Neo had not expected to find Snot and Alice waiting outside his building with food in their hands like they had any right to appear there without warning.

Snot raised the paper bag again when Neo stopped near the entrance, as if the smell alone should count as explanation. Alice stood beside him in silence, straight-backed as always, though there was a faint stiffness to her posture that made it clear they had been waiting a while.

Neo exhaled through his nose. "I didn’t expect you to show up at my place without warning again. You know that’s bad manners, right?"

Alice reacted at once.

She lowered her head and gave him a small bow, serious enough that it almost looked painful. "Sorry."

Neo blinked once, then clicked his tongue.

"I was joking," he said. "Don’t take it that hard, Alice. We’re friends."

Alice lifted her head again. A faint trace of embarrassment crossed her face when she realized she had taken him literally. Beside her, Snot looked far too pleased with the whole thing.

"We were waiting a good while," he said. "I called you a couple of times too, but you didn’t pick up."

Neo reached into his pocket on instinct, pulled the phone out, and saw the missed calls there.

"Oh." He slid it back away. "I had to meet someone, and it was important. I left it on silent."

Snot grinned immediately. "Oh, so you know how to leave your phone on silent now? We’re advancing little by little."

Neo rolled his eyes and stepped toward the entrance. "Come on. If you’re already here, at least don’t make the neighbors think I collect idiots outside my building."

Snot laughed and followed him in. Alice came right after, quiet as ever.

Once inside, the difference between the street and the apartment hit them both immediately. The building was clean, the halls silent, everything in place. It still did not feel entirely natural to Neo either, but he had gotten used to it enough not to stop noticing every light and polished surface.

When they entered the apartment itself, Alice paused for a brief moment and looked around.

"It’s a nice home," she said in that calm, low voice of hers.

Neo heard it and answered while locking the door behind them. "Thanks." He glanced at the bag in Snot’s hand. "What did you even bring? I’m not hungry. I ate not long ago. You two can do it yourselves."

Snot made a face. "That sentence sounded deeply ungrateful."

"It was honest."

"Same thing, apparently."

They moved to the table and sat down. Snot took the bag with a seriousness he did not bring to much else and began unloading it piece by piece. Nuggets. Fries. Burgers. Grease, salt, cheap heat, all of it hitting the room at once. He pushed one portion toward Alice, kept another for himself, and left the rest near the center.

Alice opened hers without ceremony. Neo stayed seated with them even if he had meant what he said about not being hungry.

Snot tore into the first fries, chewed, swallowed, and got to the point fast.

"We came because we need to decide what happens from here," he said. "We can’t just keep floating around with no plan."

Neo leaned back slightly in the chair. "And I thought I was the one always in a hurry. You could’ve waited until after Max’s funeral."

Snot gave him a sideways look while unwrapping his burger. "I didn’t take you for the sentimental type."

Neo dismissed it with a small movement of his hand. "I’m not."

Snot bit into the burger, chewed, swallowed, and nodded as if that settled nothing and everything at once.

"Fine," he said. "Then here’s mine. I’m taking two weeks with my little sister. I told you about her. She got scared after the Breach closed. She’s been worse since then." He wiped one thumb against the wrapper. "Once she calms down, I’m back. I’m not quitting."

Alice spoke right after him.

"Neither am I." Her tone stayed even. "I’m free from now."

Neo nodded once. "Same for me. I’m busy tomorrow morning. I need to talk to someone. After that, I’m free." He rested one forearm on the table. "We can start looking for something here in Atlas or go after another Breach if one opens. Either way, we need to keep preparing for the Gray Hand test." He looked from one to the other. "Unless either of you changed your mind."

Alice answered first with a quiet shake of her head.

Snot snorted. "No chance."

Alice lowered her gaze to the phone in her hand. "Marika just messaged." A short pause followed. "The funeral is in three days."

The room quieted for a moment after that.

Neo looked at Alice. "Then we start after the funeral."

She gave a small nod.

Snot leaned back in his chair, burger still in hand. "Good. That’s a plan." The grin on his face returned, though this time it carried a little more force behind it. "I’m glad neither of you got scared off after what happened in there."

Neo’s expression stayed flat. "I don’t think it gets much worse than that."

Snot gave a short laugh. "Yeah. Probably not."

For a little while, only the sound of food wrappers and chewing filled the table. Snot was the first one to break the quiet again, though his voice came out rougher than before.

"That Leo Duplain thing still pisses me off," he said. "I didn’t even know who the bastard was at first. Then I saw what he did in there, and afterward there was barely anything about it in the news." His jaw tightened. "Nothing real, anyway."

Neo understood the anger. Max had died in that Breach. So had many others. Leo had walked out into cameras and headlines while most of the truth stayed buried under everything his family could afford to keep clean.

"Don’t keep chewing on it," Neo said. "There’s nothing we can do right now. Getting stronger is the only part that matters. Otherwise it happens again."

Alice nodded quietly from the other side of the table.

Snot dragged a hand through his hair and let out a breath. "Yeah. I know."

He was still angry, though. Neo could hear it beneath the words.

A little later, Snot wiped his fingers, leaned forward, and spoke again in a more practical tone.

"There’s another reason we can’t waste time." He tapped the table once with two fingers. "The Gray Hand test is close now. Once we pass, we can get Soul Cores steadily, enter Breaches more regularly, and stop scrambling for scraps every time we want to grow."

Neo listened without interrupting.

Snot kept going.

"I also heard something useful. The Gray Hand branch in Arandom City has a Godscar Ruin secured. A real one. They’re planning to send the strongest and most capable people to explore it once things line up properly." His mouth curved. "So if we get in, we’ll have to stand out enough to be chosen."

Neo went still.

That was not small information.

A Godscar Ruin.

Something old tightened inside him the instant he heard the words. Ruins meant relics, hidden history, fragments the world had lost or buried, and things tied to powers far older than city families pretending they owned the future. On top of that came the simpler truth. Strong monsters. Strong classes. More chances.

’This will be good.’

Alice finished the last of her food, folded the wrapper neatly, and said, "Then that becomes our target too."

Snot pointed at her at once. "Exactly."

Neo looked at both of them and gave a small nod.

"Then we do it properly," he said. "Funeral first. Training after. We prepare for Gray Hand, and once we’re in, we make sure they have a reason to pick us."

Snot grinned. Alice gave another quiet nod. Just three people at a table, cheap food in wrappers, a dead friend not yet buried, and a plan hard enough to keep them moving forward.