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Jun shook his head—then caught himself, remembering Robin couldn’t see him. He squeezed his eyes shut at his own stupidity. “No! You’re fine. I can get it later or something.”

There was a brief pause. “I’m assuming you aren’t anywhere near the car?”

Jun stopped his pace at the sudden question. “No, why?”

“I’m not sure. They were just asking why you weren’t at the car.”

Jun’s eyes went wide. “I’m going back right now.”

He started walking fast, dodging bodies, pushing through the crowd. The cold hit him the moment he cleared the tents—nothing around him but a dark street and a row of parked cars.

“Connor?” Robin’s voice came tinny in his ear.

He jogged to the end of the street. Nothing but darkness. He turned and ran the other direction, the cold slicing at his face.

“Connor?”

He crossed the street. His heart slammed against his ribs. The cold burned his skin. He twisted his head left, right—nothing looked familiar. Not the cars. Not the houses. Not the landscaping.

He checked every vehicle parked in the dark, trying to find the Challenger’s silhouette. None of them matched. Then he froze. The keys. He’d left the keys in the car.

He retraced his steps. He was sure he’d come from the Challenger. But it was gone. He sank to his knees on the pavement.

He sank to the ground.

“Connor!” Robin’s voice cracked through the fog like a hand reaching out.

He flinched—partly surprise, partly cold, partly the raw edge of his own panic. “Y-yes?”

“Are you okay?” their voice asked gently.

Jun sucked in big breaths and watched the white puffs escape his mouth. He was not about to have a crying spell in the middle of the street, especially not on the phone with someone he didn’t know. He wiped his eyes with his arm. “Y-yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” For some reason, their voice was soothing despite the filter. “If there’s anything I can do to help—”

“No,” said Jun. He took another gasp of cold air that stung his lungs. “I’m okay. It’s just um…” He bit his lip. “I can’t find the car. Sorry.”

Robin made a sound that was part shush, part breath. “Calm down. I was just about to tell you that.”

“I left the keys in the car, and I am so stupid to—”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Robin smoothed. “Don’t put yourself down. You’re okay.” The gentleness in Robin’s voice cut through everything—the cold, the panic, the shame. “It’s okay. In other circumstances, yeah, that would have been kind of stupid, but Alex took it.”

Jun furrowed his eyebrows as he slowly stood up. “Did he leave me here?”

“I don’t think so,” Robin answered. “Kana said Alex challenged someone to a race.”

Jun scrunched his face. “A what?”

“A race. You know, like the Fast and Furious?” Robin laughed awkwardly.

“Why?” Jun asked, looking back and forth for any signs of racing cars or loud crowds. He headed back towards the night market.

“I’m not sure, but it sounds like Alex is an impulsive kind of guy.”

Jun let out a small laugh that that gave way to a hiccup. “He’s always been like that as long as I’ve known him.”

“How so?”