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With summer haze leaking in through every gap in the building, the beloved vista of the western district was much less appealing for Aya. The thought of screaming [i]traditional buildings are shit, give me air conditioning[/i] constantly filled her mind during the summer months. Even with her summer uniform of a thin shirt, shorts and emblazoned apron, Amato & Ito's lack of actual air conditioning was apparent. The muggy air of the rainy season damaged books, but nobody in the store really minded. It wasn't like anyone besides the most curious of minds picked up first print issues of "Love Blooming On The Battlefield: Can You Find Love In 1864 America". The latest manga magazines usually sold before the humidity rot the pages. Fans plugged into walls billowed as best they could, but they only moved in more hot air.

[i]Bzzz.[/i] Aya's pocket vibrated. Was it two already? Her mind, tortured by heat, thought eternity had already passed. She wasn't dead and trapped in some mildly hellish realm of labour and uncomfortable weather after all. With that, her shift was over. Miki was practically passed out while sitting at the counter, a small desk fan blowing onto her face. Walking past her and into their tiny excuse for a break room, she grabbed two bottles of nice and cold water and the rest of her stuff. Apron was now off and she was ready to escape the intense heat of the building. Placing one beside Miki's head as she left, she gave a quick goodbye.

[color=f5ad5f]"Headin' out. Shift's over."[/color]

The slow-roasting Miki lazily replied, her affirmation distorted from the spinning fan.

Outside was even worse. At least inside, she was protected from the sun's rays. After putting on her hat, she moved from shadow to shadow. Poles and awnings gave respite with the sun mostly overhead. For the long stretches of sun, Aya placed the bottle of water on her forehead to keep herself cool. The outside of the bottle became soaked from condensation the second it was exposed to the sun. Her forehead was drenched with water the moment the bottle touched. To the public transit she went!

Or that's what she would say, were it not for a loud thud and currently off balanced.

She caught herself on a pole. The concrete floor wasn't going to scrape her bare legs this time. Before her was a child. A foreigner? Auburn hair was definitely rare around these parts. Aya's hair wasn't the standard either, but that's because she dyed it long ago. In the brief moment of confusion the two of them had, she tried to figure out what to say. [i]Sorry? Where are your parents? You could have killed an old granny? All three of them at once?[/i] 

Before she could even extend a hand to get the girl up, she ran off. [i]How odd,[/i] she thought. After mulling it over for all of five seconds, she began to run after the girl. Even in the great summer heat where she just wants to lie down, her curiosity was getting the better of her. Why was there a lone runaway girl? Was there something chasing her? Before she knew it, her legs were carrying her towards that long girl and her arms were tightly nestled around her camera bag.