With Jamie’s mind in the state it was, he knew he shouldn’t put himself in a position where the older Partizan might have a chance to dissect him. Training or working was fine – they were too busy to talk – but this was different. He could sense an intimacy in the offer that made him squirm, and yet wasn’t this precisely what Percy had told him he needed to do, to talk to someone who might understand some of what he was experiencing? Wasn’t this exactly why he’d sought him out?

Percy was right. He couldn’t protect anyone when at any moment he felt like he might catch fire. And, just like that, the irrational part of him won. Jamie nodded, and let Haru lead the way.

In expectant silence they wandered all the way down to the long-closed outdoor pool for which Haru had a key. The whole area had become one with the surrounding nature, curious flowers and weeds peeping out from between the stone slabs, the emptied pool filled with emerald puddles, the crisp oranges and browns of leaves resting on the surface.

Last time Jamie had set foot here, he’d been poisoned by Leviathan’s makeshift Hamelin Formula. It had made him drowsy and persuadable, honesty spilling out of his lips that he cringed to think about, and he was glad he could hardly remember it. Now the dappled topaz light hung in streams over the void of the empty pool, everything drenched in the calming scent of wet earth and pine.

‘What is troubling you?’ Haru asked, taking a seat on the damp ground.

Surrounded by the natural quiet, with only softly chirping birds and rustling leaves, Jamie allowed himself to exhale some of the tension in his shoulders, settling down beside Haru, their legs dangling over the edge of the pool.

‘Percy said I should talk to you. He asked me to actually, because he thinks we have a lot in common,’ Jamie blurted out. ‘He and Raphael – they think I’m not processing what happened in Tokyo properly, which is ridiculous because we’re trained for moments like that, which they don’t understand.’

‘Those are very good friends you have.’ Haru looked up, the sun drenching his freckled face. ‘It’s a shame they’ve had to go through so much simply because of who they know.’

‘What do you –’

Haru turned back to him, his face warping in a way that Jamie hadn’t seen before. His expression was no longer warm. It flickered like a roaring flame, surging just enough for Jamie to catch a glimpse. ‘It was very scary,’ he said, sounding strangely childish, ‘when you fell off the roof.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You fell, didn’t you? That’s what the nurse said. I’m amazed you made it to Takeshin. Do you remember how?’

‘No, it’s a blur.’

‘Maybe someone helped you home.’