Silence passed between them.

  Mars looked up at Aya’s heavy face but hesitated to pry. Wherever memories were ed it alertaio Aya’s family and Mars had no clue how to fort her.

  Aya sighed again.

  “Well lucky you, it’s almost diime and nothis my mind off things like food.” Mars said, shutting off her tablet.

  Aya’s eyes brightened, she nodded vigorously at the thought of food. Her Rabbit Meat Soup was nothing pared to the taste of actual cooking.

  “Whatever you need me to do I will, I’m starved!” Aya excimed.

  Mars ughed.

  “Of course you are, that’s why you spend all that time holed up in your room.” She teased.

  “The game’s just really good okay.” Aya whined. “You would know!”

  The girls moved to the kit and Aya helped Mars take out the bowls they would need and

  “I would, Moon Valley’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” Mars said slowly. The dark haired girl blinked and tried to recall if the game she pyed now was anything like her time with Scarlet Frontier.

  Internally she shook her head, no. She had spent a lot of time trying to prove herself to the Eos querors just for her to lose all she had and start over with something new.

  “Hahat bowl.” Mars says softly gesturing to one of the shelves in the small kit. Aya lifts an old ceramic bowl from the shelves, it’s one she wasn’t sure she had seen before. It was a dull white with faded flowers etched into the sides.

  A hand-me-down perhaps?

  She ha to Mars who took it with great care and scooped the pasta into it.

  A mouthwatering aroma blew past Aya’s nose as she scooped. She wondered where Mars had learo cook so well.

  “What did you say this was?” Aya asked as she set the table for their dinner, arranging the cups, ptes, and a pitcher of water.

  “Garlic Chi Pasta.” Mars replied, ying the bowl oable. They would serve themselves and use the leftovers for lunorrow, possibly.

  ----------

  Aya served first, scooping a helping of pasta and chi into her pte, muars’s secret delight.

  Mars couldn’t let the irl know just how pleased she was that Aya enjoyed her cooking. She disguised her grin with a gss of water.

  “Tomorrow’s going to be our st day here.” Mars brought up, as she watched Aya’s cheeks fill with pasta. “How do you feel about that?”

  Aya noticed the slight worry in Mars’ tone, was she worried that Aya would have sed thoughts about leaving Axen City with her?

  Aya swallowed the lump of food in her mouth, promptio beat her chest as the pasta made its way down unfortably.

  Mars wordlessly pushed the pitcher of water towards her with wide eyes.

  “Too soon?” The dark haired girl asked, pig at her food with a frown.

  “Well no, it’s my fault for not thinking about it until yht it up.” Aya rasped after chugging a gss of water.

  Mars wihe pasta had certainly fought it’s way down.

  “I don’t know if there are a bunch of people I want to say goodbye to.”

  “I have two.” Aya said, she held her head in her hands, distressed. “I’ve never said goodbye before, to l-living people I mean. My world’s full of goodbyes.” Aya tried to ugh but it came out hollow.

  “I usually just leave.” Mars said.

  “That gets lonely doesn’t it?”

  “Usually the people I’m leaving aren’t worth stig around for.” Mars retorted. “That’s why I’m not leaving you.” she said under her breath.

  Aya could tell she wasn't meant to hear that, but she did and soon started rapidly stuffing her mouth with pasta to cool her face.

  This has the opposite effect.

  “Aya are you alright? It’s not too spicy is it?”

  Aya mumbles something Mars doesn’t hear over the mouthful of pasta. The dark haired girl shrugged auro eating her meal.

  Aya’s phone beeped with a notification.

  “Huh, Ats?” She wondered what he to sihe st time they had spoken. Aya gnced up at Mars who pursed her lips in annoyance. Suddenly the brue recalled the tense meeting they had at the cafe and questions sprung to her mind.

  Aya pced her phone ba the table without reading the message and faced Mars with an inquisitive expression.

  “You still haven’t told me what’s up with you and my former boss.”

  “Who said I knew him?” Mars huffed.

  Aya raised an eyebrow, asking Mars if she was serious. At seeing the girl’s rea, she averted her eyes, suddenly taking great i in her food.

  “You did with your weird iion.” Aya said pointing a fork at Mars in accusation.

  “Maybe I just don’t like him.” Mars smirked.

  “Mars!” Aya whined.

  “It’s all in the past anyway, we don’t even talk anymore.”

  “Well it seems like he wants to talk to you, I guess he has some things left unsaid.” Aya hinted, she pouted and looked up at Mars with big pleading eyes.

  Mars sighed, running her hand through her dark hair.

  “Maybe. Look, let’s ge the subject, what happened in the game anyway?”

  Aya was a little disappointed in the subject ge but respected Mars enough to oblige. She sighed and sat back. Maybe it really was too soon t such a topic up.

  “Nothing much, just an iive NPC digging up memories.”

  “You py an elf, right? Some of the NPCs will act accly. You're supposedly an immortal being after all. Don’t take it to heart, they’re just in character.”

  “Oh, they’re in character alright.” Aya’s eye twitched in annoyance as she recalled what Dyn had said to her. “Just a kid being dumb.”

  “They tend to do that.”

  Aya leaned forward on her elbows with a question.

  “Have you ever had a quest that dragged up old memories or you know, just pissed you off?”

  “Yeah, every gamer has. But that’s a story for another day.” She said.

  “Sounds good to me, you better start telling me about your own adventures soon.”

  ----------

  After the dishes were done and the table had been cleared, each girl moved to the room to tiheir respective business.

  “Don’t stay up too te.” Mars warned.

  “Right back at you.” Aya shot back.

  Mars shook her fondly and walked into her room, closing the door with a soft click.

  “I wonder what happened between them.” Aya asked the empty room. What could have been so bad that it left Mars and Ats on bad terms? Friends fight all the time but it must have been as bad as the Eos querors for them to never speak again.

  Ats had seemed friendly at the cafe whewo of them met again so… maybe he was trying to apologize to Mars?

  If so why didn’t he do it at the cafe when they met again?

  Aya recalled the text she had gotten earlier and lifted her phoo read the message Ats had set her at diime.

  [Aya could you help me with something?]

  The text read.

  [Sure what is it?]

  [I know it’s a lot to ask but, I need Mars’s phone number]

  Sunghost