They took the table by the window. Ellie sat across from Mike with the focused energy of someone who had been interrupted mid-thought twelve years ago and was now finally getting back to it.
"I mean it about you looking different," she said. "Like wow...! You look completely different, but I can still remember your face shape, hahaha~!"
"It's been ten years," Mike said.
"I know. But it's not just older." She studied him with the frank attention of someone who had earned the right to look. "You look like you've been somewhere."
"A few places, actually," Mike said.
"Somewhere specific," she said. "You have that look."
She looked at him like he was someone who had become very skilled at things he preferred not to discuss.
Stanley said nothing, which was his way of agreeing.
"That's very observant," Haruka said, looking at Mike with renewed interest.
"I've known him since we were five," Ellie said. "Ten years disappearing doesn't actually erase the ten years of data."
