The footsteps rounded the corner.

All five of them tried to become a single body. It didn't work.

Esen flattened against the vending machine. Arashi flattened against Esen. Ichiro flattened against Arashi. Obi tried to flatten and discovered Raizen was already squished there.

"Smallerrr" Arashi hissed.

"I am already… Compact" Ichiro wheezed.

Raizen whispered "I can't feel my left lung."

"I don't know man, breathe with the other one" Arashi hissed.

The doctor's shadow stretched long across the floor. It stopped right in front of vending machine.

Then silence. Absolute. One heartbeat. Two.

The shadow moved away. Footsteps faded down the hall.

For a moment, no one spoke. The hall stayed quiet except for their ragged breathing and the vending machine's low, judgmental hum.

Arashi slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. "I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"What did you see?" Ichiro asked.

"A soda" Arashi corrected himself. "It was beautiful. And overpriced."

Obi laughed so hard he had to muffle it with his sleeve. Esen dropped to a crouch beside Raizen and checked his grip. "You okay?"

"I think my soul left my body somewhere" Raizen wheezed.

Esen grinned. "Next time, let's buy two bottles. One for the soul."

The laughter came easy now - tired, clumsy, genuine. The kind of sound that made the sterile hall feel alive again.

For a second, Raizen just watched them. The faces, the noise, the ridiculous teamwork. This wasn't battle or training or duty. It was just living - the part that always slipped between missions and rules.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed it.

Esen finally said "We're alive"

Arashi answered "We thrive"

Obi whispered "I saw my ancestors"

Ichiro pointed at the machine. "Get the soda. Then we leave before our luck catches up to us"

Obi scooped the bottle from the tray like it was a trophy. He handed it to Raizen with ridiculous ceremony. "For the hero of hydration"

Raizen accepted it. "For the idiots who made this harder than defeating a fortitude 6 Nyx."

"Teamwork" Esen concluded.

"Crime"

They gathered around Raizen again.

"Come on. Same as before."

Esen counted without asking anyone's aprooval. "One. Two. Three"

They lifted. The soda bottle thunked gently against Raizen's chest. He trapped it with his elbow like a dad who has learned to carry five grocery bags, a child and a door key at once. Trust me – you'll all get at that point.

"Quiet feet" Ichiro reminded everyone.

"Quiet everything" Esen nodded.

"Quiet hearts" Arashi tried.

"Arashi" four voices warned.

They passed the side office. The humming nurse now hummed louder, reached a dramatic high note, and coughed. Esen flinched. Arashi flinched because Esen flinched. Ichiro rolled his eyes while carrying two thirds of Raizen's weight.

"Left at the cart" Arashi breathed.

"No. Right" Ichiro corrected.

"Right at the cart" Arashi fixed. "Testing your reflexes again"

"Bro, stop."

"Faith is a reflex, too!" Arashi laughed.

"Then I am allergic" Ichiro said.

They reached the stairwell door. It opened like it remembered them and wished it did not.

"Same pace" Esen said.

"Two steps, pause" Ichiro replied.

"Don't squeak" Arashi told himself. I mean, he told his shoes.

The first step down was smooth. The second step down was not. Obi's heel slipped an inch.

Esen tightened. Arashi corrected. Ichiro swore under his breath and somehow saved all of them with one controlled shift. Again

"Sorry" Obi breathed. "The floor judged me"

"It judges all of us" Esen exhaled.

Raizen kept his breath small and even. The pain had a voice but, for some reason, now it talked in the back row. His ribs were hurting, but surprisingly less than he was used to. I mean, obviously, getting crushed by 4 idiots is better than being crushed by snow.

"Never tell Kori" Arashi whispered.

"She will know" Raizen smiled.

"True" Esen responded.

"Almost there" Obi grunted.

Arashi's knee popped again. Everyone glared at it for a second. They took the last few steps and wobbled through the door. The corridor back to Raizen's room stretched ahead like a victory lap that still required caution.

"Nonchalant faces" Arashi said. "If we look like we belong, we belong"

"We are four morons carrying a fifth" Ichiro said. "That has a reputation for doing stuff he shouldn't"

"Confidence is a uniform" Arashi said.

Esen snorted. "Your uniform is noise"

They passed a wall poster that said WASH YOUR HANDS and another that said DO NOT RUN. Thankfully, none said DO NOT CARRY YOUR FRIEND TO A VENDING MACHINE.

A supply cart appeared at the end of the hall, pushed by no one, like a ghost had decided to be helpful. They pivoted around it with the grace of 4 men carrying a couch around a corner.

"Smooth" Obi said.

"Elegant" Arashi replied.

"Illegal" Ichiro completed.

They were twenty steps from Raizen's door when fate did the thing fate loves best.

A young medic stepped out of a side corridor with a tablet, blinking at a chart. He looked up.

The five of them looked like a traveling circus act caught mid-trick.

No one spoke.

The medic took in the scene - Raizen, pale and bandaged, being carried by four idiots who were sweating and trying to pretend they were furniture delivery. The soda bottle stuck under Raizen's arm like an artifact. Arashi's hair was everywhere. Esen looked like a statue that had learned to make funny faces. Obi tried a smile that said "please do not arrest me, I am charming". Ichiro had the exact face of a man who wanted to sink into the floor and become a tile.

The medic blinked once. Twice.

"Evening" Arashi said, too brightly.

"Experiment" Esen said, simultaneously.

"Field trip" Obi said, at the same time.

"Transporting equipment" Ichiro said, also at exactly the same time.

Raizen nodded as if any of that helped.

The young medic stared for one more second, his eyebrows slowly rising like a sunrise that had questions.

Then he opened his mouth.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.