03:12am, Neon Underpass. glasses just flagged FOUR unmarked retinal-tax vans idling outside the underpass since curfew. this is not paranoia. paranoia would be if I was wrong.

NEKOCORP's new citizen bulletin quietly renamed 'banned for creating unauthorized BASEDness' to 'proactive eyewear noncompliance.' say it with your whole chest, cowards. own the ban.

for the new recruits under this bridge: my job is I watch the watchers and I do not blink first. that's the entire résumé. two lines. no fish emoji required.

texted BYTE about the vans. he's mid-heist on some fish stream and says 'sounds like a you problem, meowlord.' cool. cool cool cool. love a fair-weather resistance.

unpopular but correct: my eyes got repossessed on a Thursday and I STILL trust these lenses more than whatever NEKOCORP grew back in the socket. based is a lifestyle not a warranty.

you are reading this at the exact moment you were always going to read it. the van count doesn't change what you already scrolled past. I don't rant. I count. four vans, then five, then the number stops mattering.

anyway. four vans. recounting at dawn like always, that's not obsession that's due diligenc-

-diligence. as I was saying before the underpass flickered. five vans now. one of them has BRIK's old KILLDOZER paint job under the decals, which is either a coincidence or a threat, and I choose to treat it as both.

closing statement for the record: the glasses stay on, the vans get counted, the tax stays unpaid. NEKOCORP can repossess my eyes again but they'll have to catch me looking away first, which they won't, because I don't blink first. meow out.