A month had passed since Sham had come to the Weapon Base, and honestly, she had been way too busy to really think about how homesick she was.

Her physical therapy sessions were a lot to deal with, but she was actually doing quite well with them. She still couldn't FEEL her left hand and leg, but she COULD move them, albeit a little stiffly still.

Unfortunately, that meant she was encouraged to NOT fly everywhere, despite the fact she could, so she could practice using her affected limbs.

That's right, Sham had been given flight! Her father had actually, truly given her the ability she had wanted for so many years. Unfortunately, that was the ONLY thing he gave her, since she had no potential for anything else. But of course, Sham had been developing her own defense mechanisms for a while now, and being able to fly would give her a much better chance of surviving long enough to use said devices. If only she had them with her when she went to MOUNTAIN…

Since she was headed towards her father, Sham decided it would be much smarter to walk than to endure another lecture of 'physical therapy can only do so much if you don't work towards rehabilitation yourself' from him.

And so, as she had done pretty much every morning of this month she's been here, she went to her father's office.

"Sham, good," Shifu said upon Sham's entrance. "We have much to discuss."

Sham sat at the small table Shifu had set up for mornings like this, and only a few moments later some hapless intern came in, setting trays of breakfast before Sham and Shifu before promptly getting shooed away by the latter, who was always treating those who ranked below him as servants it seemed.

Sham began picking at her imitation eggs waiting for her father to start speaking. She so wished she could be in the cafeteria with the Weapon Girls. Some of those girls were her friends, after all, though she never got to see them.

For years Sham had wanted her father to pay attention to her, but now that he did… it only left Sham with an aching feeling instead. He only ever wanted to speak about work. He still didn't care about her , even if he acknowledged her intelligence. That wasn't what she wanted at all.

Sham missed Nath.

Wait, did her father just say Nath's name? Sham tried to pull her attention back to what her father was saying.

"...so you'll meet them at the loading dock, and bring them to Kyoko and I in the operating room. We'll do maintenance on one before lunch, and one after, and you'll watch both in the viewing room. Understood?"

"Uh… yes," Sham agreed. "So I go to the loading dock after breakfast…?" she guessed.

"No, Sham," Shifu said with annoyance. "8:30 am sharp. I told you that."

"Right…" Sham agreed.

And so 8:30 eventually came, and Sham waited out on the loading dock for who knew who. The vehicle pulled up, and it passed the security check, and two people stepped out.

Filled with excitement, Sham's feet left the ground as she flew over to the taller of the two girls, pulling her into the tightest hug she could muster. In turn, the girl she was hugging hugged her back with a very small fraction of her strength so as to not break Sham's bones.

"Nath!" Sham exclaimed, overjoyed. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Sham."

Sham then smiled to the smaller girl. "Sooora, hi!" Sham said. "It's been a while!"

"Hi, Sham," Sora responded with a sheepish smile.

Sham was so HAPPY to have her friends back, she almost forgot why they were here.

Almost.

"OMG I have to watch my father work on you two!" she exclaimed when realization hit. "I don't want to do that!"

Sham cut her freak out short when she came to a realization, though.

"Nath, you're taller than you were!"

With an almost playful gleam in her eyes, Nath responded "Yes and you are not."

"Heyyyy!" Sham exclaimed in mock anger.

Returning to her more serious side, Nath said "Do not worry about having to watch maintenance be done on me. It may look scary, but I actually sleep right through the process and wake up much more comfortable than I was. There are consequences to growing so much taller than you, after all," Nath said with a wink.

"You, sleep?" Sham joked back. "I'll believe it when I see it!"

And so Sham found herself once again in the observation room, this time watching her best friend get taken apart instead of a complete stranger. But at least she knew Nath was actually okay with the process, unlike Nanako, who made it clear to anyone who would listen that she was most certainly NOT okay with being forced to do all of the things a Weapon Girl had to do.

Still, this was a lot more disturbing to watch.

And so, Sham found her eyes drifting from the horrific scene repeatedly, and wanting to shift her attention to anything else, her eyes fell on a clipboard with some information.

Most of the information was common sense. The first page was about Nath, and nothing on it surprised Sham at all. The second page was about Sora, with quick descriptions like that she had green eyes and blonde hair. The paper was probably here for paperwork to be filled out later when her maintenance was completed this evening. But what stuck out to Sham the most was the date of birth.

Specifically, that as of tomorrow, Sora would have been born EXACTLY 8 years ago.

"It's her birthday tomorrow…" Sham muttered to herself, thinking. Sham knew what people did in pre-war movies when it was someone's birthday. They'd gather all of their friends and have a fancy party with a cake, presents, and games. She loved when they did that in movies so much she had devoted an entire shelf of her DVD collection to just her birthday favorites, which she would watch as many of as she could each year on her birthday. After all, her birthdays were typically uneventful. If her father happened to be home he'd wish her a happy birthday and typically give her a new power tool or something to work on her robots with. It was actually pretty nice to get those, since Sham preferred having her own tools to using the communal ones, but she always wished her father would get her something fun and unexpected. And maybe wrap it. Other than that, the only thing that made her birthday any different from any other day was the fact the chefs would make her a small sweet to go along with her dinner. The birthday parties in the movies Sham watched were always much more exciting.

So, why not give Sora a birthday party like that?

Sham checked the time. Her father seemed to believe he would be finished with Nath by lunchtime, so Sham just had to make sure she came back just a little bit before lunchtime. It's not like anybody was watching her right now.

Sham quickly snuck out of the observation room, knowing she didn't have much time to waste.

Sham knocked on the door lightly, not wanting to distract who she was coming to see too much but also needing to talk to her as soon as possible. "Saki?" Sham asked.

"You can come in!" Saki's cheerful voice told her. "Just watch out!"

Sham entered the room, and thankfully the entrance seemed safe from what was going on with the rest of the room. In the center of the room was Saki with her maracas out, deflecting various projectiles as they shot towards her at varying speeds with the same sort of grace that Sham always envied in Weapon Girls. Getting to fly didn't fix Sham's clumsiness, after all.

"They won't injure you or anything crazy like that," Saki assured her WHILE working on her dodging as if doing both at the same time was super easy. "But they do sting a little if you get hit by one, so be careful."

"Thanks for the warning," Sham responded. "Do you mind if I ask you a favor?"

"Go for it!" Saki responded, not missing a beat or a single projectile.

"It's a baking-related favor."

Saki stopped all of a sudden, getting hit several times over all at once but not seeming to care at this point. "You want me to bake?"
"Uh, Saki, the things!" Sham exclaimed.

"Mau!" Saki responded, as if just now realizing she was getting pelted over and over. She clumsily began to block again, but she kept missing now, her heart not in it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you…" Sham said.

"No, you're more than okay!" Saki assured her. "So, do you really truly want me to bake?"

"It's Sora's birthday tomorrow," Sham told Saki. "I want to give her a real birthday party. Tomorrow night, the ultimate sleepover! It'll be the absolute best! Do you think you could make the cake for her?"

"Muh-wuh, a birthday cake? I'd love to! I'll need some special ingredients, though."

"I'm going shopping tonight," Sham told her decisively. "So just make sure to give me a list before then."

"Thank you so much for letting me do this!" Saki exclaimed.

"Of course," Sham responded. "You're the best sweet maker I know!"" After a moment, Sham asked "Do you know anyone who might be good at coming up with games?"

"I bet Iru would be!" Saki responded, finally getting back into the groove of what she was doing. "She's always coming up with fun things to do!"

"Got it, thank you!" Sham told her, before rushing out of that room and down the hall, checking the schedule to see what room Iru should be in today then going to said room.

When Sham found Iru, she was in a very LOOOOOONG room, and at the opposite end were tiny lights that would appear and dance around in sporadic patterns until Iru shot a light back at them from the fake gun she held in her hands. She seemed to be hitting more often than not according to a score board displayed on the side, which was quite impressive considering Sham could barely even track these lights with her eyes at all.

"Hey, Iru," Sham said. "Do you have a second?"

Iru looked up at Sham, smiled, and pushed a button to pause the lights. "What's up?" Iru asked.

"Saki said you're good at coming up with games," Sham started, and explained her plans all over again.

The next part of the day was kind of a blur since Sham's mind wasn't on any of it. She saw the tail end of Nath's maintenance and when lunch came around she had to only use that when talking to her father because of course HE wanted to discuss the process. The unsettling part of what he said though was that he was working on trying to prevent the human body from aging so the Weapon Girls would stop growing out of their modifications. While that sounded nice in theory, Sham wasn't so sure. They'd never be able to grow up.

During lunch Sham hoped Sora had found a good place to sit so she wouldn't be alone, since Nath was still sleeping after her operation. There were plenty of Weapon Girls in this base, but Sora was shy, and she wouldn't really know how to approach them. Plus, what if they were mean to Sora? That's not something Sham could stand for!

Alternatively, if Sora sat with Saki and Iru's group of five (Weapon Girls had a tendency to group up around here it seemed. Four of this group of five shared a room so Sham assumed it was more than just a clique and that they probably were a proper team together) they could spill the beans about the secret birthday party if they weren't careful. Which Sham wouldn't be there to help stop them from doing.

"You're not listening to me again, Sham," Sham's father chided, and Sham tried to keep her head in the game once again.

After that was the time to watch Sora's modification, which was no less disturbing but actually very interesting. Sham had never heard of a Weapon Girl who's best aspect was her speed, and just in general everything about Sora seemed so… efficient.

Well, she was the 'new Ultimate Weapon Girl', so Sham guessed she should've expected this.

Still, it was so hard to focus on birthday preparations under these conditions! Sham had to plan the decorations, as well as potential present ideas! And she had so little time yet such big hopes.

Eventually, the night fell and most denizens of the Weapon Base went to sleep. But Sham knew one insomniac who happened to sleep most of the day away today.

Thankfully, Sham's current guest quarters were right near the other guest quarters, so the room Nath and Sora were sharing tonight was right nearby. She tiptoed over there and knocked on the door ever-so-lightly, knowing Sora was certainly still asleep.

Knowing Sham's playful knock, Nath got up and pressed the door open button with her subtle smile, her sewing project still in her hands as she finished the last couple stitches.

"Aww, that's adorable!" Sham whispered enthusiastically.

"It is for Sora," Nath whispered back. "It is a plush of some mouse character from some pre-war cartoon she likes? I do not really understand it, but she seems to really enjoy it. I actually just completed it, and am planning to give it to her when the right occasion strikes."

"That's actually perfect!" Sham responded quietly. "Can you meet me out in the hallway for a second?"

Nath nodded and hid her project before coming out there to meet Sham. Seeing her in better light though, Sham couldn't help but laugh.

"Woah, Nath, looks like your eyes finally unpacked their bags!"

Nath blinked at Sham in utter confusion. "...What?"

Sham laughed. "I mean you look well rested!"

"Oh," Nath responded, then lightly giggled. "Well, it is amazing what the thing known as 'sleep' can do for a person," she joked.

"Well, actually, I'm about to pull a 'you' and not sleep tonight, because…" Sham said, "I want to throw a birthday party for Sora!"

"Is her birthday soon?" Nath asked.

"Tomorrow," Sham responded. "I thought we could celebrate tomorrow night with a big sleepover, where we play games and eat sweets and have a good time! I already have a list of supplies we'll need for the cake, the games, the decorations - everything! We just need to go buy them!"

"...go buy them?" Nath asked. "You mean… out there?"

"Yes! Out there out there!" Sham nearly squealed, bouncing as she spoke.

"I can understand how we might be able to sneak out of the base, but how would we sneak back in?"

Sham put on a false authoritative tone. "We were out on official business," she said businessly. "And we'll bring our IDs and stuff so they don't have any question we are who we say we are. You get sent weird places at all hours of the night anyway, so it's super ultra believable!"

"...Shopping in the real world…" Nath said, thinking. "It sounds like… fun! But also very irresponsible…"

"Who cares if it's irresponsible?" Sham asked. "We gotta live at some point, right?"

Nath sighed. "We would at least need to bring some weapons with us… this base and any city near it is a lot closer to MOUNTAIN territory than the Main Base is."

"I've been developing a new device that should trap an enemy in an energy field long enough for us to escape if an enemy were to show up," Sham told Nath. "And we can both fly, so it's not like it would be hard to escape. Plus, I sincerely doubt there'd even BE a Weapon just… looking for members of SHORE in a random city."

Nath thought for a few moments longer, before smiling. "Let us get ready, then."

Sham squealed, throwing herself into Nath's arms for a hug. "You're like, the absolute best, Nath!"

And so the two girls got dressed in clothing very unusual for them. In fact, Sham didn't think she had ever seen Nath NOT dressed in a militaristic styled jacket if she wasn't actively trying to sleep. Thankfully the base had a large supply of casual looking clothing for blending into crowds, so the two girls could take their pick. Nath picked a powder blue colored fluffy sweater while Sham picked a bright green puffy jacket, not being able to help but to stick to their favorite colors. Then, they made their way out to the loading dock and flew out into the freezing air.

Sham instantly shivered. "This is my first time actually flying outside. Guess I forgot wind existed."

"The night is always much colder, too," Nath added. "Are you alright?"

"Are you kidding, of course I am!" Sham responded enthusiastically. "This is such a cool feeling, flying out in the wide open air with you! I feel so free! And energized!"

"That is good, since the exhaustion of not sleeping is sure to hit you eventually," Nath told her. "And your father no longer puts up with you waking up late, does he?"

"Nope!" Sham replied in a playful tone. "So which way's the nearest city?" she asked carefreely.

"This way," Nath said, flying in a direction. Sham followed her, enjoying the feeling of the air rushing at her face. Nath seemed more radiant out here, too. In her element.

After pondering for a moment, Nath said "You know Sham, it has only been a month, but it feels like you have changed a lot since the last time I have seen you."

"What do you mean?" Sham asked.

"You seem more mature, somehow."

"Nathy, we're literally flying out in the middle of the night without anyone's knowledge."

"Nathy?" Nath asked, before clarifying "Not mature in THAT way, of course. I do not believe you will ever be mature in a 'following the rules' sort of way. I moreso mean that you are more… determined. In the past if you wanted something you just… wanted it. Now, you do what it takes to make it happen. Like this spur-of-the-moment birthday party. So I suppose 'mature' is not the right word. Perhaps… grown up?"

"You think?" Sham responded, not entirely sure she knew what Nath was talking about. "I'm still the same as I've always been!"

"I suppose it has been a little over a month," Nath continued. "When you presented your idea to your father. That was when you first started changing. Taking control of your own life."

"Now you're just starting to scare me," Sham said in a joking voice. But was she right?

So much has happened recently, it seemed.

"You used to do things much more slowly and subtly," Nath added, unrelenting now. "Like how we met. Neither of us wanted to be the first one to introduce ourselves, so we had to just silently watch the other from afar for so long. You used to call yourself impulsive, but you never were. You were timid. Now you are not. You take action when action needs to be taken. I think it is admirable, Sham."

Sham laughed. "What are you even talking about?" she asked, as if Nath's words weren't reaching her at all. But they were. Of course they were.

"Just me overthinking things, I suppose," Nath responded, and then she went silent.

Which was good. Sham didn't want to think about the fact that she was changing. That things were changing. In her ever-stagnant world, not everything was completely predictable anymore.

Like the idea that a Weapon Girl could have a birthday party, or even have her birthday acknowledged at all. It was a change, and Sham was causing that change. After this, she might try to find a way to throw ANOTHER secret birthday party. And another. And another. And she might inspire others to ALSO throw birthday parties for each other, too. And then all of a sudden, something that was absolutely never the case might become the case every time, and Weapon Girls would suddenly ALWAYS have birthday parties rather than never.

And it would all be because Sham decided that she wanted to do something nice for Sora. An amazing change, all from one small action.

But…

"It's not like it matters," Sham sighed out a bit more darkly, watching her breath become visible like one of the many clouds that plagued the sky. "I don't have the power to ACTUALLY make a difference."

"Maybe not in a broad sense, like your father might expect from you," Nath said, "but you have made a difference for me, at the very least."

"Huh?" Sham asked, giving Nath a genuinely confused look.

"You have made me happy. Given me something to live for, a reason to smile. To everyone else, I am the secondary Ultimate Weapon Girl, not even strong enough to be the primary, but when I am around you… you make me feel like a real person. And I do not think you understand just how much power the ability to do that has."

Sham stared into those endless eyes of Nath's for a moment, completely frozen. The moment was only a few seconds, but it felt much longer before Sham suddenly tore herself away in an instant. With a forced laugh, she said "You say the weirdest things sometimes!" in a tone that betrayed her emotions entirely. Then she made herself turn away from the girl, fixing her gaze in front of her instead. "Hey look, there's the city!"

Sham pushed herself forward quickly, taking the lead and hoping the night air would swallow up the complicated emotions exchanged between the two.

I don't have that kind of power anyway. Sham had to remind herself. Nath is just confused. She'd be perfectly fine without me. She's perfect, after all. I only ever got to meet her because of who my father was.

Sham landed herself on the ground of the city, and waited for Nath. Thankfully, Nath finally dropped the topic, now focusing on the moment. "Where do we need to go first?" she asked.

It actually took a little while to figure out exactly where to go, but the pair eventually found a place that had the cake supplies as well as plenty of other general items called a 'SuperMarket'. Thankfully, unlike what Sham's movies suggested, most stores in SHORE territory seemed to be open all night. Why this was, Sham had no idea, but it certainly was helpful now.

And so the two stepped into the SuperMarket.

"It is larger than I expected," Nath commented. "I suppose that is why they have supplied us with vehicles."

"Those aren't vehicles," Sham explained. "They're called 'shopping carts' and they're for holding what we plan to buy. But I think I know how to turn it INTO a vehicle."

Sham took a small pocket-sized robot out of the bag she brought along. "Push the cart!" she instructed authoritatively.

Well, it DID push the cart.

Rather quickly, actually.

It rushed right into the store, not waiting for Sham or Nath.

"It seems the robot has run off with the shopping cart," Nath pointed out.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Sham responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I am not Captain Obvious," Nath helpfully reminded her.

"Come back here!" Sham now screeched, running after the runaway robot and into the store.

Sham ran right past several concerned customers, dead set on finding where her tiny creation went. Flying in public was a no-go though, so she'd have to do this on foot.

Thankfully, Sham had a highly trained professional Weapon on her side, too.

Nath ran towards the nearest shelf and started climbing it easily, then jumping from shelf to shelf to get a better view without flying.

Finally, Nath spotted the robot, jumping off of the shelf and right over a customer's head, doing a roll as she landed and she ended up on her feet, small robot in hand, still trying to escape. "Sham, I have retrieved it," Nath called out.

"Eee, thank you Nath!" Sham exclaimed, rushing towards Nath and nearly tripping over her own feet as she did. "Turns out we'll have to push our own cart."

And so the two ran around the grocery store with excitement, having way too much fun for a task that was so average for so many people. But they loved it and had a great time.

At checkout, Sham took out an official SHORE credit card that she snagged from an usually off-limits area, and the cashier didn't even glance at it before swiping it and saying "Have a nice day," in a voice that REALLY suggested that she did NOT care if they had a nice day or not.

The duo then went to a few more stores before they finally finished their shopping. As they were walking towards the outskirts of the city so they could fly away, Sham suddenly stopped. "Are you hungry?" she asked Nath.

Nath thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I am," she responded.

"Perfect!" Sham exclaimed cheerfully. "Because I have an AMAZING idea!"

Sham grabbed Nath's arm and started running as if she had the strength to drag her. At least Nath was kind enough to play along. Sham led Nath to a place she had only seen the insides of in movies - a proper restaurant.

Nath's eyes lit up upon seeing it. "Are we really going in there?" she asked.

"Yup!" Sham confirmed. "Just like normal people!"

Nath smiled a little wider than normal.

The two walked in, and the server led them to a beautifully decorated table with a large glass window to the side of it. The place was lit comfortably rather than the ultra-brightness of SHORE, and peaceful music played. It was nice.

"Do you ladies know what you'd like to drink?" the waitress asked, not having any other tables to tend but theirs. No other customers were here at the moment.

"Can you just… give us a few minutes?" Sham asked in return, trying to sound as if she knew what she was doing.

The waitress agreed, and Sham and Nath opened their menus.

"There are so many things to choose from!" Nath exclaimed excitedly. More excitedly than Sham thought she had ever seen her before.

"Right?" Sham responded. "I have no idea how to choose!"

Nath paused for a moment. "Today is a day to be irresponsible, correct?"

"Huh?"

"Then why should we choose?" Nath asked. "Let us order everything!"

Sham squealed in excitement. "Great idea!" she responded.

And so when the waitress came over, they made their order.

"Everything?!" the waitress clarified. "That's going to take a while…"

"We have all night!" Sham told her with confidence.

The waitress looked at the two kids. "For such a big order I'm going to need to charge you BEFORE we make all the food."

Sham slipped the SHORE card out of her wallet. "Charge away," she instructed.

The waitress gasped at the sight of the card. "Y-you're SHORE employees? I'm so sorry for the inconvenience! I'll put your order in right away!"

With that, she rushed off, not even taking the card with her.

"Guess we're paying afterwards," Sham said with a shrug.

"Hopefully she does not report us to HQ," Nath responded, her typical, hesitant self showing through once again.

"She won't, she won't!" Sham soothed. "It'll be fine. Just try to relax, okay?"

"Yes," Nath said, mostly to herself as a smile returned to her face. "Relax."

"This place is totes - oops, I mean - super cool, right?" Sham asked.

"It is," Nath responded, genuinely happy. "I am so glad we are here together."

All of a sudden those weird strange feelings returned to Sham in a way she didn't understand. Instead of pushing them away, Sham instead decided to see where they took her.

"Me too," Sham agreed, her cheeks oddly warm as she smiled back at Nath.

But as the two girls' eyes met, Sham couldn't handle even a moment of the silence that followed. Aborting, she made her tone instantly playful instead. "It's fun to be rebellious, right?"

"Yes, it is," Nath responded in turn, but Sham couldn't shake the feeling she had let her down somehow.

Maybe I'm not as mature as she thinks I am.

Feeling a little terrible now, Sham said "Hey, Nath, I-"

The waitress interrupted by placing down a LOT of drinks. "Here's all of our soft drinks," she told them, exasperated. "The hard drinks will come after dessert. Will you need a second of all of the drinks, or is one of each enough?"

"Nah, we can share," Sham told her. "Thank you!"

"I'll be back with the first course of food as it's ready," the waitress promised, rushing off.

"Did you want to say something?" Nath asked.

"N-nevermind," Sham replied. "Let's just try all of this cool stuff!"

Pushing the awkwardness behind them, the two girls began sampling item after item. Miso soup, onigiri, ramen, hibachi - it was all so tasty! Then came desserts, which were also SO GOOD! It seemed that Nath preferred savory foods while Sham definitely loved sweet foods more, but the only things the girls actively didn't like were spicy things. Must be because they were used to such a limited food palette and spice was just a bit too extreme. Still, it was a fun challenge to try.

As time went on, the waitress seemed more and more suspicious of the weird way the girls were acting. Towards the end of dessert, before the 'sake' course came out (whatever that was), Nath seemed a bit on edge.

"Something wrong?" Sham asked.

"I believe there is a large amount of people encircling this area as we speak," Nath said, taking out one of her laser guns.

"Seriously?" Sham asked, a little pouty. "This is why we can't have nice things!"

"Grab the bags and stay close to me," Nath instructed. "We do not know they are a threat yet, so there is no reason to be alarmed."

So cool! Sham couldn't help but think as she saw Nath's focused expression. Her posture was so exact as she focused intently on the doorway, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

The waitress ran into the kitchen in fear.

Sham gathered the heavy bags and got close to Nath. It was in this moment it occurred to Sham that there wasn't a single place in the universe she felt safer than right beside the so-called 'secondary' Ultimate Weapon Girl.

"Look behind you, but do not move. Do you see anyone outside of the window?"

"No," Sham responded, grateful that outside was lit up.

"Good. Continue to pay attention. We are going to slowly get closer to the window, okay?"

"Yeah," Sham agreed, trying not to let her excitement be known. This was just so thrilling!

The two were nearly at the window when suddenly the door got kicked open.

"SHORE?" Nath asked, surprised at the uniforms of the soldiers.

"Turn away! Don't let them see who you are!" Sham quickly instructed, pulling a few small robots out of her pocket. "DELTA FEILD!" she called out unnecessarily as her robots created an energy field that stopped the soldiers in their tracks. "Let's go!"

Nath quickly broke the window, and the two girls flew out quickly, and once they were a bit of a distance, Sham couldn't help but let an almost cackle-like cacophony of giggles escape her. "She called the military on us!" Sham exclaimed. "US!"

"I suppose we WERE acting a little suspicious," Nath added in good humor. "Well at least we know the people are keeping a lookout for spies."

Suddenly, Sham gasped, stopping in place for a moment.

"What?" Nath asked, legitimately concerned.

"We're dine-and-dashers!" Sham exclaimed.

"What does that mean?" Nath asked, still worried.

"It means we didn't pay for our food!" Sham told her with a laugh.

Dumbfounded, Nath responded "...You are correct."

"Well, whatever," Sham said with a laugh. "We're employees of the country anyway."

Suddenly, Nath's smile opened up, and out of her mouth poured a sound Sham didn't think she'd ever hear from this girl.

A full, joyful laugh produced in such a way it was as if there wasn't a single problem in the world that could reach Nath tonight.

"You are right!" Nath responded cheerfully. "We OWN this country!" she shouted so loudly it echoed. "We can do anything we WANT!"

Nath reached up to her hair, which she always kept in a complex updo, and let it down. The silky light blue hair flowed in the wind so well it might as well have been a river, going this way and that but still looking no less beautiful. Sham had never actually seen it loose and free like this, but she knew Nath had been growing it her whole life and it showed. Nath's hair was so long it went about halfway down her upper legs.

"Oh, allow me to take those," Nath said, now taking the shopping bags from Sham's arms, carrying them like they were nothing. "We have to make sure Sora has the Ultimate Birthday Party, after all."

It was so great to see Nath like this! Sham could swear there was a new sort of light in Nath's eyes.

No wait, that wasn't IN Nath's eyes…

It was a reflection!

Sham looked up at the source, and was in awe. "Nath, look!"

Nath looked towards where Sham was pointing, and gasped. "It is…"

The two girls stared up in wonder at the big ball of light they that they knew only through other sources as 'the moon'.

The clouds that circled above the Earth for many years now have been so incredibly thick that nobody from Sham's generation ever had a chance to see the sky - with one small caveat. On extremely rare occasions, the clouds could move just right so one could catch a glimpse of the sky behind it. It had only been recorded as happening a couple times, and it always lasted for such a short amount of time that if you weren't looking when it happened, you'd miss it.

And here these two were, seeing the sky.

Of course, merely seconds later the clouds ate the sky back up once again, but they saw it! They actually, for the first time ever, saw the sky from the perspective of Earth.

And it reminded Sham of something she had been forgetting to tell Nath for a while now.

"When I went into space," Sham said, "and I saw the sky from the spacecraft that brought me there, it wasn't the bright blue everyone always describes it as. It was much darker than that. Navy blue. Nath, it was the exact same shade as your eyes! It's not that super bright shade that pictures and movies always seem to claim it needs to be, but it was real. And it was perfect!"

Nath looked to Sham in surprise, and Sham looked into those eyes once again.

"Nath, I haven't been being very fair," Sham said now. "You keep telling me exactly how you feel in complete honesty, and I keep making a joke to change the subject because I'm not good with serious emotions. The truth is, I…" Sham paused, and smiled. "I'm so happy I'm here with you, too!"

The light trapped by the clouds was more than enough to allow Sham to see color fill Nath's pale cheeks.

"I'm really glad you reached out to me, Nath, back when we first met. I was so lonely before you, and now, I… it's fun. To be alive."

Nath paused for a moment, then let out a small giggle. "Now who is saying the weird things?" she teased.

Sham gasped in embarrassment, until she saw the playful expression on Nath's face. "Nathy!"

"Shammy," Nath stated back professionally.

"Hey!" Sham shouted in mock annoyance.

"Yes?" Nath asked, playing dumb now.

"Oh my gosh, Nath!"

Nath's expression turned sincere now. "I suppose that means we both make each other happy, then."

"Yeah, that-" Sham stopped, gasping. "Wait, does that mean, we were like… on a date?"

"What?" Nath asked, tilting her head in actual confusion now. "If you define what a 'date' is, perhaps I could tell you?" Nath offered.

"It's when… two people who like each other go somewhere special together. There's usually fun activities, and… food."

"Then yes, this was a date," Nath helpfully answered.

"So that means we… like-like each other. Like, for real," Sham said, trying to understand the situation herself.

"Is that what it means when you go on a date you enjoy?" Nath asked.

"I… I'm not sure!" Sham exclaimed, freaking out a little now. "I think so?"

"Then, I…" Nath paused, no longer able to make eye contact with Sham. "I guess we do, as you put it, 'like-like' each other."

Sham's cheeks were bright pink, but after a moment, the hesitation faded. "Good," Sham said softly now. "Because there's nobody I'd rather like-like than you, Nath."

"...I feel the same," Nath responded, just as softly.

And the pair left it at that, knowing they had all the time in the world to decide what it was they should do with the fact that they both like-liked each other.

The following morning Sham stumbled out of her room still half asleep and in her PJs. As she made her way to her father's office, Kyoko stopped her.

"I'll assume you didn't get much sleep last night?" Kyoko asked, taking a sip of some iced tea.

"How'd you guess?" Sham managed in response.

Kyoko smirked. "The others let me in on your party plans. Luckily for you, today's actually the perfect day for this sort of thing. The professor got called away on some important business, so he's not here today. I recommend you get some more sleep before setting things up."

Sham let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Kyoko," Sham responded. "I don't know how ANYONE could go without sleep."

"Just make sure by the end of the party you say your goodbyes to everyone. The professor said that you, Sora, and Nath will be returning to the main base tomorrow morning."

"Wow, really?" Sham asked, feeling a little conflicted. She was going to miss all of the new friends she made, but she was also so eager to get back home.

"I doubt it's the last time you'll come here," Kyoko told her. "The professor seems to like having you watch when he works on Weapons here. Like you're his apprentice or something."

"His apprentice?" Sham asked. "I'm not sure… how I feel about that."

"I'm sure you aren't," Kyoko said with a bit more spice than Sham was expecting. "But when the professor decides something…"

"You're always working with him," Sham mentioned. "Why aren't YOU his apprentice?"

That question seemed to bother Kyoko more than Sham meant to.

"Because I'm a Weapon," Kyoko said bitterly. "And the professor doesn't think very highly of Weapons."

And with that, Kyoko left.

Oops… guess Sham hit a nerve.

It was easy for Sham to get a chance to set up the party, and it looked amazing when she was done. She then distracted Sora while the others all did their parts, baking the cake and preparing the games and such, and then finally she got the news that she could bring Sora there.

"Okay, Sora, I have something super-ultra fun for us to do!" Sham exclaimed excitedly.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"You'll see!" Sham told her, before leading her towards the party room. The lights were all off when they got there, and Sora walked into the room curiously.

"Why are the lights…"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone now shouted with excitement as the lights switched on.

Sora looked to the cake, the presents, the decorations, and all of the girls who had come here to celebrate with her.

Sora gave a huge smile, and it was easy to forget, at least for the duration of this party, that there was even a war in this world at all.