Arashi looked at Raizen. Raizen looked back. Neither of them had any idea what she was talking about.
Hikari was watching the sky steadily, her face turned upward, shoulder turned toward Raizen. Whatever Kori had brought them up here for, Hikari had the patience to wait it out. The rest of them were going to have to learn from her example.
The cool air settled into the spaces between Raizen's clothes. The city below produced its usual night sounds - the distant hum of the Heart's surface vents, the occasional drone passing on a perimeter sweep, the wind moving across the lower districts. Somewhere a few houses over, someone was playing music quietly. The notes were too far away to make out properly - just a distant melody, pleasant, anonymous.
Three minutes.
"Kori," Arashi said. "I love you. I respect you. I would die for you. But if this is a joke, I'm going to be sad."
"It's not a joke."
"How do you know?"
"Because I just know."
