But by the third day, something shifted. Mochi began waiting by the cage door each morning, standing on his hind legs. Lena found herself talking to him about her coding project, her failed exam, her quiet loneliness. He didn't judge. He just nibbled a pellet and blinked.

The first night was chaos. Mochi escaped his cage, chewed through a charging cable, and left a trail of sunflower seed shells under her bed. Lena spent an hour coaxing him out with a strawberry.

The hamster yawned.