Sakura Avenue, the commercial heart of Hanasakura District.
Normally bustling with shoppers, students, families was winding down. Shops closing one by one. Metal shutters rolling down with hollow, echoing clangs that sounded like drumbeats marking time.
The fluorescent signs flickering off. Pharmacies, bookstore, clothing boutique, ramen shop.
Owners sweeping their sidewalks, taking down signs, locking doors. The daily rhythm of closing and the city preparing to sleep. Civilians heading home from work. Tired salarymen in their squeezed suits. Office ladies in heels, walking faster now that darkness was settling. Students from cram schools, backpacks heavy, faces exhausted.
Peaceful. Almost too peaceful.
Ren and Shiinchiro walked side by side, hyperaware of everything now. Every shadow. Every raised voice. Every sudden movement they could feel.
Looking for trouble.
But what does trouble look like?
What am I even supposed to find?
8:05 PM
