I woke up to the sll of coffee and the distant sound of soone rummaging through my kitchen. My body felt like I’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion. Sore in places I didn’t know could get sore.
Worth it.
I checked my phone. 4:47 AM. Training started at six. Cheon had probably set an alarm again.
The bed was empty. Both sides. I sat up and imdiately regretted it when my lower back protested. Jesus. How many tis did we go last night?
Four? Five?
More like seven, if I counted the shower round with Cheon and the thing ra insisted on doing around two in the morning.
I dragged myself out of bed and pulled on boxers. My reflection in the mirror looked like I’d lost a fight with a very aggressive cat. Bite marks on my neck, shoulders, collarbone. Scratch marks down my back and chest. A hickey the size of a quarter just above my left nipple.
ra’s handiwork, mostly. Though Cheon had gotten surprisingly territorial around round three.
I walked out to the kitchen and found both of them already dressed in their uniforms. Cheon stood at the counter making toast with the focus of soone defusing a bomb. ra sat on the counter next to her, tail swishing, drinking my coffee straight from the pot.
"Morning," I said.
Cheon turned. Her eyes went straight to my neck and her face turned pink. "You need to cover those."
"With what? A turtleneck?"
"I don’t care. Find sothing."
ra grinned over the rim of the coffee pot. "I think they look good."
"Of course you do," Cheon muttered. "You put most of them there."
"Not all of them." ra pointed at my shoulder. "That one’s yours, Panda."
Cheon’s blush deepened. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"You bit him at 1:43 AM while he was—"
"Stop talking."
I grabbed the coffee pot from ra before she could drain the whole thing. "You two sleep okay?"
"No," they said in unison.
"Soone," Cheon said pointedly, "kept waking us up."
"You weren’t complaining at the ti."
"That’s not the point." She slamd the butter knife down on the counter. "Normal people sleep for eight hours. Normal people don’t have the stamina of a marathon runner after four rounds."
"Seven," ra corrected.
"SEVEN?"
"You passed out during number six. He finished with ."
Cheon looked at like I’d personally betrayed her. "You kept going after I fell asleep?"
"You told to keep going," I reminded her. "Right before you blacked out."
"I was delirious!"
"You were very enthusiastic about it."
ra laughed so hard she nearly fell off the counter. Cheon grabbed a piece of toast and threw it at my head. I caught it and took a bite.
"This is good toast."
"I hate you."
"No you don’t."
She glared at . Then her expression softened just slightly, and she turned back to the toaster. "You’re insufferable."
"That’s more like it."
My phone buzzed. Text from Solana.
Morning training mandatory for all Battle Trial participants. Building D, Gym 2. Don’t be late.
I showed it to both of them. ra groaned. Cheon’s face went blank in that way it did when she was calculating logistics.
"We have thirteen minutes to get to campus," she said.
"Marco’s downstairs."
"Then we have twelve minutes to get dressed and out the door."
"I’m not dressed?"
She looked at my boxers and bite marks. "Not even remotely."
Fair point.
I went back to the bedroom and pulled on my uniform. The collar didn’t quite cover the highest bite mark. Oh well. People would talk anyway.
When I ca back out, Cheon had packed both their overnight bags and was standing by the door with her arms crossed. ra was still sitting on the counter, making no effort to move.
"You coming?" I asked her.
"In a minute. I’m enjoying watching Panda stress."
"I’m not stressing."
"Your eye’s twitching."
"That’s just my face."
I grabbed ra by the waist and lifted her off the counter. She wrapped her legs around automatically, tail coiling around my thigh.
"Down," I told her.
"Make ."
"We’re gonna be late."
"So?"
Cheon walked over and physically pried ra’s legs off . "So, so of us care about punctuality."
"Boring."
"Responsible."
They glared at each other. Then ra grinned and booped Cheon on the nose. "You’re cute when you’re mad."
"I’m not cute. I’m irritated."
"Sa thing."
I herded them both toward the door before they could start round fifteen of whatever this was. The elevator ride down was quiet. ra leaned against my side, half asleep. Cheon stood perfectly straight, reviewing sothing on her phone.
Marco was waiting with the rcedes. He opened the door without comnt on the three of us leaving together again. Professional as always.
The drive to campus took eight minutes. Cheon spent the entire ti checking her watch and muttering about optimal arrival windows. ra spent it with her hand on my thigh, drawing lazy circles.
We pulled up to the gym with two minutes to spare. Students were filing in through the main entrance. I spotted Aurora and Nolan walking together, both in training gear. Nolan waved. Aurora’s eyes went straight to my neck and her eyebrows climbed.
Yeah. That was gonna be a conversation later.
Inside, the gym was packed. All sixty first-years, plus both Solana and Reeves standing near the sparring mats. Boone was there too, arms crossed, looking like he wanted to hit sothing.
"Line up by team," Solana called out.
I found Noel and Usagi near the far wall. Noel took one look at and her expression went flat.
"What happened to your neck?"
"Mosquitos," I said.
"Those are bite marks."
"Really aggressive mosquitos."
Usagi’s face turned bright red. "Oh my god."
"Focus," Noel snapped. "We have trials tomorrow. You can’t show up looking like you lost a fight with a blender."
"I’ll wear a high collar."
"That won’t help your credibility."
"My credibility’s already shot. I’m ranked fifty-ninth."
"Fifty-eighth now, actually." She pulled out her phone and showed the updated rankings. "Ren dropped below you after failing the simulation yesterday."
Fifty-eighth. Still pathetic, but technically progress.
Solana clapped her hands. "Listen up. Today’s session is live combat drills. Each team will rotate through stations. You’ll face simulated scenarios ant to test coordination under pressure. Treat this like the real thing."
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