SEPTEMBER 21st 1994AD

Jakarta, Indonesia

He could hear the soft rub of metal on metal as the fan in the room made a valiant effort to keep the air cool. The arid taste of each passing gust remained, a texture without weight. A brilliant shade of red emanated from a dresser to his left as a bright but silent defiance of the night otherwise filling the hotel room.

Daisuke felt his eyelids get heavier with each swing of the fan's blades. The struggle to stay awake threatened to humble him yet again. He blinked, his eyes remaining shut for a few seconds longer and creaking open only with a mighty effort. He couldn't allow himself to fall asleep in this city. The past here would not be forgotten, haunting any slumber he might try to attain.

He rose to a sitting position but today sleep would do what no army could ever successfully accomplish. Feeling the slight rush of air evacuate from behind him Godzilla toppled backwards, waving his arms lazily in protest. Once his head hit the pillow victory over sleep tonight was but a distant and taunting dream.

Yet it only served to segue into another. Birds chirped. Light and warmth embraced him. The sea beat against the earth, and the earth remained steadfast. Sand held his lying body up as if he were an emperor on his throne. Back when this memory was known as now, he certainly felt it.

Tilting his head left, always left, he saw her approach. There was no sway in her step, her hair shorter than usual, her skin looking paler than the coldest ghost yet her expression warmer than even the sun beating down upon him at that very moment. Daisuke arose from where Godzilla had toppled. Every thought in his head was cursing his luck to have fallen asleep yet again on this day but every bone in his body reverberated with gratitude for that failure.

"This isn't real" was chanted at a rythm in his mind. The girl was smiling at him and all the while ignorant of his thoughts. Unware that the man in front of her was being crushed under a boulder of torment she adressed him.

"So Daisuke are you just going to continue staring at the sky? Of all your hobbies this is certainly the strangest."

"The sky has many things to teach me. I am yet a student of the earth, not matter what I've done in life."

Her face wrinkled in disapproval. She shook her head sideways, her hair swaying along with it. Her beanie desperately held on to her, her jacket's collar crunched a bit and her shirt crumpled as her arms tightened.

"No melodrama, you know that stuff is only for the stage. I'm worried you might be getting addicted to it. Why do you think I wear grey when going out? Because I already wear enough colors when singing to the masses."

Daisuke held back a response for half a second, and as it fell away from the tip of his tongue there was a scramble for another. The grey clothing she wore carried an air of class and modernity. Words hastily entered formation. This conversation would repeat again no matter the effort put forth to oppose such a notion.

"That's a nice jacket."

A frustrated sigh, a reddened face, and rolling eyes all pushed him back from that dialogue. He r head tilted back and snapped foward. He could almost hear her thoughts at this point, as she did nothing to mask her feelings. He grabbed another thought without checking what it was and let is slide down from his mind to his mouth.

"I'm too focused on the job aren't I?"

Her face slowly returned to it's natrual color. Her arms loosened. She held her chin and spoke again.

"Maybe you need a hobby."

"I have Gundam Models."

"A creative hobby. Where you do what you want. Rather than following an instruction sheet."

"I could take up the flute."

"Hobbies aren't supposed to remind you of your job Daisuke."

He hit a blank. There were no words sailing to rescue him in this conversation, no sentences he could grab like a hammer to nails. Just an empty bag where thoughts should have been. The girl snapped her fingers and with that pulled him from this brief stupor.

"I got it! Your hobby could be me!"

"Wha- I mean you are- uh..."

"Come on. You're not calling it crazy, and we've know each other since..."

"You interned at SOS."

"Exactly! You noticed this pretty girl about in her twenties humming a tune just after your first recording session."

"I noticed your rythmic... mastery... of humming."

Her face wrinkled again as she shook her head side to side once more. A slight chill flowed down Daisuke's spine. Had he already doomed this endeavor?

But something ran opposite of that chill. A painless fire, it's warmth invigorating him to continue forward. Pushing aside the heavy specter of anticipated failure, Daisuke sought recovery.

"Okay, so it was the way you said I would as successful as my grandfather that got me to notice you."

"We can go with that."

She chuckled and began walking further down the beach, away from him. A glance back to she if he was following. As he ran and caught up, he heard her hum a then new rythm. A rythm to a song only he was to hear.

"So Daisuke, do you really think we can do this? I can always just accept any number of gentlemen for their offers of going on a date."

"We can do this. I'm sure of it."

His voice was faltering, shaking more than a bridge in a hurricane.

"And you won't tie this to the job?"

"No, I won't. But others might and I'm worried-"

She stopped and turned to face him. Putting a finger on his lip and shushing any protest she quietly sung a piece of her latest mass released tune.

"There is no need to worry, one world that we can live in peace, that will be the end of this story."

"Hey that's cheating!"

"Mhmm. Now come on, I wanna see the Monumen Nasional at sunset. I heard it is wonderful."

They went off the beach and back into Jakarta. Turned out the Monumen was lit a neon blue that night. It was indeed wonderful.