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Chapter 26 - Volume 4 - (Part 4) - Time to Get to Work!

Chapter 4 - Sickly Tommorow

Scene 1: An Ordinary Morning

Sunlight filtered through the paper windows of the pharmacy, casting a golden hue across the wooden floorboards. A kettle hissed gently in the corner, its steam curling like a quiet exhale. It was a calm morning—almost idyllic. Birds sang from a nearby tree, and the scent of chamomile drifted through the air.

Akio Hukitaske sat at his usual place by the front counter, sipping a cup of green tea. A quiet satisfaction lived in his stomach—not quite happiness, but something adjacent. Something real. Rumane and Hikata were in the back organizing new inventory. The community cat, Mochi, sprawled on the windowsill, indifferent to the world. Patients trickled in and out, chatting about the summer festival or asking for cough drops.

Akio had begun to believe that maybe, just maybe, the shadows were truly behind him.

Scene 2: The Breath That Broke the Quiet

The calm shattered when the front door burst open, the old brass bell clanging wildly. A person rushed inside, breathless and pale, her eyes wide with panic.

"Please—someone—help!"

Akio was already on his feet.

"What happened?"

She held up a small empty bottle, hands trembling. The label had faded from wear, but Akio recognized the shape immediately—custom pediatric stabilizers. Not common. Not easy to replace.

"My daughter—Emi—she has a bad fever. She needs this formula daily. We just ran out—I thought we had another bottle! Please, she's starting to seize."

"How long ago did she take her last dose?"

"Two days ago."

Akio didn't hesitate. "Hikata! Bring the carts. Rumane, prep the secondary table with fever stabilizers. Now."

The team scattered into motion, their movements fluid, rehearsed—like a symphony of purpose. Akio disappeared into the back, unrolling a worn blueprint of the some pharmaceutical fever types on the table on the table. He scribbled revised proportions based on a two-day lapse and adjusted for fever variance. His hands moved with calm speed, like he was remembering rather than improvising.

The mother hovered at the doorway, eyes brimming with desperation.

"Will she be okay?"

Akio didn't look up. "She will. I promise."

Scene 3: Alchemy in Motion

The pharmacy transformed into a lab. Copper stills bubbled. Medicine powders. Syringes of materials for medicine powder were laid out in a row. Akio measured each with microscopic precision.

Rumane muttered, "He's gone full prototype mode again."

Hikata chuckled softly. "Yeah. Like riding a bike through a storm."

Akio's voice cut in. "Hikata the powder goes into that vile, and Rumane that liquid over there goes into the jar with the powder spread like veiled powder in grotesque matter that actually works."

Steam hissed. Pressure mounted. A vial filled.

He sealed the compound and sprinted to the cooling chamber. The timer ticked like a heartbeat. When the vial was finally removed, it shimmered with a pale blue hue.

"Let's go."

Scene 4: The Emergency Room Reborn

They followed the mother home.

Emi lay on a couch, her body trembling, lips pale. Her breathing was shallow—measured in gasps.

Akio checked her vitals, cleaned parts of the room that needed to be cleaned for safety before giving the medicine, and administered the serum.

"She's okay now," he whispered to her mother.

Minutes passed. Then a breath. A deeper breath. Color returned to her face.

The mother broke down, sobbing in gratitude.

Akio stood there for a long moment, watching the girl stabilize.

"Stay here," he said. "I'll be back in an hour with another week's supply—and a new protocol just in case. You won't have to go through this again so it will al be alright..."

Scene 5: Reflection Beneath the Paper Lanterns

That night, back at the pharmacy, Akio sat on the roof. The city twinkled below. He sipped his now-cold tea.

Rumane joined him, carrying fresh cups.

"You alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"You were brilliant today. Like the old days."

He looked at the stars. "It's strange. For years, I thought relife meant starting over. A new identity. A new me. A new fight. But today... it felt like the opposite. Like coming home."

"Maybe false relife isn't the lie we think it is," Rumane said. "Maybe it's just the long road back to who we've always been."

He smiled. Not the sad kind. Not the wounded kind. A real one.

And then he whispered, almost to himself, "This is what the serum was meant for. Not power. Not experiments. Just... healing."

They sat in silence, the world beneath them breathing softly, not rushing anymore.

[Next: Volume 4, Chapter 5 — The Kid Who Remembered Tomorrow]

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