[center][h1][color=#6e66c4]JANA[/color] & [color=00aeef]KIZUNA[/color][/h1][/center]

With one towel still wrapped around her hair and the other around her torso, Jana stepped into the changing room. It was difficult for her to tell if her heart was still pounding from the treadmill challenge earlier, or the fact she’d just beaten her personal best. She grinned from ear to ear and a soft cyan hue radiated from her cheeks.  

The room was empty, save for Jana and some strung up clothes. Jana could tell from the steam rising from the shower stalls that Kizuna was taking her sweet time. She could hardly blame the girl, the gym’s large glass windows had cradled a perpetual noon temperature. Still, the alert on Jana’s phone must have been meant for both of them. Kizuna and Jana were on standby today and a message from the boss could only mean one thing.

[color=#6e66c4]“Hurry up Ki, Hector’s waiting”[/color] Jana called out to the one occupied shower tall. [color=#6e66c4]“I don’t want to get scolded again.”[/color]

Kizuna casually came out from the showers. [color=00aeef]“You could speed up by giving me my towel, please and thank you.”[/color] Kizuna hid a smile, but its genuinity caught Jana's attention. She did as her friend asked and tossed her the towel on her head.

[color=00aeef]“Well aren't you a bold one? Hector literally lives up to interrupting comfort, which reminds me, we would have met him earlier if you didn't make that stupid bet!"[/color] Kizuna referred to the earlier treadmill challenge. [color=00aeef]“You must really like amassing lectures from Hector, even from me.”[/color] 

[color=#6e66c4]“Not as much as I enjoy leaving you in my dust.”[/color] Jana snickered, though the boldness of those words was accompanied by an even brighter blush. Jana had outrun Kizuna on the treadmill and between the two of them, most exercises were a contest. This time, the stakes had been their towels. A trail of water and soap followed the usually composed and elegant Kizuna from the stalls to the middle of the changing room. The smile suggested Kizuna took the punishment game in stride, but Jana knew that was only so long this information stayed between the two of them. A word to their superiors and Kizuna would have her head.

The evening hadn’t set in yet, but her phone warned Jana 17:53 was dangerously close to it. The streets grew more crowded by the minute and Jana’s heart began pounding for a completely different reason. [color=#6e66c4]“I don’t think we’re going to make it if we have to make it past all these people.”[/color] Jana pulled on Kizuna’s coat. [color=#6e66c4]“But I know a way around.”[/color] 

Jana led Kizuna around the corner, into an alleyway that ended next to a storage place fenced off with mesh. The gate was closed off and the fence was topped off with barbed wires, but there were a few empty crates lying around and the building on the other side was less than a meter away. 

Jana let go of Kizuna’s coat to take a few steps back. She took a deep breath, lining up her vision with her path. Jana sprinted up, using her momentum to leap onto the first box. The next step she pushed herself off towards the second, then off onto the wall. Her sneakers kicked off against it - and as she pulled up her knees, Jana barely scraped over the fence before landing with a roll.

[color=#6e66c4]“See, easy as one-two-three.”[/color] Jana puffed, as she knew stunts like that after her work-out would come to bite her in the morning. She dusted the dirt off the back of her coat then pointed towards a ladder. [color=#6e66c4]“Come on Ki, we can skip a few streets if we take the scenic route.”[/color]

Kizuna sighed and rolled her eyes, having expressed yet another one of her hidden smiles. [color=00aeef]“Show-off.”[/color] Chains sprouted out of her body and it slapped the ground, causing Kizuna to propel mid-air. There were lesser strongholds to grapple but it didn't hamper her from reaching Jana immediately.

[color=00aeef]“Easy as negative one-two-three.”[/color] Kizuna jabbed at Jana's head-start. There was no time to play around, Kizuna suggested that they should get to their venue in an instant, without drawing the public's attention. She tied her hair ponytail-style, her chains dissipated with platinum glitter. [color=00aeef]“I need you to cling to me, bridal-fashion.”[/color]

[color=#6e66c4]“Eh, again?”[/color] Jana stammered. This wasn’t the first time they were late. Kizuna’s ability to move with or without standing out was the one magic Jana was most jealous of. Not to mention the way she dismissed them. Even in short bursts, it was as if watching performance art and felt like the kind of show Jana herself didn’t belong in.

[color=00aeef]“ASAP.”[/color] Kizuna emphasised impatiently.

Jana wrapped her arms around Kizuna’s shoulders. In one swoop, the chains took them to their destination. The air pressure coursed alongside their bodies. Jana clutched her grip as the chains pulled them up to the building. 

Kizuna announced their landing as if she were their stewardess. Her eyes were filled with concern when she looked down at Jana. [color=#6e66c4]“Um, you can let go of me now.”[/color] Jana said. Kizuna promptly dropped Jana and looked the other way. Though no stranger to flying, Jana was glad to put her own two feet back on the ground. [color=#6e66c4]“Don’t worry, Ki. Look, I’m fine.”[/color] Jana jogged in place, trying to pull Kizuna’s eyes from whatever she was so fixated on. [color=#6e66c4]“No jetlags here. Now let’s go we just have-”[/color] Jana checked her phone. [color=#6e66c4]“Four minutes left!”[/color]

The two girls hurried across the rooftops, jumping and slinging their respective ways across the city of Mahoukyo. Without the roads and the people in them to be worried about, Jana and Kizuna soon found themselves in the Akechi district. With a little more help from Kizuna’s chains, the two touched the pavement right in front of the Akechi residence.

[color=00aeef]“We're here and we're not late. Let's go meet Hector.”[/color] As she let go of Jana once more. 

[color=#6e66c4]“Just by a minute.”[/color] Jana sighed of relief before putting her phone back in her pocket. She hurried to the door, ID card already in hand as to satisfy the security system. 

[sub][color=00aeef]“By the way, you felt soft.”[/color][/sub]

In her rush, Jana didn’t hear what Kizuna was saying. [color=#6e66c4]“Come on.”[/color] Jana prompted as she held open the door. Kizuna hesitated, but soon followed suit, though once more her eyes attached themselves to ambiguous points in the distance. 

The Akechi had installed safety measures in the forms of guards in addition to doors. Passing the reception, the guard acknowledged Kizuna with a short bow. “Welcome back, miss Enichi.” The guard spoke formally. The outer residence was, of course, Kizuna’s family’s residence. Jana flashed her card at the man, she merely received a stiff nod. 

The meeting room was on the ground floor and despite Kizuna’s protests, [color=00aeef]“Not so fast.”[/color] Jana blitzed through the outer residence’ corridors. The door to the meeting room was left open and before she’d even put her first foot in the room, her eyes darted to the clock on the wall.

[color=#6e66c4]“... 17:55...”[/color] She muttered, the strips of cyan glow quickly returning to her cheekbones. Jana checked her phone, which clearly read 6 ‘o clock. There were just two other notifications: “This device’ date and time are no longer in sync with the network-provided time.” and “[noparse]PrelimaryCorrection.exe[/noparse] (as written by H. Johnson) has been successfully installed and executed.”  

[color=#6e66c4]“Hector, you’re kidding me...”[/color] Jana whispered to herself, her eyes still glued to the display. [color=#6e66c4]“Again?”[/color]