The room they'd been given was called a Drift Chamber — a circular space suspended in nothingness, with a floor that pulsed faintly beneath their steps, and a window that looked out over a sky that didn't follow time.
The Academy called it a "resting space."
But Rei felt anything but rested.
He sat on the edge of the levitating cot, still staring at the burn mark where Aira had slapped him.
"You really hit me," he muttered.
Aira, sitting on the floor near the strange heater orb, glanced up.
"You were being possessed by a grinning corpse god," she replied. "You're lucky I didn't throw salt water on you."
He tried to laugh. It sounded wrong.
There was a long pause.
Neither of them spoke.The air felt like static — awkward, not hostile.Too many things had happened, and the silence between them wasn't just unspoken — it was unbuilt.
Finally, Rei broke it.
"I never asked. Why are you bonded to a Shadow?"
Aira didn't answer right away.
She stood, walked to the strange glass that acted as a window. The swirling clouds of the dimension shimmered with green light.
"Mine's not one of the Big Seven," she said. "Just a splinter. A broken remnant. It found me when I was... dying."
"I didn't say yes. But it crawled in anyway."
Rei tilted his head. "So… you've always hated it?"
She turned. Her smile was sharp.
"No. I used to love it. It made me strong. Unafraid."
A pause.
"And then I realized it was feeding on my fear of being alone."
Rei leaned back. "So we're both freaks."
Aira chuckled. "You're worse. Yours smiles."
They both laughed — a small, real moment.
"Can I ask something?" Rei said suddenly. "Why did you pull me out back there? Before Yuri…"
Aira hesitated.
"Because you looked like someone who didn't want to hurt anyone.But had no clue how to stop himself."
"And I've been that person."
Rei looked down. "You keep saving me."
"Well," Aira said, walking over, "you keep almost breaking the world."
She offered him a cup — something warm, spiced. The Academy's version of tea?
"So drink. Rest. And don't go feral in your sleep."
They sat there for a while — not touching, not talking — just breathing in the shared space.It wasn't friendship. Not yet.But something in that silence was beginning to thread between them.
Not trust.But maybe… the start of it.