With ice cream cones in hand, Daniel and Carmen stood on the rooftop terrace of their riad, looking out over the city. Looking at the low buildings crested by the falling sun, Daniel realized he loved the look of Marrakesh way more than Japan. He loved actually being able to see the sun, and not having so many buildings that it felt impossible to appreciate the scale of everything there.

He also loved the girl next to him.

“Every time I look out at the city,” Carmen said. “I can’t help but think about that game with the assassins. I can see the parkour routes.”

“That’s what you see?” Daniel laughed. “I just see myself getting lost in all the tight alleyways. Lemme try some of your ice cream.”

They had both gotten vanilla, but gelato was still so different from regular ice cream, so much denser and thicker.

“I never had gelato before,” Carmen said as he mmm-ed in pleasure. “I think I like it even more.”

“I don’t know. This doesn’t beat chocolate chip cookie dough yet.” Daniel felt the heavier weight in his pants pocket as he moved. “Close your eyes.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just close your eyes real quick.”

“Why?” Carmen laughed.

“I have a surprise! Go ahead, just trust me.”

She gave him a look over her glasses, but then closed her eyes. Daniel sat his ice cream on the table beside them and opened the black box in his pocket, slipping the necklace over his head. It was cold around his neck, since he was only wearing a black tank top.

“Open them,” he said, turning the box towards her.

Carmen’s eyes went alight like stars as her eyes fell on the necklace inside of the box. Her eyes darted between that and the one around his neck.

“I’ve been saving up for this for a while,” he started. “Betting the money I had saved on my own matches. I put it all on that match earlier and ended up winning, and you had just cleared Golden Class, I…thought I’d celebrate!”

“With matching diamond necklaces?” she said, her voice cracking. “How did you even—”

“It’s platinum! As for affording it…” He shrugged. “It isn’t real platinum. I’m not gonna lie to you. But, I thought the spirit counted. Platinum Class,” Daniel said, gesturing between them. “Platinum hearts.”

Carmen took the necklace out of the box, slowly, as if afraid it would crumble and disappear within her hands. But, luckily, it fit over her head and fell around her neck. A smile broke through her face before she threw her arms around his neck, nearly choking him in a tight hug. With a snap, their necklaces magnetized towards each other. The dying sunset warmed his cheeks, but it paled against the warmth of her heart against his, thudding against his chest.

“I’ve always wanted a matching necklace,” Carmen whispered. He could still feel her beaming against the side of his head.

They pulled away enough to look in each other’s eyes, still within each other’s arms.

“If you decide to use your wish to forget about your whole time here and go back to when you left…could you not forget about me?” She asked.

“With this around my neck, I never could. But I’ll remember that. You’re the last part I want to forget,” Daniel said as they pulled away and continued eating their ice cream. “What would you wish for?”

“If I was the One?” Carmen pursed her lips. “I’d wish you back home.”

“What? But that’s your wish!” Daniel said, hoping he wasn’t blushing at what she was admitting.

“I know, I know, but some people say the Wishstone has a cooldown, and that’s why the Ones don’t spam wishes. I wouldn’t want you to stay away from your parents for even longer because I used it for myself.”

“But what if you did? What if I wasn’t in the situation, and you were the One?”

Carmen finished the last of her ice cream before answering. “I’d wish for my parents to have more money than they could ever spend, and for their restaurant to be the most popular in the world.”

Daniel scoffed. “Come on.”

“What? That’s a great wish!”

“But it’s not really your wish! Hear me out. If they advertise themselves as the restaurant that raised the number one Fighter in the entire world, the one who took down the One after a hundred years, wouldn’t they be swimming in cash anyways?”

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Carmen leaned against the parapet wall.

“See? You know that’s how it would work. So…?”

“It’s gonna sound dumb.”

“It won’t, I promise. I won’t laugh. I could come up with a dozen dumber wishes.”

Carmen cracked a smirk. “You really would.”

“Right. So what right would I have to laugh at what you wish for?” Daniel shrugged, putting an arm around her shoulder and leaning beside her. “Come on. I want to hear.”

Carmen ran a finger through her hair, twirling a curly strand around in her finger. “I wish…I would wish I could see myself like you.”

Daniel stiffened, his heart ceasing to pound for a beat in surprise. “…what?”

“I would wish I could see myself like how you see yourself. You—” Carmen paused, bunching up her eyebrows. “You always seem so happy with what you do. Like you’re content with yourself. When you lose, you’re happy with yourself because you did your best, and when you win, you’re happy with yourself because you did what you set out to do. But me, I…I never feel like I’m enough.”

Daniel let his head hang.

“When I win, I still don’t feel like I won well enough. Even when I win two to one, I could’ve won two to zero if I figured them out faster. If I’m not perfect, I never think I’m enough, and even when I am perfect, I’m not.”

“But you don’t need to be perfect to be happy,” Daniel said. “And you don’t want to see yourself like how I see me.”

“Why not?”

The sunset disappeared over the horizon, leaving a dull blue sky over the desert tan buildings.

“Because you know what it’s like to sleep at home. You remember what it’s like to sleep in your own room at your own house, with your own family. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten, but I know it never feels right. And yeah — I’m happy with what I do, but what do I even do it for anymore? I say I do it ‘cause I wanna go back home, but I don’t even like home as much as here.

“I don’t think you wanna feel like everything you do could be pointless some day,” he said. “If I was Mr. Stone, I’d put it into a mountain comparison. You see the peak, but just keep moving it higher. I still love that ambition you have. Meanwhile, I see the mountain, and I know I can climb it, but once I do I’ll be back at ground level, and there won’t have ever been a mountain ‘cause I’m back in Chicago.”

“Does Chicago not have a mountain near it?”

“It’s the second flattest state in the US.”

“Oh.”

Daniel steadied his shaking breath, feeling the way his throat tightened every time the topic got here. Time was still passing. His parents were home, mourning him, yet here he was, debating on whether or not he even wanted to go back home.

Carmen put a hand around his shoulder.

“You’ll figure it out, Daniel. You always have.”

“I don’t know if there is a right choice to figure out, but…” Daniel smiled. “Thank you.”

The door to the rooftop terrace opened up, and Daniel jolted upright, with Carmen quickly pulling away from him and dispelling Chip.

“My bad, y’all,” Rafiq said. “I’m not interrupting somethin’ sweet, am I?”

“Not anymore,” Daniel quipped. “Why are you even up here? I thought you were sleep!”

“Cause, man! I couldn’t,” he shrugged. “And I was getting bored as hell sitting in my room. Y’all didn’t answer at your doors, and I knew y’all were already back from the ice cream. I was gonna sit up here or some shit.”

He strolled up next to Carmen, looking out at the city as the streetlights came on, officially marking the start of the nighttime.

“Do y’all really think we’re gonna see Fifties during that tournament? We only got one more day.”

Daniel shrugged. “I do. If Apex is there and they’re really serious about taking her down.”

“This might be our chance to get our own floors,” Carmen said.

“It don’t even sound real, man,” Rafiq laughed, letting his head drop as he smiled. “I met y’all when we weren’t even numbered, and now we’re talking about fighting Fifties. For real?”

“For real,” Daniel said. “I thought your name was weird when we first met, you know? Like, why Rex? Nothing in your moveset is about dinosaurs.”

Rafiq scratched the back of his neck. “See, what happened was…I got my powers young as hell.”

“How old were you?” Carmen asked.

“I was five and going through a hard dinosaur phase, bro. You know when you look back at your old cringy email names and shit?”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Don’t even remind me. I thought ‘CoolestCarmen79’ was the coolest username in the world for my NekoNekoOnline profile.”

Daniel raised his hand. “DanielDominates247.”

“Yeah, that’s trash.” Rafiq threw his head back in laughter, and Carmen did, too.

“At least I didn’t stick with it! Why’d you keep yours as Rex?”

“Cause I still fuck with dinosaurs! You ever heard of a Jeholopterus, dawg? We had vampire dinosaurs,” he said, a glint of nostalgia in his eyes. “Lowkey, I’ve been looking forward to going back home so I could dig out all my books.”

“Is that why you couldn’t sleep? Thinking about your dinos?” Daniel chuckled.

“Nah, man.” Rafiq sighed. “Carmen, you remember when you and I talked before your round back in the South City tournament?”

“Yeah?”

“I couldn’t sleep ‘cause I was thinking about that. When you asked me why I fight, and I couldn’t answer. Back then, yeah, I just fought ‘cause my parents said I could be good for it. Then it was just because Coach told me I had to, and that I had to be a selfish asshole to do good. And then, since I broke off from him, I thought I needed to fight for my own sake and reasons, but then I started getting all selfish and shit.”

“Did you find an answer?” Daniel asked.

Rafiq nodded. “I think…I fight for y’all. I know you two got your own thing going on,” he said, pointing between them. “But y’all are like siblings to me, for real. With my parents and Coach, I had to be what they wanted me to be. With Mr. Stone, and around y’all, I can be me. I don’t wanna lose that.”

It felt unreal to hear something so heartfelt coming from Rafiq, of all people. Daniel couldn’t help but give an honest smile. “That ain’t a bad reason, man. I do this for my family, too. I’m just…not sure which one.”

“You better be. We got two days to get good enough to beat Mr. Stone before that tournament,” Rafiq said. “We ain’t got much more time to be unsure. I’m tired, though. Y’all coming down?”