Shuo was woken by a bird.
It wasn't that its chirping was loud. It was the frequency of that damn bird's wingbeats, the rustle of its feathers, the paths its calls took as they bounced off the walls-a load of useless information crammed into his brain all at once and dragged him out of his dreams.
He lay still, staring at the ceiling, and clicked his tongue. Only after three seconds did the information have the decency to retreat into the background.
He sat up. Dawn had just broken outside the window, grayish blue, as though covered in a thin veil.
He glanced down at his wrist. The fine silver-gray thread wasn't glowing-not dimmed, but completely drained of color, no different from a loose thread pulled off an old shirt.
He stared at it for five seconds without figuring anything out, then simply got up to wash and change.
When he went downstairs, Sai was standing beside the wall, not leaning against it, holding a paper bag like a block of wood.
Seeing him come down, Sai looked up. The two stared at each other without speaking.
Shuo took the paper bag and opened it. Rice balls again, with fried eggs and fruit, exactly the same as yesterday.
"Third day today, huh."
Shuo took a bite of a rice ball, his tone casual.
"Yeah," Sai answered quietly.
They walked to the river and sat on the old rock, facing the water as they ate breakfast.
The sun had just peeked up, and the patches of light weren't dazzling. Shuo ate leisurely, but Sai held his rice ball without touching it.
"Not eating? Saving it for dinner?" Shuo glanced at him.
"I'm not hungry."
Shuo left him alone and kept chewing. Halfway through the meal, Sai suddenly spoke. "The mission came."