"I didn't want this!"
The words tore loose, too loud, too raw.
For a moment, he wasn't standing in the arena anymore.
He was back in A Block — cramped corridors soaked in recycled air and flickering lights.
He remembered Kikaru pushing a ration pack into his hands after a bad day, the corner of her mouth twitching in that rare, reluctant smile.
Her dry laugh when he flubbed a combat drill and ended up on his back, swearing into the mat.
Their whispered plans late at night — talk of finding a way out of Cube X, finding something better, no matter what walls the Federation tried to build around them.
They hadn't been family.
They hadn't been childhood friends.
They had been something else — something harder, something earned.
Two people trapped together, hammered into loyalty by shared pain.
And he had broken it.
Torn it apart to save Junjio.
Bound her without her consent.
Traded her trust for a chance at survival.
