"…Now it's a real date."
Pix's grin stretched wider.
Not normal-wide.
Dangerous-wide.
Lyra stepped toward her immediately.
"What. Did. You. Do."
Pix took a slow step back.
Then another.
Hands behind her back like a child who absolutely broke something expensive.
"…Okay," she said. "Technically? Nothing big."
The lights flickered again.
Longer.
A soft buzz rolled through the air.
Kaida-9's voice dropped. "System instability increasing."
Sera's eyes narrowed at the sky. "…No. It's being pushed."
Elric tilted his head.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "…that feels familiar."
Pix spun around, walking backward now, facing them with a gleam in her eyes.
"I just nudged a few things," she said. "Tiny little tweaks. Signal delays. Feedback loops. Nothing catastrophic."
A nearby holographic ad froze mid-animation.
The smiling model's face stretched...
Glitched...
Then snapped back.
Mii grabbed Elric's arm tighter.
"…That's not tiny."
Pix pointed excitedly. "See?! It's already reacting!"
Lyra's voice sharpened. "You're going to trigger a full system alert."
Pix shrugged. "Already did."
Silence.
"…You WHAT?" Mii yelped.
A soft tone echoed through the district.
Clean.
Pleasant.
Completely artificial.
"Attention. Minor system irregularities detected. Please remain calm."
Elric blinked.
"…Yeah, that's never good."
The people around them didn't panic.
Didn't react.
They just… adjusted.
Walking patterns shifted slightly.
Routes changed.
Smiles stayed exactly the same.
Sera whispered, "…They're being guided."
Kaida-9 nodded. "…Crowd control protocol."
Pix crouched near a glowing panel embedded in the ground, fingers already moving.
"Okay but watch this," she muttered.
The panel sparked.
The street lights dimmed...
Then brightened...
Then dimmed again, but out of sync.
For the first time...
The rhythm broke.
Two pedestrians bumped into each other.
They paused.
Stared.
Smiled.
Then walked away.
But not quite right.
A half-second too slow.
Mii's voice dropped.
"…That's creepy."
Elric watched carefully.
"…It's not just you," he said.
Pix glanced up. "…What?"
Another flicker.
A passing vehicle slowed...
Then sped up suddenly...
Then corrected.
Elric stepped forward slightly.
"…It's reacting to me too."
Silence.
Pix's eyes lit up.
"…Oh."
A grin spread across her face.
"Oh that's GOOD."
Lyra turned sharply. "…Explain."
Pix stood up slowly.
Excited.
Focused.
"Your chaos?" she said, pointing at Elric. "It's not random."
A beat.
"…It syncs."
Elric blinked.
"…Syncs with what?"
Pix spread her arms wide.
"…Everything."
The lights flickered again...
But this time...
Not randomly.
They pulsed.
In rhythm.
With Elric's footsteps.
He froze.
The lights stopped.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "…I don't like that."
Mii looked between him and the lights.
"…Player… are you doing that?"
He took a step back.
The lights pulsed again.
Pix clapped.
"YOU ARE!"
Lyra's voice cut through sharply. "Stop moving."
Elric froze.
The lights stabilized.
Silence.
"…Huh," he muttered.
Sera stepped closer, eyes locked on him.
"…You're not just interfering anymore."
A pause.
"…You're syncing with the system's feedback loops."
Kaida-9 added, "…Uncontrolled variable amplification."
Pix leaned in, practically vibrating.
"…We can push this."
Lyra snapped immediately, "We are NOT pushing this."
Pix ignored her completely.
"Okay, okay... what if..."
She slammed her hand back onto the panel.
The world responded.
Not violently.
Not yet.
But subtly...
Every screen in view flickered.
Every light dimmed for a fraction too long.
Every sound lagged.
Elric felt it.
That same shift.
That same wrongness.
"…Pix," he said slowly.
She looked up at him.
Grinning.
"…Yeah?"
"…I think you're stacking something."
Her grin widened.
"…Good."
A crack appeared.
Not in the ground.
Not in the buildings.
In the air.
A thin, almost invisible line...
Like a tear in glass...
Stretching for just a second...
Then gone.
Mii gasped. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
Kaida-9 stepped forward. "Visual anomaly confirmed."
Sera's voice dropped. "…Reality instability."
Lyra's expression hardened.
"…We're leaving."
Pix whined. "Awww come on, it's just getting interesting!"
Another tone echoed.
Less pleasant this time.
Sharper.
"Warning. System irregularities escalating."
"Security units dispatched."
Elric sighed.
"…There it is."
Above them...
Drones descended.
Not the tiny observers from before.
These were larger.
Armed.
Precise.
Mii pointed upward dramatically.
"DATE DISASTER TRIGGERED!!!"
Pix laughed.
"YES!"
Lyra turned sharply. "Move. Now."
Elric took a step...
The ground beneath him shifted slightly...
A panel sliding just enough to launch him forward...
"…Whoa...!"
He stumbled...
But didn't fall...
Instead crashing directly into Mii...
She yelped as they both spun...
Then stopped...
Way too close.
Silence.
Mii blinked.
"…That wasn't in the script."
Elric blinked back.
"…Yeah, I figured."
Above them...
Weapons charged.
Lyra's voice cut through everything.
"RUN."