Hide sighed deeply, a heavy, bitter exhaustion settling in his bones. He pulled his gaze away from the family and continued walking down the empty street.
The fear those parents felt was natural. It was logical. It was the exact same fear that had dominated Hide's entire life before the system crashed into his reality. Which made the alternative absolutely incomprehensible to him.
Even living in a world this fragile, there were people who actively chose not to awaken, even when they were explicitly given the chance.
By federal law, every citizen was required to attend the Awakening Assessment Authority at the age of sixteen and from that point they were given three chances to awaken until they turned eighteen.
But the actual process of swallowing the Life Stone was technically voluntary. You had the option to sign a waiver and decline the awakening process entirely.
