While Mia was visiting Aimee the next day, the first phase of Aimee's awakening had come as Rider's tendrils bursting from her wrists and her hands rapidly moving, as if her consciousness was attempting to continue her former attempts at violence. But as Mia was id next to her on her bed and stroking her hair, it was her eyes Mia looked towards rather than her moving hands, as if she instinctually felt only the resumption of the head mattered.

  Aimee's eyes resumed, and she looked around, saw Mia, then smiled at Mia's holding her close. "H-Hey, u-uh. I'm sorry that I-"

  "Aimee, you are not coming out of a coma with an apology." Mia pulled her face back slightly, touching their foreheads together. "You've been out for a few days. I knew you would be alright, but… I'd like to spend some time together before filling you in on what's happened. Is that alright?"

  "I- yeah, I..."

  "And Saya has been filling you up with protein, so you haven't lost any of your muscles, either." Mia winked and squeezed Aimee's shoulder, who ughed a little.

  "Are- are you okay? What happened?"

  "I am. Now be a good butch and cuddle me. We'll talk about what happened ter."

  The two id together, and Aimee blushed as Mia pulled her closer. They had hugged much before, edged closer than purely ptonic on Aimee's sofa before, yet Aimee sensed that Mia was wishing to express some feelings that she might otherwise have vocalized if it were not for her coma. Again she felt guilty for what no reasonable person could have expected her to prevent.

  Mia stroked her hair for a while, then rested her head on top of Aimee's. "...god. You're still a little furnace, aren't you? You're incredibly warm."

  "My body is an oven that turns protein into insecurity."

  "Hmm. Then maybe I should have told Saya to reduce the amount she was giving you."

  "Honestly, knowing she can do that gives me a few ideas for meeting my macros..."

  "Oh, stop it." ughed Mia. "You're hard as a rock as it is, you know. You don't need any more protein."

  "Saying you'd like me more if I were fluffier?"

  "Mmm, no. You're perfect as you are. And I suppose that you *are* the little spoon, so it isn't like you need to make a good pillow..." Mia turned over and moved Aimee with her, pressing herself into her back as they cuddled. She whispered: "And you do give me such a wonderful view back here."

  Aimee blushed as Mia drew her fingers over her back, tracing her muscles. "T-Thank you."

  "My pleasure." said Mia, then almost hastily said: "Let me cool us down." A few ice scarabs crawled on the wall above them, emitting a lower temperature.

  "That's new."

  "I should get to telling you what happened..." Mia reyed it. By the end of it, they were sitting up together. "But the ice has been very useful. I wouldn't feel terrible if this were the st piece, though I suspect it isn't. What I'm not understanding is him hosting multiple Revenants. I know we had thought it was all one, before, but FTL and Worldwide seem clearly different."

  "And the mind control one, too." Aimee frowned. "You're right. It's normally one Revenant per host. Two colonies can't co-exist on the same heart, but… might be because of the multiple hearts. Starting to think this guy was a phantasmologist. Those are the only people who know enough scientifically about Revenants to create anything like that. Guy's gotta be a genius, too. Urasaria has a phantasmology track, but... fuck, it's practically impossible to pass it. Most students who drop out go on to do easier things like brain surgery."

  Mia shook her head. "I suppose the scientific details of it aren't as needed as where he could strike next, but… it's obviously being done in retion to me. I feel like I'm being forced to be a fool, but I'm not allowed yet to know why."

  "He'll lure us out again. Just... make sure Marisa calls me next time it does. Okay? I almost didn't..."

  Mia hugged Aimee tightly. "I promise I will. And I... think that's everything that happened. Are you feeling alright?"

  "Um, might need Saya to check-in on me in a bit, but I really liked being in your arms." Aimee smiled and leaned closer. "Makoto's going to want to see me once she knows I'm okay, too. Just so you know."

  "Should I leave the room?"

  "No, I'm saying don't text her on my behalf." said Aimee. "Maybe if she goes another week without knowing she'll think I died."

  Mia grinned and wrapped her long arms around Aimee, pulling her in tightly as they cuddled. "I'd certainly enjoy getting to keep you all to myself."

  They continued for a while together, yet Saya eventually needed to check-in on Aimee, who finally texted Makoto and met with her alone.

  "Okay, before I mock you for getting beat, what the fuck happened?" said Makoto. "Why didn't you just stab him? If Mia beat him, I don't get how you didn't."

  Aimee sighed. "Rider wasn't... responding. I felt its tendrils trying to burrow back into me. Something was cleaving into my host aura, strong enough that I was getting diverted both by what was in front of me and also even mustering up the ability to respond to it."

  "Uh, yeah, still not getting how a first-year beat him and you didn't."

  "Don't think she did. She's not even sure how she was able to avoid suffocating under that aura. Did you tell Mia what you saw?"

  "Yeah. And hey, by the way, when I told Mia all that shit, she didn't correct me when I called her your girlfriend. Personally, I'd take that as a sign to pounce on her soon, but I'm also not a spineless pussy, so."

  "No, just someone who's never gotten any."

  "That still makes two of us. At least I could take an opportunity walking by me. You have one inviting you in and you won't even let yourself acknowledge that it's there. It's like you forget the point of lesbianism is fucking women."

  Aimee frowned, and again she had that difficulty. Mia's affection for her was so objective and obvious that she hesitated to name it correctly; she had tried many times over to seat it as a fact into her mind, but because she could not rationally understand it she could not. Sometimes she nurtured a secret hope that Mia would realize the pointlessness of this entire affair. "Just think it's for her to say. I'm in a position of power over her. Not my pce to initiate anything."

  "Hasn't stopped you from investigating with her and pying the butch hero to your femme, though."

  "I help her because it's the right thing to do, not because I expect her to fuck me for it."

  Makoto ughed. "Like you could even fuck a woman without apologizing halfway through it. God damn, dude. I try to feel for you. But you keep arguments from five or ten years ago going in your head until you've accepted the terms without thinking how stupid it is. Nobody thinks that you're doing all this shit just to fuck her, but you think the way to be nice and a good president is just to let people peel you down over and over so you don't burden them with expecting anything in return. And you're definitely not the only dyke here like that, but shit, dude, I wish you stood up for yourself more."