"I don't think I'm doing too well."
The morning light crept through the thin hotel curtains in pale, dusty stripes, painting the worn carpet in shades of gold and gray.
"I know I'm not doing well."
The room was quiet except for the soft hum of the air conditioning unit and the distant sound of harbor bells ringing across the water.
Hoshimi's eyes were open.
That dimming purple pupil.
He hadn't set an alarm.
The ceiling above him was water-stained and unfamiliar.
He sat up. The couch creaked beneath him, a tired sound.
His body ached in a dozen places, his shoulder, his thigh, his chest, his jaw, but the pain was distant now.
The sword's warmth pulsed steadily in his chest, a second heartbeat that had become as familiar as his own.
Kira was still asleep in the other bed, her dirty brown hair splayed across the pillow, her breathing slow and even. Her blanked lay pooled at the foot of the bed like a discarded cocoon. Her fingers twitched occasionally, grasping at nothing.
Neila was gone from her chair. The bathroom door was closed, and he could hear the shower running, the steady hiss of water against tile.
[She'd probably been awake for hours, she probably hasn't been sleeping]
"Are you going to peek at the naked girl showering?"
Vert sat in the corner armchair, exactly where she'd been the night before.
"You startled me," Hoshimi stared back at her, his eyes dimming even further. "And no, I'm not going to peek on her."
"Asmodeus always said that lust always gets to most people, especially pubescent boys like you."
Her white-green hair pooled around her shoulders, and her gray eyes were fixed on the window, watching the sunrise with an expression that was neither wonder nor boredom but something in between.
Hoshimi swung his legs over the side of the couch and stood.
"No thanks."
The floor was cold against his bare feet, the cheap carpet rough and worn. He crossed to the window and pulled the curtain aside just enough to peer at the street below.
He let the curtain fall back into place and walked to the bathroom door.
"Are you done?"
Knocked twice.
"No," Neila's voice came through the door.
"I need to brush my teeth."
"So wait."
He waited. Two minutes later, the shower stopped. Five minutes after that, the door opened and Neila emerged in a cloud of steam, her blonde hair flowed down to her back and her entire body was wrapped with a single white towel. She stopped mid stride, catching his gaze.
"What? Why're you looking at me like that?" Her eyes twitched. "You've seen skin before, haven't you?"
Vert immediately replied. "He was trying to spy up on you, and tried peeking through the crack in the door for the past three minutes."
Neila's face flushed red, she clutched her towel and turned away from him, she couldn't say a word.
"You're disgusting. H-how d-dare…"
Hoshimi sighed and rubbed his temples.
"I didn't, Neila, she's lying, I didn't even think she had a sense of humor."
"I simply thought it'd be funny."
She quickly walked past him, trying to cover her face. "Bathroom's yours," she said. "Don't take forever."
The bathroom was small and functional, the mirror still fogged from Neila's shower.
He wiped it clear with his palm and stared at his reflection. Pale. Hollow-cheeked.
The scar on his cheek got smaller.
A thin white line that seemed to glow in the harsh fluorescent light. His violet eyes were ringed with shadows that looked like bruises, but they seemed to be clear.
He brushed his teeth methodically, the way he did everything.
Rinse. Spit. The water in the sink swirled pink for a moment, residual blood from a split gum, then ran clear.
The shower was hot. Almost too hot.
He liked it that way.
When the heat prickled his skin.
When the warmth loosened up his shoulders.
He stood under the spray with his hands pressed against the tile, letting the water beat against the knotted scar tissue on his back, his shoulder, his thigh.
He closed his eyes and let himself exist in the space between thought and action, the quiet place where nothing mattered except the next breath.
When he stepped out, steam billowing around him, he felt almost human. His clothes from yesterday were ruined, bloodstained, torn, probably a biohazard by now so he changed into the spare set Neila had packed for him.
Black pants. A dark gray shirt. A jacket that was slightly too large in the shoulders but would do. His gun was still missing, but she had slipped a spare knife into his bag.
Kira was awake when he emerged. She sat on the edge of her bed, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cocoon, her blue eyes tracking his movements with that familiar, anxious intensity.
"Good morning," she said quietly.
"Morning."
"Did you sleep okay?"
"Well enough."
"That's good." She paused. "That's really good. I didn't sleep very well. I was dreaming about-" She stopped herself. Swallowed. "Never mind. It doesn't matter."
"Hey."
She looked up at him.
"You can tell me later. If you want to."
Something flickered in her eyes. Not quite hope. Something smaller. Something almost like relief. "Okay. Later."
Neila was at the small table by the window, her revolver disassembled in front of her, the pieces arranged in neat, precise rows. She was cleaning each component with a small cloth, her movements methodical, almost meditative.
She sighed.
"There's coffee in the lobby," she said without looking up. "I sent Vert down to get some. She should be back soon."
"You sent a goddess to get coffee?"
"Someone had to." She wiped down the barrel of the revolver with practiced efficiency. "We're low on supplies. We'll need to make a supply run today. If we can find it."
"The Leviathans-"
"They are bodyguards, I doubt they'll allow us to use them as servants." She looked up, her blue eyes meeting his. "We're still fugitives, puppet. We still need to eat."
The door opened. Vert glided into the room, a cardboard tray of coffee cups balanced in her pale hands.
She set it on the table without a word and retreated to her corner, her gray eyes fixed on some point in the middle distance.
"I don't think she sleeps," Kira whispered.
"She's a goddess," Hoshimi said. "I doubt she has any need to."
Neila reassembled her revolver in four smooth motions and tucked it into her coat. "Drink your coffee. We've got a long day ahead."
"I don't like coffee."
"Suit yourself."
"Can you teach me?" Kira asked quietly.
Neila didn't look up. "To clean a gun?"
"To… do something useful. Anything."
The Shaw girl's hands paused. Then she slid a spare cloth across the table. "Wipe down the barrel. Gently. Don't touch the firing pin."
Kira took the cloth like it was scripture.
Then Vert spoke again, her tone unnervingly casual. "The woman who raised you. She will come again."
"Of course she will."
Vert tilted her head. "There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow."
"Did you read that in a fortune cookie?" Neila muttered.
"I found it on the internet."
"How did yo-. Never mind."
The morning passed in a blur of small, mundane tasks.
Neila made a list of supplies they needed. Kira helped her organize the meager provisions they'd managed to salvage from the Academy. Vert sat in her corner and watched the sunrise creep across the ceiling, her expression distant and unreadable.
Hoshimi stood by the window, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife, watching the street below for any sign of pursuit.
By noon, the tension had begun to ease. Just enough to breathe. Just enough to pretend, for a few hours, that they weren't fugitives.
Neila went out at 1 PM to meet with one of Eric's contacts, a weapons dealer who operated out of a warehouse in the harbor district.
She took Vert with her, the goddess was still their most valuable bargaining chip, and Neila wasn't about to let her out of sight.
Kira stayed behind with Hoshimi, curled up on her bed with a book she'd found in the nightstand drawer, her lips moving silently as she read.
The hours crept by. The sun climbed higher, then began its slow descent toward the horizon. The shadows lengthened. The city hummed with its endless, indifferent life.
4:32 PM
"Kira."
"What is it?"
"Do you ever miss your parents?"
She stood up from the bed, the blanket pooling under her. "Yea, sometimes I wonder, I wonder what my life would be like if we went out that day, if my dad and mom drove me to school."
"Hmmm."
Hoshimi stared at the ground.
[I don't know what to feel anymore]
[I don't know what to say]
"Hoshimi."
He turned towards her.
"I know, I understand what you're going through, you're not alone, even if she doesn't want to say it, Neila's probably experienced something like that as well." Kira held his hand and smiled. "I'm here for you."
"Thank you."
Bang.
The world flashed white.
The wall behind him simply ceased to exist.