"Li Lin, why are you here?" Texas asked.
"Picking up a tool. You?"
"Weapon maintenance. And some repair bills."
"That checks out…"
Li Lin glanced at Texas—dressed casually, holding several Originium lightsaber igniters—and immediately understood.
Unlike Croissant, who could fix most things herself, and unlike Sora and Exusiai, who had dedicated maintenance channels, most of Texas's gear was standard industrial-spec hardware you could find anywhere. Naturally, she had to come to Raythean's service office to buy replacements.
Penguin Logistics did have its own repair specialist—some birdman with an obsessive devotion to "divine" weapons and gear.
But on the one hand, he was their network intel officer, the one who sifted city-to-city data for hidden threads. On the other hand, he only really cared about signature weapons; ordinary equipment didn't inspire the same enthusiasm.
So yes—this was normal enough.
Office politics. Social lubrication. The world as it was.
"Want to see the tool I custom-ordered?" Li Lin asked.
"Mhm."
Texas answered softly. Her eyes brightened, as if expecting something truly distinctive.
But the process itself was simple. Li Lin walked to Raythean's collection point and retrieved his item.
Inside a small case sat a delicate, compact umbrella. When Li Lin pressed the release button, the folded mechanism burst into motion—complex rotations snapping into place. In the blink of an eye, it bloomed like a polygonal, angular flower, throwing off sharp, cold glints of light in the plaza.
Layered surfaces. Multi-tiered structure. Semi-transparent solid panels interlocked with metallic framing.
One look told you how much industrial design sweat had been poured into this shape.
Holding the umbrella open under the sun, Li Lin stood there and showed off his custom "large prop" with unmistakable pride.
"Well? Isn't it great? The design fidelity is insanely high."
"Does it have any special function?" Exusiai asked.
"…No."
"It's an elegant mechanism," Texas said. "Good design."
"Thanks."
Ah. Of course they didn't get it.
Watching Exusiai and Texas—both of them largely expressionless, politely humoring him—Li Lin felt a little disappointed.
You couldn't blame them. They didn't know the meme. They hadn't played Death Stranding.
A pity. No goofy netizen praise for him today.
He imagined how, back on Earth, people would've been calling him a "god-tier maker" for something like this.
With a soft sigh, Li Lin folded the umbrella back down and returned it to its case.
"Still," he said, "even if I said it has no function, that's not entirely true."
He tapped the handle area.
"There's a general-purpose casting unit under the grip. It hasn't been properly stress-tested, and the amplification isn't huge—mostly stability. But it can interface with basically any Originium Arts. Call it… insurance. A safety net I made for everyone."
"Insurance?" Exusiai echoed.
"You know how it is. Danger shows up without an appointment. I don't have Arts, and I don't have a good reason to carry an Originium weapon."
Li Lin clipped the folded case at his waist and shrugged at the two women—both strong, both skilled with weapons and equipment.
"But an umbrella works. It's concealable, foldable, and you can trigger Arts through it—propagate and disperse. Very refined design."
"In the original context, it was supposed to be an antenna and broadcast point," he added. "Most of that functionality isn't needed here, so I adapted it for general compatibility."
"…Was this once a Catastrophe Messenger's personal device?" Texas asked quietly.
"You could call it that," Li Lin said. "Though I think the environment was harsher… or maybe not. Hard to say. It all blurs together."
He ran his fingers along the all-metal finish, satisfied with Raythean's workmanship.
That uniquely Terra semi-transparent material, combined with full-metal industrial styling—nearly a perfect recreation of the in-game equipment he'd once seen.
Li Lin didn't have some grand obsession with where he lived. He wasn't like others who carried secret agendas and world-changing ambitions. For him, saving money and commissioning a highly faithful cosplay prop like this was genuinely satisfying.
Of course, he also had a ready-made set of excuses to enrich his "mysterious persona," in case anyone asked too many questions.
After all—no one could verify it. No one else knew the truth.
"Accidents happen," Li Lin said, voice even. "People can't be prepared forever. Separation is inevitable. So it's good to prepare more."
"If you know where the future is headed, the most you can do is keep watch."
If you had foreknowledge, it became hard to feel anything deeply. Uncertainty and instability were the foundation of so many emotions.
Because the future was unknown, people held hands and faced it together. Even when death approached, they fought for the narrowest possibility among countless outcomes.
But if the future was already fixed—if you knew it would unfold exactly this way—then all you had left was blessing and waiting.
Li Lin looked toward Penguin Logistics' future with the calm of someone watching a river he'd already mapped. He knew what he should be doing in this window of time. Everything sat within his plan. No surprises. No deviations.
Because so many things weren't theirs to decide. The tide of the world moved them naturally.
If you could borrow that momentum—even a little—that was the cleanest ending.
"Anyway," Li Lin concluded, folding the umbrella away, "it's a nice little accessory. Just a hobby of mine."
He smiled at Texas and Exusiai.
"I've got what I came for, so I won't keep you. Exusiai and I will head back—"
"Ah!"
Exusiai suddenly exclaimed, her face lighting up as if something had just occurred to her.
"I—I just remembered. Texas and I have something we need to talk about! You should give us the bags. We can chat while we deliver everything back."
"Why?" Li Lin asked. "Wouldn't it be faster if we just went together?"
"It's… kind of a topic that's…"
"Oh. Got it."
Li Lin nodded immediately, looking perfectly understanding.
Girls' talk. He understood. Completely.
So he naturally extended a hand toward Exusiai.
"Then give me everything. I'll deliver it back by myself."
"...Okay," Exusiai said, stiffly. "Be careful."
"You're really not in good shape today," Li Lin muttered. "For you to be saying stuff like this…"
Exusiai was acting strangely. Texas, too, had been unusually silent since the moment they met.
Li Lin shrugged, took the bags, turned, and started walking back toward the rental.
Behind him, the two women exchanged a glance in the bright sun—each reading the other's thoughts in their eyes.
"Let's trade intel," Texas said under her breath.
....
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