Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The worst mistake Denji ever made was becoming friends with Power. If he could go back in time and change that fateful day, he would. Maybe he’d be better at Maths, already have a girlfriend, and not be currently stuck alone in class because someone thought today was a good day to skip. Without telling him, too! 

The teacher was at the front of the class, holding some paper in his hand and gesturing vaguely at the board in front. Denji stared out the window. He’d been lucky enough to snag this seat at the beginning of the year, instead of sitting closer to the hallway like Power had wanted. She hadn’t stopped complaining about it for the entire first term. If he had thrown a tantrum that day eleven years ago and diverted his parents from going to the park, this would have never happened. They would never have met her parents, and they wouldn’t have started talking, and then organising playdates, and then enrolling them into the same school. The life he could’ve lived…

Fantasies like this tended to distract him, so much so that a pretty girl had to actually tap his shoulder before he noticed. “Is this seat free?” she asked when he looked up, green eyes meeting his own. 

Ohmygodshe’sgorgeous she’s so pretty is she talking to me she wants to sit next to me I think I love her.

“No,” he blurted out, the only word he could currently form with all the helpful thoughts running through his head. Nice one, Denji.

She giggled. “You’re funny,” she said, and sat down. Everything about her was elegant, from the way she crossed her legs when she tucked in the chair to how she neatly unpacked her books, making sure everything was aligned in a stack and all her pens were in order. Her style was impeccable, a short sleeved top and matching navy skirt. With a start, Denji realised he had never seen her before.

But before he could ask, she turned to him instead. “You remind me of my dead dog,” she frowned. Leaning over, she used her hands to frame his face, saying, “You two share the same expressions.”

Denji pulled a sour face. The girl started laughing, leaning back in her chair so that it rocked on two legs, until her face crumpled and the sounds coming out of her sounded a little too much like sobs. He scrambled, panicking, because there’s no way he just made her cry, and the teacher was starting to look over in their direction, and the day had started too well to end in detention. “Hey, hey, what’s your name? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

Immediately the downturned crescents by her eyes relaxed. “I’m Reze,” she said, holding out a hand for him to solemnly shake. “I just moved from Russia.”

“Hi, Reze. I’m Denji,” he replied. Was he pulling off an actual conversation? With the pretty transfer student? Was this proof that his life would absolutely be better without Power in it?

“Hi Denji. Denji. Denji,” Reze repeated, each time in a new voice, testing out the way his name sounded. Then, suddenly, she brightened, stretching out her arms and legs until they knocked on the desk in front of her. “Hey, Denji, you’re pretty cute, did you know that?” 

Everything about her was so vibrant, from the way she moved to the words she said, entrancing Denji so much that he almost missed the compliment. He felt his face heat up. Reze was so pretty, and she thought he looked good, too! Maybe they-

“Denji,” Reze interrupted that train of thought. “Have you ever wondered what everyone here would look like naked?”

Nope, not pretty, he decided. Just crazy.

He stared at her, something blank on his face as she continued to talk about the people she had only met today and how their homeroom teacher would have a hairy stomach, slender fingers dancing through the air in time with her words.

Maybe a little pretty, he amended. 

———————————

“Huuuh?” Denji drawled, dragging out the syllable. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here!”

Power glared up at him from beneath the long bangs that fell over her eyes. She was dressed casually, as always, rolling up the hems of her jeans because she thought it looked cool. “You ungrateful pleb. You should be rejoicing at my presence!”

“Well, I’ve already given away your seat,” he said, sitting down next to his best friend. 

“What devilish fiend could replace me? No one else can be perfect in every way,” she replied with a smug look on her face, leaning back into the shade of a large tree. 

“Yeah she is, and she’s really pretty too!” 

“You take that back!” Power screeched, flailing around on the grass in an attempt to kick him violently. “I’m Power!”

Denji fought back, trying to drive the toe of his shoe into her thigh whilst throwing in a few punches. Normally he wouldn’t dare to hit a girl, but Power didn’t really count. They tumbled around for a few minutes, before ending flat on their backs. 

“Truce?” he asked, rolling his head to face her.

She huffed, crossing her arms. “Why would I stoop so low as the likes of you when it is clear that I’m the superior?"

“I should’ve never told you what Shakespeare was,” he muttered under his breath, looking back at the endless blue sky above. A few clouds drifted languidly across. The colour was lighter than Reze’s hair, the glimpse he had stolen when it had caught the sun that revealed the highlights and undertones, a million shades of sapphire and cobalt.

“Who Shakespeare was,” Power corrected, her tone haughty. She suddenly sat up. With something that could only be described as a deadly serious expression, she said, “Does drinking coffee make you smarter?” 

Denji sat up as well. “What?” he asked, well used to Power and her crazy by now, and of course that was followed by the realisation that every girl who wanted to talk to him was crazy. His future was looking very bright indeed.  

She leaned in closer, almost as close as Reze had done. With a loud voice and overenunciation, she repeated, “I said, does drinking coffee make you smarter?”

“I heard you the first time, dumbass. No need to deafen me,” he snapped back. 

“Don’t patronise me,” she retorted. 

“I’ll do whatever I want!” After that outburst, he sighed, and then said in a calmer tone, “Why do you care anyway? You’d hate the taste.”

“You’re useless!” Power yelled. “I’m going to ask Aki!”

Denji stood up as well. He hated that they were a similar height; he could never fully look down on her. “Well then, I’m coming too!”

Aki was their senior, who they met through a tutoring program when their marks dropped a little too low to ignore. Meeting Power was the catalyst to every unfortunate occurrence in his life that had occurred afterwards. Unlike them, Aki normally sat in the cafeteria with some people he claimed were his friends, well liked because they always treated the two kindly (unlike the person they actually paid).  

Power burst into the space, drawing every head as she shouted, “Topknot! Settle this fierce debate and herald me the queen!” 

Aki lowered the sandwich that was raised halfway to his mouth. He looked tired already, even more so when Denji added, “There’s no debate.” 

“Yes, because it’s clear that I’m the winner,” Power said impatiently. “Now answer me, Topknot. If I drink coffee will I gain intellect even more incredible than that which I already possess?”

Kobeni, the only other girl at the table, giggled. “Power, you didn’t strike me as the type to drink coffee!” 

Galgali, sitting on her right, agreed. “I think you’d really prefer something sweeter, like bubble tea. We can all go out and get some after school, if you want?” he offered. Madoka just looked bored.  

“No. I want coffee,” Power demanded.

Aki sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair in exasperation, but stopped before he could pull out the spikey ponytail. “Power,” he finally said. “I don’t think you’d like coffee, and I don’t think it’s going to make you smarter. Coming to the tutoring session tonight will make you smarter, so don’t skip.”

Power frowned. “The results are inconclusive,” she decided abruptly, before spinning on her heel and walking away. Denji waved goodbye, everyone calling out to them as they left. Aki simply raised his hand.

“Hey, where were you this morning?” Denji asked when he finally caught up to her.

“Nowhere that befits someone of my standing,” she scoffed.

“So, the sickbay then,” he inferred from the way she shuddered all over. 

Glancing wildly around, she hissed, “Do not invoke that name here!”

“Fine, fine,” he soothed, raising his hands in surrender. Maybe they should head back inside. Reze might be there. “You should’ve gone home if you felt sick immediately after coming to school.”

Power stood a little taller. “It will take more than a puny cough to take me down,” she replied dismissively. 

“Whatever, man. As long as you don’t throw up on me.” Denji stared out at the green oval. They had nearly wasted the whole lunch period. At this point, it will be more worthwhile to head to class early, as horrifying as the idea was. “Hey, I might head to Chem. I’ll see you after school?”

She paused, then said, “You better wait for me at the gates.”

Chemistry was rarely a class Denji looked forward to, ranked only slightly higher than Maths because he got to mix random stuff together, and sometimes it did something. Aki said if he didn’t study he was going to fail. The thought made him drag his feet even more, so much so that he walked through the door just as the bell rang.

“Boo!” a voice said in a puff of air, trailing upwards at the end as if the owner was trying to hold back laughter. “Heya Denji,” Reze said, slinging an arm over his shoulder. 

“Hi, Reze,” he answered, trying not to sound too pleased to see her. The two of them made their way over to a bench, Reze sitting beside him without asking. Others in their class stared at her with open curiosity, but most had heard by now that there was a new student at the school and feigned disinterest. Denji couldn’t help but feel like gloating, getting to sit next to the pretty new girl. 

The teacher came in, late as usual, looking harried as she adjusted her glasses and stacks of paper. She had an unfortunate habit of mumbling as she spoke, which when paired with a room full of noisy teenagers did not exactly make for a productive lesson. Still, they managed to hear something about experiments and practical work, which was soon drowned out by the scrape of chairs as people stood up and hurried to get the best equipment. 

Denji made his way over to his usual bench, facing out the window so he could look down over the quad. Reze followed behind him, tying an apron over her normal clothes. “So, partner,” she grinned. “Where do we begin?”

“Something about an acid and metal,” Denji replied, reading over the procedure. Some of the specialised kanji took a while to recognise and understand, but he thought he got the general idea. 

“Oh, that’s easy,” Reze said smoothly, sliding past him to reach for the test tubes and magnesium strips. “Just use different strengths of an acid and see how long the reaction takes.”

“How?” Denji asked, still trying to keep up.

“Just watch the bubbles. When they stop and the metal has disappeared, then the reaction should be over.” Having said this, she prepped the first tube and dropped a piece of metal in it, no bigger than her thumbnail. She raised the solution to her eye level, and with a frown, swirled the contents around roughly.

More than a little apprehensive, he asked, “What are you doing? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Reze giggled. “It’s not like it’s going to blow up or anything. It’s just a little acid.”

“Just a little acid,” he muttered, scanning the worksheet until his eyes snagged on the bold heading and risk assessment table beneath. Holding it up, he stabbed a finger at the words, saying, “Look! It says here to be careful when using acid because we can get hurt!”

She looked at him, dead in the eye, and gave it a full shake. He nearly passed away. “Boom!” she mouthed, slightly mockingly. “See, what did I tell you? Of course it wouldn’t blow up!” 

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Denji scowled. “Even still, you should be careful. What if some of that spills?”

“Aww, don’t you trust me?” Reze pouted, but put the glassware back on its stand anyway. After a few seconds of watching the effervescence, she perked up, and said, “Hey, hey, Denji, you should come over and see my fireworks!” 

“Fireworks?” he asked, barely able to catch the end of the sentence because his brain had just gone a full flip from being scared for his life to had a girl just asked him out?

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, my fireworks! I make them, that’s why I’m so good at chemistry!”

“O-okay, then. Uh, sure,” Denji stumbled, embarrassingly, because there was no way this girl was real. He had to be dreaming, right? Luckily, the bell saved him from having to make any more intelligible conversation, although it did cause a large commotion as the class hurried to pack up, and he lost sight of her in the process.

The last period passed by in a boring blur. He couldn’t help wondering what Reze was doing, what class she was in, was she enjoying it? Power would call him a fool, but he couldn’t help it. She was really pretty, and clearly smart - well she must be, if she liked him. He liked her, too. A lot. 

The thought played on a loop in his head, keeping him fairly distracted, and he would’ve walked right past Power had she not grabbed onto her arm with sharpened talons. 

“Ow,” he winced, rubbing the sore spot. “Do you have to keep your nails so long?”

“You know nothing about the female race,” Power scoffed. “Of course, someone like you would underestimate a matter of such importance. I pity whatever creature has fallen prey to your desire.”

Denji groaned, the sound reverberating in his chest. “It’s not a crush! I just met her today,”

“Even worse,” she remarked with scorn. Then, with an unnecessary shove to his side, she announced, “Follow me, cretin, so we can evince my faultless theory.” 

“Not too far,” Denji protested. “My feet hurt.”

Power muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘idiot’ under her breath. But she pulled out her phone anyway, making sure to set the search radius to somewhere close by and within walking distance to Aki’s apartment, uncharacteristically mindful of their tutoring session later that night. More likely, she was just eager to test the results of their little experiment. Despite her efforts, when their path led them through dubious back alleys and streets he had never even heard of, he was beginning to get a little doubtful.

“Can’t we just go to, like, Starbucks or something?” he whined. They both liked Starbucks, although they had never tried the coffee there. Even still, anything was better than whatever random cafe Power had found and the bajillion steps he had to take to get there.

“Hush,” she snapped. “We’re here.” Glancing up at the nondescript building in front of them, she said, almost reverentially, “Behold the establishment that will provide us with conclusive proof with which we can prove the dastardly Topknot wrong.”

At least the windows were clean, polished so that the interior could not be viewed, better than whatever he had anticipated given that Power made the decision on her own. It was small otherwise, as could be expected from some underground cafe, and from the menu posted on the door it showed that they also catered towards breakfast and lunch. With more force than strictly necessary, Power opened the door, setting off the bell to a loud tinkling sound. Denji trailed behind her as she made a beeline for a corner table, not even greeting the owner, and spread out on the cushioned booth so that he was forced to take a chair. She waved an employee over energetically, already knowing her order. Glancing morosely down at the hardwood in front of him, following the grain of the pattern with his eye, he sighed. He really hated coffee. He regretted everything, wondering if it was too late to go home as Power was instructing the waiter on their highly specific drinks.

“So, that’s two coffees, then?” a familiar voice said.

Chapter Text

“Two coffees, then?” Reze asked, eyes glittering with hidden laughter as she took in Denji’s shocked expression. She looks cute in that apron.

“Yes,” Power confirmed, oblivious to how he was frozen beside her. Then, after a moment of consideration, she said, gravely, “Your strongest brew.”

“O-kay, coming right up!” Reze sang cheerfully. Although she looked like she wanted to say more, she didn’t linger, instead moving to prepare their drinks behind the counter, skirt swaying as she hummed to a song no one else could hear. An older man, presumably the owner of the cafe, was reading a newspaper. Sitting comfortably with his legs up, he took no apparent notice of anyone in the room.

Soon the smell of coffee filled the air, the richness lighting up Denji’s lungs with every inhale. To pass the time, he browsed through the food menu, with Power chattering mindlessly beside him. Within a few minutes, their drinks were ready, and Reze sauntered back over to them with the steaming cups balanced expertly on a tray. Placing them on the table, she watched them take tentative sips whilst hugging the tray loosely to her chest. 

“Say, Denji,” she began, something like a pout on her face. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

Denji almost spat out his drink. God, that was hot. He thought his tongue might fall off, but more importantly, he was about to ask Reze to repeat herself because there was no way he heard that right. Unfortunately, Power beat him to it. 

“No, no, no. No. Never,” she spat vehemently, making a dramatic cross with her arms.

“Uh, no, we’re not dating,” Denji explained, horrified. Power was still shaking her head, furiously denying the claims. “She’s more like a parasite than anything.”

Power gasped. “Take that back!” she screeched, lunging across the table at him. Reze watched with obvious humour, only cutting in when Power was safely subdued with several sharp kicks. “Well, if you two aren’t together, then I suppose that means you’re free to hang out with me tomorrow, Denji.”

Power shuddered at the notion of Denji being involved romantically in any way, shape or form. It took all his effort to ignore her. “Yeah,” Denji replied. “That works.”

Reze beamed, the glow lighting up the room. Denji felt his soul leave his body - she was so cute. “Cool! Meet me outside this place, then?” she grinned.

Denji nodded, watching her walk away, content to leave the two friends alone. She resumed her previous position behind the counter, watching and waving when their eyes met. He ducked his head, cheeks warm, but when he looked up, she was still smiling. He pulled a face, seeing her laugh, and that warm feeling spread through his veins.

“Don’t get distracted.” Power kicked him under the table, no small form of revenge. Eyeing him, she counted to three, and they took their first real taste together. 

Denji coughed, trying to clear the back of his throat. Now that the temperature had cooled he could taste the bitterness, and it seemed to infect every part of his mouth. Power was similarly sputtering, sounding more like an old, sooty car than the refined lady she claimed to be. 

“Ugh, this shit’s foul. Powy, I don’t think it’s worth it,” Denji muttered. He glanced up, hoping neither Reze nor the cafe’s owner would be offended, but luckily it seems they had not heard.

“Silence,” Power snapped. Visibly bracing herself, she grimaced and downed the cup in one go. She looked a little queasy once she was done, but stuck her tongue out victoriously anyway.

Denji gave her a sour look. “You’re in this one alone.”

She slammed some bills down on the table, rattling the cups. Denji’s, still full, sloshed alarmingly, but didn’t spill. Eyes bright, she jumped up from her seat, and, dragging Denji along, left the cafe. The door let out a playful tune, and Denji just caught the last traces of Reze’s farewell, calling out after them. Craning his neck, he tried to catch one last glimpse of her, but Power’s stride was determined and her grip ironclad, and he ultimately stumbled as he was tugged along.

“You could’ve let me say goodbye,” he complained, dragging his feet just to be a pain.

Power scoffed. “I saved you, fool. You should be thanking me. Another utterance from your mouth would have driven her away.”

Denji had his doubts about that, but he was also not known to be eloquent at the best of times, so Power wasn’t necessarily wrong. He thought about this morosely as they walked through the streets, reaching Aki’s apartment quickly. He rubbed his sore arm as Power rang the doorbell, multiple times just to be annoying.

“You’ve never been this early,” Aki’s voice crackled over the intercom speakers, obviously suspicious, but he let him through anyway. 

Aki was the only teenager Denji knew of who owned his own apartment. Whenever he brought this up, Aki sighed heavily, and began to slowly explain that it wasn’t him who owned the apartment, but his parents. He just lived there to attend school in the city, whereas they stayed with his younger brother in the countryside. In Denji’s opinion, that changed nothing. He could still stay up late and eat as many snacks as he wanted, if only Aki wasn’t so responsible and mature and boring.

Power barrelled through the door as Aki pulled it open, sliding off her shoes to claim ‘her spot’ on the couch. This was, of course, usual behaviour for her, but Aki sniffed the air suspiciously as she ran by, sharp gaze sliding to Denji. “Did you actually end up getting coffee?” he asked.  

Denji shrugged. “She paid for it. Why, did you want some?”

Aki had changed from the clothes he wore at school, now in more comfortable sweatpants and a loosely fitting shirt, although his hair was still tightly tied up. His expression was neutral, but had a slight tension to it that did not break out into a full formed frown. “You, on the other hand… You’re more… subdued than usual,” he commented.

“I met a girl!” Denji exclaimed excitedly. He was grinning so hard he thought his face might split in two. “She just joined, and she’s in my class, and we’re going out tomorrow!”

“How much did you pay her?” Aki responded, dubious.

“No, man, I’m being serious! We’re actually going on a date tomorrow!” 

“That’s nice,” he said, his tone making it obvious he still did not quite believe Denji. “Did you get your homework done?” Aki stepped aside as he changed the subject, allowing Denji to kick off his shoes and walk into the apartment. 

“Yeah,” he stuck his tongue out. “There was so much of it, too!” 

Aki rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who wanted tutoring. Hand it over so I can mark it, and get started on the first exercises. I left them on the table.”

“Hey, while you’re at it, do you think you could write my history essay for me as well?” 

“Just for that, you can do both the left hand and the right hand columns.”

“Huh, what did I do?” Denji cried. It had been a genuine question, too.

Aki huffed, moving behind the kitchen counter to grab a glass of water while Denji took a seat, once again opposite Power. “And here I was, only going to make you do half the work. Anyway, let me know when you’re done, and we can get started on some polynomials.”

The apartment was silent as they all got to work, save for the ticking of a clock mounted on the wall. Beyond the windows, Tokyo looked completely still, only the tallest buildings visible from this height. Denji knew if he were to go onto the balcony, he would be able to hear the sounds of the bustling city and see the crowded streets below. But, while they were here, it was as if the world outside did not exist at all. 

Aki tapped a pen lightly across his knuckles. “You’re getting distracted. Stop thinking about her. She’ll be waiting for you tomorrow.”

“I’m not!” Denji whined, feeling betrayed. To be fair, given a few more seconds his thoughts probably would have drifted back to Reze.

“Hah! Once again I have you beat!” Power exclaimed, proudly showing her completed paper to him. It was nothing short of a miracle, given how she had been practically vibrating in her seat the entire time. Perhaps the coffee had been a bad idea. “Had you not been so preoccupied you might have stood the smallest chance, but once again you have shown yourself to be an inferior opponent.”

“Good job,” Aki replied, giving it a quick glance as he took it from her. “It looks like most of these are correct, as well. Do you want to take a bit of a break whilst Denji finishes up?”

“It’s cause I’m awesome,” Power shouted triumphantly, but let herself be distracted by the TV anyway. She watched whatever background show was playing with a singular focus she didn't often devote to anything at all.

Denji grumbled quietly. Any louder and he knew Aki would have some choice words for him. But it seemed the older boy was also preoccupied, for just a few minutes later, he interrupted Denji’s work to ask, “Are you two staying the night?”

They often found themselves sleeping over at Aki’s apartment, whether they had tutoring that day or not. Somehow it had turned into a hangout spot for their little trio, so much so that they had designated sleeping areas and cupboards in which to keep their neatly folded clothes. Denji didn’t mind much, even if Power moved around a ton in her sleep, and Aki hadn't even complained that very first night, so Denji knew he didn't mind either, even if he always asked them if their parents knew where they were.

“Uh, I'll do whatever Power does. My parents think I'll be safe doing whatever if I'm with her, so she's kinda my ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he replied, allowing himself to be pulled away from doing maths.

“Damn right,” she said snarkily, eyes still glued to the television. “I'm me.”

“Still,” Aki remarked. “It's the third time this week. Don't they miss you?” 

Denji shrugged. Truly, he had no clue what went through his parents’ heads, especially trusting Power of all people, but they loved him, and he really did like his independence. Aki obviously found the lack of reply insufficient, but didn't push any more, instead saying something about beginning dinner in an hour.

Power eventually came back to the table, and Aki began to explain the main focus of the lesson. Denji was by no means interested in him, but even he could admit Aki had a nice voice, and was patient, and explained things well, making him feel as if he actually understood the topic. The teachers at school were never like that - they yelled if you were going too slowly and yelled if you read on ahead. Class was always so boring; of course he struggled to pay attention. 

But it’s not like I want to fall behind either, Denji thought, squinting at his paper. Strangely, it seemed to make the numbers swim together more quickly, and he hummed to himself as he wrote down the answer. And I’ll be graduating in a few years, too. Ugh, got to start thinking about university…

The thing was, even if he struggled with classwork, and didn't enjoy school very much, he did like learning. Sure, tutoring gave him double homework and it meant he just cycled between home, school and Aki's apartment, but he never felt stupid there, or that he was lacking. Aki said he just needed more personalised guidance. Aki said a lot of things, and he ended up being right most of the time, except for when he made them eat vegetables. Even now, Denji was eyeing the hideous green things lying on the chopping board. At least they would feel the pain of the knife before being boiled alive and shoved down his throat.

“Just eat them, Denji,” Aki groaned, looking away from where he was pushing the cursed things around on his plate. It's not like Power was any better, pointedly eating around them. “They're good for you. You can't survive on chips and soda only.”

Denji hesitantly brought one up to his mouth. It hardly looked more appealing up close, now that he could see the texture. Biting back a grimace, he plugged his nose and swallowed it whole. 

“Disgusting,” he spat as soon as several glasses of water had washed the taste from his tongue. “As bad as coffee.”

“At least it's progress,” Aki muttered. “So how did the coffee experiment go? Do you think it worked?”

“It didn't need to work. I'm already a genius!” Power exclaimed smugly, but shrank away when Aki levelled a look at her, knowing the next words out of his mouth would have to do with eating and vegetables. Wisely, she changed the subject. “Hey, Topknot, when are you going to get a license?”

“The real question is when am I going to get a car to practice in. Besides, what about you, when are you getting your license?”

“I know how to drive!” Power refuted indignantly. “I've played MarioKart.”

“That's- that's not the same thing,” Denji squinted at her. He should probably fear for his life the first time she gets on the road.

“Stop distracting me!” she said, pushing a hand rudely into his face. “Aki, get a car so you can drive us places!”

“What, not even a please?” he remarked drily, leaning back in his chair. 

“All we do is go from school to home to school to here to school. Take us somewhere else,” she complained.

“Yeah, you're supposed to be our senior! Teach us about the world,” Denji chimed in.

“You guys know public transport exists, right?” he grumbled, but indulged their conversation anyways.

Denji glanced back at the window, the two chattering as they began to tidy up. It was darker now, the faintest stain of sunset bruising the horizon. The city glowed as if to make up for it, every building lit up from within. He was too far away to see the silhouettes, moving inside their workplaces or their apartments, settling down for the night or just getting started. Somewhere out there, amongst the millions, was Reze. He hoped she was thinking about him as well.