Even in the dead of night, I found myself unable to sleep.

Somehow I had been lucky enough to find myself in one of the full-sized beds upstairs. From the bed, I could see out the window to my right. The moonlight was the only thing illuminating the empty street below.

Rin was supposedly in the room next to me. We shared a wall. I hadn't heard her since I had ditched Kanon and Yuma to their antics and climbed up the stairs to sleep. That had been hours ago.

Skye had been closed for a while, too. Anon and Flower were no doubt back by now, probably asleep themselves in the rooms downstairs. I seemed to be the only one awake in this sleeping house.

And, through all this tossing and turning, sleep was unable to find me. And it wasn't hard to figure out why.

She's gonna be pissed if I wake her up, I thought to myself. Even more than she already is, probably.

But, sitting up in the lumpy bed, wearing my loose-fitting pajamas, my hair completely messed up from my restlessness, I went against my better judgment and stood, exiting the room.

The house was dark. Rin's door was right next to mine. At the bottom of the stairs, I could hear the faint tapping of Yuma's fingers on the keyboard. Motherfucker was still awake.

I took a deep breath, knocking on the wood.

"Uh, Rin?" I said softly. Hopefully, Yuma wouldn't hear me. The last thing I needed was him making fun of me for this. "Rin, you there?"

There was no answer.

Well, duh, idiot. She's asleep. Nevertheless, I found my hand on the doorknob. "Rin? You up?" I slowly opened it to reveal an empty bedroom. At first, alarm bells went off in my head. But Rin's bag was sitting neatly in the corner, the sheets wrinkled slightly from where she had napped, the window firmly shut. She probably just snuck out while I was trying to sleep.

I closed the door. Downstairs, Yuma's typing had slowed. Guess I have no choice, I thought. I had to ask him.

His back was to the stairs. He was exactly where I had left him hours ago, hunched over that laptop, the glow lighting up his face.

"Dude. Go to bed," I said.

He jumped at my words. "What the fuck, Len? You know not to sneak up on me like that."

"You're cranky. Go to bed."

"I can't," he insisted. "This needs to get done now-"

"And you're gonna fuck it all up if you do it on no sleep. Can't afford to be sloppy."

Yuma paused, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. "...I guess," he agreed.

"So go to bed," I repeated.

He turned in his chair to face me. "What about you? What the hell are you doing up?"

I avoided his eyes, instead taking an interest in the empty room around him. "Have… have you seen Rin?"

He chucked. "Still on that?"

"Shut up."

He nodded his head towards the back door. "She went out into the backyard a few minutes ago."

I furrowed my brow. "We have a backyard?"

"Have you seen it? It's pretty awesome."

"Well," I answered with a deep breath. "Looks like I'm about to."

Yuma gave me a small grin. Closing his laptop, he glanced over at me one last time. "Just don't piss her off more, okay?" He didn't wait for my answer, instead opting to scoop up his gear and disappear into the room on the right side of the entrance.

"I'll try," I mumbled to the empty room. Though it wasn't me who had made her mad, at least, not entirely. Yuma and Kanon had agreed with me on our plans.

But I was the only one trying to make her feel better about it. I guess that made me the bad guy.

I pushed open the door next to the dining table, revealing the enchanting sight of the condo's backyard.

It was open, with no fencing or anything separating the neatly-trimmed grass from the jungle surrounding us. There was an oddly shaped pool towards the far end. There was not a single straight edge in the clean water; it was made up entirely out of squiggles and circles as if someone asked a four-year-old to draw up the plans for it. Just beyond the water, on the far edge of the pool, was Rin. Her form was nothing but a dark outline against the Amazon River, which reflected the light of the moon as it flowed down the path beyond the house. She sat on the edge of the pool, her posture slumped and her legs dangling over the platform. They hung mere inches above the softly-flowing waters of the river.

Bracing myself one final time, I walked towards her.

"Whoever you are, leave me alone," she said as I grew closer. There was no masking my heavy footsteps.

"Looks lonely out here," I observed. Against her wishes, I walked around the edge of the pool, carefully balancing between its clean waters and the muddy river, and sat next to her.

She frowned but said nothing. She wore a tank top and shorts to sleep in, probably to keep away the uncomfortable heat.

"Can't sleep?" I asked her.

"I just want to get this done," she told me.

I looked down the ledge we both sat on. The waters brushed gently against my toes. It was unexpectedly warm. "It'll get done," I promised.

"But how? How does sitting her doing nothing get anything done?"

"That's how we found Meiko," I offered. "That's how we found Miku. Sitting around and doing nothing."

"But it won't be the same for Luka," she argued.

"Why not?"

She had been expecting the question, but she did not know how to answer it.

"Besides," I said with a small grin. "Don't you wanna go do more stupid shit with me around the city?"

She looked away. Probably to hide a smile.

I leaned closer, nudging her shoulder with mine. "I'll eat more Brazilian food if it makes you laugh," I joked.

"You're an idiot."

"But a funny idiot."

After staring to her right for a few more seconds, she finally readjusted herself towards the river. I sat tall once more.

"I can't wait to be done," she admitted.

There it is. "What do you mean?"

"I can't wait to be living in some house somewhere with a job, friends, pets… a real life."

I twiddled my thumbs in my laugh. "Torturing people isn't gonna get you any closer to that."

I expected her to get angry, but she didn't. Instead, she sighed. "Yeah. I know. Too extreme, probably."

"Why don't you ask Yuma to plan your stuff out next? That might help you while you wait."

She frowned again. "I… I don't know."

"Why not?"

She furrowed her brow. "W-what about-"

Out of nowhere, she cut herself off, glancing down towards her bare leg. Then, she let out the loudest, most high-pitched, blood-curdling scream I had ever heard. I froze as she kicked her leg out with such force that she fell backward, straight into the pool.

I had never been so confused in my life.

She resurfaced a moment later, still terrified. "What the fuck?! Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Rin!" I yelled, trying to calm her down. "What the hell are you-"

She pointed to the ground right next to me, backing quickly away to the other end of the pool. "That thing! Get it away from me!"

"What?" I looked down at the spot next to me, where Rin had been sitting only seconds before. My eyes widened in disbelief.

"There! That… that thing. Do you see it?!"

"Rin," I said, almost too stunned to laugh. "It's a snail."

"It's disgusting!" Her hair clung to her face and her clothes flowed in the water around her. "Throw it back in the river!"

The little guy had retreated back into his shell at Rin's panic attack and was only just beginning to emerge from its seclusion. It was small, definitely no bigger than my hand, and moved just a slowly as I imagined.

Staring down at the small mollusk, hear the water trickle as Rin put as much distance between the two of them, I erupted into the strongest fit of laughter I had ever known.

"D-Don't fucking laugh!" She screamed. Her arms were crossed in front of her soaked shirt. "Get it out of here!" She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she had fallen into the pool.

"You're… you're fucking scared of slugs?" I managed to choke out between my hysterics.

She pouted. "Fuck off! Get rid of it!"

Still giggling like a maniac, I picked the snail up gently by the shell. The gooey animal drooped down in the air, dangling precariously.

Rin watched my every movement with terror in her eyes.

"You kill people," I said. "And you're scared of snails."

"You're fucking next if you don't get rid of that thing."

I narrowed my eyes in malice. "But it just wants a friend~"

"Len. I swear to fucking God-"

I swung my legs over the ledge, letting them submerge into the pool. "Just pet it!" I insisted.

Her eyes widened. "If I had my gun, I'd shoot that thing out of your hand."

"Come on." I stood in the pool, beginning to wade towards her with the snail still in hand.

She tensed. "Don't. You. Dare."

"Just one little-"

"No!" She threw her hands into the water, splashing me with all of her strength.

Once the wave cleared away, I blinked the water from my eyes and threw the snail back into the safety of the river.

"Fuck you," Rin repeated, quieter. She crossed her arms in a pout.

"Snails, Rin?"

"Fuck off."

I chuckled once more. "That's for laughing at me earlier."

Her expression didn't soften.

The back door flew open, causing both of us to jump as the others sprinted into the backyard. Awoken by Rin's screaming, no doubt.

"What happened?!" Flower shouted, her eyes still shut halfway. "What- what-"

I grinned. "Oh, nothing. Rin just decided to go for a night swim."

She shot me a glare over her shoulder. But underneath that frown, it was obvious she was holding back a smile.

"Come on, Len. It's our shift."

I rolled over in my bed to face the figure in the doorway. "Already?" I groaned.

Rin leaned against the doorframe. She was already dressed for the day. "Yup. Come on."

"I'll be down in a second."

"If I don't see you down there in five minutes, I'm dragging you down myself."

I grinned, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side. "You wanna carry me to Skye, too?"

She rolled her eyes. "Just get ready." She gave me one last glance before shutting the door. I listened to her gentle footsteps travel across the room and down the stairs.

In no time, I found myself following her. My hair was tamed a bit, pulled back to keep it from sticking up at odd ends. I wore yet another pair of civilian clothes. They were really making me miss our uniforms.

When I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, I found everyone gathered around the table. Flower and Kanon sat next to each other, each with a bowl of cereal in their hands. Anon was standing next to a pouting Rin near the front door while Yuma, of course, was typing away at his laptop.

"Hey, dude," Yuma called. He looked a lot better after a night of sleep, though fatigue was still wearing at his face. "You're with me today."

"Hm? Why?"

He turned in his chair to give me a smile. "We're planning your life out, next."

I glanced up at Rin. She was staring down at the floor in front of her. "But what about-"

"Anon's covering for you. Now come on," he waved me towards him.

I hesitantly took the empty seat beside him.

"Don't be late when you come get us, okay?" Anon said. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she spoke. "I'm not looking forward to a double shift."

"We won't be late," Kanon promised.

Anon smiled, then tugged at Rin's sleeve. The girl was insane to have chosen long sleeves on a day like this. "Let's go!" She said, pulling her for the door.

"Bye guys," Rin said quietly over her shoulder.

"See ya," I called with the others.

She glanced over her shoulder one last time before disappearing through the door with Anon.

"Okay," Yuma said, sitting tall in his chair. "You have any idea what you want to do?"

I scratched at the back of my next. "Uh, not really."

"Okay. Let's just start with your job. What do you wanna do?"

I was very aware of Flower and Kanon listening to our conversation. "I… I don't know."

"Well you gotta think of something. What did you do before?"

"I worked in an office."

He raised his eyebrows. "You wanna do it again?"

"Not really," I answered with a shake of my head. "It was pretty boring."

"You went to college before, right? What'd you go for?"

"Industrial Design."

He furrowed his brow. "So… designing products? What were you going for?"

The girls didn't even hide the fact that they were eavesdropping. "I… I wanted to design cars," I answered slowly.

Yuma sighed. "And you didn't make it?"

"Nah. Wasn't that good."

He stared at his laptop screen deep in thought. "Okay, okay," he dismissed the subject. "What about location? Where do you wanna live?"

I shrugged.

"Len. You're not helping."

"I have no idea, dude," I told him honestly.

"We'll start with where you can't go, then," he said. "You can't go back to LA. In fact, to be safe, we should probably keep you out of California altogether. You can't go to Florida, either. And I wouldn't really feel comfortable pulling you in any of the states surrounding those two, either. Just in case someone recognizes you."

"So… no US?"

"You could go to Colorado, Wyoming, or any of those states, I guess. But if you wanna be safe, I'd advise against it."

Where does Rin want to go? The thought was almost enough to bring a blush to my face. I pushed it forcefully out of my head. "I… I just… I really don't know. There are so many options. Where are you guys going?"

"Quebec," Yuma answered.

"Kansas," Flower said, swallowing another bite of her breakfast.

I glanced at Kanon.

She hid her eyes. "I haven't decided yet," she responded quickly.

"I know how much you loved London," Yuma joked. "Wanna go there?"

"No thanks."

"What about Canada? We could all learn French together up in Quebec," he offered.

"I took French in high school. I'm good."

Yuma's shoulders slumped, clearly growing frustrated. "Where do you not want to go?"

I thought for a moment, staring blankly at the bare table in front of me. "I guess… I can't do the US. I'm not a fan of Canada. Probably won't do South America, either." I could never get used to the food. I remembered the soup yesterday with a shiver.

"Okay," Yuma said slowly. "That still leaves a lot. Keep going."

"I don't really want to go to Africa."

"That leaves Europe, Asia, and Australia."

I chuckled. "Australia is too deadly."

"You wanna go live in the arctic?" Flower laughed. "With all the penguins?"

"Yeah, no. We can check that one off, too."

"So," Yuma concluded. "Europe or Asia. We're getting somewhere."

We weren't getting anywhere. The next hour or so continued in a similar manner, with no definitive answers to be found. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Returning to the real world wasn't something I had planned on doing, ever. And now I was not only being forced to go back, but I had nothing. No friends, no family, no job, no home, nothing. I had to rebuild everything from the ground up. I briefly imagined what it would be like to go back to LA and just show up at the bar my old friends used to frequent. I'd bet a good amount of money they still went there all the time. What would they say? What would I say? "You guys are never gonna believe where I've been for the last few months."

I chuckled.

"This is hopeless," Yuma finally said. "Kanon, you're up next. Figure your shit out, dude. Then we'll get you set up."

I felt a bit guilty, making him so frustrated like that. "Sorry, man. I just really don't know-"

"Just figure it out, okay?" He was trying his best to hide the frustration. He wasn't doing a good job.

With a sigh, I stood from my seat, letting Kanon take my place. Guess I could have gone with Rin after all, I thought sadly.

With nothing else do to, I climbed the stairs, on my way to make up for the sleep I had lost the night before.

Who would have known our scary little assassin was afraid of slugs?

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