Lancet and Luke trotted into the room, keeping a fair distance to avoid assumptions that they had been walking together.
Kasto and Anita rose from their beds. "Where the heck have you guys been?"
Luke said nothing. He climbed onto his bed, instantly pulling a worn comic book over his face to shut out the rest of the room.
"Lancet!" Kasto blurted out, deciding to focus rather on him. "Man, we were looking all over for you."
Anita let her puppet collapse into a lifeless heap of joints and stood up, brushing off her skirt. Her usual nervous demeanor was replaced with a bright, genuine relief.
"We wanted to congratulate you properly," she said. "Winning the MVP back to back is no ordinary achievement. You're making us famous by just being your roommates."
Lancet leaned back against the heavy wooden door for a second, letting the solid surface hold up his weight. The headache was still there, ever faint.
