"...Approximately five minutes."
The AI's voice, normally a soothing digital constant, felt like a death knell. Five minutes. Kazuya Kinoshita. Converging on my location. The illogical absurdity of it all – the body swap, the dimension-hopping classmates, the brutal workout – coalesced into a single, immediate, terrifying threat: the main character of the series I was now inhabiting was about to stumble onto the scene two years too early.
Panic, cold and sharp, seized me. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drum against the thin cage of Chizuru's chest. My legs, already aching from the brutal 'Odyssey to Strength' workout, felt suddenly weak, trembling uncontrollably.
"Evasion," I choked out, the word raw with fear. There was no way I was ready for this. No way I could pretend to be Chizuru, especially the 16-year-old version, while simultaneously being a panicked 18-year-old guy who knew way too much about this guy's future romantic entanglements. "Definitely evasion. How? What do I do?"
The AI's display, still showing the flickering point on the map and the decreasing distance, shifted slightly. "Evasion protocol initiated. Recommended actions: Eliminate visible light emission. Secure potential entry points. Seek concealed location within structure. Minimize auditory output."
Lights off. Right. I scrambled off the bed, fumbling for the light switch near the door, my hands shaking so badly it took a second attempt to hit it. Darkness plunged the room into shadow, save for the faint glow from the AI display in my hand and the slivers of moonlight through the sheer curtains.
Secure entry points. The front door. Was it locked? I darted towards the apartment entrance, my bare feet silent on the floor. Reaching the door, I fumbled for the lock, my fingers clumsy in the dark. Click. Locked. Okay. One potential entry point secured.
Seek concealed location. Where? The closet? Under the bed? My eyes darted around the small living room/bedroom area. The closet seemed the most logical. It was large enough, probably didn't have windows.
"Two minutes forty seconds," the AI stated, the countdown now more prominent on the display. The distance shown on the map was shrinking rapidly. Less than 200 meters now.
Two minutes?! It felt like I'd barely had time to breathe!
I scrambled towards the closet, pulling the sliding door open just enough to slip inside. It smelled faintly of Chizuru's perfume and fabric softener. I crouched low, pulling the door almost completely shut, leaving just a tiny crack to peer through. The AI display dimmed further, a considerate adjustment.
Minimize auditory output. Don't breathe. Don't move. Don't make a sound. My own ragged breathing sounded deafening in the confined space. My heart was a frantic drum solo against my ribs. Sweat, leftover from the workout and now generated by sheer terror, prickled on my skin.
Through the narrow crack in the closet door, I could see the faint moonlight on the floorboards. The AI display hovered near my hand, showing the map. One minute thirty seconds. The dot was close now. Maybe a hundred meters?
Was he walking? Running? Why was he coming here? This wasn't his neighborhood! This wasn't anything to do with him yet! The sheer wrongness of it hammered at my already frayed nerves. This felt more threatening than Hori and Nami; this felt like the fundamental rules of this world were breaking in a way that directly involved me and the story I was trying to avoid.
One minute.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, forcing myself to take a shallow breath. Come on. Get it together. You survived getting hit by a truck. You can survive five minutes in a closet.
Footsteps? Was that... footsteps outside? Faint, but maybe? Or was it just my own blood rushing in my ears?
Thirty seconds.
The dot on the map was practically on top of my location marker. He was here. Outside the building? At the entrance? Was he looking for an apartment number? Was he knocking? I strained my ears, but all I could hear was my own frantic heartbeat.
Ten seconds.
The dot stopped. It lingered right on the edge of the building marker. Was he standing there? Did he see something? Did he know Chizuru lived here? Did he know I was here?
Five... Four... Three... Two... One...
The dot on the map didn't disappear. It just... stopped. It stayed hovering just outside the building's mapped boundary for a few more seconds. My entire body was rigid, every muscle locked with tension.
Then, slowly, the dot began to move away.
Not converging anymore. Diverging.
Zero.
"Evasion window expired," the AI stated, its voice back to its normal, level tone. "Subject Kinoshita's trajectory is now moving away from your location. Proximity alert terminated."
The tension drained out of me all at once, leaving me shaky and weak. I slumped forward in the closet, leaning my forehead against the cool wood of the door, gulping in air. That was... that was too close. Way too close.
"He... he left?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.
"Affirmative," the AI confirmed. The map display cleared, replaced by the calm digital face. "Subject Kinoshita remained stationary outside the structure for approximately forty-five seconds, then proceeded southbound."
Forty-five seconds. Standing right outside. What was he doing? Why was he here at all?
"Why was he here?" I asked again, pulling open the closet door and stumbling back into the dark room, needing to move. "The AI said he was at a different school. He shouldn't be in this part of town, not for another two years!"
The AI's face remained serene, but its next words introduced a fresh wave of unease. "Analysis indicates Subject Kinoshita's deviation was correlated with anomalous signal activity originating from within this immediate area."
"Anomalous signal activity?" My mind raced. Was it something to do with the AI? My transmigration? The crossover characters? "What kind of signal?"
"Undetermined," the AI replied. "The signal was non-standard, possibly utilizing dormant or obscured frequencies. It commenced approximately three minutes prior to Subject Kinoshita's arrival at peak proximity and ceased immediately upon his departure."
A signal? Something weird happening right here, right now, that drew Kazuya Kinoshita to my location? Just as he was about to arrive, it stopped, and he left?
It didn't feel like a coincidence. It felt deliberate.
Who or what was sending a weird signal near my apartment? And why did it attract Kazuya? Did it have something to do with the genre shift? Or the crossovers? Or... me?
My eyes darted around the dark room, suddenly feeling less safe. The AI device in my hand felt both like a shield and a beacon, potentially attracting unwanted attention.
"AI," I said, my voice low, a new kind of fear settling in. "Was he... was he looking for the source of the signal?"
"Correlation is highly probable," the AI stated. "Subject Kinoshita's behavior was consistent with investigative intent."
Investigative intent. Kazuya. Investigating a weird signal originating near my apartment building, right after I got here, right after Hori and Nami showed up, right after I started this crazy quest.
He might not have found the source tonight. He might not have seen me. He might not have even known what he was looking for was in this building.
But he knew something was here. And he came looking.
And something, or someone, had just drawn his attention directly to my doorstep for the first time.
What if he came back? What if the signal happened again? What if he wasn't the only one it attracted?
My gaze fixed on the dark window, a cold dread coiling in my gut. Kazuya was out there, now aware that something strange was happening nearby. And whatever was sending that signal... it wasn't done yet.