Final Account balance: ¥6,123,000
She woke up late. The curtains were drawn, and the room was as silent as a vacuum. Only the soft hum of the air conditioner blended with the sunlight stretching over the carpet in a muted shadow.
Julian was sitting by the window, one earbud in, laptop open. He wasn't in work clothes, just a plain white T-shirt and dark pants. Clean, calm, like nothing had happened. His presence felt like part of the room, quiet, constant, never out of place.
She squinted at him and asked in a low voice, "What time is it?"
Without turning around, eyes still on the screen, he answered, "Ten forty-six."
She sat up slowly. Her throat was dry. She was just about to say thank you when he was already walking over with a bowl of porridge. His tone was even, calm. "I warmed it up a bit."
She muttered, "… You're not my nurse."
Julian didn't respond to that. He simply placed the bowl down and said, "Have a few bites. You still look a little pale."
She obediently took a spoonful, slow, as if checking whether her consciousness was fully back. A few seconds passed, then she asked, "You're not going to work?"
He answered just as evenly, "With you like this, how could I?"
She paused, then looked down and kept eating. She didn't ask any more questions. Didn't even say thank you. Just said softly, "… I'm really fine now."
Julian didn't nod, didn't contradict her. His fingers kept moving across the trackpad. It looked like he was scrolling through news, but the way he paused now and then made it seem like he was quietly taking notes.
She knew he was helping her watch the market. She knew he understood everything. Even the blind spots she hadn't noticed herself, he had probably already caught without saying a word.
When she said she wanted to go for a walk, he came along.
Kabukicho during the day felt like a city still waking up. The sunlight hit the street at an angle, casting a soft blur around the edges of the signs. They walked side by side. Her pace was slow, and he never rushed her. They turned into a small convenience store at the corner of an alley. She picked up a warm barley tea, and he grabbed a pack of heated towels.
At checkout, she didn't say a word, and he didn't ask if she wanted to pay. Every movement between them felt natural, like they had done this sort of thing many times before.
On the way back to the hotel, she suddenly stopped and pointed at a laundromat on the street corner. "I used to print account statements there."
Julian turned to look at the storefront, his expression serious, like he was memorizing the location.
She let out a small laugh. "What, are you mapping my route? Tagging a possible money-laundering site?"
Julian raised an eyebrow. "I thought you only printed at the Central Post Office."
She shook her head. "The machines there always break down. I don't trust them."
He nodded. "Got it. If you ever disappear, I'll know where to start looking."
She didn't reply, just exhaled quietly.
She wanted to say, "You really hold grudges and notice everything."
But in the end, she didn't say anything.
She walked beside him. The sunlight made the corners of her eyes look slightly red. Maybe the wind was too strong. Maybe the fever from the night before hadn't fully gone down. Julian glanced at her but said nothing. He reached over and slowly pulled up the zipper on her jacket, just enough to cover her shoulder.
She didn't resist. Didn't say thank you either.
It was the kind of quiet that comes with starting to trust someone.
Not rushing it.
Not stepping back either.
Just walking, slowly, at the same pace.
She stayed curled up under the covers, laptop on her lap, working through a few unimportant documents. Her movements were slow and steady, as if she was waiting for something, or maybe just trying to keep her fingers busy.
Julian sat a few steps away, one foot propped on a chair, her iPad in his hands. He was casually scrolling through Reddit news. His expression was relaxed, gaze occasionally drifting, like a VC waiting for a project to kick off, calm, detached, with no intention of interfering.
She suddenly looked up. "You don't seem to have much going on lately?"
Julian didn't even lift his eyes. "I'm usually not that busy."
She stared at him for a couple of seconds, then asked, "You… don't have a job?"
He replied evenly, "I'm working on a project."
She narrowed her eyes, voice light like she was teasing, "What kind of project?"
He looked up, but only shrugged. "Something like yours, I guess."
She didn't press him. Just lowered her head and gave a small smile.
It wasn't the kind of smile that questioned him. It was the kind that accepted him.
Accepted that he was the type of person who could sit still when nothing was happening, and be the first to move when things went wrong. Like her.
In the late afternoon, she glanced at her banking app. The last payment was still marked as "processing."
The screen was a soft shade of gray, the progress bar frozen in place.
She didn't tell Julian.
Just closed her laptop, leaned against the headboard, and watched him quietly.
Later, she said she wanted something warm to drink.
Julian didn't say anything. He walked over to the kitchenette, turned off the heat when the water reached around seventy degrees, and made a cup of peppermint and rooibos tea. He remembered her saying she couldn't handle strong green tea when she was sick. Said it made her nauseous.
She took the cup, sipped it carefully, then looked up at him.
"You remembered."
He didn't look at her, just replied softly, "You don't like strong ones."
She smiled again. Didn't say anything. But her gaze softened, like some part of her had just been quietly acknowledged.
Later that evening, she checked the banking app again. The last transfer was still stuck on "processing." She didn't mention it. Just closed the laptop again, leaned back, and kept watching him.
Julian was still scrolling through random Reddit threads. She noticed he kept opening the comment sections, only to quickly swipe past. Like he wasn't reading anything at all. Just waiting.
When she shifted under the covers, he didn't say a word, but got up a few seconds later and pulled the blanket higher over her.
"You always curl up like this when you're sick," he said. "Just looking at you makes me uncomfortable."
She paused, then looked up at him. He didn't explain. It was like he was narrating something to himself.
She didn't say anything. Just smiled a little.
Julian kept scrolling. His pace was slow, like he was waiting for a good post to appear, or some argument worth following. He looked more like a gap year student than anything else, even though his face had long since outgrown that age.
Aria suddenly asked, "Did you come to Tokyo to run away from something, too?"
Julian didn't turn around. He paused for a couple of seconds. "Not to run away. I came to find a place to start over."
She nodded slightly. "Did you find it?"
This time, he looked at her directly. "Maybe."
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Neither looked away.
She spoke again, voice barely above a whisper. "If I leave a bit later… would you stay with me for another day?"
Julian didn't answer right away. It was like he hadn't heard her. He kept staring at the iPad.
Then, after a few seconds, he closed it, stood up, and walked to her bed. His movements were slow.
He pulled the blanket up a little more, his hand pausing briefly on her shoulder.
He said, "You don't have to leave."
She didn't reply. Just smiled softly.
The smile was barely there, but it felt like something had been quietly promised.
That night, Aria still had a slight fever, but it wasn't bad. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, eyes clear but distant, like she knew her body wasn't fully better yet, but her mind was already planning the next step.
Julian slept on the couch. The position didn't look comfortable. His jacket was draped over him, phone resting on his chest. He looked like a soldier who had just come back from war. Unarmed on the outside, but fully alert inside.
She suddenly whispered, "When did you figure out what I was doing?"
He didn't open his eyes. Just let the corner of his mouth lift slightly. "The first day. When you asked about VPNs."
She didn't ask anything else.
A quiet, warm thought surfaced in her mind.
"In the end, it really was him who stayed with me."
She finally fell asleep. Her breathing turned even.
Her phone lay beside the pillow, screen blinking faintly on and off.
It buzzed twice. She didn't wake.
The last payment had arrived.
Time: 23:57.