[ She knows artists are supposed to be... eccentric, but this Kishibe guy is really taking not just the cake, but the whole pastry shop of weird. It doesn't help that the weak part of her latches onto that compliment, that beautiful, has taken hold and wants to preen for it. The gargoyle's heart that lives inside her own hungers for praise as much as it does for flesh, but this is an appetite she won't feed, either. Her cheeks flush for irritation, and her hands clench into fists against her knees, and she forces herself to look elsewhere.

As sour as his phrasing makes her feel, she'd rather take that different topic than hear him go on about the way she looks. ]

My best friend is here. Yuya. He's a naga, too. We've been friends for years. We don't always get along, and we fight sometimes, but we're still really close. He's the only person from my dimension that I'm friends with.

[ A beat. ]

Well, I guess there's Sawatari, too — he's a guy that goes to our junior high, but we weren't friends until after he got here. All our other hometown friends, though... our parents, and the other students, none of them are here. [ She frowns. ] I'm glad none of them have to suffer in this world, but... even though we have to open that doorway back, so everyone can go home... I'm still glad that I got to meet him again here.

... Even if we're always fighting, it's more time than I would have had.