Date: Sunday, 14 December 2025Location: Bradford City Centre
Morning laid itself gently over Bradford, the light stretched thin by a gauze of mist. City center stirred slowly — Christmas lights blinked against the grey, weak sunlight pooling in puddles along the narrow streets. Shop windows frosted over from the inside, little bursts of warmth trapped behind glass.
Rin Itoshi pulled his hoodie a little lower over his brow and slipped his hands into his pockets, letting his footsteps set no particular rhythm. No training. No bus rides. No weight of tactics humming at the back of his skull. Jake had given them the Sunday off after the demolition of Watford.
The others would be sprawled in their apartments or crowding a breakfast diner somewhere, laughing over pancakes too big for the plates. Walsh probably already halfway through teasing Richter into a coffee spill. Mensah calling dibs on an extra portion before it even hit the table.
Rin had gone the other way. Out into the mist.
