20
Kire waited at the school’s front door for ten minutes before the first member of the team arrived, glancing at his watch every five seconds or so. To Kire’s greatest pleasure, it was Rose who arrived first, clad in a dark green corduroy dress with leaf prints and green stockings.
“Hey,” he said to her, smiling.
“Hey,” she replied. She clasped her hands together tightly in front of her and blushed a gentle pink, avoiding eye contact.
“I’m sorry I had to call you out like this…” Kire said. “You probably had to sneak out of your house.”
She chuckled. “Not probably, Kire,” Rose replied. “It’s midnight already. What parent would let their child leave the house for a mission like ours?”
“Yeah, right.”
An uncomfortable silence lingered between them for a while.
“I—I didn’t mean this i
