It started with static.
A flicker on the edge of the TV screen, even though it was off.
Then came the humming.
Not like electricity. Not even sound, really. More like pressure. A vibration just low enough to go unnoticed—unless, like Kaito, you were tuned to feel the abnormal.
He stood by his window, staring into the sky. Something out there was staring back.
---
Midnight – Rooftop of Ayase Residence
Kaito stood on the rooftop again, arms crossed. The city lights blurred like fireflies in the distance.
He wasn't alone.
Momo lay on her back beside him, arms behind her head. Seiko sat near the railing, quietly smoking under a starless sky.
"Still feel it?" Momo asked without opening her eyes.
Kaito nodded. "Yes. Something's watching."
Seiko exhaled. "Could be just another local ghost."
"No," Kaito said. "It's different this time."
> "It's above us."
Seiko raised an eyebrow. "Above us? Like—?"
> "Space."
---
Flashback – Alien Memory Spike
A day earlier, while walking through the market with Momo, Kaito had felt it—a sudden seizure of sensation. The mark on his chest flared.
He dropped to one knee, clutching his skull as images not his own slammed into his mind:
Circular halls of living metal.
Cold, blue light scanning his bones.
Beings with jellyfish limbs and thousands of eyes watching him from behind glass.
It lasted just two seconds.
But he remembered every frame.
> "They were studying me."
> "No. They were waiting."
---
Classroom – Next Day
Rin caught him staring out the window again.
"You're not even pretending to be normal now," she whispered.
He blinked. "I don't think I ever was."
She leaned in. "You smell weird. Like ozone and… burnt copper."
Kaito tensed. He smelled it too.
> "They're getting closer."
---
Later – Alleyway Incident
That night, a scream echoed from behind the convenience store near the train station.
Kaito, Momo, and Rin rushed there, finding a man convulsing on the pavement. His eyes were wide open, pupils glowing faint green.
> "Can you hear me?" Kaito asked.
The man's mouth moved.
But the voice that came out was not human.
> "PROTOTYPE ACCEPTED. SUBJECT KAITO: OBSERVATION PRIORITY ALPHA."
Momo pulled back. "That's alien tech—voice hijack. Like the Tanaka Incident last year."
The man's body lifted a few feet off the ground.
Then his limbs twisted.
Glowed.
> Something was broadcasting through him.
---
Kaito's Mind – The Interface
Suddenly, Kaito felt it—contact.
Not physical. Not psychic. But something in between.
A data stream entered his mind.
Lines of alien code. Spirals of thought. Geometry that wasn't real.
> New Trait Acquired: Linguistic Neuro-Sync
(Allows partial translation and resistance to foreign consciousness integration.)
A voice—not angry, not kind—echoed in his skull:
> "You are not native to this sequence. Your evolutionary pattern does not conform to Earth-origin biology. Explain."
Kaito stood firm.
> "I didn't choose this. I was reborn here. Your curiosity doesn't give you the right to dissect me."
Silence.
Then:
> "Incorrect. Curiosity is the only right. You were born of paradox. We intend to understand."
---
Back in Reality – Kaito's Warning
The man dropped. Alive, unconscious, unharmed.
Momo checked his vitals. "Whatever they did, he's stable."
Rin looked up. "What was that? Who were they?"
Kaito turned slowly.
> "Observers. Aliens. Maybe even gods. They're not hostile. Yet."
Momo narrowed her eyes. "You mean they're testing us."
"No," Kaito replied. "They're testing me."
---
Evening – Seiko's Reading Room
Kaito sat across from Seiko, who leafed through an old tome of celestial yokai and starspawn legends.
She looked up. "You made contact, didn't you?"
He nodded.
"And?"
"They're not from here. Not even from this universe. They exist between dimensions. They watched me evolve. Now they want to know how."
Seiko sipped her tea. "So what's the problem?"
"They're not just watching," he said. "They're adapting."
Seiko set the cup down slowly.
"You're saying they're learning from your evolution?"
> "Yes. And I think they're trying to replicate it."
---
Dreamscape – The Glass Orb
That night, Kaito dreamed again.
He floated inside a glass orb. Above him, thousands of the same entities stared down, not blinking. Tentacles pressed against the curved glass like fingers tracing a specimen jar.
In the center of the chamber hovered a mirror.
But it didn't show his reflection.
It showed a version of him with no emotions. No thoughts. Just potential.
> A clone.
> A replacement.
Kaito clenched his fists.
> "You want my power without the pain. But that pain is what made me real."
The orb cracked.
The dream shattered.
---
End Scene – Rooftop, Again
Back on the rooftop, Kaito watched the sky.
He whispered, "I know you're up there. I know you're watching. But if you want me…"
He closed his eyes.
> "You'll have to evolve too."