Thanks to Colin and Catie for betaing. ^^ And to Colin for being the main idea-man behind this vignette. He's mah hero~

It is a cold night, almost unseasonably so. A premature glimpse at fall. Faced with the sudden absence of warmth, the people outside awkwardly seek it, donning light jackets, even though the weather doesn't quite call for it.

I watch the street from a comfortable, if slightly spartan waiting room and I hold the well-worn card that Karen gave me loosely between two fingers, fiddling with it almost nervously.

I look up, catching the carefully neutral but still disapproval-laced gaze of the overseer in the glass of the window. I realize with a start that holding the card of a rival soapland was probably the height of rudeness, considering where I was.

Pocketing it quickly, I sigh, closing my eyes briefly. What was I doing here?

Yukiko, the girl I had been assigned, entered the room, bowing politely. It's my first time in a soapland, and I hadn't expected her to be so traditional, so polite. It jars unnaturally with the black lace teddy and fishnets, the bleached-blonde of her shoulder-length hair.

She leads me upstairs, chattering lightly about the weather, the stock market. Stupid things, just to lighten the mood, to set me at ease.

I'm not at ease at all. I tune her out, staring at the lingerie-clad bottom that swings in my face. Thinking about Shimako and Yuka - only the thought of my family makes my skin crawl right now, and I resolutely shut their faces away. They are strangers to me now, they have to be.

I can't let myself have feelings for another right now. It would simply be a weakness, something that can be exploited. The fate of humanity, of the people I've grown to care for... that is greater than my simple feelings, isn't it?

And if I can't put them from my heart entirely, I can, at least make them strangers in this new existance of mine. I regret telling the others about them. They ask about Shimako and how Yuka is doing in school, and I can't let myself worry about them right now. I talk to them infrequently, think about them less every day. I have more pressing concerns now.

She smiles back at me, and I realize I've probably been too quiet. I nod, agreeing with her pleasantly, even though I don't know what she's on to now. It doesn't matter.

Through the window, a neon light glows, shockingly red against the evening sky. It highlights her wavy hair, the curve of her body.

Suddenly, I know exactly why I'm here.