P.S: This chapter and the next contain a lot of system stats and monologuing with Ai; I tried to make it short, but some things needed to be established.
The first thing Akira noticed when he woke up was the warm and slightly sweet scent, like green tea brewing close by. The second thing was that his whole body felt like it had been wrung out and left on a drying rack… like he'd been completely drained of energy.
He sat up slowly. Every muscle from his shoulders down to his thighs carried that deep ache of a body pushed past its limits and somehow still standing.
Ayaka and Rina were still out cold on the carpet, curled together like a pair of exhausted kittens; their auras felt steady and calm. Safe.
He got to his feet carefully, joints popping, and followed the smell toward the kitchenette.
Satomi was already there.
She'd slipped into a loose silk robe without bothering to tie it properly, which meant it was doing a lousy job of covering anything.
