The follow-up appointment was over.
By the time Shu walked out of the hospital, the sun had already begun its descent into the west.
The afternoon was losing its brilliance, though it hadn't yet decided whether to fully surrender to dusk.
The sunlight no longer had the strength to stretch shadows very far. Shu's shadow clung tightly to his feet, a short, stubby shape, like a small splash of ink that had accidentally leaked from his body onto the pavement.
He stood by the entrance for a moment, letting the weight of the words spoken in the consultation room fall away from him.
He had talked far too much today... He needed to exhaust his voice entirely and let silence take root in his ears.
He hailed a cab. Telling the driver his phone number's last four digits would be the second-to-last sentence he spoke outside today. He was saving the final sentence for when he got out: a simple "thank you" to the driver.
In the car, he rested his forehead against the window. The vibrations of the vehicle transferred from the glass to his skull, scattering into a dense, subtle tingling sensation inside his head. It reminded him of the medical equipment he had been subjected to every single day during his hospitalization.
The city outside the window flowed past his eyes, blurring into a sweeping vista that would match anyone's imagination of a bustling metropolis.
But Shu didn't care about the view. He knew he couldn't afford to genuinely care.
From a blurred distance, the prosperous city showed everyone its glory.
But if you slowed down and examined it closely, you would start to see the grime, the decay, and the flaws that the dazzling lights were designed to obscure.
Not as good as Rice Cake.
His Rice Cake was perfect. Pure fur, bright heterochromatic eyes shining like stars, elegant pos—well, a posture that didn't care about the little things. Healthy, lively, smart, and affectionate.
Wasn't that infinitely better than those supposed "geniuses" and "gods"?
The corners of Shu's mouth, which had been drooping all day, finally curled up slightly.
The car arrived. He stepped out, habitually muttered a "thank you" the driver probably didn't hear, and turned to walk home.
The streetlights near his apartment building were already on. A few newly posted flyers fluttered noisily in the evening breeze, sounding almost like applause welcoming him back.
Shu glanced at them casually, his hand already reaching into his pocket for his keys.
He entered his building. The fading sunlight was cut off by the walls of the stairwell. Out of habit, he glanced toward his door. The dimly lit corner was empty.
His rising good mood stuttered for a moment. Shu exhaled softly, pulled out his key, and slotted it into the lock—
Click, clack—
The crisp sound of the key turning seemed exactly the same as always, but Shu froze.
Something's wrong...
The sound is wrong. The resistance is wrong...
Someone messed with my lock?!
BANG—!
The hesitation lasted only a fraction of a second. Shu wrenched the key and violently threw the door open, revealing the chaotic state of his living room.
Order had seemingly been violently sucked out of the space. The sofa cushions were flipped up and askew.
The coffee table had been shoved out of place, its legs leaving white scrape marks across the floorboards.
The cups and fruit bowl on the table had been knocked to the ground, scattering shattered glass and random knick-knacks everywhere.
But where is Rice Cake?
Shu completely ignored the scattered mess. He didn't care about the destruction.
If he had walked in to see the sofa shredded to ribbons and the coffee table covered in deep scratch marks, he wouldn't have said a word. He'd just sigh helplessly and call out for his kitten, assuming it was hiding somewhere out of guilt.
But... how could Rice Cake possibly move a heavy sofa and coffee table so violently?
That was clearly the result of someone forcefully crashing into them!
Who?!
"Rice Cake!" Shu stood in the doorway, his voice cracking with panic.
The living room was as silent as the calm before an execution. The only sound Shu could hear was the frantic hammering of his own heart.
Is it asleep? Did it make a mess and get too scared to come out? Did it pass out from hunger?
ENOUGH!
What excuses are you still trying to find?!
[Multiple domestic pets reported missing in local neighborhoods. Preliminary police investigations point to an underground animal abuse ring...]
That news headline, which Shu had only briefly glanced at days ago, suddenly surfaced in his mind with the agonizing clarity of a hyperthymesia patient. Every single printed word materialized vividly in his brain.
Simultaneously, he remembered the flyer he had just seen flapping on the streetlight outside.
[Missing Dog...]
"..."
Shu lowered his eyes, hiding his gaze in the shadows.
With trembling fingers, he unlocked his phone and opened the pet tracking app. He gripped the device so hard the screen threatened to crack under the pressure.
He forced his mind to think rationally. His logic engaged, but at the same time, violent, extreme emotions mercilessly battered his heart and brain.
Rice Cake wore a collar. The collar held its microchip info and a real-time GPS tracker.
After two frantic mistypes that nearly sent him into a blind rage, Shu finally loaded the tracker's location.
It was nearby. Shu's eyes lit up for a fraction of a second, but his heart immediately sank again when he saw the icon.
It was completely stationary.
The collar was ripped off.
He didn't need to deduce it. The moment he saw the unmoving dot, the conclusion slammed into his mind.
The collar had a plastic breakaway safety buckle. A strong yank was all it took to unsnap it.
It was designed to save a cat from choking to death if the collar got caught on something. But now...
No, Shu, extract the useful information!
He forced himself to calm down again, his lungs burning as if he were suffocating.
The tracker had only been stationary at that location for half an hour. That meant whoever took Rice Cake had passed through there thirty minutes ago... No, there are other possibilities...
What if there were two of them? One took Rice Cake and ran the other way, while the other took the collar to throw me off?
What if the guy didn't catch Rice Cake at all? What if Rice Cake ran there to hide and is waiting for me right now?
What if...
"FUCK—!!"
The chaotic swirl of overthinking detonated the anxiety in his chest. Shu slammed his fist brutally into his own front door, leaving a massive dent in the metal.
The skin on his knuckles split open, dripping blood.
The pain was effective. The third wave of explosive emotion was forcefully suppressed, condensing into a crushing weight on his chest.
Panting heavily, Shu reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a gleaming coin.
The moment his fingers brushed the warm metal—heated by his own body temperature—he finally felt a true sense of calm wash over him.
"Do I need to care about these 'what-ifs'?" Staring at the lucky coin, Shu took a deep breath and flipped it high into the air.
Smack.
The coin landed on the back of his hand. Shu immediately checked the result.
Tails.
I don't need to care!