The morning air over UFO Park felt colder than usual. Not weather-cold… something-cold.
A thin film of stillness covered the place, like sound didn't want to move.
Patch walked ahead of me, tail straight up, but the tip kept twitching—her warning mode.
The concrete paths were empty. Too empty.
I stepped toward the center of the park. The two grassy mounds—the twin "eyes" of the Tai Chi shape—were still there. But today, they felt like they were breathing.
Slow. Deep. Wrong.
I raised my hand to wipe my face.
My shadow didn't move with me.
It lagged—just by 0.1 seconds, but enough to punch adrenaline straight into my throat.
It caught up a moment later, snapping into place like a broken frame re-synced.
"…Not again."
That same transparent outline flickered around its edges. Like the UI glitch from yesterday.
Like something behind reality tapped the screen.
Patch hissed.
Not at me—at the UFO sculpture.
She arched her back, fur lifting like static.
I followed her gaze.
Someone… no, something… was standing behind the metal plates of the UFO.
Not hiding.
Just standing there, as if waiting for me to notice.
A silhouette.
Too tall.
Too thin.
Edges slightly delayed—like my shadow.
I blinked hard.
The figure vanished.
But the delay stayed in the air.
Like the space around me forgot how to sync properly.
Patch bolted toward the mounds.
I didn't want to follow.
But my legs moved on their own.
Because deep inside the "yin-yang eyes" of the park, something opened.
Not wide.
Not obvious.
Just enough for a feeling to leak out—
A feeling that I wasn't alone here anymore.
And whatever watched me…
Already knew my name.