“Fine. But do you wanna come see the race? It's gonna be good.”

“No.” Ikato waved him off. “I'll just go get coffee or something.”

“Ah yes,” the auburn hair fluffed up as the young man spun so he was gliding beside Ikato going down the hallway on his back as if he were on a bed. He stretched his arms toward the ceiling dramatically and bent his knees. “That post-observation deck coffee that we all must have before bedtime.”

Ikato pushed his face and his friend rolled horizontally toward the opposite wall. “Maybe I'll have tea. You won't know.”

“You're right. I'll be too busy yelling until my lungs burst out of my chest.”

“Be sure you're near a doc's ward. Don't want regular people cleaning that mess up.”

“You have no heart for me do you?”

“For going to a flight race during night time when it's glowing loops and hoops and sparkling stars and lights following the racers and loud cheers?”Ikato stopped walking, now finally at the door that led out to the main lobby. “No. Nothing.”

Chuckling from Ikato echoed as they went through the sliding door. Out in the lobby, the friend and others who were flying, dipped down over the rail guards of the balcony and stairways and went straight down to the front doors. Flight users had special doors they could use – circles of glass and metal that a censor would sense their approach, a light would turn green, and the door would lift open rather quickly to let them through. It was a more advanced version of the automatic sliding doors on the floor, since the ones meant for Flight could move just a touch faster and it almost never resulted in someone hitting their face against the glass.

Ikato always hoped someone would hit the glass after work and he could see them fall straight to the ground to the pool of “safety water” below to catch their fall.

He stood at the balcony, arms in his pants pockets, as he looked down at the pool of water reflecting the inside yellow light gently. “There was no water to catch me...” He mumbled, thinning his eyes.

The trip for Ikato down the stairs took longer and only a few people were with him – those who had their Flight privileges revoked, broke their earrings, didn't have them, were waiting on repairs, or just liked walking. The main floor of the lobby was even brighter than the balcony they stepped out onto. It was a relief for Ikato to step out into the night air where the sky was dark and only lanterns of orange and red lights lit the pathways. Roads were designed for walking or flying, and no extra machinery was seen unless it was construction equipment. It was easy to just pick a direction and walk anyway you wanted.

The cold pavement reminded Ikato that at some point they used to ride in cold machines with rubber tires along the wide paths and that walking was frowned upon and restricted to the outer most edges. Cars had the fastest routes, and walking took eons by comparison.

To the left, where most people were going this late at night, Ikato could see the neon colored rings for the racers to fly through. There were already some cheers happening as some racers were flying about to warm up – testing to make sure their earrings were calibrated correctly.

Distastefully, Ikato scoffed, turned on his heel and went to the right. The path wasn't any darker, but it had less people along it. He didn't need to go far until he reached the doorway of a florist shop. Flowers up here in the stratosphere were rare and expensive, but beautiful due to their close proximity to the sun. He stopped to look in the window at the flowers, lifting his hand out of his warm pocket to slide his glasses down. They flowers were illuminated by dim light to mimic the moonlight at this time of night, so the white ones had an eerie blue glow about them. Without an expression on his face, he lifted his sunglasses back up and took a turn to the right to face the store directly across, but that hadn't been immediately visible as he walked there.

This store was a small coffee shop with its walls entirely made of glass windows. Each table inside had a vase and an arrangement of flowers from the florists shop. Most of the tables were small but they were arranged in such a way that inside didn't appear empty or abandoned. Ikato slipped in the front door, another that automatically slid open upon him stepping up to the doorway, and went right over to a table. After sitting down, he removed one ear from his headphones, and with his hand still on the round part connecting it to the headpiece, he spun the center until the volume of classical music in his ears lowered until it was just at a comfortable white noise level.

While pulling off his sunglasses, a woman walked up to him to promptly set a white plate before him with a warmed chocolate cookie. “Tea today?” she asked in a sweet tone, obviously used to him coming in before.

Ikato looked up to her, his green eyes glistening in the warm light of the chandeliers above. “Just some ginger crystals with honey and cinnamon please.”

“Nothing ever fancy,” she teased before stepping away. Ikato offered her a weak smile as he watch her suddenly stop on her way to the counter opposite him, and turn to a table behind him. Curious, Ikato swiveled in the chair to see her approach a young man with long blond bangs, a black hat covering his head, and a thick dark jacket covering the rest of him, take a seat at a table beside the window. “Hello,” she said with a smile, “what can I get you?”

“Uh,” the man stammered, his voice and behaviors revealing that he must be around Ikato's age and somewhat unsure of where he was. “Just something to warm me up. Do-Do you have hot alcohol here?”

“Nope,” she waved her arms out til they hit her sides. “This isn't an alcohol kind of place. We've got tea, hot chocolate, and that sort of stuff.”

“Uh, tea would be fine.”

“Any honey with that?”

“Do you have sugar?”

She raised a brow and slowly answered him. “No... Just honey for any extra sweetness.”

Ikato looked the flustered young man up and down a bit more carefully. He had pale skin but looked attractive. His nose was red along with his cheeks, as if he were cold.