"The job," she said.
"Pays well," Kai said. "As previously stated."
"Kai," Shira said.
"The appointment is Friday at ten," Kai said. "I’ll have everything ready. Do you want me to find out if they have a specific intake form you should fill out beforehand?"
Shira looked at him for a long moment.
She was doing the thing again , hunting for the angle. The place where the help revealed itself as something with a cost attached.
She didn’t find it.
She looked back at the window.
"Yes," she said quietly. "Find out about the intake form."
"Done," Kai said.
He left and pulled the door shut.
In the hallway he let out a slow breath.
’She’s going to figure it out eventually,’ he thought.
『 Yes. 』
’And then she’s going to have opinions about it,’ he thought.’
『 Many. Loudly. The system recommends being ready for that conversation. 』
’I’ll handle it when we get there,’ Kai thought.
He knocked on Mira’s door.
Three knocks. His knock.
She opened it immediately. Whiteboard ready.
"Rehabilitation clinic," Kai said before she could write anything. "Creston Recovery Institute. Friday, ten in the morning. Full assessment. Both of you."
Mira was still.
She wrote slowly: Creston is the expensive one.
"Yes," Kai said.
She wrote: The overnight job.
"Yes," Kai said.
She looked at the space where his face was for a long moment.
Then she wrote one thing and held it up.
I’m going to find out what this job actually is.
"Probably," Kai said. "Friday, ten o’clock. I’ll come get you at nine thirty."
Mira lowered the board.
She wrote one more line and held it up facing him.
Thank you.
Kai looked at it for a moment.
"You’re welcome," he said with a smile shown on his face.
He went back to the kitchen.
He spent the rest of the morning on logistics.
Shira’s specialist arm brace , he found a medical equipment supplier two districts over that stocked the fitted variety. He ordered it for delivery: 47,000 coins.
Mira’s cane , he spent forty minutes reading specifications before he found the right one. Aluminum, lightweight, the correct height for her, with a comfortable grip and a red-and-white reflective band. He added the audio reader device to the same order: 29,500 coins combined.
He confirmed the delivery for tomorrow.
『 Material investment logged. 』 『 ▸ Specialist arm brace — Shira Voss: 47,000 coins. 』 『 ▸ Mobility cane + audio reader — Mira Elys: 29,500 coins. 』 『 ▸ Total invested: 76,500 coins. 』 『 ▸ Queued for return at ×500 upon next breakthrough. 』 『 ▸ Projected return: 38,250,000 coins. 』 『 Current account balance: 3,860,347 coins. 』
Then he looked at the last item on his list.
He underlined it twice.
Take them somewhere. A real meal. Somewhere good. This week.
He thought about it for a while.
Not too far , Shira’s wheelchair needed accessible routes and Mira needed somewhere she could navigate without feeling exposed. Not too loud — Mira processed environments through sound now more than anything else and a crowded noisy restaurant would be overwhelming before it was enjoyable.
He searched on his phone.
He found it after twenty minutes , a small restaurant on the east side of the third district. Garden seating. Quiet on weekday afternoons. Accessible entrance listed clearly on their page. The reviews mentioned attentive staff and unhurried service.
He made a reservation for three.
Wednesday. One in the afternoon.
He put his phone down.
’Now I have to tell them,’ he thought.
『 The system wishes you luck. 』
’You don’t believe in luck,’ Kai thought.
『 No. But this situation may require it regardless. 』
=========
He told them at lunch.
He set the food down , proper lunch, not stretched survival portions, rice and a proper broth with actual protein in it because he could afford protein now — and sat down and waited for them both to get settled.
Then he said: "I made a reservation for Wednesday. A restaurant. The three of us."
The table went quiet.
Shira’s spoon stopped halfway to her bowl.
Mira set her own spoon down and reached for her marker.
A restaurant.
"Yes," Kai said.
She wrote: The three of us.
"Yes," Kai said.
She wrote: You. Me. And Shira.
"That’s generally what three of us means, yes," Kai said.
Shira had not moved since he spoke. She was looking at her bowl with an expression Kai couldn’t fully read something complicated moving behind the careful surface of it.
"Why," Shira said. Very quietly.
"Because we’ve been in this apartment for five days," Kai said. "And I think you’ve both had enough of these walls for a while."
Shira looked up at him.
"We’re not — " Shira started. She stopped. She looked at her bowl again. "People will look."
"People looked on the street the other day," Kai said. "We managed."
Shira said nothing.
Mira was writing. She held up the board.
I haven’t been to a restaurant since before.
She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to. Before was a word that did a lot of work in this apartment.
"I know," Kai said. "The place I chose has garden seating. Quieter than inside. Easier to navigate."
Mira was still.
She wrote: You researched it.
"For about twenty minutes," Kai said. "Reviews mentioned the staff are patient. Accessible entrance. Not too crowded on weekday afternoons."
Mira lowered the board.
She picked up her spoon.
She didn’t write anything else for the rest of lunch.
But she ate everything in her bowl , which she didn’t always do.
Shira ate too, quieter than usual, with the expression of someone turning something over in their mind that they hadn’t decided what to do with yet.
At the end of the meal she said, without looking at him: "What time."
"One in the afternoon," Kai said. "Wednesday."
Shira nodded once.
She wheeled herself back to her room.
Kai started collecting the bowls.
From the hallway Mira passed him on her way back to her room, one hand trailing the wall. She stopped beside him for just a second , not long enough to be a moment, just long enough to be deliberate and then kept walking.