Finish What It Started

At the top of the spiral staircase, there is a slightly ajar door.

When Chisaki pushed open the door, the sounds from the main street below, several floors away, were still echoing. The sounds of swords clashing, shields clanging, and the roar of the tide all came up as muffled echoes, sounding as if they were very far away.

The broadcasting room was unusually quiet.

An old broadcast control console was lit up by itself, the faders covered in dust, only the row of keys for the tape transport were worn shiny by fingers. On the reel rack, a cassette tape was spinning, spinning backwards, spinning for decades.

Chisaki stood at the door for a long time.

"When I was a child," she said, "It was the thing that woke up the whole city every morning."

"Have you found the problem yet?" Zhou Yu asked.

"It's not broken." Chisaki pointed to the worn-out marks on the conveyor belt key. "It's punctual every day, without fail, it's been doing this for decades. You guys call this a malfunction, but it calls this 'going to work'."

Footsteps sounded at the bottom of the stairs; Zhou Yu came up, his forehead beaded with sweat.

"She let me up," he said. "When she counted to two thousand six hundred and twenty-one, she said, 'Business comes first.'"

Chisaki smiled and stepped aside.

Zhou Yu stood in front of the broadcast control console. He didn't unplug the power, change the parameters, or take out any files. He only did one thing: he turned the tape that was spinning backwards right-side up.

"The check-in staff said not to touch the announcement button," Chisaki said.

"This isn't the broadcast button," Zhou Yu pressed play, "It's the leave button."

Amidst the hissing sound of the cassette tape spinning, Chisaki stood up straight and began to count quietly.

What are you counting?

"Count it all," she said. "When you're counting, you won't panic."

5:51.

The bell rang, striking precisely. One strike, then another, and another. Eleven strikes, not one more, not one less, lasting a full eleven seconds. In the final note, that voice, which had been playing backwards for decades, finished its closing statement with a breath.

"Nice to meet you on this new day."

At the same moment, the tide on the main street stopped.

The hissing subsided and receded, like the tide receding to shore. The outline of the Tacet Discord scattered into tiny specks of light, sinking layer by layer back into the Tethys' Deep. The Arrowhead Bear was the last to dissipate; before it did, its head, covered in black stones, tilted slightly towards the top of the tower, as if nodding.

Sigelica leaned on her shield, panting; the shield was covered in scratches. Chisa sheathed her sword, the blade clean, without a drop of blood. Her opponent was never truly alive.

The whole city fell silent for a moment.

On the street, the old man carrying a birdcage finished humming the last half of a line. The check-in clerk in the duty room said thank you into the microphone, then scratched his head. The registration officer stood behind the cordon, not taking anything down. Bozai yawned.

Each person listened to it from their own seat.

"Have you written everything down?" the registrar asked the clerk beside him.

"Understood." The clerk closed his pen. "Citywide attendance."

Inside the canvas bag, the memory stone vibrated slightly.

The reading jumped from 5% to 9%. A line of small characters appeared on the stone surface, as if someone had left a note from a very, very long time ago.

H (Liuyin): Gently put the dropped item back in its original place.

Zhou Yu stared at it for a few seconds, then closed the bag.

"Long-term data," he said. "We'll calculate it next time."

"Gravity," Chisaki looked at the small print, "Is the force that pulls things downwards."

"That's possible," Zhou Yu said, "A force that pulls people together."

At the foot of the tower, Dania finished counting the last number, just as dawn broke.

She hummed along with the chimes for the eleven seconds, then turned and smiled at Zhou Yu.

"It has finished speaking."

"Okay," Zhou Yu said, "It's time to get off work."

The tower gate opened, Chisaki stepped out, facing the rising sun, and said something very softly.

"Nice to meet you on this new day."

The registrar walked over, holding the emergency roster in his hand. The red cross in Dania's column had been erased cleanly. Next to it was a line of his own handwriting, neat and tidy: List of Collaborators, First line, Dania.

"The review is suspended indefinitely, and the observation period is revoked," he said. "The reason for closing the case will be stated as: capacitor discharge in old equipment, residual sound from the broadcast."

He closed the list and instructed his subordinates behind him, "Just write 'the equipment is outdated.' The old things in this city deserve a dignified exit from get off work."

Dania stared at her own words for a long time, then turned and waved her arm at Zhou Yu.

"Xiao Yu, I've been written in. Neatly."

"I saw it," Zhou Yu said. "I'll frame it later."

Sigelica leaned closer to look at the list, her voice rising, "What about me? Am I on the list?"

"Yes." The clerk turned a page and read, "Leader T of the Slacking Squad,' a hero. (Additional note: very loud.")

Delete this line!

At the end of the line, the registrar turned to another page and read flatly, "Chisa, did not use Prefetch throughout. Conclusion: This member is very strong."

"Hmm," Chisa said, "You don't need to tell me."

In the morning, a long queue formed outside the Train Conductor Café.

The shop that had Tacet Discord became famous throughout the city overnight. Bozai squatted at the entrance, receiving greetings from passersby and earning the title of Heroic Capybara. Grandma squeezed to the front of the line and stuffed a daifuku into its mouth.

"Among the old neighbors, you're the only one who's successful."

Bozai held Dafu in its mouth, patted the ground twice with its tail, signaling to continue. A child held up a notebook and asked Sigelica for an autograph. She froze on the spot, her ears turning bright red, and remained frozen for a full ten seconds before finally signing it. Signed, "Leader T of the Slacking Squad."

A few minor things happened at the store that day.

Before going to bed, Chisa opened the drawer a crack. Ling lay quietly inside, listening to the sounds outside. She was fast asleep.

With her first savings, Sigelica sent a whole box of mochi to the Flamebearers' Academy. The recipient Lu Hesi of the Resonance Medical Center. She hesitated for a long time in the sender's field before finally writing four words: "Slacking Squad." After writing that, she added one item to her schedule: salary increase negotiation.

Three days later, she received a reply with just one sentence, "Dou Dafu received. Everyone, extra practice." She put the letter into her document folder and circled the section about salary increase negotiations.

Chisaki washed the two cups and placed them upside down on the bar counter in the most convenient spot, so that anyone could reach them.

A new wooden sign hangs at the shop entrance. "Our morning service includes coffee, daifuku, and tomorrow."

The red bean pudding sold out before closing time; the last one was in Dania's bowl.

Zhou Yu stacked the Tacet Discord and cores he had collected from the three battles in a row on the bar. Chisaki asked what he was going to do with them.

"Next time I pass through another city," he said, "I'll keep it as a souvenir."

Dania pushed the pudding towards Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu pushed it back. "Leave it for tomorrow."

"Let's eat together tomorrow," Dania said, "One spoon."

Zhou Yu didn't reply. He opened the schedule and wrote a line in the corner of the page with the question mark: Fellow traveler, Dania.

The next morning, there weren't many people on the pedestrian street. Zhou Yu put both of Dania's hands into his coat pockets, leaving one hand outside while holding a cup of coffee.

"I'll show you my hands," he said. "I'll use the temperature myself."

At nine o'clock in the morning, in the shop, Zhou Yu opened a new page of the schedule, and there was only a question mark at the top of the page.

The digital watch remained silent, offering no notification whatsoever.

Chisaki walked by and pointed to the blank space under the question mark, "Write this down for me. Before the next stop, take a detour to Black Shores." She paused, "Go knock on the door."

"Want to bring back a souvenir?" Dania asked.

"Daifuku with beans," Chisaki said. "The debt of two cups still needs to be repaid."

Zhou Yu wrote down four words in the "Travel Expenses" section. "This store will reimburse you."

Dania leaned closer and rested her head on the edge of the table.

"Xiao Yu, what are we eating next?"

Zhou Yu's schedule.

"I haven't decided on my next stop yet," he said. "Let's finish this coffee first."