Morning in Japantown didn’t arrive. It… leaked in. Soft light pushed through layered screens and tinted glass, never fully committing to being daylight. The city outside had already started again—distant engines, muted voices, something metallic being dragged across concrete—but in here it reached the room like a memory instead of a demand. The air was still. Not empty. Just… unclaimed. --- Ace woke first. Not fully. Just enough. Eyes half-open, still, listening without moving. No pressure. No narrowing. No moment waiting for her to act. That alone was enough to keep her where she was for a few seconds longer. She shifted slightly. Careful. Reyes was still asleep beside her—close, not clinging, one arm loosely draped across Ace’s side like it had ended up there by decision, not accident. Ace didn’t move away. Didn’t lean into it either. Just… stayed. Her gaze drifted upward, following the line where soft light cut across the ceiling. No angles. No trajectories. No clean lines waiting to be taken. “…good,” she murmured. Reyes didn’t wake. But her hand tightened just slightly in response. Ace noticed. Didn’t comment. --- Across the room, Mai was already awake. Of course she was. Sitting near the edge of the space, back straight but not rigid, one hand resting loosely against her knee. No interface open. No active data. Just stillness that looked almost unnatural on her. Kiro watched her from a few steps away. “Trying not to map it?” she asked quietly. Mai didn’t look up. “Yes.” “And?” A pause. “…It is holding.” Kiro smiled faintly. “See? You can relax.” Mai finally lifted her gaze. “I am not relaxed.” “Close enough.” Mai considered correcting that. Didn’t. That was new. --- Shammy woke last. Not abruptly. More like the room shifted slightly, and she followed it back into awareness. She sat up slowly, long hair falling over one shoulder, blue threads catching the dim light. Marco noticed first. “Hey,” he said, voice low. Shammy looked at him, then at Lena beside him. “You stayed.” Marco blinked once. “…Yeah?” Shammy nodded, as if confirming something. “Good.” Lena watched her carefully. “You say that like it matters.” “It does.” No elaboration. None needed. --- The room settled again. Different now. Less charged. Not empty—just… lived in. --- Ace finally pushed herself upright. Slow. Deliberate. No urgency. Reyes opened her eyes a second later, like she’d been waiting for the exact moment. “Morning,” she said. Ace glanced at her. “Define morning.” Reyes smirked. “You’re awake. That’s enough.” Ace considered that. “Fair.” A small pause. Then: “You still here?” Reyes didn’t move. “Did you expect otherwise?” Ace shrugged slightly. “Night City.” That was answer enough. Reyes’ expression shifted—subtle, but real. “I don’t leave when it matters.” Ace held her gaze for a second. Then nodded once. “Good.” --- Mai stood. Smooth, controlled, but not rigid. Kiro watched her with open curiosity. “You always get up like that?” “Yes.” “No hesitation.” “I do not require it.” Kiro laughed softly. “Yeah. That tracks.” Mai glanced toward Ace briefly. Not checking. Just… acknowledging. Ace returned it with the smallest tilt of her head. That was enough. --- Shammy moved to the window. Not to look out. To feel. “The city is louder again,” she said. Marco stretched slightly behind her. “Yeah. That tends to happen.” “It is different,” Shammy replied. “Less… focused.” Lena stood beside her. “That’s good, right?” Shammy nodded. “Yes.” A pause. Then, softer: “It means it is not deciding.” --- Ace exhaled slowly. That word again. Deciding. She flexed her fingers once. Nothing pulled. Nothing aligned. Nothing asked. Just muscle and memory. Her own. “…good,” she said again. --- Kiro leaned against the wall, watching all of them now. “Okay,” she said. “So what’s the protocol here?” Ace raised an eyebrow. “For what?” “After.” Marco snorted. “Is there usually a protocol?” Mai answered without missing a beat. “No.” Kiro pointed at her. “You’re lying.” Mai tilted her head. “I am simplifying.” Reyes sat up fully now, stretching once, completely unbothered by being observed. “I vote we don’t ruin it by overthinking.” Mai looked at her. “That is statistically unlikely.” Ace cut in. “Then don’t think. Just move.” Kiro grinned. “There it is.” --- Shammy turned back from the window. “The room is still quiet.” Ace looked at her. “For now.” Shammy nodded. “Yes.” No urgency. No warning. Just a statement. --- They didn’t rush. Didn’t need to. Clothes gathered slowly. Movement without tension. Conversation drifting in and out without trying to anchor anything down. Marco found coffee. Lena improved it. Kiro complained about both and drank it anyway. Reyes stayed just within reach of Ace without making a point of it. Mai didn’t open an interface. Not once. --- At the door, there was a moment. Not dramatic. Not heavy. Just… a pause where leaving became real. Ace looked back into the room once. No residue. No echo. No trace of something unfinished. Just space. Used. And released. “Good place,” she said. Kiro smiled. “Yeah.” Reyes glanced at Ace. “You coming back?” Ace shrugged lightly. “Maybe.” That was enough. --- Outside, Japantown had fully woken up. Noise. Movement. Color. The city breathing again like it always did. But it didn’t press the same way. Not immediately. Not yet. --- Shammy stepped out last. She paused for half a second, feeling the shift. Then followed. “The air is open,” she said. Ace nodded. “Let’s keep it that way.” --- And this time— they did.