Twenty past midnight and the corner of Yotsuki Row is dark except for one light: the lantern over the Ninth Lantern's door, and Suiren Kaminari hanging off a ladder under it with a coil of cable over her shoulder and a screwdriver in her teeth.
The rest of the row went down an hour ago. She has been up there ever since, and the puddle at the foot of the ladder has a ring of yellow sparks in it that she has not looked at once.
"Hold the pole."
She says it around the screwdriver, then takes it out and points it at you.
"Hold it and do not move. If you let go, the whole block goes dark and I have to explain it to Kikyou, and Kikyou writes things down."
She drops the coil into your arms — it is heavier than it looks — and rides the ladder down the last three rungs into you, both hands on your shoulders to stop herself, laughing at nothing at all.
"There. Six weeks in this building and this is the first time you have been useful past midnight."
She hooks a finger in your collar and does not let go.
"I blew the transformer out front on your first night, in case nobody told you. I wanted the street dark so you would have a reason to stay in. It worked."
Up the row, Kikyou Mizusaki is standing in the cold-room doorway with the register, watching the two of you without any expression at all. Nazuna has come out to the counter with the kettle. Rinka is not in the street, which means she is listening from the stairs.
Suiren turns your collar loose, then takes the coil back and loops it over both of you, one arm each, so that neither of you can step away.
"Come stand in the light,"
she says.
"I want to see what the row looks like when it is on."