Hank could no longer sit. He stood before the television, forcing Rio and Leanne to look at him and not the news.

"She said my name!" he said of Aika. "There's something she wants me to do."

"But what?" Leanne asked.

"I don't know, but there's a reason. I have to figure it out."

He wiped a hand across his face to keep a tear from falling. When the news broadcast repeated the scene of Aika approaching the camera, smiling happy and sweet, Hank could do nothing but watch.

"For heaven's sake, Aika-cho." he bemoaned as panic welled within him. "What do you want from me?" He turned to speak to Rio. "Ever since I met you, you've been pounding into my head that I'm some sort of savior. Aika died for me! Probably Milton did too! They died so I could live!"

He turned to face the television as Aika silently got her life beaten from her again. When the video froze at the time of her death, he quietly addressed the image.

"How can I save you now? I don't even know where you are. I don't why you died."

"You may also die," Rio said as the news broadcast returned to showing scenes of the riot. "They're killing all the Dots."

Leanne gasped at Rio. She opened her mouth to speak, but the anchorman spoke instead, giving an update on the situation.

"From witness reports we've received, the rioters are attacking only certain people. Most they leave alone. Some then join the rampage, but everything you see—the destruction and the violence—all of it began earlier this morning, about an hour ago. For no apparent reason, people on the subway brutally murdered this woman." The broadcast displayed the enhanced image they created of Aika, her face full upon the screen. "She's one of many victims to have died today, but she was the first; this woman wearing an overcoat with some sort of costume beneath."

"They've been trying to kill me since the day I became a Dot," Hank said while Aika mouthed his name. "They threw a plane at me! I think it's why I left my PEP Test before it was over. I didn't want to be a Dot because I knew all Dots would die. I knew somehow. I just did. I don't know how, but I knew." He looked upon Rio with love. "We are going to die."

Leanne fairly screamed, in anger and contempt. "How can you say such a thing? You think those jerks who killed Aika are coming after you?"

Hank solemnly nodded. "All good Dots anyway." He said out loud to Leanne what Rio had thought to him earlier. "The end of all good days."

"Anna said you're a Dot," Leanne said to Rio upon realizing the fact. "Oh no! She's a Dot too!"

Leanne left her spot on the sofa to retrieve her phone from the dining table and call Anna. Hank took Leanne's place, sitting at Rio's side. He wiped a stubborn tear from her face, silently commanding she no longer cry.

"They killed poor little Aika," he said in misery while managing a brave smile. "She wouldn't hurt a fly. She couldn't if she tried, she's so tiny and weak."

Rio disagreed. "She's strong. She did what I could not."

"They beat her to a pulp."

"But there is a reason. The end of all good days will be the beginning of something else. You must figure it out."

Hank's attention returned to the television. "It's like they're zombies," he said of the rioters. "They have no mind of their own."

"The difference between those who can make Reality and those who cannot," Rio said of the rioters, "is Reality Makers know people have minds of their own. We can see inside them. Those who can't RM cannot. So they have uncertainty. Sometimes they believe the rest of the world isn't real."

Hank looked confused, so she continued. "They can only react to the world we create. If we change Reality, they are then changed too."

"They must know somehow. They can't believe it's a game. Like it's some sort of illusion."

Rio looked deep into Hank. "You do."

Hank blinked and then blinked again, realizing Rio was right. He stood to pace the room, but thought better of leaving her side. Instead, he knelt before her and held her hands in his, looking up at her face.

"The world may be an illusion, but I know we are real. People are real."

"You're a Dot. They are not. To them, you are as fake as the world you create."

Hank became enthused. "It's how bad guys make zombies! They strip away their belief in other people. So it is like they're playing a game!"

"A game where people die."

"If bad guys can turn people into zombies, maybe we're zombies too. We just don't know it yet."

Rio blasted Hank with a thought strong enough to deliver a gut punch. I am not a zombie!

He smiled and rose to his feet, still holding her hands. She showed further strength by breaking free of his grasp and flinging herself around his neck. From there she hung limp and servile, wanting to be possessed. She averted her gaze to not let him see new tears fall from her face.

Hank understood Rio's behavior. With one large hand planted firm on her ass, he pet her head with the other.

"You know something, Bidi Butt?" he teased, exalting in the scent of cloves and anise coming from her hair.

"I know a lot of things," she said to the warmth of his shirt. "Be specific."

He swatted her ass as kind punishment while thinking how best to form words. "You know I often have an urge to walk away from things. Well maybe what I'm doing is walking towards something else."

Hank placed both hands on Rio's butt and lifted her to her toes, bearing her full weight. She peeped with surprise as he walked her backwards while she hung helpless from his neck. Upon reaching the loveseat, Bumbles joined in the fun and jumped up to sit behind Rio. Hank was forced to plop Rio down next to a dog glad to be in the way. It tried to place its face in her lap but she wouldn't let go of Hank's neck. So it slobbered dog kisses on Hank's hand as he went from holding Rio by the butt to holding her by the face.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Hank gave Bumbles a gentle backhand to make the dog stop licking. It curled up on its half of the loveseat and watched Hank speak to Rio.

"I can't believe this is all there is." He used a thumb wipe her wet cheek. "I just can't."

God, I want to kiss you.

Me too.

Focus on the problem.

"I know it pisses you off when I say Reality Making is a bunch of bull, but what if maybe I'm right?"

You're not.

"I think I am. Milton once said Reality is like frosted flowers on a cake. Flowers we think are real."

Rio contemplated giving Hank a love slug for referring to Milton in the past tense. As she did, he drove home his point.

"If Reality is the frosting, maybe we're the candles and toys we put on cakes for fun." He pressed her face to his chest, letting her snot up his shirt. "Maybe we're not real."

"Well," Rio said with a fake laugh, trying to regain her moxie. "Then this shouldn't hurt."

She rabbit punched him in the side, forcing him to stoop low, his hands drifting back to her ass.

"Ow," Hank replied. "Yeah, and neither should this."

With her head again fully in his grasp, he kissed her long and hard, ravaging her with his lips and tongue until he felt her melt. After starving her for oxygen, he released her lips but not her face.

"What if all of this is just kusoyarō, Honey Cup?"

Rio purred with her eyes closed, staying entranced a whille longer, "Mmm, my sweet. If so, then it's the best I've ever had."

He shook her to get her open her eyes, then rose to his full height and stood before her. Leanne made Bumbles get off the loveseat so she could reclaim her spot at Rio's side. Hank straddled the arm of the loveseat, with one long leg on the cushion by Rio and the other on the floor.

"I can't get a hold of Anna," Leanne said. "All the lines are clogged. So I texted her, but she hasn't replied."

"I'm sure she's okay," Hank said to offer comfort.

Leanne agreed. "Oh, I'm certain she is. We have a connection, she and I. Even though I've only known her for a little while, we have a bond. I feel her in my soul."

Hank smiled. "I feel that way about her too! It's like I can tell what she's doing, or when she's thinking of me."

Rio huffed politely. "Can you feel her now?"

"Tell her to come here," Leanne said. "Let us know she's okay."

Hank pondered for a moment. "It doesn't work that way. It's more like, I think, she's in control of me."

Rio huffed again, only less polite. "Mahoutsukai," she muttered under her breath.

"You keep calling her that," Leanne said. "Like she's some sort of evil genius."

Hank spoke in Rio's defense. "People change the way they act when Anna is around. She has a strong personality."

Leanne couldn't deny it. "I wish she were here now. I'd like to feel different about what's happening."

"Maybe she's the cause," Rio gruffed.

The news broadcast interupted again, allowing Rio to save face. They had zoomed in on the grainy image of the man who dealt the death blow to Aika. He stood over her prostrate body, stocky and not overly tall, yet large enough and strong enough to hoist a concrete public garbage can high above his head. With him risen up on his toes, the image was frozen at a point where his intent was obvious. If the video were allowed to continue, he would smash Aika's skull with the concrete container.

"We have a feed from another camera, showing this man's face," the television anchorman said. "We believe he's the one who killed the first victim, the one in the costume and coat."

The broadcast ran a clip of the subway station filmed from a different angle. It showed the group of rioters walking up the stairs to the street. Hank and Rio held hands and squeezed when the image from this camera froze at a spot where the same man could be seen. He stood on the landing where Rio had kissed Hank on the day Milton first went missing.

The broadcast zoomed in on his face. "Here we see the exact same person," the anchorman said. "He has on the same shirt and tie."

There was no need for the television station to further enhance the image. The camera producing this video had a high enough resolution for the man's face to be clearly seen.

"We are certain this is the man who killed the woman in the subway station. Furthermore, as we have seen, he seems to be leading the riot."

Hank's mouth gaped in horror. The man whose face was on the screen, who had dealt Aika her fatal blow, was the man he'd seen while scuba diving with Odeya.

Hank jumped up and touched the screen. "It's him! He stole your black from me!" Hank said to Rio.

"You know him?" Leanne asked.

"He stole my black too. Odeya said he'd use it to kill!"

"What are you talking about?" Leanne asked.

Hank continued talking to Rio. "Odeya wanted to kill him, right there on the spot, but I wouldn't let her." He turned to hold his head in his hands, lamenting at the image on the screen. "I could have saved Aika's life if I had let Odeya take his!"

Leanne stood up too, addressing the room in general. "If someone doesn't tell me right now what is going on, I'm gonna lose it."

Hank understood her concern. "I'm sorry, Leanne, but I can't. Not now. I scarcely know what I'm saying. Everything that's happened to me—meeting you, moving in…" He cast a glance at Rio before turning back to Leanne. "Falling in love with both of you. Everything that's going on is some sort of giant battle between Good and Bad."

"And we're the good guys?" Leanne asked, trying to not sound condescending.

Hank brushed back the ocean of hair in her electric eyes. "We are. And they are the bad ones," he said, referring to the image of the man still frozen on the screen.

"And you're going to save us?" Leanne furthered, as the condescension crept in.

Hank smiled. "You said so yourself. I'm your hero and her hero and everyone elses'."

Leanne turned away to keep Hank from seeing hot tears in her eyes. "I don't know whether to hug you or slug you for saying that right now."

"I'll take either," Hank teased.

Before Leanne could choose, Rio jumped up from the loveseat and hugged Hank for all he was worth. "Don't you die on me, chīsai koinu," she threatened, knowing full well his intent.

"I have to figure this out, Bidi Butt. I can't sit here and let good people die. Maybe the bad guys win, but…" He shook her as he spoke his next words. "We are not gonna lose."

Leanne approached and joined in the hug, placing a hand of each of them. "The answer is out there somewhere," Hank said to her. "I'm not walking away."

Bumbles jumped up on the now empty loveseat and laid down with its head on its paws, looking confused and worried. With Rio pressing her face to Hank's chest and Leanne laying her head on his shoulder, Hank spoke to the dog.

"I'm going to find the answer."

He kissed the top of Rio's head before prying her face from his chest. She looked up at him with her chin pressed against his sternum.

"I have to go, Bidi Butt."

"You better put on pants," she remarked.

Hank laughed. "You too. Get dressed, and keep Leanne and Bumbles safe."

"Carolus too," Leanne reminded them, referring to Aika's cat.

You stay here, and keep an eye on things," Hank said to Rio. "Okay?"

"Yes, my sweet, I will. But do not take the car. Reality can change in a car." Hank pursed his lips to disagree, but Rio was adamant. "The bad guy who blackened me first tried killing me in one of Milton's cars. Plus Leanne almost died in hers."

"I sure wish I knew what you were talking about," Leanne said.

"Hai, shitte imasu," Rio said with love. "I know."

"Good things happen in a car, too," Hank said.

"Oh yeah?" Rio asked. "Like what?"

"You fell in love with me in a car."

She tried to give him a love smack, but he grabbed her hand. "Iie! You lie!" she said. "I did not!"

"I never lie, Bidi Butt. We were sitting in the rain. Remember?" Rio softened, as she had to relent. "It was when you told me I smell nice, right after you called me stupid."

"What?" Leanne said, readying a love smack for Rio. "You called Hank-sama stupid?"

"Well, she apologized soon after. Of course, I had to force it out of her."

Leanne laughed. "I bet!"

Rio went back to hugging Hank, gripping him like a python. "Just don't die," she said again.

"I won't."

"And please walk. Don't take the car."

"Okay."

"And put on pants," Leanne teased as she hugged both of them.

She and Hank then shared a few kisses. "Mmm," he purred. "Maybe later."

After the trio got dressed for the day, Hank readied himself to leave. He put on the new hoodie he got from Milton and sat by his shoes at the door.

"I won't let them get me," he said to Rio as she laced his shoes, knowing what she was thinking. He stood up to head out.

"They won't get me either," Rio said resolutely.

They exchanged smiles and a kiss, and Hank left with a quiet slam of the door.

Don't die on me, you fucker! she thought after him.

I won't. I promise.

Rio followed after Hank with her mind for as long as she was able. She would have followed him further, but something else gained her attention. A fear fell over her, so strong that she hadn't exprienced one like it since her days of living alone in Fiji. The street where Hank had walked grew black, roiling like Pacific waters, seeking to extinguish her beacon.

She responded the way she always had. Run. Hide. Get away.

The black roared up the stairway of the building where she lived. It rounded the corner on the third floor and barrelled down the hall.

"We have to go," Rio said to Leanne. "Now."