“The Rebirth of River and Lyric” (54.6)

After the beam chasers game (the Turbos won, yay?), it was off to the mall a block away with a book store and a game store enclosed within. As we all gathered outside the arena to make sure nobody was left behind, Berin pulled up in his car. He rolled his window down as I approached.

"You haven't been waiting out here this whole time, have you?" I asked.

"I went to get a donut and a peppermint mocha, I was mostly waiting in that absurdly long line," Berin said, showing me his coffee shop conquests. "How was the game?"

"Well, I was definitely...it sure had some sports," I said.

"Not the highest praise," Berin said.

"Nah, but my friends were really happy about it," I said, nodding in particular at the Kalei led portion of my big group, where various hoots and hollers were still being emitted into the afternoon sky. "Thanks again for the tickets."

"Of course," Berin said. "Anyone need a ride to the next stop on your little getaway?"

"Nah, it's just down the street," I said. "Thanks, though!"

"I might join you for the book romp, if having me around won't be too much for ya," Berin said. He took a sip of coffee right after saying it, looking away. I felt bad about him bracing for his kid rejecting him on this endeavor.

"I'm fine with it," I said. "There are so many of us here that even if I did get embarrassed about my dad coming along, I don't think anyone would notice."

"Well, if the parental embarrassment levels reach critical, just say the word and I'll retreat to the car," Berin said.

Our group split into two, with some of us wanting to see the books right away, and others wanting to go to the video game store for video game-y things. I still wasn't much of a gamer, so I didn't think I'd find anything I'd want there, so books it was.

"Mind the tail," Amara said as we entered the book store.

"Huh?" I said, turning to my new-ish tail.

"Automatic doors," Amara said, gesturing to the shunting pieces of glass moving about. "From my experience, many of their sensors can detect people, but not tails."

"Well, thank you!" I said.

"Just a little tail tip from an experienced tail haver to a newbie," Amara said.

The bookstore was a bit less cozy than I hoped, I don't know why I expected different from a big brand place. That said, the selection was wild, and I wasn't even sure where to begin. I gravitated toward Lillia, who was with Ko Matora.

I was surprised Ko was in the book group, but it was clear that was a Lillia decision.

"We'll definitely check out the games after this," Lillia said.

"Yeah, for sure," Ko said. "Where are the comics? I wanna see if they have the new Hado Diconius."

"Oh, that thing's still going?" I said.

"Oka," Lillia said, pushing her glasses up.

"Yes?"

"I believe your shoelaces may be untied," Lillia said.

"Huh?" It took me a second to realize what she meant. "Oh, I better...go take care of that."

Lillia and I had agreed upon a code phrase in situations where one of us was being a third wheel while the other wanted time with their girl. None of us had actually used it yet, so I was kind of surprised Lillia busted it out.

"Dang, I actually got Code Shoelace'd..." I muttered.

I found myself a bit at a loss. My attempts at being supportive for friends fell flat here, with Aira more interested in trying to see what would happen if she teleported halfway up one of the escalators (the answer: getting in trouble with the staff). Michi found the artbook section and didn't seem to want to talk to me. The love trio didn't seem like they had any immediate problems they wanted to vent to me about, but Amara did warn me about getting my tail stuck in an escalator, which made me feel like Zeta. And feeling like Zeta made me miss Zeta.

I found Berin perusing the biographies section.

"Everything OK?" He asked after I let out a pretty pathetic sigh.

"Yep, OK-Oka has it all going good," I said.

"That didn't sound very OK," Berin said. "Wanna talk about it?"

I was hoping to be the one giving the heartfelt chats, but it wasn't working so far. Maybe I needed to be the recipient of one rather than the instigator?

"I kind of wanted to be helpful, and I was hoping I could talk things out with my friends about what we're all going through, ya know?" I said. "But nobody really wants to talk about any of it..."

"Hm," Berin said. "If the vibe isn't right tonight, maybe it's best to just focus on the fun stuff? I bet just hanging out like this helps a lot."

I grumbled at that, but he had a point.

"You could focus on having fun next, too?" Berin said. "Don't spend your whole night trying to be a listening board for people that aren't talking. This is supposed to be fun for you, too. Didn't you want to get something here?"

"I dunno where to even start," I said.

"I saw one you might like," Berin said. He scanned the shelves, pulling one of the biographies out.

I gasped at the cover, featuring a woman in a cutesy patchwork costume. "Pajama Lara Buttonfelt wrote a book?"

One of my childhood icons, who I watched as much as I was able to growing up.

"Must've just come out." Berin said. "You want it? My treat."

A twinge of guilt hit me. "I...you've gotten me a lot of stuff already today." I said.

"Yeah, well, sometimes I can spoil my kid, right?" Berin said.

"I guess," I said. I looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then gave Berin a quick hug. I told myself that I'd focus on that fun part for the rest of the night the best I could.