'Stronger' and 'fantasy' were loaded words for Airi, and she bit the inside of her lip while she listened. "Sounds rough," she said with a mostly flat tone of voice, desperately trying to conceal exactly how much she could sympathize with the first half of Yomi's story.

Airi nearly latched on 'school' to divert the topic, but remembered Mele wouldn't have—



"I knew a guy who lied a lot," Mele said, spinning her fork between her fingers and lightly stabbing at her food, "He could make people believe in anything. Biding his time, making our lives hell." The fork went down heavily on the last word, and she forced herself to put the fork down. Mele really hated Long, that conniving— She shook her head to clear the negativity.