The moment passed, but it didn't leave.
They stood clustered on the sidewalk, the crowd parting around them like they were invisible. Ryunosuke hadn't spoken since the woman in white vanished into the crowd.
Lucas, naturally, broke the silence first.
"I'm just saying," he declared, adjusting an invisible fedora, "she was absolutely aura farming."
Emily blinked. "Aura farming?"
William nearly choked on his soda. "Oh no. Not this again."
Lucas nodded, dead serious. "You know—those mysterious women who show up out of nowhere, stare into your soul, and drain your emotional energy. Classic supernatural bait. Seen it in, like, every anime."
Emily snorted. "Maybe she was just lost."
"Nope," Lucas said. "She had final boss energy. The purple eyes? The coat? That was a cutscene entrance."
William clapped Ryunosuke on the back. "Dude, you looked like you got hit with a charm spell. You good?"
Ryunosuke blinked, shaking himself back to the present. "I—yeah. I'm fine. I think."
Lucas leaned in, grinning. "You in love, bro? Want us to track down your ghost girlfriend?"
"Shut up," Ryunosuke muttered.
"That's not a no," William added.
Emily folded her arms. "If anyone's getting cursed or haunted, it better be me. I just moved here. I need the drama."
Groaning, Ryunosuke walked ahead. "You're all idiots."
Lucas jogged after him, arms raised. "That's Aura Farming Victim Denial: Stage One!"
William laughed. "Stage Two is when he starts sketching her in the margins of his math homework."
Emily caught up beside Ryunosuke, smirking. "You already sketched her once, didn't you?"
He glanced at her. "Maybe."
She bumped his shoulder. "We're definitely getting haunted."
They moved along the boulevard again—laughter rising with the afternoon sun. The mysterious woman was gone, but not forgotten.
Her image lingered, charcoal-soft and smudged across the edge of Ryunosuke's memory.
The day continued with street artists, neon signs, and Lucas's endless commentary.
"Draw me like one of your French girls," he said, plopping in front of a caricature artist. "But make it leather."
Emily laughed until she cried.
William pulled Ryunosuke aside, pointing to a churro stand. "Trust me. Life-changing."
Ryunosuke nodded, following with half a grin, the woman's violet gaze still flickering somewhere in the back of his mind.
Emily emerged from her caricature session, holding a cartoon version of herself with watermelon-sized cheeks. "What the hell?"
Lucas peered over her shoulder. "Artistic license."
"Thanks for nothing, Picasso."
They hovered around the churros, cinnamon sugar melting on their fingers.
"You okay, bro?" Lucas asked, eyeing Ryunosuke. "You've stared at that billboard longer than it takes to microwave a burrito."
"Just thinking," Ryunosuke said.
"About your ghost wife?"
"Shut up."
Emily nudged him. "She wasn't a ghost."
"But—" he started.
"But what?" William asked.
Ryunosuke paused, then shook his head. "Nothing. Forget it."
As the sky shifted from gold to pink, the churros gave the group a second wind.
Lucas hopped onto a planter, balancing like a circus act. "Behold—the majestic street hawk!"
Emily clapped dramatically. "You're doing amazing, sweetie!"
William had his phone out again. "Ten bucks says he faceplants."
Lucas wobbled. "I am grace. I am fury. I am—whoa—okay, still alive!"
They passed breakdancers, and William joined in with exaggerated moves.
"Oh no," Ryunosuke sighed. "He's doing the noodle."
Emily wheezed. "It's the noodle!"
William struck a final pose, finger guns blazing. "Thank you, I'll be here all week!"
Lucas tossed him a coin. "That's for the trauma."
The crowd applauded. A few people mistook them for performers.
Next stop: a novelty shop. Sunglasses. Glow-in-the-dark shirts. Alien heads.
Emily strutted out wearing a massive foam cowboy hat. "Y'all ready to ride?"
Lucas grabbed heart-shaped glasses. "Partner, let's wrangle these tourists."
William wrapped a feather boa around Ryunosuke. "Now you're ready."
Ryunosuke, completely deadpan: "I've never felt more alive."
Even the cashier couldn't tell if they were serious or insane.
They left with two hats, some glasses, and a keychain that read: Keep LA Weird.
As the sun dipped below the skyline, the city wrapped itself in soft twilight.
They ran to catch the end of a street magician's act. Emily was pulled in as a volunteer. Lucas heckled.
"Don't trust him, Emily! That's how they get your soul!"
"I gave mine up three churros ago!" she shouted back.
Ryunosuke stood off to the side, arms crossed, smiling as their voices echoed down the boulevard.
This.This was home.
The noise, the chaos, the laughter—so loud it drowned out the echo of violet eyes.
For now.