Mia sat on the bed, lazily poking the red haro that the crew had lent her to keep her company. Ian had asked her if she could put a nuclear drive into the Aegis as well, Ailee's unit, the only Gundam that ran on batteries. He felt it would be better, even if the battery pack used for the Aegis was quite reliable. She consented; no meister should be thrown into a battlefield where the enemy had the time, strength and number advantage.

A knock came from her door before it slid open to reveal Allelujah standing on the other side of the door. He smiled and asked her if he could join her. She obliged. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what she could and could not do in this room, as it wasn't actually hers, nor was it a spare room. It was Setsuna's.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, sitting down on the bed beside her. "I heard you were having a bad day."

"Everyone has bad days," she replied with a shrug.

"Not when you put yourself in solitary confinement," he commented, gently nudging her to share her thoughts.

"Today's just a hard day for me," she said. "I saw the stars, and today's one of those days that Dad and I usually watch them together. I know it's been a while, but I still can't seem to let go of the yearning that I have to see him again."

"We can go out to see the stars if you want," he offered. "The view from Ptolemaios is a little blocked, but if we go on the Arios and stay on the moon, I think the view is all right."

She laughed despite her sadness. "I don't think the stars look as beautiful as they do on the moon as they do on earth."

"Why wouldn't they?" he asked. "It would just be less comfortable, but I think it would be just as lovely. Do you really want to watch the stars?"

She briefly hummed monotonously as she thought about it before saying, "No, it's not necessary. Unless you can spew out the names of the constellations correctly, I think it would be too much work."

He laughed. She was getting back to her regular self. "Sorry, I've never really paid much attention to the stars. Tell me, what's it like to have a Dad?"

~°~

It was the only day that Ailee had said that she was going out that everyone seemed to be busy and needed to be outside. Marie, as they were accustomed to, went to the market on Saturdays. Everyone knew that. Because it was the only day that someone was actually in the house, even if they were all comfortable with the idea of leaving it unmanned. However, out of habit, they always tried leaving at least one person behind at all times.

Usually, Allelujah or Lockon would be around, but Lockon was called out for a mission and Allelujah was in space with the others. Setsuna--seemingly only God knew where Setsuna was. He never considered this house as his house, always coming by only when he needed to. But even today, he was out to support Lockon on his mission.

Really, it was just her. And on the day she had to work on her project with Dongwoo, too!

He'd said it was okay with him to work in her house. He said he could just bring his laptop and other materials. But the thing was, she wasn't too sure if it was actually okay to have him over.

There were things laying around that told anyone that would step into the threshold that there was something amiss around here, that there was something different. Because after all, how can someone miss the gigantic Celestial Being logo plastered on the wall in the common room downstairs? Well, it was the basement, so no one really expects anyone to just waltz in there without permission, but if there was just one careless person, what would happen then?

Just as Ailee began to ponder new excuses to get Dongwoo out of the house as soon as possible, the doorbell rings. It's Dongwoo.

"Hi!" he chirped brightly, just as he's always done.

"Hey," she replied, opening the door wider. "Come in," she said, motioning for him to enter. "Everyone's out at the moment, so it's just you and me. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Water's great, thanks," he replied, tailing her to the kitchen. He whistled approvingly. "Whoever keeps the kitchen does a mighty good job at it! It's spotless!"

She laughed. "Well, Marie is devoted to keeping the house moving like a clock."

"Who?" he asked.

"My brother's friend's wife," she replied, though really, she wasn't too sure if they were married. Neither of them wore rings, and they've never actually been able to visit a priest or a person of authority to declare them that, or so she was told.

"Ah," he responded. "You never told me you lived in a full house. All this time, I thought it was just you and your brother, since you said your parents were overseas."

She let out a laugh. "That's just the way things are. We all decided to come here, so instead of living separately, my brother thought it would be better if we all pooled our resources and efforts. I never thought it would matter a lot to you."

"It shouldn't, but it's always nice to know more about others," he shrugged. "So, shall we get started on our homework?"

"Let's go!" she agreed.

Dongwoo stretched. They'd almost finished their paper--with much thanks to a ton of coffee and few breaks in between. Both of them seemed to think that their team work was quite good, as they'd started a little later than they'd originally planned but finished earlier than they'd expected. Well, it was either that or it was because they were practically running on adrenaline due to the fear of being late.

"Wow, look at the time!" he exclaimed. He'd practically spent the whole night in someone else's house.

She laughed tiredly, agreeing to his sentiment. "Well, we're almost done here, so I guess it's going to be fine."

"Hmm. Hey, aren't you worried that no one's back yet?" he asked. He'd been in their house for over 12 hours, yet he'd never laid eyes on any other person other than Ailee. Not that he minded--he honestly found Ailee to be a very beautiful girl--but it was still odd.

"Nah," she scoffed. "Marie has a number of other things that she needs to do other than tend to the house. Like a date with her husband or something. And my brother tends to work overtime. He's a workaholic."

"Is that so? My brother's a lot like that as well," he laughed.

"Really?"

"Yes," he replied. "A workaholic and an overachiever. A little runt like me has no chance of competing against a titan like that."

"But Zeus defeated his father, a titan. And David defeated the giant Goliath. I think you can surpass your brother, too," she said with an encouraging smile.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"I know so," she replied.