Everything had frozen.
Not just the masked man.
Not just Sera.
Everything.
The dust that hung in the air stood still. Even the broken wood from the collapsed ceiling floated, frozen in mid-fall.
Haruto's breath echoed too loud in the silence. The red glow on his badge slowly faded, but the heat still lingered in his chest like a warning.
And then it spoke again.
The whisper.
But this time, clearer.
A voice that sounded like it came from inside every clock in the room at once.
> "Haruto Ishida. Designation… incomplete."
Haruto spun around. "Who's there?"
The voice didn't answer directly.
Instead, the walls around him began to shift.
The clocks on the walls ticked once, then turned to face him. Not in movement—but in feeling. Like their broken hands were now eyes. Watching. Waiting.
> "The Clock is breaking," the voice said.
"The Keeper is gone. And yet… you walk the line."
Haruto stepped back. "I'm not the Timekeeper."
> "No. But something inside you used to be."
His chest burned again. But not like fire—like memory.
He saw flashes. A gear turning. Blood on brass. A name scratched off a wall.
And a voice.
Not his.
> "I'm not done yet."
Haruto blinked. The visions stopped.
He gripped the edge of the desk.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
> "Choice."
The room darkened. All the clocks went dim.
Only one remained lit.
A tall, golden grandfather clock in the corner, untouched by dust.
It ticked.
Soft. Gentle. Real.
Its door opened.
Inside wasn't gears.
It was a staircase.
Going down.
Sera and the masked man were still frozen, trapped in this pocket of stillness.
Haruto looked at them one last time.
Then he walked to the clock.
And stepped through.
---
The stairs went down forever.
The deeper he went, the older the air became. Like he was walking through layers of time itself.
The walls were no longer metal, but stone. Ancient. Etched with symbols.
Some looked like stars.
Some looked like eyes.
One looked just like the mark on his badge.
After what felt like an hour, he reached the bottom.
It was a hall.
Empty.
Except for the ticking.
At the far end, a machine stood.
Massive.
Covered in pipes, wires, and spinning gears. It was broken in places. A giant metal eye at the center of it glowed weakly.
And next to it… a chair.
Simple. Old. Wooden.
He walked toward it.
As he did, the voice returned—this time not from the clocks, but from the machine itself.
> "This is the Seat of Time. It remembers its Keeper."
Haruto touched the armrest of the chair. It felt cold.
> "Every realm has a clock," the voice said.
"Every clock has a watcher."
"The last Keeper fell. His body burned, but his core did not."
"It found a shell. It waits in you."
Haruto stared at the eye in the machine.
"You're saying… I'm what's left of him?"
> "Yes. You are the mold that took him in. But you are not him."
"Then who am I?"
Silence.
Then:
> "That is what you must decide."
The chair pulsed. A red light blinked on its side.
Haruto sat down.
At first, nothing happened.
Then—
Pain.
Like every clock inside him began to spin at once.
He screamed.
Visions poured into him.
A war of time. Cities melting in reverse. Machines eating the sky. A giant clocktower falling. A man in gold robes shattering into light. A metal eye closing.
Then—
The red light blinked once.
And everything stopped.
He was no longer in the hall.
He stood in a different place.
A vast black space with floating gears and broken clocks. The stars above ticked like second hands. And at the center stood a man.
Tall. Back turned.
He wore Haruto's face.
But older.
Worn.
Tired.
The man turned around.
Haruto gasped.
It was him.
But not.
> "You found the Seat," the other Haruto said.
"Who are you?" Haruto asked.
> "I'm what comes after."
The other Haruto stepped closer.
> "I've lived through this before. You're not the first."
> "But maybe… you'll be the last."
And then he smiled.
Not cruel.
Not kind.
Just… sad.
> "The Watchmen are coming. The Archivists are watching. The Clock is breaking."
> "You don't have much time left."
The gears behind him began to fall.
The stars blinked out.
> "Wake up, Haruto."
---
Haruto gasped awake.
He was back in the clock room.
Sera was shaking him.
"Wake up! That guy's gone! Are you okay?!"
Haruto sat up. His badge was smoking. The clocks were still again.
But one small clock in the corner had started ticking.
Just one.
Sera stared at it.
"What did you do?"
Haruto didn't answer.
He just looked at the clock.
And whispered,
> "I think… I just met my future."