I groaned, rolling my neck as I forced myself to my feet again. Every joint in my body clicked like an old machine being booted up after years in a basement.
"I'm starting to think you two are trying to kill me," I muttered.
"No, Rin," Leona said sweetly, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. "If we wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."
I gave her a blank stare. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
Ryen clapped me on the back again—seriously, what did he have against my spine?—and laughed. "We're just pushing you to your potential. If you survive training with us, the ranking match'll feel like a vacation."
"And if I don't survive?"
"Then we'll attend your funeral and tell everyone how brave you were."
"Touching," I said flatly.
Still, I couldn't lie. There was something reassuring in their presence, in this unspoken understanding between exhausted cadets. They weren't just trying to break me. They were trying to pull me up.
Which was… annoyingly endearing.
