The next breath was the easy one.
The fifth took work.
Caleb stayed by the wall with Sam between him and every hinge in the room. That was not how Sam described it, because Sam had declared a medical ban on using sentences that sounded like orders.
He had also moved three toolboxes away from Caleb's reach.
"Toolboxes are rude," Caleb said.
"Toolboxes have latches," Sam said.
"I feel judged by hardware."
"Hardware survives my judgment."
Across the garage, Hiro lay on the table with his shirt cut open and Rina asleep in the chair beside him. She had fallen forward with one hand still wrapped around a roll of seal tape. Iharu had taken it from her fingers with the care of a thief stealing from a shrine.
Hiro watched him do it.
"If I die, tell everyone I handled this with style."
Kikaru leaned against the workbench, one boot braced on a crate. "You complained about tape."
"Style has range."
"You asked if dying got you a better mattress."
"That was logistics."
