Chapter 7.4: Its Girls Night Part 2

The three girls fell into comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Rosa let the warmth soothe her as she stretched, her arms hanging over the tub's edge. For once, her playful tone softened as the water glistened on her red skin.

Rosa (dreamily): "Mmm~ You know, I almost forgot what it felt like to be this relaxed. I would have thought I was back at my family's Miami compound if this tub had champagne.."

Clara blinked.

Clara (murmuring): "You're from Florida…?"

Rosa (smiling without opening her eyes): "Born and raised. Being the President's daughter tends to be… complicated."

She gave a half-laugh, but it faded into thought.

Rosa (quietly): "My father made sure I'd be safe, even if the world burned. Guess he got his wish."

Clara, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, dipped her chin just under the surface. Her voice trembled, not from fear, but uncertainty.

Clara (softly): "Although I attended the Valençay Institute in France, I was born in Luxembourg. technical boarding school. programming, engineering systems, and robotics. In order for me to carry on his legacy, my father pulled strings.."

Rosa: "European diplomacy runs in the Vance blood, huh?"

Clara (nodding faintly): "I just wanted to build things." She hugged her knees beneath the water, her voice trailing. "I didn't have many friends there."

Sera (surprisingly soft): "You do now."

Clara blinked. Then smiled—genuinely.

Sera remained quiet for a bit

Sera (calm, sharp): "I'm from Tokyo. Well… technically, the secure zone beneath it. My parents were too important to risk keeping me above ground after the first solar tremors."

She leaned back slightly, her silver hair cascading behind her like silk in the water. Her amber eyes shimmered faintly in the steam, their glow softened by the haze.

Sera: "Dr. Alistair Valerius, my father, was British. A bio-geneticist licensed to play god by the government. Lyra Yukimura, my mother, was a Japanese system and vault logic architect. Collectively, they formed the foundation of the Phoenix Project.."

She let her fingers trail through the water, a thoughtful pause hanging in the air.

Sera (quieter, but firm): "I solved quantum models before dinner, wrote essays in Japanese by lunch, and conversed in English at breakfast. Study for six hours every day. Each day. even on the weekends..."

She wasn't looking at anything specifically, but her eyes darted up toward the ceiling.

Sera (flatly): "I didn't like my life back then."

She gave a faint, bitter smile.

Rosa (wryly, tilting her head back): "Sounds suffocating."

Sera (flatly): "It was. But I'm still alive, so perhaps it was worth it."

Rosa (stretching again): "Look at us. Three total strangers from different corners of the world, sitting in a bath together because the world decided to end."

She picked at the edge of her damp towel on the side of the tub.

There was a pause. The only sound was the gentle lapping of water and the faint hum of the Vault's recycled air system.

Clara (softly): "You were really a student council president, right? In Northwood Academy?"

She blushed as she gently lathered her arms.

Clara: "That's one of the best schools globally in Japan. My father always talked about how hard it was to get in."

Sera (nodding, voice cool): "Only students in the top ranks can get in, military families, heirs to diplomatic relations. There, each student's future was etched in stone.."

She turned her gaze to Clara. "I carved mine myself."

Rosa (smirking, lounging across the edge of the tub): "Yeah, you probably did. Always flawless, Miss Student President. Have you ever disregarded a rule or skipped class??"

Sera (after a long pause): "…Once." Her lips curled slightly. "I slipped out of the curfew to read. Book novels. Old fiction books, all sorts of it."

A flicker of warmth touched her eyes.

Sera: "There was this little bookshop near my school that still carried hardcovers and the owner had cats."

Rosa (softly smiling): "So you're a book nerd. That's the hottest thing you've ever said."

Sera (glaring): "I will drown you."

Clara (delighted): "Y-you read paper books?! That's so cute!"

Sera (quickly, defensive): "It's… for r-research purposes."

Rosa (teasing): "Sure, sure.."

For the first time, the three girls chuckled—not as strangers confined in a subterranean vault, but as young women who had previously been something before this.

Sera (rolling her eyes): "Mock me all you like. What about you, Rosa?"

Rosa swung her leg lazily to stir the water while leaning against the tub's edge.

Rosa (mischievous, then softer): "Me? I was in... Basically, all the clubs. Media, dance, Everyone was around me most of the time, but I enjoyed arguing with boys who thought they were smart.."

She sighed and leaned her head back.

Rosa (wistful): "However, they are all fake; they all sucked up on me in order to curry favor with my father. Before I spoke a word, everyone knew who I was. The daughter of President Thorne. I was followed around by the press. The guards were... all over. There were retina-locks even in my dorm.."

Clara: "That sounds... lonely."

Rosa (nods slowly): "Yeah. It was."

Once more, the bath was silent, but in a way that encouraged thinking about oneself.

Clara (gently): "I didn't know either of you before we were… frozen. B-But I'm glad I got to know you guys…"

She trailed off, and her voice cracked slightly.

Rosa (softening): "We survived. Thanks to him."

Everyone knew who she was referring to. Almost simultaneously, their gazes strayed to the frosted glass separating the bathroom unit from the Command Wing dormitory.

Sera (mutters): "That idiot…"

She ran a hand through her wet silver hair, her sharp eyes distant, her usual cool tone gentler.

Rosa (grinning, eyes twinkling): "You say that, but you were clinging to his arm."

Sera (snapping, flushing): "T-that was!"

Clara (giggling): "H-He really did look cool though…"

Water droplets glistened in the air as Rosa emerged with a flourish after dipping her hair under the water.

Rosa (teasingly): "And what about Kael, hmm? Our mystery hero. Think he had a normal school life?"

Sera (quietly): "Hmmp.. maybe."

Clara (smiling faintly): "I hope… I hope he at least had friends."

The girls fell into thoughtful silence again.

As steam curled lazily around them, the girls sank deeper into the warmth, their shoulders dropping, their hearts a little lighter.

Rosa (soft): "I guess… we all came from places of power and safety. But that doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

Sera (nodding slightly): "No. It doesn't."

Clara (smiling): "Y-Yeah, it's up to us now."

The three girls were leaning back and partially submerged in the warmth as the scene gradually faded, their forms obscured by steam like specters of the past. The vault briefly stopped feeling like a cage.

It felt like home.

Then—cut to black