The office was finally quiet. Everyone had left after the meeting, leaving behind half drunk glasses of whiskey, the faint smell of cigars, and a silence that pressed too close. I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for a long time, wondering what the hell was happening on the other side of reality.
Would anyone even notice I was gone? Would my parents knock on my door and assume I was just gaming again? Or would days here be minutes out there, some warped time logic that let the world keep moving without me?
I laughed quietly to myself because I didn't even know if I still had a body in that world. Maybe I was already a file somewhere, running on a server farm in hell.
That was when I heard a voice outside the door. A woman's voice, calm but with that kind of tone that made men straighten up real quick.
"Don't let anyone else in," she said.
A second later, the door opened, and Clara Moreni walked in with a folder in hand, her heels were silent against the carpet like she'd rehearsed it. Her eyes went straight to me, sharp and unreadable, and before I could figure out what to say, she dropped the folder on the desk with a soft thud.
"Really?" she said as she folded her arms. "You went for a delivery yourself? And with Marco of all people?"
Her tone wasn't that of an underling talking to her boss. It was sharp, scolding, personal.
"I..." I started, trying to look confident, but she was already pacing slightly in front of me.
"Do you have any idea what would've happened if you'd died out there?" she continued. "They practically laid that trap in broad daylight, and you walked right into it."
The way she said it made me shrink a little inside. My brain scrambled for something that sounded like Antonio would say, not Ethan.
"I had it under control," I said, which was the biggest lie I'd ever told.
Clara stopped, her eyebrows were raising just a bit. "Under control?" she repeated. "Is that what you call a police chase and half the city watching it on the news?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, muttering something under her breath before saying, "Tony, I swear, one of these days..."
And that was when my brain froze.
Tony.
She'd called me Tony. Not Antonio. Not Don Voss. Tony.
It rolled off her tongue too casually, too naturally, and my head started connecting the dots in real time.
Was she family? No. Different surnames. Old friend? Maybe. Wife? No ring, no matching name. Girlfriend?
That one stuck, especially when she crossed her arms again and pouted like she wanted to stay angry but couldn't quite manage it.
I decided to test the theory.
"Alright, alright, Clara," I said carefully. "You're right. I shouldn't have gone myself."
She blinked, then her expression softened just a little, the edge in her voice was fading as she replied, "Good. Took you long enough to realize that."
That was my confirmation. Girlfriend, definitely girlfriend.
Still, I couldn't help thinking, what kind of girlfriend has sixty eight percent loyalty? What kind of messed up relationship bar was that?
Trying to steer things before she caught me staring like an idiot, I leaned forward slightly and asked, "You said it was obvious the pick up was a trap. Any idea who set it?"
She hesitated, then opened the folder she'd dropped earlier, flipping through a few papers before stopping at one. "The Tireno Cartel," she said finally. "They've been getting bolder. Probably thought they could take a shot at you in public."
I frowned. "Guess they almost did."
Clara nodded as she tapped the folder closed. "They'll try again. They always do. But for now, we'll handle it quietly." She glanced at the clock behind me. "It's already past seven. You should rest. I still have to clean up the mess from the mall incident before the cops start asking questions we don't want to answer."
Before I could say anything, she leaned down, pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, and whispered, "Try not to do anything stupid, alright?"
Then she turned and walked out, her file was under one arm as the door closed softly behind her.
I sat there for a while, staring at the spot she'd just left, trying to process what had just happened.
The woman I'd apparently been dating just scolded me for nearly dying in a simulated city run by a death trap of a system, and my only takeaway was that my "sixty eight percent loyalty bar girlfriend" was better at this than I was.
Eventually, I dragged myself up and headed back to my room. The screen flickered faintly in my vision as I walked, and a small notification appeared.
> Mission Progress: 10%
"Ten percent?" I muttered. "That's it?"
Still, it was something. A sign that I wasn't completely stuck.
In my room, I collapsed onto the bed, telling myself I'd only close my eyes for a minute. Just a short break before figuring out my next move.
When I opened them again, light was streaming through the curtains. I blinked, groaned, and turned my head toward the calendar on the wall.
May 5th.
For a second, my brain didn't catch it. Then it did, and I shot upright, staring at the date.
"Wait, it changed," I whispered.
Yesterday had been May 4th. I was sure of it. I remembered seeing it before I fell asleep.
So the day could move forward.
It wasn't like Re:Zero. I didn't need to die or reset. As long as I made progress, completed part of the mission, the world kept turning.
I sat there, staring at the calendar with a small grin creeping up my face.
"Okay," I said to no one. "So that's how it works. Mission progress equals time progress. Got it."
Then I leaned back on the bed as a quiet laugh slipped out.
Maybe, just maybe, I was starting to figure this place out.
___
To be continued...