Chapter 1: Overtime Until Rebirth
The office lights flickered for the third time that night. A buzzing hum from the old tube light in the corner echoed in the otherwise dead silence of the floor.
At the far end, buried under towers of paperwork, a lone figure tapped away on his keyboard.
Riku Sakamoto, thirty-two, assistant project lead in a company that forgot humans needed sleep, food, or weekends.
He blinked slowly, eyes dry from staring at the monitor for fifteen hours straight. His wrist ached. His back screamed mutiny. His stomach had given up negotiating four hours ago.
And still, the cursor blinked.
Just one more spreadsheet. Then I can go home. Or die. Either's fine.
He leaned back with a sigh, cracked his knuckles, and opened the last report. His brain was mush. His fingers were stiff.
Then the screen went black.
So did the lights.
And then, so did everything else.
He woke to the sound of birds.