~~ Train Of ~~
Linna and Nene took the train; two in fact, first a JR tokkyu in a Green car where the pair ate their platform bento dinners, chattering away like they used to when Linna stayed over at Nene's notoriously messy studio whilst playing console games – that Linna always lost – before, unable to sustain lucidity despite all the caffeinated drinks in Nene's arsenal, the pair keeled over and slept until midday.
The second was an aged kaisoku still in service ferrying the few travellers along the line away from the regional hub city that slowly, irrevocably, itself was being consumed by the gravitational sprawl of the mega city Tokyo.
Late, the two girls rested their heads against each other.
Without reservation Linna's friends had agreed to come to her Age Day, even Priss who quipped "You're paying for my gas, though.' before taking leave to return to her trailer and pack a bag for the long journey. Sylia, "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Linna. I won't be able to come up until tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?". And Nene: "Yes!" she was finally going to steal time away from the encroachable Priss; "How will we get there?"
"By train."
Ding ding. Clack clack.
There was nothing to discern outside in the night. Some passing lights. The always green glow of the sky, not some aurora; Tokyo's light.
Looking out the window of her home. The daisian light calling.
The allure of Tokyo that had built up so much inside her. It was the place. The only place. Tokyo had everything that a small country town didn't. Excitement. Size. Life. The Knight Sabres. She'd found all that and more. The good and the bad of it. The bad of it, being a Knight Sabre, she saw, was in, the worst of it.
With the best of them. Sylia, Priss, Nene. She had no regrets. Before now Linna had been back to her parents once and they had tried to set her up with an eligible bachelor. She hoped they weren't going to do the same thing again this time. Not with all her friends coming. Not with her coming.
Nerves.
It was going to be her Day.
It only came once. In a way she'd had it already. The first time she had put on the hard suit and gone and fought a boomer. What else could make you older? More aware of mortality?
"I'm sounding like Priss," Linna sighed, "Worse. My raging sea."
Nene mumbled something into her shoulder.
"Not long now. Two more stops."
Two more stops.
The city's glow, stronger, brighter, than when she was younger.
It would continue to glow, grow until the whole country was lit beneath its umbrella. Her parent's house, their farm, their crops, would disappear and become a convenience store, a parking lot. She loved her parents dearly. The future they wanted wasn't going to happen. The future was hers and it lay in the heart of the light.
Two girls. One in a furisode, another in western garb, rode the train.