The message arrived to all three of them at almost the same time.

Neo was in his apartment when his phone buzzed. He had barely picked it up before another message followed from Snot.

Got it? tell me you got it

Don’t read it alone, wait for us

Actually no read it alone too i want your first reaction

Neo stared at the screen.

’He really treats every situation like the world hired him as its announcer.’

A minute later, Alice sent something far shorter.

I got it.

That one felt more stable. Which, in Alice’s case, was almost the same as affectionate.

They ended up meeting at Neo’s place because it was the easiest option and because Snot had already been there once, which meant he had decided that made him practically family. By the time the two of them arrived, Neo had set three drinks on the table and moved a stack of old clothes off the chair Snot liked to throw himself into without asking.

Snot walked in first like a man entering his own celebration.

"One day left," he announced, spreading his arms wide. "Tomorrow, Gray Hand finally recognizes greatness."

Neo shut the door behind them. "If greatness announces itself that often, it’s usually insecurity."

Snot pressed a hand to his chest. "That’s vicious. I just got here."

Alice stepped past them with the paper bag she’d brought and put it on the table. "You started talking before the door even opened."

"Because I have presence," Snot said.

"Because you have no off switch," Neo replied.

Alice’s mouth moved slightly at that, enough to count.

They sat.

Snot dropped into the chair and pulled out his phone in one quick motion, already grinning. "Alright. We read this together so that when Gray Hand tries to ruin our lives, we can all be offended at the same time."

Neo leaned back on the sofa. "Read."

Alice took the seat by the table and set her phone down beside the drink. Unlike Snot, she’d probably already gone through the message three times on the way here and memorized the parts worth keeping. Neo trusted that more than Snot’s enthusiasm, but enthusiasm was louder, so it got the floor first.

Snot cleared his throat with theatrical effort and read aloud.

"Candidates accepted for preliminary entry examination to Gray Hand, Arandom Branch, are to report at..." He glanced up and grimaced. "That’s early. Why is it always early? Powerful organizations never wake up at a reasonable hour."

"Because they don’t want people like you showing up half asleep and calling it strategy," Neo said.

Snot ignored him and kept reading.

"...Candidates are to arrive thirty minutes prior to the listed time. Late arrival may result in immediate disqualification."

Alice tapped the table once. "Thirty means forty."

Snot turned toward her. "Exactly. This is why you’re the reliable one. If it was just me and Neo, he’d arrive on time and I’d arrive with an excuse."

Neo didn’t even bother denying that part. "You say that like the excuse wouldn’t be entertaining."

"It would be excellent," Snot said. "That’s not the point."

He went on.

"No companions, family, or non-registered parties permitted beyond the outer security checkpoint. Candidates are advised to wear practical clothing suitable for combat, mobility, and environmental stress. Personal weapons and relics are permitted unless otherwise instructed on-site."

Neo’s attention tightened slightly there.

That part was good. No awkward last-minute restriction. No need to pretend he fought barehanded until the exam decided to be generous. Alice had picked up on the same line. She nodded once, almost to herself.

Snot kept reading. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"The examination process may contain multiple phases. Candidates are expected to obey all instructions issued by authorized Gray Hand personnel. Failure to comply may affect evaluation regardless of combat performance."

He lowered the phone slowly.

"Regardless of combat performance," he repeated. "That sounds annoying."

"That sounds normal," Neo said.

"It sounds like they want excuses to judge people for breathing wrong."

"They do," Alice replied, folding her hands loosely around the cup. "That’s the point."

Snot pointed at her like she had just betrayed the spirit of freedom. "You two are terrible at giving comfort."

"We’re better at giving correct answers," Neo said.

Snot clicked his tongue and returned to the message.

"Candidates should be aware that temperament, discipline, situational judgment, and adaptability are considered part of the overall evaluation."

This time, none of them joked.

Snot leaned back in the chair and lowered the phone into his lap. "So it’s not just a fight."

Neo had already reached that conclusion before the sentence finished. "Of course it’s not."

Snot frowned. "I know it’s not only a fight. I’m saying they’re spelling it out. They want people to know they’re watching more than power."

Alice picked up her own phone and scrolled to the same part. "That means the first phase might not be physical at all."

"It’ll be physical," Neo said. "Just not only that."

Snot leaned forward, elbows on his knees now, the playful edge in him easing into something more useful. "Alright. Let’s say they’re measuring more than strength. What do they want to catch?"

Neo answered first. "People who break early. People who get arrogant. People who need constant instruction. People who burn everything in one burst and call it confidence."

Alice added, "People who can’t read the room."

Snot let out a short breath. "That’s a lot of people."

"Good," Neo said. "Less competition."

Snot stared at him. "Do you ever say things that don’t sound like quiet threats?"

"Sometimes. Not today."

The conversation found its footing there.

They went through the message line by line, not rushing it. Snot read most of it aloud, complained in the middle, restarted when Alice said he skipped half a sentence, and exaggerated every official phrase until Neo told him to either read properly or hand the phone over to someone with a functioning brain.

That led to Snot trying to defend his brain, which led to Alice saying the evidence was weak, which led to a few minutes of noise that did more for the room than any forced seriousness could have.

Underneath that, though, the weight stayed where it was.

Tomorrow.

Gray Hand.

A real gate, not another random hunt, not another street-level mess. Something larger. More structured. Which usually meant more dangerous in ways that took longer to see.

At one point Alice took the phone out of Snot’s hand herself and read the next section.

"Candidates may be assigned temporary groups, modified routes, or independent directives according to examination needs."

Snot raised a brow. "Temporary groups. Great. They’re absolutely going to throw idiots at us."

Neo rested an ankle over one knee. "If they do, don’t kill them until we know whether that’s allowed."

Snot laughed. "You say that like you needed to think about it."

Alice set the phone back down. "If they separate us, they separate us."

Snot grimaced. "I know. I just don’t like it."

Neo understood that one. Saying it out loud didn’t help much, though.

"We go in together," he said. "If they split us, we adapt. That’s all."

Alice nodded once. "And if they don’t split us, we don’t show everything at once."

Snot’s attention flicked to her. "You mean don’t try to look impressive in the first ten seconds."

"I mean don’t be stupid."

"That too," Neo said.

Snot folded his arms. "I’m feeling attacked in my own social role."

"You’re in my apartment," Neo reminded him.

"Details."

Alice took a sip from her drink and said, "He’s right."

Snot turned toward her with open betrayal. "You both do this on purpose."

"Yes," she said.

That one got him.

He pressed a hand over his heart and leaned back into the chair like the wound had gone deep. Neo let him act it out. Alice almost smiled again. Almost. That was enough to keep the room from hardening under the tension.

After a while, the conversation shifted from the message itself into what they would actually do.

Snot was the first to lay it out.

"Alright. Tomorrow we arrive early. Earlier than the message says because I know both of you and because Alice is going to force that on us anyway."

Alice nodded. "Yes."

Snot pointed at her. "See? Dictatorship."

Neo ignored him. "We get there, we watch first. No talking to random people unless we have a reason."

Snot made a face. "That sounds anti-fun."

"Good," Neo said.

Alice added, "If someone tries to provoke you, ignore it unless it helps."

Snot blinked. "That’s aimed at both of us."

"Yes," she said again.

Neo leaned back further into the sofa and studied the ceiling for a moment before speaking. "They’re going to judge how people carry themselves before the test starts."

Snot rubbed at his chin. "Yeah. That part bothers me."

"It should."

"No, I mean it genuinely bothers me. That’s the sort of thing people in uniforms do when they want to feel clever." He glanced at the message again. "If they’re watching from the moment we arrive, that means there’s no harmless part. No waiting area. No real downtime."

Alice’s fingers tapped once against her cup. "Then every part is the exam."

Neo nodded. "Exactly."

That settled something in the room.

Not nerves. Clarity.

Once they said it plainly, the shape of tomorrow changed. It stopped being arrive, wait, begin. It became arrive already inside the jaws. Smile if you want. Fidget if you want. Talk too much, talk too little, stand wrong, react badly, burn energy, lose focus. It all counted.

Snot must have followed the same line because his voice came out quieter than before.

"So we don’t relax when we get there."

"No," Neo said.

"We don’t assume the people around us are just candidates."

"No."

"We don’t assume instructions are neutral."

Alice answered that one. "Never."

Snot sat back and let out a long breath. "Alright. I hate that."

Neo’s mouth moved a fraction. "You’ll survive."

"That’s a nice thing to say right before an exam."

"It’s realistic."

Snot pointed at him. "You know what? One day, I’m going to get a normal friend. Just one. For balance."

Alice tilted her head slightly. "Would they stay."

Snot looked at her in silence for two beats, then laughed so hard he had to set the phone down on the table.

"That was cruel."

"It was accurate," Neo said.

The next half hour passed in a better rhythm.

They talked through little things. What to wear. What not to bring. Whether to eat before going or trust whatever Gray Hand had planned, which none of them did. Whether to sleep early, which Snot promised and neither Neo nor Alice believed. It wasn’t deep strategy, but it was the sort of conversation people only had when something real waited the next day.

At one point Snot stretched his arms over his head and said, "You know, when I first thought about Gray Hand, I imagined something cleaner."

Neo glanced at him. "There’s that word."

Snot groaned. "I knew you’d do that."

Alice said, "You used it."

"Yes, thank you, I’m aware." He dropped his arms. "I meant I thought it’d be simpler. Big test, strong people, win or lose, done. But this..." He tapped the phone. "This feels like the whole thing starts before anyone says start."

Neo had been thinking the same from the moment they hit that line in the message.

He stood and went to the window, not because he needed drama, but because sitting still for much longer would have annoyed him. The city outside had sunk into night properly now. Light in the windows. People moving far below. Somewhere out there was Gray Hand, waiting to weigh names and bodies and instincts against whatever measure it used.

Alice’s voice came from behind him. "You found something."

Neo turned.

She had the phone in hand again, attention fixed on the very bottom of the message. Snot leaned over her shoulder, no joke on him now.

"What," Neo said.

Alice read it out.

"Candidates may be reduced in number prior to the first formal phase."

The room went quiet in one sharp motion.

Snot took the phone from her and reread it himself, slower this time, as if the words might soften if he approached them carefully enough.

"They’re cutting people before the first phase even starts," he said.

Neo went back to the table and took the phone from him.

The line stayed the same.

No hidden meaning. No nicer version if read upside down.

He set the phone back down.

"So tomorrow isn’t the exam," he said. "Tomorrow is the beginning of who doesn’t make it to the exam."

No one argued with that.

Snot exhaled once through his nose. Alice folded her hands together again. And for the first time that evening, the three of them sat there without pushing the mood away with jokes or small talk.

Tomorrow had stopped pretending to be tomorrow.

Gray Hand had already begun.