“You know, school’s not all that great,” she said. “I’d much rather stay here at home with you and Papa.” - Aimi”

“Does that mean you aren’t going to be so grumpy?” she teased. He gave her a crooked smile. “It depends on how nice you are to me.” Aimi laughed and threw a napkin at him.”

“It’s not often that you have me at a disadvantage, is it? I wouldn’t get used to it.” Aimi laughed. “All talk, big man. We’ll see how you go at training this afternoon, sunshine.” She blew him a kiss and closed the door softly on her way out.”

“He’d tried to tell Aimi to do something once, and that hadn’t gone well at all. One thing he did know: when a woman got an idea into her head, there was no changing it.”

“And I won’t get to see Hikari or Aimi again? How can that be fair? What have I done to deserve this?”-“It’s not what you’ve done, Sam. It’s who you are. You are destined for greater things because of who you are.”

“Judging from the fact that you’re out here by yourself, I’d say that you were probably embarrassed,”

“As with everything she did, Aimi excelled. Academically, she was in the top one percent of students in the state and was in the track team that had just won the nationals. She said she only went in for cheerleading because she liked the physical activity. It made sense though, Sam thought. Because of her bright, cheerful attitude, she was also incredibly popular. At times Sam felt slightly jealous of her, but mostly he was just immensely proud.”