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1. A Fragrant Prison, or: The Seating Arrangement Trap
The four of them left the noise of Gaming Galaxy behind and moved to a quieter establishment deeper in the station — The Galaxy Perch, a café that had apparently decided calm was a selling point.
The seating arrangement, from Shutia's perspective, could be described charitably as unfortunate.
Window side: Ledea and Asphi, sitting side by side in easy conversation.
Aisle side: Shutia, and Kanoa, who had placed her head on Shutia's shoulder as though this had been agreed upon in advance.
"— yes, the way you handled that pickpocket was genuinely impressive. Clean, minimum movement. Exactly the right approach."
"Oh, you flatter me. I was just reacting — my body moved before I thought about it, honestly."
Directly in front of her, her favorite person in the universe was having a warm and pleasant conversation with a beautiful older woman.
(...Sis, you can't just — smile like that! That's — that's practically — absolutely not, this is not permitted—!)
Shutia was screaming internally. She could not scream externally, for the straightforward reason that she was currently under her own cloud of unearned suspicion and had no standing to throw accusations.
(...And why is the seating like this?! The seat next to sis is reserved — it has always been reserved — and that scent. The one that was on sis when she came home that day. It was Asphi's.)
Kanoa ground her head further into Shutia's shoulder.
"...big sis smells good. calming."
"Haha... Kanoa, you're a little close, aren't you? Big sis has something she really needs to concentrate on right now—"
"...no. not moving."
Kanoa's thin arms locked around Shutia's right arm with surprising structural integrity. There was no exit. Shutia maintained a strained smile and experienced something she could only describe as cold sweat.
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2. The Height Minefield, or: The Impact of "Tiny"
A pause in conversation. Asphi tilted her head with gentle curiosity.
"I've been meaning to ask — Ledea is Shutia's older sister. Is that right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Ledea sat up slightly, with the energy of someone who had been waiting for this exact question.
"I'm the older sister. Shutia is the younger. Is there something surprising about that?"
Before Asphi could answer, Kanoa turned her expressionless gaze from Shutia's shoulder toward Ledea.
"...doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't?"
Ledea's brow moved.
"...Shutia seems way more like the older sister. reliable. tall. Ledea is..."
Kanoa conducted a full visual survey of Ledea from head to foot. Then she delivered her finding.
"...small and compact. like a mascot."
"......Is that so."
The temperature around Ledea dropped perceptibly.
Something in the set of her expression suggested a sound effect in the range of cracking ice.
"Kanoa. I would like you to understand that physical dimensions and the dignity of an older sister are not proportionally related."
"Sis, she's just a kid, she doesn't mean anything by it—!"
Shutia made a move to intervene and was immediately recaptured.
"...big sis, don't move."
Kanoa's grip tightened. Shutia was held in place. In the frozen atmosphere of the table, only Asphi remained visibly comfortable, smiling with the warmth of someone watching something very entertaining unfold.
"My, you two get along so well."
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3. A Show of Black Bravado, or: The Bitterness of Adulthood
Ledea reached for the coffee that had just been placed in front of her, making no effort to conceal her competitive intent.
"Kanoa. I have been surviving in this unforgiving universe for considerably longer than you have. As evidence of this — I am an adult, and I take my coffee black."
She lifted the cup. She drank.
"..............."
For one moment — brief, but visible — her cheek twitched. Her eyes acquired a faint shine.
(She absolutely just thought 'that's bitter'— I saw it—!)
Shutia observed every detail and said nothing.
Ledea set the cup down. Her hand was not entirely steady. Her expression was.
"...Hm. The depth of the bean really does come through differently. For an adult's rest, this kind of bitterness is entirely appropriate."
"Sis, you don't have to do that. I can put some sugar in — three cubes, maybe—"
"You will not. I am an adult."
Asphi laughed softly at this. The kind of laugh that is warm and helpless at the same time.
"Ledea, you really are adorable."
"she really is..."
Shutia's inside voice had escaped slightly.
Kanoa, having observed all of this, reached for her own coffee with the expression of someone who has made a decision.
"...I can do that too. adult taste."
"Kanoa, I don't think that's—"
Kanoa drank. Black. No preparation.
Three seconds passed.
"...!!"
Her face went red. Her tongue came out. The expressionless facade she maintained as a matter of principle had collapsed entirely.
"...mud water. that's not a drink."
"I did say so, didn't I. Here — let me put cream and syrup in, lots of it."
Asphi handled the rescue operation with the ease of someone who had done this before. Kanoa drank the amended coffee in silence, radiating wounded dignity.
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4. A Tightening Perimeter, or: A Defense of Innocence
Shutia found herself watching Kanoa — cream coffee, red face, doing her best — with an expression she hadn't meant to put on.
(She really is... kind of adorable though. Different from sis — more like a small high-maintenance animal that needs looking after—)
"...Shutia."
The precise targeting of Ledea's gaze from directly across the table.
"...Do you find Kanoa that cute?"
"What?! No — I mean — she's just, children are endearing in a general sense, it's not—"
"Hm. The person who called me 'small and compact like a mascot' — and you think she's cute. Do you want a new little sister that badly? While you already have me?"
"That's not it at all, sis! You are the cutest person in the world — in the universe — number one, only one, there is no comparison—"
Kanoa, from beside her: "...big sis is lying. your eyes said I was cuter. just now."
"They did not! My eyes don't have that level of linguistic functionality!"
"Now, now, Ledea — don't be jealous. Shutia is clearly devoted to you."
Asphi's intervention landed wrong.
"I am not jealous. Asphi, Shutia is devoted, yes — but she is also constitutionally incapable of resisting anything she finds cute. At this rate I'll come home one day to find her surrounded by little sisters I've never met."
"Sis, what do you think I am?! My entire sacred space is you and only you!"
"...Hm."
Ledea drank the rest of her black coffee. Out of pure stubbornness, this time, without flinching.
Kanoa did not release Shutia's arm. Asphi ordered a slice of cake with the contentment of someone having a very good afternoon. Shutia sat between all of it and experienced something she could only describe as her stomach developing a small structural fault.
"...Sis, when we get home — can we do a presentation? Tonight I'll spend three hours talking about everything I love about you—"
"That won't be necessary."
"Five hours would be fine too!"
A peaceful café.
For Shutia Mace, however, it was a battlefield more demanding than any she had encountered in open space.
And there was every reason to believe it would happen again.