The Students’ Gallery was always a hit-or-miss affair, with a few hints of genuine power scattered among technical exercise, shrill social commentary, and "ooh-I’m-just-so-clever" picture-play. The vine on the wall that was growing plastic grapes just made Katherine remember she was skipping dinner to be here. The "True Towers" mock movie poster, collaging snapshots from the Lord of the Rings movies and footage of the September 11 massacre, made her lose her appetite. One wall consisted of a series of board games, unfolded and framed. Monopoly, Risk, Trouble, Pokamon, Chutes and Ladders... Probably, the artist hadn’t put much thought or effort into them, but they spoke to Katherine.

   They were standing, Rumy’s man-fingers clasped behind her back, in front of a series of branches which had been reconstructed in a manner that resembled a large bonfire. In the center of the "fire" were tiny books: Fahrenheit 451, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and others with their covers burnt off... it didn’t look like a very happy work. But Rumy wasn’t looking at the books. She was looking at the petrified flame... and she smiled as she sighed. Her eyes, Rikk’s eyes, looked as serene as a Buddha’s.

   "Emotion recollected in tranquility," she quoted.

   Katherine made a noise that could have been transcribed as a question mark or three.

   Rumy turned to look at her. "I’ve been wondering, Katherine, why so much of my manga feels... unfinished, when I look back on it weeks after it’s done. And I think that now I know.

   "I have made the mistake of writing about what I’ve been going through in the present, instead of what’s been well and securely in the past. You cannot truly... I think this is the word... ‘process’ your feelings until they are behind you, ne?"

   "I think so. Jesu knows, I’ve been confused enough about my relationships while they were going on. The first one... Dieu, you guys think I’m manipulative... Lenny was a piece of work, all right..."

   "And you thought you loved him until something shocked you out of it, ne?"

   "Well, if you count a year or so in numb disbelief that he’d abandoned me to become one of the younger, hipper deadbeat dads, then yeah, something shocked me out of it. But we’re talking a pretty gradual kind of shock, here."

   A shadow seemed to pass over Rumy’s eyes. The but thought was returning.

   "But surely you have been shocked out of love before, ne? You seem so experienced."

   Katherine looked at her and smirked. "That’s the most backhanded compliment I’ve heard you make, Rumy, and I’ve seen you try to praise Tim the Fanboy’s artwork. Have I been shocked out of love? I guess with Will. I was the one who lied to him, there, but he slammed his heart closed on my fingers, so violently... yeah, I got over him quick."

   Like that, Rumy thought loudly. I’m free.

   Aloud, she said, "So many of my classmates were like that in lower sec... in junior high. Not in love, just in love with love."

   "But you’ve got to consider that Will only thought he was shocked out of love with me."

   "Eh?" Rumy’s voice was cracking.

   "After we broke up, he kept that door shut for as long as he could... and when it opened up, he wanted to get back together." Katherine tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice and wasn’t totally successful. "And, pathetic as that looked at the time... I guess I can understand. Because I did something similar to my second boyfriend, to keep myself from getting hurt. See, maybe your classmates fooled themselves into thinking they were in love, but you can also fool yourself into thinking you’re not. And even though it would be the smart thing to fall out of love with Rikk, you shouldn’t be sure that you already have, just because being in his body creeps you out."

   "Uhhh..."

   Katherine threw up her hands. "Like I couldn’t pick up on what we were really talking about here, Tanaka! Like I could be that clueless! I know it’s harder than usual to keep it all straight right now, but I’m not male!--"

   A dart flew between them and stuck itself to a wall. Katherine’s head spun... and her heart sank.