The world doesn't resist forever.
It repositions.
The city woke to small changes that meant everything. Not announcements. Not declarations. Just altered behavior—subtle recalibrations happening elsewhere, beyond our immediate sight.
Timelines shifted.
Expectations softened.
Requests arrived already tempered with restraint.
✦
Arjun noticed it while scanning the morning reports.
"They're… different," he said.
"Less demanding."
"Yes," I replied.
"Because pressure stopped working."
✦
The other Ishaan aligned, voice calm and exact.
Systems don't apologize when they fail, he said.
They adapt.
✦
By midmorning, the pattern sharpened.
External actors began planning around the city instead of through it. Not isolating it. Not punishing it. Simply acknowledging its boundaries as fixed points rather than flexible conveniences.
The world was learning the shape of quiet refusal.
✦
Arjun leaned closer.
"They're not asking how to change us anymore."
"No," I said.
