The lunch rush was finally dying down, leaving behind crumpled napkins, empty plates, and the steady rhythm of the dishwasher groaning in the back.
Emily wiped down a table with slow, distracted motions, her eyes flicking from the kitchen door to the hallway that led up to the apartment.
Ryunosuke had barely spoken all day.
Not that he was ever a chatterbox—but this was different. The kind of quiet that felt like it was pulling inward, like something was tugging at him from under the surface.
She tossed the towel onto the counter, pulled out her phone, and slipped into the alley for air.
After a second's hesitation, she opened her messages and started a new group chat.
Group Chat: "Ryu Watchdogs 🐶👀"
Emily 🐥:Hey. Is it just me or has Ryu been… off?
William 🌟:He's always off. Dude still uses wired headphones.
Lucas 🎨:Bro said "I'm fine" with that deadpan stare and then sketched like 10 pages of a faucet last time I saw him 💀
Emily 🐥:No seriously. He's weirdly quiet. Like… haunted quiet.
William 🌟:Something happen with Amelia?
Emily 🐥:I don't know.I asked if he was okay and he gave me the classic "don't worry about it" anime sigh.
Lucas 🎨:Not the "low piano note in the rain" arc 😔
Emily 🐥:Can you guys check on him? Casually?I'm not as close as you guys and I don't want to push too hard.
William 🌟:I'm down. I'll swing by after class tomorrow.We'll lure him out with bánh mì and trauma-bonding.
Lucas 🎨:Or we stage an intervention. Karaoke.Force him to duet "Creep."
Emily 🐥:Please no karaoke.
Lucas 🎨:Fine. But only because I respect the sad boy arc.
Emily smiled faintly at the screen, then locked her phone and slipped it into her pocket.
The sky overhead was a painfully normal shade of blue.
But something still felt… off. Like there was a shape forming around Ryunosuke that no one could quite see yet.
She hoped they noticed it in time.
Later that week
Emily didn't plan to follow him.
Not really.
But when Ryunosuke left the apartment early—sketchbook under one arm, no breakfast, barely a word—something in her clicked.
He hadn't told anyone where he was going. Not her. Not Amelia. Just… gone. Slipped down the stairs like a shadow breaking away from the wall.
So she waited ten minutes, laced her sneakers, grabbed a hoodie, and slipped out the door.
She trailed him carefully—half a block back, sometimes crossing the street when he glanced over his shoulder. He never noticed. Or maybe he did, and just didn't care.
He didn't walk like someone running errands.
He walked like someone with intent.
Emily followed him through alleyways and backstreets she didn't recognize—past graffiti-tagged metal doors and staircases that didn't seem to lead anywhere.
Then, without warning, he crossed into the Financial District.
His whole posture changed.
He slowed near a building entrance, scanned his surroundings, and slipped down a ramp that Emily almost missed—tucked in the shadows beneath a gray office tower.
She froze at the top, heart pounding.
Where the hell was he going?
Careful, she edged closer, ducking behind a planter and peeking down.
She saw him disappear beneath the overhead lights of a parking garage.
And then… nothing.
She waited.
Five minutes. Ten.
He didn't come back up.
Emily hugged herself against the breeze. Her instincts screamed at her—this wasn't right. And yet… it was the first time in days she'd seen Ryunosuke move with purpose.
Whatever was down there—it mattered to him.
Eventually, she turned back the way she came.
She didn't want to break his trust.
But she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was down in that garage wasn't just pulling him in—
It was trying to change him.