3

Stars & Steel

Aikaterini

~Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh~ I’m finally done for the day.

Oh my, it’s already dark out. A meal and a warm bath would be lovely...

I picked up my bag and headed out but when I opened the door... Calista?!

She was slouched against the building, staring into the sky. I totally forgot that she was going to wait for me! Has she been waiting long?! _awawawa o^h no oh _no I can’t believe I made Calista wait she must have been so bored staring into space like that. I breathed in and steeled myself with the thought: ‘It’s not like I asked her to wait!’ I then walked towards her.

“Oh hey Rini! have fun with your pietistic pals?”

“As a kindness I was going to ask if you’d been waiting long, but I now no longer care, who taught you a word like pietistic anyway?”

“How harsh Rini, you should know I only ever pretend to be stupid.”

“Then I suppose we’re both abandoning pretence.”

“Ah it must be a sign of our closeness for us to be so open to each other.” Calista looked at me with intoxicating eyes and smiled.

“I-in any case what did you come back for?”

“Oh! I found an ally!”

“Huh?”

“This cute girl from the weapon store! She’s gonna build me a cool prosthetic, _{if I play my cards right.}”

Cute huh?

“And why would this so called ‘cute girl’ have a reason to help you.”

“Her name is Noel by the way.”

“Ah so you do learn people’s names on occasion.”

“Hehe, Only the cute ones, Rini~” Calista smiled again.

I felt myself blush. “S-so what’s her deal?”

“Well you see my dear Rini from my stash I dug out an item with great motivational properties, I think she’ll like it.”

Calista shook the bag she was carrying.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see at dinner.”

“Dinner??”

“Indeed! The three of us will be discussing my master plan!”

We started walking to the restaurant, stopping to drop my bag off along the way. Calista had never invited me to dinner like this before, I wish this were under better circumstances but I’ll take it.

Oh my, quite the incident this is becoming...

Noel

I sat at a wood restaurant table. Waiting for the strange woman. She was late. She had the aspect of someone who is not often on time. I’d ordered tea and was watching the flecks dance as I stirred it. Hm, Pleasant.

Voices pierced the ambience. The strange woman Calista and a blonde child had arrived. Calista waved. As they approached my table I greeted them:

“You’re late.”

“You made her wait? unbelievable.” The blonde faced me. “With great heart we apologise for making you wait.”

“Hehe~ I must have been having too much fun with you Rini.”

The blonde blushed. “I-I didn’t know when we’d need to be here, if I knew I would have hurried us along...”

I looked at Calista. “Payment?”

“_Hehe~ excited are we?” Calista shook the bag she was carrying. “But before that let’s eat!”

“By the way my name is Aikaterini, pleasure to meet you.”

“My name is Noel.”

“Ah what a lovely name.” She smiled.

“...”

With that they sat down. Calista put her bag beside her chair. She said that dinner was ‘on her’. I ordered eggplant pasta. Calista ordered a duck burger with blue cheese, as well as a green tea. Aikaterini ordered a barramundi fillet—grilled with ginger, chilli, and coriander, as well as a salad. She also ordered a bottle of white wine. I watched her pour it. The apparent youngest among us was the only one drinking. Interesting. Aikaterini noticed my gaze.

“Eheh, don’t worry I’m older than I look～☆” She smiled.

Aikaterini took a sip and then walked over to Calista.

“Um uh Calista, I can cut up your burger if you want—It’d be easier to eat then.”

“Oh indeed, good thinking Rini you’re such a dear, please, go ahead.”

Aikaterini blushed with a complicated expression and bent down to cut the burger. Which she did with much care.

“Thank you Riniiii～♡”

“A—, I—, um, yes, no worries.”

I began eating. Strands of pasta revolved around my fork, carrying specks of eggplant. I brought the weave into my mouth and felt a pleasant warmth. The pasta was firm but not raw. The eggplant soft but retained the skin’s grilled texture. I washed it down with tea and ate some more. Pleasant. Despite this restaurant being nearby I hadn’t known of it. I normally cooked for myself.

“You know~” Aikaterini waggled her fork. “Lots of people don’t like coriander, I really don’t get it I think it’s tasty… Noel do you like coriander?”

“……Sure.”

Aikaterini mmm-ed and nodded profoundly. Her drink was already half gone.

Calista appeared to be in a state of bliss. Eyes closed. Grease across her mouth. She threw the last chunk of burger down her throat. Took a long drink of tea, and slammed the cup down.

“Yummo eh?”

Calista then suddenly switched to a serious look.

“SO!—HERE’S THE PLAN TO MAKE MY EX-GIRLFRIEND EXCEPTIONALLY REMORSEFUL AND GET MY ARM BACK!”

She’d startled some patrons with that.

Aikaterini gave a gentle clap. I sipped my tea.

“But before that. I need to persuade Noel.” Calista smiled and kicked her bag along the floor so that it was beside me.

“Look inside but don’t take it out.”

I narrowed my eyes at Calista and then picked up the bag. I pulled the string loose and opened it.

“Huh?”

Aikaterini craned her neck. “Oi I wanna seeee what is ittttttttttttt??”

A sniper rifle. In perfect condition.

Retractable. Intricate. Drenched in Attachments. High class. A bag of ammo too.

Where could a weapon like this possibly have come from? It was far from military standard. By which method could Calista have acquired this? Not by way of law I’m sure.

Calista’s smile grew.

“What did you get her??? Did you steal it? Is it something weird?” Aikaterini said.

“A-haah~ of course not I just got her something nice.”

“Sure but what is itttttt???”

“It’s a gun.” I said.

“EH!? really!?!? what? why?!?”

“I thought she’d like it, and I think I was right.”

“...”

“Now. shall I continue with the plan?” Calista said.

I nodded

“Ahem. we’re going to The Capital!”

The Capital? of all places...

“I have a job here.” I said.

“When I found you you were bored stiff! As if you’re desperate to hold onto that. Building me an arm sounds more fun yeah?”

I didn’t hate my job. the owner is nice to me.

Calista caught me up on everything. How she’d lost her arm. What we’d need for the trip.

“—So even if Elaine isn’t there we could still torture her family for her whereabouts!”

“Calista! you can’t just torture people!”

“Psh, torture smorture. We’ll be nice about it.”

“Calista!!” Aikaterini made the sternest expression she could through all the drink. Calista returned an apologetic smile.

“Due to our limited budget we’re going on foot. We’ll have to hunt food along the way which’ll be fine since there’ll be plenty of rabbits, birds, wild cats—”

“I don’t want to kill cats!! I like cats…”Aikaterini said.

“I too. Have a fondness for cats.” Aikaterini comradely looked at me.

Calista grouched her face. “—Cats aside, there’ll be bandits too. For which our defence is Noel’s gun, Aikaterini’s healing and her mind-control magic.”

“Oi! Don’t be talking about that public! Besides I said I wouldn’t already!”

Mind-control magic? Its existence had been rumoured but—

“If I was in danger would you really do nothing Rini?” Calista pouted.

Aikaterini’s face contorted. “Mean! Mean Mean Mean Mean! that’s not fair at all! I’ve never had to worry about something like that, since you were so strong and all... Oh my... I’ve never fought anyone... _uuuu”

Aikaterini sank her head to the table. She looked about to cry.

“...”

“Calista. What makes you make you think I can use a gun?” I said.

“Ah I figured you’d figure it out.”

“Reckless woman. What if I can’t use the gun? Then if Aikaterini didn’t use her magic we’d be defenceless.”

“Hehe~ well the protagonist _(me) always scrapes by somehow don’t they?”

Stupid woman. Beyond reckless.

“Anywaysss~ question time’s over so who’s on board?”

Aikaterini was asleep. Or crying. Perhaps both. Calista ignored her and looked straight at me. Smiling.

“...”

“I’ll think about it.” I said.

Calista’s smile disintegrated. Instantly she’d yanked the bag back.

“Then I ~suppose~ I’ll hang onto this for the time being. Let me know when you make up your mind.”

“…Come to the store in three days.”

Calista nodded.

“I-I have thought much a-a-a-and I suppose I have no choice so I will go I suppose.” Aikaterini supposed.

So she was awake.

We went on to finish our meals, Aikaterini seemed to fall asleep completely. Mouth open. After a time. Calista went to wake her up with poke to the cheek.

Aikaterini let out an interesting noise as she woke. After a moment she advanced a stage of awareness, panicked, and blushed a deep red. Upon advancing to the next stage of awareness she jostled Calista’s cheeks and made many angry sounds. Some were comprehensible.

“Will she be alright to get home?” I said to Calista.

“Hehe~ I’ll take care of her.” She replied.