REOMEN
The world was a dull, red haze behind my closed eyelids, the weight of my own arm a welcome shield against the late afternoon light filtering through the suite's windows. The bed was impossibly soft, a cloud designed to swallow a man whole, and for a few precious seconds, I let it.
The low murmur of voices from the living room was a distant hum—Paige and Suzume, a sound that was somehow both new and deeply settling. It was the sound of her having a life, a friend, a world that existed even when I wasn't in the room. It was a good sound.
Then the door opened, and the peace shattered.
"Well, well. The great Reomen Daki, napping like a common mortal. It's almost endearing. If it weren't so pathetic."
Kenji. Of course. I didn't move my arm. I didn't need to see him to picture the smug, lazy grin plastered on his face.
