Chapter 8 - The Stranger at the Glass
The first thing Akio noticed was the silence.
It wasn't just the usual nighttime quiet of a closed pharmacy. It was absolute. Like the world had inhaled and forgotten how to exhale.
He stood at the counter of Hukitaske Pharmacy, tallying the last of the week's inventory. Outside, snow drifted down in gentle spirals, frosting the windows with lace-like patterns. The heater murmured, hyperthermia herbs and tea tree lingering in the air—Raka's recipe for "winter vigilance."
It was nearing midnight. He should have gone home an hour ago.
But something kept him rooted. A sensation, faint but insistent, like the air before a lightning strike.
The bell above the door chimed.
Akio looked up sharply.
The door creaked open.
A figure stepped inside, casting a long shadow across the linoleum. The snow blew around his silhouette before the door swung closed again, muffling the wind. He was young. Pale. Familiar in a way Akio couldn't immediately place. His coat was worn, dusted in snow, but his expression was precise—a kind of clinical calm that made Akio raise at least an eyebrow.
And in his right hand: a syringe.
Time slowed. Akio's stomach turned. He knew that syringe. That model. That specific silvery glint beneath the fluorescent lights.
He had once held one just like it.
"You..."
The stranger didn't wait.
He lunged.
Akio reacted without thinking. Ducking low, he sidestepped the person and slammed his shoulder into him, sending the attacker stumbling. They grappled. The syringe clattered to the floor and skidded under a shelf.
"Why are you here?!" Akio shouted, grabbing the figure's collar and forcing him back against the counter.
The stranger said nothing. Just stared at Akio with eerie indifference.
Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
He let it fall.
Akio glanced down. The paper was creased, scribbled in sharp, angry pen strokes.
"Experiment window ending. Time expired. We only extended it because you wandered. Couldn't identify by face. You're still Subject 9."
Akio froze.
Subject 9.
He picked up the note, hands trembling.
"So... I was never supposed to survive?"
The stranger's lips parted. His voice was sterile. Disconnected. "You were a variable. We expected death within forty-eight hours. Your cognitive recovery made you dangerous."
"Dangerous? For surviving?!"
"The regression compound was never meant to cure. Only to measure evolutionary elasticity. You retained memory. Awareness. That wasn't predicted."
Akio backed away. "I made something of myself. I built something."
The stranger tilted his head. "We created a tool. It outlived its use. Now we remove it."
Akio clenched his fists. "You think you're gods, don't you? Playing with people's lives for some agenda."
"Progress requires sacrifice. Society thrives when it cuts its weakest threads. You were chosen because no one would miss you."
The words hit like fists. But Akio stood his ground.
"I matter. My life matters. And so do the people I care for."
The stranger's mouth curled. Not into a smile, but something colder.
"Too late."
His hand dipped into his coat again.
Akio lunged, but not fast enough.
A click.
A flash of red light.
A sound like glass screaming.
Then:
BOOM.
Scene 2: The Fall of Hukitaske Pharmacy
Flames swallowed the silence.
Glass shattered. Wood splintered. Shelves crumbled beneath walls of heat. The heart of the pharmacy—his sanctuary, his second chance—burst outward in a roar that shattered the snowy stillness of the night.
Akio hit the ground hard, his body flung backward. His ears rang. Smoke blurred his vision. The heat was immediate, suffocating. All around him, the world cracked and buckled.
From beneath a collapsed display case, he watched the ceiling collapse in waves. The scent of burning herbs filled his lungs. Somewhere, through the flame and rubble, a piece of paper floated down. Half-charred.
He grabbed it with the last of his strength.
"Failed subject terminated. Self-destruct approved. Experiment officially closed. Glory to progress."
His fingers shook.
The attacker's body lay crumpled beneath fallen beams. Lifeless.
Akio tried to rise, but pain speared through his ribs. His coat was singed. His hands were bleeding. He was alive—but barely.
And everything he had rebuilt was gone.
Outside, the snow continued to fall, ash mingling with ice.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Too far.
Akio's lips cracked as he whispered:
"...I'm not done."
[End of Volume 2: After the Ribbons — The Pharmacy Beyond Dreams Above]