Saying that Airi was enraptured about today's upcoming evens could cover about half of what she felt. For about three months she's been teaching Yutaka about probending as well as hanging out with him as a friend. A friend! She could hardly believe it, even after all this time. Most people would become irritated or annoyed when she'd forget certain things or start her sentences over, like she forgot she had already said it. Well, either he didn't mind or he was nice enough to stick by her. Nonetheless, it was absolutely fantastic to be able to hang out with someone around her age and just have fun, though he might disagree from all the bumps, bruises, burns and whatever else he had received from the training she gave him or that he inflicted on himself. Fighting wise, Yutaka was about as beginner as one could be and, well, lets just say she wasn't all that used to teaching people from the beginning. It wasn't until their third lesson that they decided to invest in some equipment.

She clutched his solstice present to her chest, leaning on the brick building where they were supposed to meet. It was the day after the solstice, but they both had commitments on the actual day that they had agreed to meet up the day after, which was completely fine with her. She had a wonderful time with her family listening to the radio, telling stories, and eating the desserts her brother had made. With the bakery closed down for the holiday, her parents had some time off that her mother offered to show her a few things about firebending after dinner just like the lessons she used to get when she was younger. Even if she knew most of it, going back to the basics after probending was something she sorely needed to review. Thankfully, her mother was happy to provide that kind of help.

Airi played with her braid with the hand that wasn't busy holding the present and felt a pang of soreness from her arms and grimaced. Yup, she sure enjoyed that training with her mother the other day but ouch her mother knew exactly how to push her. On the topic of soreness, she wondered how Yutaka was doing. They were mostly on a weekly schedule for practice and she had told him to do certain exercises to help out with building certain muscles her father told her were key for earthbending. Had he been keeping up with that or skimping on it?

She shook herself from that mindset. Here she was, nicely dressed without a speck of flour on her clothes and waiting for a friend, not helping him out with his bending to impress his lady friend. In an absent thought the firebender wondered if she liked the necklace Yutaka got for her. It was almost a silly experience: her trying to help pick out something for someone she met once and even then they had been fighting the entire time. Still, she hoped she had been at least a bit useful for that, but she wouldn't know until he showed up, now would she?