The second jump was a little less scary and a lot more exhilarating. It was a drop. I landed with bended knees while Rin broke her fall with a skilled somersault upon landing.
Rin was naturally faster than me, so it was no surprise when she sprinted a few steps ahead. She was exactly where I wanted her; ahead enough so I could see what she was doing, but close enough that I could easily overcome her with a burst of speed.
She sprinted across the rooftop, vaulting over a line of pipes effortlessly. I followed her. As I set my hands against the metal to jump over them, I almost flinched at their heat. If I had rested my hand there any longer, I would have had a nasty burn. Even after a second or two, my hand tingled with slight pain. I had no choice but to ignore it.
This roof had a metal railing around it. Rin hopped onto the edge and jumped another gap. On the third jump, I didn't even look down. Doing so would surely make my head spin. In a race like this, getting dizzy was a death sentence.
She angled off to the left, aiming for the building behind our current platform. It was another big jump. Her feet left the ground, she hovered for a moment in the air, and then stumbled a bit as she landed on the roof. She was fine. Just lost her balance for a moment.
I crossed the gap easily. I couldn't help but glance down. The alley below us was empty, but I imagined how odd it would be to stand down there, look up, and see some stupid kids jumped across the roofs. The absurdity of the sight amused me.
I didn't stumble when I landed. My advantage gained me some distance on her.
From there it was a straight shot to the sign. It was still several buildings away, but not nearly as far as it had looked before. The path didn't look as threatening before, probably because my heart was beating in my throat at this point and my arms and legs were burning with fatigue and adrenaline. The excitement of the situation was drowning out the danger.
We jumped over another gap. My confidence had increased to the point where I figured I could maneuver the roofs without Rin guiding me, so I increased my speed until we ran shoulder-to-shoulder.
Another jump. Our paces were almost in complete unison. Another jump. We were still about twenty feet off of the ground. Every jump was a chance to slip. Another jump.
Rin let out a laugh. I felt my own grin stretch across my face. My arms pumped at my sides and propelled me forward.
On a rooftop ahead, there was a slanted wall sticking out of the gravel. It ended on another flat roof with a door under it. No doubt a staircase.
"Big jump!" Rin yelled between pants. She dashed onto the angled roof, climbed up to the top, and jumped. I did the same.
My breath caught in my throat as we flew over a gap that was much bigger than any of the others. Below us was a little grassy area with a sidewalk running through it. Probably a six or seven foot cross. For the second time that night, time seemed to slow as we flew through the air together. She was slightly ahead of me now, her hair blowing wildly behind her face, her clothes ruffling in the wind, and another adrenaline-fueled laugh escaping her lips. The deadened city beyond us didn't seem so scary anymore.
Just as quickly as it had started, our jump ended, as we both landed on the roof at the other end. Rin nimbly jumped to her feet, screaming out curse words in success, while I stumbled and fell clumsily to my knees.
"Holy shit," I breathed, rising to my feet.
"That was fucking awesome, right!?" She was yelling. "Now get up! We're not there yet!"
"Jesus Christ, you scare me."
She laughed again.
I slowly rose to my own two feet, staring down at the roof.
Her smile faltered a bit. "Hey, are you o-"
When she was caught off guard, I dashed forward.
"Motherfucker!" I heard her running steps start behind me.
I had the upper hand, now. There was only one more jump before the final ladder. I leaped across, completely immune now to the fear of falling, and ran for the ladder. The air was growing colder by the second. The adrenaline in my veins, though, kept me completely warm.
Just as I was about to reach the ladder, I felt a hand press onto my side and push me out of the way.
"Not fair!" I yelled as Rin jumped ahead of me, planting herself on the first few feet of the ladder. I skid to a halt, nearly running into her back.
She turned her head to look at me over her shoulder. "That's payback for your little basketball stunt," she said with a sly smile.
My shoulders slumped. "Come on, Rin. I told you I was sorry."
"I'm kidding! Come on."
I rolled my eyes, letting her climb a few feet up once again before I followed her. The neon sign was illuminated now, casting light blue and purple glows over the street below. The small maintenance shed on the roof reached higher than it.
I pulled myself onto our final rooftop to see Rin already sitting at the edge. Her legs dangled dangerously over the edge, as if she didn't see the multistory drop to the cement below her. But after our run, I didn't feel so unsafe either. This roof was a small square, the size of a small bathroom, probably. She was sitting at the western end with her hands folded neatly in her lap, watching the scene beyond. It was campus, with the mountains in the background, all illuminated by the night-long sunset. It had to be midnight, maybe later by now, but the light blues and purples of the sun were visible over the mountains.
"Have you been here before?" I asked her. She knew the rooftops so well, I had to ask.
She nodded. Her shoulders were rising and falling steadily as she tried to catch her breath. Her words were stolen by the view.
I sat next to her, lowering my legs over the side as well. All it would take was one little push and I'd be falling to my death. Resting my hands on the rocky surface of the roof behind me, I leaned back and admired the view.
"I think I like your version of fun more," I admitted, still shaking a bit from our trip.
She let out a laugh. Her victorious grin had been replaced by her usual, more reserved smile. But the light in her eyes had died out. "I think yours is better."
"Psh." Our voices echoed throughout the city below us. "No fucking way. That was awesome."
She hesitated before continuing. "I like the thrill, but I honestly think I like the safety more."
"Really?"
She didn't look at me as she spoke. "Just… Going to laser tag. Sitting around campus. Doing things that normal people do. I've never had that before. And... and I really like it. I just-" she cut herself off.
She had been acting so odd since London and I was beginning to see why. Being at the other end of the contract had completely changed her view of things. "You just don't want to do this anymore," I finished for her.
She lowered her eyes and said nothing.
I shrugged. "Being normal isn't everything it's cut out to be. Everyone has their own problems."
She let out a small unamused laugh. "Not problems like we're having."
"Yeah," I admitted. "Definitely not like that."
"I'd… I'd give anything to be normal."
I could never imagine Rin as a little housewife, cooking and cleaning before her kids came home from school. I could never imagine Rin at a desk job, answering phone calls and speaking with people like she was never a public menace before. It seemed impossible to me. But maybe not to her.
"Why can't you?" I asked her.
She looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive. "What kind of question is that?" She responded, her gaze traveling to the mountains once more. A moment passed as she tossed the idea over in her head. "...I can't just leave everyone."
"I'm sure they'd understand."
"Yuma would have to make me an entire new life. He'd have to make me a name, a birth certificate, a high school diploma, all sorts of records. How could I ask him to do that? And what would the others say?"
"They'd probably ask you to stick around for Luka," I said with a hint of amusement. "But after that, I bet they'd let you go."
Her brow furrowed in thought. "...I don't know if I could leave everyone. How am I supposed to function without you guys?"
I shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe they want to leave, too."
"Hah," she smiled once again, but her eyes were still dark. "You want to tell Flower that she can't spend our millions of dollars anymore? Good luck."
"I don't know how much you guys have, but I'd bet it's enough to sustain you for the rest of your life."
"I'm not taking their money," she said. "I'll just have to get a job or something."
"You earned it. You should get to keep some."
"What would you do?"
The question took me off guard. "What?"
She looked up at me. Her shoulders were relaxed and her eyes watched me curiously. "What would you do if I left?"
Damn, what would I do if she left? I didn't even think about that. I'd be the only killer in our team, then. I'd be going to destinations on my own, planning these attacks on alone, collecting payment by myself. One slip up and I would be dead, all my friends exposed. It seemed like an awful life. And yet Rin had lived it since she was born.
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I'd kind of like to leave, too. But I don't think I have as much of an option as you."
"Why not?"
"Because I just got here," I responded with a smile. "I don't think everyone trusts me enough to keep quiet, yet."
Rin paused, then erupted into an unexpected fit of laughter. I stared at her with wide eyes. Was it something I said?
"Len," she said. "You could have easily left me to die in London. Or you could have kept quiet about the bombs in China and let us all die on that trip. You had so many opportunities to leave, betray our trust, or kill us, and you did none of those things. I'm pretty sure everyone trusts you now."
"I mean… I guess," was all I could answer with.
She took a deep breath. "Where would you go? If you left, too, I mean."
I had an advantage over her. I knew the ways of the world, I knew where to go and where not to go. But when I had lived in the public eye before, I had a life established already. I had friends, I had a family (even if they were a distant one), I had an education, I had a job. This was the definition of starting on a clean slate. I'd have to choose all of those things once again. I could go back to school if I wanted to. Or I could hop straight into another job. The limits of Yuma's forging power were unknown to me, but maybe I could even get away with having no job and just living in peace for the rest of my life. I was only twenty-three. What would I do for the remaining seventy years of my life? I had no idea.
"It's like I forgot how to live," I said aloud.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, there's a pattern when you live like a normal person. You go to school, you graduate. You get a job. You get married. You have kids. You raise kids. You have grandkids. You die. And it's so… so boring. I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
"That's… horribly depressing," Rin said softly.
I chuckled. "Yeah. Kinda. Maybe that's why doing... this-" I gestured between us. "-was so easy for me. I found a way to interrupt that cycle, I guess. Before, I was just constantly under this pressure that I needed to be doing something. But here, I didn't really need to worry about that."
"I like the idea of doing nothing," Rin admitted. "Just sitting around the house watching TV. It sounds amazing."
"It'll get old real quick, I promise."
She blinked softly.
I took her silence as a hint to continue. "It's almost like the pressure to have a good life is enough to make you not have a good life, you know? People always used to tell me to 'enjoy it while it lasts,' but the pressure of making sure you're living the best life you can is what makes people live shitty lives. Everyone tries so hard not to waste their time while they still have it."
Her feet kicked aimlessly over the edge. "If you spent your life doing things you enjoy," she told me. "Then it isn't a waste."
Her words were so obvious and yet so hard for most people, including me, to grasp. Before, I just went with the flow, not really caring about what was going to happen next. I was fully prepared to follow that same life cycle that the rest of the human race had followed. Now, I wasn't so sure.
"You didn't answer my question," she said quietly.
"Which one?"
"Where would you start over?"
I didn't know what job I would want, if I would even want a job. I didn't know what school I would want to go, what city I would want to live in, the friends I would want to have. I knew none of that. But there was one thing I was sure I wanted.
"Where you go, I go," was my answer.
She looked up at me, watching me with wide eyes. Whatever answer she was expecting, it definitely wasn't that.
She held my gaze for a moment, looking up at me as if waiting for something. A blush appeared on her cheeks and she lowered her eyes shyly in response. Another small smile had formed at her lips.
With a small sigh, she leaned her head onto my shoulder while we watched the one a.m. sunset together.
Sorry for the random updates! College is kicking my ass and I'm trying to write in the very little free time I have.
Thanks for reading! :)
