Naoya – His Room
Naoya didn't sleep. Not really.
He lay on his side for hours, eyes half-open, watching the faint blue glow resting near the ceiling. It pulsed quietly—rhythmic, patient. Like it was waiting. Like it always waited.
The prompt still hovered.
[Incoming Message: USER AOI]
[Accept? Y/N]
It had been there since before midnight. He hadn't touched it. Not because he didn't want to—but because he didn't know what it meant. If he said yes… what would happen? Would she hear him? See him? Would it be words or something else?
The way she'd looked beneath the sakura tree kept slipping into his mind—unafraid, curious, eyes not surprised by the impossible.
Eventually, something in him gave in. He sat up and muttered, "Okay… fine."
[ACCEPT SELECTED]
[Initiating…]
The air didn't shift. There was no wind, no crackle of sound. Just light—barely noticeable—rippling across the room like a ripple in glass.
Aoi – Her Room
Her notebook was open. The pencil sat across the page untouched. She hadn't studied a single formula in the past half hour.
[Aoi's system] hovered nearby, silver-white but flushed faint pink around the edges—soft as a blush that refused to fade.
[Emotional Drift: +0.7° (Anticipation / Embarrassment)]
[System Whisper: "You're waiting for him to say yes."]
"I'm not," she snapped, too fast.
[Lying Detected]
[Hormonal Spike Confirms Otherwise]
"Ugh. Shut up."
[Would you like to rehearse what you'll say first?]
"No," she whispered, burying her face in her hand.
Then it happened.
[Incoming Connection Accepted]
[Naoya Kirigami: LINK ESTABLISHED]
[Secure Frequency Sync: LIVE]
A quiet pressure pressed behind her ears—not sound, exactly. Just presence.
The flicker expanded into a clear interface. But instead of words, there was her.
Not a face, not exactly. Not a projection.
Her presence.
It felt like she was standing in the room beside him. Not watching from somewhere else. Closer.
"…Can you hear me?" he asked, not sure if this counted as speaking.
[Aoi's system] pulsed softly—blush to white to pink again.
[Naoya Speaking]
[Tone Analysis: Uncertain / Guarded / Sincere]
She closed her eyes briefly and answered, "I can hear you."
There was no delay. Her voice came through his space like a breath.
He leaned back slightly, almost startled by how close she sounded. Not filtered. Not artificial.
"This is so weird."
[Naoya's system]: No response
[Aoi's system]: Sync Level Stable | Emotional Readout Visible]
"You're telling me," she said, a little breathless.
Then silence. Comfortable. Then:
"…Why'd you contact me?" he asked.
She hesitated.
"…Curiosity."
[Aoi's system] pulsed with restrained emotion.
[Private Note: Understatement]
[Naoya's system]: Monitoring — Passive State]
"I've never used this part of it before," she said. "And you... your system—it's different. You're different."
He exhaled slowly. "Yeah. That's what people keep saying."
He stared at the silent his system. calm, watching, still.
"It doesn't talk. Not really. It doesn't guide. I ask it questions, and it just… ignores me. Or offers something useless."
He rubbed his forehead.
"I tried asking about you. It glitched."
She blinked. "Glitched how?"
Naoya
"A frame. Just one. I barely caught it. Said something like 'UNREGISTERED VARIANT'—and then denied access."
[Aoi's system] pulsed again—this time with a ripple of color visible to Naoya.
He froze. "Wait did it just… blush?"
She let out a small laugh. "It does that sometimes."
[Aoi's system]: Emotional Display Shared – Confidence Wavering]
He saw it. Felt it. Her nerves. Her breath. Even from across this strange wire between them.
"…When did yours start?" he asked. "Was it always like this?"
She lowered her voice.
"July. There was a storm. I was walking back from cram school and then… lightning."
His breath hitched.
"…Same."
Their shared silence shifted. Not emptiness. Not awkwardness.
Recognition.
"I thought I imagined it," he murmured. "But afterward… things changed."
"I could see things. Data. Screens. Devices. Everything started… glowing."
[Naoya's system]: OBSERVING]
[Aoi's system]: Emotional Sync Holding | Shared Signals Active]
"I thought I was going crazy for the first few days," she said softly. "But then I got used to it. Or maybe I just learned to pretend I was normal."
"You're good at pretending," he said without thinking.
"…So are you."
Their voices carried quieter now. Gentle. Treading into things unsaid.
"…What even is this?" he asked. "A system? A mutation? Are we… supposed to have this?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But maybe we weren't supposed to be alone with it."
[Aoi's system] shimmered faintly toward a deeper pink. Emotional resonance rising.
"…Can I ask you something else?"
"Yeah."
"Do you like it? Your system, I mean."
She paused.
"I don't know if I like it. But it understands me."
[Aoi's system]: Emotional Match | Displaying – Empathy / Reflection]
"What about you?"
He looked at the dim blue glow around [Naoya's system]. Still, expressionless. Watching.
"…Mine feels like a mirror," he said finally. "It sees everything but never says anything."
"Maybe that's why you're The Observer," she offered.
He smiled faintly, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Yeah. But I don't want to just creep around."
[Aoi's system]: Connection Bandwidth 23% and rising]
[Naoya's system]: Holding — No interruptions]
"What do you want, then?"
Naoya hesitated.
"To understand," he said. "Why this is happening. What it's doing to us."
"And?"
"…To not feel like I'm broken because of it."
She didn't answer right away.
But her voice, when it came, was quiet.
"You're not broken."
Her system pulsed so gently Naoya barely caught it—just a warmth in the room.
[Shared Link: Holding | Emotional Sync: Deepening]
[Connection Status: LIVE | Duration: 27 minutes]
"…Do you think anyone else has this?"
"If they do," Aoi said, "they're hiding it better than we are."
Another silence settled in.
But not cold.
Something more like… rest.
Like two signals sharing bandwidth across a wire neither of them had known they needed.
"You don't have to answer this, but… are you scared?"he asked
She was quiet.
"Yes," she said eventually. "But not of the system. Not exactly."
"Then what?"
"…Of what it knows about me. What it shows. What it doesn't let me hide."
Naoya breathed in through his nose.
"…Yeah."
[Naoya's system]: OBSERVING — No Intervention]
[Aoi's system]: [Note: User Naoya = Trusted Contact? Confirm Y/N]
And still, the connection held. Neither of them moved to end it.