Chloe was injured the worst, though not seriously—cuts and bruises and enough blood to make the scene chaotic.
Arthur got hit on the head.
Ryan hurt his arm.
I was untouched.
At the hospital, while I was waiting outside the treatment rooms, the system showed up again with indecent cheerfulness.
“Hi, Zoe. Long time no see. I brought good news.”
I said nothing.
It coughed awkwardly. “So. Tiny update. Turns out it was me. Again. You really were the player from the start. Arthur really does love you. A lot. You saw that, right? If you say yes now, the conquest will succeed instantly.”
“System,” I said.
“Yes?”
“Get lost.”
“Don’t be like that. We were partners for three years. Also, while investigating, I found a lot of new information. Arthur really likes you. After the reunion he kept waiting for you to contact him. When you didn’t, he deliberately stood in freezing rain all day to get sick so you’d worry. Then he searched the garbage station for the things you threw out and—”
“Where’s your complaint department?”
It gasped.
“W-wait. Okay. Okay. Maybe you don’t want Arthur. Then I can switch you to Ryan. He likes you too. A lot. In fact, he anonymously sponsored the reunion just to see you. I’m serious. He gets absurdly happy whenever you talk to him. I can still salvage this—”
“I’m counting to five.”
“Zoe—”
“Five. Four. Three.”
“I’m leaving! I’m leaving!”
My head finally became quiet.
A little later Arthur came out of treatment with a bandage around his head. His eyes were red.
I stood.
“I stayed to say thank you for stepping in.”
Silence.
Then he asked in a hoarse voice, “Do you really have to talk to me like this?”
“Yes.”
He took a shaky breath.
“Did those three years really leave no room at all for us?”
I looked at him.
Then I said the cruelest truth available.
“I didn’t approach you because I loved you. I approached you because I wanted the reward money. So please let it go too.”
He stared at me.
Then he said, with a kind of broken certainty, “That’s not true.”
I turned toward Ryan’s room.
Arthur caught my sleeve.
“I can tell the difference,” he whispered. “I know what love looks like. I know you loved me.”
His eyes filled.
“And I know I said everything too late.”
He swallowed hard.
“But I really do love you. Let me try again. Please. I’ll prove it.”
I smiled a little.
“Arthur,” I said, “we were never the same kind of people. Let each other go.”
Then I opened the door and went into Ryan’s treatment room.
He had just finished getting his arm wrapped.
When the nurse left, an awkward silence settled.
He broke it first.
“You don’t have to explain anything.”
I looked down.
“I’m not ready for a relationship right now.”
“I know.”
“Can we still be friends?”
He blinked.
Then smiled.
“The sensible kind? The non-pushy kind? The kind that doesn’t turn every meal into emotional blackmail?”
I laughed softly.
“That kind.”
He nodded immediately.
“Then yes.”
I hesitated. “Wouldn’t that be unfair to you?”
He shook his head.
“If you avoid me because of someone else, that’s what would be unfair.”
I looked at him, genuinely puzzled.
“Why do you like me?”
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he smiled to himself.
“I don’t know if liking someone needs a reason,” he said. “I just know that in high school, every Monday when I saw you so happy lining up for fish, fish somehow started tasting good to me too.”
My heart trembled.
Very softly.
Very carefully.
Like something waking up instead of exploding.