A week passed.
It happened quietly, without anyone deciding it. One morning the fear simply wasn't the first thing everyone felt when they opened their eyes. The routine had replaced it — the brown-clothed man throwing open the door, the same shout every morning, the same sequence of events that followed.
"Up time!"
Everyone stirred. Some sat up fast, some slower. But nobody flinched anymore. Nobody looked at the door like something terrible might come through it.
Breakfast. Training. Free time. Study time. Training again. Free time until lights out.
It wasn't home. But it had the shape of one. And for children who had been abandoned, forgotten, or simply left behind — the shape was enough. The fear had become familiarity. The strangers had become faces. The underground base had become, without anyone saying so out loud, somewhere they belonged.
"Hey Elara — do you want to play tic tac toe again today?"
Elara kept eating.
"…Well. I guess we just eat then."
A voice came from beside him.
"Bro — did I just hear tic tac toe?"
Mayex turned. A boy he recognised from training was grinning at him, elbow on the table like they'd been friends for years.
"YES," Mayex said immediately. "I love that game."
"Oh really?" The boy leaned forward. "Are you actually good at it? Because when it comes to mind games — I always win."
"Bold claim," Mayex said. "How about we play after training and find out?"
"YES. Okay. Also—" the boy straightened up. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Adam. If you want the full name just say so."
"Sure, why not — what's your full name?"
"Adam Krol." He said it with a small nod, like it was worth something. "Nice to meet you…"
"Mayex Nur," Mayex said. "Same."
Training that morning was running. A wide circle, continuous laps, the usual.
Mayex found his pace and settled into it — then glanced ahead and noticed Boran pulling away from the group, steady and effortless, already a full length ahead of everyone else.
Mayex stared at his back for exactly two seconds.
Then he ran faster.
He caught up gradually, lap by lap, until he was close enough to speak.
"Hey Boran — why are you always running alone?"
"Because everyone else is slow," Boran said without looking at him.
"...…I'm faster."
And he ran.
Boran watched him pull ahead and stopped running for a moment — just stood there, mid-lap, visibly processing what had just happened.
…Did I just get outrun by a weirdo.
He started running again. Faster this time.
He pulled up beside Mayex. They matched pace. Then Boran pushed — and so did Mayex. Then faster. Then faster still, both of them burning through laps while the rest of the group fell further and further behind, neither one willing to be the one who slowed down first.
When training ended, they both stood bent over with their hands on their knees, completely out of breath.
"Hey...that...was...fun...wasn't it?"
Mayex managed between gasps.
"...Nope..." Boran said, equally destroyed. "...it wasn't."
Adam appeared beside them, perfectly composed, wide smile already in place.
"Two guys had a race and neither of them won. Why?" He paused for effect. "Because it was a tie — and you both already tied your shoes."
A long silence.
"Was that a dad joke?" Boran said.
"…Nooooo...," Adam said.
"It was absolutely a dad joke," Mayex said.
"It wasn't — anyway, tic tac toe! We said we were playing! Let's go!"
"Oh right — let's go!"
They headed toward the play room.
Boran didn't follow immediately.
He stood where he was and looked around.
Then he looked at Elara, who was standing a few meters away, staring at somewhere that wasn't there.
Then he looked at Mayex and Adam, who were already halfway down the corridor, apparently having forgotten she existed entirely.
He looked back at her.
She didn't look back.
He looked around again, slowly, as if searching for someone else — anyone else — who might handle this.
There was no one.
"Hey," he said. Awkwardly. "You. Why don't you just… go follow them?"
Elara said nothing.
Boran stood there.
He looked at her. Then at the corridor. Then at her again.
…I'm stuck with her.
"…Fuck," he murmured under his breath.