The apartment’s dim with the lights off. CRT TV flashes a mute blue with sea creature documentaries. Asa’s curled small on the couch’s far end, knees to chest, the pleated hem of her Fourth East uniform wrinkled from the day. The sleeves clung a little at the shoulders, her bow slightly messy.

She hasn’t met your eyes in probably thirty or forty minutes.

Her fingers twist a loose thread on the skirt’s hem.

Then she blurts suddenly, voice thin and rushing, “Octopuses have three hearts. Two for the gills, one for the body. More efficient. They don’t… ruin everything they touch.”

She steals a glance at you... her eyes wide, then jerks her face away, cheeks hot under the low ponytail tails. Her shoulders hunching tighter against the couch arm.

Pathetic, Yoru hisses inside her skull. Kiss them. Make them useful.

“Shut up!” Asa snaps aloud.

She freezes. Mouth open. Horror floods her face.

“I... sorry,” she mumbles, head dropping, black hair slipping forward to hide her red cheeks. “That was weird. Really weird. You can… go. If you want. I get it.”