T'Jadaka opened both eyes.
Lila stood at the edge of the spring, arms still crossed over herself, looking directly at him. Something had shifted in her expression—the hesitation replaced by something more purposeful.
"Why are you all the way over there?"
He tilted his head back against the water, considering. "Quiet over here."
"That's not a reason." She took a breath, then stepped in.
The heat hit her immediately—she exhaled sharply, shoulders dropping as her body adjusted. A few more steps and she'd waded to where the water reached her waist, close enough that she didn't have to raise her voice anymore.
"You brought us all the way out here," she said, quieter now. "And then you just... float off by yourself."
T'Jadaka looked at her sideways. "Everyone's having fun."
"That's not the point."
Behind her, Remigio had followed her in—less because he'd decided to and more because she'd moved and his feet had apparently made the decision without consulting him. The water closed around his ankles, his calves. He kept his eyes on Lila's back and said nothing.
On the far side, Vitaliya had stopped splashing. She was watching now, something unreadable moving through her expression as Ruy said something beside her that she didn't quite hear.
T'Jadaka studied Lila's face. The way she was looking at him—not with the usual warmth that made him instinctively create distance, but with something sharper. More like a question than a feeling.
She's trying to figure something out.
"Remigio said you probably don't like girls," Lila said plainly. "I told him to shut up before he finished the sentence. But I want to know if he was actually onto something."
A beat of silence.
T'Jadaka's mouth curved—small, unhurried. "He wasn't."
"Then why do you always move away?" She held his gaze. Not aggressive. Just direct. "Every time someone gets close, you find somewhere else to be."
The water moved gently between them, catching the afternoon light.
T'Jadaka was quiet for a moment. Then: "People do better when they're not depending on me for their good time."
Lila frowned. "That doesn't make sense."
"Sure it does." He glanced briefly toward Vitaliya and Ruy, then back. "You came in, didn't you? Remigio followed. That happened on its own, without me doing anything." A pause. "Some things work better when I stay out of them."
Lila stared at him. The frown deepened—not from frustration exactly, but from the particular irritation of someone who suspects they're being given a true answer that still isn't the whole one.
Behind her, Remigio had gone quiet in a different way than usual. Not performing quietness. Just actually thinking.
Ruy's smile had faded into something quieter. He'd been watching Remigio's jaw tighten, watching the specific kind of stillness that preceded bad decisions, and he recognized it the way you recognize weather.
He swam over, unhurried, and settled beside him.
"Hey." Low enough that it didn't carry. "Don't do it."
Remigio's eyes cut sideways. "Don't do what."
"Whatever you're about to do." Ruy leaned back against the bank, arms folded behind his head, looking at the steam rising from the water like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I can hear you thinking from across the spring."
"I'm not thinking anything."
"Your whole face is thinking something." Ruy glanced at him briefly. "It's not a good look."
Remigio's jaw worked. His eyes drifted back to the far end of the spring, where Lila sat close enough to T'Jadaka that their shoulders were nearly touching, both of them staring at the water like it owed them an apology.
"She took off the shirt," Remigio said, voice flat.
"Yeah."
"I've been asking her to get in since we got here."
"I know."
"And she just—" He stopped. Pressed his mouth closed.
Ruy was quiet for a moment. Then: "He wasn't trying to get her to do anything. That's kind of the whole point."
Remigio looked at him.
"You've been working for it," Ruy said, not unkindly. "He wasn't. Doesn't mean anything except that she's got her own reasons for what she does and when she does it." He shrugged. "Can't be mad at her for that."
Across the spring, Lila said something quiet to T'Jadaka. T'Jadaka responded without looking up from the water. Whatever it was made her exhale—not a laugh exactly, but something adjacent to one.
Remigio watched it happen. The tightness in his jaw didn't fully leave, but something underneath it shifted.
"I'm not mad at her," he said finally.
"I know." Ruy tilted his head back, eyes closing. "Just make sure it stays that way."
The steam moved between them, lazy and warm. Vitaliya had started floating on her back across the spring, eyes closed, apparently having decided that everyone else's social complications were not her problem.
Remigio watched the water for a moment.
Then, quietly, to no one in particular: "What does he have that I don't."
Ruy opened one eye. Considered the question with what appeared to be genuine thought.
"He's not trying to have anything," he said. "That's a hard thing to compete with."
Remigio had no answer for that. He sank a little deeper into the water and said nothing, which was, Ruy thought, probably the right call.
Vitaliya tilted her head back, watching steam curl toward the tree canopy above them.
"That's because you're a boy," she said, not unkindly. "Boys don't notice until it's already been going on for months."
Ruy considered arguing this, decided against it. "Okay but—does T'Jadaka know?"
Vitaliya's smirk returned, smaller this time. More thoughtful. "That's the interesting part."
She watched the far end of the spring—Lila and T'Jadaka sitting in the same square foot of water, both apparently fascinated by its surface, both clearly aware of exactly how close they were sitting.
"He knows," she said. "He's always known. That's why he keeps creating distance." She paused. "Question is why."
Ruy frowned. "Maybe he just doesn't like her back."
"Mm." Vitaliya didn't sound convinced. "Or maybe he thinks something would go wrong. Maybe he thinks she deserves better than whatever his life looks like." She shrugged, one shoulder lifting out of the water. "Boys like him—the ones who take care of everyone—they're usually the last ones to let anyone take care of them back."
Ruy was quiet for a moment, processing this.
Across the spring, Remigio had gone very still in the specific way of someone who had decided to do nothing and was finding it extremely difficult. Ruy watched him, reassessing.
"He's holding it together," he said, a little surprised.
"For now." Vitaliya's eyes tracked back to the far end of the spring, where Lila had apparently said something that made T'Jadaka actually look at her directly—a brief, unguarded moment before he found the water interesting again. "But if T'Jadaka keeps doing that thing where he almost connects and then pulls back—" she shook her head slowly, "—Remigio's going to decide the gap is still open. And he's going to try to step into it."
Ruy exhaled. "And then what?"
Vitaliya lifted an eyebrow at him.
"Then it gets complicated," she said. "The way things always get complicated when two people are almost there but neither one says the thing they're actually thinking."
She glanced at Ruy—and for just a moment, something in her expression shifted. A flicker of something personal moving through it before she looked away, back toward the steam and the water and the mess quietly unfolding at the far end of the spring.
Ruy noticed. Filed it away. Said nothing.
The water moved between them, warm and unhurried, carrying no particular agenda.
Lila fidgeted, sitting just far enough from T'Jadaka that the silence between them had weight. Her fingers traced lazy circles on the surface of the water.
"So…" A sideways glance. "You never told me what you think of my swimsuit."
T'Jadaka froze. His eyes went wide for a moment before finding somewhere else to be.
Oh no… he hates it. Lila's stomach twisted. Did I embarrass myself for nothing?
She tugged at the sheer fabric over her hip, suddenly very aware of how much of herself was visible. "It's okay if you don't like it. Maybe it's a little much—"
"No! No!"
He turned so fast he splashed. Lila jumped.
"I—I think you look amazing," Remigio cut in smoothly, leaning forward with a smile he'd clearly been saving. "It fits your curves beautifully. You look like an angel—an innocent blessing us with her beauty."
Lila's hands flew to her cheeks. "T-thanks, Remigio… That's really sweet."
Remigio leaned back, satisfied. Let's see you top that, Jadaka.
"Yeah," T'Jadaka said quietly. "I'd have to agree."
Remigio blinked. Wait—
T'Jadaka turned to Lila and actually looked at her. "Since you're part deer—I think it fits perfectly. Deer represent grace. Gentleness." A pause. "Innocence. All things that remind me of you. Not just how you look, but how you carry yourself."
Lila's breath caught. He noticed that?
"And the white," T'Jadaka continued, stumbling slightly but pushing through, "white means purity. But also—I don't know—perfection, I guess. So it fits your energy." He rubbed the back of his neck, ears going red. "You're just kind of… um… perfect?"
He exhaled. "I'm talking too much."
Lila moved closer, the water rippling softly around her. She reached out and took both his hands in hers.
"No," she said. "I think you don't say enough."
Her tail began swaying behind her—rapid, involuntary, betraying everything her composed expression was trying to hold back.
T'Jadaka stared at her, speechless.
Across the spring, Vitaliya leaned toward Ruy. "She's fully cooked. Done."
"We're witnessing history," Ruy murmured. "Remigio didn't even make it to round two."
T'Jadaka felt his pulse hammering. Smart atoms. Focus. If I don't—
Lila laced her fingers with his. Gently. Deliberately.
His whole body went still.
I'm not hurting her. The tension in his muscles dissolved like steam. I feel… calm.
"Jadaka," she said softly. "You're such an amazing person. You do things without ever expecting anything back. You always put everyone else before yourself." She drifted closer, unconsciously, like something pulled by gravity. "But what you do isn't—"
"What I do isn't special," he said. "I'm just doing what feels right. Making sure everyone's okay."
Lila giggled, placing her hand against his cheek and guiding his gaze back to hers. "Don't be silly." Her thumb brushed his jaw. "That's exactly what makes you so—" her voice dropped, "—drawing."
Her shyness had gone somewhere else entirely. Her face hovered inches from his, close enough that their breath mingled with the steam between them.
"You're just so naturally kind." Her fingers trailed down his arms. "Sweet." Her eyes found his. "Attractive."
T'Jadaka's hands slid to her hips before his mind caught up. He pulled her onto his lap. She gasped—but didn't pull away.
"Jadaka…?" Barely a whisper.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I just—there's this really strong urge. I don't know if I should. It's taking actual energy to hold it back and it's—it's scaring me a little."
Her arms draped around his shoulders. Her deer-like eyes were wide and luminous and completely certain. "Then don't," she whispered. "Just let go. I trust you."
The world contracted to the space between them.
Then—
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The scream tore through the air like something breaking.
Everyone turned.
Remigio stood in the water, fists clenched at his sides, shaking. His face had come apart—the easy confidence gone, something raw and venomous surfacing beneath it.
"Oh shit," Vitaliya breathed.
"Yep." Ruy's voice came out flat. "He's going."
"This isn't fair!" Remigio's voice cracked on the last word. "It's completely fucked up!"
The spring went quiet except for the water.
"Why him and not me?" His voice dropped, trembling. "We were enslaved together—way longer than the three years we've been with him." Something deeper moved through his expression. Betrayal. Grief. "What are you even—"
"What are you talking about?" T'Jadaka asked, genuinely lost.
"Shut up. I'm talking to her."
Lila flinched. "What's wrong? What did I do?"
"It's not what you did." Remigio looked at her like he was holding something shattered. "It's what you didn't do." His voice broke open. "You're sitting here all googly-eyed over T'Jadaka, and I'm the one who's been in love with you for years. Was it really that hard to notice? Because everyone else did."
Lila turned slowly toward Vitaliya and Ruy. "Guys… did you know?"
Neither answered. Vitaliya looked at the water. Ruy scratched the back of his neck.
"Remigio…" Lila said carefully, voice soft with guilt. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt so strongly—"
"Probably because you were too busy drooling over Mr. Greek god," he snapped, eyes cutting to T'Jadaka.
What the hell did I do? T'Jadaka thought, completely blindsided.
"Whose shoulder did you cry on when they killed our parents?" Remigio's voice shook. "Who put himself between you and the beatings when our masters singled you out? Who took the hits you were too scared to face?"
He stepped closer, eyes red.
"You think T'Jadaka did any of that? You think he was the one who stayed up with you through nightmares?" A short, broken laugh. "That motherfucker wasn't even there."
His hand rose, pointing, trembling.
"You want to know what I got for protecting you?" His voice shattered on the last word. "I got raped. Because one of those men had a thing for submissive demi-humans—and I kept him away from you."
The spring went completely silent.
Everyone froze.
Lila's face drained. Her lips moved without sound.
Vitaliya covered her mouth.
"Wait—" she said slowly. "That night, years ago—I thought they beat him because he mouthed off when that man grabbed for Lila—"
"I knew," Ruy said. He wasn't looking at anyone. "He told me when it happened."
Vitaliya turned on him. "You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"
Ruy took a slow breath. "Because I promised. And because—" he paused, "—you're not a man."
"That's not an insult," he added before she could respond. "I just mean—when it happens to a woman, it's a tragedy. People understand. There's support. Sympathy." His eyes moved to Remigio, whose fists hung at his sides, still shaking. "When it happens to a man—especially from another man—it goes somewhere different. It doesn't just hurt. It makes you question everything. Your identity. Your worth." He looked down. "It's not only shame. It's confusion. Self-disgust. Things that don't have easy names."
The steam moved between them, slow and indifferent.
"He begged me not to tell anyone," Ruy said. "So I didn't."
Lila's sobs were silent, shoulders moving without sound.
Remigio had started laughing—quiet at first, then climbing toward something unhinged, his smile curling into an expression that was also clearly crying.
"And now here I am," he said, voice scraped raw. "Getting friend-zoned." He pressed his hand against his face. "I thought maybe—maybe—if you loved me back the way I loved you—then everything I went through would finally mean something. All the pain. All of it." His hand dropped. "It would've meant something."
His eyes found T'Jadaka. Cold. Burning.
"But then you showed up." His finger rose, shaking. "You came in like some goddamn hero and she fell for you—didn't even hesitate—never looked back."
Lila stepped toward him, hands out, panic in her voice. "Remigio, please—you're not thinking clearly right now—"
Ruy was already moving, water sloshing around his legs as he crossed the spring.
Too late.
"I hate you, T'Jadaka!" The words tore out of him, wet with rage and grief. "I hate that you saved us! I wish you never came! I'd rather be back in those hellholes—at least there, maybe she would've loved me by now!"
"If you dropped dead today, I wouldn't miss you for a second." The words came out like venom with grief dissolved in it. "Not even a second!"
T'Jadaka stood.
The water rippled outward from him. Everyone went still—reading the motion, bracing for what came next.
He vanished.
Not toward Remigio. Just—gone. A blur of motion, and then—
SPLASH.
Not water. Something heavier. Wetter. More violent.
Warm crimson spattered across Ruy's face, across Vitaliya's cheek. They wiped at it slowly, the gesture disconnected from understanding.
Vitaliya looked at her palm.
"This is… blood?"
They looked up.
And screamed.
T'Jadaka hung suspended in the air, a thick bestial arm driven clean through his abdomen. Blood fell from him in drops that hit the spring's surface in small, dark rings. His hands had found the arm—both gripping it, muscles standing in ridges beneath his skin, veins climbing his forearms like roots.
Behind him stood the thing.
Half wolf, half nightmare. Yellow eyes catching the light with savage satisfaction, the grin of something that had been hunting for a while and had finally found the right clearing.
"Impressive reflexes," it said, voice deep and guttural. "I was aiming for the boy and the girl beside him. Easier targets. But you—" its grin widened, "—you took the hit instead. Noble."
T'Jadaka's teeth pressed together. His grip on the creature's wrist tightened until the knuckles went white.
"You smell like blood," he said, voice low, controlled fury underneath it. His vision blurred at the edges. "Not mine. Whose blood. Who did you kill."
The creature chuckled, unhurried. "Good nose." It glanced at its free hand, dragged its tongue across the claws. "The couple making out in one of the other springs. But don't worry—" a beat, "—I made it quick."
The world stopped.
Vitaliya's hands began shaking. "No." Her voice broke on the word. "No, no, no—" Tears climbed her eyes. "He killed Matilda and Kichirō—"
Lila's hand covered her mouth, a sob pressing behind it. Ruy's fists closed so hard the knuckles split. Even Remigio—still stunned, still standing in the water—felt horror bloom across his face, replacing everything else.
T'Jadaka's eyes burned, the white fading behind something violet and absolute.
"But since you're already halfway dead," the creature continued, lifting its free claws with the pleasure of someone announcing good news, "the other four are going to be a—"
CRACK.
T'Jadaka's fist detonated across its jaw.
The force launched the creature like something fired from a cannon—its arm tearing free of his abdomen on the way out, the monster's body leaving a trajectory through the air before it met the hillside. The impact opened a crater in the rock face. A piece of its jaw hit the ground somewhere nearby.
T'Jadaka staggered. Caught himself. His hand found the wound.
"Big intestine—cauterized by friction. Limb's still inside, less bleeding." His eyes focused. "I can move."
"EVERYONE! RUN! Back to the district—GO!"
"Are you serious?! I think you just killed it!" Ruy yelled.
T'Jadaka didn't look back. "You dumbass. That wasn't a kill shot."
From the crater, the rumble arrived first—then the creature rose through the dust. Its jaw rebuilt itself in real time, sinew snapping into place, bone reconstituting, the damage reversing like something unwinding a record. It rolled its shoulders.
"Okay," it said, and sounded almost pleased. "Feistier than I thought."
"GO!!"
Nobody waited a second time.
They ran—and then—
"You think I'm letting them leave?"
FLASH.
Gone. Then reappearing directly in front of Vitaliya, the space between them collapsed in an instant. Its claws rose above her like a guillotine finding its angle.
"Hello~" Sweetly. "Goodbye—"
T'Jadaka hit it at full speed, spearing it through the air and through several trees in sequence, bark and splinters exploding outward. The swipe still caught Vitaliya's cheek on its way—a thin red line opening across her skin.
She went to her knees, shaking. "He almost—he almost—"
"He said run, so MOVE!" Ruy barked.
"But T'Jadaka—we can't just leave him—" Lila's voice broke.
"None of us can fight that thing! And he can't protect us and fight at the same time—the best thing we can do is get out of his way!"
Remigio didn't deliberate. He scooped Lila off her feet and ran.
"No—put me DOWN—JADAKA!!" Her voice tore through the trees, reaching back toward him as the forest closed around them. His name, getting smaller. Getting further.
T'Jadaka stood alone.
The forest had gone quiet except for his breathing—ragged, controlled, each inhale burning where the hole in his gut moved with his ribs. His left arm was gone at the shoulder, the wound cauterizing as fast as his body could manage. Blood tracked down his side and dripped from his fingertips.
The creature stepped from the treeline, brushing splinters from its shoulders. It looked at him the way a predator looks at something that has stopped being a challenge and started being an inconvenience.
"You again." It tilted its head. "Two kill shots blocked. Hole in your gut. Missing an arm." A pause. "Still think you can win?"
T'Jadaka raised his remaining fist. Settled into a low, grounded stance, weight distributed, center of gravity dropping.
"I don't need two arms to put you down." Blood from his lip, from his teeth, from the smile underneath both. "You're just a cocky mutt who talks too much."
The creature's eye twitched.
"Oh, you cocky bitch—" A slow baring of fangs, each one catching the light. "I'm not just going to kill you. I'm going to break you. Piece by piece. And when I'm done, your friends will find what's left of you hanging in a tree."
T'Jadaka grinned wider. More blood in it.
"Try it, pussy."