002

"Coffee is the nectar of the gods~," Haya said, followed by a satisfied 'hmm'. She went into the balcony and sat in front of her laptop, facing me. We were both sitting down on the floor of the balcony, the violent violet lights of the city reflecting on our room. She handed me my coffee. It had blue mountain beans, a rarity nowadays.

"The rain started pouring 10 minutes ago," I said, sipping my coffee. I haven't tasted this in a while.

"Status?" She asked.

"Acid," I replied. She let out a deep sigh and rubbed her forehead for a while. There was silence.

"Do you ever have dreams?" She asked, out of place, out of character, suddenly.

"...Yes?" I replied, a bit dumbfounded.

"And?"

"I… why are you asking?"

She looked around for a while, "Curiosity?" She said.

"Ugh, fine. So, about 20 years ago I saw this… movie about detectives and a weird overarching mystery. And since then I kinda wanted to be one."

"Interesting." She said, typing on her laptop, bits of code reflect on her glasses. "And are all these real?"

Silence fell on us, I looked at her and she seemed somewhat serious. I have no choice but to answer. "I don't know," I said.

"I figured as much."

A long, awkward silence fell on us again, the only sounds are the rain falling on the roof of the balcony, her typing on the keyboard, and us sipping on our coffees.

"You've… taken your meds?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"Seeing as how I haven't had a coughing fit for at least 20 minutes, yes, I have taken my medicine."

"I see, I see… uhh… how about you? Have you ever had dreams?"

She looked up, to me, to my eyes. She sat up straight, trying to look professional and with a strong conviction in her voice, she says "Yes!" Then smiled.

"C-could you elaborate?"

She cleared her throat. "When I was 10 years old I saw a documentary about the dangers of Terrium powerplants in our civilization, and ever since then I've been gathering evidence to take down Terrium as a primary energy source," She followed up with a snicker, "hundreds of years of evolution in the field of energy and Terrium is still the primary source." She leaned forward to her laptop, the bright light of the laptop being reflected on her glasses. I can't see her eyes.

"So that's your dream? To bring down Terrium?"

"Yeah, obviously. Terrium gets its energy from the Earth's core. And when it goes wrong it can destroy Earth as a whole."

"But doesn't it seem pretty stable now? Plus it powers all of magecraft. Taking it down means taking down the primary source of almost 90% of civilization."

"Yes. That's why I'm working on finding another source of renewable energy that doesn't threaten Earth."

"And have you found some?"

"No. I do have one whose potential power output far exceeds that of regular energy sources. To the point where I think it could potentially be a source for infinite energy."

"And that is?"

"The concept of using heat generated throughout the timeline of humanity's history as an energy source. Past and future. Although as long as I'm not able to prove that such a heat exists, It won't be usable."

"How did you even come up with such a concept."

"Magic exists, a couple hundred years ago they didn't. So I have all to believe that such a heat exists."

"I… I see." I stood up, leaned on the balcony railings and lit up a cigarette.

"Don't smoke in my vicinity."

"I'll blow it away from you."

"Thanks."

I huffed and I puffed. I saw the hazy smoke rise into the air, carried away and mixed with the raindrops.

"Hey, partner."

"Hm?"

"It's all too broad, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"The world, its history. And all that."

"I.. don't know, I never considered that." I looked over to her, she was still typing, still drinking coffee. It was as if another was talking and not her.

"With how broad the history of our world is… Do you think two people who lived back then… managed to live again?" I hear her snicker from under her breath.

I huffed the last bit of my cigar and threw it down, "Who would want to reincarnate in this world."

"Maybe… it reminded them of each other?"

I scoffed, "Reincarnating in a cruel world because it reminded them of each other. Bit cruel, don't you think?"

"I think it's romantic."

"I don't know…" The night went on.

.

.

.

.

"I get the top bed!" She suddenly yelled out.

"What!? No! Why do you always get top bed?!"

"Cause I called dibs first ha! Ha!"

"That's... fine. I don't approve of this but I guess it's strategically better."

"You always say that."

"Do I?"

"Yes. You do." She said, showing her tongue as if to tease me.

The night went on, we slept late that night. We talked about the times we had with our first partners and what had happened to them. She had fallen asleep first, and it was a hassle to throw her at the top bed. It's a busy day tomorrow.