Old Friends

“Thanks for coming here with me, Yui,” Stella said as they passed through the gates of the cemetery. “I think visiting here by myself would have been...really hard on me.”

Leaves broke underfoot as they walked under a canopy of trees on the cusp of total nakedness. “After my brother died, I swore I would never visit a graveyard again,” Yui admitted. “But there was no way I was letting you come here alone.”

Once they reached the edge of the trees, the cemetery opened into a large, well-maintained area. Unlike the trees, the grass in this area seemed to have been kept a lush green thanks to a clever application of magic.

From a distance, the neat rows of gravestones didn’t leave much of an impact. They were all uniform in size and reflected the same ash gray sheen in the sun.

But as they got close enough to read them for themselves, it was clear that they all possessed their own singularity. Whether it was names, or birth dates, death dates, or epithets, no gravestone was a perfect replica of another. It was indisputable proof that the people that had been loved—and lost—were irreplaceable.

Stella paused to bend down and brush a smattering of leaves off one of the gravestones. It belonged to Aster, a comrade who had died before seeing the end of her high school days.

Had circumstances been different—had Stella not been the daughter of Sakai’s CEO—maybe this would have been her gravestone instead.

But even Stella, as young as she was, knew it was pointless to think that way, so she tried not to let the sentiment linger and she clutched the flowers she’d brought tightly to her chest and pressed on.

The light was starting to slant and shade part of the field as they both stopped at a grave right in the center of the cemetery. “Hey captain,” Stella whispered. She knelt and laid the bouquet of flowers over her grave. “It’s us.”

Yui put her hands in the pockets of her hoodie as she watched over Stella. “We’re here to report on the events that occurred after you helped us escape from the Aria that day.”

Stella bit her lip as it began to tremble. “I’m sorry for avoiding my duties for so long,” Stella apologized. “I planned to come here so…so many times, and yet I just kept letting the flowers I wanted to bring you sit on my windowsill until they died.”

It was an inexcusable neglect of the people that meant so much to her, she knew. But bearing the painful question of whether she even deserved to mourn had kept a yawning distance between her and this place.

Her throat was wrung dry as she knelt and stared at the words engraved in the tombstone.

A hero.

That is what her weakness—and her privilege—had deprived the world of.

Yui cleared her throat softly, catching Stella’s attention. She pulled her scarf away from the lower half of her face. “I guess I’ll start, if that’s okay.”

Stella nodded mutely and turned back to stare at the grave.

Yui delivered her report as concisely as she could, just as she’d always done with Rift. While keeping correspondence brief was crucial on the field, it was also a technique the strike force adopted because of their captain’s short attention span.

“After you passed on, Stella and I fought another Aria that told us she hadn’t escaped from Sakai at all, and that they’d all been released on purpose so the company could kill them and harness their energy.” Yui huffed, as if even thinking about Sakai’s schemes annoyed her. “After snooping around headquarters, Stella and I found proof that the Aria was telling the truth.”

“My mom, she…did a lot for my sake that she shouldn’t have. But we confronted her about it! And after I managed to protect her from the Aria that had gone rogue in headquarters, she decided to step down as the CEO and pass the title on to me.”

“Can you believe she was thinking of refusing to take over?” Yui scoffed. “Dummy.”

“Hey, that’s no way to talk to the CEO, is it?” Stella pouted.

Yui jutted her chin out. “You gave me near equal authority when you appointed me as the leader of the safety division. If you have a problem with how I’m talking to you, give me another position.”

“You know I can’t do that. We need someone in the field for the sake of the Aria, and there’s no one better suited for the position than you.” Stella’s furrowed her brow. “Some of them are still running rampant, and we need to— “

“—bring them to Sakai so we can help them. I know.” Yui folded her arms across her chest. “I just really don’t like being separated from you like this.”

Stella laughed as she reached out to brush her fingertips against Rift’s gravestone. It was cool to the touch. Nothing like the hand that used to so frequently rest on her shoulder. “Now who’s the dummy? The only way the two of us will ever be separated is…” Stella slid her hand down the tombstone. “This.”

Two more knees joined Stella’s on the grass, and Stella only got a glimpse of the warmth in Yui’s blue eyes as she pulled her into a hug.

Ahh, Stella thought as tears began to well in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Yui and squeezed her tight. She’s warm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Stella’s secretary, Takashi, picked them up from the cemetery at twilight. His expression was dry and a smidge judgmental as he relayed that they’d missed the welcoming ceremony they’d been supposed to attend.

“I realize it’s not my place, but the scientists participating in this research exchange could be vital to our research with the Aria. Was it really okay to have the head researcher attend in your stead?”

Stella, who was still sobering up emotionally from her time in the cemetery, didn’t offer more than a noncommittal hum in response.

Yui met Takashi’s gaze through the rear-view mirror. “Okay or not, they don’t have the right to complain. The city they’re from is technologically and magically inferior to us. It’d be nice if they could help us figure out something for the Aria, but I suspect they’ll be gaining far more from this arrangement than we will.”

“Be that as it may, I fear you may have lost some goodwill from their side today.”

“It’ll be fine,” Stella said. “I planned to visit the research branch to greet them tomorrow anyways. It’s not like I’m totally ignoring them.”

Takashi sighed. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll let the research department know you’ll be coming.”

Stella smiled. “You’re the best.”

Takashi finally cracked a smile. “I know.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was with excessive caffeine circulating through their systems that Stella and Yui arrived at the research department early the next morning.

The head researcher, who had been waiting for them at the entrance, wasted no time introducing the two of them to their guests, the first of which was the lead researcher from their neighboring city.

“This is Doctor Price,” the head researcher said. “You know, the one I told you about? The one with the incredible research on organic matter? The one who—“

“Yes, we remember,” Yui cut in.

“Thank you again for coming all this way, Doctor Price,” Stella said. “We’ve heard so much about your research, and we’re really excited to have you join us here.”

“No, please,” she said, her lips twisting in a smile that felt a touch too sweet. “The pleasure is all mine.”