Out In

"Good. Now to here." Santeri's pointing to a spot nearly all the way across the gym, just in front of where he's currently standing. He's smiling his patient smile, but I know he's just being evil and pushing me to get back at me catching his nose earlier. Hey, sparring is sparring, he should know better! And I still feel bad about it, which he should've guessed from my apologies.

I'm sweating so profusely I bet Gabriel could use my sweat as ammo against me in a fight. I focus on the spot Santeri's still pointing to anyway, and I concentrate. Deep breath in, breath out, move.

The large gym curves, and the spot Santeri's pointing to now overlaps with the spot I'm standing on. The world looks like a kaleidoscope. Just briefly. Now I stand directly in front of my uncle. Hell. Yeah. I wasn't even sure I could bend that far.

"Excellent. Now you are undefeatable," Santeri says. I can sense pride in his voice and now I'm all flushed and smiling. Santeri waves his hand to dismiss me – finally – and I let myself flop to the ground. He starts chuckling at me, but I don't care. The ground is nice and cool... "I thought I was 'The Collapser.'" I don't even have energy to respond so I just mumble incoherently at him. "Evren, you did good. There is nothing to worry about if you ensure you focus."

"Thanks, Santeri," I finally breathe out. Fast-forwarder or not, no way has Aika or anyone else got anythin' on this now. Man, it's been a while since I've felt the need to train this hard. It's refreshing. Aika Inoue, I may be determined to keep the championship – after all, we're all hungry weirdos in this competition – but I'll admit defeat to your whole psychological warfare thing.

I let out a sigh as Santeri clatters around, probably picking up the discs and props he was throwing at me some 20 minutes ago. Now I don't need to worry. I can just approach Aika and befriend her and not feel nervous in any way.

...Right?

"She done? Finally! Evren, get Maeva to stop being a bitch!" Ah, Faith is yellin' about something again. I roll myself over, slowly, and push up. Faith is stomping over to me all frazzled while Maeva trails behind her, giggling. I can already tell what happened.

"Faith, Maeva can't keep banishing spiders from your vicinity every time you wish her to," I say, raising my brows at Maeva.

"Yeah, Faith, chill," Maeva says.

"Ugh, but she even teased me about it! She's the one with the spider figure. God, I wish I had that, but no, a friend won't even do a friend a favour," Faith continues rambling.

"I'm not your mom, Faith," I laugh.

"Yeah, but you're all caring and stuff. Might as well be," Faith shoots back. My heart warms at the unexpected compliment but I can see she's disappointed that I'm not taking her side like I usually do.

Maeva's still giggling her weirdly dark giggle when Santeri comes over to wave us off. He greets Maeva and Faith friendlily and taps me on the shoulder before we exit the gym. He's wishing me luck. I'll probably need it if Maeva's feelin' her prank-bent self.

"I think that we should go to that trampoline park out of town, in the city a few kilometres out. That place was amazing!" Faith is chattering away enthusiastically again, quickly forgetting her frustration with Maeva. Her processing speed always amazes me; I wish I could live life as carefree as she does. Though, sometimes Faith does need a calming down from her hysterics. Like right now. Maybe that's why we've stuck together.

"I just finished training, how about you at least let me shower," I say as I turn toward the shower room.

"Oh, true, maybe we shouldn't do anything athletic then," Faith laughs. "You go clean up, Evren, we'll think of something in the meantime."

I leave them at the benches and get cleaned up.

I so don't want to leave the warm spot under the showerhead - the heat is so soothing and I feel like the water and the steam are giving my skin a well-deserved cleanse - but I know that Maeva probably decided on something ages ago and might go back to teasing Faith about her fear of arachnids again. I denied it earlier, but I really can't help being the Mom Friend... Out we go, then.

"Oh, there she is! Evren, we've decided." Faith spots me as soon as I turn the corner.

"Cool, what are we doin'?"

"The park on Biscayne. Bethune Point," Maeva says. "It's chill, and there probably won't be too many people on a school night in the middle of the week. We could scout out some of the Haunt prep the community's doing, too."

A park sounds nice. I could use some fresh air and outdoor scenery. "Let's go," I say. I pull out my car keys as we make our way to the gym entrance. It's cloudy out in the parking lot, but at least it's not windy or anything. I can roll with a cloudy day occasionally. That'll mean fewer people at the park. Crowds still aren't my most favourite thing.

"So, speaking of the Haunt, you still going to the dance this year?" Faith chirps. "We don't want a repeat of you bailing on us halfway through the event. I had to deal with Daniel's weird flirting schemes! The worst..." She shudders. Now she's looking at me intently; I can see her in the rearview mirror as I'm driving.

"Listen, I'll go for as long as I want. If it gets too busy, I'm entitled to leaving," I say patiently.

"Fine," Faith elongates the word. "Then at least tell us when you're leaving so we can grab a ride before another Daniel decides to harass us."

"Hey, I'm cool with staying. No one was harassing me." There goes Maeva with her teasing again.

"Mm, maybe..." I joke. Faith takes the bait and starts complaining again. This is the kind of banter I live for. 'Caring' my butt, I'm allowed a good tease too. I finally cave after I get my fun out of riling Faith up, though. "Ok, ok, I'll be your driver for the Haunt. But no complaining in my car, the whole way home. You got it?"

"Yes! Evren, you're the best. Thank you! Ok, now the arguably more important question, you volunteering to scare in the maze again this year?"

"No, I decided to let someone else have the space. But I'm still gonna make an awesome costume. Dyeing my hair, too," I smile as I make the last turn onto Biscayne. Is it just me, or have the clouds significantly darkened?

"Your whole head?" Maeva asks. I confirm. "Wow, finally saying goodbye to the purple. I told you to switch it up ages ago. You goin' for the blue I've been suggesting, too?"

"Maeva, please, I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions," I tut at her. "I'm going for a different blue."

Now Maeva's laughing at me. Hey, not my fault she has good taste. I'm allowed to take inspiration. Faith's started ranting about her own costume now. As usual, it's totally convoluted and I still don't really get it by the time I pull into the parking area for Bethune Point. Just as I turn my engine off, the first drop of rain hits my windshield. I hear Faith groan from the back.

"It's raining?! That's the second plan ruined today. You know what? Evren, take us home, I'm done with this shit."

Maeva laughs at her but also agrees to just go home.

"God damn it, guys, I'm wastin' gas here," I complain half-heartedly as I turn my lights on and start the engine.

"Invest in an electric," Maeva shoots back. Yeah, as if. Those cost a fortune.

I'm nearing Faith's apartment complex when her sudden shrieking nearly makes me turn into a tree. "What the hell, Faith?! What's wrong?"

"A SPIDER. OH MY GOD, get it AWAY FROM ME."

Oh, dear. "Maeva, do something about it?" I ask as I signal to turn into the layup. Maeva makes a noise of deliberation, and I can hear Faith swatting at her.

"MAEVA, I SWEAR TO GOD-"

"All right, all right! Stay put. Jesus. Evren, can you put the car in park? I need to open one of these doors to get her out."

I turn into the layup area and park. I finally turn my head around and see a panicking Faith clinging onto Maeva's jacket. I totally feel for Faith, but I turn back around in case she misinterprets my worried smile. I hear the door beside Maeva open, and now Faith's mumbling thanks and profanities, so I assume Maeva finally used her figure to coax the arachnid out of the vehicle. She closes the door and Faith hyperventilates for a moment before she opens her door and waves us off before sprinting out of the rain as quickly as possible.

After I'm sure she's gotten into her complex fine, I look at Maeva through the rearview. "She knows that you won't let anything too near her, right?" I say as I throw the car into drive again.

"I think she conveniently forgets that so she can yell at me. Or she's just over-theatrical for fun. She could have her own soap opera," Maeva responds. I totally agree. "Hey, you could even co-star as the Electric Slide girl," she adds, tone shifting to one of humour. I laugh in time with the thunder outside. She really won't let me live that down, will she?

After Maeva's been dropped off at her house, I head back to my own apartment complex. Iida's probably been wondering what the glittery mess in my room is, so I need to get there ASAP, before she 'cleans up' my Halloween costume. The Fall Fair's in just under a week, and I'm super stoked about everyone's costumes. I'll have to take photos to send to the NCC group chat, and to Iida and Baba of course.

I wonder if I'll finally get to catch Aika this time. Some guy claiming to be her friend said she was going and wanted to chat with me about the NCC, but anything could happen between now and then. It's that time of year when everyone's catching colds. And who knows? Maybe she'll find me too intimidating or something. I try to look nice, but I know I've got the whole 'Commander of Space' thing looming over my head at all times.

I hope she comes, anyway, despite my title. I've been dying to properly meet her in person.