"As for me."
Arthur rubbed his temples, where a dull ache had been building.
"I might need to rest for a bit, and then start mapping out the next steps in detail."
His voice remained steady as he handed out tasks, but anyone could hear that the exhaustion in it had reached its absolute limit.
"Captain, go get some rest first!"
Kiana spoke up immediately. "Leave the rest to us!"
"That's right, Captain. Go lie down in the back room for a while." Mei added softly, her voice gentle with concern.
Bronya gave a quiet nod.
"I'll carefully evaluate the framework," said Dan Heng.
Arthur didn't push back.
He knew exactly what state he was in. Forcing himself to keep going would only slow everyone else down.
He stood, his steps a little unsteady.
"Alright. Two hours. Wake me up in two hours."
He made his way toward the small back room inside the office, a cramped space that normally served as storage but just barely fit a folding cot.
He paused at the doorway, glanced back at the group, and managed a tired smile. "Thank you. And keep at it."
With that, he drew the thin curtain closed behind him.
The office settled back into quiet, though the atmosphere had shifted entirely.
Outside the windows, the afternoon sun shone bright and easy.
And their captain, having burned through everything he had to chart the most detailed course he could for this little ship that had barely set sail before running into a storm, finally had a moment to breathe.
The rest of the voyage now fell to all hands on deck.
---
Arthur's consciousness clawed its way up from somewhere fathomlessly dark.
His eyes snapped open. His vision blurred for a few seconds before the ceiling came into focus.
Beneath him, a rigid folding cot. Over him, a light jacket that carried a faint, familiar scent, probably Mei's.
The small room had no windows. The only light came through the gap in the curtain, a single pale sliver, along with the muffled sounds drifting in from outside: the familiar, somehow distant rhythm of keyboard clicks and hushed conversation.
He blinked. His mind, sluggish, began to reboot.
How long had he been out? Two hours? It had to be time by now.
Why hadn't anyone come to wake him?
He pushed himself upright, his body stiff and protesting. His head was still a little foggy, but compared to the hollowed-out exhaustion he'd felt that morning, it was already so much better.
He fumbled for his phone and pressed the screen on.
Past seven.
Evening?
Not two hours. A full day?
A rush of disbelief and unease cut through the last of his drowsiness.
He pushed the jacket aside and pulled back the curtain.
The scene in the office came into view.
Outside the windows, dusk had settled over the city, and distant lights had begun to flicker on. Inside, every light was blazing, even more than during the day.
The air was thick with strong coffee and the lingering warmth of reheated food.
Kiana's hair was slightly disheveled, but her fingers were still flying across a drawing tablet, a biscuit clamped between her teeth.
Mei sat beside her, brow furrowed, making annotations on a sheet of paper with her pen.
Bronya's screens were running both a modeling program and a code editor simultaneously. Her expression was blank, but her hands moved across the keyboard and mouse so fast they were almost a blur.
Dan Heng's desk was covered in draft paper dense with equations and flowcharts. He sat facing three monitors side by side, fingers flying, stopping only occasionally to scribble a quick calculation by hand.
Stelle and March 7th were crowded together at one computer, its screen split between a social media dashboard, a chat window, and a document. They were murmuring rapidly to each other, a small pile of empty snack wrappers stacked nearby.
Everyone was still here. No one had left.
No one had even shown any sign of wanting to.
Something hot surged up in Arthur's chest, tangled with an emotion he couldn't quite name.
"What is this?" He stepped forward, his voice carrying a clear edge of frustration and confusion. "I said wake me up in two hours. What time is it?!"
His voice broke through the focused, controlled quiet that had held the office together for an entire day.
Every head turned toward him at once.
Kiana reacted first, hastily swallowing the biscuit in her mouth. She blinked at him with a slightly guilty look. "Oh, Captain, you're up! We, uh, we could see you were sleeping really soundly, so we didn't have the heart to wake you..."
Her voice trailed off. She clearly knew the excuse didn't hold up.
Mei set down her pen and stood, her face soft with apology and worry. "Captain, you were sleeping so deeply, breathing so quietly. We figured you had to have been completely worn out yesterday, so we just..."
"So you've been grinding away here all day by yourselves?"
Arthur cut her off, his gaze moving over each of their faces, taking in the varying degrees of fatigue barely masked by effort.
"No meals? No breaks?"
"We ate," Bronya said evenly. "Mei made lunch and an afternoon snack. Everyone took turns resting for twenty minutes."
Dan Heng adjusted his glasses. "The progress required it. The core engine optimization ran into several critical issues. Bronya and I needed to debug continuously. On the art side, Kiana and Mei needed a solid block of time to finalize the main character model sheets and the key scene mood boards for the first chapter."
Stelle muttered, "The community completely exploded. So many comments and DMs to get through. People kept asking when the game comes out, when the next chapter drops. There was no stopping it."
March 7th nodded vigorously. "And we were worried that if you woke up and saw how well the numbers were doing, you'd just throw yourself back into it without thinking."
Arthur listened to all of it.
The irritation faded. In its place settled something heavier.
He looked at them, these young people who could have made so many easier choices, and yet here they were, staying in this worn-out little office for a shared goal, for him, willingly running themselves into the ground.
They had been looking out for him.
Afraid that the moment he opened his eyes and saw the surging data and the tight timeline, he'd dive headfirst back in and burn out all over again.
A deep wave of guilt swept through him.
He was the one who had brought them down this difficult road. He was the one who hadn't taken care of himself, and made everyone worry.
Arthur drew a slow breath. His tone softened, but the resolve in it was absolute.
"That's enough. We're done for today. Everyone, go home. Now."
"But Captain..."
Kiana started to protest.
"No buts."
Arthur walked to the center of the office, his eyes moving from one person to the next.
"The engine issues will be there tomorrow. The art is ahead of schedule and doesn't need an all-nighter. The community messages will never end, so set up an auto-reply and a pinned post, and we'll deal with it together tomorrow."
He paused, and when he continued, his voice was quieter but somehow clearer. "I know you're all worried about me, and about the project. But what we need right now isn't to drain ourselves dry. It's to sustain this fight over the long haul. If I drop dead from overwork, or any one of you collapses from exhaustion, it won't matter how much attention this project has. It's over."
The words were blunt, almost harsh, but they silenced the room completely.
"So. Right now. Listen to me." He said it again, leaving no room for argument. "Pack up, clock out. Go home, eat a proper meal, take a hot shower, and get a full night's sleep. Tomorrow morning, I want to see every single one of you looking like a human being again."
Arthur turned, walked back to his own desk, and began shutting down his computer. He gathered the scattered documents with clean, deliberate movements.
The others exchanged glances.
Kiana looked at Mei. Mei gave a small, quiet nod.
Bronya saved all her files and closed her programs.
Dan Heng gathered the pages of notes and stacked them neatly.
Stelle and March 7th closed out the dashboards.
No one argued.
The sounds of leaving filled the office. Chairs scraped back into place. Bag zippers pulled shut.
Kiana dragged her feet as she packed, eyes drifting toward Arthur every few seconds. Mei gently nudged her along.
Bronya had already shouldered her small bag and stood quietly near the door.
Dan Heng did a pass around the room to check the power strips, making sure every non-essential device was off.
Stelle and March 7th hit the main lights last, leaving only the dim hallway lamp by the entrance.
"So... see you tomorrow, Captain." Kiana paused in the doorway and looked back.
"Take care on the way home, Captain." Mei said softly.
Bronya gave a nod.
"Tomorrow," said Dan Heng.
Stelle and March 7th gave a wave.
"Yeah. Tomorrow." Arthur nodded to each of them from beside his desk. "All of you, be safe getting home."