When the first ray of morning sunlight slipped through the gaps between the high-rises and spilled onto the bustling streets of Star City's eastern district, the streets were already packed with people—office workers and children on their way to school.
Steam curled up from the breakfast stalls on both sides of the road in the morning light, and the aromas of all kinds of breakfast foods drifted through the streets and alleys.
Buses clattered past, carrying whole carriages of passengers toward every corner of the city.
In the heart of this bustling commercial district, a modern high-rise apartment building stood at the street corner.
The first floor housed several shops: a convenience store, a florist, and a bakery doing such good business that a small line had already formed outside.
On one floor of the apartment building, inside a south-facing bedroom, an alarm clock rang.
"Beep beep beep beep beep—beep beep beep beep—"
An arm reached out from under the covers and fumbled around on the bedside table for quite a while before finally finding the noisy culprit and shutting off the alarm.
One corner of the blanket was thrown back, and Sato Sayun, his black hair a mess, sat up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, then sat blankly on the bed, staring at a poster pasted on the wall opposite him.
It was a promotional poster for the Land of Stars 9th Anniversary Celebration, printed with the Land of Stars' five-pointed star emblem and the slogan: "To the stars and the sea, never stopping."
Sayun looked at it for a while, then sighed.
"Vacation... is already over...?"
His voice was thick with morning grumpiness and a trace of unwillingness.
His vacation clearly still had several days left. He had clearly already planned to stay home these next few days