Kaito awoke to silence.
No alarms. No horns. Just the low hum of tension coiled in the back of his skull.
He sat up in the cot behind the counter, blinking away the grogginess. The store was dark but stable, barricades holding firm. Rain from the night before had left the air heavy with moisture. One of the buckets he'd placed under a leak was full.
He poured it out. Boiled water later. Another point in his mental list.
There were only two days left before the collapse. The urgency thrummed beneath his skin like a second heartbeat. He couldn't afford to rest. Not yet.
He grabbed his coat, made sure his multi-tool was clipped to his belt, and checked the security wires one more time before leaving the shop.
His destination was two streets down.
Sera Ayame.
He hadn't talked to her in over a year, not since high school. The girl was eccentric. Paranoid, maybe. But she had something that most people didn't:
She noticed things.
And right now, he needed someone who'd notice the things others ignored.
The antique store she worked at was a time capsule of dust and incense. Wind chimes jingled faintly as he pushed open the door. It was dim, quiet, with shelves stacked high with tarnished silver, old keys, and dolls with cracked porcelain faces.
She was at the back, scribbling something onto yellowed parchment paper.
Her eyes snapped up the moment he stepped in. She stared at him for a full five seconds before speaking.
"You're early."
Kaito raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Your inevitable breakdown. That look in your eyes. Seen it before. Usually takes people another day or two."
He chuckled. "I'm not here for therapy."
She put down her pen. "Then you're here because the end is coming."
That stopped him.
"...What do you mean?"
"Something's wrong with the city," she said simply, as if she were commenting on the weather. "I feel it. Like the bones of the streets are creaking."
Kaito exhaled. "I need your help."
They sat in the storage room in the back, next to a dusty heater that probably hadn't worked in years. He laid it all out.
The system. The store. The incoming catastrophe.
Ayame listened quietly. She didn't interrupt. Just watched him like she was taking measurements of something invisible between them.
Finally, she said, "Show me."
He hesitated. Then, with a flick of mental intent, he activated the system display.
[MERCHANT SYSTEM ACTIVE] [User: Kaito] [Current Quest: Prepare for Collapse] [Subtasks Remaining: 13 Items | 48% Defense | Recruit 1 Ally]
Ayame leaned in. Her fingers hovered over the floating panels.
"It hums," she whispered. "Like an echo across timelines."
"You can see it?"
"No," she said. "But I can feel it."
She stood.
"I'm in."
The walk back to the shop was uneventful. Rain had cleansed the streets, but the overcast sky gave everything a gray hue that pressed down on the world. People still moved about, oblivious. Ignorance had a warmth to it. A comfort Kaito no longer shared.
Ayame entered the store and immediately began poking at things.
"Hmm. Your mirror placement is poor. You have too many blind angles."
He raised a brow. "You're an expert in store security now?"
She ignored him, grabbing a mirror from a nearby shelf and repositioning it to cover the entryway.
"Makeshift periphery. Can't have someone sneaking in during the breach event."
"You're assuming the breach will happen fast."
"It will," she said without hesitation.
Training her wasn't smooth.
Ayame managed to trigger one of the tripwires within an hour.
She yelped as a string of firecrackers exploded above her head, sending a nearby cat sprinting off the roof in terror.
Kaito rubbed his temples. "I literally labeled that 'DO NOT STEP.'"
"I thought it was a joke."
He sighed. "This isn't cosplay. This is war."
She gave him a thumbs-up and a grin.
Despite the early missteps, she picked up the fundamentals faster than expected. She had a strange sense for systems and patterns. She reorganized the emergency rations by expiration date and made offhand comments about food-energy ratios.
By the afternoon, she'd memorized the item layout, added chalk markings to the hidden compartments, and even suggested layering scents outside the entrance to confuse scent-driven monsters.
Kaito raised a brow. "That's... smart."
Ayame beamed. "I know."
[Quest Update: Recruit Ally – COMPLETE] [Reward: +50 Coins, +Blueprint: Portable Barrier Wall] [New Quest: Train Ally in Survival Basics – Progress: 22%]
They took a break just before sunset.
Sitting on crates, they shared canned peach slices and listened to the wind rattle against the shutters.
"You think we'll survive?" Ayame asked.
Kaito glanced toward the window, where the city still shimmered with false peace.
"I think we'll try."
"That's enough for me."
That night, Ayame insisted on painting a protection symbol across the entrance.
"It's not magic," she explained. "But belief warps the world. A little irrational hope goes a long way."
Kaito didn't argue.
He stood behind the counter, counting supplies one more time.
[System Report: Emergency Stock – 100/100] [Defense Systems – 74%]
Still not enough.
He needed that wall blueprint. He pulled it up.
[Blueprint: Portable Barrier Wall] Material Requirements:
Steel Plates x10
Pneumatic Brackets x4
Anchor Spikes x5
Activation Rune x1 (system-only)
He didn't have most of that. But the system allowed for alternatives. A list of nearby vendors flickered into his mind.
He made notes.
Tomorrow, they'd go shopping.
At midnight, Ayame took first watch on the roof.
Kaito stayed below, back against the door.
His fingers drummed against his knees.
He wasn't ready. Not fully. But for the first time, the weight didn't crush him.
He had help.
The end of the world was still coming.
But maybe, just maybe, they'd meet it standing.
And maybe—this time—it wouldn't be the end.
Not for them.
Not for the shop.
Not yet.