"Who is it?" said Mia, scarabs readied below her seat.

"It's me!" replied Yuruko's voice, and Mia opened the door for her.

"Is everything alright?"

Yuruko nodded. "Um, I need to talk to you about something."

"…er. Alright." nodded Mia, sitting down.

Yuruko sat across from her with her free hand scrunching. She didn't look very talkative now.

"…I don't want to be in the Royal Four anymore. And it's not you or Samuel, it's just that I..."

"…does it have to do with your schoolwork?"

"…my schoolwork, yeah. And, and it's not your fault. It's not - it doesn't have anything to do with you or Samuel. I'm just already having a hard time keeping up in my classes, and -"

" - you - I'm sorry." Mia smiled. "I - I just want to let you know that this is alright. I understand if you need to leave. I'm… I'm sorry if I've done anything to make that worse."

"…um. You kinda did. I'm not gonna lie, it… I was starting to get mad at you about it, because you didn't - I know Serena was the one who asked, but… nobody told me about it before. You putting me in your squad. And it's nice that you did, and I told you I could do it, so…"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Yuruko smiled. "Do you know if you can get the staff to - the once a month hunting thing?"

"Yes." nodded Mia. "I'll have them waive it for you, if you'd like."

"Yeah. I might still be able to go out once in a while, it's just… yeah. It's a lot of work, but. Maybe every now and then."

"Someone has to get Serena's references."

Yuruko laughed. "Yeah."

"She… did mention to me you were feeling a little stressed, but - I wasn't sure if it was alright to ask you."

Yuruko nodded. "…we ended up getting in to an argument about it. We made up, but… still feels like I need to make it up to her somehow."

"I still remember the first time Aimee and I argued." said Mia.

"…yeah. I was thinking recently about, uh… how her and I are kinda getting to that point. Getting married, I mean."

Mia smiled. Nearly half a year in, she still loved calling Aimee her wife. "You've been together for two years."

"Yeah. But I still have to graduate and everything before I can even think about it, and… and I don't even know what like - what I would wear and what Serena would wear. I mean, you let her wear all black, but -"

" - it took so fucking long to find something she would wear -" - laughed Mia -

" - yeah, and I know she would've just gone in something white if you got too annoyed, but -"

" - I wanted her to feel comfortable, at least, but…" Mia laughed. "She can't get married in black."

"She'll probably ask you to be her maid of honor." grinned Yuruko.

Mia smiled. "Do you have anyone in mind for your's?"

"…ummmm. Not… really, actually. Serena's my only friend besides… you and Samuel. That's why she's my girlfriend. I don't know what it is that - we just get each other, I guess. Like, we're not - it's not just that we're in to the same things, it's that we're the same type of person, too. You know what I mean?"

"I have that with Aimee. She sometimes asks me why I love her, and… I know she wants me to say - a few things, in particular - but I can't point to any one reason why I love her, or, or even why all of the reasons add up to why I love her. I just do."

"Yeah. Serena used to ask me that a lot, too. I dunno if that's why like, I never... I never dated anyone trans before, but she just… I dunno. I understood when she used to talk about feeling uncomfortable in her body and stuff like that, because I have that too, a little. And connecting with other people. That's stuff that's just always been hard for me."

"…can I ask you something about Serena?"

"Sure."

"…I remember when she came out to me in her second year, she would tell me about certain, er… about her being misgendered, or how close she was to her Thailand Revenant, or if her voice sounded alright..."

"…yeah. I've noticed that, too." Yuruko frowned slightly. "I mean, I didn't get to see her much after she got her sex change, since she was in the travel group, but she does feel different now, yeah. She doesn't talk about that stuff anymore."

Mia nodded. "I suppose that she wouldn't, but…"

"…yeah. I'm not sure if that's - maybe that's something that - I mean, how much do you think about being a lesbian? I think I only think about being bisexual when someone's being a dick online. Maybe that's just something that she's... I guess that's just who we date, or… whatever. It doesn't have to be everything about us. I think most of the time it'd be nice if it wasn't."

"It doesn't. I suppose."

With the tone Mia said it, Yuruko thought for a second she didn't believe Serena was alright. Neither did she.

"…yeah. But, um… glad that I don't have to worry about anything but my classes anymore. I'm gonna talk to my professor when he gets back, too, but… I already feel better."

"I'm glad."

"I should probably, uh, go and tell Serena how it went, and… let Samuel know and… yeah. I knew you wouldn't be like, mad or anything, but - just felt kinda weird about it." Her free hand scrunched.

"It's alright. Don't worry." nodded Mia. "I believe I know who I'll ask to replace you, then."

"Who?"

"Sylvia. And… I believe I'll have Kate handle contracts."

Yuruko winced. "Gonna be able to handle Maria?"

Mia nodded. "I wanted to talk to Sylvia about it eventually."

"Yeah. That'd probably be good."

The two stood, hugging before they left.

◆◆◆

On New Year's Eve, the Royal Four had a party with Timepact. They were Sylvia-less for now, though Mia figured she would bring it up once the semester started back up. She had invited her & Maria, but they were out dealing with all the drunken Revenants that came up around this time, making sure their screaming didn't reach the children with their parents standing under the big pine tree in a Manhattan plaza.

Mia & Aimee made every platter in minutes with Blackburn ingredients, and the rest of the agency swapped stories of everything besides work. Somehow, the gossip back on campus & the characters they met always beat out the tales of Revenants once the drink had taken off their warm sense of alertness. Mia thought at first that Saya & Luna had decided not to attend, but eventually saw the two in a dark backroom with a door that looked like a blind made of beads. Luna was laying on Saya's lap and the medic let her closed eyes fool her in to thinking it was Luna with the keys to the music, her head humming slowly, her fingers sinking underneath Luna's hair.

Naomi was there, too, with her new protege Olivia. Makoto & her were by the drinks every few minutes it seemed like. The men were speaking in the corner, and to some amusement she saw Serena & Yuruko there, probably talking about some videogame like its release was the most important thing that had happened this decade. Rin came to visit again and showed up with a big bucket of fried chicken, telling everyone she had made an ice angel on the surface of the water outside, but the only person cold enough to check was Matoi & the two didn't come back until an hour later and Rin came in giggling without a single drop of her drink finished.

Sometime during the night, Mia realized that Marisa had arrived and went over to her, smiling as the two hugged and exchanged greetings.

"How's presidency going?" said Marisa.

"It's going well." Mia nodded. "…er. It was a little busy in the first few months, but it's getting better, I suppose."

"Yeah." Marisa smiled. "I mean, Matoi had trouble too the first few months, right? I'm sure you can do it."

"Thank you." Mia smiled. "…er. Is everything going well with you?"

Marisa nodded, and gesturing vaguely to the starters, went off. Matoi was already there, and the two laughed about something Mia couldn't hear. An unusual feeling of jealousy arose in her.

She wondered when her old mentor's voice had begun growing dimmer.

[END OF ARC: MIRRORED IDENTITY]