Appella sought Hisui out for help with a couple of quests that she didn't actually need help with, and Jade found that rather than being annoyed, he enjoyed the extra time together. He wasn't sure if anything had actually changed, or if it was just that Skyheart's teasing had made him pay more attention to what he was doing.

After class on Monday, Eric invited Jade out. They were growing a bit closer too. Jade found himself as happy about the increased real life interactions with the boy as he had with the girl online, so he didn't think that he had any particularly romantic attachment to either. But he had friends now, and things were going more easily than they had in the past.

Eric explained cheerfully, "We'll go play games at a nearby sports center after you finish at work! It'll be good to get some exercise!" He added with a wink, "And this is more the kind of thing that most guys invite each other to do."

"Okay!" Jade accepted cheerfully, but warned his friend, "My coordination isn't very good."

Eric rolled his eyes and declared, "Even more reason for you to come and practice activities that use it then!"

Jade made his way to the convenience store, and found that things were in pretty good shape today. Not that there wasn't any cleaning or anything, but all of the messes and incidents were relatively minor.

After his shift, he barely noticed the system's quest that told him to meet Eric. He automatically hurried over to the designated sports center.

--

Jade was unsurprised when Eric handily trounced him at several games.

Jade finally won a round of laser tag where they wore sensor jackets, and dodged and climbed around various obstacles to shoot each other.

Eric regarded him with amazement and exclaimed with surprise, "Wow, you're really good at this one!"

Jade shrugged, and explained, "It's more about calculating the angles than having to hit a moving target."

Eric objected, "I was moving!"

Jade laughed and pointed out, "Not as much as you could have moved if we were playing that kind of game in VR. We are trapped in a small room here! I don't really understand why we're playing it this way? VR would be much more realistic."

Eric reminded him dryly, "Because this way you're moving your whole body, not just your brain."

"Well, full motion consoles then," Jade argued.

Eric just laughed.

Jade lost another set of games, without surprise, and when they left the sports center Eric told him, "I'll walk you home."

Jade rolled his eyes as he pointed out, "I can navigate the bus system safely home by myself." The system was still putting it up as his current quest every evening.

Eric clutched his chest in mock agony and said sadly, "Jade is tired of me already."

Jade asked curiously, "What are you doing? I never said that."

"Nevermind," Eric replied laughingly. "Let's walk together anyway!"

"Okay," Jade agreed.

As they walked, Eric asked curiously, "What do you plan to do after we graduate?"

"I think that first I want to go to Australia, and then try one of those Antarctic tours," Jade replied.

"What? As a job?" Eric asked.

"I don't know if they take on short timers. I expect I'll have to buy my way." Jade was still explaining what little he'd learned from his research so far, when the sound of an engine winding up on the corner ahead reached them.

Eric frowned and pulled Jade farther from the road, but they didn't stop walking as he commented, "I don't see how you can even think of affording that without getting a better job first. You are just working at a convenience store. I mean, I couldn't afford that, and my parents are paying my rent for me."

Jade explained, "I don't buy all the stuff you do. I don't eat out, or get coffee…"

In front of them, a car came around the curve sideways.

Jade could tell it wasn't going to miss them, but this wasn't a game, and he just couldn't move fast enough.

Eric reacted faster, grabbing Jade's elbow and swinging him flat against the wall.

With his back against the wall, Jade was able to lift Eric into the air just as the car hit.

The last thing Jade saw before his view switched to a dark system announcement, was Eric's horrified expression.

--

Eric watched in horror as Jade was crushed into the wall by the car's engine.

He didn't want to. He really didn't want to fall onto him either, but there was nothing he could do as gravity forced him downward and added his own weight to Jade's damaged body.

In some horrible molasses of slow motion, the car bounced away from them and spun, until it bounced off the wall again a few feet farther on.

Something spanged away from the wreckage and hit Eric's head.

Time stopped for him for an unknown space of emptiness. When Eric regained some fragment of awareness, he cracked his eyes open and lay frozen in horror.

The drones had come. And with tiny arms tipped in a variety of tools, they were disassembling Jade.

Fluids oozed out of the remains, but Eric could tell that it was more transparent than it should have been.

A ragged squeak escaped him, and one of the drones turned in his direction. Eric squeezed his eyes shut and prayed to all the gods he had never believed in.

The next time he opened his eyes, they were loading him into an ambulance. They told him reassuringly that he had had a close call, but he'd be fine.

Eric summoned all his courage and whispered, "What about Jade?"

They asked with confusion, "What do you mean? A piece of jewelry or something?"

They didn't seem to understand his protest, "He was a person. I think? I thought…"

"Don't worry about it for now," they advised. "The driver of the vehicle wasn't nearly as badly injured as you are, and the accident response team will gather up everything they can."

Eric couldn't figure out how to answer, so he just closed his eyes again.

--

Jade woke up in his own room, and cringed. He had never died in front of someone that he was close to before.

It was awhile before he summoned the courage to ask the system the date and time. Only a day had passed. After a minute, he got up.

The clothes he had been wearing were gone, but everything else was normal. The Tuesday he had missed had been the day he hadn't been scheduled to work this week. He wondered if he would be able to borrow Eric's notes for the class they shared.

Eric wasn't at class, so Jade took notes for him instead. When the class ended he rushed forward to request any missed assignments directly from the teacher, and then tried calling Eric.

The call went straight to the messaging system.

--

At the convenience store, Jade found that Emily had finally recovered from her cold.

She took over the cleaning chores while he stood blankly behind the counter, attending his duties by rote.

When his current customer slapped the counter and demanded, "Earth to Jade!" Jade finally focused on her face.

"Harmony," he identified her with relief. Her bright riding gear and silver braids looked the same as always.

She reached across the counter suddenly and laid her hand against his cheek. She asked worriedly, "Who else would I be? What's wrong Jade?"

Jade opened his mouth to answer, but shut it without saying anything. His eyes slid warily to Emily. He found he couldn't say the things he might have told Harmony if they had been alone.

"Tell me later," Harmony said firmly. She withdrew her hand, pulled down her goggles, and strode away. As she dropped her hoverboard in front of the door, she called out, "I'll be waiting!"

Jade smiled for the first time since he had awakened.