I Can't Give Everything Away

'Just'. That about summed things up.

Sooner than later, Shigure left.

Stella bought new clothes. New cushions. Way too many ribbons. Nothing would ever fill the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Aoyama helped her build a proper menu. Tsukiko helped her budget. Asaba, plus the mushroom mafia, helped her change the decoration to something more 'shoppy' (their words). However, it was Isla who suggested she keep the overall layout, Mr. Murasaki to donate an old school music player, and Irina, of all people, to help Stella ribbonize the place. Kou showed up in person for about three minutes before he ran back home, but by then, he and Rebecca were already at peace, however momentary.

And it was 'just' all right.

Perhaps that's all it'd ever be.

Wasn't that how society moved forward? Hadn't the longest time of peace occurred after the lowest point in history? Multiple times?

Eventually, this floaty, simple epoch could end. An even darker time could follow. But if it didn't? If the stars were their next destination, why would society lose time fighting itself? It'd done enough of that already, for hundreds of thousands of years. It was time to move on. To begin, at last.

"Why are there mushrooms growing in the backyward?"

Life could pause, and it could bend, but it would always move forward.

"Stella."

Life, by itself, was a miracle.

"I leave for ONE week. ONE. And you're growing hallucinogens next to the pool."

Stella swished her legs at the edge of said pool, back and forth, because she could, despite not being 'alive'. She could think, and she could love, and she could suffer.

Shigure crouched next to her. "Stellaaa."

"i'm busy," she said. "Philosophizing."

"Very cool. Get rid of those things."

"No."

"Yes."

"They're mimics," Stella said. "They resemble mushrooms that could lead to indecorous events, but they're edible. Multiple people peer-reviewed this, including Rei, who is a mycologist. I also enjoy looking at mushrooms quite a lot. They remind me of—"

"Don't say it."

"Hmph."

Shigure ran a hand down his face, slowly. Was it a good or a bad thing that he'd seemingly begun to waste government money on rented suits again? "...whatever. Whatever. I won't stress over that today. It's done."

"Yes," Stella said. "That would explain your return."

"Right, so what do you want first? The good news or the bad news?"

"Does it matter?"

He smiled. "Nope. It doesn't. Good news is, I'll be your social worker for the foreseeable future. Bad news is, I'll be your social worker for the foreseeable future."

Stella's legs stopped. Dimly, the city's artificial light glowed upon the surface of the water. It was so late it was early. Where anyone lucky or sane enough was asleep, Stella and Shigure watched this small miracle like the ordinary thing it should be. Water. On the moon. In a pool. Owned by a robot with cat ears and a garden full of mushrooms and glowing sunflowers (Shigure didn't need to know that last part yet).

...and yet, against the government's ineptitude, nothing would ever be powerful enough. "So you can't own properties on the moon?" Stella asked. "Ever?"

"My property ban will be lifted in... what was it again... seventy years? But apparently my generation is projected to live for three centuries, so... it could be worse."

Stella chihuahua-scowled at the water. "So you traveled for nothing?"

"Yes and no. I visited my family. They thought I was kidding when I told them my girlfriend is a walking nuke with cat ears and lasers in her fingers."

"Rude." But not only did that tell her a lot about Shigure's family; she had to admit that, were she in their position, she'd probably think he was kidding, too. Especially with his bizarre sense of humor. "Come on, sit. Put your legs in the water. Without shoes and your pants rolled up so they don't get wet."

"Obviously." Shigure did just that. Like her, he swished at the water.

They were quiet for some time, and that was all right. Silence around a loved one was seldom lonely.

"I missed you," Stella said.

Shigure gazed above—at what? Space? Back on Earth, at least they had the moon and stars to stare at. "Me too. It was just a week, though."

"Just."

"Yes, just."

Stella gazed above, too. She didn't get it. Then again, would she ever? Shigure was silly. He was so silly he'd studied to de-silly people and ended up sillier as a result. "Once I open the coffee, milk and peach pie shop," Stella said, "I think I'll invite everyone."

"...eh?"

"That includes Bob."

Shigure looked at her, not glanced, not scowled—nothing. There was nothing she hated more than that expression that hid so much. "All right," he said. "We haven't stopped looking for him, just so you know."

Stella couldn't hold his gaze for long. "Yes. I've come to accept that he's most likely dead. They all are. That's fine."

"Maybe they aren't."

"Maybe. And if they're not, I want to invite them to my shop's grand opening."

...and there it was, annoyance. Eyebrows raised, eyes half-closed, shoulders tense. "I told you not to postpone it anymore."

"And open the coffee shop while you were gone?"

"It doesn't—"

"It matters."

"Silly," he told her.

"Dumbass," she told him.

And then they kissed (in her dreams). "Now that's over," she said, "All that's left is to... budget a bit more, and buy more ingredients, and pay someone to post ads on the network because I won't, and maybe practice my recipes more because the mushroom pie—"

"For fuck's sake."

"—does not have a high enough acceptance rate, and then I have to mentally prepare for the next month being the same, and then the next, and the next after that..."

"Well, yes." Shigure shrugged. "What did you think? Running any business is hard."

"It is."

"And stressful."

"Quite."

"I could never..."

"I could always hire you as a part time employee," Stella said. "That was, originally, my plan. Having worked at a teahouse already, you have more expertise than all my other employees combined. Of course, this should not interfere with your prison job as a social worker. I'm a very kind boss. I will adjust your schedule as needed."

"Woo! More work!"

"I'm happy you're happy," she said, then frowned once the s*rcasm slapped her.

After taking off the suit jacket, Shigure lay down. That must've mean the shirt was his own. Too bad he didn't—

Stella lay next to him. Together, they watched a starless, ugly sky.

Funny—to fulfill a goal was to start a new one. How could anyone, then, ever stop suffering? Was it a consequence of moving forward? But wasn't to stay behind even worse?

"Philosophizing again, wife, dearest?" Asked Shigure.

"Is life meaningless to you?"

"...uhh..."

"Is that a yes?"

"Well, my life has meaning to me. I know you've been trying to make me talk all this while to—"

—steal a kiss.

Not that Shigure even tried to resist.

'It'll all be worth it someday.'

Stella's ex-owner telling her that was one of her first memories, although the more she thought about it, the more it seemed apparent that he'd probably just been talking to himself.

'Someday all of this will end'.

Back then, robots weren't 'people'. People fought to conquer, and pillage, and hoard. Class division had drowned those at the top as much as those at the bottom, until finally, it'd collapsed.

'Someday all of this will have meaning.'

It could always rise again, of course. The lights of the snow globe could dazzle her at times, but they never hid what lay outside.

And that was fine.

It was fine.

It'd be fine.