When Noel got to the kitchen, her aunt and a now dirt-free Danny were already sitting at the table, waiting for her. Aunt Jillian looked up at the sound of her footsteps and smiled.

"I was in a bit of a rush today, so I got something a little different."

Oh no. Every day for the past week, Aunt Jillian had brought home a new Japanese dish for Noel and Danny to try. Most of them had been pretty good, like the sweet curry and yaki-something noodles—Noel still had a hard time with the Japanese words that didn't translate correctly in her head—but the last two meals had been real duds for her. Noel was not a picky eater by any means; her parents couldn't afford her to be. But she had to draw the line somewhere, which was drawn with fish. Not cooked fish; she had fished plenty with her dad and eaten their catch. Raw fish, that's what sent her insides roiling. She had already been seven rolls into her sushi before Jillian had told her what was in them. As soon as she found out, she lost her appetite, much to Jillian's disappointment. 

"You're missing out," she had said, "Sushi's one of Japan's staple foods."

"I think I can live without, thanks."

The next dish was worse. Noel had learned from her mistake and asked her aunt what exactly was in that night's dish—some kind of salad with suspicious red and white disks in it. Almost reluctantly, Jillian had told her: octopus. Octopus! Noel had to wonder who in the world would ever think of eating octopus. Oh right, the Japanese. She had heard from Mr. Kuboue—who was happy to teach her about Japanese history, which was a big help with studying—that something called a blowfish was a kind of delicacy in Japan, but it had to be prepared right. Otherwise, it was lethally poisonous. What a genius that guy had to have been, the first person to try to eat a blowfish, that was. The second guy who wanted to eat one had to have been the bravest or the stupidest person who ever lived.

Noel looked at the table disdainfully. She expected to see the calamari her aunt had told her about yesterday: which was fried squid tentacles! How was that different from octopus? What was wrong with her aunt?! Noel could swear Jillian was trying to kill her, either by poisoning or starvation. She wouldn't put it past her to do something like that. But instead of fried squid, she was surprised to see a large paper bag with a familiar logo printed on the side sitting on the table.

Noel couldn't help but grin as her aunt began to pull individually wrapped sandwiches out of the bag, placing them in front of each of their plates. Her aunt winked at her.

"I promise there's no squid in any of it."

Noel's grin turned sheepish as she sat down and began to unwrap the cheeseburger in front of her. Her mouth watered as she looked down at the slightly squashed sandwich in her hands. It looked exactly like the ones from home, which was to say, barely passable as a cheeseburger. Her mom hated that they ate such unhealthy food so frequently, but it was what they could afford, so that's what they ate.

Noel took a careful bite of the cheeseburger, savoring the familiar taste for as long as she could before swallowing. It was as delicious as she remembered! So she took another, much larger bite, and then another, and another. And before Aunt Jillian could pull out the side dishes, the cheeseburger was completely gone, much to Noel's disappointment.

"Wow, Noel, that was fast," Aunt Jillian said, slightly impressed, slightly disgusted.

Noel blushed. Her mom would always say the same thing, and her dad would always reply with: "Well, I guess that's why they call it fast food!" Which always made Noel laugh and her mom smile. 

She wanted to say it to Aunt Jillian, but Danny beat her to it: "Well, I guess that's why they call it fast food!"

Noel smiled at him. She glanced up at her aunt to see her smiling too. Her hazel eyes crinkled slightly in the same way as her mom's when she was amused. Noel's heart hurt to be reminded of her mother again. Noel suspected these little pangs she felt would be with her the rest of her life, though she wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Don't worry, I have plenty more," said Aunt Jillian, laying another wrapped burger in front of her. "I also have fries and chicken nuggets if you want them." There was a pause. "Noel?"

Noel jumped as she realized she had been staring sadly at her plate. She looked up at her aunt, who was looking at her, slightly concerned. Again, her eyes reminded her of her mother's, but she pushed past the next twinge and smiled at her.

"I'm okay!" Noel felt that her tone was forced, so she turned her attention back to the food on her plate. "Thank you so much, Aunt Jillian!"

Noel grabbed the sandwich and began to unwrap it as she took a much smaller bite of the cheeseburger. She could feel Aunt Jillian's eyes on her, but she refused to look up and meet them. After a moment, Jillian sat down without a word. Noel glanced at the chicken nuggets her aunt had put on her plate and thought of Azrath. The chicken would be perfect for him, though she wondered if Azrath would think of it as cannibalism to eat a fellow winged creature. That was to say if there were any chicken in them.

She was brought out of her train of thought by her aunt, who asked her, "By the way, about that costume you were wearing, Noel. You said it was from an anime, right?"

Noel dropped her burger, the gears in her brain grinding into overtime. She couldn't think of a way to change the subject without looking too suspicious, so she decided to commit to the lie she had started in her room. 

"Uh… Yeah, it's called…." Noel couldn't think of anything that sounded plausible. Of course, she had no idea what sorts of titles anime had or even what an anime really was—she gathered that it was some kind of Japanese cartoon, but that was about it. Her knowledge of anything TV was limited as she found watching it to be a supreme waste of time. "—Well, I don't know what it's called. My friend Ai thought I looked like the character, so she asked me to wear it for her."

"I see," said Aunt Jillian. Her eyebrows knitted. "Then do you at least know what the name of the character you were dressed as is?"

Noel's mind went blank. She was already getting tangled up in her web of lies. It was too late to say she didn't know the name; she had so quickly told her Azrath's name. It would be too much of a stretch not to know the name of the "main character." She tried anyway. 

"Oh, you wouldn't know where it's from if I told you." She laughed an awkward laugh.

Jillian raised an eyebrow, "Try me," was all she said. 

Noel opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Both Aunt Jillian and Danny were watching her now. Her mind turned to the staff upstairs, Azrath, and her mission to reassemble the sword.

"Um, I think she was called... Angel Knight... Yeah, Angel Knight!" Noel's cheeks went red at such a stupid name, but whatever works, she supposed.

Aunt Jillian thought for a moment without an ounce of amusement, "Angel Knight? Hmm... Nope, I don't think I know that character. But maybe one of my students knows her. I'll ask them tomorrow."

"I don't know," replied Noel, growing slightly more confident, "Ai said that it's a pretty obscure one. Not a lot of people know about it."

Jillian shrugged, "We'll see." She paused. "I'm happy you managed to find such a good friend, Noel. When I first came here back in college, I had a lot of trouble connecting with anyone. The Japanese can be a bit… cold towards anything different to what they're used to."

Noel understood what she meant. She thought of her schoolmates and most of her teachers, who tended to ignore her, sometimes even avoided her in the hallways. Some of them feigned politeness, but Noel could see past their smiles. She had gotten good at detecting dishonesty. Practice made perfect. 

Jillian continued, "I'm sure you'd feel similar if someone from another country lived in Danvenfield, right? But I learned that as long as you make an effort to meet people halfway, you'll come to some kind of understanding. It makes it easier if you meet kind people like the Kuboues and your friends."

She smiled, which Noel could see was genuine. Jillian's kindness and the hustle and bustle of her first week in Japan were almost enough to make her forget she was still mad at her aunt for talking bad about her father behind her back. No matter how kind or warm she had been these past few days, there was the truth of what she really thought of Noel and her family. Noel did not return the smile. 

Jillian's smile slowly disappeared as she watched Noel's defiant expression. There was an awkward pause as her aunt began to play with the napkin next to her plate, letting it dance between her fingers before tearing bits off the corner. Jillian broke eye contact as she nervously looked down at her hands, still shredding her napkin. The paper made an unpleasant stretching sound before ripping, a noise that always gave Noel the shivers. Though it was nowhere near as unpleasant as watching her aunt's mood shift. 

Noel had no idea why her aunt had suddenly become like this; there was no trace of the confident tour guide she had been for the past week. To Noel, Jillian looked like a lost child. Even Danny had noticed as he took a break from his food to stare worriedly at her. 

"Aunt Jill?"

 In response, Jillian closed her eyes and took several deep, shuddering breaths from her nose. After the fourth, steadier breath, she opened her eyes and looked at Danny. "Yes, I am. Your auntie was just a little spooked, that's all."

"Spooked?"

He turned to glare at Noel.

"Why did you try to spook, Aunt Jill, Noel?" His tone was accusatory, which made Noel's temper flare. 

Noel opened her mouth to argue that it wasn't her fault, but Jillian spoke before she could. 

"No, your sister didn't mean to. She just caught me off guard, that's all. Her stubborn streak reminds me of your mom, really…." She trailed off for a moment, looking down again at her plate. But her eyebrows knitted as she appeared to decide something. Jillian continued to speak, her voice rising to her usual volume. "Jessie was so spirited; I just couldn't keep up." She was smiling again, but her eyes were a complicated mix of emotions that Noel couldn't read. 

"Aunt Jillian, I…" Noel wasn't sure what to say. Should she apologize for something she didn't understand? 

"I promise you, Noel," said Jillian, "You will find something to like here. Maybe you won't love it as I do, but I know, and I hope you'll find a way to be happy here!"

After that, she described various aspects of Japan in her usual manner, almost like her mood swing hadn't happened. Noel only half-listened as she continued to concentrate on not scarfing all her food down. Azrath's presence upstairs made it difficult not to rush through her meal. But eventually, the end of dinner did come when Jillian declared that Danny needed a bath before bedtime—Danny gave her a mustard-crusted grin.

"You can handle cleaning up, right Noel?" asked Aunt Jillian as she picked up Danny, "Please, don't forget to put all the extra food in the fridge. If there's one thing that Japanese people hate, it's wasting food."

Noel nodded, that point she could understand. She waited for Aunt Jillian and Danny to leave the kitchen before dumping the leftover chicken nuggets in a napkin and stuffing it in her pocket. Then she put the bag containing the rest of the food in the fridge. 

She debated sparing the rest of the fries from their fate of becoming gritty and gross when they got too cold but decided against it. Somebody would eat them, just not her. 

Noel made her way upstairs, dusting off her hands as if she had just accomplished something of importance. There was the sound of scuffling on the second floor, which caused her to stop mid-step. She listened closely for any more noises but heard nothing. Azrath. That little sneak had probably been exploring upstairs.

Not that he would find much as the only rooms up there were hers and Danny's and a closet. Sure enough, she found the door to her room ajar when she distinctly remembered closing it an hour ago. 

Noel pushed the door open and entered the room, looking around suspiciously for Azrath. She looked at the spot on her bed where she had seen the little puffball last, but he was no longer there. Making sure she shut the door behind her, Noel looked around the room and found Azrath standing on her desk, with his back to her. He glanced at her for a second before turning back to face the wall.

"Oh, hello, Noel. Did you have a nice dinner?"

She scrutinized him with narrowed eyes as she closed the door behind her. She did not like the way he emphasized her name. "It was…fine." If she didn't know any better, she could swear that Azrath was shaking, but it was difficult to tell beneath the hair. "Are you alright, Azrath?" 

"Oh yes. I'm…fine." Azrath's mirroring of her response only made her more suspicious. He turned to face her; his eye was twitching along with his trembling. "I was just curious about how humans live, so I took a look around. Sorry." His voice cracked at the last word. She watched his mouth, which was barely able to contain a smile. At last, Noel managed to read his mood. 

"What's so funny, Azrath?" 

"Nothing." Azrath reminded her of a balloon that was about to pop. His reply was high and squeaky, like air escaping from a tiny hole. 

Noel raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Okay then, don't tell me." She picked up her school bag, which she had left by the door, crossed the room, and sat at her desk. She waved her hand at Azrath to shoo him off her workspace, which he was not happy about at all. "Off." He didn't move.

"What do you think I am, some kind of pet?" he asked, his amusement forgotten. 

"I need to study. Homework doesn't do itself, you know." She paused, "Unless you can use Eingh to do it for you?"

Azrath shook his body, "Afraid not, unless you want to spend the next few years teaching your soul how to write."

"Why does it take so long?"

"Surprisingly enough, souls have terrible penmanship. It's like teaching a toddler."

"Huh." It made a weird sort of sense to Noel, though she didn't know why it would. 

"Plus, if your mind wanders, the writing tends to follow. Great for memoirs, terrible for everything else."

"Fine. I get it," said Noel, "I still need you to move."

Azrath tightened his wings and sat on his talons, reminding Noel of a cat refusing to budge from its chosen resting spot. "No, I don't think I will. I quite like this desk. It's sturdy."

"You know I can throw you," said Noel. She raised her hand and hovered over the grey ball. 

"You know I can bite," said Azrath, "And claw, I suppose." He wiggled his talons, making clicking sounds on the wood. Noel hoped he didn't leave scratch marks on her nice, new desk. 

"Fair enough," she lowered her hand and reached in her pocket, "then I guess you don't want this." She pulled out the napkin of chicken nuggets. Azrath stiffened as Noel opened the makeshift package, releasing the smell of the chicken. His whole head turned to watch her as she waved it around to tease him. He opened his mouth, letting a spot of drool leak from the corner. Noel was grinning at his cuteness. "This is yours if you get off my desk."

Azrath took a moment to consider, then nodded, "Okay, fine, you win." He hopped and took flight, landing on Noel's bed.

"Uh-uh, not there either. I don't want crumbs on my bed." Noel pointed downward. "Floor." 

Azrath glared at her but obeyed. Noel had to admit she was having too much fun bossing him around. 

"I am not an animal! I have proper table manners, unlike someone I know," he said with a small smile.

His statement stirred something in Noel's mind, but she was too focused on teasing Azrath to care. "C'mon, Azrath, roll over!" She patted her lap with the hand that wasn't holding the nuggets. 

Azrath continued to give her an indignant glare. 

"Alright, I'm sorry," said Noel. She couldn't keep teasing something so cute, especially when he looked up at her so crankily. She leaned over and placed the nuggets on the floor next to her chair, which he swooped down on before she could sit up straight.

"Jeez, and you say I don't have manners." Then something clicked. "Heeeeey, what did you mean I don't have table manners?" 

Azrath glanced up at her as he stood over his dinner. He flashed his teeth in a smug grin, "What else? You're a rude little girl who shovels food in her mouth like a starving Izu."

Noel had no idea what an Izu was, but the only way he could have known that was if Azrath was—Azrath continued speaking before she could finish that thought.

"For someone who calls herself 'Angel Knight,' you really are a brat." He chuckled, "Angel Knight—heh, what a terrible name."

Oh god…

The chair shot back as Noel bent down and stood on her feet simultaneously. She surprised herself with how fast she snatched up the napkin and all the chicken with it, after which she stood up to her full five-five height. 

Oh, GOD!

"H-hey!" Azrath took flight, hovering in front of her face, "that's mine!" 

Noel's face was red hot with a mix of righteous fury and humiliation. "You were eavesdropping?!"

Azrath's expression changed from anger to sheepishness in an instant. "Eavesdropping is such a strong word. I was more curious about how humans lived."

"That's the same answer you gave before!" 

"That's because it's true! I was curious, so I just happened to go downstairs and peek through the door, then I heard you, well…" he chuckled again. "It took all I had not to laugh."

"So that's what you were laughing at, you little sneak." She was tempted to squish the nuggets in her hand just to spite him.

"How could I not find that funny? It's the most childish name I've ever heard."

"I had to think of something, okay? My aunt was grilling me." Noel was almost on the verge of crying. Almost. She wouldn't let Azrath have the satisfaction of seeing one tear fall. 

"And Angel Knight's the best you could come up with?"

Noel had no proper answer to that. "I dunno. Give me a break." She rubbed the back of her head in an attempt to massage the oncoming ache. Creativity was never her strong suit. "The point is, Azrath, you've gotta be careful, or my family will see you."

"Okay, I understand. Can I have my food back?"

Noel pulled her chair back to her desk and sat down, nose upturned. "No, you lost your food privileges. You can't get it back unless you promise to never call me Angel Knight again."

"What?! How petty can you be?"

"Promise me, or I'll just have to eat them myself." She plucked a nugget from the napkin and raised it to her lips.

A spot of white appeared in the corners of Azrath's eyes as he rolled them. "Alright, fine, you win. I promise never to call you Angel Knight again. Happy?"

Noel smiled, then nodded. She placed the napkin on the floor again. "Enjoy." 

Azrath dove onto the food, and Noel turned back to her desk and pulled out her schoolwork. For the next few minutes, they sat in silence. Well, Noel was silent as she read over her notes from class. Azrath, on the other hand, was grumbling about the immaturity of teenagers or something—not so subtly directed at her. He also mixed in some complaints about not having hands to eat with. Noel had to admit she was curious about how Azrath would compromise on this. But she decided against looking and tuned him out. She resumed reading, highlighting, and copying the most important parts into a separate study guide. Her notes were thorough and written in shorthand, so there was a lot to go through. She glanced out the window in her room. In the short time she had been arguing with Azrath, the sky outside the window darkened to a black stained with the grey light of a city that never slept. It wouldn't take long for her to scribe her notes and then an hour or two to work through her homework. But she hadn't made it through one page when Azrath fluttered up to her. 

"Finished already?" said Noel, glancing down at the napkin on the floor. There had been eight nuggets originally; two and a half were gone. 

"I'm pretty sure my stomach shrunk a lot. I could barely make it through two." He looked at her work. "Curious language you have."

"Can you read it?" Noel asked.

"Somewhat, though most of the words have no meaning."

"How's that?"

"My people are gifted scholars. Before the divide, Ezirons would gather information from all across reality and compile and study them. This language here," he used a claw to point to Noel's abridged notes written in English, "—was in development during that time, so it appears in many texts in a more basic form. While in isolation, I used much of my spare time to develop various skills, including linguistics. But this language here," he pointed to her original notes, "is something I don't recognize." 

Noel was eager to flex her knowledge on the whole concept of shorthand. It was something her mom had drilled into her at an early age, but she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. 

"Aunt Jillian," Noel whispered, panicking slightly, "Hide." They had gotten lucky once, but Noel wasn't about to take any more chances. 

Without a word, Azrath glided off her desk to land by her bed and scuttled into the shadows underneath. There was a soft knock at her door.

"Come in," said Noel, bending down over her notes and resuming her writing. 

She heard the door open. "Hard at work, as usual," said Jillian.

Noel turned to look at her aunt, who had a clean and sleeping Danny draped over her shoulder. 

"Yeah, the work never seems to stop," said Noel, shrugging her shoulders in what she hoped was a casual way.

 Her aunt smiled, "Don't work too hard, Noel. There's merit to taking it easy sometimes."

"Alright, Aunt Jill, I'm almost done," she lied.

"I hope you are. Your mom would do the same thing: say she's almost done, then stay up until three or four in the morning working. I guess Jessie got that from our dad. It was the only thing of value she took from him." Jillian trailed off, patting Danny's back absentmindedly. Her expression had gone back to the complicated mix of emotions. She turned slightly toward the door. Noel expected her to leave, but she didn't. Instead, Jillian turned back toward Noel, nervousness overshadowing the other emotions in her countenance. "Noel?"

"Yeah?" 

"I've been thinking. Have I…" Jillian chewed her lip. She seemed to be deciding something again. Noel pulled her legs from under her desk to turn further in her chair, looking at her aunt more directly.

"Yeah?"

Jillian released her lip from her teeth. "Am I doing okay? As your guardian, I mean." Noel was taken aback by this. What had spurred this question? And it should have been a simple one to answer, yet Noel found she couldn't. By all accounts, Jillian had been doing a good job, and yet she had called them weirdos. She had refused to be in their lives until half a year ago. Never once in Noel's life had they had so much as a phone call or postcard. There had to be a reason that she had taken them, but Noel had no desire to find out what it was, so she stayed silent. Jillian looked at Noel with hope and waited for a response that would never come. 

The longer the silence lasted, the more Jillian seemed to shrink into herself. Until she decided to break it, "Y-you know what, never mind. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I'll just… leave you to your studying. Good night."

And before Noel could move, the door was closed, and her aunt was gone. Noel stared at the door, trying to feel any sense of satisfaction, but all she felt was sick. There was a moment of silence before Aunt Jillian's footsteps retreated across the hall to Danny's bedroom. 

"You should go after her and talk to her," came a whisper from the floor. 

Noel looked down at Azrath, who hopped out from under her bed. 

"Why should I? I don't know what she wants from me."

"What she wants is to connect with you, but you keep pushing her away."

Noel felt bile rise in her throat. "Oh yeah? What do you know? Don't go sticking your nose in other people's business."

Azrath rubbed his head with the tip of a wing as he said, "You're right. I went too far."

Damn right he did. He didn't know Noel or her life. How could he understand the pain of someone you thought of as a friend looking at you like you were the scum of the earth because their pants lit on fire when Noel called her a liar. Did he know what it was like to spend a day constantly tripping or accidentally break everything she touched? No. Nobody understood. That's why they all…

"I'm just," Noel said, her mouth seeming to move on its own, "sick of being treated like I'm something to be afraid of. I'm not. I'm not a weirdo."

 "Nobody said you were," Azrath flew up to the desk to look her in the eye. But Noel did not meet his gaze, "do you think you're a 'weirdo,' Noel?"

Aunt Jillian does. And if Azrath, the Kuboues, Mr. Tamayoshi, and everyone she had come to know here ever found out the truth about her, they all would think the same. Noel's headache was coming on again. To distract herself, she leaned forward on her desk to resume studying. Noel heard Jillian's footsteps going down the stairs. They were slower than usual. 

"Why can't they realize that it's not my fault?" 

She only realized she had spoken aloud after it was too late. 

"What's not your fault, Noel?"

"Nothing." Nothing was her fault. At least, that's what she'd like to think. 

Noel buried her face deeper in her notebook, doing her best to avoid seeing Azrath staring at her in her peripheral vision. She hoped with everything she had that Azrath wouldn't talk to her, that he wouldn't try to comfort her or correct her. But just like with most everything in her life, she didn't get what she wanted. 

"If I may, Noel," he began, "keeping your feeling bottled up doesn't help. In my experience, you'll come to regret the things you don't say more than the things you do."

At his words, Noel shot to her feet. She felt fire blaze up inside her, almost engulfing her, mixing with the pain in her head to create an intense inferno.

"I don't need another lecture from you!" She barely managed to keep her voice at a reasonable level, but she was so tempted to scream in his face. So very tempted. Azrath took a step back, tiny eyes wide. 

"Noel…" His shocked face brought her to her senses. The fire went dormant again.

"S-sorry." She sat back down, noticing that the pencil that had been in her hand was snapped in two. Noel wasn't even aware she had broken it. 

Dropping the halves of the pencil onto the desk, she grabbed a new one from the cup of them she kept by her lamp and tried to resume her writing, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She rested her fingers on her forehead, rubbing her eyes with her thumbs. "You know what? I think I am done for the night."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea. Sleep cures all…." He trailed off, eyes widening again, not in shock but pure terror.

"Azrath?" Noel looked at the fluffball with concern, "What's wrong?"

Azrath began to shake, his mouth barely moving as he forced out two words: "He's here."