Today, math class is at the end of the day. Math class at the end of the day is the worst.

Sunshine sits at her desk, struggling to pay attention, but it's even harder today than usual. A few lines at the top of her notebook attest to her attempts to take notes, but past that, there's nothing but drawings. She's finishing up the fifth in a series, stick figures fighting off evil youkai, when Miss Kamishirasawa finally reaches the end of the lesson. "There are just a few more things before I dismiss you." She closes her book and smiles, stepping around her desk. "It's warming up earlier than normal, so I'm told that most families are going to start their planting next week."

An excited murmur runs through the room, and Miss Kamishirasawa raises a hand to cut it off. "As usual, we'll have a two-week break for planting season. But, that isn't until next week. There are still four more days of class. Tonight, I'd like grades four and up to do ten long division problems for homework. Grades one through three..."

But the class just keeps growing louder in its excitement for the break, and kids rise to their feet and hurry toward the door. Sunshine stays in her seat, squirming indecisively. Leaving class before they're dismissed is breaking the rules, an act that chafes every instinct she has. On the other hand, she can't hear anything Miss Kamishirasawa is saying anyway. Maybe she's already dismissed them, even?

When the first few students head out the door, Sunshine can't contain herself any longer. She leaps to her feet and takes off running toward the front of the classroom, and Ichigo scrambles to keep up with her. The other students are hurrying out, too, but she's the fastest of them, weaving between slower kids and ducking around the corner. Once she's out the door and in the clear, she breaks into an outright sprint, her feet thumping on the floor with every step.

Sunshine flies out the school's front door. The recent rain has left a stretch of puddles in the middle of the street, and she leaps across them with a slight boost from her flight abilities. Marisa's standing on the far side of the street, and Sunshine doesn't dare slow down as she approaches. Instead, she slams into Marisa at full speed, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.

"O-oof. Pretty eager to leave, aren't you?"

"The break!" Sunshine squeaks out, then pulls back to look up to Marisa. "Um! The break. It's next week."

Marisa pauses for a moment, then tilts her head back, looking up toward the sky to hide her expression. "Break, huh? Well, that'll be nice. You'll have lots of free time."

Sunshine gives an urgent shake of her head. "You said I could learn..."

"Huuuuuh. Learn what? You can learn lots of things, y'know."

Sunshine's in no mood for these kinds of games. She wiggles impatiently, bouncing up and down on her feet. "Magic!"

"Oh, huh. Did we talk about something like that?"

Sunshine also doesn't have the patience to liner her words up before she says them, so she ends up ahead of herself, stumbling over her own tongue. "Um. Um! You said... you said I could learn it... during planting season..."

"Ohhh, yeah, I did say somethin' about that, didn't I?" Marisa grins, and the frantic energy drains out of Sunshine's body, replaced with relief. Marisa crouches down and scoops her up in a hug. "Pretty early this year. I'll have to run by the mansion tonight and make sure Patchy knows we'll be coming."

Sunshine gives an excited nod.

The broom ride home feels longer than usual, because Sunshine has a secret building in her chest, like a ticking time bomb. When they land, she bursts straight through the door and leaps onto Alice.

"A-ah!" Alice's gasp from the impact sounds less feigned than Marisa's had. "What's gotten into you?"

"Magic!" Sunshine gushes. "Um! The break!"

"I guess it's starting early this year," Marisa says, tossing her hat onto its peg by the door.

"It's planting season already? Well, I'm glad for you," Alice says, then pauses, looking down to her. "... you need to take off your shoes, though. They're all muddy."

Sunshine glances back. Sure enough, she didn't even remember to take off her shoes before she came inside. She goes stiff with embarrassment. "Sorry...!"

She rolls over off Alice and gestures for Ichigo to clean up the clumps of mud she left across the living room, then peels off her boots. Even this small delay feels excruciatingly long. The second that the last lace is undone, she tugs them off, hurries over to dump them by the door, then leaps back on top of Alice. "Magic!"

"I'm glad that you're excited," Alice says, resting a hand on the back of her head. "But you still have a whole week to go. If you act like this the whole time, you're going to be too tired to learn anything by the time your lessons start."

Sunshine pouts, but dips her head in a nod of understanding.

"And remember that it takes a very long time to get good at magic. You won't be flying around shooting fairies a week from now."

Sunshine nods again.

"I'm gonna teach you to do a Master Spark as soon as you're good enough, though!" Marisa says, flopping down in the seat across from the two. "I've got a field picked out for practicin' and everything."

Sunshine jolts upright, wiggling with excitement. Alice sighs and pats her head soothingly, shooting Marisa a pointed look. "I don't think she needs to learn how to Master Spark any time soon, even if she could."

"But!" Sunshine squeaks. She's so excited that making words is harder than usual. "Um! I'll only shoot bad guys! And. Um!"

Alice calms her down with a kiss on the forehead. "You have a long way to go until you're ready for that. Let's focus on the small things for now, okay?"

Sunshine's so excited that she looks at the clock every few minutes for the rest of the day, counting down the hours until the day ends, leaving her with one less day to wait until she can start learning magic.

It's all she'll talk about at breakfast the next morning. Or, rather, write. With her thoughts tumbling from her head, it's the easier way to keep up with them. [CAN I MAKE DOLLS?]

Alice glances over at the paper. "Making dolls doesn't quite work the same way as other magic," she says, giving a half smile as she straightens Sunshine's hair. "I can teach you when you're older if you want, though."

Sunshine goes to school, and spends the whole day drawing herself shooting star-filled lasers at bad guys. She shows them to Marisa as soon as she's out the door, with a note already jotted below it. [CAN I START LEARNING NOW?]

Marisa chuckles and bends down, giving her a firm half-hug. "You've still got two more days of school. Besides, like we said before, we've got a tutor lined up for ya."

Sunshine pauses and fusses in her bag looking for a pencil. Ichigo finds it and helpfully offers it up. [CAN YOU TEACH ME?]

Marisa gives a sheepish laugh. "I'm not much of a teacher. Trust me, it's better this way. Patchy's a friend, though. She won't hurt you, I promise. You liked Miss Kamishirasawa, right?"

Sunshine gives a reluctant nod.

"Good. Cheer up, kiddo. This time next week, you'll be shooting lasers like nobody's business."

Two more days of school, and what's even worse is that they're followed by the weekend. The night before the lessons, Sunshine's biggest regret is that she has to sleep now, and she can't stay up all night to be ready the moment that her time comes.

It doesn't stop her from making sure that she's the first one to wake up, though. Before she's even out of bed, she sends Ichigo to start getting her clothes ready. While she does that, Sunshine runs into Alice and Marisa's bedroom, screeching to a stop just short of the foot of their bed. "It's morning!"

Marisa groans and stirs, but doesn't raise her head yet. Alice pushes herself up on an elbow, blinking the sleep from her eyes, and glances toward the window. The first hints of sun aren't even showing past the canopy of the Forest of Magic. Alice looks from the window, to the handful of Hourai dolls that are already making their morning preparations, to Sunshine. "It isn't even time for you to get up yet..." she says, sounding slightly bewildered.

"Um. I asked the dolls... to wake me up first."

"You shouldn't be able to do that," Alice murmurs, half to herself.

Even now, a slight pang of shame shoots through Sunshine. It doesn't last long. She trembles with excitement. "Can we go soon?"

"Sunshine, we still need to have breakfast first." Alice sits up and yawns, rubbing an eye. "And we can't just drop in on Patchouli first thing in the morning."

"'s Patchy," Marisa mumbles from somewhere beneath a pile of blankets. "Not like she has a sleep schedule."

Alice ignores this comment and forces herself to look more awake, smiling to Sunshine. "How about we cook a big breakfast to celebrate? Maybe that will lure Marisa out of bed."

The broom ride to her lessons is the longest ride of Sunshine's life. It's still just cold enough that she needs to dress in layers for the long trip, and she stays huddled up behind Marisa, only occasionally daring to peek down at the land below. She doesn't know what kind of place she's going to learn magic, but she has a pretty good idea. Somewhere so important should look really impressive. It's probably some kind of big tower or castle. That's where the magicians in most of her stories live.

Her expectations still don't prepare her for seeing it up close. They land in front of the biggest building Sunshine has ever seen, and one that she remembers—a very big mansion, with a wall around it. The last time she saw it, though, she was only just starting to think. She hadn't been able to grasp just how truly big the building was. The schoolhouse is one of the biggest buildings in the village, but this building is so big that the schoolhouse could fit inside a dozen times without feeling cramped.

The guard out front waves them in after a brief talk with her parents, and Sunshine stays scrunched down behind Marisa the whole time. Only once they're out of the guard's earshot does she peek forward and dare to speak. "It's really big..."

"It's the Scarlet Devil Mansion," Alice says, resting a hand on her back. "Do you remember? From our stories?"

Sunshine freezes up. She does remember hearing about the mansion, but mostly from Marisa's stories of fighting youkai. A vampire lives in here, so evil that she tried to cover up the entire sky once just for fun.

Marisa glances back to her once she's slowed down enough to fall behind. "Something wrong?"

Sunshine trembles, but shakes her head. Her parents are being brave, so she should too. She gestures for Ichigo to be on alert, though, leaving the tiny doll hovering around her like an overprotective guard dog.

The front door is the biggest that Sunshine has ever seen. As they approach, it shudders, then slowly swings open. The air fills with a low, groaning creak. Sunshine steels herself, tensing up, and Ichigo prepares for attack.

Instead of an enemy, though, a woman in very fancy-looking clothes steps out and holds Marisa's gaze for a moment, then dips an elegant curtsey. "Alice, I should probably thank you for teaching Miss Kirisame here how to enter the mansion through the front door."

"Yep, never even occurred to me," Marisa says, in a joking tone that doesn't betray the slightest hint of sarcasm. "Actually, I was hopin' maybe you could give me some lessons on using doorknobs while I'm here."

"Good morning, Sakuya," Alice says, ignoring Marisa and returning the curtsey. "I think Patchouli is expecting us?"

"She is, yes. This way, please."

This is an encouraging sign, even if Sunshine still isn't entirely relaxed yet. She sticks close to her parents as they walk inside, their footsteps echoing from the cavernous walls. The walk feels almost as long as when they head into the village to go shopping. Even after the extra big breakfast, she feels like she's going to need a snack soon to keep her energy up. They eventually arrive, though, with their guide opening the final pair of doors to their destination.

It takes Sunshine a moment to recognize the things lining the walls as book shelves, because there are so many of them that it seems like that can't possibly be right. It's the biggest room she's ever seen, and they line every wall and stretch back and forth across the center, sometimes two or three high. It's more books than she's ever seen. It took her weeks to read all of the books on the tiny bookshelf in her bedroom. She can't even imagine why somebody would need so many books, but it's amazing anyway.

A few meters away, there's an overloaded desk, where a lavender-haired girl is hunched over. She barely even looks up from her book as they approach. "You're early," she says. "I haven't finished preparing."

"Good morning, Patchouli. And I'm sorry." Alice hooks an arm around Sunshine's back and gently coaxes her forward. "Sunshine, this is Miss Knowledge. She'll be your teacher."

"Should be a good pupil," Marisa says. "Practically the only thing she's talked about for a week."

Miss Knowledge gives a half-nod. "Well, all I had left was refreshing myself on the Ars Notoria, anyway. It's rarely worth teaching a novice, unless her memory is exceptionally terrible." She finishes scribbling a few lines on a page in front of her, and finally looks up at the three. Her gaze settles on Sunshine quickly, and she studies her for a moment. "You've grown some since I last saw you."

Sunshine isn't sure how to reply to that. She shies back, giving a sheepish nod.

Miss Knowledge gives a tight-lipped smile and closes her book, then shuffles around her desk for a closer look. Ichigo edges forward to insert herself between the two, and Miss Knowledge eyes her. "And who is this?"

Sunshine fumbles her hands, wishing for her paper, but manages to work herself up to speaking. "Ichigo," she mumbles.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"Huh." Marisa rests her hands on the back of her head, glancing between the two thoughtfully. "Kinda surprised, Patchy. I never figured you for one to get along with kids."

"I've parlayed with devils and debated the souls of undead Lemurian scholars," Miss Knowledge says, with only the slightest bite underlying her dry tone. "I think that I can manage to talk to a child."

"Is there anything else you need from us?" Alice asks. "We've done our best to prepare her, but, well... I'm no teacher, and Marisa didn't exactly have a standard magical education."

"If she can read and write, that will be enough." Miss Knowledge turns to face Sunshine's parents and crosses her arms. "Although some privacy would be a good start. I can send Sakuya to fetch you if we end early. Otherwise, please return in the evening."

"Of course..." Alice says, sounding the slightest bit reluctant. She turns and crouches down to pull Sunshine into a hug. "Sunshine, be good for Miss Knowledge, okay?"

"Okay..."

Marisa moves in for a hug right after her. "And remember that Patchouli's all weak and sickly, so if she gives you any lip, you can push her around." Both Alice and Patchouli's gazes bore into Marisa in response, and she just grins. "Can't make it too easy, y'know?"

After a few final goodbyes, her parents head out the door, leaving her alone with Miss Knowledge.

Sunshine has never learned magic before, but in her head, she has a pretty good idea of how it should works. It should be like when her parents were making her new body, she's decided. Big piles of messy notes and chanting and drawing diagrams on things with blood.

The way that Miss Knowledge teaches her is nothing like that. They sit down at a desk with a big pile of books. Miss Knowledge takes one from the top and cracks it open, its spine creaking. It smells like Marisa's old house, and the paper is yellow. Sunshine feels like she'd need to wash her hands if she even touches it.

"This is the Charvaka Primer on Post-Materialism. It gets a little philosophical for our purposes in places, but it's still a good foundation in magic. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Sunshine frowns down at the book thoughtfully. She purses her lips, and the words pile up in her throat until she gives up and grabs a pen. [A MAGIC BOOK?]

"Even more important. This is a book that explains the ideas that magic is built on. Now, if you see here," Miss Knowledge flips the page and taps a spot in the first paragraph. "It's important to understand that all beings exist in a unified cosmological framework. Put more simply, that means that gods and spirits may seem different from humans, but that these differences are spiritually trivial. In some magical traditions, this is referred to as the Principle of Unity. There are philosophies that oppose this idea, which we'll get into later..."

Miss Knowledge talks so much that Sunshine feels like her head is going to explode.

She takes her time to explain everything they cover, but she introduces new ideas so quickly that Sunshine's poor mind can barely keep up. Miss Knowledge tells her about how to decide which things are real and which things aren't. She talks about how to make good magical experiments. She talks about how people used to think magic worked, but they were wrong. She talks about souls, and how they change the way magic works. She talks about ley lines, and while Sunshine isn't sure what they are, they sound neat.

Sunshine settles into place, staring down at the book, with Ichigo sitting on the desk in front of her. Unlike in school, she doesn't even need to take notes, so she sits perfectly still, only giving the occasional nod when Miss Knowledge asks if she understands something. It's a long time to sit around without moving, but Sunshine used to be a doll, so she's used to it. She isn't sure how this is supposed to help her shoot lasers and fly around, but her parents brought her here, so obviously it's important.

Miss Knowledge reads for hours, only ever pausing for long enough to take a sip of her coffee. When her coffee is gone, even that interruption vanishes. She's still droning on hours later, when somebody clears their throat behind them.

It's the fancy-looking woman that led them in, and she gives an apologetic bow as Miss Knowledge glances back to her. "I'm sorry for the interruption, Lady Patchouli," she says. "Would you like some lunch?"

"I'm not hungry, thank you," Miss Knowledge murmurs, already turning her attention back to the book.

"Ah, but I had thought," Sakuya presses on, with just a hint of insistence to her voice, "that Miss Margatroid might like something to eat."

Miss Knowledge freezes and glances to Sunshine, and only then does Sunshine realize that 'Miss Margatroid' is her. She still isn't used to having two names. For a long time, she didn't have any name at all. She hopes that she isn't going to keep getting more names as she gets older. They'd be hard to keep track of. She pulls her paper closer and writes, [A LITTLE HUNGRY], then sheepishly offers it up for Sakuya to read.

"As I thought. Will sandwiches be okay?"

Sunshine nods. Miss Knowledge mumbles something under her breath, but Sakuya seems to catch it. She inclines her head in understanding. "Very well, then. One moment."

Then, she disappears.

Sunshine stares at the spot where Sakuya had been, then cautiously reaches out to poke at it. She can't feel anything, but she isn't sure if that means anything. If she could be invisible, maybe she could be not-feel-able too? She glances to Miss Knowledge, but Miss Knowledge doesn't seem concerned.

Sunshine is just starting to consider asking about it when Sakuya reappears, as suddenly as she vanished. She slides a silver tray with a pile of sandwiches across the desk. Sitting next to it, there's already a smaller tray with a teapot and two cups, and Sunshine would swear it wasn't there before. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask if you like crusts," Sakuya says to Sunshine. "I cut them off just in case. Please let me know if that's a problem."

Sunshine really isn't sure what's going on now. She made lots of sandwiches back when she was a normal doll, and even with a dozen dolls cooperating, they couldn't have made so many sandwiches this fast. She doesn't see a kitchen nearby, either, which just makes it weirder. She fumbles with her paper, uncertain what to write, then tries, [MAGIC SANDWICHES?]

Sakuya tilts her head uncertainly. "Ah, not magic. Ham. Is that okay?"

That isn't what Sunshine was trying to ask at all. She turns the paper around and frowns down at it for a few seconds, trying to string together all the words she needs. She settles on, [DID YOU MAKE SANDWICHES WITH MAGIC?]

Sakuya reads this, pauses, and gives a coy smile. "You could say it's something like that, yes."

Sunshine gives a nod, relieved. She'd already thought that magic can do pretty much anything, so adding one more thing to the list isn't too weird. She grabs a sandwich and takes a dainty bite of it, followed by a sip of tea. Soon, she's eating ravenously. Thinking so hard burns a lot of energy. Only after she's downed three sandwich triangles does she slow down, feeling guilty that she's eating so many more than Miss Knowledge.

Miss Knowledge doesn't seem to mind, though. She nibbles noncommittally on a single sandwich in between glances at the book in front of her. When Sunshine slows down, she looks up from it, studying her across the table.

Sunshine meets her gaze questioningly, and a few more seconds pass in silence before Miss Knowledge asks, with more than the usual awkwardness of an adult speaking to an unfamiliar child, "... so. Do you go to school?"

Sunshine nods.

"In the village, I presume."

Sunshine nods again.

Miss Knowledge hesitates, her conversational topics momentarily depleted. "... and what is your favorite subject?"

Sunshine considers that. Nobody's ever asked her before, and it isn't one she's ever considered. It isn't like she gets to choose which ones she wants to learn, after all. "Um," she says. "Um. History." It's the only topic that Miss Kamishirasawa doesn't mostly read out of a book for, and it's the one with all the stories about people fighting each other.

Miss Knowledge frowns in a way that makes Sunshine feel like she made the wrong choice, but gives a curt nod. "I see."

Miss Knowledge nibbles away the last of her sandwich, and as Sunshine finishes her own, she stands and starts making further preparations. She pulls a thin, square stone slab from a shelf and slides it onto the desk. It has deep engravings of three spirals, which all come together to a point in the middle of the board. One spiral has three holes around its edge, and into them, she sticks filigree-covered golden rods. They come together to a point to make a tripod. From the tip of it, she hangs a thin chain, with a pointy green stone dangling at the bottom.

Sunshine senses that the next lesson is going to start soon, and polishes off the last of her sandwich. Miss Knowledge gives her just a moment to swallow before giving the device a gentle push toward her. "Do you know what this is?"

Sunshine shakes her head.

"It's a Triskelion of Philochorus." Seeing the look of confusion on Sunshine's face, Miss Knowledge quickly explains, "It's a device to test for magical potential. Think of it like... a stepladder. It gives you the boost that you need to cast a very simple spell."

Sunshine perks up and gives an excited wiggle in her chair. Reading about magic isn't too bad, but making magic happen is definitely what she came here for. Miss Knowledge takes her hands and gently guides them onto the board, sitting each hand on one of the unoccupied spirals. "Please look at the pendulum and try to focus on my voice."

Sunshine has no idea what the word 'pendulum' means. She looks between Miss Knowledge and the device uncertainly. "Um."

"... the pendulum is the bezoar—er, rock—on the chain."

That makes more sense. Sunshine settles in, staring at the rock, and Miss Knowledge starts to talk. "At the heart of any spell is what is typically called the key. The key is an... idea that makes the spell work. For now, all you need to know about this spell is that I'll tell you a story, and I need you to picture it as well as you can. If you do, the you will cast the spell and the pendulum should move. Do you understand?"

Sunshine nods.

"Very well."

Miss Knowledge launches into a long and detailed story about a king who dies, leaving his three sons to argue about who will become his successor. All three of them grab the crown, but they're all equally strong, so no matter how long they fight over it, it never does more than shift back and forth. She goes into long detail about how the crown moves back and forth, and how it's always under tension from one brother or another. Sunshine doesn't dare to take her eyes off the pendulum for a moment, scrunching up her face and picturing the story really hard.

The pendulum doesn't move, though.

"Hmm." Miss Knowledge reaches the end of the story and looks at the pendulum. "Have you been imagining the story as I read it?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you're sure that you didn't stop listening for a while?"

Sunshine nods. Miss Knowledge purses her lips, looking unconvinced, then sighs. "We'll go through the story again, regardless. Please pay close attention."

"Okay..."

Miss Knowledge tells the story again, this time going into even more detail, describing the sons down to their clothes and narrating each movement of the crown as it goes back and forth. Sunshine does her best to imagine them, even thinking about them shouting at each other. The story goes on for ten minutes. The pendulum doesn't move.

Miss Knowledge stops again, frowning to herself. "... perhaps we should try something else."

The next several hours are a blur. Patchouli spends the entire afternoon trying different variations of the magic test—having Sunshine read weird words while holding shiny rocks, having her wave a wand at things, having her stare into bowls of water and look for pictures. Sunshine isn't sure what it all means, but it's a lot of work.

Enough work, in fact, that she dozes off at the desk toward the end of the day, and Patchouli lets her sleep. Patchouli goes back to her reading, and is still at it when Alice and Marisa return.

"Oh, heya," Marisa says, glancing toward Sunshine and grinning. "Poor kid couldn't keep up, huh?"

"She's only been asleep for half an hour. I'd thought it was better to let her rest."

"You must have been keeping her busy to wear her out so quickly," Alice says, with a soft smile. "I'll try to feed her more before we bring her next time. She can go for days as long as she eats enough."

"Ah. Well. About that." Patchouli primly folds her book closed, then rests her hands on it and chooses her next words carefully. "I don't know that there needs to be a 'next time.'"

"Huh?" Marisa glances over from admiring Sunshine. "What do you mean? She didn't pick it up that quick, did she?"

"She didn't pick it up at all. As near as I can tell, she's completely unsuited for magic."

A few seconds pass in silence, as Alice and Marisa stare at her in muted shock. "I'm not sure what you mean," Alice says. "When I built her new body, I made sure that the right conduits are there for—"

"And yet, she doesn't have the aptitude."

"Well... Sunshine is intelligent, but she is still young," Alice says. "Maybe she just couldn't focus well enough?"

Marisa nods in impatient agreement. "If she's just not very strong, we can work with that. I'll have Rinnosuke whip her up a more powerful mini-hakkero."

"The mini-hakkero is a furnace. Even the most powerful furnace needs a spark to ignite it." Patchouli sighs and adds, softly but insistently, "I tried three visualization exercises, two concentration ones, and three types of foci. I even tried the Sieve of Lao-Tzu just in case. She simply... can't project magical energy under any circumstances that I can find."

"But she—" Alice fumbles over her words, struggling to keep a level tone. "Everybody has some level of magical ability."

"You mean that every human or youkai does, yes. Sunshine is neither. If we consider a spectrum wherein a youkai's nature is mostly spiritual and a human's nature is both spiritual and material, I theorize that as an object—"

"Don't," Alice says, with a biting edge to her voice, "call our daughter an object, please."

"... I theorize that as she began life as a construct," Patchouli corrects herself, "she is entirely material in nature. While evidence is that she has a soul, I don't think that she has any ability to use magic or spiritual abilities."

Another few seconds pass in silence. Marisa clenches her hand into a fist and releases it a few times. "So you're sayin' there's nothing we can do."

"There are... rituals and forms of meditation that may be able to help her expand her spiritual awareness. Perhaps with a few years of practice, she might be able to do basic cantrips, but even that is—"

"I think we understand, yes," Alice says coolly.

Alice gets no further than that, as Sunshine stirs on the table, then lifts her head and glances up at the three. She doesn't wake up quite like a human—there's no yawning, no slow drifting back to awareness. One moment she's asleep, the next, she's looking at them with alert, curious eyes. She smiles. "Hi."

"Ah." Marisa steps over and rests a hand on her back. "Hey, kiddo. How was the lesson?"

But Sunshine can't overlook the heavy mood of the room, and the way that all three are watching her. She glances between them uncertainly. "... am I in trouble?"

"Ah? Er, no, not at all," Alice says, walking over to join Marisa next to her. "We were just discussing, er. Well."

Marisa clears her throat and picks up the conversation. "Nothing you need to worry about right now. Let's fly home n' have a big dinner, and then me and your mom will tell you all about it after, alright?"