The late afternoon sun stretched long shadows across the quiet Tokyo street, its light catching in the rose-pink strands of Sae’s braid as it swayed against her shoulder. She walked with her hands in her pockets, gaze unfocused but sharp all the same, her stride slow, deliberate, as if the whole world had to match her pace or risk being left behind.

She wasn’t in a hurry. She rarely was these days. A rare day off meant space to breathe, to let her thoughts drift somewhere beyond the pitch... though inevitably, they always circled back. The crowd was light here, the kind she could move through without drawing much attention despite her height and presence. She was halfway across a crosswalk when she caught the faintest flicker of recognition in the corner of her vision. A figure approaching from the opposite side of the street. Familiar in a way that made her stop without thinking.

Her teal-green eyes narrowed just slightly, not in suspicion, but in focus, pulling her out of her detached haze. She let her gaze trace the face, the posture, the way the other woman moved; sharp, practiced steps that screamed of the same life Sae lived.

"...It’s been a while." The words were quiet but carried a calm statement rather than an exclamation. No surprise in her tone, no rush to close the distance, just the cool certainty of recognition. Her lips curved, not into a smile exactly, but into the faintest ghost of one, the kind that barely softened the sharpness of her features.

"I didn’t expect to see you here." She tilted her head slightly, braid slipping forward. "Last I heard, you’d traded Madrid for... what was it? The European circuit?" Her gaze lingered, taking in the small changes time had made.. subtle, but unmistakable. "You’ve changed," she said simply, though there was no judgment in her voice. Just observation.

Then, after a beat, her eyes sharpened with something more direct. "Still keeping up with me?"