Mr. Tillman dismissed the class, and I sat back in my chair and watched everyone file out of the classroom.

It had been an interesting class. I had to admit, it was a pretty good distraction from the events of the last week or two.

The teacher was one of those guys who'd lived an exciting life despite his humble demeanor, and it showed in the way he'd explained the material. He reminded me of Doctor Hinokawa in a way, but a decade or three older. He was a middle-aged man, slightly heavyset and balding, wearing a brown tweed suit with a pair of glasses that sat low on the bridge of his nose.

He'd explained the origins of the modern Terran Alliance and how the world globalized well over a century before Earth had, even with our advancements in communications.

It had started as an organization in the late 17th and early 18th centuries known as the Corinthian Accords, an alliance and scholarly research network involving the court mages of monarchs across the world.

Although far less distributed and scalable than the telegraph and radio, the simple ability for a monarch to send messages and stay up to date with the rest of the world via magical means had allowed a kind of global community and cooperation that simply wouldn't have been possible on Earth without our later technological advancements.

I could still see a few similarities between the way Earth and Terra had evolved, but it was a fascinating lesson.

A gentle nudge snapped me out of my drifting thoughts.

I blinked and looked up.

"Wakey wakey sleepyhead," she said softly, gently tapping my arm in a rhythm with the back of her pencil with a smirk.

I smiled and nodded, before gathering my books to prepare to leave. The last of the students and Mister Tillman had just left the room.

"You know, I didn't think I'd like comparative history this much," she mused, looking around the room.

"Yeah. It's a fascinating topic. It's a different kind of history than the kind I learned on Earth."

"Oh?"

"I can see how power came to be as centralized here as opposed to how it is on Earth. But it was a different path. The world globalized faster in some ways, and slower in others, due to the presence of magic, and it was a very different process. It was a pretty cool class, actually," I replied, stretching. "Tillman's really good."

She nodded. "Mmmhmm... I'm surprised you're so interested in the topic. You don't strike me as someone who'd really be interested in the past. I was under the impression that you're more interested in the future and what we can do now to change things."

"I kinda am," I said, gathering my things. "But I had a family friend that was obsessed with political science and he'd go out of the way to tutor me in all kinds stuff."

"He'd tell me the same things until it stuck," I sighed, shaking my head with a smile.

Then, I puffed out my chest and did my best Elio impression, adjusting non-existent spectacles. "Understanding the past is key to building the future. The decisions and inventions that shape the present were made long ago. If you do not have a handle on the context of the mosaic, then you are merely a builder of tiles rather than a shaper of worlds."

Natasha chuckled at that. "That's a good point."

She smiled, before her expression fell and her face turned serious.

"I'm sorry, by the way. About the other day," Natasha murmured, glancing down at her feet. "It wasn't fair to you."

I shook my head as I stood up.

I replied gently. "It was my decision to get involved, and it wasn't your fault. I'm not upset or anything."

Natasha frowned and looked down at her feet.

"You shouldn't feel obligated to get dragged into this mess just because we're friends, Ikki."

"Hey, it's fine, I mean-"

She looked back up, and there was something unreadable in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but... I thought about it and really think you should really avoid me."

I frowned, looking down at some of the students glancing at us as they filed out of the room.

"Oh come on we've been over this," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

She frowned.

"Ikki, please. Just take my advice. It's better for you. This isn't a joke."

"I can handle myself," I said with a frown. "And it's fine, really. I'm not gonna just drop you because of some bullies."

She shook her head. "It's not just some bullies. Chelsea and a bunch of the others have it really out for me. It goes beyond pettiness for some of them."

"Yeah, well. They can eat my ass. And it doesn't change anything for me. You can trust me."

She quickly blushed before she looked away, her arms wrapped around her chest.

"I mean it, Ikki," she said, her voice lowering even further. "Think it through for a minute. You're here on a scholarship, and the first representative of Earth at a major elite institution like this. There are so many people watching you and evaluating you and your people, and if you hang around with me, they'll write off you and your world. The people giving me a hard time are smart enough to be aware you have eyes on you, but it wouldn't take much to sell 'retaliation' justified if they have enough evidence to twist the narrative."

I frowned at that.

"And they treat you like this just because you wouldn't stay in your place?" I asked. "They'd ruin your chances just to teach you a lesson? Like some kind of gangland vendetta?"

Natasha sighed, her expression darkening. She looked up, her face serious and grim.

"I mean, I can see how this looks. I do. It's a big deal and I know how it looks to someone from Earth," she said quietly. "But it's more complicated than you think. You don't really get the whole situation."

"Then why don't you tell me, instead of all this 'you should stay away' and 'I'm bad news' stuff?" I said, a hint of irritation slipping into my voice.

"It's complicated, okay?" she whispered, glancing away. Her expression softened, her face crumpling as her eyes grew misty.

I raised an eyebrow.

"You know, that William Darpel guy came up to me yesterday and talked a whole bunch of game, and he basically told me that you're bad news because of something involving your dad," I said.

Natasha stiffened, a look of fear flashing across her face for a brief moment.

"I'm just trying to protect you," she hissed.

"And I'm trying to help you protect yourself," I echoed neutrally, meeting her gaze.

Her lips pressed into a hard line, her expression growing stony.

"Darpel implied the Void Clan's matriarch threw you away because she got her hands on your dad's patents, and you outlived your usefulness. But that doesn't match the vibe I get from the way your dynamic seems to be with Caroline. What happened to him? Why are you on everyone's shit list?"

Natasha tensed, and I could tell she was trying to keep her breathing even as her expression tightened. I could practically see her trying to come up with a good way to respond.

"Walk with me?" she said. I nodded and we headed out of the classroom and towards the back of the building, where it opened out to a path that would lead to the island's shore. We were quiet for a while, just walking along the stone pathways.

The wind blew softly through the trees and rustled the bushes as we passed, the smell of the ocean and salt in the air mixing with the warm, sweet scents of the garden behind.

The silence lingered between us, the wind blowing the leaves around our feet as the sun shone through the trees and illuminated the ground in patches.

Natasha finally let out a long, deep breath.

"My father was Aleksei Zamir. One of the most prominent inventors and engineers associated with Sisyphus," she finally murmured. "He was of humble birth and origin, but rose with his best friend Misha Petrov to be one of the leading minds behind the invention of modern mana engineering. You probably know about Sisyphus, and its current role in releasing both bleeding edge technology and public domain, open source projects alike. Zamir and Petrov were critical members of that movement - but Petrov took time off to focus on their jointly-created corporation."

Her eyes glazed over for a moment.

I frowned. "And? What happened there? Did they have a falling out or something? I know there was an acrimonious split. Did his involvement get him in trouble with the noble families or something? Or was he a bad dad? Is there more to that?"

Natasha frowned. "You know they split on bad terms? You're more informed than I would have guessed."

"How so?" I asked.

"The public story wasn't that they separated on bad terms. The story is that he sold his stake to Petrov and decided to leave his CTO role at Z&P industries and the two separated on amicable terms."

"Darpel dropped a few tidbits from his family's 'dossiers' and 'intelligence' - whatever the hell that means, that implied they weren't exactly best buddies anymore. But yeah."

Natasha narrowed her eyes and looked away, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment.

"He disappeared when I was three years old. I do still have impressions of him and I remember a few things, but most of my memories of my childhood come from after he disappeared," Natasha finally said.

She sighed, looking down at her hands.

"He had his flaws. He was brooding and emotionally stunted, but not abusive, not like some people's dads. And it wasn't his fault that he left," Natasha continued. "But, I did learn later that Petrov had hired a hitman. Whether my dad is dead, or whether he ran away, it doesn't matter. If he ran away, he was scared enough to go underground and cut all contact with me. That's all I know. He loved me, but... he was broken, I think. In a lot of ways. And he was scared of something, of Petrov and some of the people around him. He'd started having nightmares. Talking to himself, and getting lost in thought. It scared me because I did remember I loved him, and the change in personality worried me. And I never learned why he left, but he didn't even say goodbye to me. My guess was that Petrov threatened him."

She paused for a minute.

"It's still a core memory for me, to an extent. We were well off enough to have a maid, but he'd make a point of having tea parties and playtime with me at least once a week and that day, he and my mother realized we'd run low on his favorite tea and cookies, and they went to get groceries. And that was the last I saw of them."

She paused again and smiled, but it was a sad, bitter smile. I felt my heart sink at that.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said quietly.

Her face hardened as the memories flooded back, and I saw the steel come back to her voice and expression.

"He and my mother just vanished, and it destroyed me," she said, before letting out a little sigh. "The maid tried to comfort me and has been loyal ever since, but it wasn't enough. It was the hardest thing I'd ever gone through, and it was a betrayal. A deep, deep betrayal. Even though I was so young. He'd made an effort to spend time with me every day, and then he was just... gone. The company's lawyers swooped in and seized our home because my dad hadn't paid off his loans and debts to Z&P industries, and he'd mortgaged our home to get seed funding."

"Jeez," I said.

"But he'd made many friends in his forty years of life, and had shaken hands with the who's who of the Coalition and a fair few nobles and influential families, and one of those friends, the a member of the Void Clan, offered to adopt me and provide me a new family with the blessing of the matriarch."

Her eyes suddenly flashed with fury. "That woman was the grandmother I never had, and for Darpel's informants to imply otherwise... well. You know why the nobles hate me already. The full grievances some of them have is complicated, but that doesn't really matter here. The honest to goodness truth why I'm dealing with what I am is because the clan stopped protecting me, plain and simple. I'm frankly insulted Darpel thinks she'd just loot my father's inventions and throw me out like that."

I looked at her with a frown, tilting my head to signal her to elaborate.

She balled up her fists, sighing. "I told you a bit about this before, by father had named Caroline's mother my godmother before any politics. That was before any money and patents were even a concern, and the Kong family's matriarch gave Caroline her blessings. I've lived a charmed life in a way. But... Caroline and I, we have history. She's been like a sister to me for much of my childhood, and I can tell that her family's had an influence on her that I didn't expect. She was kind to me. She and her mother treated me like their own flesh and blood."

Her expression turned thoughtful for a moment.

"Caroline's been kinder to me than my own parents in many ways. Her and her parents. She has always had this... soft spot for the underdog. It was endearing to me. We grew up together, and her family has a history of adopting in strays. But the Kong clan is... well."

She frowned again, and her expression grew conflicted and confused.

"I'd demonstrated just as much magical potential as their heir Jeanne de Vandimion, who's one of Caroline's cousins. Jeanne's mother was a Void Clan member who married a French court mage and mystic from House Vandimeon, and Jeanne was the greatest user of Kong style void magic in a thousand years, but her mother and Caroline's mother wanted me to have a chance too. And they were very kind to me. I'll admit it. But... it wasn't to be."

She breathed, looking at her hands. "Growing up under them was interesting. Old Families like the Void Clan keep their abilities a closely guarded secret. So, I had a tutor in many things. In music. In science and mathematics. And magic. But, only the basics taught to the public, not the clan secrets. The clan matriarch and her heir wanted me to have a fair shot, to give me a chance to rise on my own. It wasn't a slight against me - they had wanted me to grow up without the weight of expectations on my shoulders."

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Natasha's eyes turned down.

"That's... not the impression I had about your dynamic with them. What changed?" I asked gently, and she turned away, a conflicted expression on her face. Her eyes hardened.

"Caroline was like an older sister to me growing up. We both wanted the same thing - to help others. She's talented with the offensive elements of the Void, but she was a very kind, gentle soul. Kind and loving, but very soft-spoken and timid, even though she's nearly a year older than me," Natasha explained.

I couldn't imagine the very picture of a haughty aristocratic bitch as a 'kind, gentle soul,' but Natasha continued.

"And we had many things in common, but she'd had a... hard upbringing, in her own way. I had more of a childhood, because I didn't have the same weight of expectation on my shoulders. She, on the other hand, wasn't as talented as Jeanne but was expected to perform at Jeanne's level, and she was always anxious about living up to the expectations of the Void Clan."

She laughed mournfully. "It was unfortunate for her that she was talented. Generationally talented, but I understood the principles better, even though she was the heir of her clan and I wasn't a true member, but rather a commoner. I was never even allowed to look at her materials or the actual lessons. But... I could see when she struggled and when she didn't fully understand things. I was able to piece together the concepts. I would never dare try to replicate them from scratch, of course, but... well. They're a proud clan, and the knowledge is a closely guarded secret. So I didn't ask questions. Not even once. And then... things changed when her mother died."

"The Chaos Event from three and a half years ago," I guessed, and Natasha nodded.

"When her mother passed, she changed," Natasha continued.

Her face scrunched up in pain.

"The events that led to my adopted mother's death is technically classified, so I won't divulge the ins and outs to you, but Caroline was there to see it. She didn't take it well. I had the chance to risk my life to save hers. To protect her. I had the choice to take the shot. I knew how. I could've killed a lot of people, Ikki."

I blanched at the thought. Natasha was put into a position where she could've killed people?

She had to have only been eleven or twelve at the time...

Natasha continued.

"I'm... I'm so sorry. What the hell happened there?" I asked.

"I'm afraid the specifics are a secret I'll probably take to my grave, Ikki," she said. "For her memory, and for the family's safety, I can't talk about what exactly happened. It's... well, I won't even touch it, but it was an incredibly difficult decision for me to make. But it was the call she had raised me to make. It was a betrayal, but it was a betrayal to protect my family and the countless innocents in the middle of a city overrun by chaos beasts as magical girls were battling each other across the city."

Natasha frowned, shaking her head.

"Her mother would have made the same decision. Her mother was an upstanding and honorable person, who did the right thing when it counted. She didn't want us to have to pay that price, to bear the responsibility. She'd taught me the right thing to do."

Her face scrunched up in anguish.

"And Caroline didn't take it well."

"I can imagine," I said, and Natasha nodded. "How'd you get through it? It must have been traumatic for a little kid."

"I was just a little girl who could shoot basic mana blasts from her hands amongst other things. But... the call I had to make that day, the way I saved my sister in all but blood was by not taking a shot, even though I knew I could. Even though it could've turned the battle in our favor with the right shot. It was also a shot that could have killed thousands of civilians and probably four Magical Girls. I had to hold my fire. I knew I could hit my target, and I knew I had a responsibility to take that shot to save my family and protect my loved ones. But it wasn't the right thing to do."

"And it would have required the sacrifice of innocents."

"I couldn't bring myself to do that, not even to protect them," she admitted quietly. "Not even if it would have kept Caroline's mom alive, because she'd taught me better than that. And her she never would have forgiven me, nor would I ever forgive myself. And so I made the call to not do it, to not try, and half the Void Clan was slaughtered to the child."

"Half of them?" I said in disbelief.

"Half of their clan was wiped out, and their numbers weren't that great in the first place. And... I'd never throw the fact that the call I made also saved Caroline's life back in her face," Natasha said. "It's a difficult, complicated situation. But it was my responsibility. And the cost of doing what was necessary was too much, in my opinion."

"To have a girl younger than my little sister in that spot..." I whispered, and Natasha's eyes softened, as did her expression. She turned away, looking at the window and her reflection.

"Yes. It's not a responsibility a child should have to carry," Natasha replied quietly. "And the guilt would have destroyed me. But the end result was the same. Jeanne's younger sister and mother, dead. Caroline's mother, dead. Fathers, brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins and family friends, all dead."

She sighed.

"Only the Kong family knows what I did. Small mercy that was. I can still hear Jeanne's wailing in the halls when I told her about her sister and her own mom, the pain in her voice when I had to explain that to her. It was the hardest day of my life. She told me not to blame myself later. That it wasn't my fault. And I don't. But, the Void Clan... well."

I frowned, my expression hardening.

"They blamed you, didn't they?" I said.

"Jeanne didn't," she said softly. "But her brother and grandmother did. And a lot of others in the clan did, especially when it came out that I had the chance to save them and didn't. There was talk of kicking me out. There was talk of a lot of things. There were whispers of 'if she'd done the right thing, she could have saved the family,' or 'they'd still be here today,' or 'she just stood there.' And they weren't entirely wrong. I could've taken the shot, even with the consequences, but I didn't have it in me. And it's haunted me ever since. That choice has hung over my head every day of my life, even now. It was the hardest thing I've ever done."

I sighed.

"I know you don't want to divulge the specifics, but how did they get themselves into a situation where half the clan could be wiped out, and where a little girl had to be put into a position where she could kill people in the first place?"

"It's complicated," she said. "And I really shouldn't get into the specifics, but they're not bad people. Quite the opposite. They were one of three mage clans who protected the city and province - side by side with the Li Dynasty's formal military and the Magical Girls who lived in the city."

She stared out at the ocean.

"There's an art and a craft to ruling well. And in times of great crises, leaders make the choices that best protect their people, no matter what it takes," Natasha explained. "The Void Clan was responsible for protecting a major cluster of shelters, and Caroline's mother had been one of the most prominent leaders in the chain of command for the city's defenses. She had to make hard calls that day. Choices that I couldn't make."

I frowned at that.

"So, they're one of those families that have their hands in the political pies and stuff? Like, they're actually important to the functioning of the country or whatever?"

"Something like that, but not exactly. The Void Clan's matriarch was the second most prominent person in the city's hierarchy, and was the one responsible for the shelter's civilian defenses. In the event of a major attack, even... children like me have roles to play. As you no doubt learned with the robotics club recently."

Natasha smiled and looked at me. "A major incursion is no place for infantry or conventional arms, not with how powerful aberrations can get. People who could conjure magic to protect themselves from the corruption of their radiation in the air or the attacks of Aberrants were invaluable, even if we were young. We had our own armor, and could fight, and could have made a difference in that battle, but..."

"But?" I prompted.

She took a deep breath.

"There are never enough numbers. Infantrymen are usually slaughtered and turned into zombies by entirely mundane monsters and the waves of radiation and mana from stronger ones, and even mages can be turned if they're exposed to enough chaos energy. There aren't enough mages to defend every civilian, so they're always prioritized towards high-value targets, or important choke points where monsters are likely to attack."

"Like a shelter, or a command post, or the heart of a city or town?" I asked.

Natasha nodded. "Exactly. The Kong Clan's Matriarch was responsible for defending the civilians, and she'd misjudged how badly the battle would go and what the risks would be. Caroline's mother saved the situation, but not before she had to make her own hard calls."

Her lips twisted into a frown. "And those hard calls resulted in the death of Jeanne's family. And, the Kongs lost half their numbers, including their strongest mages. The matriarch had misjudged the battle and we'd been overwhelmed. Caroline survived by luck and the sacrifice of her mother, and I survived because of my own cowardice and refusal to do what was needed. Jeanne was with me when she learned what happened and she... well, it was bad."

"I can imagine," I murmured.

"Jeanne abdicated her position as heiress immediately after the funeral and adopted an alias. I never heard from her again, and I can't say I blame her," she sighed. "I think about her often. I wonder if I could have done something more, something better. She and I... she was my mentor in every way, and it broke me to lose her. She didn't die but she might as well have. It wasn't the first time I'd had to see death and destruction in person. My parents had disappeared and left me without warning. I'd grown up in the aftermath of a major crisis, with the knowledge that the world could end at any time."

Natasha looked away, and I saw a flicker of pain cross her face, a hint of sorrow and loss.

"And it was too much, too soon," I finished.

"Much too soon," Natasha murmured. "Caroline had grown up with the expectation that she was outside the line of succession, despite her own talents. She had been raised to believe she was too soft-hearted to ever lead. And that was proven true. Her older brother isn't as talented as her, but with Jeanne abdicating, he was the best of the bunch, and was made the heir of the Kong Clan, despite his lack of experience."

I nodded. "It must have been a shock to her, and her brother."

"Her mother and grandmother had groomed Caroline for a future as a philanthropist and an administrator. The clan had never expected that she would be needed, that the heir of their generation. The most promising heir in a thousand years would die or abdicate," she continued, looking down at her hands.

Her tone became quiet, her expression hard to read.

"She wasn't trained to lead, to fight, or to make the hard decisions that needed to be made. She'd been raised with a very soft life and had been taught to help others and not herself, and to think about the feelings of everyone around her."

Natasha's lips pursed together.

"Now, she is almost entirely alone. She's had the worst things happen to her, and it's made her harder and colder, and crueler," she added, a tinge of bitterness in her voice.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

Natasha's expression hardened, and she took a deep breath before continuing.

"But I replay that day sometimes. I mean, I'm not the best by any stretch, but the current me would have been fast enough, strong enough to make a difference," Natasha said softly. "If I could have just taken the shot, and I knew how to, I could've changed things. The current me would have enough mana, enough control, enough speed to save both the clan and the civilians in the middle of that battle. But... back then, I wasn't fast enough or powerful enough to save my family."

"Because it was an all or nothing shot," I murmured.

She nodded, and her expression grew distant, haunted.

"If I'd taken it, thousands would have died," Natasha murmured. "And that included Caroline. I was the only one who had a clear enough shot to take down the target. So... I held my fire. Even though I knew the clan would blame me for their deaths, even if it hurt the family, and Caroline, and even if I was the only one in the room who could have stopped it, because the costs were too heavy."

"Shit," I said quietly.

I could only imagine the pain and trauma she'd been through, the weight she carried, and the way she must have felt, the way she'd had to carry it all on her own. The fact that she had been willing to bear the weight, the blame, the shame of the entire thing on her own, to save the lives of others. It was an incredible act of courage and strength.

And it was also an incredibly heavy burden.

"Did you ever tell Caroline at all? That she was in danger? Or what happened?" I asked quietly. "Surely there were people there that would have spoken in your defense. Surely they knew what happened, what you were faced with?"

She sighed. "No. I couldn't. But I think she knew, deep down, that I was holding back. That I was keeping something from her, even if she couldn't tell what it was or what happened."

Natasha looked down at her feet and bit her lip. "And... it was my fault, in the end. If I hadn't held back, maybe her mother would still be alive. And her family wouldn't be so broken. I mentioned that I would be good enough now. But I was good enough back then. It was a long shot, but I could have made it in time, even with a few chaos beasts on me if I took the risk to leave my position."

I raised an eyebrow. "A few?! Like what? You're tiny! You were a tween!"

Natasha laughed.

"Nothing like what a real combat mage faces. The Void Clan was pretty much a glorified militia. Clan techniques or no, they trained me well with the fundamentals. The shelter had been taken by surprise. It shouldn't have gone down that badly. But even if it did, I know I could have made the run. I didn't take the risk because I was scared."

I nodded, thinking. A few things made sense now. There was no way I could blame a girl around Izumi's age for not risking exposing herself to some chaos beasts for a one-in-a-million chance at something like that.

"And that was when you and Caroline's relationship changed?" I guessed, and she nodded.

"Yes. The death of her mother was a turning point for her. She began to change. She began to see me in a new light. I was the only one who'd survived that attack, the only one who'd managed to protect her. And she'd always been the kind of person to put others before herself. I'd just never expected to see that change in her so quickly," she explained quietly.

Natasha let out a long sigh.

"The last conversation I'd ever had with her was a month after the funeral, when I was kicked out and exiled. Caroline was there to see it happen, and she just glared at me. I couldn't blame her - I'd seen it happen to other people, and I couldn't blame them for being angry. They were hurting and grieving, and they had no outlet for it."

Natasha looked away, and I saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. I could see how painful this must be for her to talk about. To talk about what had happened to her, and the fact that her family had disowned her, even if they'd had a reason.

I wanted to reach out to her and give her a hug, but I knew it wasn't my place right now.

Instead, I just sat there, quietly listening to her speak.

"Caroline didn't see me again until the academy started. But you were there to see how that played out."

"Yeah. It wasn't good," I agreed. "And you were the only one who didn't have the clan's support, or a scholarship?"

Natasha nodded.

"The Kong clan was devastated and the only people left who had cared for me were either dead or missing. They blamed me for everything that had happened to them. The rest of the Kong Clan was in shambles and was barely able to keep afloat financially, and had only just started to rebuild. I didn't blame them for wanting me gone. And it was hard for Caroline to reconcile that she'd lost her mother and the woman she had loved so much. And the only person who had survived, who was able to save her, had been a girl that she'd grown up with and who had betrayed her."

I winced.

"It's a hard position for her to be in," Natasha said sadly. "I don't hold it against her, not really. I just wish things could have turned out differently. That I'd had the strength and the courage to save everyone."

"Even with everything you've done, you still blame yourself?" I asked softly.

Natasha looked at me and I could tell that she was still hurting, even if she'd learned to live with it. She'd learned to keep moving forward and carry the weight of what had happened.

"It's hard not to. But, I've made peace with my decisions. And I've moved on. I don't think Caroline or her family have, but I've been able to find closure, to an extent."

"And you still have a lot to offer. You're an incredibly talented mage. And an all around kind-hearted, smart girl."

She blushed and turned away, her cheeks red.

"Thank you, Ikki," she said softly.

"But I have a question. Why do you think it was your responsibility to make that choice? You were a child."

She sighed, taking a long breath as the wind blew gently through the trees.

"Do you hear that? That sound?"

"Sound? What do you mean?"

"Close your eyes and just listen for a second," Natasha instructed. "Don't look for anything in particular. Just listen."

I nodded, and closed my eyes. I listened to the gentle rustling of leaves and branches, the soft hum of insects and birds in the distance. And then, I heard it. A gentle, rhythmic, melodic sound, like the wind was playing a melody of its own.

"It's beautiful," I said.

"Exactly. And yet, it's not natural," she explained, a gentle smile forming on her face. "This island has been shaped over millions of years, and this spot, it's not a coincidence. There's a reason the wind blows that way and why it's so calming here, is that it is the intersection point of multiple ley lines. The buildings here were constructed with sacred geometries and feng shui in mind."

"I-Ss that so?" I asked, bewildered by the faint sound I heard.

She smiled sadly up at me.

"The reason I had to be the one to make that call, was because I was the only one in a position to make that call. It's a burden that comes with a gift like mine," she replied.

"And that gift?"

Natasha chuckled softly.

"I can hear the music that you or most cannot cannot. It is clearer for me than anyone. And it tells how it all fits together and how to shape the flow of energy to the world."

She gestured to the trees around us.

"Some things will have to be left as a mystery, Ikki," she continued with a wink. "I don't want to spoil the magic of it all. That's part of the beauty of the world. But, the music is a gift and it comes with a responsibility. The responsibility to be a steward, to care for the world and the people who inhabit it."

I moved closer and sat next to her.

I was speechless for a moment, taking in her words.

It was something that was hard to wrap my head around.

I didn't say anything. I didn't need to. She knew. We sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the moment and the sound of the breeze and the birds singing in the distance. After a while, she spoke again.

"It's funny. You're probably the only person who would have believed that."

"What do you mean?"

"Most people, when you tell them you hear the song of the universe, would think you're crazy. Or, well, I suppose a better term might be a mystic or a visionary."

I smiled.

"Maybe I am," I replied. "But I'm not from your world, remember? You could probably tell me that the sky was green and I'd have no way to disprove you."

"True. I suppose that's a benefit," she said with a small smile. "I guess it helps to be a little crazy sometimes."

"I don't know. You're a lot more grounded than I would have thought, given your story."

She shrugged.

"I suppose so. But I still have a long way to go."

"We both do. You've been through more than anyone should ever have to go through."

Natasha nodded and took a deep breath.

"Yes. I have."

She turned to face me and looked at me with a serious expression.

"You know, I've always believed in destiny and fate," she said. "I've seen too many things to believe otherwise. But, I don't know. Maybe it was fate that we met."

"Or maybe we just have similar tastes in places to relax," I said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and lightly shoved me. I chuckled. She was a lot more relaxed now. I was glad to see her in a better mood.

"Come on," I said, standing up. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Let's go grab a bite?"

She nodded and followed me up.

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