She kissed my cheek, squeezed my hand once, and went to stretch beside Belle. Belle tilted the laptop toward her, and the two of them bent over the screen together, and I heard Naomi whisper "Oh my god, she bit you there?" with far too much delight.
Jordan lay face down on the grass ten meters away with his arms flat at his sides. Javier knelt next to him holding a stopwatch, timing something that I suspected was Jordan's will to live.
"He's been like that since five-forty," Javier said. "His heart rate is fine, I checked, he's just choosing this."
"Wake me when the Captain is dead," Jordan said into the dirt.
Hikaru stood alone near the equipment shed with her arms folded, her black hair perfect and her uniform pressed sharper than anything Misato owned. Her red eyes went to the hoodie, then to my shoulder, and then back to my face. She gave me the smallest nod I've ever seen a human being produce, a quarter inch of movement that meant you're alive and I don't want details.
