COR

AKANE

It was late, about ten. Ling was already asleep, or at least pretending to be. She had tried to talk to Derek about their little altercation, but had stumbled over her words and run away. They'd reconcile soon, Akane knew. They had time.

The reason Akane wasn't asleep was because Derek had gotten a job for them. A land piranha swarm had gotten into the BOB facility nearby, and they didn't have the equipment to deal with it. They'd get paid well for this one. Swarms were pretty dangerous, and they were specifically called in for their expertise. Despite Akane's—completely undeserved—reputation for collateral damage, they were still a better choice than calling in the Canians.

She was nearly ready. She had the Minerva silk on. It fit like a glove and breathed like air, so no problems there. She had her sword at her hip and her knives strapped to her arms. She had her beads tied to her ponytail, and the blue ribbon woven within it. She was even wearing the necklace and pendant Ling and Laura gave her.

All that was left was the earrings.

She hadn't worn them since a couple days after her birthday. It had felt almost like a betrayal of Derek, which was ridiculous. The moron still didn't know she and Ling were fighting over him, even after the quick little wrestling match when Ling got her armor.

The earrings were beautiful, and very thoughtful. Akane didn't have much jewelry, since most of her money went to paying for college and healing after bad fights, but that didn't mean she didn't like it.

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It wasn't that she liked Flynn, of course. She just enjoyed jewelry in general. That was all. She could appreciate a present without it having any deeper meaning, right?

Of course. Anything else would be silly.

So she should just put on the earrings. There was no harm.

Well... there was some harm. They dangled. They'd unbalance her, if only barely. They were a liability. She couldn't wear something like that into combat.

Right, so they were off the table. She stood to leave.

Except... the necklace was in the same boat. And she wasn't considering leaving it behind. Why should the earrings be any different?

The necklace meant something to her, that was it. The earrings didn't. They didn't mean anything good or bad, they were just decoration. And she didn't need that.

Ling rolled over and snorted in her sleep, and Akane nearly jumped out of her skin. Time to go.

Akane left quickly and met Derek downstairs in the lobby. Adam was nowhere to be found. He was probably off with Lily somewhere.

“Ready to go?” Akane asked.

Derek nodded, adjusting the grenade bandoleer across his torso. They were just smoke grenades, but they would be very useful against land piranhas. “I am. You?”

She smiled. “Of course.”

His blue eyes flickered down to her hand. “Are you going to put those on?”

She looked down at her right hand.

She had the earrings held in a loose grip and hadn't even noticed.

She swallowed. “Yeah. Just give me a second.”