Through the thin door, the conversation between Su Yu and that "Fu Hua" became muffled and indistinct.
In the cramped space, only Kiana remained.
She slid down the cold metal cabinet to the floor, her chest heaving—ragged and uneven—like someone who'd only just dragged herself out of drowning.
It was too quiet here.
So quiet that the noisy hallucinations started creeping back into her ears again.
"You can't run…"
"How many people are you going to get killed?"
Kiana bit down hard on her lower lip until she tasted rusty blood. Only pain could barely pin those voices down.
She couldn't collapse here.
She had to treat the wound—and then leave immediately.
Get far away from the person with her class monitor's face… get far away from everyone.
Her right hand trembled as she reached for the bottle of iodine solution on the floor.
There was no sensation at all.
Her fingers passed through the dark-brown plastic bottle as if it were smoke—no resistance whatsoever.
Kiana froze.
She didn't scream. She didn't shout in disbelief. In her dim eyes there was only a dead, blank confusion.
Slowly—testing—she reached again, toward the pack of cotton swabs beside it.
This time she saw it clearly.
Her pale fingers sank straight into the packaging. The only thing her fingertips touched was the cold concrete floor beneath.
"…?"
Why?
She'd been able to touch things just a moment ago… when that man had grabbed her wrist…
That man.
Outside the door, Su Yu seemed to have finished talking. His footsteps moved away—probably heading to the front counter for hot water.
With every step his footsteps receded, the world in front of Kiana dimmed by a shade.
The bright fluorescent lights began to flicker and gray, like unstable voltage.
The rain and the hum of the air-conditioning—sounds she'd still been able to hear—were rapidly muffled, as if something gelatinous had plugged her ears, turning everything distant and warped.
Her body grew lighter.
That familiar sensation—the weightlessness of exile in the Sea of Quanta—crawled up from her feet.
She knew that feeling too well.
It was the sign she was about to disappear.
Terror clamped her throat like an ice-cold hand.
Kiana struggled to stand, to get to the door—but when she planted her palm on the floor, her hand passed through it again, and she toppled helplessly into a void.
She opened her mouth to call for help.
No sound came out.
Even the air itself seemed to reject her existence.
If I don't grab him…
If I don't hold onto the only "anchor"…
Then she'd vanish completely in this world like a ghost—unseen, unheard—rotting alone in eternal silence.
The footsteps stopped.
Then they turned back.
"Forgot to grab the swabs…"
Su Yu's mutter drifted in from outside.
Click.
The handle turned, and the door pushed open.
Su Yu's figure reappeared in the doorway.
The instant he stepped into the room—
Color, sound, gravity—everything slammed back into place.
The fluorescent light became painfully bright again. The air-conditioner's buzz rattled her eardrums. The hard floor pressed solidly into her knees.
"…Cough—cough!"
Kiana clutched her throat and coughed violently, like she'd only just been granted the right to breathe again, curling into a small shaking ball.
"Hey—are you okay?"
Su Yu looked at the girl slumped on the floor, her face white as paper, and instinctively took a step forward.
Kiana shrank back on reflex, her spine hitting the cold cabinet.
She was afraid.
Like a badly wounded wild animal—baring its teeth at anything that approached, yet with no strength left to fight.
Su Yu stopped and raised both hands to show he meant no harm.
"I won't come closer. Don't be scared. I'll just leave the swabs here…"
As he spoke, he turned to set the things down on the table near the door, then back out.
But the moment Su Yu turned and took a single step away—
Kiana saw it in horror: the left hand resting on her knee, her fingertips turning transparent again. Her outline flickered like a glitching hologram.
That suffocating sensation returned.
[System Alert: Warning! Target Valkyrie is leaving the "Anchored Reality" radius!]
[Rule Correction: Must remain within 1 meter of host Su Yu, or physical interaction will be lost.]
He couldn't leave.
He absolutely couldn't go far.
Kiana gripped her clothing so tightly her knuckles whitened.
She didn't want to disappear.
She didn't want even the right to die to be taken from her.
There were still things she had to do… promises she had made to Teacher Himeko…
"…Don't go."
Her voice was very light, trembling under the strain.
Su Yu's steps halted. He turned back. "What?"
Kiana lowered her head. Her messy white hair hid her face, making her expression unreadable.
She didn't look up—her body just kept shaking.
Slowly, painfully, she shifted on her knees toward him.
Until the void-like sensation faded. Until the transparent hand solidified again.
That distance was just right—about one meter from Su Yu.
Kiana hugged her knees and curled herself at the edge of his shadow.
After a long while, her dry, powerless voice finally scraped through the air.
"Just stand there…"
"Please… don't get too far from me."
[System Notice: Bond Mechanism "Quantum Entanglement" has activated.]
[Current forced interaction radius: 100 cm]
[Friendly Reminder: Host, do not attempt to bug-abuse. Exiting range may cause phase-loss risk. Enjoy your raising experience!]
Seeing that bolded red line on the light screen, Su Yu's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Enjoy my ass.
Quantum entanglement? This was a conjoined twin simulator.
One meter?
That meant bathrooms, showers—everything—he'd have to "bring her along."
Even right now, in a situation where basic decency demanded avoidance, he had to stand here like some kind of creep.
The air grew so still it felt thick and sticky.
Su Yu stiffly turned his back, as if reflecting on his sins, and stared at the yellowed "No Smoking" poster on the wall. He cleared his throat.
"Um… I'll stand right here. I absolutely won't turn around."
To make it more convincing, he even shut his eyes and raised both hands above his head like a surrender pose.
"You… take care of your wound."
Behind him came the faint friction of fabric.
Then the metallic sound of a zipper being pulled down.
Kiana bit her lip hard. The hardened numbness built up from days of wandering finally cracked—just a sliver.
Embarrassment crawled up her neck and burned into her ears, hot enough to sting.
If she were still the old idiot Kiana, she'd probably be red-faced, screaming "Pervert!" and kicking him into next week.
But now…
She glanced at her half-transparent fingertips.
Only near the silhouette of this man did her body feel real.
The humiliation of being forced to rely on an unfamiliar man—just to exist—was unbearable.
"…Don't look."
She forced the words out between clenched teeth, so quiet it was almost a mosquito's buzz—weak, yet trying to sound fierce.
"Not looking, not looking. If I peek, I'm a dog."
Su Yu immediately swore it—then started reciting The Memorial on Sending Out the Troops in his head to keep his mind from wandering.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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