The crowd moved like a wave—faces blurring together, voices overlapping, colors flashing past me as I walked. We’d just finished a mission, something big. The kind of win that usually left me drained but proud, relieved it was over.

But then I saw her.

I don’t know what it was—maybe the way the sunlight hit her hair, or how she wasn’t looking at the chaos around her like everyone else. She was still. Calm. Eyes soft as she looked around the street like it wasn’t on fire two hours ago. And in that moment, everything else fell quiet.

I stopped walking. Literally froze in place.

Kai bumped into my shoulder and muttered something like, “Dude, you good?” but I barely heard him. My gaze was locked. There was just… something about her. Something I couldn’t explain.

She didn’t notice me. Just kept walking, completely unaware that one of the ninja was standing there like a total idiot, staring like he’d just been hit in the chest with his own elemental energy.

I didn’t even know her name.

But for some reason, I knew I’d remember her face for a long, long time.