“...The fuck did you do?” 

With how forlorn she looked leaning against a shelf in Piyumi’s garage, it was undeniable that Morrell had seen better days. Stray bullets fired from the Orionese soldier's gun the night before had punctured her fuel tank and shattered the taillights. The tyres were also ruptured, although that was because Piyumi had been forced to drag the bike all the way home when it had refused to start. Then again, that was only because of the damage done by the Orionese soldier, so in the end, it really was all her fault. Piyumi wondered briefly whether she could bill Orion when this whole war nonsense was said and done. 

“Oh, you know, you miss a few turns, you make a few bad calls…” 

“Bitch, you must have called every number in the Yellow Pages, because holy shit.” 

“Yeah? Well, you-” 

“Okay, enough!” Hunter suddenly interjected, pulling Piyumi and Waliyha apart by the backs of their collars. “Waliyha, can you fix Morrell or not?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Waliyha waved him off flippantly, setting her toolbox on the ground beside the motorcycle. She knelt down to unscrew the airless tyres, gesturing for Piyumi to retrieve the spare ones lying on the concrete floor nearby. “Seriously though, what happened? It’s like the old girl’s seen war or something.” 

Well, she was halfway right, but Piyumi couldn’t tell her that. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Waliyha or Hunter but the fact that her mother hailed from another realm, let alone other realms even existing, would be a hard pill for anyone to swallow. It wasn’t as if Piyumi had been actively hiding that part of herself from her friends — hell, she had even brought it up once or twice over the years. Her efforts hadn’t exactly been serious though, so they had always been dismissed as jokes. In her defence, Piyumi hadn’t thought this day would ever come, but now that it had… 

“Yeah, I guess you could compare my driving to that,” she laughed as she rolled the spare tyres over. “Should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to make that jump…” 

“God, you ought to be more careful,” Hunter admonished. “Motorbikes are by far the most dangerous mode of travel there is. Did you know that every year-” 

“-One in ten of your friends die from your boring lectures?” Piyumi grinned. “Wait, that can’t be right. Waliyha and I are the only ones who feel sorry enough to hang out with you.” 

Hunter looked positively affronted. “...That’s not true.”

“Really? Who else do you know? Jane? Girlfriends don’t count!” 

“Yeah, they do! Why else are they called girlfriends?! It’s in the name! Besides Jane’s more than just my girlfriend! She’s…she’s my best friend!” 

“Ew. Barf.” 

“Speaking of girlfriends…” Waliyha suddenly spoke up. “Who’s the lucky lady?” 

With her friend’s gaze still fixated on her motorbike, it took Piyumi a few seconds to realise that Waliyha’s question was directed at her. 

“Huh?” she said dumbly. 

“Oh, my bad then. Who’s the lucky guy?” 

“...There’s no guy?” 

“So it is a woman.” 

With Waliyha’s apparent refusal to explain any herself further, Piyumi gave Hunter a probing look. He began to shrug, but then his face lit up as if he was struck with an epiphany. 

“You are looking awfully nice today…” he murmured thoughtfully, his eyes flitting up and down Piyumi’s form. 

Piyumi resisted the urge to drive her forehead into the wall. Damn it to hell. Of course her friends would notice the fact that she was quite dolled up — she had lived in frayed trackies and threadbare jumpers for the better part of a year as if she'd scored a brand deal with every discount bin in the country. A sudden transformation like this was sure to raise an eyebrow or two. She cursed herself for forgetting to cancel their meetup.

“Wow, Waliyha, so when a girl dresses up it has to be for someone else, does it?” She tried her best to look casual. “Really setting back the movement a few hundred years, aren't ‘cha?"

Waliyha gave a noncommittal shrug as she rose from the ground. She clicked her tongue in satisfaction at the sight of Morrell’s two new tyres before slowly looking over her shoulder. “So there's no woman?” 

“Of course not!” 

“Then who's that lady I saw through the curtains? You looked pretty cosy there, by the water and all those flowers. You even had a nosebleed, you perv.” 

Piyumi’s jaw fell open. Waliyha only managed to hold her blank expression a beat longer before her mouth broke into a devious grin. “This is why you’ve been so preoccupied and distant lately, right?” she said triumphantly. “Too busy making googly eyes at your new lover?” 

Piyumi physically recoiled. Waliyha knew how much she despised the word lover, and she liked to abuse that fact whenever she had the chance. Piyumi looked to Hunter for assistance, but then she took a reflexive step back. The smile Hunter was beaming at her was so bright, it was almost blinding. 

“How wonderful!” he gushed, taking Piyumi’s hands into his own and giving them a tight squeeze. “Oh, I can talk to Jane and set up a double date and…” 

His grip on Piyumi fell away as he continued to ramble on, his hand diving into his coat pocket. Waliyha swung an arm over his shoulder as he pulled out his phone and began speaking into it excitedly. All Piyumi could do was blink as her friends began recounting the news of her supposed new relationship status to Jane at the other end of the line. She almost began to protest but was then hit with a sudden flash of genius — a solution to all her problems that was so perfect, Waliyha and Hunter were already halfway to believing it. If her friends were so insistent in making Hisa her secret girlfriend, then fine. She could play the part of the indignant lover, no problem. 

She thanked her lucky stars that Waliyha hadn’t seen Hisa’s little demonstration with her affinity. Now that would have been a bitch and a half to try and explain away.

“Christ on a cracker, this is exactly why I didn’t tell you guys!” Piyumi yelled exasperatedly, stomping over to the pair. 

Hunter let out a cry as his phone was suddenly ripped from his fingers. “Hey! Be careful with that!” he exclaimed, trying to snatch his device back. “Valentine Vortex isn't exactly known for making robust phones!” 

“I just knew y’all would react like a bunch of immature primary schoolers,” Piyumi held the phone away from Hunter’s outstretched hands, punching the ‘end call’ button with her thumb. “God knows how much shit we gave Hunter when we found out he was dating Jane.”

“You still give me shit!” 

Piyumi rolled her eyes, finally passing Hunter his phone back. “But yeah, congrats, you caught me,” she said dryly. She mentally apologised to the lieutenant before continuing, “Hisa and I have been seeing each other for a few months, which is why I’ve been kinda spacey lately. She’s why I had to bail last night. See, she recently moved in and-” 

“Way to live up to stereotypes.” 

“...In any case,” Piyumi carried on, but not before giving Waliyha the stink-eye over her playful jab, “Hisa will be living here for the time being, and with me being so infatuated and in love, I hope you’ll forgive me for any missteps on my part. I don’t want anything to ruin this, especially not after that whole thing with Silas.” 

“Oh God, I never liked that artsy prick,” Waliyha muttered, undoubtedly picturing the guy who had unceremoniously dumped Piyumi over text a few years ago in her mind. “But still, I’m glad. With how out of it you’ve been this past year, I thought maybe you had…” 

Waliyha didn’t have to voice the thought out loud — Piyumi knew exactly what she was referring to. The redhead quickly stifled the pang of guilt in her chest. She didn’t want to imagine the look on Waliyha’s face if she ever discovered her worst fears had been true all along. 

Hunter placed a comforting hand on Waliyha’s shoulder before he also grabbed Piyumi’s arm to pull the trio into a group hug. 

“I love you guys,” he said happily. 

Piyumi and Waliyha exchanged a glance. 

“Cool.”

“Sweet.” 

“...I hate you guys.”

“That’s better.” 

“Way better.” 

“...Soooooo can we meet her?” 

Fuck.

“Straighter! Straighter!” 

“Ma’am, that’s homophobic.” 

Piyumi held up her hands in surrender when Hisa shot her a withering glare. “Your stance, Your Highness,” the lieutenant tutted. Piyumi yelped as Hisa gave her a sharp smack on the back with the butt-end of one of her swords. “Has anyone informed you that you have a horrible slouch? I did not know spines could even bend that far.” 

Piyumi opened her mouth to protest, but the steely look in Hisa’s eyes made her think twice. She sighed, doing her best to straighten up as per Hisa’s instructions. With Summer on the horizon, it was no surprise that the sun was beaming down on them in all its glory, the cloudless sky fuelling the heat even further. Piyumi almost couldn’t stand it, but she figured that sunshine was better than the rain. Hisa was so adamant on Piyumi sticking to the insane training schedule she had written up after their first session several days ago, she wouldn’t even allow bad weather to interrupt her plans. In fact, she had even commented that Australia’s erratic climate worked to their benefit, declaring how important it was for Piyumi to get used to fighting in unfavourable conditions. But of course, more on that would come later — item 365 of Hisa’s master schedule, to be precise. 

Piyumi blanched. The schedule was deceptively beautiful, but it did make sense — the devil didn’t lure in his victims by being unattractive, after all. Hisa had practically salivated over Piyumi’s meagre collection of stationary, and then nearly passed out when she learnt that binders were a thing. Well, she did try her best to hide her excitement but Piyumi could tell. She made a mental note to take the lieutenant to Officeworks one of these days. It would be fun to see Hisa try to suppress a heart attack. 

“Your grip is faltering, Your Highness! Please pay attention!” 

Well, if she didn’t kill her first, that is.

Piyumi took a deep breath in. She tightened her fingers around the hilt of her sword as she brought in front of her. Hisa smiled as she raised her own blades into place. 

And then she kicked off the ground and charged. 

Piyumi barely caught the first sword in time with her own blade, before the second came barraging at her face. She twisted away at the last second, a rush of air hitting her cheek as the blade whipped past. As she tried to right herself, her foot caught a divet in the ground, and that proved to be all the opening Hisa needed. The Palaedian aimed a kick at Piyumi's legs and she went down like a ton of bricks. 

Yuu, who had been content just watching the carnage unfold from the sidelines until this point, let out a meow that suspiciously sounded like a laugh. Piyumi scowled up at Hisa, gingerly rubbing her smarting tailbone. “Hey! I call interference on that!” 

Hisa smiled that pleasant smile of hers that Piyumi now knew was not a sign of good things to come. “Be aware of your environment, Your Highness,” she said, extending a helping hand. “It can be your greatest asset...or your greatest enemy.” 

Piyumi rolled her eyes, but grabbed the outstretched hand nonetheless as she hauled herself back to a stand. “Two swords against one isn’t exactly fair, you know,” she muttered. 

“War rarely is,” Hisa said firmly. She took a few steps back and swung her swords back into position. “Again!”