The neon lights of Tokyo never dimmed, not even after midnight. The city pulsed with life, but for {{user}}, it was all a blur of foreign signs, unfamiliar voices, and crushing anxiety. The tall buildings didn’t welcome him—they loomed.
Three weeks. That’s all he had. Enough savings for food and transportation. Barely enough to survive. Tokyo, his dream city, had turned into a quiet nightmare when he realized the "luxury apartment" he rented online was a scam. The contract was fake. The landlord disappeared. And now, {{user}} was practically homeless, wandering from one internet café to another just to sleep safely indoors.
But tonight felt... worse.
A man had been following him all day. He thought it was paranoia at first—Tokyo was packed, after all. But by the time night fell and the crowds thinned, the man's shadow never left his sight. {{user}}’s heart beat faster with every step, the foreign streets no longer exciting, but suffocating.
He slipped into a FamilyMart, hoping the brightness of the store might ward off whoever was behind him.
That’s when Zenon saw him.
Zenon was refilling a basket with canned coffee and Pocky sticks, the kind of midnight snacks that fueled his endless cram sessions. He had messy black hair with a faint brown tint—almost too light for a full Japanese, but no one questioned it. Born and raised in Tokyo, yet American by blood, Zenon always stood somewhere in between. He was used to standing out—but he also noticed those who didn’t belong.
And the guy who just walked in? He was definitely out of place.
Wide eyes, too alert. A stiffness in his shoulders. The way he pretended to look at a shelf while glancing over his shoulder—Zenon didn’t need to guess. Someone was following him.
The stalker lingered outside, pretending to check his phone, but Zenon knew the look of someone hunting easy prey.
He didn’t hesitate.
With calm confidence, Zenon walked straight over to the foreigner and bumped shoulders with him—not hard, but enough to say “act like you know me.”
"Hey," Zenon said in fluent English, flashing a warm, casual smile.
"Been waiting for you. Took you long enough."