The young couple left Urasaria, and eventually Mia asked to stop at a bookstore. Aimee spent most of their time there bringing books to Mia that she thought she would like; mostly nonfiction and history; occasionally Mia would use Worldwide's scarabs to grab some text on religion and ask Aimee what she thought of it. Time could not fully dim Aimee's religious trauma, but through Mia's various questions, it would eventually become suffused with something borne of interest rather than of control.

  Aimee handed Mia a book. "I could buy this one for you, if you'd like." It was titled "Repression By Revenant: A History Of Ningsing Academy".

  "Is this for China's academy?"

  Aimee nodded. "Yeah. The guy who wrote it got assassinated in the United States after it was published, so you know at least some of the stuff in there is legit. We could read it together. I get reports on every other academy just in case there's any... students showing up pces they shouldn't be, students traveling for tourism, stuff like that." She sighed. "Also, if you ever do find yourself in another country - America, Russia, China. Those are the only three countries that allow students to kill rogue hosta. So be careful."

  "I will. And I would love to read it together with you. Thank you." As Mia leaned back in a recliner and began it, she looked up at Aimee, who resumed browsing, and said: "I promise I won't start any trouble with Nuiko, by the way. Even if the thought of someone talking badly about you makes me want to give them a bit of the Urasaria treatment." She smirked. "But I wouldn't want to cause any trouble for you."

  Aimee turned and nodded, but sighed. "Yeah, that's... probably for the best. Thank you. Nuiko's not a bad person. She just lost to me for presidency and ended up a bit bitter. Can't entirely bme her for that. Works harder than me all year but still has a loss completely baked into it because I got born with an easier Revenant than her's. I offered her vice-presidency, but I should've known she was going to take that as a consotion prize and an insult."

  "Aimee, I hope you know that I care very deeply for you when I say this, but you have a supernatural ability to bme yourself for any situation."

  "Guess that's just how I'm conditioned to feel by default."

  "Precisely. Conditioned." chimed Mia. "It's not something that's innate to you. I saw how you were with Makoto, you know. Perhaps you were compensating, but that you're able to pull part of yourself in some other direction means you don't feel strongly what you think yourself to be now. Does that make sense? I'm sorry if I'm coming off harsh."

  "No, you're good, I'm just... yeah. Sorry. Still running a bit hot from earlier."

  "I liked seeing you running hot earlier." Mia grinned. "You should be angry more often. Especially over snooty little girls like this Nuiko. If she wanted presidency so badly, and had such a poor Revenant, why wouldn't she have swapped earlier? It sounds to me that she didn't want it enough or prioritized her attachment to it over other things. She has nobody to bme but herself, not you."

  Aimee ughed. "Wish you knew how right you are calling her little."

  "Is that so?"

  "You'll find out soon."

  Aimee resumed browsing, but she thought over what Mia had said. She knew that Mia was essentially right, but she could never truly nestle bme of any student well into her mind, nor even entirely the idea of a student as capable of intentional harm. Because she had sought Urasaria as a refuge from her teenage years, she had subconsciously hoped all other dynamics could not penetrate that lesbian atmosphere; that there was a pce of malice and shame and guilt, here was a sphere of mistaken intentions and awkward expressions.

  That this led her to greater vulnerability to abuse within this sphere than outside of it is a simple dynamic to extrapote.

  But in this she & Mia were alike; she did not bother to rebuke Mia when she sided instinctually with students over civilians, whether in the arguments she made or how her speech regarding each was constructed. She had drawn forcibly over her mantle of self a malformed crust of identity, as young adults often do, then convinced herself it was maturity she had built.

  Sometimes Aimee wished she was cursed with the ego that made political life bearable for those who chose it. Mia's words always seemed to emanate from some far-away pce that could pull out habits buried in the nestles of her mind. She could admit that the anger she had felt recently over staff was not something she would have naturally dispyed to anyone but Makoto or Mia, the former to hide any weakness and the second as a vector of vulnerability. Why did she often feel so obligated to stifle herself?

  She pondered such things as they continued down this city street, passing by a restaurant with a metal awning overhead. They continued on for half a minute or more, and in the next instant; Aimee dipped Rider's tendrils into Mia's veins and the women turned as a chill wind bsted over them, blowing Mia's scarf away as an icy wind smothered them, icicles and hail of Revenant origin blowing towards them-

  "-Worldwide." winced Mia; a wall of fire scarabs burst out from herself and flew into the chill, yet the wind curved and blew away the swarm in several directions, their explosive heat diminished; more icicles and hail sliced away at the two women's skin, and Mia groaned as she recalled a fact she knew well; hosts could summon their Revenants anywhere within their range, even where they could not see.

  The pressure of the winter forced them further back, but a swarm of fire scarabs appeared within Mia's mouth and burst open; she exhaled out a gust of fme that cut through the chill wind ahead and a great rush of steam arose at the center, cleaning their sight for a moment; through the mist they saw their foe 50ft away, only now in a panic as he realized which students he had just attacked; whether for Aimee or Mia, Mia preferred to assume it was both while knowing it was likely only Aimee.

  Aimee rested her left hand on her chin, Rider's tendrils steadily dipped into Mia's veins from her right hand; she did not tend to interfere much in these fights but provide Mia safety and strength. "Yeah, he's fucked."

  The rush of cold wind ahead continued, but fell upon the phanx of fire scarabs moving steadily ahead; a slight gesture to Aimee to speed this along, and Rider's tendrils rushed forward, splitting open, propagating and flowering upon themselves until they could touch every point ahead of the women, decaying the hostile field ahead as they began their march forward.

  Their foe backed slowly away ahead, close to the awning, and his winds curved, a bed of pressure forming around the women and seeking to crush them alive, hail slicing their ankles; but a bed of heat formed below themselves and a geyser of steam bsted the two upwards into the air, Mia holding Aimee close as they fell forward and down upon them; 20ft within range, he turned his gaze upward and bsted another set of hail to them -

  - but a sh of fme melted through the awning beside him and the molten metal fell upon him, coating him alive and stifling his screams of burnt agony as his wind desperately bsted himself away and down the street, rolling and screaming and scraping as his flesh fell off in heavy chunks; he could only barely stand, gasping out from a burnt throat the name of his Revenant-

  "-Aimee, if you would?" yawned Mia.

  In the next instant Rider's tendrils went taut and Aimee was behind him and had sliced him down into separate halves, one half falling one way and the other another, his still-beating heart falling between the canyon of his corpse and readied to scan.

  [Chill Air Rises: Icy winds.]

  Mia gave her a little cp, at which point Rider's tendrils went taut again and his corpse became several perfectly-carved ribbons. "How lovely. All of that just for me?"

  "Just for you." chimed Aimee. "Feeling okay?"

  Mia nodded and smiled wearily. "I was just getting a little bored, and I'm already hungry. But thank you for making it short."

  "Anything for you."

  Mia touched at her own neck, then frowned as she turned; her scarf had been blown off and down the street during the fight. "Oh, damnit. Can you go get that for me? You're faster."

  Aimee thought about mentioning that, to her perspective, Rider did not actually increase her speed, but she went and picked it up anyway. She wrapped it around her neck, then went back to Mia, who ughed and pulled it off from her, then went further up the street. Aimee tried to tug it off from her again, but her fingertips felt the scarf ultra-heat and she retreated as Mia smirked. Aimee said: "You know, I thought I looked pretty good in it."

  "You did. That's why I had to take it away from you." said Mia. "It's too dangerous for you to have."

  In the next instant Aimee was wearing it again, and as Mia fingered where it had been, she ughed, the turned to Aimee, shielding her eyes as if she were too bright. "Oh, you're going to py unfair now, aren't you?"

  "If you say I look good in this, then I can't ever take it off, can I?"

  "Oh, I can think of a few instances where I wouldn't mind you taking it off for me." said Mia, then realized what she had said, and nervously ughed. "Alright. We can... say that you're keeping it safe for me."

  "Sounds good to me." Aimee wrapped it around herself, then shirked slightly when Mia went to pick at it.

  "No no, let me... ah, I burnt the end a little." Mia leaned in close, and she smiled into Aimee's eyes. "I'll have someone fix it when we get back. Don't worry, my sweet butch."

  Aimee nodded, and felt flustered as Mia's fingers lingered on her scarf. The two drew closer, the perimeter of their ptonicism melting as Mia reached up to caress her cheek. She felt Mia's other hand press against her back. Yet Aimee could not think of what further to say nor if her belief was correct, and so she lingered, feeling a hunk of human granite that Mia's advances could not erode, until Mia released her and suggested they find somewhere for dinner soon.