“Yeah? What, you don’t see it?” Ikara said, tipping her head.

“I mean… no. I guess I could understand ‘hot,’ but not ‘cute.’”

“What? He’s totally cute.” Ikara shook her head adamantly, her ponytail thrashing around.

This tiny girl has a lot of spunk, to call Kaidu cute when she’s so adorable-sized herself. Rowan shook his head. “Nope. Kaidu is definitely hot. A hundred percent.”

Someone cleared their throat behind Rowan. He stiffened and turned, slowly.

Kaidu stood there, arms crossed. He raised one eyebrow at Rowan.

Rowan grinned, sheepish. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Oh, hi, Kaidu.”

Eyebrow still raised, Kaidu panned over to Ikara.

Fearless, she crossed her arms. “You’re cute. I said it. Fight me.”

Kaidu narrowed his eyes. “Run.”

“What?” Ikara asked.

“Run. Now. And don’t stop until I say so.”

“What’s the point of that? The System—”

“Your body is unrelated to the System. It might only be a single point’s difference over your stats, but you can strengthen your body independent of the System. It is also valuable to test yourself after you gain levels so you know your new limits before you come up against them in battle.”

“I guess…” Ikara whined.

Kaidu pulled out a razor blade. “Go.”

Rowan backed away. “Are you serious?”

Kaidu advanced, brandishing the blade.

Ikara jogged to keep up with Rowan’s fast walk. “I’m slow! I’m not a fast runner! You can’t do this!”

Kaidu lunged.

Rowan spun and sprinted. Ikara chased after him, pumping her arms, her eyes wide. “He’s crazy! It was a compliment!”

“We fought off some combat classes earlier. You shouldn’t threaten us! We’re dangerous!” Rowan called over his shoulder.

“Congratulations,” Kaidu deadpanned.

“Dammit! I’m a support class, I can’t run!” Ikara panted.

Kaidu clicked his tongue in disagreement. “If you think that way, then you’ve already lost.”

“Argh!” Ikara pumped her arms harder and pulled ahead of Rowan.

Rowan watched her go, then glanced over his shoulder. Kaidu lunged at him, and he surged faster to dodge, then fell back into a slightly slower pace. If we’re going to do this for a while, I’ll need to pace my—

“Pacing yourself does no good when you’re running for your life,” Kaidu snapped, and reached out to grab Rowan.

Rowan rolled his shoulder forward, out of Kaidu’s reach, and ran faster. In a few moments, he caught up to Ikara. “Dammit!”

“I know, right?” Ikara panted back.

“If you have the energy to talk, you have the energy to run faster,” Kaidu snapped from behind them.

Rowan bit back the explicatives on the tip of his tongue and jumped to the side, barely in time for a pair of scissors to whoosh past. Ikara threw herself into a somersault dodge and jumped back up, covered in dirt and dust. “Split up!” she shouted.

Right! He can’t chase both of us at once! Rowan darted to the right, and Ikara ran off to the left.

Kaidu paused for a moment, then chased after Ikara, who let out a shrill shriek and sprinted away. Rowan ran around the corner, out of sight, and ducked into a decrepit building. The door hung off its hinges, and graffiti coated the shaded interior. Torn-up displays and trashed shelves hinted that it had once been a clothing store, though not for a long time. The back half of the store crumbled down on itself, ceiling caved in. Cockroaches the size of his feet scuttered into the corners as he arrived, red eyes watching him from the darkness. He leaned against the wall to rest and catch his breath.

A flash of white outside. Rowan’s eyes opened wide. Kaidu charged directly for the store, Ikara tucked under one arm. Startled, Rowan turned to flee, but there was no way out but the front door. No!

He ran for the door. Kaidu met him halfway and slashed at him with a pair of closed scissors. Rowan raised his arms and barely blocked in time to receive a sharp slap from the flat end of the scissors.

“Bad choice. Always consider your exits,” Kaidu said, tossing Ikara down.

She landed on all fours and bounced upright, eyes narrowed.

He crossed his arms. “Ten seconds. Go.”

“Ten seconds! That’s not nearly enough,” Ikara said, sucking in breath.

“Five. Four.”

“You said ten!” Rowan said, backing away.

Kaidu raised an eyebrow. “Two.”

Ikara and Rowan exchanged a glance, then bolted past him out onto the street.

“Split up?” Rowan asked.

“That didn’t work last time!” Ikara snapped.

“I’ll get him to chase me while you find somewhere to hide,” Rowan suggested.

Ikara glanced at him, then sprinted off. Rowan drew to a halt in the middle of the road, hands on his hips. “Hey, Kaidu!”

Kaidu burst out of the store and ran at him, scissors bared.

Rowan turned and began to ran, still smirking over his shoulder. “Everyone knows you don’t run with scissors!”

Something whirred through the air. Instinctively, Rowan ducked. The scissors flew over his shoulder, handles-first.

“Hey! Throwing isn’t—”

A leg lashed out in front of his feet. Rowan snatched them up at the last second and barely hopped over Kaidu’s trip. Pivoting his weight on his thrust-out toe, Kaidu grabbed Rowan by the back of the belt and yanked, using the moment of his weightlessness to redirect the hop. Off-balance, Rowan staggered. A short blow to the gut sent all the air out of him, and he crumpled in on himself.

“Caught you. Follow me.”

“You aren’t going to carry me like you did Ikara?”

“You’re heavy.” Kaidu looked at Rowan. “Do you want me to?”

Rowan backed away, afraid of the dangerous light in Kaidu’s eyes. “No, no, actually, I’m fine, I’m quite happy walking.”

“You’ll be running. Let’s go.”

Around the corner, Kaidu paused, then darted down an alley and yanked the lid off a dumpster. Ikara startled and started to jump out, only to jump head-first into Kaidu’s elbow-blow and get bounced back into the smelly container. She winced and grabbed her head. “Ow!”

Rowan shook his head at her, disappointed. She scowled at him. “Oh, like you lasted so much longer after I got caught!”

“What did I say about exits? Ten seconds.”

Ikara and Rowan bolted again. “How long is this going to last?” Ikara asked.

“Until he gets tired?” Rowan guessed.

Ikara glanced over her shoulder. “He isn’t even sweating yet! And he’s wearing that coat.”

“We’re fucked,” Rowan muttered under his breath.