>"Oh, it was nothing much," Aoi says, obviously happy to be complimented despite her protests.
>With all the distractions and other business handled, you get back to plotting a course. Well, not all the distractions, there are still cows lingering outside the vessel, and every so often you glance up to see Hikoboshi shooing them further down the field, moving with a lazy gait that matches her herd. Koa seems to take it upon herself to make faces at the cattle through the window, while Aoi cleans up after breakfast. But this aside, you figure out what you need to do without too much trouble, plotting the new course.

>_

>"Just let me get into position," Aoi says, as she moves toward her spot. "There, ready."

>_

Hey, now. If you want some really crazy stuff told to children, try reading some of the less known Grimm fairytales. This one's good. Pretty messed up and not even a little bit Slavic.

Much, much later, we were looking at stars with my father when we noticed something on the horizon: an object that rapidly brightened more or less to match Venus, then faded just as suddenly. It was simply a satellite flare, most likely an Iridium flare (it's a damn shame they don't happen anymore). I wasn't exactly scared of it, but I didn't know about satellite flares at the time and the thought of an event that I could not explain to the best of my knowledge was unsettling.

> "Mmm. And how soon is the election?"

I used to sleep as close to the wall as possible because of a nursery rhyme that went "don't sleep at the edge or the wolf will bite you". Thanks, grandma!