I woke up before Rin did.
Light filtered in through the thin curtains, casting our long shadows towards the door. The voices of the others sounded from downstairs; mere soft murmurs through the floor. Like always, I was the last one to wake up.
Well, kinda.
Rin laid on the pillow mere inches away from me, her eyes softly closed, her lips slightly parted, and her breathing steady. One hand rested limply on the pillow between us while the other remained weakly clutched onto my shirt. Strands of her hair fell gracefully onto the pillow around her, disturbed only by the slow rise and fall of her shoulders. Outside, birds were chirping.
I probably should have woken her up. But seeing her this peaceful and worry-free was too rare to interrupt. The others didn't need us right now, either. Skye probably wouldn't be open for another hour or so. We had time.
My decision didn't matter, anyway. Barely a minute after I opened to the scene, Rin did the same.
Her gaze was low at first. She furrowed her brow at the light entering the room, trying to blink away the sleep from her eyes. Then, with one final close and open of her eyes, she looked up at me. Our gazes met.
She widened her eyes a bit at our proximity as if she had forgotten I was there. Or forgotten she had switched rooms last night.
I expected her to shy away, like she did every time anything remotely intimate between us occurred. But she didn't. Her cheeks colored in with a small blush, but she held her stare. In fact, her blue eyes shone with an expression I had only seen once before; on the rooftops in Fairbanks. Expectant. Like she was waiting for something.
If I want to talk to her, I should do it now, I decided. When she can't run away or change the subject. But how do I ask her? How do I even begin to bring up the conversation Yuma and I exchanged those few nights ago? Should I start by asking what this… thing between us was? Or should I jump right into the 'Where are we gonna leave when we run away together?'
My heart was starting to beat a little too quick again.
Maybe she's been wondering the same thing. Maybe one of the girls asked her about us, just like Yuma asked me. Maybe she wants to have this conversation just as much as I do.
The battle waging in my mind was at a complete contrast to Rin's gentle, quiet gaze.
Whatever I was going to say, I needed to say it now.
I took a deep breath. "Hey, Rin-"
I was cut off by the sound of a sudden uproar from the room downstairs. We both froze, hearing the sound of hectic movement, before a voice followed.
"Rin! Len! Get your asses down here!"
The moment was completely forgotten by Yuma's frantic voice echoing from the kitchen. Without a second thought, Rin and I jumped out of bed, sprinting out of the room and down the stairs. Neither of us cared enough to even change our clothes.
I had expected an attack or something with the ferocity of Yuma's scream, but we came downstairs to our four friends packing their bags swiftly and hastily.
Rin furrowed her brow. "What's going-"
"Luka just called Miku," Kanon explained to us without looking up from her duffle. "She landed at the airport here a couple minutes ago. And she's on her way to Skye. Right now."
My eyes widened. Next to me, Rin clenched her fists. "Are we gonna make it there in time?" She asked.
"Go pack your shit and change. We'll find out when we get there."
Rin didn't need to be asked twice. Without even glancing at me, she sprinted up the stairs. I hesitated before following her.
"Do…" I trailed off, looking around Flower, Yuma, Anon, and Kanon and wondering if any of them were actually listening to me. "Do you think we'll be coming back?" I asked no one in particular.
"Don't know. Pack everything. Just in case." Yuma shoved his laptop into his duffle. All four of them had already changed into their black outfits.
I nodded. With a furrowed brow, I turned back to the staircase. The door to Rin's room was shut. She was probably ready to go before I even got back to my room.
My thoughts were scattered between the hazy experience of waking up next to Rin and the panic of knowing our final goal was within reach at last. As I pulled my shirt over my head, replacing it with the familiar, tight uniform, I remembered the thoughts that had kept me up all night. Those fears of dying. This is it. This is that reality.
I gulped. A pit had formed in my stomach. But, in no time, I managed to gather all of my things into my duffle and emerge from my room. It was spotless. As if I had never been there.
I might never see this place again, I thought. I might never see any place again.
No. Don't think about it. I couldn't think about it. I had been in deadly situations more times than I could count in the past few months. This was just another day on the job.
I closed the door to the empty room. Despite my reassurances, I wasn't convinced.
Just as I have expected, Rin was long gone by the time I descended the stairs. My heart was beating fast once again. But, this time, for a completely different reason.
"There you fucking are," Flower grumbled as I appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Like my room, the entire cottage was completely cleaned of all signs of us. Every chair was neatly tucked in, the counters scrubbed, the floors free of dusty footprints or marks. I felt like I was staring at a group of ghosts. It was like we were never there.
Rin gave me one last gentle look before hardening her expression for our mission. She pushed out of the front door first. We followed her.
The light nearly blinded me as we stepped outside into the heat.
"What's the plan?" Rin asked, leading us directly down the sidewalk towards Skye. In broad daylight, we definitely looked a little odd walking together. But, until we rose our masks, those second-glances from the civilians meant nothing.
Kanon walked in the middle of the group, tapping incessantly at her tablet. "There's a bathroom across from Miku's office. We'll hack into the cameras and set up shop in the women's bathroom."
"And if people try to come in?" Flower asked, clearly impatient. If it were up to her, we'd probably be sprinting through the sidewalks right now. But that would definitely bring us too much attention.
"Simple. Lock the doors. We'll set up there and watch her phone for any sign of Luka. Once we see them, we move in."
Rin scowled. "A bathroom? Really?"
Kanon let out a frustrated sigh. "Can you think of anything better? If Luka left the airport when she said, she should be at Skye in less than fifteen minutes. What the fuck else are we supposed to-"
"Calm down, calm down." Anon goaded her sister out of her anger. "Look, the most important thing is that we all stay calm. Don't get all jumpy and mess something up that quick, okay? We can't mess this up. We won't."
We walked at a breakneck pace, almost jogging through the streets until we finally turned that last corner.
"Earpieces in," Kanon demanded. With a shaky hand, I pulled the small piece of plastic out of its pocket in my bag, slipping it into my ear. I was panting from our brisk walk across town.
"How are we supposed to get up there?" Rin asked disapprovingly. "You really think they'll just let us walk up there?"
Kanon frowned. "I… I don't know. Her guards don't show up often on her phone. I have no idea where she puts them."
"Fuck," Rin muttered under her breath. "They could be anywhere, then."
"What about the cameras?" I asked. "Do they have someone watching them like Meiko?"
Our tech-girl furrowed her brow. "I… I don't know. I don't think so."
Rin let out an unamused laugh. "Well that helps."
"You know what, Rin-"
"Guys." Flower stopped us, raising a hand between the two of them. "Chill the fuck out." She paused us for a painfully long time before turning to resume our pace towards the building. We pushed past pedestrians without care, earning our fair share of angry shouts and foreign curses. "Kanon," Flower said. "Tell us what you know."
Kanon took a deep breath. "Most office buildings like Skye don't have a room dedicated to security. At least, they don't have someone posted just to watch the cameras. They just record. Our bags should do fine in scrambling the signal."
"What about the guards?" Anon asked.
"I don't know. We'll just have to hope we don't run into them. And if we do…"
"What floor is Miku's office on?" Rin asked her.
"The twenty-third. One from the top."
We had reached the building. Just like so many days before, we stopped in front of that restaurant, staring up at the top floor. Rin put her hands on her hips, examining the scene with a frown. "You really expect them to just let us walk right up-"
She cut herself off. I watched as her eyes slowly transferred from Skye to the building next to it. None of us had paid the building any attention in the weeks we had been here. Her expression twisted into a sly grin.
She slowly turned her head to look at us. "I think I have an idea." She addressed everyone, but her eyes focused on me.
Before I could snap my fingers, the six of us had entered the building neighboring Skye and were climbing the cement stairs with a newfound vigor. There was no one else climbing up the stairs. Everyone else seemed to have opted for the elevator. For us, unfortunately, the elevator wasn't an option. Too many witnesses. And too slow.
"Uh, Rin?" Yuma pointed out as we passed the fifth floor. He was the first to question her judgment. "I think we're in the wrong building."
"Shut up," she said without looking back. Keeping up with her insane pace, the six of us followed her up the stairs.
"If you haven't… seen... The guards…" she panted, her voice bouncing off the walls around us. "That… probably means… they're all… downstairs somewhere."
Kanon nodded. "Your point?" She choked out.
"We can get past… all of them… if we just go in… from the roof."
Then it dawned on me. This building was a floor or two taller than Skye. They were only a small width apart.
The gap between them would no doubt be jumpable.
"You're fucking crazy," I said aloud, a smile on my face.
She turned around to grin at me. "I know."
Yuma suddenly halted. We had reached the eleventh floor. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, leaning on the railing, his shoulders heaving. "You're not saying what I think you're saying."
Flower turned around, her eyes blazing. "Yuma. Move it."
With another deep breath, we resumed our climb. The others either hadn't realized what the plan was yet or didn't want to acknowledge it.
After the stairs adventure in China, reaching the top floor of this building was like a walk in the park. A bit of a strenuous walk, yes, but nothing like before. Rin seemed to share this feeling. The others, however, were dying.
"No more… stairs…" Anon gasped, her hands on her knees.
"We have one more," Rin choked out. She pushed the door open from the staircase. The top floor seemed to be a break room of some sort. To our luck, it was empty. Guess not a lot of people take breaks this early, I thought. From the top of the building, the rising sun was even more visible on the river.
We trudged down the hall, stopping at the wall towards the end. The window took up the entire wall, floor to ceiling. A floor below us was the roof of Skye.
"This is it," Rin breathed out. She took a step back. "Back up," she instructed us.
We did.
Rin pulled her baton out of her bag. Without thinking twice, she swung it at the glass. My breath caught in my throat. The shards are definitely going to-
She hit it with a grunt and quickly jumped away to avoid being cut. The glass cracked severely but did not shatter. She jumped forward and hit it again. This time, the glass crumbled away noisily under her touch. Some shards fell onto the carpet before us while the majority flew out the window, tumbling dangerously down to the alley between the two buildings. Standing behind everyone, I peered over their shoulders to get a better look at our jump. My head spun.
Roof jumping one or two stories above the ground was nothing compared to jumping over twenty stories. Once the glass had fallen out of earshot, Rin turned, taking a few steps towards us.
"Remember to roll when you hit the roof." With that, she abruptly turned back around and sprinted back down the hallway.
It's too far, my panicked mind thought. She's not going to make it. She can't-
"Rin!" Yuma jumped forward as if to grab her. She was much too quick for him. "Wait!"
She ignored him. Without a second thought, she picked up speed, pumped her arms at her sides, and launched herself with one powerful leap out of the now-open window.
I ran forward, stopping at the window with a hand on either side of the wall. I was trembling in fear for her. I arrived at the broken glass just in time to see Rin land on the gravel roof with a roll. We had climbed a floor above it, giving us some extra space to make the jump.
And she had. And it wasn't even close. Rin sat on her knees, adrenaline surely coursing through her, breathing heavily with her back to me. For a terrifying moment, I thought she had injured herself. But she eventually rose to her feet. After a few more breaths she looked over her shoulder with a smile.
Fucking crazy, I repeated to myself, looking down at her with a growing smile as well.
And then I looked down.
I was standing right on the edge of a two-hundred and fifty foot drop to concrete. The alley dividing the two buildings was smaller than my pinkie finger. The people walking along the sidewalks below looked like ants. Smaller, even. My head spun with vertigo.
A hand yanked me back into the building. I couldn't even keep my balance in my dizzied state, so I fell to my knees uselessly.
"There's no fucking way!" Yuma yelled. He had been the one to pull me back. "She's lost her damn mind! First she wants to attack civilians and now she wants to jump off buildings!?" He was ranting to no one in particular. But all of us were listening.
I rose shakily to my feet. Sure, the jump was easy. But the fall was enough to send anyone into hysterics. The consequences were deadly.
"What if we just climbed the stairs up in Skye?" Yuma continued as I turned to face him. We had formed a circle as if we were a sports team giving a debrief at halftime. "We'd fucking be there by now? I don't fucking get-"
His words were cut off as Kanon narrowed her eyes in determination and turned towards the window that stood about ten feet down the hall from us.
Yuma's eyes widened at the girl. "You're not actually thinking-"
"She could be pulling up right now, Yuma!" Kanon snapped without looking at him. She gripped the strap of her bag tightly. "She could be riding the elevator up! She could be there! We don't have a choice. It's either this, or we miss our chance. Again."
Yuma's expression had changed from anger to desperation. "It's too dangerous."
"We've done worse."
Then, just like Rin, she took off. Leaving no time for hesitation or second thoughts, Kanon sprang from the window fearlessly, disappearing just as quick.
Yuma just watched helplessly.
Anon shook her head. "There's no way I'm letting her have all the fun without me." She took a step forward and sighed. "Flower. Count me down."
Flower furrowed her brow. "Are… are you sure?"
"Just do it." Anon wore a slight grin. If you're about to make a deadly jump, might as well enjoy it, I figured. The same thoughts were probably running through her head as well.
Flower hesitated. "...Three…"
Anon shook out her shoulders and feet.
"Two…"
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder.
"One…"
She lowered herself into a running stance.
"Go!" Flower yelled, her voice lacking its usual power.
Anon took off. Closed the distance down the hall. Disappeared out the window. She was gone.
Then there were three.
"You can't fucking convince me," Yuma growled. "There's no way-"
Flower stared at the window intensely. Once she forced herself to break the eye contact, she punched him in the shoulder. "Don't be a bitch, Yuma."
And she followed the girls.
Yuma and I stood in silence as Flower jumped onto Skye. With our distance from the window, we couldn't see any of them land. But, by the lack of terrified screams, it was safe to assume all four of them had made it.
"Wow," I said, trying to think of the best way to convince Yuma to go after them. "We just got showed up by all four girls."
"Shut up," he muttered. "Y-You first."
I widened my eyes. "Is Yuma scared?"
"Fuck off."
I raised my chin proudly as I spoke. "I've done this before. I think you should go first. I'll follow you up."
"You've done this before?" He narrowed his eyes at me.
I was caught off guard. Oh. Right. That was supposed to be a secret. "Well… we used to do some crazy shit in LA."
He obviously didn't believe me, but he didn't question me further. "I can't fucking believe-"
"Every minute you hesitate is another minute Luka has before-"
Whatever his weak spot was, I found it. I couldn't even finish the sentence before he let out a roar and sprinted towards the window. There was a second where I feared he would hesitate and jump too late or too early. But he didn't. With another yell, his voice containing some mixture of fear and determination, he jumped out of the window.
I wondered if anyone from the sidewalk was seeing this. Surely at least one person glanced up in the last few minutes, right? What would happen then? Would that give us away? Or would they just brush us off as some crazy kids with a deathwish?
Accustomed to hopeful thinking, I went with the latter.
But no more stalling. Now, it was my turn.
Don't hesitate. Just go. It was all about the confidence. I wasn't sure at all about this jump, but faking it would be the key to making it. As the saying goes.
I clamped my eyes shut, once again consciously aware of the blood pumping through my veins, my heart beating in my chest, and the air filling my lungs. The proximity of death only makes you feel more alive.
I opened my eyes and dashed forward.
Besides, I couldn't keep Rin waiting any longer.
The bright blue sky was the first thing I saw as I jumped. Suspended in empty air over certain death, the world slowed. Anon, Kanon, Flower, Yuma, and Rin all stood on the roof, trembling but completely unharmed, clearing the spot where I would land. My arms swung wildly at my sides, my bag blew in the wind. The gap below me looked more like a painted picture than anything. A very terrifying, deadly picture.
I had been too concerned with Rin's safety while I was looking out the window to really appreciate the scene around me. We were in the tallest building for miles, which gave us the sight of everything the city had to offer. The river stretching along the south side of the city, the buildings themselves expanding underneath us like a spiderweb of streets and sidewalks. Even the distant green of the rainforest, hiding all kinds of secrets, stretched around the city. We were completely surrounded by the jungle. And the only way out was through it.
I was too engrossed in the scene. When I landed on the gravel, I forgot to roll.
Thankfully, I managed to bend my knees and keep them from snapping under me. I fell to the ground, involuntarily falling onto my back. I clamped my eyes shut, bracing myself for the inevitable pain of the landing to appear somewhere in my body. It surprised me when nothing happened.
My eyes blinked open to reveal five concerned faces staring down at me.
"Did you land wrong?" Rin asked, falling to her knees next to me. "Is your leg hurting again? Are you okay?"
I propped myself up with a grunt. My duffle dragged with my shoulder. "I'm fine. I'm fine," I insisted.
Kanon's concerned face warped into a grin that stretched ear-to-ear. "Then what the fuck are we waiting for!" She yelled with a smile. "Let's go bag us some criminals!"
Up next, Miku.
Poor, poor Miku.
Thanks for reading! :)
