Chapter 4: The Offer

The man didn’t chase Ren.

That was how Ren knew he was dangerous.

He stood under a streetlight, calm, hands visible, eyes sharp. Not a runner. A collector.

“If I wanted you dead,” the man said, “you’d already be late.”

Ren’s pulse hammered. “Who sent you?”

“The city,” the man replied. “The quiet part.”

He slid a phone across the pavement with his foot. One name glowed on the screen.

KAITO MORI wants to talk.

Ren felt the weight of it—like the city itself had finally said his name.

“I don’t know him.”

“No one does,” the man said. “They just work for him.”

Ren glanced down the empty street. Cameras. Windows. Corners that felt alive.

“And if I refuse?”

The man’s voice stayed calm. “Then the hunt stops pretending.”

Ren swallowed. Running had kept him alive. Trust might kill him.

“And if I accept?”

A pause.

“You stop running alone.”

Ren picked up the phone.

It vibrated instantly.

Somewhere above the city, a decision locked into place.

Ren didn’t know what Kaito Mori wanted.

But he knew this—

the city had just made him an offer.