We left on a Thursday.
There had been no formal plan — only the word yes on a northbound train, and the shared understanding that both of us meant it. When the final debrief concluded and the case materials transferred out of our custody and into the proceedings that would carry them forward without us, I looked at the open week ahead and sent a single message to Kaien: Thursday.
His reply came in under three minutes. Thursday.
We took the early express. The platform was quiet at that hour — not empty, but occupied only by the particular kind of traveler who has a reason to be somewhere before the city has committed to the day. I arrived at five past five and found Kaien already there, standing near the board with two paper cups of station tea. He handed me one without ceremony when I reached him.
I found I appreciated that more than I would have appreciated anything more elaborate.
"You slept," he said. Not a question.
