Don't they look so stupid? Staring at each other rather than where they're going... She cupped her palm over her mouth, not muffling a laugh but a frown.

Adrea really wasn't as cruel as she impressed people to be. It was just an impulse. If she felt the slightest bit jealous or any emotion she found... embarrassing, she began to sling insults with a laugh.

Why was she trying to laugh in the first place? She wasn't in love, she never in the slightest wanted to fall in love and--

"Ah... I'm... I'm sorry," a timid voice barely whispered. The carrier of the lovely tone pulled her scarf closer to her face, attempting (poorly at that) to hide her features.

Adrea had never heard the voice, had she? She blinked, wondering. It was like deja vu.

Wait. Yes. This had happened before. She remembered a girl about her age running into her, and she had quipped, "Watch where you're go--"

She saw a face, but why? Why couldn't she make out the features? Why was the girl's face blurry? The only thing she could remember was how her pulse had raced. She felt airy and incredibly stupid around her.

She leaned to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of her face. The girl turned away, skittish as a mouse, and she ran away as quickly as she had come.

And suddenly Adrea was so tired. Of course she was. She looked up and saw it was night. Since when? Wasn't it only noon moments ago? So sleepy. So sleepy.

X

"No matter how many times I try to erase your run-in with her from her memory, it just won't stay erased!"

Flora played with the ribbon wrapped around her shirt collar and looked at Adrea with pursed lips. Flora was shy, even around Bruno, who was her only human company in many of these years. Her mouth opened, but it took her some time to finally pull the words out of her thoughts. "Bruno, maybe it's best to leave it? She... she might be resisting for a reason."

"How many times have I told you to stay in the tower until that someone finishes all the puzzles? Hmph, this one is a bugger. She just wants to remember you so she can tell the others that you're still around."

"No... it's not that." Flora sighed. "Bruno... I don't like this, tinkering with their memories."

"I know. I don't either." Bruno frowned. "But it's for your own good, Flora."

"I know..." Flora looked from her fingers to Adrea. "But you can't erase a heart, Bruno. That's why she's resisting."