Chapter Five: The Type Tower

After each date were the same words: **IF HE HAD REFUSED.** “That's what I am,” Zero said. “Not a person. Every choice you failed to make.” Black filaments emerged from the wall and entered his limbs, pulling him apart into sketches. Gu Yan charged forward and cut the wall with dark blue—C100, M86, Y35, K28. The color was neither loud nor premium. No brand had adopted it. Yet it split hundreds of *ifs* in half. He seized Zero. “Unmade choices can shape you. They don't get to own you.” Zero looked up. For the first time, his collage face held an expression belonging to none of Gu Yan's ages. “Save that sentence for yourself,” he said.