The city never truly slept. Even as dawn crept higher, its light felt thin and afraid, swallowed by towering buildings and endless concrete veins. Kaito followed Rina across the rooftops in silence, the city stretching beneath them like a living organism—breathing, shifting, hunting.
The Spectral Edge had faded from his hand, but its presence lingered, a phantom weight etched into his nerves. Every step felt different now. Sharper. Heavier. As if the system had recalibrated his existence.
"You feel it, don't you?" Rina said without looking back.
Kaito nodded. "Like the world's… closer. Like it's pressing in."
"That's awareness," she replied. "The system gives power—but it also strips away ignorance. Once it marks you, there's no hiding."
They stopped atop a half-collapsed tower overlooking the East District. Below them, streets twisted into tight grids crawling with movement—hunters, runners, scavengers, things that no longer deserved human names. Symbols flickered faintly in Kaito's vision, overlaying reality with cold precision.
Threat Zones. Hostile Density: High. Survival Probability: 32%.
Kaito clenched his jaw. "It's already judging me."
Rina finally turned, her expression hard. "No. It's testing how much you're willing to lose."
Before he could ask what she meant, pain exploded behind his eyes. The world lurched.
A new interface forced itself open, flooding his vision in crimson light.
"Hidden Condition Activated."
"Watcher's Debt: A life has been noticed."
"Payment Pending."
Kaito dropped to one knee, gasping. The air felt thick, heavy—like drowning on land. Shadows along the rooftops began to stretch unnaturally, bending toward him.
"What's happening?" he hissed.
Rina's face drained of color. "No… already?"
The shadows moved.
From the edge of the rooftop, a figure emerged—tall, wrapped in tattered coats stitched with glowing symbols. Its face was obscured, but beneath the hood burned two pale, hollow lights.
A Watcher.
Not a hunter. Not corrupted. Something worse.
Its voice echoed from everywhere at once.
"Marked one… you have drawn the gaze of the dead."
Kaito's system screamed warnings.
"Entity Rank: ???"
"Escape Recommended."
"Combat: NOT ADVISED."
Rina grabbed his arm. "Run. Now."
"But—"
"NOW!"
They leapt.
The rooftop shattered behind them as something invisible struck, concrete exploding like glass. They crashed through a lower fire escape, metal screaming as they tumbled into the street below.
Kaito rolled hard, skin scraping pavement. The world rang.
Above them, the Watcher stood motionless, observing.
Then, slowly, it raised one hand.
"Interest recorded," it said calmly.
"Survive, and the debt may be delayed."
The figure dissolved into smoke, vanishing as if it had never existed.
Silence followed.
Kaito lay on his back, staring at the broken sky between buildings, chest heaving.
Rina exhaled shakily. "That," she said, "is what happens when the system decides you're entertaining."
A final message flickered into Kaito's vision:
"New Objective Unlocked."
"Live long enough to matter."
The city hummed around them, indifferent and hungry.
And Kaito understood something terrifying.
The system wasn't helping him survive.
It was waiting to see how he would die.