as she stood.

"Good a reason as any." chimed Sarah. "Hope I see you two again sometime, then."

As the three walked out and separated, Mia noticed Matoi glaring at every man they passed by on the way back to Urasaria. Judging by the literature on her shelf, Mia suspected she sided with nothing as much as her sex.

"You're about to ask me something." muttered Matoi.

"Er, nothing." said Mia.

"Don't ask why I left Japan. I've been asked it so often that an octopus has started coming out of my ear."

"...er, what?"

Matoi frowned. "Miminitakogadekiru."

Mia blinked. "Matoi, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Miminitako... the English word."

"The - for what?"

"Miminitakogadekiru! The English - what is the equivalent in English?"

"I - I literally can't answer that, Matoi."

"Useless." muttered Matoi. "I'll look it up when we return home. Useless!"

She threw herself off from Mia and stumbled over the corner in to Urasaria's street, and as Mia followed her -

- she burst in to laughter as she saw Matoi leaning against a bent streetlight, Wedding's veil forming as she gave it another shove; Mia pulled her back - " - I- Matoi, let me -"

" - I can fix it!" groaned Matoi, shoving her away.

Mia watched Matoi place her hands on the leaning tower of light, grunting as she tried to bend it back. She waved to a firefly near Urasaria's entrance as the pole didn't move.

"Do you need help?" chimed Mia and Matoi grunted.

"…maybe with both of us." Her eyes closed and her head shook as she stepped away. "Swarm! Fix this!"

Mia laughed as she stepped up and bent it back with no effort. "See?"

Matoi's mouth went grim. "What the fuck."

"I *do* have a professional Revenant." chimed Mia, hidden fire scarabs disappearing between her fingers.

"It's melting." Matoi frowned.

"Er, no, it isn't." nodded Mia, freezing it solid. "Let's, er, head home. Before a Revenant shows up."

Matoi nodded and walked back to the gates with Mia. Mia aimed the drunk wedding's badge against Urasaria's scanner. A second scan for their retinas, a third for fingerprints, and the gates opened for ten seconds to the hall. As they came up to Matoi's home, she stumbled on to her front steps and clawed at the door. Mia laughed as she opened it, then turned to see Matoi dragging herself inside & shutting the door behind.

"Mia." said Matoi. "We must have popsicles."

◆◆◆◆◆◆

[March 25th]

Mia was sitting at the table when she heard Matoi's door open, and her sober steps down to the dining room.

"I h-have a terrible headache." groaned Matoi. "In… light of your progress, we will… skip training, today. You may visit anyone you would like. Be back tomorrow morning."

Mia's lips pinched. "…Matoi. Do you remember anything you said last night?"

"Y-Your tone tells me I said something." winced Matoi, sitting down. "What was it?"

Mia sat her chin on her hands. "What does 'miminitakogadekiru' mean in English?"

"It's… a Japanese expression. For hearing something too often. Why?"

"Nothing." Mia smiled. "That was all."

After Matoi went back to bed to rest, Mia visited Aimee's mansion. She knocked, and her girlfriend answered.

"I - hey. Did something happen?" said Aimee and Mia smiled as she stepped inside.

"I have the day off. Are you busy?"

"She let you have the day off?" laughed Aimee, closing the door. "Doesn't sound like her."

"Well, she says I've been doing very well." Mia smiled. "I haven't had any trouble with Worldwide recently, either."

She looked at Aimee, wondering if she should mention her & Matoi's argument a week prior. She decided that a girlfriend didn't need to know everything.

"No purple flames?" said Aimee, sitting down on the couch.

"No purple flames." laughed Mia, sitting down beside. "But she still has a hangover from last night."

"Wait, she was drunk?"

(Mia relayed it.)

"Sheesh." laughed Aimee. "Didn't expect to hear that. Always just figured she uh, hated anything fun."

"It was a bit surprising." Mia laughed. "And - and the best part was the way she just kept glaring at every man that -"

" - alright, that definitely sounds like her." laughed Aimee. "If you ever see her on campus, she's, uh - does the same thing. Think she likes keeping that 'don't talk to me' attitude up."

Mia nodded, then paused. "…do you know why she never attended Ueno?"

"Japan's academy?" Aimee winced. "You didn't ask her, did you?"

"No."

"Yeah. She gets pretty defensive if you ask anything about it. Don't think there's anyone on campus that knows but her."

"I suppose, but…" Mia frowned. "…she mentioned that - Ueno has a waiver for Revenants that aren't - that can't be non-lethal yet. I looked it up. It applies until they're eighteen, but she left Japan when she was fourteen."

"Yeah. She might … iunno. Probably still shouldn't ask her, but she's cooled down a lot, and I asked her back in … last May, so."

"Right after you became president?"

Aimee nodded. "Yeah. She came in because, uh, there was a male student going around sexually harassing civilians, and - you know how legal immunity is. Not much I can do besides talk to staff about it. But I remember she asked me what the point of being president was if misogyny didn't exclude people from being students."

Mia leaned back, wondering what Matoi had meant in there being no point to limiting one's methods.

"She came in a few weeks ago, though." said Aimee. "Asking me about how presidency worked, if she could go hunting with me, stuff like that. Kinda surprised me, 'cause - you saw how she was in Lanacca."

Mia nodded. "I think she realized she can't always be so stoic."

"Yeah." laughed Aimee, laying her head on Mia's shoulder. "…mmm. Anything you, uh, wanna do today? Don't need to go hunting. Could watch a movie or something."

Grinning slightly, Mia pulled Aimee to her lips.

◆◆◆

[March 26th]

Her mind full with a good sleep, the two came in to the infirmary room and sat down over a cooler.

Matoi spoke. "From what you told me, I assume your sword broke due to the length of your battle and your stress. Our duel on the thirty-first will replicate both, but this will help you practice the first."

She opened the cooler, and a massive slab of game meat was inside.

"…a kebab?" Mia laughed, her sword flashing to existence in her right hand. "Is that what you have planned?"

Matoi smirked. "Bear meat: it's usually infected with parasites that only die at sustained high temperatures, and our lunch. Burn too hot, and I'll expect you to eat every charred bite. Too low, and we'll have worms."

Mia's sword pierced the hunk of meat, and as a fire scarab flew in to its rightful inset -

- she suppressed relief as the sword burst in to familiar flame, and quickly toned the heat down. "How long?"

"Three pounds - sixty minutes. I would say good luck - but I won't insult you."

"For once."

◆◆◆

[March 27th]

Matoi had blindfolded Mia after breakfast and led her to an unknown location.

"Watch your step." murmured Matoi, the floor outside starting to grow wetter.

"Are we there yet?" droned Mia.

"We are. This is my mother's home." said Matoi, ripping off the blindfold -

- and an empty in-ground pool met her gaze.

"I'll assume you know what to do. Ensure it's the correct temperature." Matoi laid back on one of the loungers, undoing her coat for a black two-piece and sunglasses, fanning herself for the fans. "Go."

Mia's eyes lingered before she turned away, and her frozen sword began a stream in to the pool. Even if she had no need to order, she didn't feel guilty looking at the menu.

◆◆◆

[March 28th]

Alone, Mia stepped in to their private room and suppressed a gasp.

Matoi was sitting next to a fan with no outlet, in a room with ten heaters set at full blast.

"E-Electricity today?" panted Mia, shutting the door behind. A scarab of fire couldn't have withstood the humidity.

"Four h-h-hours." panted Matoi, hair drenched. "Go."

With a nod, Mia set her electrical sword to power their savior.

◆◆◆

[March 29th]

(Mia) "The training's been going wonderfully - but I can't wait to see you again."

(Aimee) "me too. :> figured it'd work good for you."

(Aimee) "you're gonna be so strong someday though, shit. I was looking up… do you remember the guy behind Moscow and Los Angeles?"

(Mia) "I know about it, but not who was behind it."

(Aimee) "yeah. his family leaked his name when they sued the government - Renault let me look at some of it. Daigo Yashukure."

(Aimee) "supposedly he had a fucking atomic manipulation revenant. like, could turn people in to golden statues and shit like that"

(Mia) "I assume that's how he survived?"

(Aimee) "yeah, think so"

(Aimee) "court documents mentioned that they were trying to sue Ryumi"

"You always smile at your phone." Matoi laughed as she walked over, placing Mia and her's breakfast down. "We'll rest for two days, and duel again on the thirty-first."

"I can't wait."

◆◆◆

[March 30th]

The two had a final dinner. Matoi had spent the night on it, and didn't let Mia in until she had finished it. As Matoi sat down, she passed Mia a bowl of tonkatsu curry.

"No more tests?" said Mia.

"Our duel tomorrow - and that'll end our month of training." She smiled. "It was quite enjoyable - even if we starved for the first three days."

"You did provoke me." murmured Mia. "… This is very good. Much better than the bear meat."

"And the risk of parasites is much lower." Matoi's head shook. "Still. I hope Sarah's training helped you, as well."

"It did." Mia smiled. "It - it was a good idea, like you said. Something to train my scarabs in a less stressful environment."

Matoi nodded and ate a bit of her curry. "…do you remember the mansion fire you and Sarah dealt with? The host?"

"I remember what you left of him." muttered Mia and Matoi laughed.

"I've thought about it for the past few days. A rich teenager with a Revenant decides to burn down his parents' mansion, then stays to fight against the students who show up. It was a terrible Revenant - useless against anything without projectiles."

"Are you saying he wanted to die?" said Mia.

Matoi shook her head. "I don't think he thought so directly. I doubt there was much of a discernible reason for his arson."

"That's a bit much, isn't it?" said Mia. "I'm sure he had a reason for it. Perhaps he was… angry over being cut out of the will, or something."

"Is that a reason for attempted murder?"

"No, but I think that there's always... some event that causes a person to be a certain way." said Mia. "Like Magnus. Magnus was how he was because of his wife dying."

"And every other criminal?" said Matoi.

"Era was... er, because of Ryumi, I suppose."

Matoi shook her head. "Those are different. Those are major hosts you dealt with. What about every minor criminal?"

"I assume they all had their own reason for it." Mia frowned. "Even if they were wrong, obviously."

"And what would cause a parent to prostitute their own child? Samuel and I dealt with a host a month ago like that."

"I don't see how something like that wouldn't have a cause. I've... read a bit about those cases, as well. Aimee lets me read them."

"Her reports?"

"Yes."

"And what do you believe causes it?"

"I was going to go to college to find out." muttered Mia, relevantly. "I was going to study Psychology."

"But you're aware there's a difference between reading a case study and an actual person." Matoi took another bite. "...I want to share something personal with you."

Mia sat up. "Go ahead."

"There was a girl at my elementary-school - when I was living in Japan. She went missing after a few months. We were friends, partially because her mother was a member of a women's group my mother ran, and I was interviewed by the police to see if she - the daughter - had ever mentioned anyone who may have kidnapped her. A month later, she was returned, and she told her mother that she had been molested."

"Did they find who did it?"

"It was a local grocery store cashier. After being sentenced, he confessed that he despised the way Moriko - her mother - always avoided coming in to his aisle, and that she wore such expensive outfits."

"He fucking molested her child for that?"

"She couldn't even recognize him at first." Matoi sipped her water. "And when the story became public, most of the articles asked just what you did - if he was abused as a child, or if he was displacing some hatred of his mother on to her. I wouldn't say that abuse...doesn't affect someone. But there's a reason direct causes are so common in fiction."