Chapter 43: The Knife Beneath the Flower.
Ryuga's apartment, if one could call it that, was colder than she expected.
Not cold like temperature-the room was cold but it only cold in the methaporical sense. The kind that made you want to speak softer just so the air wouldn't crack.
Ryo stepped in quietly, her eyes catching on the mold webbing the corners, the blinking lightbulb above, the mattress on the floor. On it, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, was the girl.
She looked up and grinned.
"Ryu-nii," she whispered.
Her voice was paper-thin. Sweet. The kind you wanted to wrap in both hands and protect.
"This is Mei," Ryuga said, setting down a convenience store bag. "Mei, this is Ryo."
"You're so pretty!" Mei said, eyes sparkling despite the fatigue in her limbs. "Are you Ryu-nii's girlfriend?"
Ryo choked. "I-I'm not-"
Ryuga didn't answer. Just smirked and unpacked the food.
"Ryo sounds like a hero name," Mei said. "You look like you save people."
Ryo knelt beside her. "And you look like you make people smile."
Mei coughed into the blanket. It sounded wet.
"Don't say that," she said. "I don't wanna be the cute one that dies."
Ryo froze. "What?"
Mei giggled. "You watch anime, don't you? The small, sweet one always dies. That's the rule. I'm genre-savvy."
Ryuga turned away, too fast. Pretending to look for bowls.
Ryo watched him.
And understood.
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Ryo in her pressed uniform and silver pin, walking into the glass corridors of Roward Academy's Science Department-a world of digital whiteboards, drones in the halls, and Al assistants that greeted her by name.
Ryuga stepped through the cracked gates of the Default Class building.
No drones here.
Just peeling walls, broken lockers, and eyes that didn't blink.
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He found his gang behind the school later that day-Kai with a cig hanging loose, Taro fixing his music playlist, Mari cracking her knuckles, and Riku chewing on jerky like it owed him money.
Ryuga joined them in silence, eating stale bread from the vending machine.
Until he heard it.
"...that rich bitch Ryo thinks she's better than us," someone muttered near the fence. "Though she got some good bo-"
He stood up.
No one noticed at first.
Until the crack of a punch broke through the air.
The guy crumpled to the ground.
"What the hell-?!" his friend yelled.
Ryuga didn't answer. He stepped forward, fire behind his eyes. Another blow, another shout. The guy's nose exploded red.
His gang joined without hesitation.
Kai took down two with a broom handle he wasn't even supposed to have. Riku threw his shoe at someone's head. Mari bit someone. Taro played music on his phone during the chaos.
They fought hard. Messy. Loud.
And when it ended, and teachers were running over, they all scattered like roaches.
Later, as they sat on the rooftop-bruised, laughing, eating cheap bread-Ryuga finally spoke.
"Why the hell did you guys help me?"
Mari shrugged, biting into hers.
"I thought it'd be fun," she said.
"Same," Riku said. "I just wanted smoke."
"I liked the drama," Taro added, showing a chipped tooth.
Kai sighed. "Honestly, I just didn't wanna go to class."
Ryuga stared at them. "You're all idiots."
"Yup," Mari said.
He looked out over the edge of the rooftop, wind brushing through his hair.
He had never stood up for anything.
Never cared.
But hearing Ryo's name in their mouths like dirt had flipped something inside him.
He hadn't even realized it until his fists were already flying.
Far above them, in another building across the city, Ryo stared out of her window between classes.
The sky was the same for both of them.
But the cages were different.
Still, somehow... it felt like the air they breathed was finally mixing.