===
[99%....]
[100%]
[HIDDEN ACTIVATION QUEST: SAVE YOURSELF COMPLETE!]
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[THE VIGILANTE SYSTEM NOW ACTIVE!]
[1 NOTIFICATION PRESENT IN INBOX]
===
I woke up with a groan.
The throbbing headache from yesterday had dulled into something more manageable, but it still lingered behind my eyes like someone had decided to use my skull as a drum. I lay there for a few moments, staring blankly at the cracked ceiling above my bed while the events of yesterday slowly drifted back into my mind.
The train ride. Coming home. Throwing myself onto the bed. The strange flickering at the edge of my vision.
Then the rest of it hit me.
The alley.
The gun.
The brick.
I sat upright so fast that my balance almost betrayed me again.
"...Shit."
The word barely escaped my mouth before my breathing became uneven. My hands instinctively reached for my face as if covering my eyes would somehow erase the memories, but it didn't.
They kept coming anyway. The robber limping toward my scooter. The panic. The scream. The weight of the brick in my hand. Then that sickening sound as it connected.
I had killed someone.
Not accidentally bumped into someone.
Not gotten into a fight.
Killed.
The realization settled over me like a lead blanket, making it hard to breathe. My stomach churned as I looked around my tiny apartment, half expecting police officers to burst through the door at any second. Instead, the room remained exactly as I had left it the night before.
Morning sunlight squeezed through the worn blinds covering the window, casting narrow strips of light across the faded wallpaper. The tiny kitchenette sat opposite my bed with two unwashed plates still resting in the sink, while the old refrigerator hummed quietly in the corner like nothing had happened.
The city had already moved on.
People were probably heading to work.
Kids were probably getting ready for school.
Somewhere across Caviar City, detectives were probably standing over the body I had left behind in that alley.
The thought made me feel sick.
Should I turn myself in?
The question appeared in my mind almost immediately.
I imagined walking into a police station and explaining everything. How the robber had pointed a gun at me. How I had panicked. How I didn't even remember picking up the brick until I saw it covered in blood.
Would they believe me?
I laughed bitterly.
Not a chance.
To everyone else, I'd just be another scared sixteen-year-old claiming self-defense after crushing someone's skull. The robber was dead. He couldn't exactly tell his side of the story.
A familiar flicker interrupted my thoughts.
I frowned.
There it was again.
I'd seen it yesterday after leaving Tony's. At first I'd blamed the crash, then the headache, then exhaustion. I'd been too busy trying not to lose my mind over the murder to actually pay attention to it.
Except it was still there.
The strange flickering grew brighter before transparent blue panels faded into existence directly in front of me.
===
[HIDDEN ACTIVATION QUEST: SAVE YOURSELF COMPLETE!]
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[THE VIGILANTE SYSTEM NOW ACTIVE!]
[1 NOTIFICATION PRESENT IN INBOX]
===
I stared at the floating words for several seconds without saying anything.
"...Okay."
I rubbed my eyes.
The screen didn't disappear.
I blinked a few more times.
Still there.
"What the hell..."
I slowly reached out toward it, expecting my fingers to collide with glass or maybe some kind of projector. Instead, my hand passed straight through the blue panel without disturbing it in the slightest.
My first thought was that I'd finally lost it.
Yesterday's events had probably pushed me over the edge, and this was simply my brain's way of coping with the stress. Hallucinations sounded a lot more believable than glowing windows floating in my apartment.
Then again...
Hallucinations usually didn't stay this... consistent.
The text remained perfectly still no matter where I moved my head. It didn't blur. It didn't flicker. It simply hovered there as though it had every right to exist.
I sighed.
"If I'm hallucinating..." I muttered to myself, "...I might as well see what my imagination came up with."
The notification immediately expanded.
===
[WELCOME, HOST.
Congratulations.
By surviving the hidden activation quest 'SAVE YOURSELF,' you have fulfilled all conditions required for compatibility.
The Vigilante System has now been successfully bound to its designated host.
Please review your inbox for further information.]
===
I read it once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
"...Host?"
I frowned.
"'Compatibility?'"
"'Bound?'"
Every sentence somehow answered nothing while creating three more questions. It read less like a message and more like the instruction manual to something I'd never bought.
The Vigilante System.
Just hearing the name made something feel... off.
The word Vigilante lingered in my thoughts.
No hero is coming to save you.
The voice from yesterday echoed through my mind with uncomfortable clarity.
I frowned.
"...Save yourself."
The words were the same.
The hidden quest.
The voice.
The system.
Surely that couldn't be a coincidence.
I climbed off the bed, intending to pace around the apartment while I tried making sense of everything, when my foot stopped halfway.
The brick.
It was still lying exactly where it had slipped from my pocket yesterday.
In the daylight, the dried blood coating one edge had turned a dark brownish-black. Seeing it there made everything feel real again.
The murder.
The panic.
Running away.
None of it had been a nightmare.
I quickly walked over and picked it up, using the sleeve of my hoodie without really thinking about it. Maybe it didn't matter anymore. My fingerprints were already on it. Maybe they weren't. I honestly had no idea how that stuff worked.
Either way, I wasn't about to leave the murder weapon lying in the middle of my apartment.
I crouched beside the bed and pushed the brick as far underneath it as I could until it disappeared behind a dusty cardboard box I hadn't opened since moving into this place three years ago.
Out of sight.
That was about all I could manage.
I remained crouched there for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh.
Three years.
It had already been three years since the fire.
Three years since I'd become an orphan.
Three years since everything I'd known had disappeared overnight.
Slowly, I stood and wandered toward the cracked mirror hanging beside the bathroom door.
The person staring back looked exhausted.
Dark matte hair stuck out in every direction as though I'd fought a hurricane in my sleep. My crimson eyes were surrounded by faint dark circles that hadn't been there a week ago.
"You look like shit," I muttered.
The reflection didn't disagree.
My gaze drifted back toward the floating blue screen.
Then toward the hidden brick beneath my bed.
Then back again.
Today was graduation.
More importantly...
Today was the Awakening Ceremony.
For months, that had been the only thing on my mind.
Every student dreamed about awakening a Manifestation. Some wanted fame. Some wanted money. Others wanted to become heroes.
I had only ever wanted one thing.
The ability to protect myself.
After the fire, after losing everything, I'd promised myself I would never be that helpless again.
Yet now, standing in the middle of my tiny apartment in Prolly with what appeared to be a supernatural screen floating in front of me and a bloodstained brick hidden beneath my bed, awakening somehow wasn't the strangest thing waiting for me anymore.
I looked at the clock hanging above the kitchenette.
"...I'd better get moving."
Whatever this System was...
It wasn't going anywhere.
Neither was graduation.