The wind cooled Yuna's face pleasantly. She had never ridden with someone on the same bike before but had often wondered what it would be like, since she knew this scene from anime and manga when students were traveling together.

Somewhat fondly she looked at Wataru's face from the side. Fine drops of sweat gathered on his temple.

"I'm sorry, I'm so fat," she mumbled.

"Oh, come on. You weigh almost nothing. It's just way too hot," he protested.

"I know. I just wanted to say something."

He chuckled. "You need a little comforting."

"Not at all," she grumbled and looked away from him, sulking.

They drove past a baseball field where a team was training. The blue-haired watched as the batter hit the ball, dropped his bat and ran for the first base. She had seen a few games, but she couldn't really get excited about this sport. She had never tried a sport except Kendo, and even at Kendo she didn't like the tournaments. She liked the meditative.

Yuna glanced back to Wataru. He looked pretty athletic.

"Do you do sports?" she asked casually.

He took a deep breath. "Why do you think so?"

"Well ... you seem trained."

Laughing, the young man replied, "Oh no. I'm an asparagus." He breathed again. "No. I don't care about sports. And you?"

"Not really. I would like to go back to Kendo training," she admitted.

"You're doing Kendo? Cool."

A big smile appeared on her face. "For real?"

"Yes. The art of the sword and so. Though ... by now that might be boring for you, right?" he guessed.

"Why do you think so?"

"You fight for real by now."

For a moment, Yuna was confused. "I stopped it."

"Well, yeah." They fell into a thoughtful silence. "Funny that I didn't know you liked Kendo before."

"How so?"

The way went up, Wataru got up from his saddle and pedaled harder. As soon as they reached the top, he answered, "Well ... we've been together for almost three months now and I'm hearing about this for the first time."

"Hm."

The high-school student had already thought about that. They had spent so little time together so far. She was anything but a relationship expert, but somehow she had felt that their relationship was abnormal. Of course that was because her life was still an unmanageable construction site, something she couldn't be held responsible for.

"Does that bother you?" she asked carefully.

He wiped a few sweat drops from his forehead. "What?"

She bit her lower lip. "That our relationship is so weird."

The singer took a minute to think. His girlfriend clung a little tighter to him. "No." Relieved, she exhaled. "I don't know ..." Immediately she tensed again. "I think it's good as it is."

"Decide, you idiot," the blue-haired sniffed.

His sympathetic laugh sounded. "We will get to know each other better if we can spend more time together. Today I learned about you that you like Kendo."

"Right."

Yuna thought about what she knew about her boyfriend. He was eighteen, had a twin brother named Takeru and lived in the pension. Why he had moved out at home, she didn't know.

He had started studying music and then quit pretty fast because he thought it was keeping him from his career plans. But now he spent his days as a bicycle courier riding through the city, which couldn't necessarily be beneficial to his goals.

He was the rhythm guitarist and singer in the band Wakamino, which already had small, local successes. Often she had noticed that he spoke almost accent-free English.

"How about we tell each other something every day? So that we get to know each other better?" the girl suggested.

"Sounds funny. Is that your real hair color?"

She slapped him on the shoulder and laughed. "You have already learned today that I like Kendo. Now it's my turn."

The young man smiled in amusement. "Alright. Then you already know what I want to know from you tomorrow."

"I decide for myself what I'm telling you." She grinned cheekily behind his back. "A girl needs her secrets to stay interesting."

"Yeah yeah. What do you want to know?"

She didn't take long to think about it. "Why can you speak English so well? You hardly have an accent."

"You'd like to know that." Mischievously, the singer laughed.

"Come on. Tell me."

Grinning, he shook his head. "No. Then I have to tell you too much about me."

An annoyed snort came from his passenger. "We'll probably manage to get a fair exchange of information."

"Maybe ..." He waited a moment longer and was pleased with the almost palpable annoyance of the girl on his luggage carrier. "My grandfather is American."

Yuna blinked in surprise. "What?"

His loud laugh sounded. "Come on. Try harder, sweetheart."

"You're so funny." She pondered briefly about his words. "Say it again."

"My grandfather is American," repeated the cyclist.

"My ... great ... great father ..." Amused, Wataru chuckled. "What?!" the girl hissed.

"Nothing. Go on."

"Pah. You just want to make fun of me." The blue-haired clenched her fist, but then pinched her boyfriend's side.

"OUCH! Are you crazy?!" Abruptly Wataru stopped and stood still, whereupon the girl nearly fell from the luggage carrier. She clung to his shirt and fought for her balance.

"Are you crazy?! YOU IDIOT!" she hissed furiously and hit him. The bike tipped over and they fell to the side with a scream.

The young man was stuck with his leg beneath the bicycle, but it didn't hurt. He crawled out from under his bike and looked around irritated. His gaze slid to his girlfriend, who was supposed to have some bruises, but she scrambled up without comment and straightened her skirt. Of course, she was saved by her power, but why had nothing happened to him?

"Everything alright, Wata?" Yuna asked, as she noticed his confused expression.

"Y-Yes." Slightly shocked, he grabbed his bike and put it back up. "And you?"

"I'm invulnerable."

His gaze slid over his undamaged hands and over the linkage of the bike, which also had no scratches. "Was that you?"

The girl frowned and tilted her head. "What?"

"I don't have a scratch ... nor my bike."

Helpless, the high-school student blinked a few times. Then she remembered that she had never told him that her power had evolved. "Oh ... yes," she admitted.

"How did you do this?"

A queasy feeling spread in her stomach, like the one she had after their first date. She didn't want him to think she was a monster. Since she had killed Tirr, her power had become more and more like a reflex. She barely needed to focus on activation. The transition had become fluent. All the more she wondered why the abdominal pain had been so unbearable a few days ago. She had never experienced anything like it.

Embarrassed, Yuna pushed her pony aside. "My power protects everything that touches my body."

"Wow." He stared at her in wonderment.

"I'm sorry." Guiltily, she looked down.

"My grandfather is American."

The high-school student raised her gaze and looked at him questioningly. "What?"

"The reason why I speak English so well. My grandfather was one of the occupiers who stayed in Japan after the Second World War." She looked at him as if she didn't understand what he was talking about. "You did have history at school, right?" her boyfriend inquired with a mocking undertone.

"Of course." She thought she could remember a little bit.

"He already had a wife and kids in the United States, but when he was in Japan while on duty, he met my grandmother and fell in love with her. He divorced his wife and remarried. A few years later, my father was born." Speechless, she stared at him. Smiling, he continued, "I've already learned two things about you today, so it's fair to tell you something more."

"Okay ..."

He ran his left hand through his mane. "Grandfather wanted that my father spoke real English, so he had been teaching him since childhood. Later, father went to America for a few years to work and visit his half-siblings. When he came back, he married my mother and then I and Takeru were born."

"Rather Takeru and you," his girlfriend corrected him with a cheeky grin.

"You should be on my side, sweetheart."

"I am." She smiled sweetly at him. "Takeru-kun is older than you anyway."

"Pah. In any case, Father upheld the tradition and taught us English from childhood. And that's why we speak virtually without accent."

Nodding, Yuna asked, "So does your brother?"

"Yes. And my sister."

The girl's eye almost jumped out of her head. "You have a sister?!"

Embarrassed, Wataru grinned and stroked his hair once more. "Didn't I mention that before?"

"Eh, no?"

"Yes, me and Takeru have a little sister."

"Takeru and you." Again the high-school girl grinned cheekily.

Laughing, the singer clenched his fist and slapped her shoulder. "You are so mean, Yuna-chan. As a punishment, you have to walk to Hikari."

The blue-haired girl shrugged calmly. "Alright." She looked past him and down the street. "The few houses I manage just on foot."

"We are nearly there?"

"Yeah," she chirped, bouncing casually past her boyfriend. "Come on. Don't fall asleep, Captain America." Grinning, Wataru shook his head and pushed his bike to follow her.