I got exactly three hours of sleep.
Three.
The Sovereign Pulse wasn't loud anymore, but it wasn't gone either. It felt like when your phone is on silent but you swear you felt it vibrate anyway.
We all met in the cafeteria for breakfast.
And by "met," I mean collapsed into chairs like we survived a horror movie.
Denki had three waffles.
Bakugou looked like he wanted to fight the sun.
Kirishima was trying to act normal.
Midoriya already had his notebook out.
Mina walked in last, holding a tray and looking way too awake.
"Okay," she said, sitting down. "Why did my phone have fourteen messages that just say 'SHE WAS HERE'?"
Everyone looked at me.
Great.
I took a deep breath.
"She showed up at our dorm window at 12:17," I started. "Crème-blonde hair. Messy. Eyes wide. Smiling like she'd already won something."
Mina slowly put her fork down.
"She what."
Kaito leaned forward. "She stuck a sticky note on our window."
Denki pointed dramatically. "Like a psycho Post-it fairy."
Bakugou kicked his chair leg lightly. "Shut up."
Mina blinked at me. "Okay but like… was it actually her?"
"Yes," I said immediately.
The Pulse gave a faint hum in agreement.
"It was her."
Midoriya adjusted his notebook. "Ren, tell her what you saw. The important parts."
Right.
I swallowed.
"When she got close, my Sovereign Pulse didn't just sense her location," I said. "It… connected."
Mina's expression shifted from confused to serious.
"I saw rooftop routes. Security blind spots. Patrol timing. League files. Multiple escape paths. Backup disguises."
Denki stopped chewing.
"She mapped the campus?" he said.
"Yes."
Bakugou leaned forward. "How detailed?"
"Detailed enough to disappear in under five seconds."
Silence.
Mina looked unsettled now.
"But… why?" she asked. "Why us?"
That was the part I didn't love.
I hesitated.
Kaito glanced at me. "Tell them."
I rubbed my hands together nervously.
"She's not here to attack. Not yet," I said. "She's observing. Testing reaction speed. Watching patterns."
Midoriya nodded quickly. "Behavioral analysis."
"And…" I added quietly, "she's curious."
Mina frowned. "Curious about what?"
I looked down at my tray.
"Me."
That word felt heavy.
Denki blinked. "Oh."
Kirishima tried to lighten it. "Okay but like, that doesn't mean she's targeting you specifically—"
"She is," Bakugou cut in bluntly.
No one argued.
Mina leaned closer. "What else did you see?"
That's when my chest tightened.
"Emotions," I admitted. "She wasn't angry. Or chaotic. Not exactly."
"Then what?" Mina asked.
"Excited," I said.
I hated how that sounded.
"She likes the reaction," I continued. "She likes that we're trying to catch her. She thinks it's… fun."
Denki slowly set down his fork.
"That's worse."
"Yeah," I said.
Midoriya scribbled furiously. "So this confirms long-term engagement behavior. She's escalating gradually to measure psychological response."
Mina stared at him.
"You make it sound like a science fair project."
He paused. "Sorry."
Kaito leaned back in his chair. "She also knows Ren can sense her now."
Mina's eyes snapped to me. "She knows?"
"Yes," I said. "She said it. She knows I can feel her."
The table went quiet again.
The cafeteria noise around us felt way too normal for this conversation.
Students laughing.
Plates clinking.
Someone complaining about orange juice.
Meanwhile, we had a League member rooftop-hopping around our dorm like it was a playground.
Mina straightened up.
"Okay," she said firmly. "Then we don't panic."
Bakugou raised an eyebrow.
"We don't react dramatically. We don't make it entertaining," she continued. "If she wants excitement, we don't give her a show."
Kirishima nodded. "Stay solid. Predictable."
Denki grinned nervously. "Boring heroes arc?"
Midoriya tapped his notebook. "Actually… that might work."
I stared at my tray, feeling the faint hum in my chest again.
"She's not done," I murmured.
Kaito looked at me. "You feel something?"
"Not now," I said. "But she's thinking ahead."
Mina tilted her head. "How do you know?"
I looked up slowly.
"Because when she smiled," I said quietly, "it wasn't like she almost got caught."
"It was like she learned something."
And that scared me more than anything else.