After the cut, silence changes.
It isn't empty anymore.It's accounted for.
The city woke leaner—no confusion about that. Fewer voices at dawn. Fewer footsteps crossing paths that used to overlap without thought. The lights that remained burned steadier, not brighter, like someone conserving fuel without being told to.
Arjun noticed it as we walked the long way around the canopy."It feels… smaller," he said.
"Yes," I replied."But nothing essential went missing."
✦
What remained didn't rush.
That was the first thing I noticed.
No one scrambled to fill gaps. No one tried to prove anything. Work began where it needed to, not where it used to. Tasks were chosen with intention now—each one weighed, each one worth the cost of doing it without backup.
The city had learned restraint.
✦
The other Ishaan aligned, voice calm and approving.
After the cut, excess dies first, he said.What remains has already accepted its limits.
✦
