It had been two weeks since Sophia and Astra's date, and their relationship issue started to rear its ugly head again.

It's not that they didn't love each other, it was that Astra had too much going on.
Sophia even contemplated taking on more missions to take her mind off things, but Astra was her partner, so she was only allowed to do computer work for other agents' missions.

The silver lining in all of this was that she was able to spend more time with Olga.

She was actually a lot of fun to be around, and although their conversations at the start would always circle back to her relationship with Astra, their latest conversations didn't involve Astra at all.

"So you always knew you wanted to be an agent?", asked Sophia.

The pair were walking through the Training Grounds, to get to a special area at the back of the building, where flowers grew.

Olga nodded.
"My parents were against it, but I was a rather rebellious teenager.
I enrolled in a training programme when I was fourteen, after forging my mother's signature."

Sophia's eyes widened.
"Wow!
Never in a millions years would I have expected that from you, Olga."

Olga shrugged.
"Everyone has a past."

"So what made you come here?"

"My first girlfriend, actually.
She told me about this place, and we applied together.
We got in when we were 16."

"What happened to her?"

"She broke up with me two years later. She didn't like that I was better than her in our classes."

Sophia stopped in her tracks when she heard this.
She looked at Olga, expecting to see her eyes brimming with tears.

To her surprise, Olga looked like she was just re-telling what she had for breakfast yesterday.

"Doesn't it make you sad now?"

Olga shook her head.
"Not really."

"Wow.
If that was me, I'd have cried for weeks after.
And I'd definitely struggle to re-tell the story."

"Oh I did cry.
An awful lot, actually.
But it didn't do anything for me.
It felt good to get my emotions out, but there's a fine line between freeing oneself and wallowing in your sadness."

Sophia was in awe of Olga's maturity. And the fact that someone so mature was actually giving Sophia the time of day meant more to her than she realised.

Olga's eyes lit up when she looked ahead.
"Aren't they beautiful?"

Sophia followed her gaze, a smile appearing on her face when she saw the flowers.

Sunflowers, blue delphiniums, lilies, petunias, marigolds, carnations, dandelions, dahlias, and Calista's Mark —a flower that was native to Plurg, covered the field.

Characterised by its incredibly short yellow stem, and eggplant purple petals, Calista's Mark was used for medicinal purposes, but was also edible if cooked correctly.

As for it's name, theories had been thrown around for decades, but no one knew how it got its name.

Sophia ran over to the marigold section, her smile brightening when she reached out and gently touched them.

"The marigolds are my favourite", she said.

"They are beautiful.
The blue delphiniums are my favourite though.
My parents wanted to call me Delphi, after the flowers."

"Really?
I can't imagine you as anything other than an Olga", admitted Sophia.

Olga chuckled.
"Yes, a few people have told me that."

Sophia watched as Olga approached the sunflowers.
Sophia cocked her head to the side as she continued to oberve Olga.

A small bird with red fur landed on Olga's shoulder.
The older woman gently lifted her hand up and guided the small bird onto her index finger.

An affectionate smile appeared on Sophia's face, although she was too engrossed in what Olga was doing to notice.

Unaware at first, a slight shift—the smallest of shifts, occurred.

Maybe it was something in the air.
Or maybe it was the way the sun highlighted the warmth of Olga's face, and the beauty of her golden curls.

Maybe it was the way she was carefully caressing the bird, as if she was promising she wouldn't let any harm come to it.

Whatever it was, one thing was certain.

It caused a shift that would be hard to ignore.

★★★

In the two weeks since being told they had the most potential to master the Soul Searcher ability, Makoto had been struggling.

It was as if all the 'core' energy Oren spoke about had disappeared.
Some days they'd feel it, but then they'd be exhausted and drained the next day.

Oren was doing his daily meditating in the fitness training room, when Makoto barged into the room, black sludge seeping from their eyes.

"H-Help!"

Oren's eyes widened, and he hurried over to Makoto, taking their hand in his.
He scanned Makoto's face, before gently tugging on their under-eye area and looking into their eyes.

"Does it hurt?"

Makoto shook their head.
"No.
It's just unc-comfortable."

"Alright, don't worry.
This is a common side effect of overworking yourself when you practise the Soul Searcher."

"Wh-what?
Your eyes bleed?"

"They're not bleeding.
You're just working yourself too hard. Your eyes will heal in a couple of hours, but you'll need to put a blindfold on whilst your eyes heal."

Makoto groaned.
"This is a mess!
I can't do anything right."

Oren's face softened.
"No, this is my fault.
I didn't know you'd push yourself so hard."

"I just wanted to be good at something."

Oren watched as Makoto held their hand out, to feel their surroundings, before finding a chair and slumping in it.

He frowned, the pain and sadness on Makoto's face tugging at Oren's heartstrings.

"You're the best when it comes to fitness", said Oren.

Makoto scoffed.
"Hana can do better."

"Is that your sister?"

Makoto nodded.
"Yeah."

"So this isn't really about being better than the other trainees?
It's about being better than your sister?"

Makoto sighed.
"I... I know my parents love me.
But when you're up against someone who's great at everything, especially combat... it gets harder to feel that love."

Oren nodded, before pulling up a chair and sliding it closer to Makoto.

"You know, when I first joined this agency... I was terrified.
I couldn't fight, and I was out of breath by the time I climbed the stairs to Head Guard Calihan's office!", he said, chuckling at the end.

"I compared myself to everyone.
Then I met Alessa", he said, his gaze suddenly lowering to the ground, and his eyebrows furrowing.

Makoto desperately wanted to see Oren's facial expressions right now, but they were certain Oren was saddened by this memory.

"She was this bubbly ball of energy, a total ray of sunshine.
She showed me around.
She introduced me to Faizah, then the others.
And the more time I spent with the others, the less I compared myself to them.
They were brilliant individuals, just like I was."

"I don't think that works for my family though.
Honestly, I feel guilty more than anything."

"Guilty?", questioned Oren.

Makoto nodded.
"Yeah.
Because Hana loves me.
And I love her.
So when I get angry at her for something she can't help but be... I feel disgusting."

"That's normal, Makoto.
When you've been in an environment where someone you love excels so much, well... feeling inadequate, and like you want them to fail sometimes... it's one of the most natural feelings in the world."

"I wish it wasn't."

"Well... it sounds like you haven't let it get between you two."

Makoto shook their head.
"No way.
How could I?
Not when she's always been there for me."

Oren smiled.
"I wish I had a sibling.
But, then again... I guess the other trainers are kind of like my siblings."

"Which one's the bossy and overbearing one?"

"Hmm.
It's a tie between Astra and Imelda."

Makoto and Oren chuckled, and opening up to Oren made Makoto feel like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

★★★

"And I have the most beautiful uniform!", grinned Rhiannon.

She was on a call to her twin brother Mikey—the first call she made since arriving at the agency.

"But enough about me!
What's going on with you?"

"Well... my band just got signed to a record label!
We had our first proper event yesterday, and I'll never forget this one girl who told me our music saved her from a really dark place."

Rhiannon's eyes widened. Musicians weren't all that common in Plurg.
Of course, there were some people that played instruments, or could sing, but it was generally seen as a hobby.

Rhiannon had always struggled with finding her purpose in life.
Her mother inherited a successful tech company that transformed lives, not just by what was created, but by all the job opportunities they gave to others.

Then there was her father, who quite literally saved lives in his job as a heart surgeon.
Her childhood home was covered in thank you notes from former patients and their loved ones.

Her older sister, Julia, was a famous scientist.
The amount of published research papers that were framed in her room showed how successful she was.

Her younger siblings were too young to have their lives figured out yet, but Rhiannon found herself relating more to them than she wanted to.

As much as it pained her to say it, Mikey not fulfilling his dreams made her feel better about not having the one thing she truly wanted in life.

A purpose.

"Rhi?
Are you still there?"

"Erm, yep, yeah... still here.
That's great, Mikey.
I'm... I'm really proud of you."

"Aww, well I'm proud of you, Rhi!
My baby sister's out here saving
lives—"

"You're only two hours older than me!"

"Best two hours of my life."

"Mum thinks differently."

Mikey chuckled.
"So, what else have you been up to?"

Someone knocked on Rhiannon's door with so much force that it startled the young woman.
Rhiannon put her phone down and quickly rushed to the door, her eyes widening when she opened it.

"Oh my gosh, Makoto!"

Oren placed Makoto's arm around Rhiannon's shoulders, and the pair guided Makoto to Rhiannon's bed.

"They'll be fine in a few hours.
Just make sure you don't remove their blindfold", said Oren.

When Oren left, a worried Rhiannon turned to Makoto.

"What happened?"

"I pushed myself too hard when I practised the Soul Searcher."

"Why?"

"You guys are way better at combat than I am, and I just wanted—"

"Well you'll learn, ok?
Direct all your energy into learning how to fight."

"But I don't want—"

"Do you want to die?
Say goodbye to your family?"

The anger in Rhiannon's voice took Makoto by surprise.
They simply shook their head.

"Good.
I'll help you as much as I can, ok?
We'll turn you into a fighting machine."

Makoto frowned, but lowered their head so Rhiannon couldn't see it.

Why wouldn't she listen?

They didn't want to fight.

________________

Hi.

Sophia's found someone to confide in, but it's become less about asking for advice and more about turning to Olga instead of Astra. What could this mean for the young couple?

Makoto and Rhiannon are struggling. Oren was on hand to help Makoto out though, but what about Rhiannon? Will the pair be able to open up to each other?

Out of curiosity, who is your favourite trainer?

Any theories?

I'm so excited to share the next chapter!

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

ruesbennett

SoniczurcX

bardsarethebest