Kira ordered a taxi from the curb outside the academy gates.

We both slid into the back seat without speaking.

She gave the driver the name of a hospital across the city, then sat with her hands clasped tight in her lap, her eyes fixed on the window. The city moved past us in slow grey blocks of late afternoon traffic. She didn’t look at me once during the ride.

The taxi pulled up at a wide stone building with the awakener medical board’s crest above the front doors.

Kira reached for her wallet.

I had my card out first.

"Ash."

The driver took my payment without comment. Kira’s mouth opened, then closed, and her jaw tightened in a way that told me she was controlling herself. She’d reprimand me about it. Just not now.

She stepped out of the taxi and started toward the front doors before I’d shut my side.

I followed.

She knew the building. The reception nurse looked up when Kira walked in, recognized her, and didn’t bother asking which patient she was here for. Kira cut left at the main desk, took the second corridor, and stopped at a closed door halfway down.

A healer in pale green stood outside it with a tablet.

E-rank by his badge. Tired around the eyes. He looked up as Kira approached, and his expression became more neutral.

"Miss Venn." He glanced at me. The glance lingered for half a second on the academy uniform, then moved on. "Five minutes only. He’s in critical condition."

Kira’s voice was tight. "What happened?"

"His injury has worsened." The healer pulled up something on his tablet, then turned it slightly so Kira could see the readings. "The damage to his core hasn’t truly healed. Every medical cycle it stabilizes briefly and then degrades a little further. We can hold him at this level for maybe a week. Two if we’re careful and he fights hard."

"And then?"

The healer didn’t answer right away.

"To actually heal him, he needs either a B-rank healer working on his core directly, or a Tier 2 restoration pill administered orally."

Kira’s hand closed on the strap of her bag. She knew how impossible that sounded.

A B-rank healer is almost impossible to bring in on short notice, and if you could hire one, the bill would run higher than the pill itself. The pill goes for around a million on the open market.

Kira’s hand closed on the strap of her bag.

"Damn it," she whispered. Her voice cracked on the second word. She pressed the heel of her free hand against her eye and held it there, breathing through her nose. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."

I stepped closer.

"Hey."

I put a hand on her shoulder, just enough to let her feel that someone was there for her.

"Why don’t we go in? Five minutes. You can sit with him. We’ll figure the rest out after."

Kira lowered her hand from her eye. She looked at me for a long second, her dark eyes red at the edges, and then she nodded.

The healer opened the door for us. "You have five minutes. Don’t raise your voices. Don’t disturb him. For his sake."

He left to attend to other patients.

The room was dim.

A single light-bulb on the bedside table. The bed in the center held a boy who looked maybe twenty, thin enough that the shape of his collarbone showed clearly through the hospital gown. #

His skin looked incredibly pale. A monitor by the bed traced the slow uneven pulse of his mana core in a pale blue line.

He didn’t wake when we came in.

Kira moved to the chair beside the bed and lowered herself into it. She reached out and took his hand in both of hers, careful, like she was afraid the contact would hurt him. Her thumb traced the back of his knuckles.

[CHOICE A: Heal Kira’s Brother using the tier 2 pill. Reward: +15 Affection (Kira), +10 Mana.]

[CHOICE B: Help Kira by finding a way to purchase a pill. Reward: +1 Affection(Kira), + 1 Mana. ]

[CHOICE C: Stay on the sidelines. Reward: D-Rank Mana Ring.]

For the first time, the Choice System presented me with a truly difficult decision.

I could give up a pill that might one day save my life, or trade it for a million dollars—enough to save Kira’s brother, earn her gratitude, and gain ten mana attributes.

The alternative was to refuse. I would keep the pill and receive a mana ring instead, an item worth well over a million dollars on its own.

After a moment of thinking, I chose the first choice. I had gained the pill by following her, also the girl had taken over a part of my heart.

I wanted to save her brother, improve our relationship whilst gaining rewards too. Besides, who knows, I might be able to gain more rewards later on by being with her.

I crossed to the side of the bed and stopped beside Kira’s chair. She didn’t look up. Her eyes still on her brother’s face.

"Kira. If you want, I have a Tier 2 restoration pill. I can give it to your brother."

Her head turned.

I reached into the storage ring on my hand and pulled the pill out of it. The small wooden case rested in my palm, lid open, the pill inside.

It was a soft white in colour. And a thin curl of pale mana drifted off its surface that only real, magical pills did.

Kira’s eyes locked onto it.

Her lips parted.

She looked at the pill for several more seconds before looking at me.

"What do you want for it." Her voice came out hoarse, biting her lower lips.

"I want you to—"

"Okay." She cut me off, her words tumbling over mine. "Okay. I’ll, I’ll book a hotel. After. I’ll—"

"Hotel? For what?"

"What?" Her eyes quivered. "Don’t you, don’t you want—"

I smiled at her. "I want you to have dinner with me."

Her eyes widened, a deep shade of pink flushing her face instantly. ’She has been through alot....she must’ve been harassed for that body of hers on many occasions.’ I thought, glancing at it once more.

She had a killer body and face. I had to force myself to look away.

"Oh." Her voice was very small. "Okay. But, still. I’ll repay you for this. One day."

"One day."

"Feed it to your brother." I placed the pill inside her hand.