The café still smelled the same: burnt beans and warm dust. Except today, it wasn't a quiet corner anymore. It was a social battlefield.
My table… the one that had once been almost mine in silence, was overflowing. Cups, files, training gloves, laughter as loud as punches.
The Azure Pact had settled there like a colony of conquerors.
To my right, Miyu burst out laughing, unable to finish her story, her cheeks pink. She gestured wildly, nearly spilled her cup, and Hikari — poised, impassive — caught it with one hand before the liquid could touch the table.
Hikari simply sighed, her clear gaze barely hiding a trace of affectionate exasperation.
— Still as clumsy as ever, she murmured.
— Still as cold, Miyu shot back, sulking.
Their bickering set off another burst of collective laughter.
Reina, sitting across from me, lifted her eyes from her notes, looking like a headmistress surrounded by hyperactive children.
