Luna's arrival wasn't heralded by shouting, or running, or even a warning. It began with the sound of boots scraping against a collapsing fragment of floating data somewhere high above them — a sharp sliding sound that cut through the pulsing glitches of the broken dimension. Riko and Kaze both snapped their attentions upward at the same instant. The fractured sky, made of dark void and drifting shards of corrupted coding, split just enough for a silhouette to flash into view.
A figure dropped down.
Fast.
So fast Riko didn't even have time to shout, "WAIT, DON'T LAND HERE, IT'S STUPID!"
But she did.
Luna fell like she'd been launched out of a broken elevator shaft in reverse. The descending platform she used as a foothold shattered right after she jumped, scattering pixel dust in its wake. She rotated midair, angled her body, and landed precisely between Riko, Kaze, and the half-formed copy creature.
Her feet hit the floating data floor with a blast of glitch fragments, sending fractures racing across its surface. She plummeted into a crouch, hand to the ground for balance, her hair whipping forward with the momentum.
Her eyes darted up.
First in Riko.
Then at Kaze.
Then at the creature.
Completely, her entire expression froze.
Not bewildered.
Not surprised.
Not horrified.
Frozen, just like her mind couldn't decide which reaction was right and choose it in time.
Riko's voice cracked into a squeak. "L-Luna?! What-how-why-WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?!"
"I FELL!" Luna snapped back automatically, but her voice sounded distant-like the words escaped without her fully meaning them. Her eyes were stuck to the creature in front of her.
And Riko knew in an instant why.
Because from where Luna stood, she could see exactly what he had been afraid of. Exactly what he never wanted anyone else to see. The creature stood only a few meters away, still incomplete, still glitching, still flickering between half-formed structures of data… but its face—its face was forming.
And from Luna's point of view?
It was unmistakably becoming him.
Not perfectly, not fully, not cleanly; but there was a resemblance that was undeniable.
Its cheek structure was aligning.
Its jaw shape approximated his.
Fragments of his skin color blinked in and out like broken lights.
And worst of all, one complete eye-Riko's eye-stared with disturbing precision.
Luna's jaw dropped. "Riko. what. what is THAT? Is that-oh my god-is that YOU? But not you? But-YOU?!"
Riko threw his hands up in frustration. "I DON'T KNOW! IT WON'T STOP COPYING ME! I DIDN'T ASK FOR A GLITCH TWIN!"
The creature tilted its head, imitating Riko's exact frustrated motion a half-second too late, like a broken reflection trying to catch up.
Luna's face went white. "Nope. Nope nope nope. That is the worst thing I've ever seen. Why is it doing that? Why does it have your eye? WHY DOES IT ALMOST HAVE YOUR FACE?!"
"It's copying him," Kaze said quietly, still clenching from his shock earlier. "Piece by piece, it uses his leaked data.
Luna whirled on Kaze. "Why didn't you STOP IT?!"
Kaze let his breath out slowly. "Because I'm considering—"
"EVALUATING?!" Luna shrieked. "It's BUILDING AN EVIL RIKO! WHY DO YOU NEED TO EVALUATE THAT?!"
Riko pointed sharply at the mask that was now nearly formed. "THANK YOU! Finally, a normal human reaction!"
But Luna didn't laugh. Didn't smirk. Didn't say something snarky.
She only stared.
She stared like she was watching a nightmare being printed into the world pixel by pixel, and she was there to physically be a witness to every frame.
The creature's half-face twitched, like it was catching her look. It pivoted slow, neck crackling with corrupted sound as it rotated toward her. Thin lines of code zigzagged across its unfinished features like veins of light.
And then-to Riko's absolute horror-Luna triggered something.
Another piece of the creature's face clicked coldly into place.
Then another.
And another.
Not enough to finish its form, not enough to complete what it was building, but enough to solidify the resemblance.
Enough to make it undeniably human-shaped.
Enough to unmistakably take the shape of Riko.
Luna stumbled back half a step. "Riko… why does it look—why does it LOOK like that? Tell me it's not going to turn into you."
"I DON'T KNOW!" Riko shouted. "BUT I CAN PROMISE I'M GOING TO CRY IF IT DOES!"
The creature shifted closer, toes scraping across the surface in stuttered, glitch-torn movements. Its shadow was warped, pixelated, fractured into three overlapping silhouettes at once. Its body had no balance, no grace, no fluidity — but its face…
Its face was getting there.
Piece by horrifying piece.
Riko threw up both hands as though in defense against some verbal attack. "Okay okay okay, listen, buddy-I get that you're new and confused and probably broken in fifty million ways, but can you PLEASE stop wearing my almost-face?! I'm not emotionally stable enough for this!"
It did not obey.
It took another staggered step forward, its limbs twitching like strings pulled by a glitching puppet-master. Its eye — the one that belonged to Riko but didn't belong to him at all — locked onto Luna.
And Luna froze even more.
She didn't bat an eye.
She had not breathed.
She didn't budge.
The creature raised its half-formed arm, the fingers bending spastically, like broken metal rods in a poor attempt at imitation. Riko instinctively stepped forward to pull Luna back, but Kaze threw an arm in front of him.
"Don't touch it," Kaze said sharply. "It's studying her reaction."
"STUDYING?!" Luna yelped. "Why is it studying ME?!"
Riko jabbed a finger at the creature. "Yeah! Study someone ELSE! Like Kaze! Or a rock! Or literally ANYTHING that's not us!"
The creature did not flinch at the yelling. It just stared.
Luna let out a shaky breath. "Riko… why is it… looking at me… with YOUR eye?"
He opened his mouth — and closed it.
Because he had no answer.
Not even a bad one.
The creature sputtered once more, and the second eye, still no more than flashing blocks of color, moved a little, struggling to align itself with the one already complete. A shard of cheekbone glittered into being. A blurring, linelike outline of lips flickered out of and back into existence, this time with slightly more form to
Riko felt his stomach turn.
Kaze narrowed his eyes, stepping forward half a pace. "It's starting to replicate expressions."
"What expressions?!" Luna demanded.
Kaze didn't bat an eye. "His."
Riko shouted, "I'M NOT MAKING ANY EXPRESSIONS RIGHT NOW EXCEPT PURE FEAR!"
Luna didn't laugh.
She couldn't.
For while Riko panicked and Kaze analyzed, the creature regarded them silently, its partially formed face flickering with unstable data.
And then it did something none of them were prepared for.
Its facial fragments-the incomplete jawline, the forming cheekbones, the pixelating lip-edges-shifted in sync. A moment, and they almost aligned properly.
Its only completed eye cut slightly, matching the angle Riko's eye did when he got nervous or overwhelmed. The other, which was still forming, glitched left and right before approximating a similar placement.
The mouth outline-still jagged and broken-twitched upward at the edges. The movement was unnatural, flickering, unsteady. But the intention behind it was unmistakable.
It was mimicking Riko. Imitating not only his likeness but also the look on his face. Smooth enough to be recognizable, broken enough to be terrifying was the shift. All the hairs in the back of Luna's neck stood when it leant forward, just a fraction. And then— The creature smiled-the very smile of Riko.