Chapter 326: A Place Nearby

Chapter 326: A Place Nearby

Arthur said the brace was still usable. The fitting specialist asked him to show her where it rubbed.

For a moment, he looked as though he might claim it didn’t.

Then he adjusted his trouser leg and pointed.

Jin sat beside his mother while the woman examined the padding, the fastenings, and the way Arthur held his weight on the chair. His father had brought the old fitting records in a folded envelope. They looked well kept. The brace looked less fortunate.

"You’ve had this adjusted several times," the specialist said.

"It helped."

"For a while?"

Arthur nodded.

She set the records beside her. "Let’s see what we can do with a replacement made for the support you need now."

Elena leaned closer to Jin. "He should have come sooner."

"I can hear you," Arthur said.

"I know," she replied.

The assessment took most of the morning. Jin watched the specialist compare Arthur’s movement with and without support, ask where he tired first, and make him describe what happened after a full day at work.

His father answered more readily once the questions became practical.

"The walk back is worse," he admitted. "Stairs, mostly. I stop at the landing."

"How often?"

"Most days."

Elena looked down at her hands. Jin had known about the leg, of course. He hadn’t known how carefully his father arranged an ordinary journey around it.

The specialist brought over a sample frame to explain the fitting.

"The old injury remains," she said. "A new brace won’t restore the leg. What we can improve is the support, the pressure against your skin, and how comfortably it moves with you."

"Lighter?" Arthur asked, taking the sample.

"Where we can safely reduce weight. We’ll check the fit when it arrives and adjust it again after you’ve used it."

Arthur tested the joint with his thumb. "Order it."

At the front desk, Jin put his card down before his father reached his wallet.

"Jin."

"We agreed."

Arthur glanced at the clerk, then at the amount awaiting confirmation. "We also agreed you’d keep a reserve."

"I have. This is in the budget."

His father studied him long enough that Jin opened the figures on his phone. Only then did Arthur let him pay the deposit.

Outside, he rested a hand on Jin’s shoulder.

"Thank you," he said.

Jin had prepared himself for another argument. The quiet gratitude caught him with nothing ready to say.

"It’s fine," he managed. "Just go back for the fitting."

"I will." Arthur squeezed once and let go.

The Coldwell flat was their second appointment that day.

Jin had planned to walk from the transit stop, but his mother made him sit while they waited for the local connection. He objected until Arthur pointed out that they had just spent a morning discussing people who concealed discomfort.

That ended the objection rather efficiently.

The building had a secured entrance and a broad stair rail. Elena checked the steps with Arthur before following the landlord upstairs. He took his time, tested the landing, and said he could manage it.

Inside were three rooms, a kitchen, and windows that opened onto a narrow residential street. The academy towers could be seen beyond the roofs when Jin leaned toward the sitting-room glass.

Elena tried the kitchen tap and checked beneath the sink for damp. Jin had been looking at the view; his mother was already asking where they would dry clothes. He followed her through the remaining rooms, listening.

Elsa had already found the smallest bedroom.

"This one," she announced.

"We haven’t chosen the flat yet," Elena reminded her.

"I know. If we choose it, this one."

She stood beside the window and looked down at the street. Jin joined her. There was a shop at the corner, a covered waiting area beside the transit stop, and enough daylight that nobody had needed to turn on the room’s lamp.

"You like it?" he asked.

Elsa nodded. "I could put a desk here."

She showed him where, then moved an imaginary chair because it would block the cupboard. By the time Elena called them into the kitchen, she had rearranged the whole room without owning a single piece of its furniture.

Jin hoped the flat worked out.

He hadn’t realized how much until he saw her doing that.

The landlord answered their questions about maintenance, security, and the deposit. He recognized Jin halfway through explaining the entrance system.

"The lizard from the League?"

"He lives at the academy," Jin said quickly.

The man glanced toward the stairs. "I’d hope so."

That was the extent of the excitement, which Jin appreciated.

They discussed the flat after the landlord stepped outside to take a call.

"The rent is within what we’d planned," Arthur said. "I’ve asked about the depot vacancy. They want my records before they can give me an answer."

"My supervisor will support a transfer request," Elena added. "That doesn’t mean it’s approved yet."

"And school?" Jin asked.

"They’ll review Elsa’s records," his mother said. "We need to confirm dates before moving her."

Elsa leaned against the empty counter. "I’m fine with that."

"You’ll still have classes and people to get used to," Elena told her.

"I know. I’d rather do it here."

Arthur looked around the kitchen once more. "Then this is our choice, if the arrangements work. We ask for the tenancy details and confirm when we could take possession."

"We’re doing it?" Jin asked.

"We’re making arrangements," his father corrected, though he was smiling. "Nobody’s moving tonight."

Jin accepted that. His parents had combined the appointments with a short visit, and they still had jobs to return to. A good afternoon didn’t remove all the things they needed to organize.

The landlord sent the proposed terms to Arthur. Jin saved the deposit amount beside the brace and awakening costs, checked what remained, and left the reserve untouched.

He liked being able to say yes. He would like being able to keep saying it next month too.

That evening, he opened the Engine after resting in his room.

His next blood check was already booked. The last treatment had helped, but he still tired unexpectedly. He could read or use his phone comfortably for a while; that wasn’t the same as being healthy.

He selected the quarry’s old outer route.

The workers there had troubled Glitch once. Now the avatar broke their formation before they could surround him, while Flicker’s avatar swept clear of attacks she could easily avoid.

Jin kept them away from the deeper passages. There were better returns farther down. He knew exactly how to reach them, which made ignoring them more difficult than it should have been.

This route. That’s what you opened it for.

He completed a few short runs and checked the rewards. The Coins were useful. The development could remain banked.

Real Glitch slept in the adjoining stall. Nothing in the avatar’s easy movements changed the restrictions on the beast lying there, and nothing about weak enemies answered Jin’s questions about his own blood.

He wasn’t testing that tonight.

When the next run became available, he left it unselected and closed the interface.

For a moment he sat looking at his ordinary phone screen. He could have done another. That was the annoying part.

He put the phone down anyway.

Elsa messaged while he was eating supper.

[The clinic sent instructions. Short sleeves. Bring identification. Follow the food instructions the night before.]

A second message appeared while he was reading.

[What if I faint?]

Jin set his spoon down.

Then you’re already in the right place. Tell them you’re worried when we get there.

She took longer to answer than usual.

[Do people actually faint?]

Ask the clinic, Els. Don’t ask me to invent something reassuring.

That got him an annoyed face, followed by a message saying she would ask.

He smiled and went back to his food. A few minutes later, her final message arrived.

[Eight days.]

Jin checked the date. She was right: six days had passed since the appointment confirmation. He had filled them with consultations, treatment, and arrangements. Elsa had been counting them down.

Eight days, he replied. I’ll be there.

She sent a heart and then, apparently deciding that was too much, a reminder not to be late.

Jin added the clinic time to a second reminder. He was looking forward to seeing what she would become, but for the first time he understood how frightening the wait might be from her side.