The lunch ended with a horrifyingly expensive bill that made Sunny's soul leave his body.
Still, as they stepped out of the crystal elevator and onto the bustling streets of the central district, he couldn't deny that he felt… lighter.
The hangout had gone exceptionally well. Effie had aggressively hugged him on the way out (he had struggled, but only a little). Kai had offered a warm smile. And Cassie… Cassie had softly told him it was good to see him, and Sunny hadn't felt the immediate urge to walk away.
Cielle had integrated into the cohort so that was nice. She had deemed Effie "acceptably loud," Kai " polite," and Cassie " sound." The cohort, in turn, had accepted Cielle as the literal-minded angel who was somehow the only person in two worlds capable of keeping Sunny in check.
"Your group is adequate," Cielle concluded as they walked down the wide, sunlit avenue. The Neighborhood Menace was draped over her shoulder like a forty-pound, orange fur stole, completely asleep and occasionally twitching as it dreamed of eating pedestrians. "They are chaotic, but their survival instincts are highly developed."
Sunny stuffed his hands into his pockets, trying to ignore the stares they were getting from passing citizens. "They aren't just a group. They're a cohort. And you shouldn't encourage Effie. If you tell her one more time that you 'manage' me, she is going to put it on a billboard."
"I am only stating facts," Cielle said, adjusting the slumbering Great Beast. "You require management. You have the self-preservation instincts of a depressed moth."
Sunny opened his mouth to argue, but the universe, as it often did, decided to humble him immediately. He did kinda usually go hunt fallen creatures as a sleeper…
He was so busy glaring at Cielle that he completely failed to notice the teenager walking out of a nearby convenience store, her face buried in a datapad.
Thump.
Sunny stumbled slightly as the girl bumped right into his shoulder. The girl let out a startled yelp, dropping a half-eaten bag of potato chips onto the pavement.
Sunny spun around, an apology already forming on his lips, and instantly froze.
Standing in front of him, looking extremely annoyed and wearing a small frown, was Rain.
His little sister. The sister who did not know she was his sister. The sister he had been secretly, awkwardly stalking and chatting with for months.
Sunny's brain immediately blue-screened. He hadn't seen her in weeks. He was currently wearing a ridiculously expensive shirt, standing next to a stunning, winged Awakened, and his social battery were already entirely depleted from dealing with Effie.
"Oh," Rain said, her annoyance instantly morphing into profound, weary recognition. She crossed her arms, looking at him up and down. "It's you. The weird guy."
Sunny rigidly straightened his spine, desperately trying to project an aura of cool, mysterious, unbothered awakened. He leaned against a nearby streetlight pole, trying to look like a hardened veteran of the Dream Realm who just happened to be loitering near a convenience store.
"Brat" Sunny said, purposefully dropping his voice half an octave to sound older. "I was just… patrolling. You know how it is."
Rain stared at him. She looked at his attempt to lean casually against the pole. She looked at his pale, youthful face that stubbornly refused to age past someone in their late teens.
"Right," Rain said slowly. "Patrolling of a Mega-Mart. Good job keeping the chips safe."
Before Sunny could formulate a defense that didn't sound incredibly lame, Rain's gaze drifted past him. Her eyes went wide.
Cielle had stepped up beside Sunny. She was staring at Rain.
It was not a polite, casual glance. It was unblinking, terrifyingly intense, a little too direct, ok maybe too direct. Her bright green eyes were locked onto Rain with a piercing focus.
Rain took a step back, suddenly very aware of the pristine white wings folded against Cielle's back, the luxurious Cloud-Strider jacket, and the sheer, overwhelming aura of danger radiating from the beautiful woman. And, of course, the incredibly fat cat slung over her shoulder.
"Uh," Rain squeaked, her teenage bravado completely failing her under Cielle's gaze. "Hi?"
Cielle did not blink. She tilted her head, her mind instantly recognizing, the dark hair, the eye shape, and the distinct, subtle similarities between Sunny's face and hers.
Cielle pointed a finger at Rain. She looked at Sunny, entirely serious. "Are we kidnapping her?"
Sunny choked on his own saliva. "No! We are not kidnapping her! Put your hand down!"
Rain's jaw dropped. She looked from Cielle's deadpan expression to Sunny's wildly flustered panic. The sheer absurdity of the situation seemed to reboot Rain's brain, replacing her fear with snark.
She looked at Cielle's wings. She recognized the undeniable marks of an Awakened. Then, she looked back at Sunny, who was glaring at Cielle and trying to smooth down his hair.
A slow, highly amused grin spread across Rain's face.
"Whoa," Rain said, looking at Cielle. "You're an Awakened. Like, a real one." She shifted her gaze to Sunny, her grin turning wicked. "I get it now. Did you wander away from the youth center again? Is this nice lady your caretaker?"
Sunny's shadow literally bristled on the pavement. He pushed off the streetlight pole, deeply and profoundly offended.
"I am not a kid!" Sunny hissed, his cool persona shattering into a million pieces. "I am older than you! I am also an Awakened!"
"Sure you are, short stack," Rain teased mercilessly, entirely unintimidated by the so-called older awakened. She looked at Cielle, gesturing to Sunny. "Seriously, though. Are you his babysitter?"
Sunny opened his mouth to deliver a scathing, perfectly crafted retort about his immense power and wealth.
"I do not sit on babies," Cielle answered, her brow furrowing slightly in confusion at the idiom. "And he is an Awakened. He killed a fallen demon two days ago because he said, the sails aint bad. He is highly lethal."
Rain froze. The teasing grin slid off her face entirely.
She looked at Cielle, waiting for the punchline. There wasn't one. Cielle was simply stating a fact, the same way she would state that the sky was blue.
Slowly, Rain turned her head to look at Sunny. Really look at him.
She noticed the clothes he was wearing, high-end, tailored materials. She noticed the unnatural stillness of his posture. And then, her gaze dropped to the pavement, where Sunny's shadow was currently crossing its arms, shaking its head, and pointing an accusatory finger directly at her.
Rain turned incredibly, mortifyingly pale.
"Wait," Rain squeaked, her voice cracking. "You're... you're actually an Awakened?"
A flush of profound embarrassment violently seized her face, turning her cheeks bright red. She had been lecturing this guy for weeks. She had called him a weirdo, a dropout, and a short stack. People in the old times had been legally executed for disrespecting Awakened with far less.
"Oh my god," Rain whispered, pulling her bag to her chest like a shield. "I thought you were just a delusional teenager with a weird loitering habit."
Sunny smirked. He puffed out his chest, absolutely basking in the glorious, long-overdue validation.
"I told you I was older," Sunny said, his tone dripping with insufferable smugness. "I told you I was dangerous. Did you listen? No. Apologize to your elders, brat."
Rain opened her mouth, closed it, and then scrambled to salvage her shattered dignity. "I... you didn't look like one! You always skulk around that house looking like a lost, highly suspicious puppy!"
"It is called relaxing in your house" Sunny said smoothly, adjusting his collar.
Cielle, however, was not done. She stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as she studied Rain's flushed face and Sunny's smug one.
"You share a striking similarity," Cielle noted aloud, her mind piecing the things together. "The cheekbones and the jawline are nearly identical."
Sunny's heart completely stopped. The smugness evaporated in a flash of cold terror.
'No. No, no, no. If she connected the dots, she would say it out loud!'
"Are you an unauthorized clone?" Cielle asked Rain directly. "The cloning laws are notoriously inefficient."
Sunny almost collapsed on the pavement in relief. 'Thank the gods she jumps to the most extreme sci-fi conclusion possible. Thanks Star Wars! Your not so bad second movie! Obi wan is now my father!'
"No!" Sunny barked, waving his hands frantically before Rain could even process the question. "She is not a clone! It's evolution! People from the same city sector look alike because of... genetics and dietary habits. It's science."
Cielle considered this. She looked at Rain's soft face, tense posture, the trembling hands holding the bag, and then back at Sunny's stance.
"Acceptable," Cielle agreed, nodding once. "She lacks your constant, severe anxiety. The similarity is purely cosmetic."
Rain looked between the two of them, completely and utterly overwhelmed. Her brain simply could not process the woman casually discussing cloning, the massive orange cat drooling on her shoulder, and the fact that the annoying guy she bumped into was a certified superhuman.
"I... okay," Rain stammered, taking another large step backward. "I am just going to... go. Over there. Away from the terrifying lady. And the terrifyingly lethal guy. Who I am very sorry for calling a short stack."
Sunny waved a hand magnanimously, his secret safe and his ego restored. "Run along, kid. Stay in school. Don't drop your chips next time."
Rain hastily crouched down, scooped up the dropped bag of chips, and stood back up, her face still burning. "Yeah. Okay. Bye, Sunny. Bye, ma'am."
She speed-walked away down the avenue, glancing back over her shoulder twice to make sure they weren't going to suddenly hunt her for sport.
Sunny watched her go, a small smile touching his lips. He was an Awakened. She finally knew. It felt... good.
Cielle watched the teenager disappear into the Waking World crowd. Then, she turned to Sunny.
"She was very easily intimidated," Cielle noted. "If you need a squire to carry your things, we should procure someone with better baseline fortitude."
"She is not going to be my squire, Cielle," Sunny sighed, the familiar headache returning as he started walking again.
"Good," Cielle said, falling into step beside him. "Because I do not want to share the soft couch."
"Yeah?" Sunny smiles
"Yes," Cielle nodded. She adjusted the massive sleeping cat on her shoulder and grabbed Sunny's hand, lacing her fingers through his. "Now come. It is past your bedtime, and your caretaker is tired."
Sunny groaned, letting her drag him down the street, but his hand tightened around hers anyway.