With my head in Hei's laps, I flitted into and out of sleep, tugged by fatigue, relief, and excitement in interchanging waves. I got hurt a lot in this world. I had lost a lot. But today I could say, with content, that I had gained something. It was like a ray of light in an unending winter night.

When I finally broke out of my drowsiness, I found Hei sleeping, his head drooped as he sat. It still felt warm near him. I wondered if I had him back for good. How long could we be together before he'd be ripped away again? I shuddered. Then I steeled my heart. As long as my life has yet been exhausted, I wouldn't let him be taken away again.

Hei's breathing stuttered. I knew that to be his waking-up noise. His eyes opened a crack. I gave him a smile, to let him know everything was alright.

"Rawr," I said.

He looked down and gave a friendly sigh. "Good morning to you too."

I got off his legs and stretched. After pacing a circle around the room, I decided to open the door to the grocery store. I could see why Hei chose to stay here. Over a dozen aisles stretched out in neat rows before me, stocked with food and drinks. There were refrigerated sections, as well as a small pharmacy in the far corner.

"Do you have to pay for things here?" I asked.

"You're supposed to," Hei said.

"What if you don't?" I asked.

Hei shrugged. "Never tried."

I forayed into the aisles, and Hei accompanied me a step behind.

"What do you usually eat?" I asked. "I might be getting a bit hungry."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"You just go for the frozen meals, huh," I guessed.

"Sometimes," Hei muttered. He sounded self conscious. Not that I'd be in any position to judge him, considering my main source of sustenance was McDonald's. But still, I missed teasing him.

"Let's get the gourmet frozen meals today," I said.

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We looked around the store. Hei managed to find a precooked lobster, packaged with a slice of frozen herb-butter. I found precooked mussels in a lemon sauce. It looked like we'd have ourselves a nice seafood meal. Hei picked a bottle of white wine. I looked around the produce section and snagged an Italian salad DIY pack. And we found fresh bread at the small bakery.

Robots manned the store, like other places in Platinum. The ones at the bakery let us use their oven for heating up the lobster and mussels, and for toasting bread. Once we finished the preparations, we sat at the grocery store's coffee shop to eat.

Hei and I had never been great cooks, not back on earth, and not here. We never had a pressing need to learn, either. Mr. Atlas had been the team chef until the end of Bronze. In Silver, we had taverns and restaurants on each street, and food in those places was cheap thanks to the magic that aided production. In Gold I cooked a little, but the resources I had were too limited to make nice dishes with; the norm would be things like spaghetti with spam and ketchup. While I led the Bounty Hall, I managed to eat like a king for a brief while.

This meal was as good as any. The lobster turned out plump, and silkened by melted butter. I couldn't help stuffing my face full. Hei really knew his way around frozen food.

"So," I began, doing my best to speak between bites, "what's new with you?"

Despite having been promoted straight to Platinum, Hei's path hadn't been easy. We drank wine as he recounted how the LCS attempted to track him down and recruit him. Often their tactics bordered on stalking and extortion. Hei fought back by joining the vigilantes, a decentralized collection of players in Platinum who opposed the LCS.

"The vigilantes are hard to find," Hei said. "I don't know where they are. We don't coordinate much. It's mostly guerilla operations. Taking over supply centers and such."

"That checks out," I said.

"Are the others here?" Hei asked.

I tilted my head. "...Hm?"

"Our teammates."

"Oh," I said. "I guess we aren't really a team anymore. Mr. Atlas is in Gold; it'll probably be a while before we see him. Jack should be there too, but he's split off from us."

Hei nodded. And he waited.

"What about Saber?" he asked.

I looked down at my necklace, at the little golden sword that hung upon my chest.

"She did her best," I murmured.

He gave a shallow nod. We finished our meal in silence.

"It's good to have you here," he finally said. "I heard rumors of an ice mage who came to the city."

"You knew it was me?"

"I convinced myself it must've been."

I leaned closer.

"Hei. I think there's something I need to tell you. But you probably know. I've joined the LCS."

"How did they make you join?"

"That's an ugly way to phrase that question," a voice said. A cold voice, from the opposite corner of the coffee shop.

I shot up from my chair. We should have been alone here…!

In the shadowy corner, sitting with clasped hands at the table, was Doublerift.