Letting out a guttural sound, Jye groaned in extreme pain.

“So, we have to stay in this gym?”

The place in question wasn’t so sad. All the exercise machines within were relatively new, though the decoration was sparse. Nowadays I expected at least one pot plant to clash against the commercial beige of the walls, but there was no such thing. Just the machines, and bland dark grey carpet. Who knew how many litres of sweat were stored within their fibres? At the very least, Jye had kicked the remaining clients out, and now it was just the three of us.

“This place is perfect for us to figure stuff out.”

“I hate to agree with Axel, but generally we all know our roles before trying to fight a boss. I’m an all-rounder, so my start is gonna be pretty weak before I can start looking at specialising into something.” I hoped, at least. “Do you have any idea what your class is?”

Jye folded their arms, irritation clear in their stance. “I told you, I can’t read it. That I was able to use my ability was me grasping at straws. But you saw what it did. Pinned him right to the floor. Maybe I’m a support class?”

“No, I think that skill is more suited to backline damage,” Axel said, rubbing his chin.

What a stupid idea. I said, “That’s a stupid idea. It’s clearly some sort of immobilisation skill. How’re they meant to do damage with that?”

He pointed aggressively at the scrapes on his face. “The scars-to-be marring my face say it's possible.”

I scoffed. “All right, please share with the rest of the class how they’re meant to do damage from the back.”

Out of all the things I was expecting Axel to say next, it wasn’t: “You ball, right?”

“At this height, if you don’t, people make fun of you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You any good?”

They shrugged modestly. “I can dunk.”

“Your aim must be decent too then.”

“It’s okay.”

“Then you can do backline damage.”

“Uh, can I interrupt here for a second?” I was lost as to where this conversation was going. What did basketball have to do with backline damage? Was he implying that Jye could apply a real life skill to the new game ones? It made sense to an extent. At least in regards to Axel. He’d always been a fast sprinter. Had the trait [Swift Footed] stemmed from that?

“No interruptions,” Axel said.

Oh, okay then. It had been a long time since I thought about how much I fucking hated Axel. But it was good of him to remind me.

“Don’t be rude to your partner, man.”

Axel scowled. “Not my partner. We’re just friends. Purely platonic. Just because two dudes are close doesn’t mean they’re dating. That’s very close-minded of you.”

Jye seemed genuinely berated. Their big green eyes widened and they said, “My bad. You guys just have that married-bordering-on-divorce vibe about you.”

Appeased by the apology, Axel began to continue his thoughts, but Jye then said, “Still though, that’s a shit way to treat a friend.”

Though barely able to do so, I repressed my sigh. A sinking feeling in my stomach began to form. Since it wasn’t clear when new Gates would appear, anxiety was building. The pressure of an unknown deadline made it feel like we were running out of time. Not to mention that Axel was acting like we had all the time in the world. When there wasn’t even a world in the way we knew.

“He doesn’t care. Besides, it’s for his own good.”

I couldn’t stop myself from reacting and my eyebrows shot up. My own good? Axel being a dick was for my own good? Had he always thought that? Maybe that was why he had stopped talking to me for so long in primary school. And how was him being awful something for my own good? Unable to properly process his words, I let them pass. I’d store them away and look at them again later. Though that box of thoughts was rapidly being filled. It was only a matter of time before I couldn’t stuff anything further into it.

“That’s messed up,” Jye commented. That was definitely one way of putting it.

Flat out ignoring them, Axel clapped his hands together, a smile on his face. “Having lived through your ability, I can assure you that it’s better for backline damage. Combine that with your hand-eye coordination and it’s the perfect match. In fact, we can test it out right now.”

“You wanna eat dirt again that bad?”

The enthusiasm in Axel markedly dropped and he gave Jye an empty stare. “If you ever use that ability on me again, I can’t promise what will happen.”

“Fair enough. So, what do you want me to do then?”

“Just a sec.”

First, whinging all the way, Axel dragged the scale at the back of the gym to a spot about two metres in front of Jye. Then he grabbed one of the 2kg dumbbells by the wall, and placed it onto the scale. The arrow on the scale jumped up to the 2kg mark. Axel then flourished at the scale.

What the fuck.

The giant watched him wordlessly. There was nothing to say. Because nothing Axel had done made any sense. Again, Axel flourished at the dumbbell on the scale this time with increased frustration, his fingers locked in claws.

“You can use your words, you know,” I said.

Jye mused, “You want… me to use my ability on the weight?”

Axel gave them two thumbs up and an excessively toothy grin. Again, I stored away this lunatic behaviour into the “think about later” box. The memories were beginning to bulge at the top lid when I tried to shut it again. Words of my childhood therapist ran through my mind. “Compartmentalising these thoughts isn’t healthy, Lee. If you don’t deal with them, bad stuff can happen.” Well, shows how much that therapist knew. Nothing bad had happened so far. And I’d been doing it for twenty-eight years.

Jye bent down and touched the weight. The sound of static buzzed in my ears. Yep, the coincidence was too big. I could hear when someone activated an ability. Could others? Should I ask Axel and Jye if they could too? Before I could voice my thoughts, the arrow on the scale shot up, flickered for a moment, and then settled just above 4kg. Jye’s eyes widened.