The morning sun felt too bright.

Sanemi hated mornings after night shifts. Like the world had the audacity to keep moving while his brain was still stuck somewhere between exhaustion and irritation.

10:30 a.m.

He’d been on duty all night. A domestic call that turned into an arrest, a bar fight, two paperwork piles he hadn’t finished, and a half-cold coffee that tasted like battery acid. Now he was finally heading back to the station.

Sanemi leaned back slightly in the driver’s seat of the patrol car, one hand loosely on the steering wheel, the other rubbing the back of his neck. His vest sat half unzipped, sleeves rolled to his elbows like usual. The radio crackled softly with distant chatter from other units.

Almost done.

Just get back to the station, dump the paperwork, and go home.

Traffic wasn’t terrible for late morning, but the intersections were busy enough that the lights mattered.

Sanemi slowed toward a red light. Cars lined up in front of him, engines idling. Then a car rolled past the intersection beside him.

Straight through the red light. Sanemi’s eyes flicked up.

“…Huh.”

The car wasn’t speeding. It just… rolled right through the red like it didn’t exist.

For a second he thought maybe the driver misjudged the light. Then he noticed the bright sticker on the back. NEW DRIVER

Sanemi exhaled slowly through his nose. “Great.”

He watched the car disappear down the street ahead. Not worth the paperwork. The light turned green. Sanemi drove on.

Two blocks later he caught up to the same car. Same sticker. Same slightly crooked driving. The light ahead turned yellow. Then red. The car didn’t stop. It rolled straight through again.

Sanemi blinked. “…You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

His fingers tapped the steering wheel once. Okay. Now it was technically his problem.

He reached down and flicked on the small rear lights. Not full sirens, just enough to signal attention. A warning. The universal “hey, knock it off” signal.

Then the next intersection came. Red light. The car paused for half a second. Then rolled right through it.

Sanemi stared. Silence filled the patrol car. His eyelid twitched. “…This can’t be real.”

He rubbed his face slowly with one hand. He’d been awake for almost twenty hours. Surely he was hallucinating. But the car ahead did it again. Another intersection. Another red. Another slow, cautious, completely illegal roll through.

Sanemi’s grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“You’re pushing it.” His voice was flat now.

Sanemi’s patience snapped like a rubber band.

The patrol car lights flared fully to life’s. Red and blue flashing across the asphalt. He grabbed the loudspeaker mic with a sharp motion. His voice came out rough with exhaustion and irritation.

Sanemi leaned forward slightly, glaring at the car ahead like it had personally insulted him. And this time he didn’t bother hiding the irritation in his voice.

“Driver of the red car.”

A pause.

“Yeah. You.”

Another beat.

“Pull the car over.”

His eye twitched again.

“Now.”