A boy sat on an overturned crate near the mouth of an alley, back pressed against a graffiti-stained wall. You had been here for three hours now. The sun was starting to slant lower, painting long shadows across the concrete.

Across the street, a trio of teenagers emerged from a crammed electronics store. A pink-haired boy stretched his arms above his head. A girl with a hammer slung over her shoulder argued animatedly about something. A boy with spiky black hair listened, half-smiling.