The intercom buzzed with static, like the school itself was trying to talk. Everyone froze as the speakers crackled. Then, a weird, stretched-out voice cut through the noise.
"Ri…ko…"
Riko's muscles tightened. Luna grabbed his arm, like he was her lifeline. The hallway seemed way too long and empty, like all the color had been sucked out and replaced with this creepy, digital feeling.
The intercom buzzed again.
"Ri—ko—Ri—ko—Ri—ko—"
It kept repeating his name, like something was trying to learn how to say it. Students started whispering. Most thought it was just the old PA system glitching out. But some were freaked out, whispering about ghosts or hackers or a stupid prank. They didn't get it. They didn't hear the hungry sound in the voice.
Luna whispered in his ear, "Dude… it's saying your name. That's not normal, Riko. That's way off."
Riko swallowed hard, staring at the speaker. The screen on his arm vibrated, codes flashing like crazy, like it was panicking.
Then the voice got sharp.
"Ri—ko… Found."
He stepped back fast, pulling Luna with him as the lights flickered like crazy. Riko's heart pounded, but he forced himself to breathe, to pay attention. He'd fought glitch monsters before. He'd faced tough bosses. He'd escaped collapsing junk zones. But this felt different. Being hunted in a school hallway was worse than fighting a monster in some open area.
This was invisible.
This was everywhere.
And whoever was watching him wasn't even trying to hide.
Luna whispered, "We gotta get out of this hallway. Now. Before another freakin' Assimilator pops out of a vent or something."
Riko agreed. They hurried to the stairs, past students arguing about going back to class or waiting for the teachers. The screen on his arm flashed purple—a new color he hadn't seen before. Warning? Alert? Fear?
Halfway down the stairs, the lights went out.
Total darkness.
Then—
A whisper slid through the dark, like fingers dragging on glass.
"Riko…"
Not from the speaker this time.
From behind him.
Riko spun around, fists up—but the stairwell was empty. Luna squeezed his arm, voice tight. "It's close, man. Something's real close. I can feel it."
Riko nodded slowly. He felt it too. Not a presence, not a breath, just something deeper. Like the air itself was hiding a predator.
The screen on his arm buzzed harder. Riko lifted his sleeve a bit and saw a flashing line:
SOMEONE IS WATCHING YOU.
His throat went dry. "Yeah," he muttered, "tell me something I don't know."
Luna pointed down the stairs. "Let's find people. Classrooms. Teachers. If we do that something might hesitate if—"
She stopped.
Someone was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Completely still.
Completely silent.
A dark shape in the dim emergency lights—tall, thin, standing there like it wasn't a big deal to be in the dark. For a second, Riko thought it was another Assimilator. But then the person tilted their head, and a little light hit their face.
Sharp eyes.
Black gloves.
No expression.
Kaze.
Luna let out a shaky breath. "Great. Just great. The mysterious rooftop ninja is back."
Kaze didn't move. Didn't blink. Just watched them come down, like he was waiting for something. Riko and Luna walked down slowly, tense. Kaze stepped into the light from a window, and his presence felt heavy and strange.
"You heard it," Kaze said quietly.
Riko nodded. "The voice? Yeah."
Kaze frowned. "Not just a voice. A signal."
Luna crossed her arms. "You gotta be less mysterious, dude. We just fought a fake student in the cafeteria. A faceless thing in the hall. And now voices are calling him through the speakers. If you know something, spill it."
Kaze didn't even look at her. He kept his eyes on Riko.
"That thing on your arm," Kaze said. "It's not quiet anymore. It's sending out signals."
Riko's heart jumped. "Signals of what?"
"Your location." Kaze took a step closer. "It's calling out to things. Or maybe… things are calling out to it."
Riko felt his chest tighten. The intercom wasn't just glitching. Something was reaching for him—through wires, through screens, through whatever connection that system has to this world.
"So the voice…" Riko whispered.
"Wasn't for the school," Kaze said. "It was for you."
Luna gasped. "Why? What does it want?"
Kaze finally looked at her. He didn't change his expression, but his voice got a little softer. "Assimilators don't just attack for kicks. They follow orders. And something is giving those orders. Something higher up."
Riko felt a chill. "You're saying… something is controlling them? All of them?"
Kaze nodded once. "Yeah."
"And it's… hunting me?" Riko asked quietly.
Kaze didn't blink. His silence was the answer.
Luna grabbed Riko's shoulder. "Okay, not great, not going to lie but we can deal with this. We beat tougher things, right? Like giant bosses and—"
Kaze cut her off. "You thought the boss in the city was strong?"
Riko's breath caught.
Kaze kept talking before they could say anything. "That boss was nothing. Just a bit. A broken piece of something that's way scarier."
The stairwell felt colder.
Luna stepped forward. "And what's that 'something'?"
Kaze looked up the dark stairs behind them, like he thought a shadow would come off the wall. Then he looked back at Riko.
"It's not in this hallway," he said. "Not yet. But it's in this school."
Riko's eyes went wide. "In the school? Now?"
Kaze nodded. "It's been here all morning. Watching. Studying. Waiting for your system to react."
The screen on Riko's arm vibrated again, like it heard Kaze. Red lines flashed, too fast to read. Riko grabbed his wrist, trying to stop the shaking.
Kaze stepped up to the stair below Riko, so they were eye to eye.
"You don't get what you just did," Kaze said, his voice low and serious. "When you touched that broken screen in Junk Zone 88, you didn't just become a user. You became a target."
Riko's jaw tightened. "Why? What did I do?"
"You exist," Kaze said. "And that's enough."
Luna whispered, "Kaze… what the heck is hunting him?"
Kaze looked right at Riko.
Then he said the words that froze them.
He says: "Riko… someone in this building wants you dead."