"Oi, Stealth-kun!"

He hadn't heard that name in years, and it caused him to stop dead in the middle of the busy sidewalk. The voice that had shouted the once-familiar nickname was also a ghost from his past. He turned slowly, filled with both anticipation and dread; what Simca had started all those years ago had been both the best and worst years of his life.

The familiar pink-haired girl-woman, now-was approaching quickly from the direction he'd come.

She had changed. Hell, they'd all changed. Ikki was god-knows-where, off with the now-deaf Kururu, probably making wirdo unstoppable babies right now. Agito was now the leader of WIND, the antithesis of what he'd been before...kind of. Spitfire and Yoshitsune were dead. Not much more you can do to change than ouright die.

The nostalgia was melancholy, and almost caused him to forget what had spawned it, but there she was...standing in front of him right now. She looked like someone else, wearing a charcoal gray skirt suit and an ivory silk blouse, all dolled up like a businesswoman. Somehow, though, she still retained her Simca-ness. Maybe it was the mischevious grin, or how her bangs fell into her face as she leaned forward slightly.

Her voice was still the same, though.

"You look good. Life's been treating you well, I see." It was small-talk, but it was somehow also cryptic, coming from her.

"Oh, ah...Yeah, I guess." He'd never wanted for money, with both his parents as well off as they had been, but now he didn't need to rely on their support. He had his own money now. Mikura Kazuma was a star now.

After the Gram Scale Tournament, when so many things had gone wrong, he'd turned away from the life of a delinquent Stormrider. He'd done well in high school, and gone off to college. But he still couldn't resist the siren song of Air Trek.

He wasn't about to throw away his life, though. He'd seen so many destroyed or lost in that Tournament. Instead, he went pro. He rode for a team now, and held the world record for speed.

So, yeah. Life was treating him well.

"That's a silly answer, Stealth-kun," she giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand and tilting her head at him. She hadn't lost the mischevious gleam in her eyes.

The way she looked at him made him flush and stammer even more. "Ah, um..."

She giggled again and reached out-her long-fingered hand showing signs of mechanical work that didn't jive with her attire-and grabbed his wrist, tugging him back around. He tried to protest, and failed completely in the face of her exhuberance.

"We need ramen. Together. To catch up." She grinned back at him as she pulled him along, and all he could do was grin back. He'd forgotten how simply magnetic she was.

He watched her as they walked, her hand still clasped about his wrist. She'd recovered fully from the injury that Om had given her. It must have taken a hell of a lot of therapy. It must have been damned good therapy, too, becaus she moved with all the grace and fluidity she'd had before suffering the full brunt of the Water King's Infinite Atmosphere.

She looked good. Really good. She'd kept her hair short, and still chose clothing that fit her well-though she was far beyond the shirt-underwear-and-suspenders look, or the sailor-collared white shirt and scandalously short shorts.

He had to tear his gaze away from her hips and force himself to think of something tame. He'd changed, too...but not that much. He was still a gentleman.

He amused himself with looking up at the sky until they were seated in the ramen shop. He hadn't even realized it on the way, but it was the same shop that Ikki had worked at; the same one they'd frequented at that time.

"So...Catching up?" he asked, finally looking back at her.

She smiled, inclining her head, and her voice was softer, more suited to the intimate dining experience they were now having.

"You still ride." It was a statement, not a question, and he nodded in return, motioning to her hands.

"You still tune."

"The Pledge Queen has to, Stealth-kun," was her frank reply, and it took him aback, although he didn't know why. He should have expected it...even moreso because it was unexpected.

"The...Pledge Queen?"

"Is that so surprising? After what happened at the tournament, there weren't that many high-ranking Tuners left. So the team forgave my desertion, and I got the crown."

"Oh." He cursed himself inward for how stupid he sounded.

She broke from the conversation to order for them. Simple chicken for him, and that weired watermelon ramen that she'd discovered so long ago for herself. She waved off the odd look she got and turned back to him, head tilted.

"You could have been Flame King, you know...Spitfire even gave you the Regalia and named you his successor. Why didn't you try to get them back?"

So the fact that the Flame Regalia had been stolen wasn't a secret anymore. He was starting to think that there wasn't much that was a secret from Simca.

"After what happened..." His gaze strayed to the window and his voice trailed off. Bad memories...

He was brought back to the present when Simca stood, unseating her chair and slamming her hand on the table before him.

"Pathetic! Just because bad things happened, you're going to lose sight of the goal and throw away all those sacrifices?!" She was yelling now, and he coudn't help but cringe.

"S-Simca-san..."

"Don't 'Simca-san' me! What do you think this world would be like if they had won? If they had gotten control of the Sky Regalia? Those people that died...Ringo, and Emiri, and Buccha, and Spitfire, and all the rest...They died to prevent that! You are disgracing their memory, Stealth-kun!"

"KAZU! My name is Kazu, not Stealth-kun!" She was right. He couldn't deny that, but he was angy, and he desereved to have some kind of outburst, too. Correcting her on his name seemed the best course of action.

"Fine. Kazu." She smiled and righted her chair, sitting...with an air of smugness about her.

It took him a moment to realize she'd addressed him by only his first name, with no honorific-meaning that she'd addressed him with the level of familiarity reserved for extremely close friends...or lovers.

His blush seemed to make her even more smug, but the look on her face disappeared as their bowls were set on the table. She gave him a wink that left him mouth agape, and tucked into her fruit-flavored noodles.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't really know what to do, either, so he pulled his bowl closer and began to eat, mulling over what she'd yelled at him...and how her thinking affected the way he'd been living for the past decade or so.

She really was right. The sacrifices that had been made prevented what would have been a genocide of stormriders. The deaths, the injuries...theyd been sustained in the course of protecting the very world itself.

So Ikki's legs...He'd given up his dream to protect the dreams of everyone else. And here Kazu had been pitying him all this time. It was no wonder he'd run off with Kururu. What a shitty friend he'd been to the crow.

"If you're ready, Kazu...Meet me tonight."

She didn't say where, didn't clarify when, but...she didn't need to. He nodded as she stood, setting down her empty bowl.

"See you later, Flame King," she quipped as she walked out...leaving him to pay for their meal.

FIN