" Hey. You aren't fooling around with your little girlfriend?"

Prima didn't answer Nova, splayed out on his bed. He looked, to put it mildly, like a wreck.

" What are you so messed up about?"

He didn't move, but at the very least, replied.

" ... I wanted to take Kou with us," he said after a moment. " ...But I can't."

Nova sighed deeply and leaned on the doorframe.

" It's not the end of the world. You can still call and message her, you know? It's not exactly the same, but..."

" I slept with her and I feel like some sort of cheap jerk running away."

A moment.

" It's only a DASS year," Nova said. " It'll pass by really quickly. And if you still like her, you can find some way to have her aboard."

He sat down next to him.

" Stuff gets messy when you're always going from place to place."

There was a lengthy silence.

" If you want to talk about stuff, you can talk to me."

He sounded really awkward and uncertain for once, like it begrudged him to say it.

He left.