The morning began according to the established routine: the ring of the alarm clock, a lung-burning run in the freezing cold, a shower, and the subway. While the train car swayed rhythmically, I scrolled through the news feed. The evening incident in the central ward had already grown new details.

  "Snake-level threat successfully eliminated by the forces of the Fourth Legion. Commander Ari Nor personally delivered the decisive blow."

  The photo in the article captured her—majestic, in shining bio-armor, against the backdrop of the defeated monster. 'Magnificent,' I thought with a slight prick of envy. 'True heroes.'

  Arriving at school, the first thing I did was check my phone. The class group chat was silent, and Arkgrim wasn't answering my messages. His seat next to me remained empty right up until the bell.

  The math lesson had been going on for about ten minutes when there was a quiet, but persistent knock on the door.

  "Knock-knock... May I come in?" a sleepy, barely alive voice rang out.

  Arkgrim stood on the threshold. He looked as if that very same Kaiju from yesterday had been chewing on him all night, and then spat him out as unnecessary.

  "Come in, Helv," the math teacher sighed. After that performance at the blackboard, it seemed he was ready to forgive Arkgrim even for skipping class.

  The kid trudged to the desk on unbending legs and, without even taking out his textbooks, simply collapsed face down onto his folded arms. A minute later, rhythmic sniffling reached me. 'And what did he even come for?' the thought flashed. 'Should've just slept at home.'

  Waiting for the recess, I unceremoniously started poking him in the side with my pen.

  "Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up, or they'll take all the meat at lunch."

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  Arkgrim slowly, with difficulty, tore his head away from the desk. He looked completely lost. He shoved his hand into his jacket pocket, fished out some lump of plastic, and carelessly tossed it onto my notebook.

  "Here, take it..." he muttered.

  I cast a glance at the object and... my heart skipped a beat. The air caught in my lungs.

  "NO WAY!" I yelled to the whole class, making a couple of people flinch. "This... this is an Ari Nor card!"

  But it wasn't just a rare card. Across the glossy image ran a sweeping, bold marker flourish. An original signature. The very one that is impossible to forge and that the Commander gives only in exceptional cases.

  "A PERSONAL SIGNATURE?!" I grabbed the card with trembling hands, afraid to even breathe on it. "Arkgrim! Where?! Where did you get this, tell me quickly!"

  "Just take it... a gift," he waved it off lazily, trying to settle his head back onto the desk. "I don't need this candy wrapper anyway. It just gets in the way."

  "'Candy wrapper'?! You call THIS a candy wrapper?!" I felt like I was about to have a hysterical fit of happiness. "Oh my god, Arkgrim! I... I just can't believe it! This is the best day of my life! The happiest!"

  He cracked open one eye and looked at me with genuine bewilderment.

  "Why are you so happy? It's just a piece of plastic."

  "'Just a card'..." I chuckled hysterically, pressing the treasure to my chest. "You won't understand anyway. To you it's trash, but to me it's a legend."

  "Sure, sure, think what you want," he grumbled, finally going offline.

  "Wait," I shook his shoulder again. "What time did you even go to sleep yesterday to be in this state?"

  "At eleven PM," came a voice from under his elbow.

  "What do you mean eleven? That's a normal time. Why are you so sleepy then?"

  Arkgrim froze, as if pondering the question himself.

  "I don't know," he finally answered in a quiet, strangely serious voice. "Not enough... time. Just not enough."

  I looked at the back of his head. Strange. Seven or eight hours of sleep should restore any teenager, but Arkgrim looked as if all the energy had been drained out of him down to the last drop. But, looking at the precious card in my hands, I quickly chased those thoughts away. I was holding Ari Nor's autograph. And everything else... everything else could wait.

  By the second period, Arkgrim had completely risen from the dead. He stopped resembling an amorphous mass and even began to show signs of meaningful activity—for example, drawing some strange, toothy creatures in the margins of my notebook.

  "Listen," I nudged him with my elbow. "Have you even thought about what you're going to do for New Year's? There's barely any time left, a week and a half."