---
The door clicked shut behind us.
I didn't turn around right away—still riding the storm of everything that had happened tonight. Elira. Reina. The stares. The heat. The chaos of a game that started as harmless fun but had torn apart every line I'd tried to hold.
But Mei? She wasn't carrying any tension. At least not visibly.
She stood behind me, one hand on her hip, the other gently twisting a lock of her dark hair. Her smile was there—half teasing, half knowing—as she leaned against the closed door.
"Turn around, Ren."
I did.
She was barefoot now. When had she taken her slippers off?
Her eyes shimmered in the dim lighting, mischief written in every blink. She stepped forward and slowly closed the distance between us, her presence light as a whisper and yet… impossible to ignore.
"I've been thinking," she said softly, "Everyone's been so serious lately. So dramatic. So…" She made a face. "Extra."
I chuckled—just a little.
