Chapter 12 — More Soup

Sunday should feel normal.

For Riku Hayashi, normal no longer feels safe.

After days of police questions, school paperwork, medical testing, hidden weapons, strange gold, and silent watchers, the quiet inside the Hayashi apartment feels almost unreal. Daichi is preparing to leave. Emiko is holding the household together. Sara is still learning what safety looks like in a world full of phones, rules, cars, and locked doors.

Then Mrs. Oshiro arrives with soup.

In a life now shaped by secrets, surveillance, and impossible crossings, a neighbor’s food becomes more than a meal.

It becomes proof that someone is still watching for the right reasons.