The morning sun, weak and watery, did nothing to warm the cold knot in Leo's stomach. He sat on the edge of Mira's roof, his legs dangling over the alley three stories below, watching the Low District wake up in its usual chaotic fashion. A woman yelled at a stray dog. Two kids fought over a half-rotten apple. Somewhere, a factory whistle blew.
Normal life. It felt like a different planet.
The door to the roof creaked open behind him. Mira stomped out, carrying two chipped mugs of something hot. She handed him one without a word and sat down beside him, her boots swinging.
He took a sip. It was cheap tea, bitter and slightly burnt. It was perfect.
"So," she said, not looking at him. "You gonna tell me what's rattling around in that thick skull of yours, or do I have to guess?"
Leo stared at the grey sky. "I've been thinking."
"Dangerous hobby."
"I'm serious, Mira." He set the mug down, his hands fidgeting. "That guy yesterday. Kaelen. He's not going to stop. Neither is the Association, or whatever cult Korran was muttering about, or those... things from the dungeon that can apparently smell this ring like a bad casserole."
"Poetic."
"I'm not joking." He turned to face her, and the raw fear in his eyes made her smart mouth go still. "I'm a target. And as long as I'm here, so are you. So is Korran. Anyone who gets close to me is going to get crushed when these people decide to stop playing nice."
Mira's face hardened. "Don't you dare."
"I found something out," he pressed on, the words tumbling out before he could lose his nerve. "My mother... she had family. A cousin. He left New Arcanis years ago, before I was born. Went east. Real east. All the way to a place called Japan."
Mira blinked. "Japan? What the hell is Japan?"
"I don't know exactly. It's across the ocean. Some island nation. They don't have dungeons there. No rifts. No monsters. No Guild." He took a shaky breath. "No hunters at all."
The silence that followed was heavy enough to crush coal.
"You're leaving," Mira said. Her voice was flat. Empty.
"I'm running," Leo corrected, his own voice cracking. "There's a difference. Running implies I have somewhere to go. I don't. I just have somewhere to hide until I figure out how to not be a walking target."
"You're leaving me."
The words hit him like a physical blow. He looked at her, and for the first time, he saw the tears welling in her eyes, the ones she was desperately trying to blink away.
"Mira—"
"No, shut up." She stood up abruptly, her mug clattering to the roof, tea spilling everywhere. "You don't get to 'Mira' me. You don't get to sit there with your stupid guilty face and tell me you're sailing off to some magical island with no monsters while I stay here and... what? Sell noodles? Wait for a letter that never comes?"
"I can't take you with me."
"BULLSHIT!"
The shout echoed off the surrounding buildings. A pigeon exploded from a nearby ledge in indignant flight.
"You absolute idiot!" She was pacing now, her arms waving wildly. "You think I care about danger? You think I haven't been in danger my whole life? I grew up here! I've been dodging worse monsters than dungeon beasts since I could walk!"
"This is different!"
"How?! How is it different?!"
"Because you have people!" Leo stood up too, his voice rising to match hers. "You have a life! You have your aunt, your job, your... your everything! Me? I've got a ring that wants to eat me and a dead team I can still see every time I close my eyes! I've got nothing to lose!"
Mira stopped pacing. She stood perfectly still, her back to him. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. Dangerous quiet.
"Nothing to lose."
"That's not what I—"
"You're my only friend, Leo." She turned around, and the tears were falling freely now, tracking through the grime on her cheeks. "You're the only person in this entire rotten city who ever looked at me like I was a person and not just some street rat. You think I have a life? I have a room above a candle shop and a job that pays in leftovers. I have an aunt who'll be dead in five years and a future that ends at 'maybe marry a dock worker if I'm lucky.'"
She walked towards him, each step deliberate.
"You're not my something to lose. You're my only something worth keeping."
Leo felt his own eyes burning. He looked away, unable to bear the weight of her honesty.
"I can't ask you to give up everything for me,you are my best friend" he whispered.
"Good thing I'm not asking permission." She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "I'm telling you. When you go to whatever stupid island country, I'm going with you. End of discussion."
"Mira, your aunt—"
"Will understand. She's been telling me to get out of this cesspool for years. She'll cry, she'll hug me, she'll pack me food for the journey. That's what family does."
Leo opened his mouth to argue, but she held up a hand.
"And before you say I can't because I'm not a hunter, let me tell you something." Her eyes blazed with a fierce, defiant light. "I'm going to awaken my mana. I don't know how yet. I don't know when. But I'm going to do it. And then I'm going to become a hunter. A real one. Not because I want to fight monsters or get rich or any of that garbage."
She left the room after saying that
Leo knows he can't stop her ... But he must... And if he can't stop her... He will leave in silent...