The City That Wasn't Ready
The first thing Kairo noticed about tomorrow was that it smelled… expensive.
Not like food or flowers or anything normal—but like metal, rain, and something electric that made his nose tingle.
The second thing he noticed?
Everyone was staring at him.
Not casually. Not curiously.
Seriously staring.
A woman walking a floating suitcase stopped mid-step. A group of kids with glowing bracelets froze like someone had paused them. Even a robot—an actual walking, blinking robot—turned its head so fast it made a clicking noise.
Kairo waved.
"Hi."
Nobody waved back.
Mr. Tallow stumbled out behind him, already sweating.
"Oh no," he whispered. "Oh no, no, no. They can see you."
"Of course they can see me," Kairo said. "I'm right here."
"That's the problem!" Mr. Tallow hissed. "You're not supposed to exist yet!"
Kairo looked down at himself.
"Pretty sure I exist."
Before Mr. Tallow could argue, a loud BOOM echoed across the city.
Not a normal boom. This one felt… official.
Like the sky itself had just slammed a door.
High above them, glowing lines spread across the clouds like cracks in glass. Then, one by one, enormous floating screens flickered to life.
Every screen showed the same thing:
Kairo's face.
"…Okay," Kairo said slowly. "That's new."
A mechanical voice filled the air, calm and cold:
"UNAUTHORIZED ARRIVAL DETECTED."
Mr. Tallow grabbed Kairo's arm.
"We need to leave. Now."
"Wait—why?"
"Because," Mr. Tallow said, pointing upward, "that's why."
Something was descending from the sky.
At first, it looked like a falling star. Then it got bigger. And louder. And sharper.
It wasn't a star.
It was a machine.
A massive, silver, bird-like machine with wings made of spinning blades and a single glowing eye at its center. It hovered above them, humming with the kind of power that made your bones feel nervous.
Kairo's grin slowly returned.
"…That is the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"That is a Time Warden," Mr. Tallow said. "And it is about to arrest you, erase you, or possibly fold you into a chair."
"A chair?!"
"I told you—rules are unclear!"
The Time Warden's eye locked onto Kairo.
"TARGET CONFIRMED," it announced. "TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT: ILLEGAL."
"Okay," Kairo said, stepping back. "Now I'm a little less excited."
The machine's wings spun faster.
Wind exploded through the street, knocking over signs and sending people running. The ground beneath Kairo's feet vibrated.
"RUN!" Mr. Tallow shouted.
That was all Kairo needed.
He took off.
They sprinted through the unfamiliar streets, dodging glowing carts, jumping over cables that pulsed with light, and nearly crashing into a man who shouted something about "timeline contamination."
Behind them, the Time Warden fired a beam of pure, humming light.
It hit the ground—
—and erased it.
Not broke it. Not burned it.
Erased it.
A chunk of the street simply vanished, leaving a perfectly smooth, empty hole like it had never existed.
Kairo yelped. "IT CAN DELETE THINGS?!"
"Yes!" Mr. Tallow shouted. "INCLUDING YOU!"
They turned a corner sharply, nearly slipping.
Kairo's heart pounded. His legs burned.
But he couldn't stop smiling.
"This," he gasped, "is WAY better than school!"
"You are going to get us both removed from existence!"
"Worth it!"
Another blast hit behind them.
Closer this time.
Too close.
Kairo stumbled.
And that's when it happened.
Time… glitched.
Just for a second.
The world flickered like a broken light.
The falling debris froze mid-air.
The sound of the machine stretched into a deep, slow echo.
Even Mr. Tallow stopped moving.
Kairo stood there, breathing hard, looking around.
"…Hello?"
Everything was still.
Silent.
Waiting.
Then, right in front of him—
The air folded again.
But this time, something else stepped through.
Not a man.
Not a machine.
A girl.
About his age, wearing a jacket covered in glowing lines that pulsed like a heartbeat. Her eyes locked onto his instantly, like she had been searching for him.
"You're early," she said.
Kairo blinked.
"…That's the second time someone has said that today."
She grabbed his wrist.
"Listen carefully," she said. "If you don't fix what you broke—"
The world around them started moving again.
Fast.
Too fast.
"—there won't be a tomorrow left to return to."
And just like that—
Time snapped back.
The noise, the chaos, the machine—all crashing in at once.
The Time Warden fired again.
Kairo barely had time to react—
Before everything went white.
To be continued…