Hit up Kira

The app's glow lingers on my screen, its blue threads twisting like insistent fingers, and I feel the decision settle in my chest before I can second-guess it. The time-sensitive quest pulses urgently, midnight's edge sharpening the night's edges, and Kira's name feels like the only real thread worth pulling now. Home can wait. Sarah's warmth, Tessa's ache, those are chains I'll unwind tomorrow. I swipe to contacts, the one we exchanged in that shadowed alley after our truce, and tap out a quick text. "Hey, it's me from the other night. Unlocked quests? Got a rival one popping, time-sensitive, involving you. Before midnight? What's your take?"

Her reply buzzes back almost instantly, the little dots dancing like sparks in the dark. "Quests? Haven't seen that. Logs just updated a minute ago, but nothing new. Show me. Where you headed?"

I hesitate under the streetlamp's hazy pool, the distant hum of bars pulling east, while my apartment looms west like a tired sigh. "Walking back from a bar crawl." I type, thumb hovering. *Could veer your way if it's quick. Dive district still? Or neutral ground—your pick, park bench, coffee spot, alley like last time? Wherever keeps this under the radar.*

"Curious as hell," she shoots back. "Dive's too crowded. Park's sketchy at this hour. Your call, somewhere quiet, half an hour tops?"

The city sprawls around me, options branching like unclaimed weaves, and I stare at the screen, pulse steady but quickening.