Raizen fell asleep standing up twice before First Bell. The first time, Hikari caught him by the collar. The second time, she let him tip until his forehead met the mirror wall of the training hall, waited for the cold glass to do its work, and said, "If you fall asleep mid-fight, I'm disowning you."
"Try," he mumbled into the mirror, and yawned so wide his soul nearly escaped.
His whole body felt borrowed. One night on the Crown Spine had filled his forearms with sand, and the next one, a temporarily frozen forest had taken care of the rest. Under all of it, his palms were still trembling, faint as a bell heard from streets away, and every time he closed his hands he felt the hum again.
Nobody knew where he'd been, except maybe Hikari, who hadn't asked. Kori had walked into breakfast with her hair perfect and a pastry in each hand, taken one look at him, and asked with total innocence whether he'd slept badly.
