You plan on only doing oneshots? Having long, constantly-updating stories will help you gain more readers due to the nature of the site with the newest updates thing. I think people generally like short, constantly-updating chapters and such, like the traditional webnovel.
I decided to read Departing Hearts.
Take note that these are my personal opinions. I don't think I'm a super pro or good writer to give "legit" advice, so take these ideas with a grain of salt. But I more or less can articulate what I think of your work well, I guess?
I feel it could just be my personal habits speaking, but I think you breeze through events too fast. The mall trip's first part could have been laid out in a more detailed manner (basically, presented in an actual set of scenes with dialogue and motion, something "I can watch" if you get it). It's either that or just skipping straight to 7pm and telling the mall trip in flashbacks or mentions integrated in the dialogue.
Nice twist towards the end of that 7pm segment though. The VR reveal I did not expect. I liked the transition into narration as to what really happened in the scene after. In that flashback, I don't mind the "narration" because there's not much "action" as compared to having a trip to the mall, and time flies by in bigger chunks (weeks and years vs the hours the mall trip took)
Now that I think about it, I really wanted to have the mall scene longer. Drag it out longer with some nice, touching scenes and fun character dynamics to get Rachel some more screentime before going "boom" and hitting the readers with the 7pm scene and the VR twist.
Overall, it's a good backstory though. You can make a series out of this, I think, and if you want to do more writing, I suggest doing so. But maybe not have Anton as the protagonist. Have him be a mysterious figure or a force working in the background ala... Kayaba from SAO? Or Halliday from Ready Player One, and an expanded version of this one shot would be an amazing tie-in to your series.
