Page 313 of Light Leech

“This was the store where it happened,” he said, pointing at a shot from the front of the building. Naoma and I were seen standing in front of the building when she exposed her identity to them.

“I know, Kun, I was there!”

“Right, yeah.” He laughed with a touch of embarrassment but didn’t let it overcome him. “Remember how you said you were worried what they would think after leaving for so long?”

She nodded. I didn’t recall her ever speaking of such a thing in front of him. He was young but had keen senses that made me even more excited about his future.

“You were so wrong!”

Her laugh was a deep joy filled with relief.

“What? Did I say something wrong again?”

“No,” Naoma said.

“Your Amerikese is better than Boyband’s by now,” Akna said.

Kuni smiled but continued to speak without acknowledgement. “The people on the news were asking a lot of questions.”

“Like what?” Naoma asked.

“Like–”

Akna patted Kuni’s shoulder. “Why don’t we let her just watch. Okay, du?”

“Why?”

“Because she has probably already had enough attention for now and just needs to process it on her own.” She looked at Naoma but still spoke to Kuni. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You really should check it out.” Then she looked at me. “You, too, especially.”

“What?”

Her voice wasn’t assuring. “You’ll see.”

“Thanks for the call, Kun,” Naoma said. “I’m glad you called.”

“Of course!”

“Not too boring there without me?”

“No, Abbas is making me read these old Amerkese things.”

“It’s kinda cute,” Akna said. “Now that Abbas doesn’t have to hide behind a Republic-born identity, he’s been working on revisiting classics in Republic history and such while teaching Kuni. Abbas seems to know everything already so I think the whole thing is just an excuse to seem humble.”

“Still going for that act?” I said.

Akna nodded, then checked over her shoulder before speaking. “I mean, can you blame him? Now that he’s closer to us, I think the betrayal is weighing on him more than ever. Deeds speak louder than words and I don’t know the last time he asked for forgiveness or apologized.”

“I’m glad. Are you hanging in there?”

She nodded. “It’s pretty chill right now, which is a big change from the last… weeks? Months? I dunno anymore. I’ll go out every now and then to feed, but we’ve been laying low to keep any excess attention away from here.”

“Naoma, let’s jump into our own chat,” Kuni said. “I want to tell you about some of the things I’ve been trying with my eel body.”

“Pulse.”