This day just keeps getting better. Ren should've stayed at home.

He cringes at the sound of Akechi's voice, rough and disdainful and wrong in a way that can only belong to one person. He wishes he could dismiss it as a hallucination, but every Magpie hallucination he's had has been of the kid. He hasn't even seen the real Magpie in person since December, except in passing now and then, and that one time that might or might not have been Magpie on a motorcycle. Mostly, they've had text messages and phone calls, and each one of them more of a delight than the last. This is gonna go equally well, he's sure.

His stomach churns. He doesn't even look up, just drops his head to rest against his knees. "What."