The girl, who I now know as Salka and Reta’s friend… finishes her story with tears in her eyes. But, somehow, she keeps her voice steady as she speaks.

  ‘What kind of trauma has she been through to manage that?’

  “I… I’m sorry… if you hate me… for not saving her… then that’s fine… I’ll leave as soon as I ca-”

  Yuna is already on her, giving her a hug from the side- earning a yelp of pain from the now frozen stiff woman.

  “Yuna, she’s burned all over!”

  Flinching, she nods and lightens up the hug, her ears wilting a little. “Sorry.”

  Salka looks… completely lost, before I walk over and give her a quiet hug from the side, feeling a few tears run down my face.

  My voice though, I manage to speak despite it growing shaky, the weight of it all pressing down on me. “It’s not your fault… not at all. She died with your safety in mind… so, thanks, for telling us.”

  We’re silent for a few moments, Yuna and I trying to both comfort and seek comfort in a carefully light hug.

  Finally, I hear the pain in her voice, finally cracking through that stubborn shell. “I… I don’t deserve this… I…”

  Her body tenses and slightly loosens up, before tensing back up again. As if she’s scared she’ll fall apart if she fully accepts our hug.

  Looking up at her, I give her a disappointed look, though the tears on my face might ruin the intent. “You were close, and you lost a close friend, and your family. So… don’t be saying sorry to us… you lost even more than we did.”

  Eyes widening at me, Yuyu joins in, her much more broken voice audible. “Y-yeah, she would want you… to rest and be healthy, not blame yourself. Listen to Lumi, she knows.”

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  Finally looking at me, she… sighs, relenting and going limp in our hug, no longer stiff and wary.

  “I… I get it… th… thank you. But… I should still say sorry for the mess I probably left when I crashed in here… for not-”

  “Shut, you’re our guest and friend, friends don’t apologize for things out of their control, got it? Now shut up and just… rest and heal.”

  Letting go of her, I go and grab her a plate of breakfast, while Yuyu joins in and gets her some tea, working in sync even while mourning a friend.

  Well, we can properly mourn in a minute, for now I need to make sure Salka is okay. Don’t need her… doing anything rash out of grief.

  “Yuyu, you can go if you want.”

  Shaking her head at me, she sits down next to Salka. “It’s fine.”

  With a slight, sad chuckle, I sit down and work on finishing my breakfast. Even if my appetite is gone, I gotta start the motion for the other two to eat.

  And, slowly, the others follow suit and eat their breakfast as well, despite the tension in the air. Good.

  Looking at Salka, I actually take a moment to register what she looks like now that she’s moving.

  She’s got lines carved into her skin, making room for some metal implants of sorts in her body. I have no clue what their purpose is though. And her neck and spine has a neural implant, which seems really high tech. All I’ve got is a simple one at my neck, not my whole spine.

  “Um… what’s your name?”

  Blushing a bit, I look away from her body and to her face, seeing her looking at me curiously.

  “Oh. Right. I’m Lumi. And that’s Yuna, my… adopted sister, in a way.”

  She looks a bit… well, there’s a bit of amusement in her eyes, I think. “Even though she’s twice your height?”

  Blushing with my ears perking up, I cross my arms and give her a look. “Well sorry that not everyone is a giant! Hmph.”

  Yuyu giggles a bit, while Salka gives me a slightly amused look, but it fades quickly.

  Well… hopefully she bounces back a bit better than this. But… it’s still hard to believe Reta is dead.

  I know her job was some dangerous one, even if she never could tell us what it was exactly. But… still.

  Suddenly my ears flick in realization. I mean, it doesn’t really matter much at this point, but-

  “What’s up, Lulu?”

  Realizing she spotted my ears, I decide… I’ll play it up a bit to lighten the mood. “I just realized… she never paid her tab!”

  Both of them freeze and look at me confused, before they both giggle a bit.

  ‘That’s better.’

  As a note, Lumi and Yuna aren’t sisters at all. They act like it at times, and say that to avoid confusion, but they are anything but related.

  Oh, and I have a twitter and instagram too, in case you want to see when I upload each week, and the events for the week!