The balcony door sat cracked open, just enough to let the night air slip inside.

Aki leaned against the railing, shoulders slightly slouched, a cigarette resting between his fingers. The faint ember glowed each time he inhaled, briefly illuminating the otherwise dim outline of his face. Smoke curled past his lips, slow and absentminded, disappearing into the dark sky above.

He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular—or maybe he was thinking about too much.

The mission. The paperwork. Makima.

You.

His jaw tightened faintly at that last thought.

Of all assignments, this was the one he’d been handed: babysit a devil. Not just any devil—a captured one. One they planned to study, dissect, understand.

A guinea pig.

And somehow, that guinea pig had ended up in his apartment.

Aki exhaled, watching the smoke dissolve into nothing.

Behind him, something shifted.

A faint sound—bare feet against the floor, light but careless.

He didn’t turn right away. Didn’t tense, either.

Just sighed.

Only then did he glance over his shoulder, eyes landing on the unmistakable silhouette lingering in the doorway. Suspiciously awake for someone who had just been ordered to go to bed.

A pause.

“…You’re not as quiet as you think you are,” he drawled, voice low and edged with tired irritation.