"Kori?" Hikari said, too loudly, as if saying one name might scare the other away.
Both names arrived.
Kori came first, leaning sideways to let the door finish sulking open, coffee cup in one hand, the kind of expression you bring to a room you've found this boy in after curfew too many times. Alteea followed with a coat that looked like she'd absolutely stolen from a romance movie, and a look in her eye that meant she was about to flirt with the day and dissect it at the same time.
Two heartbeats of tableau: Hikari, earrings quietly new. Raizen, hands wrist-deep in machine guts, a line embedded in the backstop. A bandage with dark red spots. Overall, a room too awake.
"Well" Alteea said, delighted. "Either I've walked in on a date or a violation. Either way: exhilarating."
Hikari turned pink. "Neither" she replied, not 100% true.
