The four of them are walking down a busy street, the sky painted in the soft orange hues of late afternoon.
They walked in a loose line, the streets humming with after-school chatter and the scent of grilled meat from a nearby stand. The sky overhead was pale blue, the kind of colour that felt indifferent — not warm, not cold. Just there.
A fluttering poster on a nearby wall catches their eyes — bold letters read:
"Tournament of Richt – Regionals This Weekend!"
Location: Westvale Arena – Just 2 Stops Away
Roy smirks and nudges Tanaka with his elbow.
Roy says, "Oh shit, it looks like the tournament is being held around Westvale this year."
Roy smirks and nudges Tanaka with his elbow.
Roy: "You know… you could enter. Be the underdog with a dark past. Real crowd-pleaser."
Tanaka gave him a sidelong glance, unimpressed. "There's no point."
"No confidence?"
"No interest." He adjusted the strap of his bag. "I don't want to join the Celestial Watch. Not even a little. That's what this whole tournament feeds into, right? Future officers. Commanders."
Kieran's expression didn't change, but he shifted slightly at that.
Tanaka shrugs. "Kieran's the one who actually gives a damn. Wants to be a commander or whatever."
Kieran doesn't deny it — he just grins, stretching his arms behind his head.
Kieran: "What can I say? I like winning."
Kieran's expression didn't change, but he shifted slightly at that.
"But, Well… I wouldn't mind," Kieran said after a pause. "If I had the chance."
Roy looked over.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah." Kieran scratched the back of his neck. "I want to do something that matters. And I'm not half bad with a blade."
Brock: (quietly, adjusting his glasses) "Interesting. So the battlefield calls to you."
They all glance at Brock.
Tanaka was slightly hesitant to say but came out with it: "...You good, monologue man?"
Brock grinned as he said this, "I'm just cool like that, you know."
They all look disappointed at him and simultaneously "No, you're not, just sad."
Brock's grin slowly disappeared as the 3 walk away, and he gives a slightly painful sigh.
It wasn't the kind of place you'd seek out — more the kind you stumble into when your stomach overrides your standards. The 4 walk past a building. With the sign above the door flickering, "Fry Shack", some letters half-dead, it's a prominent fast food place that has opened across the continent and is now one of the leading fast food places in the industry.
Inside, the air smelt of fryer oil, soda syrup, and teenage sweat.
They took a booth near the back, a little cracked and sticky, but far enough from the noise. The red leather cushions wheezed as they dropped into place.
Kieran sat on the inside, arms crossed, scanning the laminated menu like it held ancient wisdom.
Brock leaned his forehead against the cold window, eyes glazed.
Tanaka was already listing his combo out loud to no one in particular: "Burger, double patty, spicy fries, milkshake. Chocolate. No cherry. If they put a cherry on it again, I swear—"
Roy just stared at the overhead menu, eyes half-lidded, one hand in his pocket like he might ghost out of the whole building at any second.
They ordered.
And when the food came — plastic trays, wrappers soaked through at the bottom, drinks sweating all over the table — a hush settled in. The sound of eating took over: fries crunching, slurps from oversized straws, the occasional quiet sigh of contentment.
Then the conversation slowly sparked back to life, the way it always did when their stomachs weren't waging war anymore.
Kieran broke the silence first, unwrapping the second half of his burger.
"You think anyone from school's actually got a shot at the tournament?"
Tanaka, mid-bite, shrugged. "If you mean us? No. If you mean, like, one of the battle kids who carries a spear to math class? Maybe."
"I meant in general," Kieran said, lips curling upward. "But thanks for the vote of confidence."
Roy, leaning back with his drink, tapped the straw against his lip.
"You want to join, though. Don't you?"
Kieran didn't deny it this time. "I do. I wouldn't mind becoming an officer. It's not about power — it's… I don't know. Meaning. Like doing something that matters."
Brock, finally stirring, muttered, "You don't think this matters?"
Kieran paused. The sound of ice shifting in his drink filled the quiet between them.
"It does. But this..." He gestured around vaguely — to the school, the city, the booth, maybe even the grease stains. "This feels like a chapter. I want the rest of the book."
No one said anything for a second.
Then Tanaka grinned. "I'd rather not get draughted into a war just to give my life meaning, thanks."
Roy: "You're assuming there'll even be a war."
Tanaka: "There's always a war. Somewhere. Give it time."
Their conversation drifted like that — half-serious, half-snark — until a voice cracked through the lull behind them.
"Then just go."
Soft. Breaking. A girl's voice, trying hard not to shake.
The four of them froze, like deer who'd wandered into someone else's drama.
From the booth behind them came a boy's reply, lower, uncertain.
"I can't leave you here like this. She has already said she is done with me."
"YOU IDIOT, she meant she was done with this play between you and her; she wanted you to say it…"
"You have to." The girl's voice was firm now, too firm — like someone holding back tears and stuffing them down her throat. "You said she's leaving by boat. If you don't go now, you'll regret it forever."
Footsteps. Rushed, panicked. A chair scraped. Then the jingle of the door as the boy ran out.
The silence afterwards was louder than any argument.
Roy thought to himself that it would probably be best if he didn't get involved in any anyway.
Roy glanced sideways without turning his head just out of curiosity. Just enough to see her — the girl left behind.
She sat alone. Hands clasped in her lap. Eyes fixed on the tray across from her.
The boy's tray. Half a burger, untouched. Fries are getting cold.
She stared at it like it hurt to look at. Like it was mocking her.
Then her stomach gave her away — a tiny growl, barely audible.
She flinched.
Her hand twitched toward the burger.
Grabbed it with one hand and then held it with both.
Right in front of her face.
She looked at the area where the boy bite in and started blushing a little as she got closer to biting in.
The four boys watched in stunned silence.
Brock was thinking to himself, saying, "Don't do this; you can undo it. No, NO, NO. "THAT'S JUST PAINFUL, DESPERATE EVEN. DON'T DO THAT!"
And she bite into the burger
Tanaka, finally whispering, "Oh my god. She's a losing heroine. Just like in the books."
Her head snapped up. She turned. Mouth full. Eyes wide, tear-rimmed, furious — and then horrified, and she started choking, COUGH COUGH COUGH. She might die from it; who knows?
"Did you—were you listening!?"
Roy didn't even blink and slowly turned towards Tanaka. "You fucking said all of that out loud. In a public restaurant."
Kieran just generally disappointed. "He's got a point."
Brock, dry as ever: "Also… you did reach for his food. Can't unsee that."
Tanaka looking away from the staring eyes at him. "It was oddly romantic. In a tragic, lonely, starving kind of way."
She looked like she wanted to melt through the floor. Or throw a tray at their heads.
Instead, she stomped over and slid into the booth across from them like she'd known them for years.
"Fine. You know what? I'm sitting here now. Move up."
Tanaka moved up without any resistance.
No one stopped her. No one could.
She pointed at each of them, rapid-fire.
"You — smug. You — dramatic. You — quiet. You are weirdly observant. And you—" she turned to Roy, "—are the worst of them all."
Roy smiled faintly. "What! How?"
This woman gave the worst answer in history. "Just because",
And this stunned Roy.
She sighed and leaned forward on the table.
"Annie. Annie Toler. And don't get attached."
Tanaka: "Too late."
They didn't mean to let her stay. But somehow, she did.
There was a pause — not an uncomfortable one, just... uncertain. Like the story had shifted tracks, and none of them knew what chapter they were in anymore.
Annie leaned forward, elbows on the table, chin resting in one hand like she owned the place now. Her eyes were still a little glassy, but she masked it behind forced bravado.
"So," she said, glancing between the trays, "which one of you is buying me a milkshake to make up for the emotional damage?"
Tanaka immediately raised a hand. "Me. I'll do it."
Roy gave him a flat look. "You don't have money."
Tanaka didn't miss a beat. "Emotionally, I have a lot to give."
Kieran sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is why no one takes us seriously."
"You take us seriously," Tanaka said.
"I regret taking us seriously."
Brock had resumed his window-gazing. He murmured without turning, "She fits. Weirdly. Disturbingly well."
Annie smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment, window guy."
"It wasn't," he muttered, but there was no heat in it.
Roy watched her. Not with suspicion, exactly — more like someone watching a stray cat decide whether or not it lives here now. She didn't ask permission. She just… sat. Declared herself. And somehow, no one argued.
He finally said, "You know you just became the main character in someone's tragic backstory, right?"
Annie let out a dry laugh. "Story of my life. Uncredited extra in someone else's romance."
Tanaka: "You're being very calm about all this."
She shrugged. "Meltdown was ten minutes ago. Now I'm in the 'make it funny or die' phase of grief."
Kieran pushed his tray toward her. "You want the rest of my fries?"
She looked at him like he'd just handed her the keys to a kingdom.
"Yes. God, yes."
As she started eating, the mood shifted again — not quite normal, but familiar. Like the booth had accepted one more orbiting misfit into its gravity well.
"So," Annie said between bites, "what were you all talking about before you eavesdropped on my personal heartbreak?"
Tanaka leaned back, arms behind his head. "Life. Meaning. War. The usual."
She raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Light dinner talk."
"Actually", Roy said, "we were ranking which of us would die first in a major conflict."
"No, we weren't," Brock corrected.
Roy sipped his drink. "Kill yourself."
"Don't tempt fate," Kieran muttered.
Annie pointed her straw at him. "You. You're the idealist, right? "Wants to fight for something bigger?"
Kieran blinked. "I guess? How did you—"
"You've got the eyes for it. Too focused. Like you've already made up your mind."
Tanaka grinned. "Do me next."
Annie stared at him. "You'd survive a war out of spite and unkillable dumb luck."
He fist-pumped.
"And Roy?" Kieran asked, curious now.
Annie studied him a beat longer. "Roy would figure out a way to survive. But he wouldn't call it that. He'd just call it… doing what had to be done."
Roy's expression didn't change, but his grip on the cup tightened slightly.
"Sounds about right," Brock said.