The rest of Sylvain's afternoon went like this:

"By the gods, Sylvain! Look at this cathedral!"

"Oh my goodness! Look at this bridge!"

"Hey, Sylvain, can I climb onto this statue over here? Yeah, the one that says si-chul. You pronounce it key-hole? Key-hole, what the frick…"

"If someone wanted to jump off and die, where do you think they'd do it? There are sooo many places here…"

"Do you think the Holy Mausoleum is haunted? But, I mean, if it was Seiros, would it even be considered haunted? (gasp) Do you think Seiros is haunting Garreg Mach?"

"What's that giant tree next to that tower over there? Oh, that's the Tower of the Goddess? So what about the tree, though, does it have a name? Why not? It should be a holy tree! It's taller than the tower is! I mean — as I've been hearing some of the people talking around here — (clears throat) — if the Goddess lights upon the tower, she needs come through the tree first. — (drops the accent) — And isn't that tree completely undermining the whole fortress's security? Why lay siege to the front gates when you can climb such a nice, climb-able tree?"

"Sure are a lot of cats around here…"

"Sure are a lot of boxes around here…"

"Has that owl been following us this whole time? I swear, this owl's been following us this whole time."

"Ooooh she's gonna give it to 'em! What do you think they did? Those three kids over there, getting a scolding… Wanna listen in and find out?"

"Are they allowed to bring flying horses in here? Over there, at the ceiling — yeah, inside the cathedral… Oh they're wiping the stained glass windows down. That's nice. What do you call that? A pegasus?"

"Is that a dragon!?"

"Take a picture of me here. I need it for reference. Yeah, hit the button. Wait! Wait. Okay, now."

"I feel like, I look a little fat in this dress. Ugh. I have to get a tailored uniform. Another angle. Take a picture again. I just need, another angle. Yeah, hit the button again."

Come sunset, they were back on the bridge again, and the mists were rolling in for the night.

"This sure is a romantic view, huh?" Sylvain asked.

"It's good! It's really scenic!" Amrita said, then proceeded to mutter to herself like Lindhart and Hanneman did. "Panoramas, and circle shots…and it's different, at every time of day."

Sylvain resisted the urge to facepalm. Whatever she was doing, she was really focused. She was just not going to get pulled away. Maybe he should end this, and skip on dinner. She would just eat his money and mutter to herself anyway.

That's when she said, "Do me one more thing, Sylvain." Amrita pulled out a little, rounded white box.

Sylvain panicked. He thought she was pulling out an engagement ring. The box was certainly the shape of commitment and marriage.

But what came out instead were some weird white tadpole things.

And then she put one in her ear.

Sylvain recoiled. What is that thing?

"You put this one on," she said, proffering the other.

Sylvain backed up a step. "W-What?"

"This part goes inside your ear." She pointed. He saw now that the tadpole thing had a head, which she squeezed to demonstrate. It flexed like rubber. "It feels like earplugs," she explained when she saw his hesitation. "But it is infinitely better."

Sylvain looked around himself. The sunset lay pink on the mist, and the night birds were starting to call out. There weren't many people around, just two at the cathedral end. They were too far for Amrita and Sylvain to hear their chatter, and they weren't people he knew, so…

He pushed dread aside and let her place the thing in his hand. Why was he doing this?

Because he didn't want to do homework, that's why. He didn't want to do physics, or his calculus test.

Also, she was kind of pretty. Not the prettiest, but just shy of the pretty you can't trust. Some girls were accustomed to using looks for gains. She seemed way too forward to do things that way.

He gingerly stuffed it in his ear, telling himself it was an ear plug to hold revulsion at bay. "What do you mean 'better'?" he asked.

She grinned. "And here I thought you would never ask. Watch this." She stepped back a few steps. "Sylvain, I'm about to introduce you to Bruno Mars."

Then, out of the earpiece, came sound.

Then, out of her body, came dance.