All That Holds Between

Life runs efficiently when nothing hurts.

In Meiyu, people clip away their heaviest emotions and store them in memory drives so life can continue neatly and undisturbed. Lena is a courier who delivers these sealed fragments across the island, her days defined by routine, distance, and careful neutrality.

When one delivery goes wrong, a defective drive activates in her hands. The feelings inside are not hers and were never meant to surface. Ignoring protocol, Lena follows its pull through the city, through night markets scented with scallion and fried dough, into noodle shops, and the quiet generosity of neighbors' kitchens, where lives brush against one another. With each step, the walls she's built around herself begin to thin.

All That Holds Between is a gentle speculative novella about rediscovering what's lost, savoring what remains, and allowing life to hold more than function.