Chapter 4: The Green tea man
The sky over Shibuya was gray with warning. Clouds loomed like memories—heavy, toxic, and ready to burst. Ren Kurozawa moved like a ghost through the city's bones, his hoodie soaked at the shoulders, gas mask dangling from his neck.
He wasn't looking for supplies today.
He was hunting ghosts. One in particular.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: Emotional Surge Detected. Anchor Memory Unlocked. Processing…]
The vision hit him like a brick to the skull.
---
[FLASHBACK — One Year Before the End]
Ren sat in silence across from him.
Ichiro Hoshino. The man everyone called "Mr. Empathy." Soft-spoken, always smiling, always listening. A perfect human mirror. Girls loved him. Men trusted him.
Ren hated him.
"Glad you could make it, Ren," Ichiro had said, sipping green tea in that insufferably zen café. "Aya's been distant lately. I just wanted to… you know, talk."
Talk.
That word had aged like milk.
Ren remembered Aya—his wife—laughing more and more around Ichiro. The shift was subtle. Her texts grew colder. Her eyes looked through him.
And Ichiro? Always there. A shoulder. A friend. A manipulator.
"Careful," Ren had said, tone even. "You're dancing too close."
Ichiro's smile never broke. "Ren, you're too intense. Aya deserves peace, not paranoia."
The memory blurred. Ren's fists clenched.
Back then, he didn't see the hypnosis—the subtle erosion of trust through well-placed words and emotional mining. He didn't recognize a predator who wore calm like cologne.
But now?
Now he remembered everything.
---
The alley was darker now. The vision faded. Ren exhaled.
[SYSTEM LOG: Emotional Overload Balanced. Memory Archived.]
He moved on. A pharmacy loomed ahead. Windows shattered, pills scattered. He didn't need meds.
But he did need something to hit.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Too light for a man. Too fast for a scavenger.
He turned sharply—and locked eyes with her.
Ayaka.
"Ren?" Her voice cracked with disbelief.
She looked different now. Gone was the student hoodie. She wore a tactical jacket, stained at the elbows. Her eyes were sharper—but still human. Still hers.
He didn't respond at first. His jaw tightened.
This was their first reunion since the school.
"You're alive," she whispered.
"You too," he said coldly.
They stood in the wreckage of a broken pharmacy like ghosts from different timelines.
Ayaka stepped closer. "Why didn't you—"
"I'm not who I was," he cut her off. "Neither are you."
She stopped. Searched his face. "What happened to you?"
A pause. Then:
"Betrayal."
The word split the silence like thunder.
Ayaka looked like she wanted to say more—but Ren turned away, grabbing a shattered crate. Inside: energy bars, iodine, glucose packs.
Survival stock. That's what he was here for. Not nostalgia.
[LOOT ACQUIRED: Minor Nutrient Boost +2 | Energy Reserve +5]
[SUPPLY PROGRESS: 8.6% toward Phase One]
"I saw Ichiro," she blurted.
He froze.
"He's setting up a base in the east. He's recruiting survivors. Says he's building a sanctuary."
Of course he is.
Ichiro's charisma wasn't just natural—it was parasitic. The same manipulation that turned Aya against Ren in the last timeline was now being weaponized on a broader scale.
"Ichiro doesn't build sanctuaries," Ren muttered. "He builds stages."
Ayaka looked haunted. "I don't trust him. I… I wanted to tell you."
He turned. This time, their eyes met like blades.
"Then stay out of his spotlight," he said. "Because the curtain's about to drop."
---
[NEW CHARACTER UNLOCKED: THE GREEN TEA MAN]
Name: Ichiro Hoshino
Former Title: Humanitarian Coordinator, Tokyo Crisis Division
Personality Archetype: Subtle Manipulator
Ability [LOCKED]: [Hypnotic Echo] – Uses charisma and emotional attunement to subtly influence trust, desire, and loyalty.
Danger Level: ✦✦✦✦
Timeline Deviation: High Priority
---
As the rain began to fall, Ren looke
d toward the eastern horizon.
In the past, he was blindsided.
This time, Ichiro wouldn't be playing therapist.
He'd be playing corpse.