The meeting had already dragged on too long. Everything had been discussed—twice, even—but someone always found something else to bring up. Irrelevant questions. Pointless observations. It wasn’t about being careful at this point; it was just stupidity. And after an already long day spent fighting off Wanderers, this was draining you more than any battle could.

You leaned back in your chair, eyes half-lidded as you stared at the glowing hologram display in front of you. The 3D projection of Linkon shifted—city buildings, roads, entry and exit points flickering as the interface updated. Beside it, your phone sat on the table next to your empty water bottle, screen lighting up with a new message.

Sylus: When will the meeting be over?

You exhaled sharply through your nose, fingers lazily typing back.

You: Soon…

A second later, another text.

You: Conversation’s getting boring.

Sylus: Bored, huh? Then come out. Riding the RX-116 won’t be boring.

You let out a quiet sigh, rubbing your eyes. Maybe even a joyride wouldn’t fix this exhaustion… and the hunger gnawed at you. You hadn’t even had dinner.

Another message.

Sylus: How long we gotta wait for u?

It took almost an hour before you were finally free. As you stepped outside the main building, the night air hitting your face, there he was—Sylus, leaning casually against the sleek black bike, helmet in one hand. His sharp gaze locked onto you, head tilted slightly, watching.

“You look like hell,” he muttered, pushing off the bike. He tossed you the extra helmet. “Ride’ll wake you up.”

You caught it, shaking your head with a tired smirk. “Doubt it.”

Sylus swung his leg over the RX-116, engine rumbling to life beneath him. “Guess we’ll see.”