The golden heat was a lie.
It lasted exactly three seconds—a teaser trailer for a movie Renji couldn't afford to watch. Then, it vanished.
In its place, a vacuum opened in the center of his chest.
It wasn't just the damp chill of his soaked hoodie. It was a gravitational pull, dragging the warmth out of his marrow and sucking it toward the woman sitting next to him.
[WARNING: Host Vitality at 8%]
[Target is an S-Class Void. Proximity is lethal without sufficient Yang reserves.]
Renji gritted his teeth. His heart gave a wet, sluggish thump. Then a pause. Then another thump. It felt like an engine running on fumes.
Great, he thought. I finally get a cheat system, and it runs on a battery I don't have.
"Where are we going?" Elena asked. Her voice was tighter now. The shock of the intrusion was wearing off, replaced by the reality that a wet, homeless man was ruining her passenger seat.
She gripped the steering wheel. Her knuckles were white.
"Just drive," Renji managed to say. He kept his voice steady, masking the fact that his vision was starting to tunnel. "Keep the heater on."
"I should take you to a hospital," Elena said, glancing at him. "You're shaking."
"I'm not sick," Renji lied. "I'm working."
Elena let out a short, sharp laugh. It sounded like glass breaking.
"Working? You looked like you were begging for change five minutes ago. Did Kurasawa send you? Is this his idea of a final insult? Sending a host to mock me?"
She looked at him with sudden suspicion.
"You smell like cheap cologne and rain. You are a host, aren't you?"
Renji leaned his head back against the headrest. The leather felt cold against his neck.
"I was a host," Renji corrected. "Now, I'm a mechanic."
"A mechanic."
"For broken things," Renji said. "And you, Elena-san, are totaled."
The car swerved slightly. Elena corrected it instantly, her jaw tightening.
"Get out."
"No."
"I'm pulling over."
"Three A.M.," Renji said.
He didn't shout it. He just dropped the words into the silence like stones into a pond.
Elena's foot hovered over the brake. She didn't press it.
"What?"
Renji turned his head. It took effort. His neck muscles felt stiff, frozen by the invisible frost radiating from her. He looked at the System window floating next to her face.
[DIAGNOSIS IN PROGRESS...]
[Symptom 1: Chronic Insomnia (Stage 4)]
[Symptom 2: Recurring Trauma Loop]
[Symptom 3: Spiritual Hypothermia]
He read the data, translating it into human pain.
"You don't sleep," Renji said softly. "You pass out from exhaustion, usually around midnight. But at three A.M. exactly, you wake up."
Elena stared straight ahead. The wipers slapped a frantic rhythm against the glass. Thwack-hiss. Thwack-hiss.
"You don't wake up normally," Renji continued. His voice was hypnotic, lowered to a register that bypassed her logic and hit her nervous system. "You wake up gasping. Like there's water in your lungs. You check the door locks. You check your phone. You check the window."
He paused.
"But nobody is there. It's just you. And the cold."
Elena's breath hitched. It was a tiny sound, a crack in the ice.
"How..." she whispered. "How do you know that?"
Renji didn't stop. He pushed harder. He needed to break her defenses before his heart stopped beating.
"Your hands," he said. "They're always cold. Even in summer. Even right now, with the heater set to twenty-five degrees. You're wearing gloves in your pockets, aren't you?"
Elena's left hand twitched. It moved instinctively toward her pocket.
"Raynaud's phenomenon," she muttered, reciting the excuse she gave her doctors. "Poor circulation."
"It's not circulation," Renji said. "It's a leak. You're a bucket with a hole in the bottom, Elena. You pour money in, you pour success in, you pour effort in... and it all drains out into the dark. That's why you're tired. That's why you tried to swallow those pills."
He looked at her profile. She was beautiful, terrifyingly so, like a marble statue in a graveyard.
"You aren't depressed," Renji finished. "You're empty."
[CRITICAL WARNING: HEART RATE DROPPING BELOW 40 BPM.]
[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT.]
Renji gasped. A spike of ice drove itself through his chest.
He had pushed too hard. Using the [Diagnosis] skill while his battery was empty was like trying to start a car with the headlights on.
He slumped in the seat.
Elena slammed on the brakes.
The heavy car skidded on the wet asphalt, coming to a halt under the yellow glow of a streetlamp.
She turned to him. Her eyes were wide, the pupils blown black with shock. The dead look was gone. Now, there was fear. And awe.
"Who are you?" she demanded. Her voice trembled. "Did my therapist tell you? Did my secretary?"
Renji couldn't answer immediately. He focused on breathing. In. Out. His breath misted in the air, even though the car was warm.
"I told you," he wheezed. "I'm a consultant."
He looked at his hand. His fingernails were turning blue.
He needed to touch her. The System said physical contact would transfer energy.
He reached out.
His fingers brushed the sleeve of her expensive jacket.
[ERROR.]
[Target Yin Levels Too High.]
[Host Yang Levels Too Low.]
[Contact will result in Backflow. DO NOT PROCEED.]
Renji yanked his hand back as if he'd touched a hot stove. A jolt of freezing static snapped between them.
"Ow!" Elena recoiled, rubbing her arm. "You shocked me."
"Sorry," Renji muttered, clutching his chest.
He realized the problem instantly. He was a dry sponge. She was a bucket of ice water. If he tried to absorb her energy now, he wouldn't get healed—he'd drown.
He needed a heater. He needed a battery. He needed... someone else.
But right now, he was stuck in a car with a black hole.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked. The hostility was fading, replaced by a confused concern. He had read her soul, and now he looked like he was dying. "You look blue."
"I'm fine," Renji lied again. "Just... the rain."
He looked at her. He had won the argument, but he was losing the war. He couldn't cure her tonight. He couldn't even hold her hand without risking cardiac arrest.
But he had her attention.
"I can fix the nightmares," Renji said, his voice barely a whisper. "I can warm your hands. I can help you crush Kurasawa."
Elena stared at him. The rain drummed against the roof, enclosing them in a private world.
"But not tonight," Renji said. "I'm... out of fuel."
"Fuel?"
"Do you have a guest room?"
Elena blinked. "What?"
"The contract," Renji said, closing his eyes. The darkness was creeping in at the edges of his vision. "I don't want your money, Elena. I want a place to sleep. A place to eat. And an expense account."
"You want to live with me?" She sounded scandalized. "I don't even know your name."
"Renji," he said. "And if you drop me off on the street tonight, you'll be dead by morning. Because the pills are still in your pocket, and the nightmares are waiting for you at 3 A.M."
He opened one eye. It was a struggle.
"But if I'm there... the nightmares won't come."
It was a gamble. A massive bluff. He didn't know if his presence alone would stop them.
Elena looked at the pills scattered on the floor mats. Then she looked at the young man shivering in her passenger seat. He was impertinent, mysterious, and clearly unwell.
But he knew about the cold.
She put the car in gear.
"My penthouse has a guest suite," she said stiffly. "If you try anything, the security system will call the police automatically."
"Deal," Renji whispered.
The car accelerated, the engine purring like a large, dangerous cat.
Renji let his head fall back. He had survived the diagnosis. Now he just had to survive the night without freezing to death in his sleep.
[System Notification]
[Trust Level Established: 5%]
[Current Energy: 2%]
[Objective Updated: Survive until morning.]