Day 6 Post-Impact
Sarnav barely slept.
He lay on his fold-out bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind replaying every moment with Nisha. The way she'd run to him. The way she'd cried against his chest. The warmth of her lips on his cheek, brief but electric.
She was alive. After days of not knowing, of fearing the worst, she was alive.
And she'd said she wanted more. That she'd always wanted more.
The memory made his heart race. All those years of unspoken feelings, all those missed opportunities, and now the world had ended and somehow given them a second chance.
Don't rush it, he told himself. She's been through hell. You both have. Take it slow. Do it right.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[HOST EMOTIONAL STATE: ELEVATED]
[BOND POTENTIAL WITH NISHA RAMACHANDRAN: EXCEPTIONAL]
[RECOMMENDED APPROACH: GENUINE CONNECTION, PATIENCE, MEANINGFUL MOMENTS]
[NOTE: RUSHED RELATIONSHIPS YIELD LOWER ESSENCE MULTIPLIERS]
[DEEP EMOTIONAL BONDS ARE MORE VALUABLE LONG-TERM]
For once, the system's advice aligned perfectly with his instincts.
He finally drifted off sometime after midnight, dreaming of brown eyes and warm smiles.
Morning came too slowly.
Sarnav was up before dawn, packing supplies for the trip east. He'd arranged for a small convoy this time. Two vehicles loaded with food, medical supplies, and construction materials. Tan was coming along to assess the school's fortifications. Madam Chen would help coordinate the integration logistics.
"You're eager," Mythili observed, finding him in the courtyard as the sun rose.
"We have a lot of work to do."
"Mmm." Her tone was knowing. "Work. Is that what we're calling it?"
"Mom."
"I'm just saying, you haven't been this energetic since before the impact." She smiled, a rare genuine expression that softened her judicial features. "It's good to see. You've been carrying so much weight these past days. It's nice to see something making you happy."
"Finding Nisha alive makes me happy. Everything else is just... potential."
"Potential is good. Potential means hope." Mythili patted his arm. "Go. Build your alliance. Reconnect with your friend. Just remember to actually handle the logistics too."
"Yes, Mom."
The drive east took less than an hour.
Sarnav spent the journey reviewing integration plans with Madam Chen. Resource sharing protocols, defense coordination, communication systems. The practical work of merging two survivor groups into something stronger.
But his mind kept drifting to Nisha.
What would she be wearing today? Would she be as nervous as him? Had she slept any better than he had?
"You're distracted," Madam Chen observed.
"Just thinking."
"About logistics, I'm sure." Her tone was dry but not unkind. "The childhood friend. She's important to you."
"She always has been. I just never did anything about it."
"The world has a way of clarifying priorities." Madam Chen looked out the window at the passing ruins. "My husband and I waited five years to get married. We thought we had all the time in the world. He died on Day Zero."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Learn from it." She turned back to him, her expression serious. "If you care about this girl, don't waste time. Don't wait for perfect moments. In this new world, perfect moments are the ones you make."
Sarnav nodded slowly. "I'll remember that."
SMK Taman Melati looked different in the morning light.
The fortifications were more impressive than he'd realized yesterday, the defensive positions well-planned, the guard rotations efficient. Nisha had built something real here, something that could survive.
The guards recognized him from yesterday and waved the convoy through. Word had spread about the alliance, and curious faces watched from windows and doorways as they drove into the courtyard.
Nisha was waiting for them.
She stood near the main building, clipboard in hand, looking every bit the leader she'd become. Her hair was pulled back in its practical ponytail, her clothes clean and functional. She looked better than yesterday. More rested. More at ease.
She dressed up, Sarnav realized with a flutter in his chest. Or at least she tried to look nice.
"You came back," she said as he stepped out of the vehicle.
"I said I would."
"I know. I just..." She shook her head, smiling. "After yesterday, part of me was afraid I'd dreamed the whole thing."
"Not a dream. I'm real." He walked toward her, stopping at a respectful distance. Close enough to talk privately, not so close that it looked inappropriate in front of everyone. "How are you feeling?"
"Better. I actually slept last night. First time in days." Her smile turned wry. "Knowing you're out there, knowing we're not alone anymore... it helps."
"You were never alone. You just didn't know I was looking for you."
Something flickered in her eyes. Warmth, gratitude, something deeper that she quickly masked with practicality.
"Come on," she said. "Let me show you where we can unload the supplies. Then I'll give your people a proper tour."
The morning was consumed by logistics.
Tan assessed the school's structural integrity, identifying areas that needed reinforcement and creating a priority list for repairs. Madam Chen met with Nisha's administrative team, establishing communication protocols and resource sharing agreements. The supplies were unloaded, inventoried, and distributed according to need.
Sarnav helped where he could, but mostly he observed. Watched how Nisha moved through her community, how people responded to her, how she handled problems with calm efficiency. She was a natural leader, something he'd never fully appreciated before.
"She's impressive," Madam Chen said quietly, appearing beside him. "Your childhood friend."
"She's always been capable. I just never saw it properly."
"We rarely see the people closest to us clearly. We're too busy taking them for granted."
Sarnav watched Nisha resolve a dispute between two families over sleeping space, her voice patient but firm. She didn't raise her voice, didn't pull rank. She just talked to them like people, found a compromise that satisfied everyone, and moved on to the next problem.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I took a lot for granted."
Lunch was a communal affair.
The school's cafeteria served as the main dining hall, with long tables and a rotating cooking schedule. Sarnav sat with Nisha, Tan, and several of her key people, the conversation mixing integration logistics with personal introductions.
"So you're the famous Sarnav," said a heavyset Malay man named Encik Rahman. He'd been a teacher before the impact, now served as Nisha's second-in-command. "Our leader has mentioned you a few times."
Nisha's cheeks flushed. "I have not mentioned him that many times."
"You have a photo of you two on your desk," said a young Chinese woman named Mei Ling. "From school days."
"That's just... it was already there when I..."
"She looks at it every night before bed," Encik Rahman added helpfully.
"I do not!" Nisha's face was now bright red. "You're all terrible people and I hate you."
The table laughed, the easy camaraderie of people who'd survived hell together. Sarnav found himself smiling despite himself.
"She talked about you too," he offered. "Back when we were in school. Always going on about her friends from SMK Taman Melati."
"Did she mention how she cried for a week after transferring?" Mei Ling asked.
"Okay, that's enough sharing time," Nisha said firmly. "Let's talk about supply chains or something. Anything else."
But she was smiling despite her embarrassment, and when her eyes met Sarnav's across the table, there was warmth there. Affection. Something building.
After lunch, Nisha gave Sarnav a personal tour.
Away from the logistics and the people, just the two of them walking through the converted school. She showed him the dormitories, the medical station, the training areas. Explained the systems she'd built, the challenges she'd overcome.
"This was my classroom," she said, stopping outside a room that had been converted into family housing. "Form 5. Right before I transferred."
"I remember. You were so upset about leaving."
"I had friends here. A life." She looked at him sideways. "But then I met you, and things got better."
"I made things better?"
"You were the first person at the new school who actually talked to me. Everyone else thought I was weird. The girl from the government school who didn't fit in with the international school crowd."
"You weren't weird. You were just... genuine. In a place where everyone was pretending to be something they weren't."
Nisha was quiet for a moment. "You know what I remember most about those years?"
"What?"
"Walking home together after school. Those long walks where we'd talk about everything. Books, games, dreams. Stupid jokes that only we found funny." She smiled, soft and nostalgic. "I used to look forward to those walks more than anything else."
"Me too." Sarnav stopped walking, turning to face her. "I used to make up excuses to walk the long way, just to have more time."
"I know. Your house was in the opposite direction."
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew." Her eyes were warm. "I just never said anything because I didn't want it to stop."
They stood there in the empty hallway, the afternoon light filtering through dusty windows. So much history between them. So many missed opportunities.
"Why didn't we ever..." Sarnav trailed off.
"I don't know. Fear, maybe. Not wanting to ruin what we had." Nisha looked away. "I kept waiting for you to make a move. And I think you were waiting for me."
"And we both waited too long."
"Story of our lives." She laughed, but it was tinged with sadness. "Then university happened, and we drifted apart, and I thought I'd missed my chance forever."
"You didn't miss anything." Sarnav reached out, hesitated, then gently took her hand. "We're here now. That's what matters."
Nisha looked down at their intertwined fingers, then back up at him. Her eyes were bright.
"Yeah," she said softly. "We are."
They spent the rest of the afternoon together.
Not doing anything romantic. Just talking, catching up, rebuilding the friendship that distance had weakened. They walked the school grounds, sat in empty classrooms, shared stories about the years they'd missed.
Nisha told him about university, about her degree in environmental science, about the research job she'd been about to start when the asteroid hit. About her parents, who'd been visiting her aunt in Bangsar that day.
Sarnav told her about his IT job, about feeling stuck and purposeless, about his father's affairs and his parents' dying marriage. About the impact, the awakening, the system that had changed everything.
He didn't tell her everything about the system. Not yet. But he told her about his powers, about his rapid cultivation, about what he was becoming.
"D-rank in less than a week," Nisha said, shaking her head. "That's incredible, Sarnav."
"My abilities are... unique. I advance faster than normal cultivators."
"How much faster?"
"A lot." He hesitated. "There's more to it than that. Things I should probably explain eventually. But it's complicated."
"Complicated how?"
"Complicated in ways that might change how you see me." He looked away. "I don't want to mess this up by sharing too much too fast."
Nisha was quiet for a moment. Then she reached out and took his hand again.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me when you're ready. I'm not going anywhere." She squeezed his fingers. "I waited ten years to find you again. I can wait a little longer for the complicated parts."
Sarnav felt something loosen in his chest. Tension he hadn't realized he'd been carrying.
"Thank you."
"That's what friends are for." She smiled. "Or whatever we are now."
"What do you want us to be?"
The question hung in the air between them. Heavy with implication.
"I want..." Nisha started, then stopped. "I think I want to figure that out together. Not rush into anything, but not hold back either. Just... see where this goes."
"I can work with that."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
They sat together in comfortable silence as the sun began to set, hands still intertwined, neither willing to let go.
Evening came too quickly.
Sarnav knew he should head back to the courthouse. His people expected him. There was work waiting. But leaving Nisha felt physically painful in a way he hadn't anticipated.
"You need to go," she said, reading his expression.
"I know."
"But you'll come back tomorrow?"
"Try and stop me."
They walked to the gate together, where the vehicles were waiting. The convoy was loaded, the integration team ready to depart.
"Thank you," Nisha said. "For today. For everything."
"Don't thank me. This is just the beginning."
"I know." She smiled, that warm familiar smile that made his heart ache. "That's what I'm thanking you for."
They stood there awkwardly, neither sure how to say goodbye. A handshake felt too formal. A hug felt too casual. Something more felt too fast.
In the end, Nisha rose on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Soft, brief, exactly like yesterday.
"Tomorrow," she said.
"Tomorrow."
He got in the vehicle and didn't look back. If he looked back, he wouldn't be able to leave.
[BOND DEVELOPMENT: NISHA RAMACHANDRAN]
[STATUS: REBUILDING CONNECTION]
[ROMANTIC TENSION: DEVELOPING]
[TRUST LEVEL: HIGH]
[EMOTIONAL INTIMACY: GROWING]
[ESTIMATED TRAJECTORY: POSITIVE]
[NOTE: FOUNDATION BEING PROPERLY ESTABLISHED]
[PATIENCE WILL YIELD SIGNIFICANT RETURNS]