I didn't move the shadow.
I didn't block the blade.
I didn't pull anyone back from the edge.
---
For the first time—
I did nothing.
---
"…This feels wrong," Mira said quietly.
"…It should," I replied.
---
The city breathed beneath us.
Sirens.
Footsteps.
Arguments that hadn't yet become violence.
---
I focused—not on events—
But on gaps.
---
Places where help could exist.
---
> [System Scan:]
— Direct Intervention: NONE
— Indirect Influence: UNTRACKABLE
---
"…You're hiding," Mira observed.
---
"…No," I said.
"I'm withholding."
---
—
The incident started small.
It always did.
---
A convenience store.
Late night.
Fluorescent lights buzzing.
---
A man with a knife.
Sweaty hands.
Desperate eyes.
---
The clerk froze.
Heart racing.
---
I felt it—
The old pull.
That instinct to step in.
To become visible.
---
I didn't.
---
Instead—
I leaned.
Not physically.
Contextually.
---
The man's phone vibrated.
A notification.
---
> MOM: Are you coming home tonight?
---
He flinched.
Grip faltering.
---
Across the street—
A couple argued.
Loudly.
Distracting.
---
The clerk's voice steadied.
"…You don't have to do this."
---
The knife lowered.
Just a little.
---
"…Rei," Mira whispered.
---
"…Watch," I said.
---
The man backed away.
Not running.
Just leaving.
---
No shadow dissolved.
No system alert triggered.
---
> [System Status:]
— No Anomaly Detected
---
"…That wasn't you," Mira said slowly.
---
"…Correct," I replied.
---
—
Another point.
Different neighborhood.
---
A woman collapsed on the sidewalk.
Breathing shallow.
Crowd forming.
No one stepping forward.
---
I felt the hesitation ripple.
Fear of consequences.
Fear of labels.
---
I nudged—
A memory.
---
A man in the crowd remembered CPR training.
Another noticed her bracelet—medical alert.
Someone else dialed emergency services.
---
They acted.
Together.
---
No ghost.
No miracle.
---
Just people.
---
> [System Status:]
— Human Action: UNASSISTED
---
Mira's voice was barely above a whisper.
"…You're making yourself irrelevant."
---
"…No," I said.
"I'm making the system irrelevant."
---
—
Authority noticed something wrong an hour later.
---
Not spikes.
Not anomalies.
---
Absences.
---
Incidents that should have escalated.
Didn't.
---
A report flagged it.
---
> ANOMALY:
Predicted Consequence Event — DID NOT OCCUR
---
The Enforcer examined the data.
---
No supernatural interference detected.
---
It recalculated.
---
Prediction failed again.
---
And again.
---
Error accumulation rising.
---
—
The strategist frowned at his screens.
---
"…Why aren't they waiting?" he muttered.
---
An aide swallowed.
"…They're helping each other."
---
The strategist stiffened.
---
"…That's not sustainable," he said.
---
But his voice lacked certainty.
---
—
Elena stepped into a confrontation two blocks from her apartment.
---
Not between hunters.
Between neighbors.
---
A man shouting.
A woman crying.
---
Elena hesitated.
Then remembered Marcus.
---
She stepped forward.
---
Others followed.
---
The shouting stopped.
---
No cameras caught anything unusual.
---
But something shifted.
---
> [Hidden Metric:]
— Mutual Human Intervention Rate: INCREASING
---
Mira watched the city glow—not with power—
With pattern.
---
"…Rei," she said softly.
"…They're doing it without you."
---
I watched too.
---
"…That's the point."
---
Because Authority could suppress ghosts.
Hunters could track anomalies.
Systems could audit miracles.
---
But ordinary human decisions—
---
They had no handle for those.
---
No switch.
No category.
---
> [System Alert:]
— Causal Forecast Reliability: DEGRADING
---
The city wasn't safer.
Not yet.
---
But it was no longer waiting.
---
And that—
Was worse.
---