Kenji, Kiri, and Davin returned to Unit 14 trying not to look too eager before they had even reached the room.
Inside, Shinju and Sera were already waiting.
The moment the three of them stepped in, both women stood.
Shinju asked first.
"How did it go?"
Kenji looked at her, and for a second his face tightened as if the answer had gone the wrong way.
That was enough to pull the color out of her expression.
She caught herself immediately. If she let that feeling spread across her face, the others would feel it too.
Kenji broke first.
He lifted both hands, smiled, and said, "We almost got a deal."
For a second neither Shinju nor Sera reacted.
Then both of them spoke at once.
"What?"
"Seriously?"
Davin laughed before Kenji could say more.
"You should have seen him in there," he said, pointing at Kiri. "Smooth, Half the room was resisting him and the other half didn't realize they'd already started listening."
Kiri waved that away.
