Fuyuka

I feel most at ease when I'm alone. If there are commissions that can be completed solo, please do consider me.

My gauntlets can break through obstacles. So I guess my role is ... the cleaner, I guess?

When I'm nervous, I just close my eyes and cover my ears.

The infamous "The Big Three" of Philae have now all met their end. It was Fuyuka who played the key role in the demise of the "Spirit of Brutality."

When I first saw the name "Petal Bloom," even as a clueless newcomer, I felt an inexplicable sense of belonging... If there is such a thing as "destiny" in this world, I suppose it must be something like that.

Who is Fuyuka? She's the sweetest junior, the Trekker with the most potential, and the most dependable guild leader. Of course, just as importantly, she's got an amazing mentor in me. —Nazuna

The white-tail could not understand the brown-feathers' way of life. White-tails only gather in pairs in order to hatch their eggs. Food was scarce, gathering in groups only meant less for each bird. Luckily, the brown-feathers didn't care for the forest. They were only passing through. The white-tail tucked its head under its wing and enjoyed the tranquility of being alone.

But the sound of wings did not fade. Curious, the white-tail followed the sound and found two injured brown-feathers hiding in a thicket. Their feathers were darker, their wings broader. But on this white winter day, they were far too visible— unlike the white-tail, who could vanish from its predators' sight simply by keeping still in the snow. The brown-feathers struggled to build a nest from dead branches that were covert enough for both of them, but with their wings broken, they couldn't reach far for materials. The white-tail slipped away; after all, its path was different from theirs. Still, in the days that followed, whenever it passed by, it would drop a twig or two without thinking.

This year's blizzard was the fiercest the white-tail had ever seen. Though used to flying through wind and snow, at last it lost its way, its wings frostbitten. As the white-tail closed its eyes, it thought of the two brown-feathers, and wondered if their nest could weather the storm. By the time the white-tail opened its eyes again, it had its answer. The white-tail found itself inside a nest—set up inside the thicket, big enough for three birds. The two brown-feathers' wounds had nearly healed. They had put the white-tail in the middle of the nest, shielding it from the icy storm. From the look of it, the nest had been built from the start with room for more than themselves.

Years later, a human girl asked the forest birds: why do two kinds of birds with different habits spend the winter together in Philae? The young white-tail and the brown-feathers told her this story. The human girl tilted her head, lost in thought.

Fuyuka used to think the same way. She thought of herself as perfectly ordinary: going to school like everybody else, growing up like everybody else, then finding a job and one day growing old. Normally she would have already filled in one of the popular choices and handed in the form. But... This year was different. Compared to the previous years, United Harvest's job openings had been slashed by half, and even the greenhouse posts that no one used to want were now high demand. Fuyuka wasn't good at competing with others, nor did she want to. So she didn't know what to write on the form. "If only I had someone to talk to..." Just as thought occurred to her, a classmate walked up to her. "Hey, sorry to keep you waiting." Fuyuka fidgeted with her hands, not knowing how to respond to the warm greeting. "You're so slow! We might not get the best spot for watching the meteor shower." There was someone behind Fuyuka—another classmate. The two girls walked off together, laughing as they headed toward the school. Fuyuka quietly pulled back the hand she had half raised and sat back down on the swing. "Good thing I didn't say anything... Haha, hahaha." The cold wind scattered leaves at her feet. Only the swing creaked in reply.

"Are you lonely, miss~?" A raspy voice suddenly came from behind. An old woman stood there with a crystal ball in her hands. "Hehehe... Do you want to alter your destiny?" Fuyuka nodded quickly. But the woman didn't go on. She only repeated herself. "Hehehe... do you want to alter your destiny? Destiny will give hints to those who truly want it." She put emphasis on the words "truly want it."

Fuyuka understood; she pulled some money from her wallet to show that yes, she truly wanted it. The old woman rubbed the crystal ball theatrically. "The direction where the meteors fall—that is your future." "Meteors?" Fuyuka looked up. The shower streaked across the sky, falling in every direction. "So... Which direction is it really?" She tried to make some more sense out of the fortune reading, but before she knew it, the old woman had already disappeared. "Hmm... What do meteors all have in common?" Fuyuka stared at the sky and thought hard. The strange encounter with the old woman must have been a sign. "Ah, I see now." As far as she could tell, all the meteors were falling beyond the city limits of Philae. Fuyuka picked up her pen and put down "Trekker" on the form. A job beyond the city walls—in other words, a Trekker.

"Hey you, girlie... Can you give me a hand...?" "Eek! A tree! A tree's talking...!?" "Trees could evolve eons and eons and still never develop a language system. Of course it's a person talking!"

A girl covered in tools was pinned beneath a fallen tree, looking quite miserable. Her tools were all tangled up in the branches, and there was no way she could free herself on her own.

"I—I see, I'll get you out of there right away."

Fuyuka lifted the trunk and pulled the girl free.

"Wow! You lifted that tree with just one hand!"

The girl held Fuyuka's hand as if she had just drawn a rare Artifact from a wishing ritual. Fuyuka was never good at dealing with people, and now she was even more nervous. She trembled like a frightened little rabbit, trying to pull her hand back.

"Then ... Could you try this for me?"

The girl dug out a pair of smoke-belching metal gauntlets from the roots of the tree.

"These are my newest creation. They're kind of big, hehe. Actually, they're also pretty heavy. I just tried them myself, but my grip strength wasn't up for the job, and I ended up smashing a tree."

After some quick adjustments, the girl cheerfully slipped the gauntlets onto Fuyuka's hands despite her obvious confusion.

"Just throw a punch. Think of it as helping me test them. I'll pay you." "O-okay... But please stand back, far back..."

Fuyuka threw a serious punch upwards into the air. A fierce shockwave blasted through the air. When the heat wave finally faded, the girl peeked out from behind a tree, with a strand of singed hair around her face.

"Hey—are you, are you alright!?" "I'm fine... and so is this little one. The gust from your punch just knocked it out of the tree."

Fuyuka opened her hand. It held a bird's egg, still perfectly intact.

"In-incredible. You can control these gauntlets' power with so much precision."

The girl's jaw dropped in amazement. Over Fuyuka's protests, she insisted on giving the gauntlets to her.

"Weapons belong in the hands of those who can master them."

After thanking her repeatedly, Fuyuka carefully cradled the gauntlets and set off for home. Meanwhile, the girl glanced at the data device in her hand—it was sputtering black smoke from overload. She gave a wry smile and pulled out her phone.

"Suspend Project Titan-Hand for now. Our design works, but it takes a very particular kind of person to use it. What? You mean the prototype? It already went bam-bam. Just put the expenses on my tab."