Raizen woke to the sound of leaves and breath.

For a moment, he forgot where he was.

No pipes groaning. No distant clang of metal. No Underworks shouting through thin walls. Just a soft rustle from the balcony curtains, the faint creak of wood, and three other people breathing in the same room.

A bit early.

He did not need a clock to know. His body had learned the time months ago. He turned his head toward the door, looking for the small panel with the display. Just to be sure. Numbers glowed in pale blue.

05:02.

Close enough.

He rolled onto his side and almost jolted straight off the futon.

Saffi lay between him and the low table, half under her blanket and half… Very not.

She was on her back, one arm flung above her head, the other crooked awkwardly against her chest like she had lost a fight with the pillow.

Her loose, baggy pajama shirt had lifted up a bit, exposing a strip of pale skin over her stomach. One of the straps of her bra had slipped off her shoulder, resting against her arm. Her hair was a mess of dark strands over the pillow.

Her mouth was slightly open.

She was snoring. Very softly. Like a small kitten trying to be tough.

Raizen stared at the ceiling.

Then he stared at her.

Then he stared at the ceiling again.

He could feel his own pulse, loud where it had no right to be.

It is fine. Just... Don't look. Easy.

He turned onto his back, eyes fixed on the wooden beams overhead. It lasted ten seconds. Maybe twelve. The cool air from the balcony brushed over his skin, carrying the faint chill of high branches and morning mist.

If he could feel it, then so should she.

He looked again.

The strip of her stomach was still exposed. Goosebumps had started to raise along the skin there. The blanket covered only one of her legs. The other was half twisted out from under it in some kind of strange sleep stretch.

She was going to catch a cold like that.

Everyone he cared about... Froze first.

He swallowed, then shifted carefully, trying not to move the futon too much. Kenzo was still out cold in the opposite corner, one arm over his face. Eiden's silhouette was just a darker shape against the wall, almost kissing it.

Raizen sat up, freezing every time someone's breath changed, then slowly reached over.

He took hold of the hem of Saffi's shirt with the tips of his fingers, like it was a dangerous material he had to handle with specialized tools, and tugged it down just enough to cover the bare skin.

His hands were warm. Her skin was warmer.

DON'T – EVEN THINK about it.

He dropped the fabric and reached for the edge of her blanket. It had gotten twisted under her elbow. He slowly eased it free and pulled it up over her stomach and shoulders, moving slowly, waiting for the moment her eyes would fly open and she would probably slap him in the most graceful manner.

But thankfully, she didn't.

She only mumbled something that might have been a word in her sleep and turned her head slightly toward him. For an instant, her forehead brushed the back of his wrist.

He froze.

Her breathing steadied again. Soft snores resumed.

Raizen let go of the blanket like it was wired to explosives.

He sat back on his mattress, exhaled very quietly, and decided that was enough danger for one morning.

His slate lay near his pillow. He grabbed it, glad to have something else to think about. The prototype had been tapping at the back of his mind since the flight - balances, stress lines, how much spin the joints could take before the whole thing tore off his arm on a hard turn. If he worked through some of the math now, it would keep his mind off blankets. skin and the fact that they were sharing one room.

He tapped the slate awake.

The screen blinked on.

Instantly, the cabin filled with high pitched meowing.

Tiny kittens rolled across the screen. Their noises were painfully loud in the quiet room.

"..."

Raizen's heart jumped into his throat.

He smacked the volume control with his thumb. It missed. The meows went louder.

He lunged and shoved the entire slate under his pillow, pressing it down like he could suffocate the sound. The screen flipped in his hands and tried to suggest more videos.

Across the room, Kenzo snorted in his sleep, rolled over, and muttered something about falling.

Eiden's breathing hitched once, then settled.

Saffi let out a tiny snore that sounded like she was choking, flopped onto her side, and dragged the blanket tighter without opening her eyes.

Raizen held the pillow down, every muscle braced.

The kittens finally, mercifully, stopped.

He slid one hand under the pillow, squinting, and managed to stab the pause icon without dragging any new tabs open. The screen froze on a kitten mid backflip.

The volume bar glared at him from the corner, now at minimum.

Saffi. She must have watched them on the way here and left the window open.

He stared at the bright little cat and exhaled through his nose.

"You're a menace" he whispered.

He pulled the slate out again. This time, he opened his design file instead.

Lines, circles and rushed sketches replaced cat videos. He relaxed.

"Weight distribution" he murmured under his breath, drawing a quick sketch of his grappling system's frame. The cabin was too dim for proper drafting, but the slate adjusted, brightening the lines.

The curve of the arm mount needed reinforcement if he wanted sharper, better angles. The last test had already shown stress cracks. If he doubled the anchors and adjusted for rotational force...

"Spin is still the problem" he told the sketch. "Too much and it'll just rip itself apart. Too little and I'm a very fast rock."

He started noting possible joints, mentally pairing them with materials Neoshima could actually afford in bulk.

Minutes blurred. The city outside shifted from pre-dawn haze into something softer, dim, warm light filtering between branches. The sounds changed too. A few distant voices. The low thump of something heavy being moved along a nearby platform. A bell chiming once, far above.

By the time he looked up again, the numbers read a little past six.

A groan came from the corner.

Kenzo rolled onto his back and squinted at the ceiling.

"Why is the floor vibrating?" he asked, voice thick with sleep.

"It isn't, what do you mean?" Raizen said.

"Feels like it."

"That's you."

Kenzo blinked, then snorted a laugh and dragged a hand over his face. His hair stuck up in uneven directions, the result of a small war with his pillow.

The sound of a quiet yawn came from nearer Raizen's elbow.

Saffi shifted, pulled the blanket more securely around herself, and opened one eye. For a second she looked completely lost.

Then the ceiling, the balcony, and Raizen's face arranged themselves into a memory she could recognize.

"Oh" she said, voice rough. "Right. Tree."

She pushed herself up on her elbows, hair a disaster, blanket slipping, then yanked it back up before it could fall too far.

"Morning" Raizen said.

"Morning" she replied. "How long have you been awake?"

"A while, why?"

She didn't answer the question, not seeming to notice anything strange. No suspicion. No idea her shirt had been crooked or that she had been snoring loud enough to scare small animals.

"Good" Raizen thought.

He was not sure his dignity could handle explaining any of it.

Eiden woke almost silently. One moment he was still. The next his eyes were open, calmly taking in the room. If the envelope had kept him up, he did not show it on his face. And the dark circles beneath his eyes disappeared.

Kenzo pushed himself to sitting and rolled his shoulders until they popped.

"So" he said. "Sleep well?"

"Surprisingly yes" Saffi said, rubbing her eyes. "These futons are really soft. And the air smells nice. And no one was snoring."

There was a tiny, dangerous pause.

Raizen kept his eyes firmly on his slate, trying not to smirk.

"Right" Kenzo said slowly. "No one at all."

Saffi frowned at him, then shrugged and reached for her bag.

Eiden stood, stretching his organic arm and flexing the dark fingers, watching each joint move.

"I have a meeting with the Echelon this morning" he said. "And some personal matters to attend to." His gaze slid, for a fraction of a breath, in the direction of where he had left the envelope the night before. The thin outline of it still sat on the low table, now tucked into a folder. "I may be gone most of the day."

Saffi straightened.

"Do you need us to come?" she asked.

"No" he replied. "You aren't here as bargaining chips. Stay. Explore a little, if you like. Try not to fall off anything."

"That last part sounded like it was aimed at me" Kenzo said.

"It was. You usually get dizzy when you look down" Eiden answered.

He picked up his folder, checked the contents, then moved to the door. His hand lingered on the panel for an extra heartbeat before he stepped out into the hall and was gone.

The room felt slightly different without him. Lighter and heavier at the same time.

Kenzo watched the door close, then turned back to them.

"So" he said. "Since the professor will be gone, and I have some files to deliver to the Ukai ruler, I thought I would prepare a little surprise for you two."

Raizen looked up.

"A surprise?" he repeated. "What, you hired a babysitter?"

Kenzo's mouth curved.

"If I wanted someone to keep you two out of trouble, I would have brought Kori."

Raizen made a face. "I know I bought that pretty spoon, but no thanks."

Saffi choked on a sip of water from the small jug by the table.

"Please don't joke about that" she coughed. "I can hear her already"

"'And you bought that spoon. It violates safety regulations'" Kenzo added.

Raizen glanced guiltily at the corner where the oversized spoon rested against the wall.

"I am starting to think this was a mistake" he said.

"Too late" Kenzo replied, clearly delighted.

He pushed himself to his feet, stretching again, then jerked his chin toward the balcony.

"You asked what I prepared" he said. "Since I will be running errands for the higher-ups, you two need something to keep you busy."

Raizen narrowed his eyes.

"Busy how?" he asked.

Kenzo's grin widened.

"I made preparations…"

"…Go on….?"

"To give you access to the Ukai Academy."

Saffi blinked.

"Their academy?" she asked. "As in their training grounds, their labs, their everything?"

"Everything they are willing to show insiders" Kenzo said. "Which is still a lot more than most people ever see. From what I have heard, their training methods are... Different."

"Different how?"

"Not entirely sure, but... Spoiler…"

He let the silence sit for a second.

"Ukai trains Summoners"

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