Rei was sitting in the stairwell at noon, nonchalantly on the steps between the third and fourth floors, with her back against the wall, knees up, and an open book she had found somewhere resting in her lap.
She looked up as Shin descended the stairs, and Shin paused to look at her.
"Reading," Shin said.
"Trying to," Rei said. "It's quiet here."
Shin looked at the stairwell. It was quiet, the particular muffled quiet of a concrete space that absorbed sound from the building above and the street below and sat between them. She sat down on the step beside Rei without asking and Rei moved over slightly to make room.
They sat in the quiet stairwell together. Rei turned a page. Shin looked at the wall across from her and thought about the barrier placement on floor three that she wanted to adjust and then decided to think about it later.
"What are you reading," Shin said.
