She could afford her walk in shower. The luxury was having one connected to her office at the academy. Satsuki didn't mind the condensation on its door, the heat, nor the steam, even if she felt winded. Stopping her head from hitting the wall had nothing to do with stress. She thought as much as her knees twitched like her eyelids, not yet buckling. Catching her breath was a lessening pain she wasn't used to. Word of Sanageyama's defeat didn't cross her mind. Ways to modify Junketsu did. Wanting to see someone plagued her thoughts, sparked minor envy. Denying it, and herself, she lifted her eyes for a ceiling that offered no remedy for a new problem.
x.x.x
Sanageyama received a blanket for his trouble. He held himself up on bruised hands and knees, his quiver the byproduct of anguish.
"Dammit," he griped quietly.
His men behind him, ready and able, it was a pair's walk up that twisted the knife. He struck the smoldered ground with his knuckles. It was hard to watch him there, shaking and embarrassed, but Ryuko set aside any remorse.
"Now that we have your attention." She kept her enlarged scissor in view. "Did Satsuki send you here?"
At her back Son took pity on the passion he realized was Sanageyama's. It was to be admired. He stepped before Ryuko's not caring, offering a hand.
"You did your best. No one's gonna take that away from you," he said, straight faced.
Sanageyama didn't know whom to believe: Ryuko's cold shoulder or his mercy.
"Uzu Sanageyama!" a much deeper voice called.
Anyone looked to a small army. He stood a giant among men, and one woman, his presence just that off-putting. Shined golden earrings dressed his enlarged lobes, a match in polish for the spikes on his shoulder pads.
"You are to report to Honnoji Academy at once! Your reckless abandon will not go unpunished!"
"Who are you?" Son asked.
"Ira Gamagori! Head of the Disciplinary Committee!" he replied at the top of his lungs.
"Great. Another posturing clown. Can't enjoy a weekend without you assholes popping up can I?" Ryuko shook her head to snicker.
She kept her weapon cocked.
"This doesn't concern you, Matoi. Let us take him and we'll be on our way!" Gamagori assured her.
"Not until you tell me something!" she fired back at him. "Think I'm gonna let him walk away scot free? I know your boss let you in on it. Who had a hand in my father's death?!"
"Let him go, Ryuko," Son said before sighing.
Ryuko ogled him like he spoke blasphemy.
"This...this is our chance!" she quickly disagreed.
His faint grinning wasn't so comforting.
"We'll get an answer soon. I promise," he said.
Ryuko forgot to breathe, annoyed with him, not sure he wasn't crazy, her teeth clenched.
"... Get the hell outta here. All of you," she huffed curtly.
Soldiers left a field not meant for battle yet that was the sight. Noise and dirt kicked up from their vehicles, and their holstered tools for maiming them if given the order. She and Son weren't left with nature's embrace so suddenly; one final exchange was theirs, Sanageyama's, and Gamagori's.
x.x.x
She chose the highest water tower in the slums she could find. It was the best spot to think. The day was almost perfect yet she couldn't wait for it to be over. Then he showed up. He stayed put with nothing to suspend him but a talent she couldn't pick apart. She hoped to copy the trick someday.
"There you are. What are you doing up here all by yourself?" he slipped through a pleasant mood.
When he smiled, she smiled. It took every ounce of trying but failing to stay mad.
"Daydreaming," she dropped the act. "Asking myself why I shouldn't knock your ass to kingdom come."
Son moved his floating until he found a place next to her. He was bigger, the athletic type with none of the ego. His eyes couldn't have been of her world's. She knew as much.
"Yeah...about that. Sorry," he said letting how somber he sounded last.
He waited for two of the prettiest blues to give him a chance.
"It's whatever. I've waited this long, right?" she said with biting sarcasm.
"... Sanageyama was really sad. I couldn't make him feel worse, could I?" he pleaded.
"... I guess you couldn't," she shrugged, forcing a smile.
It was her turn to let the air graze the hair she brushed from her face. Rain on the way, it held. She didn't give him eye contact as she had to think.
"The nightmares aren't so frequent now," she confessed. "Sometimes I thought they'd never quit."
"It's 'cuz we're getting close," he believed.
"It's not just that," she added. "I feel...different. Maybe all that getting stronger stuff wasn't just hot air."
"That's great! All the more reason to let me show you some pointers!" he said glad to hear it.
He thought she needed no makeup. Why women wore it all made no sense and her not being a fan of it worked. Senketsu kept her warm with the faint smell of cinnamon. Son assumed it to be her lotion.
"Wanna try?" he said.
"Try what?" she asked, curious.
"This," he took her hand.
When Ryuko looked down the slums filth slowly pulled away.
"What the hell are you doing, Son?!" she flinched.
Holding on tight, his face nearly to hers, it was every reason to watch his mouth as it curved.
"Nothing you can't do," he said looking up.
When he stopped they could talk over wispy clouds breaking apart.
"See. Easy ain't it?" he said.
"Tsk. Prick. This isn't funny," Ryuko refrained from slapping him. "Put me down. Now."
"You sure? It's pretty nice up here," Son grinned. "But...I guess I'll let you go now."
"Do it and you die!" she lifted her legs into the arms he caught both with.
They were lotioned, just as he figured. It took a moment to adapt before making peace with it. She flicked his nose to keep him smiling.
"Fine. You win dummy. It is nice," she relaxed.
"Told 'ya so," he said.
Her breath smelled of peppermint patties. He had eaten enough in his life to know. She had yet to let her gaze leave if ever he chose to speak.
"Dammit. There isn't time for this," she kept repeating.
"What? Flying? 'Course there is," he said aware of the domain he could traverse on a whim. "Anytime you wanna learn, just ask."
"Son," she started done with waiting.
"Yeah?" he answered.
She pressed the smooth of her lips to his. She didn't say out loud it wasn't a kiss. Whatever it was, it wasn't rushed. As it finished she gently brought his head to hers, keeping it there, running fingers along his nape into his hair.
"Thanks for putting up with my crap," she said on the verge of crying.
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"... Sure thing," he said as softly as she spoke to keep her centered.
He didn't let go of his own shock. It melted as he had never felt more sure of himself. Senketsu's eye up Son and Ryuko's maturing left him the proud parent. He wanted to crack a smile, if he could.
{That took guts, Ryuko.}
"Bring it up ever and I'll let Mako wash you again," she whispered.
"What?" Son said.
"Nothing," she replied, and as he couldn't see it, closed her eyes and kept them closed.
There was a nagging want to levitate with him among the clouds for the rest of time. They would at least until daylight broke.
x.x.x
Facing her hurt more than losing. Again. The other Elites present the icing on the cake Sanageyama knelt by her thigh-high boot tips, wrapped in a fresh Three Star garment, not knowing whether he would die, or worse.
"Rely on a monkey to get things done, these are the results ..."
Nonon Jakuzure was petite as she was insulting. The academy's band leader, dressing the part via clean ivory, a trio of stars emblazoned her chest. More importantly she was the head of all non-athletic clubs, most of the presidents under her wing demoted at her command. All but salivating at a shot at Matoi's daughter kept her going.
"You had no chance at winning," Satsuki said finishing a cup of something creamy. "Sewing your eyes shut will not work. Son's powers are beyond all of us."
"This was your intention Milady," Houka Inumata ascertained.
He always held a hand at the ready over his laptop's keyboard. Azure wires fed power to his cufflinks, to his gear belt, the slightest movement for gathering terabytes of data. Seeing a humiliated comrade through his lenses brought him no joy.
"Sanageyama was supposed to lose," he said to drive it home.
"Procuring you more information in the process," Satsuki confirmed. "Let Matoi think she has the upper hand. I need her to."
"Always one step ahead, Lady Satsuki. We will doubt you no longer," Gamagori watched Sanageyama with mixed feelings.
He wrestled mostly with disdain.
"I...won't fail you again! I can't!" Sanageyama all but lost it.
Satsuki loomed over him when she stood, though not to turn her nose up. Most mistook her for always doing so.
"Iori has something in mind. Be sure you see to it," she said ready to let them have free reign of her office. "Off of your knees, Sanageyama. It doesn't suit you."
Soroi kept perfect posture to follow hers from it. That was until she stopped. "Everything is proceeding as planned."
"Milady," Sanageyama carefully reached for her.
Leaving his crouch with a parted mouth his peers were as uncertain. It was all they would get. Her office door dropped itself but wouldn't lock. Elite or not what was on her mind was hers to know and theirs to not fret over.
x.x.x
"Hmmp ..."
He focused but not on it being his thirteenth birthday. Two fingers at the boulder to his front it dwarfed his gi with its circular patch. He only needed an inch of talent.
"... HAAAA!"
As his knuckles barely tapped stone cracks zigged and zagged the width of it. It crumbled to dust at his boots.
"Nice one Goku!"
A friend at his back didn't pat it. Son looked to spot the six, tiny burns lining his forehead. The gi and obi had to be form-fitting as they were both learners. Bald, short in stature by the year it was hard to buy that at one time they were bitter rivals.
"Hehe, that's nothing." Son swiped a finger under his nose. "When I can move Mount Kongo I'll celebrate."
Sado Island during the Spring was a pleasure to call home. Iconic birds, solid gold mines, it was a wonder it could fit such marvels as it wasn't the largest. A mile or so away from their teacher's beach front property the tests were of fortitude. That was hours ago. At least one of the two was in favor of resting. Son straightened his damp wrist bands as they had slipped a bit.
"Kuririn. You been feelin' the same thing?" he turned to check.
Kuririn, sweaty, legs crossed, seated, paused meditation to humor him.
"Muten Roshi-sama says we shouldn't fret," he said. "It does sound fishy. I thought we were his only students."
Son tied a knot around his waist, its cord attached to a slab of rocks bigger than his body. Dragging it wasn't the hard part. His mind stayed on the work but something else crossed it to throw him off.
"You think it's Ryuko?" he always asked.
He hoped to be right for once.
"Couldn't be. She got sent off to boarding school, right? That's what you, hnnh, told me," Kuririn grunted for the air he lost.
His handstand on a single fingertip was straight and sure. He lowered his chin to soil pushing from it at his own pace. Hoisting his weight wasn't the hard part.
"Maybe its, hnnh, someone we don't, hnnh, know," he said.
Trying to walk burned as the stack was the heaviest he attempted. Muscles screaming, Son ignored any jitters. He didn't understand why it was so hard to focus.
"Goku! Kuririn!" rang the crackly voice of a man pushing two-hundred.
He didn't look a day over ninety-five with his thick mustache grazing a lengthier beard. His head wrinkly, shaven, red-rimmed sunglasses newer, he hunched like he needed the dried walking stick he carried everywhere. The skinny as a rail legs and arms straining from his tank-top and shorts were lies. Son stood upright like he wasn't dragging hundreds of pounds. Kuririn hopped back from his finger, in shipshape. Arms at their sides it was proper to bow as their teacher waited on formality. Most curious was the girl with him. Another with her was well dressed, not far into middle-aged. Ever at her beck and call one hand remained at his front, the other to his back. Son wouldn't lust after her snipped locks. Girls matured faster. Her bust and hips said as much beneath a sailor fuku. She was coming into her height. The perfectly wrapped blade grip and scabbard she clutched held its own merit.
"This is Satsuki Kiryuin. An occasional pupil. As you can see she's becoming quite the young woman!" Roshi wasn't so subtle with his lecherous ogling.
"Woah. She's a fox!" Kuririn bumped an elbow to Son's. "Who knew gramps taught a hottie like her."
"But, I thought, Ryuko was the only girl in Japan," Son assumed.
Kuririn gawked like slapping the idiocy from him wouldn't take.
"... I sometimes forget you bumped your head before I met you," he said curtly.
"Muten Roshi-sama. You and Soroi can wait at the house, if you wish. We will be fine," she said, polite, unassuming.
"Sure, sure. You kids talk amongst yourselves heh heh! We'll be back shortly," Roshi rubbed his hairless scalp to laugh.
He led the way as Soroi lingered at his back to trail.
"... Muten Roshi-sama's infamous duo," Satsuki said with no enthusiasm to speak of. "I wonder. Which of you is stronger?"
"Well, heh, don't mean to toot my own horn, but," Kuririn puffed his solid chest out. "Son's not allowed to fight in tournaments yet. I've won my fair share."
"Show me how," Satsuki replied blankly.
Kuririn's jaw dropping Son's shrug wouldn't give him the ego boost.
"Alright. Brace yourself little lady," he said, lowered, with an expert's guard.
Satsuki barely moved a muscle.
"Hoiyaaaa!" he darted for her.
Son followed her wrist. As it moved Kuririn turned over into a spiral he couldn't control. His charge landed with a smack against his chin scraping from his slide across the dirt.
"Kuririn!" Son called out.
He thought to attack, thinking twice. All he managed was a glance to a buddy with his backside up and his face down. Kuririn's wobbly thumb was the assurance he was still conscious. Satsuki stood still as a statue with her deadpan.
"Was that it?" she said watching Son with intent.
"He was just goin' easy on you, is all!" Son said, closing a hand, holding it out ahead of Kuririn's return.
The latter massaged the sting from his pride.
"Ow...she's fast," he said but it hurt to.
"Oh yeah?!" Son left his toes.
Swinging a fist stopped against Satsuki's scabbard rattling her bones and whipping at the sea breeze. Kuririn caught himself from being tossed. Aggravated, Son pushed, gaining leverage, his eyes locking with hers, Satsuki wouldn't reveal any struggle. Despite the escalating pressure she stood her ground. She swiveled her arm with her hip to shove him back folding the grass they practiced on in one, brisk stroke. He slid to a stop on his boots tips. He was careful to lower crossed arms from his face. The stirred up gust ceased so nature could resume. Movements just as minimal as they were of honed grace not needing to draw her sword was no insult. She instead studied the cracks on its guard.
"Interesting," she said to herself.
Son could account for the cold blue of her eyes. His wouldn't desert them.
"People are pigs in human clothing, Son Goku. I will fight against everything this world stands for and completely remake it. As the first step to that end, I will create a new high school in two year's time. A high school that will be my army. There is a place for you, and your friend. You should consider joining me."
Her back turned to those she addressed they could only stop and stare. The folds of her skirt fluttered with her long hair. Each lock dark as a raven's feathers everything was neat from her knee-high socks to her ironed lapels. A smoothness to her skin, her gait, it was the right tempo. Shoulders back she turned a glance for Son's dumbstruck gawking. Her parting gift was a daintier grin.
x.x.x
Metallic heeled she kicked the door in letting it fly from its hinges into a few of them. That classroom was a dreary dark filled to the brim with lab equipment. Bubbling muck seeped over countertops, beaker ends, yet her focus was Mako; upside down, bound at the wrists and ankles, her skirt fell for her navel to expose clean panties. Ryuko thanked her friend's sizeable bust not being on blast as her top nearly draped her face.
"Ryuko-chan!" Mako gasped.
All attitude Ryuko trained her sight on targets stuffed within hazmat suits. Club members were male save for one overweight speaker.
"Just in time, Ryuko Matoi. Now I, Sakaguchi Shigeki, President of the Chemistry Club, will rip that Kamui from your wretched flesh!" she claimed holding out a wand fuming at the tip with the green dripping from it.
She aimed it to shoot a jiggling blob. Stopped by steely verve they couldn't fathom, enough was enough.
"I'll bet," Ryuko rolled her eyes, unaffected.
Her blade drawn back she dashed leaving her feet. "Sen-i-Soshitsu!"
Making quick work of their uniforms, freeing the oblivious Mako, they jumped from the nearest window barely singed by the loud blast that followed. Shards of debris fell at their backs but she stuck the landing. She accepted the shining fiber drawn into her gear.
"Had your fill yet?" she casually asked.
{I am fine. You should eat. Your blood sugar is low.}
"Thanks for that. Just take a breather. I know I'm gonna," she said.
Senketsu let his rigidness give. The cloth he became was less constricting as he had no choice but to follow wherever Mako pulled his wearer. When they found them, Ryuko had never seen larger chains in her life. Each stretched from one side of a building to the lofty wall it was latched to. It was their spot. Seated on one of its links, crimson and bigger than she and Mako combined, the idea was lunch and a laugh.
"My mom can't wait to meet you!" Mako said, chipper.
She was the first to savor a treat from her bento box. Unsure of it, Ryuko enjoyed her gift, its artful stickers, but she felt unworthy.
"She's too kind," she smiled warmly at the thought. "I can give you the money to take to her, if you want."
"Nonsense! She packs one for you because I asked her to!" Mako kicked her feet out. "She said she'd make Son one too. By the way. Where is he?"
"Knowing him I'd say up to no good. Keeping tabs on the guy was never easy," Ryuko glanced to her lunch.
Raw fish with condiments, rice and vegetables, a sweet or two, Mako mentioned the ingredients to make it all were special. Chuckling she glanced to her friend's new silence. It was a lot like her new stillness.
"Things aren't going to get easier, Ryuko ..."
Their visitor was their homeroom teacher strolling up at his own pace.
"What have you done to Mako?" Ryuko glared as he swept a hand through his hair.
Mikisugi dropped the act but not his shades. Those he tucked into his breast pocket. The needle poking from Mako's rosy cheek left her ignorant.
"She's fine. Temporarily paralyzed so we can talk," he said.
"I've got nothing to say," Ryuko sucked her teeth.
She took to enjoying her meal. "Unless you plan on telling me something I don't know, don't waste my time."
"... She's planning a mass assembly in the schoolyard. You've got fifteen minutes so be sure you're ready. I have no clue what she's got in store for the student body," he said in all seriousness. "Make sure Son attends. The extra hand, you know?"
Hunching into his disguise he removed the needle from Mako's skin. Jovial, as if she wasn't always, she glanced to her teacher's friendliness, then her bestie's scowl.
"Hiiii, Mister Mikisugi!" she beamed.
"Hello Mako. You two remember to turn in those surveys tomorrow. They're worth ten points extra credit," he grinned burying hands in his pockets and turning. "See 'ya later."
Ryuko ignored his wave, and his leave, she flashed some of her eager for Mako's. They had no qualms with what was left of their time.
x.x.x
"Today, I am giving the Honnoji Academy Student Council system a fresh start!" Satsuki proclaimed for anyone watching.
She kept her spine straighter than the weapon she used for balance. Lengthy, inked flags dressed a stage, near its jagged red mold. Carved into where she stood was the school's four-pointed emblem. Among the rabble, a vexed Ryuko, a curious Mako and Son to her left and right, respectively, it was immaterial. To her there was no one else present. She hung onto every word of someone she wanted to punch into oblivion. Satsuki could spot that bloodlust from her place above.
"All students have the right to attack all other students!" she curved a defiant grin. "Secret meetings, scheming, backstabbing, anything goes! Seven days from now, reach the schoolyard alive!"
Her Elite Four, plus one in Iori, stood at her rear and each of them let the intention play out.
"And then use your strength to lay claim to your social standing once again!" Satsuki threw her head back to shout.
Eyes tensed as they remained down on the two that were her focus.
"This shall be Honnoji Academy's First Naturals Election!" she said.
"Naturals election?" Son looked to Ryuko for some sense of it.
"In this election you will not be choosing some candidate! You will be choosing yourself! Your standing! Your strength! Your way of life! At eight-thirty am, seven days from now, a Sudden Death Runoff election will be held with the survivors who arrive in this schoolyard!"
That received the conniving from Ryuko's fellow students. She thought the lot of them insane.
"And I will grant you your Goku Uniforms anew!" Satsuki dropped the butt of her scabbard against steel. "Now, fellow comrades of Honnoji Academy...FIGHT!"
x.x.x
"She's lost her freaking mind," Ryuko turned to see Mako's drool as she slept standing up.
Son peered through their homeroom class window. Outdoors was mayhem. Students in the midst of killing to not be killed. Mikisugi adjusted his shades to keep up appearances.
"Son. You should see what she wants. If she asked for you personally it's best to not keep her waiting," he recommended.
"I hear you Mister Mikisugi," Son nodded. "Somethin' ain't right. I've seen her before. I'm sure of it."
"How do you mean?" Ryuko wondered.
"Can't say. Just a feeling," he replied.
The classroom door was open. Hesitation wouldn't let him make a break for it.
"I'll make sure to ask, Ryuko. You have my word," he said.
He needed her to see the resolve. She would, trying to, giving him a quick nod, a softer smile. It allowed him to feel okay with leaving. Ryuko didn't wake Mako. She leaned an elbow to the window sill and a palm against her cheek to sigh.
"I swear, I'm so sick of her," she said.
"It's for the best. There's a reason for the anarchy she's stirring up. Son may be our best shot at getting an explanation," Mikisugi said. "You have nothing to worry about. Everyone knows they can't beat you and that Kamui."
"Who the hell said I was worried about me?" her face scrunched.
Turning slight agitation to her teacher first, it paused on Mako's sound sleeping.
"If she lays one finger on him I'll gut the bitch," she said.
Mikisugi chose against pushing her. The crazy outside was too distracting.
x.x.x
Son stepped from an elevator cleaner than anything he had seen. He wasn't mindful of his stomach's churn, the sudden itchy of his wrist bands. She had a floor to herself, the highest one up, her office could've served as the swankiest condominium. She was alone but she wasn't. Her butler kept her company. Her space a feast for Son's eyes the next thing to eyeball was the one prepared for him. There were foods to ogle, too many to count. His steps were cautious but his belly could barely contain itself.
"Wow! Is that for me?!" he gasped as he couldn't believe the spread.
The table holding it ran one of four lavish walls.
"Yes," Satsuki said but she didn't leave her seat.
She kept her tea saucer low to watch him.
"Soroi," she said.
"As you wish, Milady," Soroi left her side to serve. "If you will direct your attention here, young master."
A kid in a candy store held none of his enthusiasm. Son followed what he could of Soroi's instructions. The naming of each dish was confusing, each looked as such. The day's sunny through her windows revealed every color, every steamy morsel. He loaded a plate. When he sat it wasn't too far ahead of her desk. The first bite was an explosion of flavor. His eyes watered to match the tingle in his cheeks.
"I humbly accept this meal!" he clapped his hands together.
Chopsticks at the ready he wasted no time.
"Mmmm! Who knew roasted duck could taste this good!" he squealed.
"You have bested one of my Elite Four. This is but a small token," Satsuki replied.
She followed the disturbing pace at which he fed. It endeared, somehow, when everything in the world she knew was filth.
"Do you remember now?" she said, reading him, beat for beat.
"Eh? Oh right!" he said loudly through a contorted face. "That was you! I knew it!"
"Yes," Satsuki said.
She set her tea on English cherry costing a small fortune.
"I have a question," she glanced to her lap. "What do you see when you look at me?"
Chewing, thinking too hard, the what was the problem. Son wrestled with a tinge of something reserved for another.
"Somebody who wants to do the right thing," he guessed.
She didn't call it dumb luck.
"Without purity of heart there is no purity of thought." Her compliment went right over his head. "Years ago I asked you to join me. Have you considered it?"
"Maybe," he wasn't so quick to trust. "It depends on what you're gonna do to Ryuko. I ain't gonna let you hurt her. Then again...I'm not entirely sure she needs me to worry about that. Believe it or not she's getting stronger by the day."
Satsuki let her eyes roam. He intrigued. Telling him mattered little, if at all.
"And what else?" she kept her cool as she was one to.
Thinking him a simpleton would be easier if she didn't know better. Quiet, tempting, mildly sweet, the air between them was an odd mix.
"I'll admit you've got potential. It's clear Old Turtle Hermit thought as much," he replied.
By then he had finished enough food to stock the school's cafeterias two times over.
"If you want my help then I want something from you," he said.
"You do not strike me as the material sort," she moved a careful glance to his eyes.
They were fixed.
"I'm not sure what that means," he scratched his scalp. "What I meant was what happened to Ryuko's dad? The old timer didn't deserve it."
"So it seems," she said, looking away. "I cannot divulge any information regarding that Son."
"Why not?" he pressed.
"There is...more at stake," she said and she wouldn't budge. "... However, you have proven your worth. Continue to, and if Matoi does the same, we can discuss it to your heart's content."
"You promise?" he said.
"I promise," she said.
He almost got her to relent, not with information, but with kindness. Hers was a tempered humility behind a tougher shell. She kept him at bay while being completely honest. She was a looker, like Ryuko, taller, filling out her Kamui a tad more as she was a year or so older. As he remembered meeting her in their youth stranger still was seeing her then. Her personality was the only absolute. As she was closer, not shining, not standing so far from everything else, the details were a better vivid. There was one thing Satsuki couldn't shake no matter how much of a front she clung to: she was an eighteen year old that never considered the science of attraction. Son was pure, he was powerful, he was within arm's reach. It aroused thoughts she rarely bothered with.
"Eat as much as you like," she said indifferently as her body said something else.
Her ample bosom felt like it tightened, not painfully, though not calming. Taking her tea cup she shut her eyes to forget her feeling queasy. She hoped a sip of something honeyed could work. When she looked again he was still there.
"Thanks!" Son didn't yell.
He behaved as if he forgot their conversation in its entirety. She didn't.