C52 Fractures in the Night

Keiji rarely drank in public. He preferred silence, the company of his own thoughts, but that night he found himself at a dim-lit bar in Kabukichō, the neon glow spilling across the counter like a bruise. He nursed a whiskey with a still hand, but his eyes betrayed exhaustion. Riku’s obsession with Arun had become a noose, and Keiji—loyal as he was—felt it tightening around his own throat