WARNING: Illegal alcohol consumption.

A Sister's Whereabouts

For the extent of that early afternoon, the interior of a Japanese grocery store appeared mostly empty. If not the hum of lights and other electronics, little could be heard; the workers reorganized shelves with clerical caution, and nearly hidden behind an aisle was the cart of one of the few customers.

In jeans, leather boots, and a denim jacket over a white t-shirt, the brown-haired woman held a shopping list, although the writing was not in the expected Japanese. By the markings on the mask and her stern demeanor, it was clear that Shaina was this one, and the young man who returned — hair slightly longer since the war — was Seiya in the usual garb; in his arms, multiple packages of ingredients were clumsily held, to thus he placed into the cart.

She flipped through the packages with two fingers, till she noted her cluelessness of what was written on the faces. This made her give up on identifying the ingredients after all, though she marked a couple items off the list. "We're not done," she said.

"Aren't you going to help me get groceries too?" Seiya nervously asked, though the other did not turn to him.

"Buttermilk, powdered sugar, a carton of eggs, cocoa powder…"

"I remember seeing eggs in the fridge just the other day."

Shaina paused for a second, but continued speaking with as cold a tone as before: "Cherries and flour." With that she turned to Seiya, confronting his inquisitive expression for several seconds. As he lifted an eyebrow, she pressured him by motioning the fingers of a hand. "So? What are you waiting for?"

"Eh?"

"Go. Go on. Don't just stand there like an idiot."

Sighing, he left to the closest shelf and made sure to remember each of the ingredients she had just ordered. He spent a while collecting what was necessary and crossed the cashier, who made the expected estranged stares at Shaina's masked face. Finished and with bags loaded with groceries, the duo made their way back to the mansion several blocks away.

In a year's time, the damages caused by the attacks of Dark and Silver Saints were mended, paired with a reform of the party hall and restructuring of the rooms above it. Most of the Saints residing there continued accommodation in the underground bedrooms, which had avoided much of the destruction.

Flower beds in the vast garden had been redone, as were some of the smaller fountains and the sculpture at the central, tallest of them all. Indeed the only sign of the previous struggles that place witnessed was the depressed ground near a wall, wherein Hercules Algethi took his last breaths.

The kitchen and dining room had seen their fair share of restoration, with new walls to replace the previously devastated ones, and new drawers instead of those destroyed by the fight between Seiya and Shaina. It was there that a birthday party was later held, a cake made with those groceries they just purchased.

In the center of the table, June stood in a blue top, purple spots of old scars marking her pale skin; her mask no longer bore the red tears from prior, rather a pure ivory like that of Marin's. It was this which she gently lifted to blow lit candles over the multi-layered chocolate cake, numbers announcing her age of eighteen.

The many Bronze Saints around her clapped. "Happy birthday, June!" Shun chanted, and the others did alike. Jabu, Geki, Ichi, Nachi, and Hyoga were also present, as were Tatsumi and a handful of other Graad employees. Gleeful yet awkward, June clapped as well, more fascinated by that giant cake before her than anything else.

The bunch sat down to eat once the pleasantries were done, and the sweet was as delicious as it seemed. "Hmmm, did you really bake this yourself?" the birthday girl asked Shun, who had a mouthful his own and nodded.

"It is Lady Athena's recipe," he said after swallowing. "Tatsumi told me where she left her recipe books, so I have been giving them a try."

"So this whole time that we have been ordering food at restaurants, we could just ask you to cook?"

The boy scratched his long hair and looked back down at the plate. "Sure, but it would be exhausting to cook every day," he answered.

"I can't believe it!"

At that moment Jabu tapped the table with a finger, catching their attention; in his face was a malicious grin. "You're eighteen now," he mentioned with a brief chuckle, "remember what you said?"

June was at a loss initially, though soon she comprehended him and giggled back. "Aaah, right, I can finally do it!" she said.

"Do what?" Shun asked.

"I can finally drink, unlike you…"

Shun frowned and nearly stood off his chair, saying: "No, no, that is not something you can do at all!"

"Yeah, I can! I'm eighteen now."

"That doesn't change anything, June! This isn't Finland. Here you have to be twenty in order to be able to drink, and…" he shook his head as if to brush off the idea altogether "… never mind that too! You are a Saint, and we cannot purposefully inebriate ourselves."

"You're so boring. It's not like I'm going to get drunk or something! I just want a sip of sake," she replied.

"O-sake," Jabu overcorrected her.

"Meh!" The girl stood and took her plate of cake along, dangerously approaching Tatsumi from the side, who was embroiled in chatter with fellow employees. She sung, clearly scheming something: "Tatsumi, dearie, hi!"

The men turned, a rather fearful frown on their brows, the sort to tell how careful they were around the Saints — especially those like June and Shaina — and how they weren't keen on talking to them much. For all they knew, they lived in the same house, but inhabited entirely different worlds.

"Yes, miss?" Tatsumi respectfully responded, a shadow of the arrogant attitude he frequently assumed near Saori.

"I was wondering, where do you hide that bottle of sake you guys drink every dinner?"

The older man suddenly appeared anxious, baffled perhaps. Despite her wording, he knew well which beverage she spoke of. "It could not be that…" he huffed "… you're not thinking of…?"

June's fingers came side-by-side with her face, index and thumb nearly touching tips. "Just a tiny bit."

"That would be against the law, miss, even if just a bit."

"Just a tiny-tiny little bit. I would barely be able to taste it — a tiny little droplet — just a sliver! You're not going to make me sad on my birthday, are you?"

He exchanged exasperated stares with the other staff and, without a way to safely refuse, sighed in defeat. The men took her to the kitchen — adjacent to where the birthday was commemorated — then brought the bottle of rice wine hidden in the corner of a drawer, halfway depleted.

Expecting June to be a girl of her word, Tatsumi poured only a shallow slit at the bottom of a shot glass, which she grabbed and studied up-close for a handful of seconds. "It just…" she murmured and shook the liquid "… looks like water, but it smells really strong."

"It's not about the look or the smell, more the taste," he explained.

To that she nodded excitedly and raised the cup. "Then here's to my first taste of sake!" Thereon she lifted the bottom of her mask, face away from those present, and flipped the glass until the beverage touched her lips. The staff stared uneasily at her reaction, but once June got a taste of the wine, she seemed no more than paralyzed.

They could've sworn to have seen an expression through that opaque mask, as if its color had shifted to blue as would've done her skin. After silent instants, the Saint covered the lips again and calmly held the glass away, sniffing twice. The contents had not gone down, as if only a droplet had been ingested — perhaps she was one to keep her word in the end.

The girl turned towards the sink and spoke: "That was nice! I'll drink the rest over there." Eyebrows raised, the men found her attitude strange. Once she had come closer to the counter, she lifted the mask again and spat in revolt, sneakily pouring the remainder of the drink into the sinkhole. "GAAH! Why the hell do people like this stuff? It tastes exactly how alcohol smells! Nasty!" she whispered her complaints to herself. There she rested the shot glass and returned to Tatsumi and the others, though her shock was once again steeled. "So! Guess I'll have some grape juice next."

For the rest of the party, she did not entertain alcoholic beverages anymore, sticking to juice and water. June returned to her friends and enjoyed her time, gnawing on sweets and reminiscing about the past year. Overcoming the knowledge that duty would eventually call, they rested and forgot their responsibilities for as much as a couple hours.

Not too long after, Tatsumi and the rest of staff exited to the front at some signal, and the gate in the front yard opening resounded into the reformed manor. The Saints took note of this, though Seiya tasked himself alone to look into who was the visitor, so that the others could keep on fraternizing.

From the windows in the entrance hall he met the sight of a black sedan of high-end wheels and a familiar front; since the door had been left open, he went outside and saw that the suited men welcomed three guests, although that may not be the correct description for one of them. Sure, two were youngsters that never lived in the house, yet the oldest one was Athena herself, dressed in sharp office attire, much unlike the robes she wore in Sanctuary.

Seiya approached and heard the usual, for the employees referred to her as naught if not "Miss Kido", "Saori Kido". One way or the other, she was yet the heiress of that fortune, though the others would not refer to her by any name other than the godly one.

Adorned in a white summer dress and black flats, Pegasus recognized the sight of the short, dark-skinned Piscis Austrinus Anka, the Bronze Saint that routed civilians and military alike from the occupied museum during the war. Her twin braids had grown longer, yet her straight bangs continued short as ever.

The second youth was a red-haired boy, and the marking in place of his eyebrows pointed to him being one the likes of Mu, but he was too tall to be the one Seiya wagered him to be. The shock that this could be the same apprentice of Aries prompted him to address him first rather than his goddess.

"Wait a minute there," he spoke and stepped closer, eyebrows tightened at the boy. From up close it was obvious that he had grown nearly as tall as him, an impossible feat as far as he was concerned. The other's eyes spied him from the corner, acting as if engrossed on the conversation Athena had with Tatsumi, that being until a snarky grin made it clear who he was. "Eh, no way that's him!" That phrase came with an accusatory tone, so Seiya aimed an index straight at the boy, derailing the talks.

"Good afternoon, Seiya," Athena solemnly spoke to him.

"Don't 'good afternoon' me yet, look!" he pointed more emphatically. "There's no way that's Kiki, right?"

The boy revealed that was in fact him by resting the head with both hands behind that fiery hair, then letting a grin open as broad as it used to. "What can I say — our kind grows pretty fast!" he replied, and even his voice had deepened slightly, as boyish as it stayed.

"What!" Seiya curtly yelled in shock. "I refuse to believe this. He's almost my height!"

"Should pass you in a couple weeks, if I were to guess." Pegasus curled fingers and snarled at the thought.

Soon the birthday girl and a few others followed outside too, first with an inquiry. "Seiya, have you seen… oh!" The sight of Athena and the others took them by surprise, though June was particularly excited that they came to visit her on that day out of any other. She pressed her pace and met the goddess' smile, inching for a hug. "You came to visit me on my birthday!"

"Happy birthday, June," the other said in their friendly embrace. When their arms parted, she took note of the amazon's healing scars. "Your injuries are yet showing…"

June shrugged at that. "It's whatever, I don't feel them anymore, and Milo had it way worse than me," she reminded.

"Milo is very strong and has healed splendidly the past year, so worry not."

"I would've expected that from her."

"Lady Athena?" another voice came from inside, this once Shun's. He too approached to embrace the goddess, but his words were more preoccupied with her welfare. "It cannot be that you traveled with such a small convoy, is it? The Gold Saints would not allow it."

"They have not," she assured him.

"So that means…"

"They are circling the block as we speak," Shaina's voice echoed from the top of the wall next to them.

Despite Shun being subtly startled, June was looking for her, and said: "There you are! We were talking about inviting you to the arcade tomorrow, then you just vanished."

"I felt a flash of Cosmos that was nothing like Marin's, so I made sure to check in case we were up for invaders," said the Silver Saint.

"It relieves me to know that we have such an attentive scout in the mansion, Shaina," Athena said with a sigh, then turned back once the woman dropped to their level. "Aiolia and Aphrodite have accompanied us in this trip, but found no signs of danger along the way."

"You should tell them there's cake inside," June commented with a giggle.

"Ah, yeah, better get a slice of cake before Geki and Ichi devour the rest," said Seiya, hinting them to enter. "Come on, enough with chatting out here."

A minor commotion started with everyone moving towards the front door, but when they reached the steps near the foundation, Athena whispered brief words to Tatsumi, who heeded them and went upstairs with haste. In that moment she tapped Seiya on the shoulder and caught his attention. "I can eat some cake later," she told him, "but I will have a briefing with staff upstairs, and I would like you to come with us, Seiya."

"Huh?" Already in the hall, he turned and exchanged the shortest gazes with his friends, who went straight to the other room. "If that's the case, then let's go."

Apart from Athena, Tatsumi, and the other Graad employees, Anka was the only person to accompany Seiya up to the refurbished office. Kiki had stayed downstairs, likely becoming acquainted with a truckload of candy and an assortment of baked goods.

Tatsumi brought along a pile of folders and documents, and whereas the goddess sat on her usual chair — back to the view of the gardens below— Seiya was the lone one sitting by the desk's opposite side. He felt singled out somehow, with so many standing close by.

Awkwardly beside Athena, Anka held her hands together in anticipation for orders. It was after seconds of silence that it came: "Go on, Anka. Tell him what you have done."

"A-ah… yes, Lady Athena!" she stammered and stood closer to Seiya's line of sight; the young man looked at her mask puzzled by everything taking place. "Mister P… Pegasus! I have been tasked with searching after… after any traces of your older sister, Seika!"

His brow raised in surprise. It had been a long while since he thought too deeply of his sister, for the blurry visage of her face only brought pain to his soul. "You were looking after Seika?" he quickly asked as a reaction, back lifted off the chair.

"Yes… uhm, yes, I was tasked with that," she repeated herself in nervousness, but Athena soothed her with a nod. "So, I got a lot of information, and I cross-checked many of her possible whereabouts. Seika, she… disappeared as soon as you left the orphanage! She… she must've gone after you into this city, and I studied the newspaper records collected by our Lady's foundation. Here in Japan, well, missing children — they're not extremely uncommon! I had piles of suspicious news to look into, so my investigation ended up inconclusive. I deeply apologize!" The girl lowered her head in the end and tightened the fingers further together.

Seiya had no words, wondering if they had called only to tell him that no matter how far they searched, they remained as unenlightened as before, however, Athena stared at him as if something else were afoot. "Anka is quite methodical, Seiya, so if she has not found signs of your sister, it is unlikely that anyone else could," she explained.

"Then this means…"

"Unless new information comes to light, finding your sister is a lost cause," the woman concluded, so Pegasus breathed out and shut the eyes.

"I see. It would be selfish of me to keep wasting resources like this on just one person, so you could've stopped searching way earlier."

"Do not be so gloomy," the goddess spoke, thus she raised a finger to Tatsumi and invited him hither. "You must remember the documents you found in the archive last year."

"Yeah! Tatsumi said there was a list of the candidates to be trained by your grandfather," he remembered.

"Exactly." Such was the folder which the man slid between them. "Here is that list. Since we will no longer search for Seika, it is only proper to tell you what is in this document." With the intent of having him believe his eyes rather than words, Athena opened the folder and pulled old papers from inside, flipping through them to find a portion of a long sheet; she laid that down in his direction and pointed with her slender index over a name, that being Seiya's. "This is you."

"Oh…" he looked closer and saw that her hand hid the names above it. He learned that the sheet had both words in Japanese and English, and that some of the other names were written in scripts he could not comprehend. Beside each child's name was their location, the institution that cared for them, and their birth date — if not an approximation thereof. "He used this to pick us then."

"A copy of this, yes, but right above your name…" She finally slid her index upwards, and it now pointed to another one: Seika.

"It's her!" Athena signaled positively with the head upon hearing him. "So the Graad Foundation thought of taking her as well!"

"Seika was among the few girls in the list, like June and those raised as amazons in the mansion. However, as you might imagine, she was never brought here in the first place."

"I don't get it," he grunted out of frustration. "Why would your grandfather bring us apart like this? He didn't do it to Ikki and Shun."

In the goddess' eyes was a hint of hurt that Seiya interpreted as pity, one he both hated and understood. Her gaze dropped back to the list, then up to Tatsumi beside the table. The man came closer, more respectfully than he had ever done towards that Saint, and said: "Mister Kido was a just man, albeit old-fashioned even to someone like me. The girl found that those adopted to be raised as amazons were all particularly young, at least a year younger than you."

Seiya shook his head subtly. "Do you mean that he didn't adopt her because she was too old?"

"As ridiculous as it sounds, that might be the case," Tatsumi revealed. "Mister Kido often commented to me that girls matured faster than boys, and he wanted to train them early, to get the most out of their potential. If he didn't, he feared he would be sending every kid to their death. He must have felt that way about your sister as well."

Disbelieving his ears for a few moments, Seiya rested the forehead on his fingers and stared at Seika's name a little longer. "It is pretty ridiculous," he agreed.

Once more Athena caught Tatsumi's attention, and he raised another, thinner folder in a hand; it was a largely transparent one, packed with forms and documents. "Show him the orphanage's record," she ordered.

The sight of Seika's name was hidden under that of see-through plastic, then Seiya noted the familiar sign of his orphanage's old logo, trailing up to a form detailing her characteristics. At the top-right, an image stabbed him deep in the heart, bringing echoes of her last cries ere his disappearance, the last of her voice he ever got to hear. That blurry memory of the girl's face became sharp once more, and the tears shed at his abduction turned into a genuine smile, like every child should have. Seika's photo lied below his very sight, staring oblivious to the fate that would befall them in the coming months.

Seiya's hands trembled, now grasping the wood beside the folder. He sobbed and wet the surface with tears long-stored; from that point he cried more loudly, though he muffled the sound into a hoarse gasp. Meeting such sight, he fell broken.

"Seiya…" Athena reached with her fingers to one of his knuckles, but she held back in second thought. Comfort was a dime a dozen; for him, after what her grandfather had done, it would not be enough. "It was Miho who smuggled these documents out of the orphanage. She did me a great favor."

"It had to be her. She has always been too kind," Seiya mumbled amid his crying. "If we won't be busy, I'd like to visit her tomorrow. Is that fine?"

"Yes, yes," the woman said, "of course, we should go thank her for everything she has done."

"Good."

As that meeting came to an end, the party continued downstairs, this time with the addition of Kiki to the ranks of Geki and Ichi, who ravaged the sweets prepared for the commemoration. Fascinated by goods he had never tasted, the boy ate until his belly ached to the touch. He slouched back on the chair and groaned after razing a batch of chocolate balls, whereas Geki and Ichi continued helping themselves to more.

Jabu eyed from the side in visible disapproval. "I can't believe you guys let him eat that much candy," he said like a parent's sermon to another. "Mu won't like that one bit."

"Ah, he probably won't mind. Kiki is going through a pretty serious growth spurt right now!" Geki giddily said and slapped the boy on the shoulder, though he had nothing but a whine to respond with. "Just look at him, unrecognizable from last year! He needs to eat well to sustain his progress."

"And if he keeps eating like this," Ichi reiterated by slapping the boy's opposite shoulder, "he might grow as big as Geki himself, if not bigger!"

"I don't think that's how growth works," Jabu cynically mumbled.

In that situation, having little but the sight of older men eating, Kiki's eyes scanned the dining hall for any signs of the others, particularly Dragon, whom he couldn't find. "Guh, so where's Shiryu anyway? I saw everyone but him," questioned the boy.

Unicorn answered while his friends were busy: "Shiryu has been staying in China for the past half year or so. When Miss Marin brings news from Sanctuary, she makes sure to leave a word for him and his master on the way back."

"Hm, right, that's why she's always going up and down the temples," Kiki remembered. "I wonder how he's doing."

"He's probably fine. Rozan is a cozy spot, and he mostly trains and spends time with that cute girl."

"A cute girl, is it?"

"Yeah, when he came to Japan, he brought some cute Chinese girl along — they never separated."

Kiki stretched and sighed at the thought of that. "It makes sense that Shiryu would be the one to have a girlfriend," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean? You think we can't get girlfriends too?" Jabu countered, an eyebrow raised.

"D-don't pay too much attention to what I say, alright?"

The people leaving the meeting finally reached the downstairs, raising the spirits of the chatter further, such that the scene in the mansion grew much louder. Seiya entered the dining hall accompanied by Nachi and Anka, although he mostly exchanged words with the first.

"How did the briefing go, bud?" Geki said under a mouthful of Bossche bollen.

Before them Seiya laid the orphanage's folder, so Nachi pointed to the small photograph on the uppermost form. "That right there is Seiya's sister," he revealed.

"Really?" Ichi excitedly spoke. "I wouldn't have imagined. She has red hair like Kiki, and looks too innocent to be related to Seiya."

Seiya immediately clapped back: "She was a little girl in this photo, smart ass!"

"But it's not like her hair got dark with time or anything."

Two of them had quite the frowns: Jabu and, unexpectedly, Geki. They stared while the remainder of the group debated how the young Seika looked too little like her brother, although they themselves held differing views.

"That's just Miss Marin," Unicorn claimed, and everyone stared at him in disarray. Feeling targeted, he held his defense: "What? That's Miss Marin! She looks just like how you would imagine her as a child."

"So Marin is my older sister," Seiya said as if attempting to think Jabu through the absurdity of his thought.

"She might be!"

"And she never told me about it for what reason exactly…?"

"Because…" the other man breathed in preparation "… look, it could be many things. Maybe she doesn't want it to get in the way, or maybe it's something serious, like amnesia."

"Amnesia."

"Yeah! She could've lost her memories, and then you guys met again by accident, and that's it. It's unlikely, but totally possible! It would explain her attitude towards you."

"Just shut up, man."

"Huh!"

"Jabu, come on, you can't be serious about this," Nachi chimed in to calm the two rivals down, lest their bickering aggravated. "It's not because red-haired people are rare that they're all the same person."

"This is the third one I see, and I've been alive for long enough."

"N… Nachi is correct," a tiny whimper came from behind them, and they all turned to Anka's awkward, tense posture. "He is right, because… because Miss Marin just turned twenty five, whereas Seiya's sister should be around twenty one nowadays. And… and the timelines do not fit. Seiya was taken from the orphanage when his sister was eleven, then was sent to Sanctuary when she would have been fifteen. When he arrived in Sanctuary, Miss Marin, she… was already eighteen and a fully-fledged Saint! It makes no sense, so…"

Except Kiki, all of the boys in the room stared with a greater shock at her knowledge than they did at Jabu's ignorance. "What the hell, Anka?" Nachi babbled to her.

"I… did I…?"

Seiya's curiosity was too piqued not to question: "How do you know all of that about me?"

"Our Lady told me to… investigate, remember?" Even under the mask, she insisted on staring away from people's gaze, especially when she felt this ashamed.

"Now I get what she meant by this being a lost cause. If you couldn't find Seika, I can't think of anyone else that could."

Even while they enlightened themselves with the truth of Seika's disappearance, Geki studied the photo in silence. He couldn't shrug off the feeling that he had seen that girl somewhere, and that it had not been too long ago; unfortunately for him, his memory was a haze compared to Nachi's, and when the debate ended, he had not come up with a better candidate for her identity than Marin.

They depleted their leftover energies for the remainder of the day and went to sleep, Athena having to get used to sleeping to her reformed bedroom, away from the quarters she slept in for over a year. Anka and Kiki also had to deal with resting at a rather different reality than what they had grown accustomed to.

For the others, however, there was nothing alien about the mansion, and night went by as ordinarily as ever, even for Seiya, who had been face-to-face with the earliest of his sorrows. Early during the next morning, half of the Saints got ready to visit the orphanage, although Athena, her convoy, and Graad staff stayed behind, promising to visit not much later on.

In the bus on their way to see Miho and the children, the notes of Cosmoi occasionally sprinkling in the background were a reminder that two Gold Saints yet stalked their Lady, and that she was as safe on her own as she would've been with them. It was strange to think that, despite not having seen their faces in so long, Aiolia and Aphrodite were close enough for a brief visit.

Therewith they arrived at the orphanage and met the folk there well. As per usual, June got a tad too enthusiastic showing off her acrobatics to the kids, while Shun and Hyoga stayed nearby to ensure she didn't catch too much attention with her shenanigans. Seiya and Shaina, however, stood under the same tree of old, chatting with Miho while they observed the playground.

"Well, I'm sorry that things ended up like this," Miho spoke in the middle of their conversation, and the young man turned to her as if expecting further satisfaction. "That there's no way to find your sister despite it all."

"Despite it all? Miho, it's just how things are," he said, "Seika got lost in the world when she was too young. That's how it goes."

"No matter if that's the case…" she paused to focus on the matter at hand, and forced air out of her lungs in frustration. "Remember back when we met again? I convinced you to participate in that competition! You agreed to it because there was a chance that Seika would see you on TV."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Shiryu almost died when he fought you, then those other people came in and ruined the tournament… you remember how worried I was."

Now Seiya fully turned to Miho, seeing the glimmer in her eyes; Shaina, who rested against the tree's trunk, only took in their sight from the corner, her mask doing a good job of hiding how suspicious she found the other girl's tone.

"I don't understand why you're reminding me of that," Seiya told.

"Because I only thought it was right for you to risk your life if you could find your sister!" she spat out. "Because Seika is so precious to you, Seiya... if not for that, I would never have told you to participate in the tournament. I would've told you to just stay and help us with the kids."

"But…"

"The risk I took too — sneaking those reports out of the office — was because I wanted to help you find this precious person, so that you could be happy."

Seiya offered her a gentle smile, yet nodded the head left and right to say: "You're mistaken. I'm already happy, Miho." Her lips parted, then he reassured her shocked expression. "Even not knowing what happened to Seika, even having fought my friends, even with Ban's death, the war, all of it! Life was never easy for me, but I learned that I'm above it. No suffering will ever take away my ability to be happy."

The girl's silence eventually turned to a brief mumble, followed by clearer words. "I… I understand," she whispered, a smile also stamped on her face. "I'm glad that you feel that way. I'm so glad…"

Someone called Pegasus' name from the playground to rent his attention. He saw June's hand waving to him, and beside her was the young girl whom Ikki had brought from Death Queen's, nearly unrecognizable in her new striped dress, hair long and clean. He smiled at the sight. "I'd better go give her a hello," he said.

"Don't leave her hanging. She's probably wondering about Shun's brother," Miho commented pensively, so Seiya left her alone with Shaina to greet the Polynesian child — haply a grave mistake.

Miho's stance became much more awkward thus, holding her hands close to her abdomen; this worsened as soon as she noticed Shaina's silhouette raise from the trunk, stepping closer to her side. There the Silver Saint crossed the arms, and those darkened eyes of her mask aimed straight at the other.

"You can just say the word," Shaina spoke.

Gathering courage, Miho ultimately turned. "What do you mean?"

"Just tell him you're in love with him. You make it obvious enough."

"In love? Uhm…" she turned away, face burning, and this disgusted Shaina such that she had to look down as well.

"I feel sorry for you." The hint of sarcasm in her tone made Miho turn once more, albeit with a sense of offense. "You know, falling in love with a Saint never ends well."

Hearing that made her think she had meant no harm with that manner of speech. It was true that Shaina's tone sounded naturally severe. "Your types are very busy, right?"

"That is only half the problem," the amazon said, observing how Seiya and the others laughed with the kids not too far away. "Do you know what they do to Saints who are found to have romantic feelings for someone?"

"I don't think I do."

"You'd better go on without knowing," she continued. "It's wonderful that you're in love, but if you want Seiya to stand up to his responsibilities without issue, try keeping those feelings to yourself."

Miho swallowed a gasp and turned back to Pegasus once again, pang piercing her heart. "I suppose… I should do that after all," she agreed, shutting the eyelids as to avoid tears. In that moment Seiya returned with a hop to his step, but he wasn't met by the most welcoming of expressions.

"That's done. She seems to be getting along with the other kids," he said.

With a nod, Miho told: "They're all very amicable, so once she got over her shyness, she had no trouble making friends. Were there questions about Ikki?"

Seiya shrugged. "There were, but Shun keeps telling her he's traveling with Shiryu and will take a while to return. We're not sure how to tell her the truth, so…"

"Maybe it's better to leave it until the time is right. I'm sure she won't forget about him, so one day she'll have to hear it."

"I hope that I'm not the one who has to break it to her," Seiya sang out in preoccupation, and suddenly a memory came to him. "Oh, right! I almost forgot to invite you. Later tonight we're going to the arcade to try out some of the new games, and it would be nice to have you, Miho."

She felt a warmth to hear him invite her out, yet a conundrum endured in thought; the girl nearly turned to Shaina, beseeching some twisted permission, until she made a decision of her own. "I won't be able to," she coldly replied.

"Eh… not even for a little while?"

"No. I'm postponing my duties to be here now, so I plan to spend the rest of the day cleaning the halls and washing clothes."

"I rarely think how much work it must be to take care of so many children…"

"There's help, but it's still difficult," Miho reinforced then stepped once to the side, towards one of the entrances to the main building. "In fact, it's time to see if the first batch is already done washing. It was nice seeing you Seiya, Shaina… apologize to the others on my behalf."

"Well, alright. See you later," Seiya answered and watched her leave, finding it bizarre that his childhood friend would be one to act so strangely. Somehow he felt her become aloof, as distant up-close as she felt afar, like the mien of a random stranger in a crowd. Following a heavy sigh, he looked aside and was faced with the same, chilling sight of Ophiuchus' gawking mask. "Hm?"

"So you people are going to the arcades," she menacingly spoke, cross-armed like before.

"The arcade, yes. Didn't June invite you yesterday?"

That didn't phase the Silver Saint, who pressed on: "Aren't you going to invite me to the arcades, Seiya?"

His body went stiff, eyes alert. Had he been lured into a trap? Stumbling upon a couple syllables, he did not know whether to demand further clarification and risk upsetting her, or to do what now felt like his obligation. "Do you want to go to the arcade tonight?" He settled on the invitation.

The woman looked away to the street for a moment and tilted her head. "I'll give it a thought," was her nonchalant answer. Seiya almost tumbled onto the grass, shocked at how blatantly she manipulated others into doing her bidding.

Their stay at the orphanage could not extend itself much longer, since the kids had to go back inside and follow their usual schedule. The Saints planned to go back home as a group on one of the last buses to town, yet changes were made at the last minute.

Athena arrived later, but due to the Kidos' past relations with the orphanage, preferred to remain outside. Seeing that Miho was working and the children would soon be busied with their activities, she did little but embrace the girl whom Ikki had rescued, imagining what he would have felt to see her experience a peace he never had as a youth.

After their brief conversations came to a conclusion, she Ssummoned one among the Saints, that being solely Shun. With this he went to her car and returned with her instead of his friends, who left by bus.

The ones who awaited the Kido heiress were her driver, Anka, and Kiki, much like when she initially arrived at the mansion. With Piscis and the goddess, Shun sat on the back, whereas the other two sat up front. It took the time for the car to start and drive off before they began talking again.

The boy's eyes suspiciously hunted for Lady Athena's while she calmly looked out the window. There was perhaps a sense of wonder — to someone of her caliber above all — in experiencing the simplicity of a modern suburb compared to the simplicity of Sanctuary. She dwelt both in their contrasts and similarities.

"Have you been enjoying your time out here, Shun?" she suddenly raised a question. He gasped as if expectantly holding the breath beforehand, so the woman looked back to him, prompting a reply.

"Y-yes! We train a lot, and Shaina has had little practice, but it seems she made progress with the Seventh Sense," he said.

She mentioned what mattered most to her: "You also seem to enjoy your free time."

"I do," he confirmed after a slight nod, "though I understand our duty here. I never forget that we are here to serve as your buffers in Japan."

"That is not my concern. You are one to hold your responsibilities dearly; my actual concern is that I would take you away from your comfortable life."

"Take me away?" Shun mumbled with a frown, then shook those assumptions off for her. "Whatever it may be that you require of me, my Lady, I will give up everything! My duty is to you above all else!"

"I know, but my duty is also to you," the woman countered. "Let me say, Kiki and Anka did not come here by accident. Ever since the deaths of Crow and Auriga, we lacked a group able to collect intel and track threats. So far these two have investigated the origin of Gemini's treason and the disappearance of Seiya's sister; nonetheless, Kiki is oft busy with training, while Anka does not take well to leadership."

"But she's so intelligent..." Shun spoke up as if to soften the hard objectivity in those words, but he observed that the girl did not appear insulted.

"Indeed, but that can only take her so far," the goddess interrupted him back. "I have already invited Nachi. He will return to Sanctuary with us and aid us on those matters, but I am afraid his addition may not be enough. That is why I have decided to invite you too, Shun."

The boy almost instinctively accepted her offer, such was his devotion, that till he was reminded of the many easy pleasures of the past year. Compared to most of his existence, he had the greatest of freedoms, enjoying things beyond what he ever deemed possible to someone of his kind. His survival may have been a miracle so far, he thought, and to fathom being able to go to the movies, play in the arcade, watch TV, practice chess, laugh, and bask in life with those he loved — refusal was no longer off the table. That notwithstanding, he was too intent on Sainthood to not give his all to it.

"Will I get to say goodbye to them?" he asked.

"You will. Do not fret much, as it should not be permanent. When time comes, they shall come to Sanctuary and join us once more."

"I have had enough of those mundane joys. It was great to be able to live as much of a normal life as a Saint can," Shun admitted for a moment. "Despite that, I want to fulfill my duty. I will go with you, Lady Athena, and lead your intelligence to the best of my expertise!"

The woman smiled and said: "I am glad to hear it. Aiolia and Aphrodite were warned that I leave for Sanctuary tonight, so you have several hours before departing. Would that be enough?"

"It will."

Kiki turned and stared at Shun with his usual haughty grin. "I never expected to work with you, but I could say the same about Anka," he mentioned. "I'm looking forward for it anyway, Mister Andromeda!"

"Well, let's do our best together," said the other boy. His eyes were drawn to the ongoing afternoon outside, with the encroaching sight of skyscrapers and dense streets. Only the thought of a beloved continued to plague his heart. Distance, he knew, would be the greatest enemy in overcoming such an affliction.