Kai woke up before either of them.
He made breakfast actual breakfast, not porridge, eggs done properly with the last of the vegetables and set the table and waited.
Shira came out first. She positioned herself at the table and looked at the food and looked at Kai.
"This is different from yesterday," Shira said.
"I had a better morning," Kai said.
Shira looked at him.
He kept his expression exactly neutral.
Mira came out and found her chair and sat and ran her fingers along the edge of the table until she located her bowl. She picked up her spoon. Then she stopped.
She reached for her marker.
Something is different.
"Different how," Kai said.
She wrote: You sound different. Your voice when you said good morning. It was different from yesterday.
Kai looked at his bowl.
"I got some good news last night," he said. "About work. Better paying than the delivery job."
The table went quiet.
He could feel both of them looking at him ,Shira with her level amber stare, Mira with her head tilted slightly toward his voice the way she did when she was paying close attention.
"What kind of better paying," Shira said slowly.
"Significantly," Kai said.
Another silence.
Mira wrote something and held it up.
Yesterday you had five rejections and came home and made porridge from what was left in the cabinet.
"Yes," Kai said.
She wrote: And today you have a significantly better paying job.
"Yes," Kai said.
Overnight.
"It came through overnight," Kai said.
The silence that followed had a very specific quality to it.
Shira set her spoon down.
"Kai," Shira said.
"Eat your breakfast," Kai said pleasantly.
"Kai," Shira said again, in a tone that suggested she was not going to eat her breakfast until she had more information.
Mira was already writing. She held the board up.
You’re hiding something.
"I’m not hiding anything," Kai said. "I have a job. It pays well. Everything is fine."
Mira lowered the board. She wrote again immediately.
That is exactly what someone hiding something would say.
"Eat your breakfast," Kai said.
Shira was still looking at him with the expression of someone assembling a case. Her eyes moved from his face to the food — eggs done properly instead of porridge — and back to his face.
"The food is better today," Shira said.
"I had more to work with," Kai said.
"Yesterday you had almost nothing to work with," Shira said.
"Today I have more," Kai said.
"Overnight," Shira said.
"Overnight," Kai confirmed.
The two of them looked at each other across the table — or in Mira’s case, at the space where he was sitting, which amounted to the same thing.
Then Mira picked up her marker one more time.
She wrote something and held it up without expression.
We’re going to find out eventually.
"Eventually," Kai agreed. "Eat your breakfast."
Shira picked up her spoon with the expression of someone filing this conversation away for later.
Mira lowered her board and picked up her spoon.
They ate.
Kai looked at his bowl and allowed himself one small private smile that neither of them could see.
’I’m taking you both somewhere nice this week,’ he thought. ’You just don’t know it yet.’
『 The system notes that lying to your wives — even small lies — carries a deduction. 』
’I didn’t lie,’ Kai thought. ’I have a job. It pays well. Both of those things are true.’
『 Technically accurate. 』
’Thank you,’ Kai thought.
『 The system also notes that both wives are significantly more suspicious of you than they were yesterday. 』
’I noticed,’ Kai thought.
『 This will become a problem when they find out the truth. 』
’It’ll be fine,’ Kai thought.
『 The system is not confident in that assessment. 』
Kai drank his tea.
Across the table Shira was eating her eggs with the focused expression of someone who had not dropped the subject, merely paused it.
Mira was eating neatly and quietly and aimed her face toward him twice more during the meal without writing anything.
Just checking.
’It’ll be fine,’ Kai thought again.
=======
After breakfast he booked the rehabilitation clinic.
Not the one their basic insurance covered. The good one , Creston Recovery Institute, three districts over, full neurological assessment plus a twelve-week program designed specifically for Gift-channel injuries. He’d found it four days ago on his phone at two in the morning and had been looking at the pricing page with the particular expression of someone standing outside a restaurant they can’t afford.
He could afford it now.
He made the booking for both wives simultaneously one call, two names, two full assessments scheduled for the end of the week.
The total came to 276,000 coins.
He confirmed the payment without hesitating.
『 Material investment logged. 』 『 ▸ Rehabilitation clinic booking — Shira Voss: 138,000 coins. 』 『 ▸ Rehabilitation clinic booking — Mira Elys: 138,000 coins. 』 『 ▸ Total invested: 276,000 coins. 』 『 ▸ Queued for return at ×500 upon next breakthrough. 』 『 ▸ Projected return: 138,000,000 coins. 』 『 Current account balance: 3,936,847 coins. 』
Kai looked at the projected return line for a moment.
’One hundred and thirty-eight million,’ he thought.
『 Correct. The multiplier applies to all sincere investments regardless of amount. The system does not have a ceiling, Host. 』
’I’m starting to understand that,’ Kai thought.
He put his phone away and went to tell them.
He knocked on Shira’s door first.
"Come in," Shira said.
She was in her wheelchair by the window with the physio folder open on her lap. She closed it when he entered the same way she had yesterday, quickly, like she hadn’t been doing anything in particular.
He didn’t mention it.
"I booked the rehabilitation clinic this morning," Kai said. "Creston Recovery Institute. Full assessment for both of you, end of the week."
Shira looked at him.
"Creston," Shira said.
"Yes," Kai said.
"That clinic costs—" Shira started.
"I know what it costs," Kai said. "It’s handled."
Shira stared at him with an expression that had moved well past suspicious and into something closer to genuinely unsettled.