Himeko opened her eyes, expecting the faint, digital glow of her hotel alarm clock. Instead, she was met with total darkness.

  She blinked once, twice, waiting for her vision to adjust itself, to let any light went in, but the blackness remained unfaded. Her mind tried to remember between her last vision - how she passed out in the Facility - to this... void.

  Inhaling deeply, Himeko seeked to find a clue. The air was wrong. It lacked the usual generic room freshener that hotels used, instead it brought to her nose a subtle scent of lavender and old paper, quite warm and domestic.

  Her heart rate spiked up her adrenaline as the sleepiness evaporated.

  Himeko pushed the duvet aside and swung her legs out of bed. Her feet kissed a plush, shaggy rug upon contact.

  She stood up slowly, her body still ached. Himeko held her breath to listen for any sound of movement, hearing only the natural sound of the air and the hum of a refrigerator.

  One hand extended into the void, she shuffled forward with the cautious tread of a cat in unfamiliar territory. Her fingers brushed against a wooden dresser, then a stack of books, then the smooth plaster of a wall.

  She traced the surface, her pulse hammering in her ears, until her fingertips brushed against a plastic plate.

  Click.

  The room immediately flooded with light, forcing Himeko to squint against the sudden brightness.

  As her eyes adjusted, the panic didn't subside as it shifted into confusion. The bedroom she was standing in was aggressively cozy. There were fairy lights strung along a bookshelf, a pile of stuffed animals in the corner, and vintage posters of volleyball matches tacked to the walls, very warm, lived-in, and completely alien.

  Himeko clicked the bedroom light back off, plunging the room into shadow once more, feeling the need to assess the situation.

  Slipping into the hallway, to her left, the bathroom door stood ajar, revealing a small, tidy space with a plastic basin full of female clothes. And her right, a kitchen squeezed into the hallway, cluttered with cookware and a lonely box of cereal.

  She reached the end of the hall, entering the small living area. The room was bathed in an ambient night-time light-blue standby LEDs of a Wi-Fi router mixing with the amber streetlights filtering through the blinds.

  Abd In the center of this gloom, Himeko found her answer.

  Curled up on a brown sofa that looked far too short for an athlete, a figure lay buried under a thick fleece blanket. Spills of silvery-white hair cascaded over the armrest.

  Zoe Weaver.

  Like a key to a lock, the memories of the previous night came rushing back in a humiliating torrent: the endless jumping, the stubborn refusal to quit, the collapse on the bench, and finally, noir. She had passed out from her own stupidity, and a girl she barely knew, had dragged her home and given up her own bed.

  Himeko exhaled a sigh of relief, immediately overtaken by a wave of mortification - making herself a burden. She had taken the bed while the host slept on the couch.

  Himeko took a step toward Zoe to wake her, but paused. She couldn't disturb her rest. That would add insult to injury.

  She retreated, backed away tiptoeing, retracing her steps to the bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed, back straight, hands resting on her knees, and stared at the door, waiting.

  Hours crawled by. The blue light in the living room gave way to the morning sun.

  A noise from the other room broke with the rustle of a blanket, followed by a long, vocal yawn. Then, the padding of bare feet on laminate flooring.

  The bedroom door creaked open.

  Zoe stood in the doorway, wearing an oversized t-shirt, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand.

  “Morning," Zoe yawned. "I was just checking if you were..."

  She stopped. Her eyes widened as they focused on the bed. Himeko was sitting there, fully awake, rigid as a statue.

  "Oh," Zoe blinked. "You're up."

  Himeko stood up so quickly she almost knocked over the bedside lamp. She smoothed down her wrinkled training clothes.

  "Thank you," she blurted out, the words tumbling over each other. "And I'm incredibly sorry. I didn't try to become a burden. Taking your bed while you slept on the couch is... it is unacceptable."

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  Zoe let out a soft laugh, waving her hand. "It's really okay, Himeko. Seriously. You were completely out of it. I wasn't going to let you sleep on the sofa, you know..." She paused, snapping her fingers. "Water! Kevin told me to make sure you drank water. Wait right there."

  Zoe scurried off toward the kitchen. Himeko remained standing, unsure if she was even allowed to sit back down. A moment later, Zoe returned with a large glass of water, setting it on the small desk beside the bed before taking a seat on the edge of the mattress, keeping a respectful distance.

  Himeko picked up the glass and drained it in one thirsty gulp. The cool liquid hit her stomach making her realized just how dehydrated she was. She set the empty glass down, her embarrassment still simmering just beneath the surface.

  "You really scared us yesterday. I've never seen anyone work that hard. It was... intense. Impressive, but scary," Zoe said.

  Himeko looked at her hands, unable to meet Zoe's gaze. "It was not impressive. I was stubborn. I broke myself for nothing again."

  "Kevin was really worried," Zoe added softly. "He stayed until I got you into the car. He felt responsible, I think."

  Complex emotions shot through Himeko - Irritation at Kevin for starting the challenge, gratitude for his help, and shame that he had seen her in such a state. "So he helped..." she acknowledged quietly. "Even though the situation was... largely of my own."

  Zoe offered a knowing smile, as if she were accomplice to a secret that Himeko hadn't quite figured out yet.

  Himeko looked up, finally meeting Zoe's eyes. "I owe you big, Zoe. If you ever need anything: a recommendation, training assistance, anything, please ask. I will fulfill it."

  "It's no biggie, really," Zoe smiled, shaking her head. But as she looked closer at Himeko, her smile faltered.

  In the morning light, Himeko's face held a color that wasn't just from embarrassment; there was also a widespread flush lingered high on her cheeks, and her eyes, usually sharp and focused, seemed just a little too hazy.

  "Himeko?" Zoe frowned, leaning in.

  Before Himeko could react, Zoe reached out, placing the back of her hand against Himeko's forehead.

  Zoe recoiled instantly. "Whoa. You're burning up."

  Himeko blinked, raising a hand to her own face. Now that she were aware of it, the room did feel strangely cold, and her joints ached with a throbbing pulse, she had perhaps put beyond her normal recovery threshold.

  "I'm... fine," Himeko tried to say, but the words came out weak.

  Zoe's gentle demeanor vanished, replaced by a surprising firmness. "Absolutely not fine," she stated, crossing her arms. "You have a fever. Your body is screaming at you."

  Himeko tried to protest, to explain that she had scheduled a weight session for the afternoon, but Zoe shook her head, cutting Himeko off.

  "No. If you train like this, you'll be out for a month instead of a week."

  The logic was irrefutable. Himeko slumped slightly, the fight draining out of her.

  "Fine," she conceded.

  "Good," Zoe nodded. "Now, let's get some food. I make really good oatmeal. Then we can go grab your car from the facility so you can go back to your hotel and rest."

  An hour later, fed and slightly more coherent, Himeko sat in the passenger seat of Zoe’s car as they pulled up to Facility B.

  As Himeko walked toward the entrance to retrieve her gear, she spotted a familiar figure near the water cooler. Kevin was leaning against the wall, looking uncharacteristically somber, staring at the floor.

  Then he looked up.

  The moment he saw Himeko walking - upright and alive, the melancholy was gone. His face transformed instantly into that insufferable smirk. He raised an eyebrow, gave her a lazy two-finger salute, and went back to his drink.

  Himeko didn't have the energy to deal with him today. She ducked into the locker room, gathered her bag and keys with speed, and marched back out to the parking lot.

  "Thank you again, Zoe," Himeko said, leaning on the door of her own car. "And sorry for being such a burden."

  "It's alright," Zoe looked at her with sincere eyes. "Now please get some rest, some serious rest."

  Himeko nodded, then got in her car and left.