'How did I end up in this position?'
'Oh yeah. Nora dragged me here by the ear. Something about me acting weird.'
Saying no to her was harder than any fight he'd ever been in. And he'd been in a lot of fights. None of them scared him as much as that girl once she decided something was happening.
He glanced around. They were all sitting together. Chatting. Smiling. The kind of easy warmth that comes from people who've bled alongside each other for years.
And for some reason, he felt distant. Like watching a fire through a window.
He'd thought—stupidly, naively—that he'd get to spend the whole trip with Nora. Just the two of them. Talking. Catching up. Maybe sitting in comfortable silence while the ocean did all the work.
That dream lasted about ten seconds.
A quick glance to his right. Luca. The uninvited guest who'd invited himself and somehow made everyone happy about it.
Everyone except Shiro.
