The 2 of them were now on the train standing next to each other, all of the thoughts around Anya being drowned out by the sheer amount of them. Anya wore an uneasy look, one hand covering her mouth and her eyes slightly squinted.

Sy-on boy got a love letter? Well, in that case, he'll probably reject whoever sent it. Still, if he does accept, then I've still got the friendship plan with his sister and plan C with his brother! Yeah, that's right, a spy is supposed to anticipate the worst-case scenario and plan for it!

Anya's defiant expression quickly soured as her smile was replaced with a frustrated frown.

So why…

Pictures of Damian with some faceless girl began flying through Anya's mind, first date, then holding hands, and then kissing.

Why wouldn't I just move on to my next plan?

Anya shook her head for a few moments in an attempt to extract her frustration.

Either way, it'd be way harder for me to become his friend id he was dating someone else, so plan A has to work no matter what! Yeah, that's it. So, at least for now, how do I secure this plan?

And that's when a genius idea popped into Anya's mind and a devilish grin spread across her face.

"By the way, I'm a little nervous, Sy-on boy."

"Eh? You already said that, but yeah."

"No, I mean, well, this is my first time dating anyone."

Anya could barely control her excitement as she witnessed Damian's slow mental descent.

Dating? Didn't she just say that we're going on a date earlier? Wait, so when she asked me out, then… Was she… trying to confess then? Hold on, have we been… Have we been dating this whole time? That can't be right, I've gotta confirm.

"So… Do you mean to say that we're in a relationship, Forger-san?"

"Yep."

…

Damian's face went red as he immediately turned away.

What the heck?! I mean, when I come to think about it, it kind of makes sense given how she's been acting for the past few weeks.

Sy-on boy's easy to manipulate.

Anya was almost watching in glee as she watched her plan work perfectly.

"So… We're boyfriend and girlfriend, Forger-san?"

"Yep."

Damian took a step back before hiding his face from Anya again.

This has gotta be… Some of the best news I've heard in a while.

Sy-on boy calls getting together with the girl he likes "good news"? Either way, though…

Anya breathed a sigh of relief as her gleeful grin softened into a lighter one.

I guess it is pretty nice to hear.

Result of this battle: A decisive victory for Anya.

###

"Woah! This is so amazing!"

Anya's eyes were sparkling as she looked at a scaled-down model of a NASA space shuttle being suspended from the ceiling.

"Eh. I've seen Ostanian space travel devices far more advanced than this. Who would've guessed that this place's space travel would be the one thing worse than the tech back home?"

Although Damian spoke in an even, measured tone, he had a slightly uneasy look and pink cheeks as he stared directly at Anya.

We're actually dating? Like boyfriend and girlfriend? Why didn't I notice? How didn't I notice? Either way, I've gotta make up for lost time now by being the best boyfriend possible! God, that's embarrassing to think…

Sy-on boy's too insecure. I've gotta raise his confidence again.

Anya envisioned a thermometer-esque graph with a gloomy Damian face at the bottom. She then imagined the bar filling up with the gloomy Damian being replaced with a happy Damian.

"Hey, Sy-on boy? I don't really get how the shuttle works. Care to explain?"

All I need to do is look interested in what he's saying and his confidence'll spike!

"Eh? If you really want to, then I can."

Damian appeared to come back down to earth as a slightly bewildered grin appeared on his face.

"Well, I've only done some surface-level research, but there are 3 main parts of the shuttle: the orbiter, that being the part that looks like a plane, the external tank: that's the massive orange part, and the solid rocket boosters: the little jets on the side."

At first, Anya wore a smug grin, but the more Damian talked, the more a genuine look of interest began to form on her face.

"Continue?"

"The orbiter was the part that the astronauts lived in, but I think that the smartest part of it is that while it took off as a rocket, it actually came back down as a plane. It would land like any other plane with a runway, wheels and all."

Anya didn't respond for a few moments before raising her head, saying:

"Wait, really? That's so cool! Why didn't any of the people back in Ostania think of that?"

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"They did, though? Didn't you take one of those shuttles to the hotel?"

"I was a spy, not a rocket scientist."

"What did you just say?"

"I was a guest, not a rocket scientist."

Damian eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds before giving a shrug.

"Anyways, let's keep looking around-"

"So why is there one here? I thought that NASA's an American company?"

"Government organization, but close enough."

That sentence went in one of Anya's ears and out the other. Either way, though the look of interest she had didn't seem to leave.

"In any case, how'd they eat up there? I mean, it's a spaceship, so would they just send more rockets with food?"

"Yeah, actually, it was something like that. They'd send dehydrated food up there every so often."

"Dehydrated?"

"Basically, they sucked the water out of the food. Think like ice cream, but it's not creamy and it's more like held-together sticks of powder. Almost like a skeleton of the food."

A look of horror and disgust materialized on Anya's face as she envisioned various dehydrated foods.

"That's gross! How do astronauts live?"

An amused grin found its way onto Damian's face as he continued.

"Oh, you think it's just the food? Well, astronauts also have to do a lot of exercise everyday so that their bones and muscles don't die from a lack of gravity providing resistance for them!"

"Meh. Exercise is nothing."

"Eh?"

This girl has strength beyond the capabilities of most people.

In any case, the 2 of them went back and forth, running throughout the museum, all the while Anya asking Damian questions and Damian them answering them to the best of his ability, sometimes having to search for the information online if he didn't already know. By the end, Damian looked slightly worn out although cheerful and Anya had a look of extreme satisfaction on her face.

"How can one race accomplish so much?"

She said this while looking at a replica of the ISS while Damian gave a light chuckle.

"If you think this is impressive, then you should take a look at some of the tech we have back in Ostania."

Too bad I'll never experience any of it for myself…

Anya raised an eyebrow at this thought, noticing a hint of sadness in his expression and tone.

"Uh, if I may… Why do you know so much about space, Sy-on boy?"

Damian's face was impassive, but his mind revealed mild surprise.

"Well… I've always been interested in astronomy-"

I wanted to become an astronaut all my life.

"But I decided that a stable life was better. Becoming an astronaut was never something that Donovan had in mind when deciding the path I'd take."

Anya felt a pang of sadness both from herself and Damian. How could someone's own father treat their kid as a defective product just for having dreams? Then again, there was the fact that he referred to that "father" by his first name. Maybe that's why he used to be such a jerk.

"Well, the boss isn't here anymore-"

"Boss?"

"Uh, I mean, 'Donovan' isn't here anymore, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

Damian didn't respond before he let out a brief sigh, his face scarily clear.

"When I first came here, I was pretty full of myself. Becoming an Imperial Scholar in under 6 years? That kind of thing was unheard of. Even if my current family will support me without caring what path I take, my previous mother…"

Anya saw tears beginning to form in the edges of Damian's eyes before he turned away. Not knowing what else to do, she hesitantly patted his shoulder a few times.

"You don't have to keep talking if you don't want to, Sy-on boy."

"No, it's actually kinda therapeutic to get it off my chest… That is, if you want to hear it?"

After Anya gave a short nod, he continued.

"My previous mother had… high expectations of me. Her other child ran away from home, so she was pretty quick to start the adoption process before the government could catch on about what happened. Guess it was pretty lucky for her to find an undocumented high-class middle-schooler falling out of the sky, huh?"

Anya opened her mouth to ask a question but stopped when she sensed Damian beginning to talk again.

"After that, my life was basically just studying. She had certain… expectations of me. She didn't want anymore kids for whatever reason, so she started pushing me as hard as she could in school. Maybe it was to support herself, or maybe it was so that I could have a better future for myself."

Damian took another shaky breath, his voice beginning to break.

"E-either way, I… didn't… live up to her expectations. My grades began to slip after not leaving the house for a while, so after I graduated with below a 90 in every subject, I got scolded pretty bad, heh.

Anya could see that "pretty bad" didn't quite cut it after taking a quick look at Damian's thoughts.

"So I ran away."

Anya's jaw dropped before talking in a flabbergasted voice.

"Eh?! Why would you do that? And how'd you end up here?"

Damian gave an empty laugh.

"I don't even know why I did that myself. I probably would've went into a western orphanage, but guess what idiot decided to run off into the airport terminal and get on a random plane?"

Damian pointed at himself before his hand slowly fell down, going limp beside him.

"Maybe if I'd gotten better grades, then none of that would've happened…"

…

What should I say? I can't say that those experiences are… unfamiliar to me, but it'll be kind of insensitive if I just tell him that I understand how he feels because unless I say what I went through, then to him, I won't understand how he's feeling. And I… kind of don't want to talk about that with him just yet. So the only thing that I can do… Think…

Eventually, Anya simply clasped her right hand around his, causing him to flinch and turn around red-faced.

"Well, you're with me now, so at least something good happened, right?"

Damian was visibly shaken, his cheeks having gone a light shade of red. He looked away and his expression became inscrutable again, but Anya grinned at his mind turning into what looked like someone smashing a keyboard.

"I guess you're right about that, Forger-san."

Result of today's battle: Damian's victory.

Or it would be, if, well…

Gah! That was so stupid! I just unloaded all of my baggage off onto her! What's next, I'm gonna tell her about my dead mom, or how I've never had a parent who loved me, or how I don't wear boxer briefs?!

…If he didn't immediately devolve into insecurity once he got home.

Also, I've dubbed Anya's mission "Operation Twilight".