I want to go out with you.

Hoshimi Miyabi listened to her heart beat quickly in her chest as she reread Wise's text for the hundredth time. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Was she going to Lumina Square… for a date?!

Surely… surely, not! No one asked her on dates. Outside of work, most people didn't even talk to her. They either said strange and obscene things, like requests to step on them- which Yanagi said she should absolutely not entertain and Miyabi was to pretend she didn't hear them; or they would approach her and as soon as she looked at them, their mouths would struggle to say anything, they would sweat, be nervous, and then eventually bow to her and leave.

A lot of boys in high school and university had done exactly that. Not a single one had ever asked her on a date.

Why? Had they changed their mind about speaking to her? Miyabi suspected perhaps they didn't like the way she looked at close range. Probably because they realized she was short and plain. Unlike tall and beautiful Yanagi who was always declining the advances of men, and some women, too. But no one ever approached Miyabi. So, there must be something very different between herself and Yanagi, and the most obvious thing was height.

But maybe… probably today would be different?

Today, the Proxy, HER proxy… wanted to go out with her!.

What did that mean? What was she supposed to do? Would Wise act like all the other men and get up close to her, hesitate, and then bow himself away? Miyabi could not decide if her heart was thudding of excitement or fear, it could be both; but regardless, she resolved to see this situation through.

She got out of the Hoshimi family car in a quiet back alley near Lumina and told the driver to return to the estate. She couldn't back out now, and Yanagi always told her she should relax with people her own age outside of work. She should relax with friends; of which, outside of work, Miyabi had none. But Wise the Proxy was only work-related. He was a man her age who was not a co-worker. He was a friend who.. Maybe… could be even more…

Miyabi's heart thumped harder.

Miyabi walked through the quiet alleyway, her eye catching the movement of a cat cleaning itself on top of a dumpster lid- it watched Miyabi pass as if mildly offended that Miyabi had the nerve to walk through its bathing area. Ahead of her, the murmur of a crowd gradually grew. Lumina Square was a popular place for civilians, and today was Saturday, so it was bustling with people. It was time to see if her disguise worked.

It was Yanagi's idea: dress as un-Miyabi like as possible and no one would recognize her. Hoshimi Miyabi the Void Hunter wore a traditional robe, was always in the color green, and carried a sword. So today, normal-person-Miyabi was dressed in light pink culotte pants, ((Miyabi had first tried some very short jean shorts but Yangi had frowned and told her that was going too far, and who was she going to meet in Lumina square, exactly?)) Also: a billowy white blouse with short, lacey sleeves, and a wide-brimmed, straw-gold whicker hat with holes cut in for her ears to go through.

Miyabi always had to have her sword with her, but she had it concealed within a large leather tube that was strapped to her back- Yanagi claimed the outfit made Miyabi appear as a trendy architecture student with her blueprint case. Miyabi trusted Yanagi's judgement in all things.

The moment of truth.

Miyabi stepped into the sunlight and onto the pedestrian walkway of Lumina Square, emerging near the H.I.A. VR building. No one seemed to notice her. Miyabi took a deep breath. That was a good sign. She was used to being immediately recognized. Her eyes sought out the newsstand and the caltrop sculptures that Miyabi knew from memory to be just across the street near the riverwalk, but with all the crowd, she couldn't see them from where she stood. Most people were taller than her and she couldn't see over the sea of the Saturday crowd.

Well, she knew where she was going, anyway. Miyabi stepped forward into the flow of people and was almost immediately bowled over.

"Hey! Careful miss!" barked a young man as his friends laughed at him.

"A- apologies," said Miyabi. She then tried to step forward again and bumped into an old woman.

"Oh, my! Careful, dear," said the woman.

Miyabi apologized again and realized something different was happening to her: People were not… just moving out of her way! They saw her… and just kept going in the direction they wanted to, rather than diverting themselves from Miyabi's path! This.. this made walking in a crowded place much harder than usual!

She cautiously moved forward, her eyes attentive to the sea of people around her, trying to understand all the tiny and fast body language signals that everyone else seemed attuned to. No one else was bumping into each other. They all knew how to move and walk in a way that flowed seamlessly about one another- but Miyabi would take a single step and suddenly people in front of her would stumble to a stop and look at her in alarmed annoyance, or someone behind her would accidentally bump into her back, presumably due to her unexpected stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

Miyabi began to feel flustered. She was used to cutting through crowds, through obstacles, through enemies. But apparently that was something Void-Hunter-Miyabi could do, while normal-person-Miyabi was just a small thiren woman in a very tall world.

Suddenly, she felt helpless, and that was an entirely alien emotion to Hoshimi Miyabi. She forgot her destination, her eyes became worried and frantic as she looked all around her at the moving crowd and yet somehow saw nothing. Where was she? Where was she going? How could she possibly get there?

Then a gentle hand took hold of hers.

She looked up and Wise smiled warmly down at her, a sea of other people passing all around them like they were a single stone in a brisk stream. Miyabi's heart thudded in her chest again. He was quite handsome. She had forgotten that somehow.

"Hey," he said with his soft, husky voice. "The river is this way, follow me."

Miyabi couldn't respond because her heart was clogging her throat, but she allowed Wise to pull her gently in his wake as he forged through the crowd like an icebreaker ship in the arctic. His hand on hers was soft and smooth- never scarred by labor or by martial training. Miyabi's father wouldn't like Wise' hands. He would say these were the hands of a weak man and Miyabi should instead look for a strong man with hands made tough and leathery with labor, effort, and skill.

But Miyabi now knew her father was mistaken. She'd seen Wise's abilities in hollows and in his Proxy work. In the modern world, one could be quite skilled and still have soft and smooth hands.

Miyabi knew her own hands were tough and leathery with callouses, her endless sword training leaving behind its scars. Oh, what did Wise think of her hands?! Did he find them disgusting? That sudden fearful thought almost made her left go of him, but she forced herself not to.

Meanwhile, Wise walked confidently, occasionally giving way when required, and expertly extracted them both from the main press of humanity and out to the more roomy area of the riverside walk. To Miyabi's relief, Wise released her hand and turned to smile at her, apparently not disturbed by the texture of her skin- though Wise seemed the type who would hide such a truth from her, anyway.

"Thank you, Proxy," said Miyabi.

Wise blinked at her and frowned suddenly. "Use my name Miyabi. It's Wise, remember?"

Miyabi felt her cheeks heat up as a fiery wave of embarrassment flooded down from her skull and into her face. "Yes, of course I do. I know it is Wise."

Wise blinked, perhaps seeing her blush and he seemed suddenly afraid. "Oh, okay! Sorry! No worries."

They stood and looked away from each other awkwardly. This was going terribly! She got lost in a crowd and now Wise thought she was mad at him! Why did she have to be so bad at so many things in life?! Couldn't she just talk to a man her age?

"Ah, uh.." said Wise, clearing his throat. "I think you look really nice, Miyabi."

Miyabi's heart thudded and she looked back at him. He was smiling that gentle smile of his as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his unruly silver hair.

"Oh," said Miyabi. Were her cheeks on fire or what? "...Thank you. Wise."

But the compliment also made Miyabi curious: "How did you recognize me? No one else does, I think."

Wise smiled and shrugged. "Well, when I see you, I can't help smiling. So I guess that's how I knew. I saw you in the crowd and I smiled, so I knew it was you."

Miyabi didn't know exactly how to interpret that statement, but it sounded nice. To have someone smile when they saw her? Because they were happy to see her? Because they liked looking at her? Did that mean Wise thought… that she was pretty?

Miyabi's heart thudded.

"So, anything in particular you want to do?" said Wise.

Miyabi's head was spinning slightly. Do? In Lumina Square? With a man her own age? What did people do? She exercised, practiced her sword, went to work, came home to her parent's house, practiced with her sword, and went to bed. Apparently, other people did a great deal of other varied things in their lives. Miyabi wasn't entirely sure what. Maybe she should watch more television and find out…

"No," said Miyabi, finally. Why were her cheeks getting hot again?

"Well, I came with a few ideas," said Wise. "Have you ever been to a batting cage, Miyabi?"

"A what?"

"Okay, so, the balls are going to shoot out of that hole over there. And then you try and hit the target on the fence way up there."

Miyabi held the baseball bat loosely in her hands, getting used to the feel of its balance. It was nothing more than an inelegant club. Did so many people really get enjoyment out of playing with this sort of thing?

She watched Wise swing and hit a ball. A strangely pleasing metallic clang rang out from the bat and the ball soared up into the fence on the other side of the roof, rattling the chainlink softly. Miyabi's eyes traveled to the other people batting in their own little cages. They would wait in their stance, bat up over their shoulders, eyes on the ball-throwing machine, and then swing away. Over and over. It was somewhat similar to sword training, Miyabi realized. They were practicing a single movement over and over until it became natural.

"Wise. The other machines are shooting out faster balls."

He turned to look at her and seemed slightly sheepish. "Oh, yeah. Well. I can turn this one up, I guess."

"How fast can it go?"

"Uh," said Wise, a little worried now. "Faster than real pitchers can even throw. 125 miles per hour, I think."

"I see," said Miyabi, wondering how fast that actually was. "Try that one. I want to see it."

Wise let out a small nervous laughing noise and rubbed the side of his face. Miyabi was too interested in the ball machine to notice. Perhaps this batting cage thing could be a useful sword-training tool…

She watched as Wise returned to the batter's box, raised his bat, and stepped on the pad that summoned the baseball. A ball shot out and went past a motionless Wise and it thudded into the backstop with a loud rattle of chainlink fence. Several nearby batters turned to look in Wise's direction. A few laughed.

"Why didn't you swing, Wise?" said Miyabi, curious.

"I.. uh… barely had time to see it, honestly," said Wise with chagrin.

"What do you mean?" said Miyabi, genuinely confused. "It's a bright white ball in full daylight."

Wise gave her a curious look that she wasn't sure how to interpret. "Maybe it looks different from the batter's box. Want to try, Miyabi?"

"Yes."

Wise stepped out of the cage and took off his helmet. He picked up another from the nearby rack, this one with holes drilled into it for thiren ears. "Here you go."

"No, thank you. I won't put my head in the way of the ball," said Miyabi as she walked past him and into the cage.

"R- right," said Wise. "Be careful, though!"

Miyabi looked back at Wise to see if he was teasing her. He seemed genuine, but- what possible danger could this training exercise offer? It was simply a ball traveling down a set and predictable path. Miyabi used less protective gear when training with sharpened blades.

She stepped up to the plate and felt eyes on her. She looked up to see several other patrons, up and down the rooftop business, leaning on their bats and watching her. They were smiling at her and staring.

"Wise," said Miyabi. "I think people here recognize me."

He looked around and frowned. "I don't think so. I think they heard the super-fast pitch and now they want to see you try it."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's hard to do, Miyabi. And lots of people like to watch cute girls try very difficult things."

Miyabi felt her heart leap into her throat again. She stared at Wise. "What? I'm a- I'm a cute girl?"

Wise seemed both embarrassed and sheepish. He rubbed the back of his head like he seemed to do when he was nervous or unsure of himself. Or maybe he thought she was joking with him?

"Well… yeah… Miyabi… you are."

"Oh," said Miyabi, her heart thudding in her chest. "Oh!"

She'd hoped Wise thought she was pretty and liked to look at her. Now he flat out told her that she was cute! Even she knew that was a good thing! For a man to think a woman was cute! Yanagi's outfit idea was a very good one!

With new determination, Miyabi returned her attention to the business end of the pitching machine. If people like to watch cute girls do difficult things, she was determined to give Wise a show he would never forget. Lucky for her that Wise thought this simple little training drill was difficult. Ha!

Miyabi stepped on the petal.

The ball shot out towards her. This was faster than people could throw? It seemed to Miyabi that it was barely moving. She held the bat stiffly at her side, as if it were her sword and she was about to cut through a line of ten bars of two-inch steel rebar. Just like she did every morning of every day of her life.

Miyabi swung.

CLANG!

The ball shot off the bat like a lightning bolt as it sprang into existence. The chain link fence on the other side of the roof ripped open with a twanging metallic sound and the baseball crunched into the masonry of the building across the street, vast cracks in the stone spider-webbing out from the crater of the ball's impact point.

Miyabi stared at her handiwork. Did she do it right?

"M- Miyabi!"

She turned around to see Wise looking at the distant ball with a wide-eyed expression of fear. This his eyes shifted to her.

"We gotta' get outta' here!"

As they walked along the river, Wise was laughing and Miyabi felt her cheeks warm with her own blushing.

"That was so awesome, Miyabi!" said Wise, laughing fondly as he spoke. "You should have seen the faces of all those people in there!"

"You should have seen your own face," said Miyabi.

Wise laughed. "I bet! The first thing I thought about was PubSec response times."

"Why? Did we do something illegal?"

"No! But.. I didn't want you to get into an embarrassing situation… What with your family name and all…"

Speaking of her family name, Miyabi recognized the car on the curb in front of them. It was the Hoshimi car. The driver (and her father's cat's paw), emerged out of the driver's seat and looked in her direction with a serious expression

Apparently, her date with Wise was over.

"Wise," said Miyabi, steeling herself for what she needed to do now. "That's my car up there. I have to go home now."

Wise looked at her and his smile faded slightly with obvious disappointment. "Oh, okay. I see."

Miyabi stared at him and hesitated. She had two choices: she could nod at him and go get into the car and be driven away. Or she could do what she was afraid to do, the thing she wanted to do. But even the idea of it was causing her heart to thunder in her own temple!

She took a deep breath and decided.

Miyabi stepped towards Wise, and he seemed to think she wanted a hug as his arms opened up to accept her. But she didn't want that. She wanted…

She grasped Wise's collar with her hand, knuckles white with nerves, and yanked him down to her height. Wises' eyes went wide and he made a 'guh' sound from the surprise of it. But Miyabi didn't notice. All her attention was focused on her goal: Wise's smoothly shaven cheek. She leaned in, smelling a very nice aftershave lotion as she did so.

She pressed her lips to his slightly chill cheek, her own heart thundering in her chest. She did it! And it felt wonderful! And she did it. She released her iron grip on Wise's shirt and he staggered back slightly, wide-eyed, hand to cheek, staring at her.

"I had a nice time today, Wise," said Miyabi in what she hoped was a very cool way. "Call me again soon."

Then she turned away from him and walked to the car, suddenly finding walking normally a very difficult thing to do.

Don't look back! Don't look back! Don't look back!

She got into the car and shut the door, and behind the safety of the tinted glass, looked back at Wise. He was still staring in her direction and holding his cheek.

And he was smiling!

Yes!