Yuki, sitting beside him with the container on her lap, stopped chewing.
Very slowly, very rigidly, she turned her head in the direction of the voice.
Adrián, also very slowly, very rigidly, turned his.
Ishtar was walking along the garden path with the casualness of a cat strolling through her own yard. Full gothic school uniform. Red pigtails. Lollipop in her mouth. Small bag with silver chains hanging from her shoulder. Absolutely no indication on her face that three hours ago he’d blown her top off with a pulse of black energy in a basement training room.
She reached the bench. Stopped in front of them. Looked at Yuki. Looked at the bento. Looked at Adrián. Looked at the bento again. Smiled very slowly.
"Oh, bro-in-law. You didn’t tell me you had a little friend."
Yuki stopped breathing.
Adrián noticed because, with his new senses, he could hear the exact moment Yuki’s breathing stopped. It was a fairly concrete phenomenon.
"...br...bro..." said Yuki.
"Ishtar," said Adrián in the very calm voice of a man watching a house burn down. "Walk. Forward. Quickly. Now."
"But I just got here."
"Ishtar. Please."
"Bro-in-law, don’t be rude. Introduce me to your friend."
Yuki, sitting next to Adrián, had officially entered a trance. She looked at Ishtar. Looked at Adrián. Looked at Ishtar. Looked at Adrián. Looked at her again. The container had started tilting dangerously on her lap.
"Br...bro-in-law," Yuki repeated, and the word came out as if it were a foreign object her mouth didn’t know how to process.
"Yes," said Ishtar with all the happiness in the world, extending a hand. "Ishtar Alastor. Vega’s assigned seatmate in Psychology. Sister of his fiancée—unofficial, non-legal, not yet recognized by him, still. A pleasure."
"..."
"Your friend, I assume," Ishtar continued, examining the bento with genuine admiration. "Oh, how lovely. You brought him food. I also do things for Vega, but different things."
Adrián felt like he wanted to die again. Voluntarily this time.
"Ishtar—"
"You’re very pretty," Ishtar told Yuki, with the sweetest smile in the world. "Vega didn’t tell me he had such a pretty friend. Very short, aren’t you? And with..." she looked at Yuki’s chest with unashamed clinical admiration. "With many resources. Impressive for your height. Is it genetic or do you eat a lot of tofu?"
Yuki started turning very red.
Very, very red.
From the neck up. From the chest up. Like a thermometer was rising inside her.
"Ishtar," Adrián said with more urgency, "that’s enough. Yuki, she’s—"
But Yuki was already standing up.
Very slowly. With the forced dignity of someone desperately trying not to cry in public. She closed the container. Held it to her chest. Picked up her backpack. Sling it over her shoulder. All with very small, very precise, very silent movements.
"Sorry," she said, looking at no one in particular. "I’m late for... for something. That I have. To do. Adrián, take the bento anyway. See you."
"Yuki, wait—"
"See you."
And she left.
Very fast.
Not running, but not walking either.
Adrián remained seated on the bench with the half-eaten bento on his lap.
Silence.
Ishtar, still standing in front of him, watched Yuki walk away. Tilted her head. Gave the lollipop a long lick.
"Oops," she said. "She got mad."
Adrián breathed.
Counted to ten.
Stood up slowly.
Looked at Ishtar.
"Ishtar."
"Yes, bro-in-law?"
"You know exactly what you just did."
"I was just being friendly."
"Ishtar."
"Vega."
"Why?"
Ishtar held his gaze for two seconds. Then shrugged with the studied casualness of a girl who’d done exactly what she wanted and had no intention of hiding it.
"Because I wanted to see."
"See what?"
"How she reacted."
"Her or me?"
"Both."
Adrián clenched his jaw.
Ishtar smiled at him around the lollipop.
"Bro-in-law, do you seriously not realize?"
"Realize what?"
"That girl is head over heels in love with you. And I don’t mean the normal childhood friend with an unrequited crush kind of love. That girl has loved you since her permanent teeth came in. It’s scandalous. It’s obvious. I can smell it. I can see it. I can hear it in the way she breathes when you’re close. It’s public information. And you like her back, so why don’t you act on it?"
Adrián didn’t respond.
Ishtar looked at him for another second. Her smile softened a little. The lollipop came down from her mouth. For an instant—just an instant—Adrián saw an expression on her he hadn’t seen before. Something more serious. Almost curious, almost professional.
"Come on, bro-in-law. Sit down. Eat your bento."
Adrián sat down slowly. Looked at the bento. Looked at the rice. Looked at the onigiri carefully formed by very small, very patient hands that had spent an entire morning thinking about him.
He didn’t eat.
Just stared at it.
Ishtar sat down next to him. In the spot Yuki had left empty. Crossed her legs. Took the lollipop out of her mouth.
"Vega."
"..."
"Talk to me."
Adrián breathed long and deep.
Ran both hands over his face.
When he spoke, it was quietly, looking at the bento in his lap and not at Ishtar. As if he were saying it to Yuki through the rice.
"Yuki deserves better," he said.
Ishtar said nothing. Waited.
"She deserves better than some traumatized guy obsessed with his sister’s death. She deserves better than a guy who stopped truly living three years ago, who wakes up thinking about Elena and goes to sleep thinking about Elena, who pretended all that time to be okay so no one would worry but knows perfectly well he’s not okay. She deserves a guy who looks at her and sees her, not someone else. A guy who can give her what she deserves, not the 30% of attention he has available."
Silence.
"And now it’s worse. Now I’m in this world. Now I have a mask on my soul and a demonic master and a Tarot card stuck in my chest and I have no idea what dangers are going to come looking for me. And yeah, my master’s going to protect me. But Yuki isn’t under any house’s protection. Yuki is human. She’s completely vulnerable. If someone wants to hurt me, they’re going to go after what I want. And what I want is her. Already. It’s the most obvious first line of attack in the world."
"..."
"I spent all morning thinking, while we were doing that ridiculous training, about cutting ties with her. About telling her we’re not friends anymore. About not answering her messages. About moving into the Alastor building and not coming back to the university and disappearing from her life forever. It would be the best thing for her. She’d be safe. She could fall in love with someone else. She could live peacefully."
Ishtar remained silent.
Adrián picked up the chopsticks. Set them over the rice. Lowered his gaze.
"But Yuki is Yuki. And she brought me two containers today. And she looked at my face looking for lies. And she believed me when I asked her to believe me. And I can’t. I can’t cut her off. Not yet. Maybe never. I’m selfish. I know."
Silence.
Ishtar stared at him for a long time.
Then she turned her head. Looked at the garden. Watched a bird fight another for a crumb. Looked at the sky.
She brought the lollipop back to her mouth.
"Bro-in-law," she said, in a voice different from all the voices she’d used with him before. "You’re more interesting than you look."
"Thanks."
"That wasn’t a compliment. It was a clinical observation. Guys who say the things you just said are usually boring and full of self-pity. You’re not boring. You’re genuinely trying to protect her. That’s different."
"..."
"And yeah, you’re a little selfish. But you’re also human. Well, ex-human. You guys are like that."
Adrián didn’t respond. Pushed the chopsticks into the rice. Brought a bite to his mouth. Chewed slowly.
It was delicious. Yuki always cooked well. And when she was nervous, she cooked even better.
He ate in silence for a while.
Ishtar watched him eat. With that same concentrated intensity with which she’d watched him at breakfast. Then she spoke again, with studied casualness:
"Bro-in-law."
"Yeah?"
"Changing the subject."
"Please."
"My sister’s having a meeting tonight. To officially introduce you to the rest."
Adrián stopped chewing.
"...the rest?"
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