"Well, I wasn't always alone," she said distantly, laughing. "People would come and go for a while. Apparently I was one of the last. Eventually, we all left and stopped coming back. It's been centuries since then." She shrugged.

"I... didn't want to forget. There were so many things that I didn't want to forget. Your face... the feel of your hair between my fingers." And ... then she blinked and looked down at her plate, nodding, her eyes closed. She fidgeted, struggling. She'd waited a long time to see Asuka again, given up on fin-rot entirely.

"I know... which is why I want to ask something. You've only said that to her, and to me... Fuck, I'm not good at this. I'm really not good at this." They both sucked at relationships. They really did.