Kaito’s reply, in bold:
Kaito slices a maki roll. Inside: not rice. A human EYE. The iris is the customer’s own birthdate.
(Kaito’s reflection in the knife does not move.) (The tuna weeps soy sauce dark as crude oil.) (The customer’s smile has too many hinges.)
Then I read page 7.
My hand trembled. The air in my room grew cold. I heard—no, felt —the sound of a knife being sharpened behind my wall.
A recipe. INGREDIENTS: One reader. One belief that fiction is safe. METHOD: Read until you smell ginger. Then look behind you.
The script’s final line, already scrawled on my ceiling in what looked like old blood: