In an apartment on the Exceed, Clef was pacing back and forth across a bedroom getting ready for the day ahead. She was talking to a small, dog-sized axolotl giving the thousand-mile stare. This was Clef’s pet Macromander, Rollo.

“Today’s the day, Rollo!” Clef exclaimed. “Ryuu is doing his logistics training today and you know what that means!”

Rollo barked.

“Just me and Ryuu all day!” Clef said as she picked up her jacket. “Today is the day I’m finally gonna tell him… wait, what if he doesn’t like me back?”

Clef walked over and picked up Rollo, looking him in the face.

“You’re right, what am I worried about?” Clef said as she heard someone talking, Ryuu.

“Clef are you talking to yourself again?” Ryuu asked.

“What? How did you get in here?” Clef asked.

“You gave me a key a while back and I’m not quite sure why…” Ryuu said.

“Right!” Clef said.

“Clef, you’re a nut!” Scuttles said.

“You guys are here early.” Clef said.

“Figured I might as well come by early since I gotta bring Scuttles to school.” Ryuu said as he handed over the key.

“That’s fine! Logistics doesn’t open for another half hour anyway.” Clef said. “We won’t be working with Decid today though.”

“Decid… I can’t stand that guy, he always has a stick up his ass.” Ryuu said.

“He really doesn’t like Ryuu.” Scuttles said.

“He’s not exactly all peaches and cream, but he’s good at what he does.” Clef said. “You gotta find your way onto his… and Celeste’s good side.”

“Who’s Celeste?” Scuttles asked.

“Second-in-command of the Logistics Corps and the leader of the Exceed’s postal service, the Carrier Pigeon Brigade.” Clef said.

“That’s kinda on the nose, innit?” Ryuu asked.

“Yeah… but nobody really mentions it.” Clef said. “She can be a bit hard to get on the good side of, so be careful about what you say.”

“How bad can she be?” Ryuu asked.

“Ryuu, I’m serious!” Clef said. 

“Okay fine!” Ryuu said.

“When we get there, let me do the talking… okay?” Clef said.

“That’ll work for me, last thing we need is me failing today.” Ryuu said. “Can’t go lighting fires again.”

“Ignore that, let’s get going!” Ryuu said.

“Ryuu wait, there’s something I have to tell you!” Clef shouted.

“Ah, what’s up?” Ryuu asked.

“I…” Clef said as her eyes darted around. “Just realized that Scuttles seems to have forgotten his lunch.”

“What! How did you know?!” Scuttles panicked.

“You forgot your lunch!? Again!?” Ryuu asked.

“Okay! First stop, our apartment to grab Scuttles lunch!” Ryuu shouted. “I swear, I need to staple it to you now.”

“No, you don’t!” Scuttles shouted as the trio exited the apartment.

After dropping Scuttles off at school, Ryuu and Clef made their way to the Logistic Corps’ warehouses. They were greeted by an annoyed Decid at the entrance.

“Councilman Decid, we’re here!” Clef announced.

“I can see that… I’m surprised you came, Ryuu.” Decid said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ryuu asked.

“I thought you were gonna run off like a coward.” Decid said.

“Man, I’m a lot of things, but a coward ain’t one of them.” Ryuu said.

“Please lay off today… Ryuu is trying!” Clef said.

“Doesn’t matter to me… I’m leaving you in the hands of Celeste today.” Decid said. “It’s all up to her whether you pass or not. If I so much as hear about anything going wrong today, you’re finished Aka.”

“Yeah yeah… asshole.” Ryuu whispered.

“What was that?!” Decid asked.

“Uh… the grass hole… we used to have one on my home planet.” Ryuu said.

“I’ll give you that one for free…” Decid said. “Clef, keep this one in line.”

“Yes sir…” Clef said as Decid walked off.

“Look how cheery he is today.” Ryuu said.

“Ryuu… you need to take this seriously.” Clef said.

“I can be serious!” Ryuu said, Clef giving him a doubtful face. “Fine… you do the talking then.”

“Okay…” Clef said as she grabbed onto Ryuu’s arm, leading him to the mail room.

Entering the mail room, Ryuu and Clef found the rest of the Carrier Pigeon Brigade, comprised entirely of Avenix, in a meeting. As the two walked in, Ryuu tripped over and knocked down a box of mail.

“Hey! That took hours to organize!” An Avenix shouted.

“I’m so sorry, mate!” Ryuu said.

“Don’t mate me! I’m the one that has to organize this!” The Avenix said.

“Sorry, Tony… he’s doing his captain training today.” Clef said.

“It’s fine…” Tony said. “I’m gonna have to stay late again.”

“It’s one box of mail, Tony… how bad could it be?” Clef asked.

“I guess you’re right… Celeste is looking for you, by the way.” Tony said.

“Thanks, come on Ryuu!” Clef said as the two walked over to Celeste, a parrot Avenix, who greeted Clef.

“Cleffy! You’re here… who is this?” Celeste asked.

“This is Ryuu, he’s doing his training today… remember?” Clef asked.

“Shoot, that’s today?” Celeste asked. “Wait, is this…”

“YES, IT IS!” Clef asked. “Don’t say it out loud!”

“Okay…” Celeste said.

“Am I what?” Ryuu asked.

“Nothing… I’ll tell you later.” Clef said. “Tony said you were looking for me.”

“Yeah, we’re putting you on the Commercial Route today… lots of packages this time.” Celeste said.

“Heard! Anything else?” Clef asked.

“Just get him in a uniform and you’re all set to go.” Celeste said. “If you can find one that’ll fit him.”

“What’s that mean?” Ryuu asked.

“I’m shorter than most Avenix… so I had mine special ordered.” Clef said.

“Can’t I just borrow one of yours?” Ryuu asked.

“You’re bigger than me… so that won’t really be an option.” Clef said, pulling on Ryuu’s arm again. “Just follow me for now.”

Clef pulled Ryuu over to a row of lockers, opening one with her name on it. She pulled out a jacket and tossed it over to Ryuu.

“Don’t zip it up, I don’t want you stretching it out.” Clef said.

“I thought I couldn’t wear yours.” Ryuu said.

“It’ll have to work…” Clef said.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Lozaolotl.” A voice called out.

“Who?” Ryuu asked.

Clef turned to face a macaw Avenix who was giving her a smug look.

“Oh, you haven’t told your friends about me, Cleffy?” The Avenix asked.

“Ryuu, this is Cookie…” Clef said, annoyed.

“Oh, this must be Ryuu… little cutie isn’t he?” Cookie asks.

“Thanks?” Ryuu said, confused.

“Back off… you bi…” Clef was interrupted by Ryuu.

“Ladies, calm down… we’re here to do work, not bicker.” Ryuu said.

“Little guy is right… you better not start something.” Cookie said as she walked off. “Toodaloo!”

“Who the hell was that?” Ryuu asked.

“That’s Cookie, she’s had it out for me ever since I started working here.” Clef said. “No idea why…”

“Ah, she’s kinda like your Decid, huh?” Ryuu asked.

“I guess she is, I’m trying to ignore her, but she always finds a way to put me down.” Clef said.

“Eh, don’t worry… you’ll find a way to get her back.” Ryuu said.

“It’s not worth the trouble.” Clef said.

“I’ll help you then!” Ryuu said.

“You don’t have to do that… besides, we have deliveries to make.” Clef said. “We have to go pick them up at the intake.”

“If you say so… just remember that you have the option.” Ryuu said.

“Fine, I’ll remember, just come on!” Clef said as she grabbed onto Ryuu’s arm again.

At the warehouse, Ryuu and Clef were being guided by a worker to a cart with packages on the back of it, stacked high.

“Okay, we already got all your deliveries for today ready.” The worker said.

“We have to deliver all of those?” Ryuu asked.

“Yup, no one said mail was easy.” Clef said.

“Just because ordering is easy, doesn’t mean the deliveries are!” The worker said as he tossed a set of keys to Clef. “Here are the keys, Clef. See you later!”

“See you later!” Clef shouted as she caught the keys. “Get in the cart, Ryuu.”

The two had started making their way to the Exceed’s commercial area, stopping in front of a familiar florist shop. Ryuu looked up at the sign, which read ‘Flower Power’, he realized which store this was.

“Oh no…” Ryuu groaned.

“What?” Clef asked. “It’s a flower shop, you have a pollen allergy?”

“No… it’s just…” Ryuu started to say.

“Ma! The delivery girl is here!” A young Vilotan shouted. “The guy that tried to burn down the store a few days ago is here too!”

“Sorry, Bud… I was busy doing…” Daisy walked from the back of the store and saw Ryuu. “Oh… hello…”

“Ryuu, did you try and burn the store down?” Clef asked.

“It was an accident!” Ryuu said. “And again, I’m very sorry about that, Daisy.”

“It’s alright… a little fire never hurt anyone!” Daisy said. “So, what brings you here today?”

“He’s working in Logistics today.” Clef said. “We’re delivering packages.”

“Speaking of…” Ryuu goes over to the back of the cart and starts looking for a package.

“He’s catching on fast…” Bud said.

“Not as fast as my little Flower Bud.” Daisy pinched Bud’s cheek. “Now why don’t you go and finish up with the display.”

“Yes, Mom.” Bud said as he scurried off.

“We have an order of pesticides…” Ryuu said as he looked back at the package. “Pesticides? Is that safe?”

“As safe as it can be… I don’t use them much myself, but other people do like to use them.” Daisy said as she signed for the box.

“Have a good day, miss!” Clef said as Daisy re-entered her shop, turning to Ryuu. “Burning down a nice lady’s shop, really?”

“I keep saying, it was an accident.” Ryuu said. “Little mishap during my construction training.”

“If you say so… either way, you did well for your first delivery. You went right into it and did everything in a timely manner.” Clef said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool.” Ryuu said.

“You’re pretty cool… er… I mean, it is pretty cool isn’t it.” Clef panicked.

“Um, okay?” Ryuu said as he turned to the cart. “I’m gonna go take a gander at what’s next.”

“What are you doing?” Flora said as she was walking up to Clef.

“Huh? Flora?” Clef looked over. “How long have you been watching?”

“Long enough to know that you’re far from being able to confess to him.” Flora said.

“You… you know?” Clef asked.

“Everyone on the crew knows.” Flora said. “Except for Ryuu.”

“Listen, you know how I grew up, it doesn’t exactly make me the most social person.” Clef said.

“Yes, but you’re not that person anymore… you haven’t been for months at this point.” Flora said. “Surely you learned something.”

“There wasn’t really much room for learning, you guys were the only people I knew until we got here.” Clef said.

“The best way to get something done is to just do it.” Flora said. “Unless something is stopping you, you just gotta do it and get it over with.”

“Thank you, Flora… you always know what to say.” Clef said.

“Girls gotta stick together.” Flora said. “I gotta get back to work, go get him!”

Ryuu came walking back around, waving to Flora as she walked off. Ryuu set down the clipboard he was holding and looked back at Clef.

“Saying hi to Flora?” Ryuu asked.

“Yeah, she had to go back to work though, sorry you couldn’t really say hi.” Clef said.

“It’s fine, Security Corps has been dealing with all sorts lately.” Ryuu said. “I heard that more Burst Beetles got into the warehouse.”

“Burst Beetles, really?” Clef asked. “How do they even get up here?”

“Beats me… we should probably get going to the next stop.” Ryuu said. “According to this, it’s the Gecko’s Tail.”

“We can go say hi to Silica!” Clef said.

“That sounds good!” Ryuu said as the two hopped into the cart and started riding off.

“Clef, you’ve been acting off today… you good?” Ryuu asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine… all peachy!” Clef said. “Why do you ask?”

“Just looking out for my friend is all.” Ryuu said. “I care about you a lot, so I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“You care about me?” Clef asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ryuu asked. “I care about all my friends, a captain has to look out for his crew, right?”

“Oh! That makes much more sense!” Clef said. “Phew! I thought you were going somewhere else with this.”

“What did you think I meant?” Ryuu asked.

“Well… you know when you feel close to someone?” Clef asked. “I mean like, really close. Closer than friends.”

“Like siblings?” Ryuu asked.

“What? No! I mean like…” Clef was thinking. “Like… your parents…”

“I only grew up with a mum.” Ryuu said.

“Oh…” Clef said. “Then how about…”

As Clef began to speak, Ryuu put his hand in front of Clef and spotted the diner. He pointed towards the building, and he saw Cookie in front of the diner, handing off a package.

“Wait, ain’t that Cookie?” Ryuu asked.

“It is… what the hell is she doing?” Clef asked, enraged. “Oh hell no!”

“What?” Ryuu asked. “What’s she doing?”

“She’s taking my route!” Clef shouted as she laid down on the pedal, speeding over to the restaurant.

Clef pushed down onto the break and the cart skidded in front of the restaurant. She stood up and marched over to Cookie, who was handing a package off to Silica.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Clef shouted at Cookie.