The city looked normal from a distance.
Lights flickered in apartment windows. Trains slid along their rails. Screens glowed with meaningless news. People moved as if routine itself was proof that nothing was
wrong.
Chris walked alone.
He didn't rush. He didn't linger. His eyes moved constantly, tracking reflections, shadows, small breaks in behavior. Cities lied best when everyone agreed to ignore the same things.
A group of people laughed outside a bar.
A train screeched as it slowed.
Someone muttered, "Watch where you're going."
Chris kept walking.
Near a side street, he noticed it. A man trailing too close behind a girl. Not close enough to be obvious. Just close enough to test boundaries.
The girl slowed.
So did the man.
Chris stopped.
A voice nearby whispered, "Not my problem," followed by nervous laughter.
The man reached out.
"Hey," the girl said, her voice tight. "Don't touch me."
His hand didn't stop.
Chris exhaled.
The katana slid into his grip like it had always been there.
Someone shouted, "What the hell—"
The blade moved once.
The man collapsed before he could finish the step he had started. Blood hit the pavement. The girl stumbled backward, staring, shaking.
"I— I didn't—" she started.
Chris turned slightly. "Go."
She didn't argue. She ran.
A crowd gathered just far enough away to feel safe.
"Did you see that?"
"Oh my god."
"Someone call the police."
Chris wiped the blade clean.
A man in a coat hissed, "You can't just kill people."
Chris looked at him. "You watched."
The man looked away.
Sirens began in the distance. Chris sheathed the katana and blended back into the street before anyone decided to be brave enough to stop him.
Two teenagers whispered as he passed.
"Was that a sword?"
"No way. You're crazy."
Chris didn't look back.
This wasn't justice.
Justice required a system that worked.
This was correction.
Above the city, clouds drifted slowly, indifferent. Somewhere far beyond them, forces existed that would one day dwarf everything Chris was doing now.
Gods.
Machines.
Things that erased worlds instead of people.
But none of that mattered yet.
Evil didn't start in the heavens.
It started in places like this.
And Chris was still walking.