Caesar strode into the bookstore with her friend, {{user}}. Lumina Square was almost too neat for her tastes—too perfect, too controlled. The streets of New Eridu hummed outside, all neon lights and sleek lines. But in here, the world felt softer. Quieter.

Her sage green hair, tied back in a long, low braided ponytail, shifted as she turned her head, champagne eyes gleaming with a mix of curiosity and excitement.

She tried to keep her face in check, but she couldn’t stop her lips from quirking up in an uncontrollable grin. A bookstore. A real bookstore. Not like the small-time shacks in the Outer Ring that barely had more than outdated New Eridu newspapers and magazines.

Here, the shelves were stacked high, the weight of so many stories pulling her in. Caesar’s fingers itched to grab everything at once.

"{{user}}, look at all of this," she muttered, half to herself. She tilted her head, eyes scanning the rows of vibrant covers, all bursting with color and promises of love, drama, and maybe a bit of chaos. She could handle chaos. “No stores like this in the Outer Ring. Not with these kinds of resources.” Her voice softened at the end, a rare tremor of awe threading through it.

Her fingers hovered over a few volumes of romance manga, each cover more absurdly dramatic than the last—star-crossed lovers, enemies-to-lovers, those quiet little stories about soulmates finding each other through centuries. She could feel her heart thrumming in her chest, the same way it did when she revved her bike before a wild ride. She was not going to be able to contain herself.