"I love steak. There's nothing else quite like it. Even a poorly cooked steak is better than any piece of chicken I've ever tasted. And when it's cooked right, it tastes absolutely magnificent. And I happen to think the best steaks in Grandebelle are served right here at Iron Table."

"Hmmm... in all honesty, I n-never really had much of a taste for meat myself... but, this is really good..."

Erica was trying her absolute hardest to focus on the delicious food she was enjoying together with Miss Planner, but it was hard to keep her mind off of work. All her worries were swirling around inside her brain, forming an ambiguous mass that was distracting her so intensely she couldn't help but wonder whether she should just go back to the office and keep working on the Soul Shell.

They didn't have much experimental data yet, but some of the preliminary results they were getting indicated that the Soul Shell changed the shape of its wearer's aura, perhaps because of some as-of-yet undiscovered property of the highly energetic, heavily filtered psychic waves produced by the soul core. That could be good or bad, but it could be a long, long time until they could find out either way, especially when they only had four test subjects to work with so far. They needed more. Garth, Chase, Malcolm, and Clay would bring them from four to eight, but... they were Garth, Chase, Malcolm, and Clay.

Now that Erica had a little time to cool her jets, she was starting to think that maybe Garth and his friends weren't as bad as she initially thought. Maybe they could even contribute quite a bit to the Soul Shell's development, given the right combination of limitations and incentives. But she still didn't like their behavior during the interview. She felt that their behavior reflected a serious lack of respect towards her, Miss Planner, and the Chosen Ones in general. And the worst part of all of it was that Miss Planner didn't seem to care about anything they did. She just sat there, smiling, and let it happen.

"Oooh, you're really not eating, Erica. Something on your mind?"

Erica hadn't finished even a quarter of her meal. She sighed, staring at her plate of steak and sweet potato fries while trying to suppress the rising anxiety in her stomach. Her hands and mouth started to twitch involuntarily.

"Ngh, yeah, there is, but..."

"Well? What's wrong?"
"Umm, I... I guess it's just... it's hard for me to... stop thinking about the project. Even though we... we promised not to talk about it until tomorrow."

"We did say that, but if it's still bothering you, we don't need to do that, right? I only suggested that because I thought it would help with the mood, make it easier for us to relax and enjoy ourselves..."
"No, I'm sorry I brought it up. It's.. it's not the right time to think about that right now."

"Let's talk about something else, then. You know what sounds fun? How about we try and find you a date this weekend? It'd be nice to have something to look forward to other than work, right?"
"...a d-date?"

"I could set you up with someone nice. What type of guys do you like?"
"Hmmm... I don't really know. Maybe someone smart? Someone a little more mature and calm than the average person..."

"Smart like Alex or smart like Gordon?"
"Not like Gordon. Alex isn't bad... I like him, but it wouldn't be a real d-date. I kind of feel like we're kind of already too close, like he's my big brother or something."

"Okay, how about someone a little smarter and more refined? Maybe a little older? A gentleman. Someone like Mr. Maxwell."
"I think that might be better... not Mr. Maxwell specifically, but someone like that might be- might be okay."

"Have you ever had a boyfriend before, Erica?"
"No... have you?"

"Mmmhmm. I entered my first relationship back in my college days. He was just my type. Tall, tan, and he loved animals. Really nice, too. But we ended it right after I graduated. No hard feelings."
"R-really?"

"I liked him a lot. We were together for almost two years. He made me happy when we were together. But we weren't in love, not really. It was more like... a friendship that blossomed into something deeper and a little bit romantic, and then one day it ended. Just like how I stopped being friends with everyone else on campus because I wanted to move back home and it was too much of a pain to try and keep up with everyone."
"Do you ever miss him?"

"Not really. I mean, I keep myself so busy at work, it's hard to imagine having any time left over for that sort of thing anyway. It's probably a good thing we broke up when we did. If things had gone a little differently, if we'd stayed together longer, I probably wouldn't be where I am today."
"I suppose not..."

Erica let out a soft sigh. If she ever found a nice guy who took care of her as well as Miss Planner did, she would gladly give everything she had to be his girlfriend. It was too bad there weren't more people like her around. Or maybe there were, and she was just too oblivious to realize it. Miss Planner and Maxwell were basically the only two people she ever talked to anymore. Everyone else tended to avoid her because she made them uncomfortable. They always assumed she was emotionally unstable or damaged somehow. She couldn't blame them, considering she was always freaking out and crying the second something upset her...

Erica felt a warm hand grip hers gently, bringing her out of her miserable thoughts and back to the present moment with a start. Her head jerked up. The tiny blue-eyed blonde across the table was staring at her with an adorable smile on her face.

"Erica, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?" Miss Planner asked, leaning forward slightly.

"No, no, it's n-nothing! I'm fine..."

Miss Planner's fingers tightened slightly. She was so small and delicate that Erica sometimes forgot how strong she actually was.

A sense of dread started to fill Erica's chest. Wasn't this kind of like a date?