Ayume
Legacy Name: Ayume

It was mid-afternoon on a school day, so there was little movement in the Trading Card Center. A customer who would likely be the last one for the hour had just left, and Ayume barely waited to see him turning the corner before putting on her earphones and returning to the handheld console she had closed mid-battle.

Naturally, she didn't expect the doors to open only a few minutes after, and was not surprisingly alarmed when an unannounced somebody suddenly waved a hand across her field of vision.

Her shock caused her hair to flare up at the tips (only the tips! that wasn't really something to tell Dr. Garber about) and burn to ashes the band tying her braid in place. She tried not-so-successfully to tame her loose waves down.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't see you come in," she mumbled to the wooden counter. "W-what may I help you with?"

She tentatively raised her head, expecting him to look at least a little impatient (if not furious, which was... sadly not uncommon), but was met with a pair of light green eyes slit to half-moons — and an amused smile.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'm sorry I surprised you. I was... Well, was wondering if you still have that second-hand Game System for sale? The one which used to be on display, about... three weeks ago?"

It's funny the thing Ayume most paid attention to was the slight Ziaran accent that slurred his 'S's and sharpened his 'K's. So, embarrassingly, he had to wave his hand at her a second time, now looking worried himself. "Are you alright?", he asked in a quieter voice.

"I'm, uh..." She was still holding her hair down, matting it to her head like a crazy person. She would not be a crazy person. Not— not here.

She breathed in and put down her arms. "I think you mean the Rad 3.4 model. We do still have it in the back, if you would... excuse me for a moment."

The girl practically fled out of the room and into the storage deposit, pausing only to catch the still-blaring mp3 player she had dropped in the commotion.

Inside the deposit, she crouched and shut her eyes and counted to ten. Then twenty. She was about to make it to thirty when she remembered why she had come here in the first place. The shelves were mostly empty but for a few spare albums and card sets, so it was no trouble finding the stained white console they kept in the corner.

"It was sold to us like this, so we can't guarantee you the box and manuals," she lamented upon returning, doing her best to sound composed, "but I can give you a discount on a brand new Rad 9.1 controller if you'll take it anyway..."

"It's alright," he gave a slight chuckle. "I only want it for the parts."

She looked at him straight in the eye then. He would... dismantle it?

"Oh," she managed. The guy was suddenly flustered.

"I-I'm sorry. D-does that bother you? It's just that my... My friend's birthday is coming up and he kinda really wanted that new 9.1 Game System you mentioned, so I... I thought I'd make him one."

Just as Ayume began to put together what he'd said, she noticed his cheeks were deeply flushed, even against the golden brown of his complexion.

"Oh, so you... You build stuff!", she hastly amended, maybe a little too loudly.

The guy chuckled again (though a lot more timidly this time) and slurred a quiet "Yeah".

"This doesn't— I mean— That sounds great!", she mentally slapped herself for overdoing it, but he didn't seem to mind.

He looked... relieved. She was doing fine. Okay.

"It'll be— twenty thousand Subeta points, please."

The guy looked at her like he was about to argue, but thought better of it. He reached for his back pocket and retrieved the exact sum from his wallet, leaving a few thousand inside. She registered it, gave him a receipt and fumbled behind the counter for a bag in which to pack the console.

"I was sure it said thirty thousand back in the tag," he said conversationally in his pleasant, mixed accent. "Are you—", he paused, as if thinking to himself. "I mean, would you—"

When he cut himself off a second time, Ayume looked up from the counter and met his eyes. They were so... green.

"Could I maybe take you out for coffee sometime?", Echran breathed out.

Anion

Gymma

Echran

Dr. Garber