Top’s Café allows people who don’t have a baku yet to interact with different species and pick a favorite, or to experience a different-level baku for a while. It’s also a place where Moncha previews new baku models, so it’s often crammed with people looking to get a sneak peek at what’s coming next. The delicious bubble tea and selection of yummy decorated treats they display in a glass counter at the back of the room all help its popularity too.

I quickly scan the room and feel a prickle of anxiety when I spot the striped tail of a tiger baku peeking out from one of the booths. I don’t really want to talk to anyone else from Profectus—especially not Gemma, who is captain of Carter’s baku battle team—so I quickly shuffle past. There’s a booth reserved under Tobias’s name in the corner, so I slide in, shifting a snoozing bunny baku off my seat first. Instantly it springs to life and hops across the table toward me. I giggle and stroke its soft milk-white fur, then order a mango-flavored bubble tea with extra tapioca pearls while I wait for the others to arrive.

Slick skitters around the table, projecting several options for me while I wait—an addictive jewel-swapping game, my social media feed, and the latest book I was reading. But I wave it all away. Instead, I try to focus back on the missing memories. Now that I can remember saying goodbye to Jinx, I wonder if I can think back even further.

Something happened between Jinx bolting from my arms and us saying goodbye at the cat park.

We must have been in Moncha HQ, but there’s a definite street in my memory, with houses and a porch swing—

“Lacey!”

I’m snapped out of my thoughts as Ashley slides into the booth next to me. Kai squishes in beside her, and Tobias and River are opposite. Their bakus take up positions around the booth, and my eye is automatically drawn up to Aero, who perches on the ledge above us.

“You made it!” Ashley says, squeezing my shoulder. “What a wild day.”

“I can’t believe they kicked you out of the academy,” says Toby. “You okay?” His dark brown eyes bore into mine.

“Been better,” I say, with a shrug. “These cute little bunny bakus are helping. And Zora and I came up with a plan to get me a level three baku.”

“Oh, that’s great!” says Ashley. “It’s so unfair that they won’t let you in. Anything we can do to help?”

“Just seeing you all is enough.”

“Well, we missed you tons,” she says.

“It’s not the same without you!” says River.