The dorm lounge had that end-of-day quiet. Not silence, exactly, but the soft sounds of life winding down: the hum of a vending machine, the low buzz of tired conversation, someone thumbing through a music playlist with the volume too low to identify the song.
Ivy sat on the edge of the couch with a canned drink balanced on her knee. Chloe sprawled across a beanbag with a half-eaten snack in hand, and Garry stood in the middle of the room reenacting his spar like a one-man stage show.
"And then, boom! I launched off the shockwave like a real pro. Min didn't even see it coming."
"Because he was covering his face," Riley said from the floor. "Out of fear."
"Exactly! Effective distraction."
Chloe threw a popcorn kernel at him. "You're not supposed to weaponize your teammates' trauma."
"I didn't! Just... used it strategically."
Ivy shook her head. "You're lucky Renley didn't make you mop the field afterward."
"I offered. I said I'd clean it with another shockwave."
"That's not how it works."
Laughter rolled across the group. For a moment, the room felt lighter than it had in days.
"Hey," Riley said, "did anyone else notice Kael didn't even flinch when he got hit? Like, not even a twitch."
Chloe grimaced. "He gives off big 'I've buried secrets in the woods' energy."
"He's just intense," Garry offered, trying to be diplomatic. "I mean, maybe that's how they train at the high-risk schools."
"Still," Riley said, "I wouldn't want to spar with him again."
Eyes slid toward Ivy. She gave a small shrug.
"It was manageable."
Chloe scoffed. "You bounced metal discs off a guy and barely blinked. What is your definition of manageable?"
Then came the pause.
"And Zhihao?" Riley said. "What was that?"
"Like watching a scared ghost," Garry muttered.
Chloe lowered her voice slightly. "He was fast. Too fast. But... not okay. You could see it."
Ivy didn't join the commentary. She just took another sip of her drink.
The door opened quietly. Zhihao stepped in, his hair damp and pushed back like he had just washed his face. He held a can of warm tea and looked around once before stepping toward the vending machine.
Chloe raised a hand in greeting. "Hey."
Zhihao nodded. "Evening."
Garry looked up. "You good after that fight?"
Zhihao hesitated. "Good enough."
That was all he said. He took a sip from his can, gave the group a polite nod, and walked back out.
The silence that followed wasn't awkward, just thoughtful.
Later, Ivy found Elias sitting on the stairwell just outside the dorm, a paper bag of snacks beside him and Pancake curled up against his leg. The night was cool, the kind of air that slowed thoughts down.
"Mind if I sit?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Quiet's better with two."
She lowered herself beside him. They sat for a while without speaking.
"He hasn't been sleeping," Elias said eventually. "Talks in his sleep. Not words I recognize. Different language, maybe."
Ivy watched Pancake twitch in her sleep, tail flicking.
"You know what his blessing is?"
Elias shrugged. "Not exactly. He won't talk about it. I asked once, and he just changed the subject."
"Is it dangerous?"
Elias didn't answer for a while. Then he said, "He acts like it is. Like he's scared of it."
Ivy nodded slowly.
They sat there in silence, the stars above flickering faintly past the clouds.
Pancake snored.
Nobody said anything else.