HIKARU IN THE GARDEN OF FOREVER

With a start Hikaru opened her eyes. She found herself looking up at Kyousuke Kasuga's face. He was smiling down at her. At first she thought she must be dreaming still, but then the previous night's events came back to her.

"Well, good morning." His voice was low and guttural.

"Good morning." She rubbed her eyes. "Don't tell me you've been this way all through the night?"

He nodded.

"But… but how are you supposed to enjoy this day without having slept?"

"I'm used to it," he answered. "And you're just in time, too. We need to leave early today."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you somewhere special." A mysterious expression materialized on his face. "Somewhere magical."

Hikaru sat up and stretched. "You don't have to go to all this trouble," she said, stifling a yawn, "on my account."

"I want to," he said, standing up and stretching himself. Hikaru watched him move, thewed muscles rippling under his pale mahogany skin, and found herself longing to touch him.

"But why?"

"You'll see. Trust me on this one, please." He headed for his bathroom. "By the way, breakfast is on the balcony."

After she had washed herself, Hikaru headed there. The horizon was just beginning to show the light of the rising sun. Andrei was nowhere in sight. The small round metal table in the middle of the balcony was set for two, with a vase containing one red and one white rose in the middle of it. There was an apfelstrudel waiting on her plate. She could see a red heart-shaped note through the pastry's paper-thin crust. It had her name written on it.

She sat down and used a fork to dig it out. Opening it, she read on the left side:

If only this were half as sweet as you.

And on the right:

Love, Andrei.

She smiled and blushed, wiping and tucking the note carefully into her pocket. She reached for the jug of clotted cream on the breakfast dolly beside her and drowned the apfelstrudel with it.

Andrei stepped onto the balcony and immediately spied her eating.

He raised an eyebrow. "Gee, you couldn't have waited for me?"

"Sorry, it looked so tempting I couldn't resist." She pointed with her fork at the pastry, half of which remained.

"Oh… that's alright." Looking pointedly at her food, he sat down opposite her.

"Why are you eating only that?" she asked, indicating the biscuits on his plate. "That's bird food. Want some of mine?"

"Uh, no thanks. Tweet tweet…"

Hikaru could hold back no longer. She laughed, leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you," she said, beaming happily at him, producing the note from her pocket.

Andrei breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I thought you had eaten it."

"It was sweet of you," Hikaru said, replacing the note. She shook her head in wonder. "Why are you being so sweet to me?"

"'Cause I like you," he said. "I think you're a nice girl."

She blushed at the compliment. "I like you too," Hikaru admitted. "For an old guy and someone not really himself at the moment," she couldn't resist adding.

"Yes, well, this old guy would like you to hurry up as we have a ride to catch." He sipped at his hot cup of tea.

------oOo------

The limo brought them to the private airport where Madoka and Kyousuke had first landed some weeks ago. Several people were waiting for them, having been forewarned by Cardiff that a special guest of Mr. Pagott was to arrive in the wee hours of the morning and was to be extended every courtesy, no matter how strange his demands seemed.

And strange they were. By the time the pair got out onto the tarmac, still wreathed in half-shadow, a little propeller plane was waiting for them. It was painted a deep green color, and a red winged devil holding a pitchfork ornamented the vertical tail. A pair of empty olive-drab Matra rocket pods hung under the shoulder-mounted wings.

"What's this?" Hikaru asked as they approached the aircraft.

"My plane," Andrei answered when they had reached it, running his hands over the glossy metal skin, as an artist would run his hands over a sculpture. "The last of the EFI-9Bs. A genuine antique, like its owner." He left her standing there, excusing himself, saying he was going to preflight the craft.

After he had finished, he had a short chat with one of the men in overalls standing around the Minicon. A short ladder was wheeled up to the left side of the plane and the canopy raised. As Andrei was about to mount it, one of the ground crew handed him a large basket, from which issued forth several savory smells.

"From Cardiff, sir," he explained.

Andrei took the basket from him and nodded. "Excellent. Where would I be without him?"

The crewman thought the comment strange but said nothing.

Andrei got into the pilot's seat, his movements slow and unsure. He was trying to recall his piloting days. Looking down at his blond companion from his perch, he bellowed, "Well? What are you waiting for? Hop in!"

His brusque tone caused her to raise an eyebrow. The ladder was wheeled to the other side and Hikaru climbed into the empty seat. She saw him busy reading the flight manual and decided not to bother him.

Awash in memories of an earlier time, he didn't even notice her strap herself in and put on the waiting headset. His hands started to move, flicking switches, turning knobs, bringing the metal bird to life.

"Clear!" he called out.

Two gray overalls on either side of the aircraft's nose raised their hands, thumbs up. "Clear!" they answered in unison. Andrei pressed the starter.

For a moment there was a loud tiktiktik, tiktiktik noise, and suddenly the silence that stood over everything ran terrified into the surrounding countryside as the engine belched and the three-bladed propeller spun into fitful life.

After testing the controls for a minute or two, Andrei proceeded to put on his headset. Adjusting the microphone boom, he said, "Hikaru-chan, can you hear me?"

"Yes." The noise-canceling electronics were working very well.

The crewman who had given Andrei the basket signaled Hikaru to keep clear, then pushed the canopy down until it locked.

Andrei motioned to the mechanics, who walked away from the plane.

Switching from the intercom to the radio, Andrei called the tower. "Good morning, Bestzt Tower, Baby Ninety-Nine with you on Ground, request clearance to taxi, flight plan as filed."

"Bestzt Tower here, Nine-Nine. Cleared all the way to the active, winds two-three-six at five knots. Report in position."

"Copy."

He switched back to the intercom. "Hikaru-chan."

Hikaru, who was enjoying the sight of a Kyousuke Kasuga playing at being a pilot, blinked. "Yes?"

"This will be my last flight. I hope you enjoy it."

She nodded, remaining silent because she knew that, if she were in his place, she'd spend all her effort into committing everything to memory. A memory to last through the days and nights of nothingness…

Andrei gave the Minicon a little throttle and it started to roll.

The ground crew watched as the diminutive plane waddled on its spindly tricycle landing gear to the opposite end of the runway and stopped short. After a brief pause it moved onto the long strip of black asphalt and took off, circling the airfield once, then heading northeast and gradually disappearing into the morning sky. One by one they shuffled off to the canteen. Breakfast was now their number-one priority.

------oOo------

Up in the cockpit Hikaru watched the early-morning Italian countryside go past beneath them.

"Wonderful! What a view!"

The sky to the east was beginning to lighten to violet. Westward it was still the deep, dark blue of night. The land below was still steeped in shadow. Under the canopy she could see it all.

"I've never been in a plane this small," she said. "Is this the one you flew in Africa?"

He shook his head. "But it's the same model, except that my aunt's daughter modified it so much it's like a brand-new machine."

She craned her neck to watch a car on a road beneath them. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They flew on in silence for several minutes. The sky had turned red-golden as the sun finally peeped in from the horizon, bathing mountaintops in a golden mist, when Hikaru spoke again. "I like flying like this."

"Eh?"

"You know, flying this way. Not like in an airliner, where you have at best one window to look out of, and most of the time you see nothing but clouds or the sea. This low, I can look down on the people and houses, and see them like they're toys."

He smiled, remembering his own early memories of flight. A cramped cockpit wasn't enough to wipe the silly grin off his face when he first took to the sky with his father in his old red seaplane. Passing by coastal liners, waving to the passengers as they zoomed by, and having them wave in return, like old friends…

He put the little craft into a shallow dive, then pulled up into a lazy half-loop. Hikaru stared at the ground through the top of the canopy. She never stopped yelling until Andrei bottomed out the loop and they were right side up again.

"Yahoo! This is better than a roller coaster! How about another one?"

The owner of the Pagott conglomerate was more than willing to oblige. For one flight, his skills, long dormant, were miraculously back to the way they were. They did another loop, then an Immelmann, then a split-S to get back on course.

"You sure you don't feel dizzy?" he asked her.

"Just a little bit. But that was fun!"

"Would you like to try flying the plane?"

"What? I don't know how…"

"It's easy. Put your right hand on the stick and put your left on the throttle. Got it?"

"Uh-huh."

"Now put your feet on the rudder pedals."

Andrei quickly explained to her the functions of the controls, then went into a series of gentle turns to show her how they were coordinated.

"Now I'll shake the stick twice. When I do, I'll say 'You have the airplane.' You must reply 'I have the airplane' before I'll let go of the stick. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Andrei had her hold the stick and he let go, admonishing her to not let go or make sudden hand movements or they'd end up crashing. She did pretty well for a beginner, although she porpoised the plane and he noticed the stick shaking ever so slightly.

"Hikaru, when you fly you don't have to use a death grip. Just point the nose and let the plane go where you want it to go." He shook the stick twice, indicating that he was taking over. "I have control."

"You have it," she said, relieved but strangely exhilarated as she let go of the stick.

There was a moment or two of silence, then Andrei spoke.

"There, you see, I'm not touching anything." He held his hands up and waved them for her to see.

"Kyaa!"

"Relax. You want to handle the plane some more?"

"Eh? Can I?"

"Sure."

She grasped the stick and wagged it. "I have it."

"You have it."

Andrei let her fly the plane for the next few minutes. The sleepless night he spent caught up with him, and he drowsed off on the tyro in the right seat. Engrossed in her task, she didn't notice him sleeping until around twenty minutes had passed. She yelled him awake.

"Ojisama! I don't know where we're supposed to go…"

"Sorry. I have it."

"You've got it." She exhaled noisily, relieved.

"Good work."

"Thanks! That was easy."

There were several mountains ahead, and he pointed them out to her.

"We're almost there." Then he put the little craft into a gentle climb.

The landscape below changed into one of broken rock and forest. It was a forbidding place to have to land in. Hikaru couldn't even spot any houses on the ground anymore.

Then, just as the watch on her wrist changed to read 8:00 AM, they went over the mountains and entered clouds. The blinding whiteness all around caused her to squint against the glare. Two minutes later, they burst out of them.

"This is it," Andrei said.

Hikaru saw below her a green valley sparkling in the sunshine, ringed all around with tall mountains, and with a deep blue lake at one end. She felt absurdly happy at the sight. There was another odd feeling, too, but she couldn't quite put a name to it yet. It somehow made her think back to the time when she was still in high school, basking languidly beside the swimming pool under the sultry summer sun…

"What do you think, Hikaru-chan?" asked Andrei.

The question brought her out of her reverie. "Huh? It's—it's beautiful… This is your 'special place'?"

He nodded.

"Would you like to land this thing?"

"Would I? Sure!"

Andrei coached her to a passable, if a bit bumpy, landing on the grass near the lake. When they had rolled completely to a stop, she yelled "Yatta!" at the top of her lungs. "I did it! Jing…"

Andrei winced in his seat. "Ah, Hikaru, you can stop stepping on the toe brakes now. And don't shout so loud, it hurts my ears. I'd hate to explain to Kyousuke why his body returned stone-deaf."

"Aw, meanie," replied she, unbuckling and removing her headset as Andrei shut the engine and popped the canopy open. She nimbly climbed down the airplane's side and jumped to the ground.

She inhaled deeply. "Ah, what fresh air! I can't believe only a few people come here. Just look at the view!"

Andrei, who had also dismounted, walked around the EFI to her. "No one comes here, Hikaru. Except people like us."

"What do you mean?" She had noticed a few odd things about the place. Most of the grass was cropped short, almost as short as the turf on a golf course, punctuated here and there with patches of wildflowers swaying in the breeze. And the lake was glassy-smooth—not a ripple was to be seen on it.

Andrei shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. When I was small my mother used to tell me stories about how this valley was a small part of the Garden of Eden during the world's creation, about how only people with pure and strong hearts could find it and enter." He laughed. "I never believed her until I stumbled into it myself."

"How are you so sure it's special?" she asked, removing her pumps to feel the springy grass beneath her feet.

"Well, how do you feel now?"

She struggled for words. "I—wonderful, like I'm on vacation and have nothing to worry about. Like…like I'm in one of those picture-perfect postcards…"

"Did you feel that way before we landed here?"

She shook her head. No, I was busy trying to fight off an attraction for you…Kyousuke or Andrei or whatever part of you I'm interested in…

"That is part of the magic of this place. I will show you another. Wish for something, but don't tell me just yet. Something dear to you, but harmless, okay? Just one."

"Okay." A pause. "Done."

Andrei waited. And waited.

"Well?"

"I—what did you wish for, Hikaru-chan?"

She blushed. "A sign that my friendship with Madoka-san and Kyousuke-sempai would last forever."

Andrei scratched his head. "Uh, that's kind of tough… wait, maybe that's it." He pointed skyward.

She squinted into the brilliant blue glare. "Wow… I think you're right. I didn't notice those before."

Hanging in the morning sky were three tiny points of light, in a shallow arcing line. The one in the middle shone a bit brighter than the two others, and the one on its left was closer to it than the one on the right.

"A bit subtle, that one." Andrei smiled at her.

"We may be mistaken," Hikaru said, dubious.

"No, I don't think so."

Deep in her heart she knew he was right. Pointing at the lights, she said softly, "Hi-ka-ru. To shine. Like a star."

"Really? How interesting."

"I guess mine's the one further away from the others." She smiled sadly. "Hey, why don't you make a wish?"

"I've already had mine."

"What was it?"

"To never lose my love for women."

She laughed. "Did you really wish for that?"

"A long time ago. Seemed to work, in a troublesome sort of way," he admitted sheepishly.

Something landed on Hikaru's shoulder. It was a little bird, a pipit, and as she turned her head to look at it, it trilled in her ear.

"Andrei! Andreeeii!"

"What's wrong?"

"This bird… this bird talked to me!"

"Ah, an old friend. Listen to him."

She lost some of the apprehension on her face as the little bird trilled softly.

"Well?"

"It said… it said I should tell it the troubles I want it to take away."

Andrei clapped her on the shoulder and nodded gravely. "Here's your chance. Take it."

Hikaru extended an index finger in front of her and the small bird hopped on it, looking at her expectantly. She was silent for a few minutes.

Andrei heard her murmur, "No, no. It is really tempting… But those memories are precious to me even though I bought them with great pain… It would not be a real happiness…" Her face took on a forlorn expression.

Finally she said, "I've decided." Her feathered listener chirped once, then flew away.

"You didn't?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because I'd rather live with this than live a lie." She looked up at Andrei. "Will I wish for my happiness to be built on the back of someone else's ruin? Will I forsake my friendship with Madoka-san because I selfishly want a man who has… who has already given himself to her?" She recalled the suppressed terror on Madoka's face as she cradled the injured Kyousuke. "She's suffered enough. I don't want it that way." She looked away from him. "I don't want him that way," she murmured.

You'll never get this chance again, Andrei wanted to tell her. You're being too goddamn sentimental. "I hope you won't regret your choice," he said quietly.

"Did you get this chance too?" asked Hikaru.

"I did, and I also refused it."

"But why?"

"Sometimes the more difficult road is the better one," he replied cryptically. No amount of prodding by the blond girl would make him elaborate.

"Why didn't you wish for, say, someone to love?"

"Don't you understand? The bird only takes troubles away. It does not grant wishes. And anyway, we… we have the same problem," Andrei answered. "All the women I've been with… none of them ever really caught my fancy. To be truthful, I was too willing to accept the company of those who threw themselves at me, and were really only interested in my money."

Hikaru bent her knees and rested her head on them, locking her legs in place with her arms. "This 'special place' of yours," she commented, "I don't think much of it. It's made us both sad."

Andrei didn't reply for a while. "I'm sorry. I brought you here to try to help you with your troubles." He picked absently at the grass. "It seems I made things worse."

"Oh, no," said Hikaru. "You've made my choice clear to me, Andrei. And even though I feel like my heart has been ripped in two, I have no regrets about choosing the way I did."

"I wish I could be as sure as you."

"Well, aren't you glad I decided to tag along, then?" She made a show of examining a blade of grass. "We both seem to need something from one another."

"You talk tough," he said. "But see how you feel when night comes and you have to face your bed all alone."

"Been there. It doesn't bother me so much anymore. I just have to fill my heart with other things."

Andrei looked at her. "Other things?"

"You know… work, hobbies, etcetera, etcetera. There is room in my life for more than one kind of love, you know."

"Really, eh?" He lay back on the ground, lacing his hands together and resting his head on them. "Then could you do something for me? Something for an old man?"

"What?"

"Take up flying."

Her mouth opened in surprise. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I know it sounds silly, but I've always thought that flying was a gift to be shared with someone else." He laid a hand on her upper arm. "I'd like to share it with you, if I may."

Touched, Hikaru put a hand on his own. "Why me?"

Andrei's face—Kyousuke's face—scrunched up, a study in concentration. "How shall I put it into words? How will I name the joy of it? The peace of its solitude? The solace it always offered me when I was lonely? The beauty of the earth as it creeps past you, seeing it free of the anger and stupidity and pettiness of mankind? The taking-of-place each pilot does, standing in line in one unbroken succession from the earliest pioneers to the latest generation?" He looked up at her. "In the sky, a pilot has no course to chart but his own. He is completely free to do anything he wants. I think… I think that would be the perfect gift for you."

His words seemed to echo in her head. She closed her eyes, the smile still on her face. "You have the silver tongue of a poet, Andrei. Way unlike Kyousuke-sempai. Thanks… for being concerned about me."

Opening her eyes, she saw his face turn red. "No problem, kid," he replied, obviously trying to shrug it off. He looked at her. "So, will you?"

"I don't know. I need to think about it."

"I have some people who can help you," Andrei stated. "All you have to do is haul your butt over to them and let them take care of the rest."

"Yes, well, it's a long way from here to Japan."

"Who said anything about coming here? I've got two subsidiaries in your country. I'll send my people there."

"You'd do that for me?" she asked, mystified. "Why?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm also sort of looking for someone connected to my family who will carry on flying. There's always been a pilot in every Pagott generation, from my grandfather up to me. That's why I'm offering it to you, and since I have no heirs of my body to pass it on too, an heir in spirit will have to do." And, he thought, I've no time left to go looking further.

"But surely there are others who fit the bill much better than I can."

"I've been looking around. Even when I became blind, I used Cardiff and other people as my eyes and ears. I thought I had found one, except he's too military for my taste." He snorted. "Airplanes aren't innately meant to be instruments of destruction. He thinks otherwise."

"Listen to me prattle. Come on, girl. Let's eat." He stood up and stretched out his hand.

She held it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Do you really think I could fly a plane like you do?" she asked, brushing and smoothing her miniskirt.

"Anyone can. Except the blind, of course. And, if my one of my companies has anything to say about it, not even that will prove to be an obstacle for very long."

"I'll think about it."

He nodded, and together they walked back to the Minicon.

------oOo------

The early lunch consisted of mashed potatoes, some gnocchi, and heaping amounts of breaded fried chicken, with an ancient bottle of wine. After they had finished, they put the utensils and plates away and sat quietly in the shade of the EFI's left wing, whiling away the time looking out at the deserted valley.

"Hey, Andrei?"

"Mmm?"

"I don't suppose… I don't suppose you have a picture of yourself when you were younger?"

"No. What use would that be to a blind man?" He fished his wallet out and rummaged through it. "Oh, looks like I was mistaken." He extracted a small white-bordered photo, faded with age. "Here." Hikaru took it. "Don't laugh."

It showed a lanky man with thick eyebrows staring intensely into the camera, his square jaws in a sardonic smile, rumpled black hair matching a rumpled flight suit, standing in what appeared to be the middle of a bustling hangar.

"Africa. After we rocketed Port Harcourt, I think." His eyes were distant as he recalled the memories.

"You don't look too bad," Hikaru commented. "No wonder the ladies go for you."

"Thanks a lot, Hikaru-chan."

"What? What did I say? I meant it. It's the stare."

"Wow." He owled her. "You know, you don't look too ugly yourself."

She found herself unsettled by the staring Kyousuke Kasuga and involuntarily backed away. "Hey! I didn't mean it that way!"

Andrei laughed. "It's alright, I know that."

Hikaru stood up and stretched. Andrei admired her shapely calves as she stood a moment on tiptoe. She kicked her pumps off. "Race you to the lake."

"Huh? Okay, you're on."

She won the footrace by a good ten yards or so, standing by the shore, panting, as a winded Kyousuke Kasuga staggered after her.

"Nyahahaha! I knew sempai didn't exercise that much."

Gasping, Andrei scowled and lurched towards her. "What? Why you, I'll give you 'exercise'!"

She felt him grab her by the waist and lift her up in the air as if she were a toy. She had just enough time to utter a shriek as he threw her into the lake fully clothed.

There was an almighty splash when she hit the water, then another type of loud sound as she broke the surface.

"You—! You idiot! What'd you do that for? I don't have any more clothes to wear! You're terrible!"

Laughing, Andrei watched as she started to come out of the water at him, modestly crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Say, that looks so inviting! Why don't I just…" and with a mighty leap he landed in the water beside her.

"What? What?" Hikaru spluttered. "I'll show you, dumping me in the lake like that." She held his head down when he tried to surface. Then she spied something floating in the water some feet away from her. With a quick lunge she caught it just as Andrei, coughing and laughing, came up.

He spotted her, unusually silent, facing away from him. "Hey, Hikaru, what's the matter?" Had he seen her face, he would have realized the meaning of the malicious grin that showed itself once, then with a surge of control was brought under.

"I'm not talking to you," she announced, still not facing him. "What will I wear now? How am I going to go back to the hotel looking like this?"

"Well," said Andrei light-heartedly, "you can always strip naked."

"Oh, fine, fine! And what will happen when Madoka-san sees us? She'll say, 'Kyousuke, why are you with Hikaru and what happened to her clothes?' and proceed to give you the beating of your life and I'll have to explain everything to her so she won't chew me out as well…" She gave an unladylike snort of disgust. "Really, you do put me into the worst situations."

"H–hey, I'm sorry. It was just a joke." Andrei swam nearer to her.

"Some joke." She pouted. "If you want to show me you're really sorry…" Still crossing her arms in front of her chest, she leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "You must allow me to kiss you."

A pause. "What?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, managing in his eyes to look delectably minxish even though she was as dripping wet as a drowned rat. "Well, you willing or not?"

Andrei, momentarily confused, rolled his eyes skyward, as if seeking guidance from the heavens. "Ah, what the hell. I was always a sucker for pretty girls."

Just a sucker is more like it, she snickered. "Now close your eyes…"

"What about Ma—"

She vehemently shook her head. "Don't mention her name!" She had the grace to look embarassed as she coyly added, "One kiss from sempai isn't nearly enough…"

So Andrei grinned and closed his eyes. At last, a smooch for me…you old dog, you… That was when Hikaru shoved the frog she'd been hiding in her hands between his pursed lips.

She found his yell satisfyingly hair-raising.

------oOo------

They had arranged their clothes out to dry on top of the little Saab's wing. Hikaru wore a blanket brought along by Andrei supposedly for a picnic as a sarong as she waited in the left wing's shade for her clothes to dry. He was clad in blue jeans and a short-sleeved fatigue-colored t-shirt but was barefoot, as he had been wearing Kyousuke's rubber shoes when he jumped into the lake. Hikaru wore the squeaky rubber flip-flops that had given her away when she had first tailed him.

"Hey, Andrei, you're not still angry at me, are you?"

The man who had shouted "I'm-a gonna kill you!" at her some minutes earlier was busy rummaging through the stores under the airplane's seats.

"Nope."

"Really?"

A towel sailed out of the cockpit. "Nope."

"Aw, come on." Hikaru stamped her foot. "Anyway, you started it."

"Really, I'm not." His head popped up and banged against the canopy. "Ouch! It's just that my ego has been bruised by falling for that childish gag of yours."

"Well, then, you're a child, since you fell for it."

"Alright already, we're even." He turned away and spat. "I hope that frog was clean and I don't get blisters on my lips—on Kyousuke's lips," he corrected. Ducking down, he again disappeared into the cockpit.

"Hey," she heard his muffled voice say, "is this yours?" He reemerged holding a wide-brimmed yellow straw hat with a thin red border.

Hikaru shook her head. "Uh-uh."

He tossed it down to her. She caught it as it sailed over her head and put it on.

"Funny," said Andrei. "I don't recall asking them to pack that. Ah, well, must be Cardiff's doing."

"I wish we could stay longer," Hikaru remarked as she watched him clamber down the airplane's side.

Andrei landed beside her. "Well, a deal's a deal. Though I wish you didn't remind me."

"Sorry."

He sat down in the grass beside her, mimicking her posture, legs bent, arms encircling them, head propped on knees.

"You know, if I were you, I'd ask sempai for an extension."

"Well, you're not me. And as much as I'd like to spend more time like this—" his voice faltered "—I know very well what Kasuga must be going through in my body. Your sempai is a brave lad. And a kind one."

Hikaru nodded in agreement. "That's why I fell in love with him," she said quietly. "He may be spineless sometimes, but when it comes right down to it, there's nothing he wouldn't do to protect someone he cared about."

"Ah, he's not the only man in the world, Hikaru-chan."

She was silent.

"Era forgive me…" he heard her say. "I could not stop loving Atlas."

"What?"

"I said… never mind. It's a line from a musical I once auditioned for."

Andrei looked at her. "I'd like to hear it, if you don't mind."

Hikaru's cheeks burned. "Era was a goddess of beauty who loved Atlas, son of Poseidon." She lowered her head, hiding her face underneath the straw hat. "He met a beautiful island girl whose name was Sofina, and fell in love with her, although he was supposed to be engaged to Era. At first the goddess tolerated this, but when Atlas refused to return to her, she caused a plague to break out among the island girls, making them ugly. Tormented, the women took Sofina away from Atlas while he was sleeping and left her at the end of the island, where the sun rose from the sea. There Era confronted her. She said, 'If only I could have been you. If only I could have loved Atlas dearly, as you did. I'm sorry, Sofina.'"

"When she realized that the goddess genuinely loved Atlas as much as she did, Sofina said, 'Blessed Era, please forgive me. I have committed a sin so great that, even if I were to bury myself for all eternity in the soil of this beautiful country, it would not be erased... And yet I continue to commit this sin every day. Even if it meant I would turn into the seaweed that washes onto the shore, I could not stop loving Atlas.'"

"Then Era says, 'I have lost,' and Sofina throws herself into the sea and drowns."

"You were Sofina," said Andrei.

"Was supposed to be," she corrected. "I lost the audition."

"This was when? After Kasuga broke up with you?"

"Yeah. About two years ago, in New York."

Her voice was flat, and the expression on her face was as bleak as a parched, rocky desert. "Three boyfriends later, here I am. Hikaru the butterfly, flitting from flower to flower."

"Why do you still love him, after all this time?"

She raised her head, looked at him, and shrugged. "Will you ask the wind why it blows? Or why the stars shine? I just do." She looked out at the towering mountains, hazy in the distance.

They sat silent for a few minutes, pondering each other's words.

"Like Sofina, I guess," ventured the owner of the Hotel Adriano, "you'll do what you think is right and sacrifice yourself for Madoka, eh?"

She closed her eyes. "Some things are better left unsaid, Andrei-ojisama."

"Pish-posh. A dead sacrifice is better than a living hell. You don't have to be that way, Hikaru-chan."

"What are you saying?"

"Move on. Girl, you've got to move on. Or you'll destroy yourself."

"Don't you think I've been trying to do exactly that?" Her voice became louder. "I was doing fine until I came to Italy and saw him again. Then he gets himself shot, then you enter the picture…"

"Do what's right for yourself this time. Find yourself another man." Andrei laughed, and hoped she wouldn't take offense at it. "I'm sure you'll find one someday."

She sighed and looked skywards. "But I'm so tired," she said, blinking her eyes. "Andrei, my heart is very, very tired."

Andrei felt his heart wrung by pity. She was so young to be covered by so much of the spoor of weariness. Trying to cheer her up, he said, "Look, here's Atlas beside you. Won't you take advantage of the situation?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Noble bastard."

"Aw, Hikaru-chan, you disappoint me. Are you so caught up in self-pity that you won't even try to make yourself happy just this once?"

She sighed. "I guess you're right. I shouldn't be moping like this."

"That's more the spirit," he commended her, pounding her shoulder—gently—with a fist.

Hikaru was quiet for a while. When she spoke again, there was quite a different expression on her face, like that of someone who had decided on something.

"Guess I should be doing something about it, huh?"

Andrei nodded. "Uh-huh."

She breathed in deep, as a swimmer about to take the plunge. "You know, I'm not always driven to do what's right."

"Eh?"

Without warning she pushed him flat against the ground and straddled him.

"What…?"

"Sometimes," she said slowly, leaning closer to him, hands on his shoulders, "I do what I want, and the hell with consequences."

"Hikaru-chan…"

Her face drifted closer to his.

------oOo------

"Andrei." Her voice was throaty and sensual, caressing his name like a woman would caress a man's body.

He swallowed and tried to keep his voice light. "You know, Madoka isn't going to like this."

"Who's going to tell her, hmm?" She ran an index finger over his lips.

"After all you said about keeping away from Kyousuke—"

Her smile was slow and sexy. "There's no Kyousuke in front of me now. And if I can't have all of him, I'll settle for half."

"But what about the other half? Namely me?"

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Andrei found himself blushing at the double entendre.

Her face came closer and closer…

He was startled when she collapsed on top of him, her head veering off to one side. The yellow hat popped off her head and slowly rolled on the grass. For a moment they lay on the ground, cheek to cheek, her whole weight resting on him.

Hikaru groaned. "Oh, who the hell am I kidding?" In her extremity, she was resorting to being vulgar. "I couldn't seduce him before, I find I still can't do it, even now." She raised her head to look at Andrei. "Even when there's no one inside save an old man who, I'm sure, wouldn't mind if I went all the way."

"You'll have to excuse me," she said, "I'm not quite myself now." To his bewilderment, she started giggling. "I must look like a fool. A stupid fool." She rolled off him, careful to keep her blanket in place, and lay on her stomach, face hidden in the grass. Her giggles turned to a long, loud peal of laughter. "A stupid fool. A stupid, stupid fool."

She beat the ground with her fist. "A stupid fool."

Andrei laid a hand on her shoulder. When she raised her face a moment off the ground, he could see a momentary sparkle running down her cheeks.

"Andrei," she said, propping herself on her elbows, turning to look at him. "I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so this is happening to me…" Another paroxysm of laughter shook her.

"Why laugh or cry at all?" he asked.

"'Cause, Andrei," she replied, stifling her laughing, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I don't—ahahaha—I don't know what part of… of what I'm feeling… is for you and what—what part is for sempai."

After another outburst, she quieted a bit, retrieved the yellow hat, and replaced it on her head. "I'm so confused."

Andrei's cheeks were red. "Did I hear you right, Hikaru-chan?"

Sniffling, she smiled and nodded.

"I'll take what I can get," he said, leaning forward. She gave him a noisy buss.

Hikaru lay down on the grass and rolled over to look up at the shiny white underside of the EFI's wing. "I can't believe this. I'm falling for a guy who's actually old enough to be my father."

"I guess I should be offended at that, even though it's true," Andrei scratched his head. "But you know something?"

"What?" Another sniffle.

"You've got me confused too." They looked at each other and, for some reason, burst out laughing.

"This thing isn't powered by laughing gas, is it?" asked Hikaru, giggling. "Maybe it's leaking." She sat up with difficulty.

"Oh, so you could say it's been passing gas all the while!" Andrei roared, somehow finding that extremely funny and falling to the ground, clutching his stomach.

They stopped talking until they subsided, wiping their eyes of the laughter-induced lachrymation.

"Hikaru-chan, I… I don't know what to say," Andrei admitted, looking at her.

"Shh. Why say anything?" Hikaru leaned her head on his back.

"You know what'll happen when we leave this place."

"So? We have the 'here' and the 'now,' don't we?"

"Yeah. I guess that's all we lost souls can ask for." He stood up and extended her a hand.

Again he was offering her a hand. The symbolism was not lost on her. As he pulled her up, however, their feet tangled and they fell to the ground in an untidy heap, Andrei sprawling on top of her.

Dark brown eyes gazed into apprehensive blue ones inches away. Suddenly Andrei kissed her, and Hikaru found herself kissing him back. Her hands roamed restlessly on his frame.

When they broke, Hikaru looked at him. Her heart was pounding. "We shouldn't be doing this," she said weakly.

"Do you want to stop?" Before she could answer, his lips claimed hers again. His hand went to the knot that kept her blanket in place. With a deft flick of the fingers, it came undone, and the blanket fell away.

------oOo------

At the Adriano, a minor mishap occurred.

"Ow!"

"What is it? Kyousuke, are you alright?"

The old man nodded. "I just bit my tongue."

"Oh, okay. For a moment I thought it was something serious." Madoka continued picking apart his food for him so she could spoon it up.