With Ayanami finishing her food first whilst Yumi, Yoko and Aoto were still eating lunch, she decided to go outside trying to find Xiaodan.
Taking the elevator down to the ground floor behind the headquarters, Ayanami found herself in the building's courtyard. A relatively spacious open area filled with varying ponds and greenery. Standing under the courtyards hangar on an elevated wooden floor so as to not get sunburnt, she glanced around moving only her eyes.
There she saw him, back turned mindlessly staring into the sky, cigarette in hand mindlessly watching each one of his puffs float away helplessly. His white collared shirt wasn't ironed at all, instead it just laid loose on his broad back, akin to skin waiting to peel off a dead corpse.
Walking up besides Amou, they both stared into the clear blue sky in brief stillness.
"Okay, you ready for this? I'm gonna beat your ass today!"
"Hah! Try your hardest!"
Interrupting the awkward tension was a door on their left side sliding open with a pair of young teenagers walking onto the court. Wearing the same uniform, they had different weapons made of wood in hand. One had a long polearm while the other held two pistols.
"Phew.." Unbeknownst to the young pair preparing their spar, Xiadan and Ayanami turned their gaze on to the court.
"Your daughter. Will she be alright in a few years time? It's only expected to get worse after all." His monotone voice rang true. Noticing his depressed voice, Ayanami tried to cheer him up.
"It'll be alright, when she eventually passes the test of compatibility and opens her first mana valve, we're planning on moving to A.Terra's capital to further her education. Plus, a similar pattern was recognised 50 years ago. So we can't be completely sure if it's just a false pretext." As Ayanami and Xaiodan exchanged their first sentences, the young pair finally began their first round.
By folding his threaded entropic energy and passing it down towards his heels, the pixie cut red haired spear-wielder moved first exploding out of the sand ground. Moving one turn later, his long haired maroon blue friend created separation by taking several steps back firing off 20 hydro infused pellet rounds in quick succession.
Overwhelmed by his relentless firepower, the spearwielder yielded soon after.
Witnessing their entire round, Ayanami clapped subtly in enjoyment. In complete contrast, Xiaodan scoffed, forming a mouth full of saliva before spitting it on the squeaky clean wooden floor.
"Those two will probably make great athletes competing against each other and maybe even Stabilizers later..! What was that sport called again.. Magi?" Ayanami asked lighthearted.
Unimpressed, Xiaodan's lid was fully unsealed.
"Pathetic. Magi athletes.. Activating your precious singularity for the sake of competing in a sport against each other and not combating distortions. They don't understand the true weight of their mana valves.." Clenching his teeth and left fist in pure anger, his already red veined eyes turned even darker.
Unable to formulate words, Ayanami just averted her gaze uncomfortably.
"..What every Stabilizer feels during their first sortie. The pure terror, dread, horror and visceral feeling overcoming, taking over your consciousness witnessing a distortion in its entirety.." Unable to bear his words any longer, Ayanami looked back towards him. His face was sad, his eyes appearing to cry in desperation. Unable to bring himself to real tears, Xiadan's expression turned tired once more, his moment of vulnerability sealed.
"..." In awe at his seemingly bipolar bursts, Ayanami just sighed and gritted her teeth. She felt bad, really bad. What happened years ago completely robbed a part of what made his soul. His only daughter and sacred treasure.
"Rubycon huh.. I've heard it's impenetrable and a safe haven." Xiaodan uttered solemnly, returning to their previous conversation.
"What do you mean? You worked there idiot."Ayanami patted him on the back a few rough times.
"..Hah! I see that your memory remains unchanging." Finishing his last puff, he threw down the cigarette gently and put it out with his old shoe before heading inside again.
Before heading in, Xiaodan briefly stopped, and simply just said
"Cherish your daughter Ayanami-san. Because you can never be certain on how long they're going to hang around.. I know that emotion better than anyone." Hearing his last words, she stood still in place for a moment, frozen lost in thought.
Memories of a distant past returned. It was her older brother who lived in Europe, specifically Sweden with his stunning wife. In spite of losing touch with her brother over the years.. A letter from him arrived by their door one autumn day.
It was a simple family picture of him, his wife and their cute newborn. The baby had snow white hair and a pair of beautiful emerald eyes.
Her brother's new married last name?
Draken.
"Brother.. What were your last thoughts before you lost your own battle? Tying that knot around you sealing every possible future with your family." Shortly thereafter she followed behind.
…
With the meeting wrapping up, everyone was worn from the constant brainstorming. Not seeming to reach any definitive solution on what should be done, they all instead decided it was best to hold off for the time being and forward the information to the Cornerstones.
"Thanks for today everyone. I hope we can have ramen one day like old times."
"Likewise Ayanami-san." The first to leave was Xiaodan, followed closely by Aoto soon after.
"Y-y-yeah! Same here as well!" In the end, the only ones left were Aynami, Yumi and Yoko. Leaning against the wall, she took one glance at the pretty pair. It didn't take much for her warm orange eyes to recognize the family's current state.
"Oh by the way, would you guys like to stay at my place today? Both of you look pretty worn out."
"I am okay with that proposition!" Swiftly raising her hand and interjecting, Yumi's voice seemed to be quite enthusiastic even though her body language told otherwise.
"It seems you two have grown quite close. I'm happy! Looks like we have no choice today haha. Thanks a lot Yoko." Smiling, Ayanmi seemed somewhat relieved that they didn't have to take the bullet train back home immediately, but instead could rest until morning.
Leaving the headquarters together, they all made their way to the train station. Riding the local Metro line before switching to a bus and finally walking up a hill the commute would take well over 1 hour. During the commute, they briefly took a short break stopping by a station.
"Me and Aya-san are going inside the convenience store quickly, would you be willing to wait outside for a moment Yuki-chan?"
"Yawnn.. Okay.." With the long commute to Yoko's home, Yumi's eyes were growing ever heavier by the second.
"We'll be right back! It'll only be a sec!" Nodding in approval, Yumi appeared similar to a sleepy cat.
"We'll be back soon, be careful dear." Heading inside the store, their chatter could be heard momentarily before the automatic sliding door closed.
"Yawn…" I am really tired at the moment. I want to sleep. But I still had a ton of fun today. I even met Yoko-san! She was really cool and nice.
Just then, a low and monotone voice echoed through her head.
"A red string is like destiny, a so-called fate~?" An unfamiliar voice.
"Hm..? Where is that sound originating from?" Curious as to what the voice could be, she tried following the voice. Walking 50 metres around the right corner of the street, the voice eventually got louder until all that was in front of her was an ominous staircase leading down to a door with blinds in front covering it.
"Oh? Whooo might you be, miss?" Behind her, a foreign accent resonated. She sounded Italian.
"Eh!" Startled by the sudden appearance of a mysterious looking woman, Yumi jumped in complete surprise.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Are you fine?" Leaning over, Yumi was able to get a proper look of the woman. Her dress was white with riveted patterns following her waist all the way up to her arms. Despite her blue, green and red dress, you were able to see her pale skin through the small hex-shaped holes. Furthermore, her blonde hair was long and sleek, although you couldn't recognize her due to a veil she wore covering the face.
Lastly, in spite of her hair colour being vibrant, she had pitch black coloured streaks running along parts of her hair.
"Was she posing as someone who inhibits a cosmo nebulae?" Yumi thought to herself, still tired but slightly more jolted.
"I am fine.."
"Could it be..? Are you perhaps here to get your fortune read miss?" Confused by the information, Yumi still didn't know why the voice was so loud to the point it became almost nauseating.
"I would not necessarily say so.. I just so happened to hear a faint voice originating from this direction, and I got curious."
"Aaah, that sound resonator device? It's used to try and attract potential customers. It works by resonating within your mana circuitry . If you have higher reserves of energy, the easier it'll be to hear." Taking a look at Yumi, she seemed rather shocked to find that Yumi didn't inhibit any Mana Valve, nor was her singularity activated allowing her so..