Chapter 4

Mari scooped one up as she passed by on the way to her usual table, Matsura right behind her. It wasn’t the beer she usually drank, but any beer was better than waiting for the mad rush to be over. She clinked her glass with Matsura’s and took a swig.

A table of Level 3 sources were watching them, gathered in a tight group and wrapped up in summer yukata. “So where have you been then?” one asked

“What do you mean?” Mari asked. She couldn’t help but notice that none of them were drinking beer. It wasn’t that she thought that everybody had to drink it, but all of them had drinks one might consider more refined. Sources sometimes thought of pilots as boorish and rough, but as much as she didn’t want to play into stereotypes, she liked beer, and that was that. Maybe they liked their classy mixed cocktails and high-end wines, too. Mari just hated it when the differences were so obvious.