Chapter 5: The Signal Beneath Our Skies
Meeting his parents was something Suraj had dreaded more than exams, more than bullies, more than the memory of that acid-laced moment when Yumiko saved him in a way no human ever could. And yet, here they were—standing at his front door, hands linked tightly, as if letting go would make the world collapse.
He looked over at her. Yumiko was calm on the surface, her black hair softly shifting with the wind, eyes as still as glass. But he could feel it—her fingers, cold and tight around his. She was nervous. Vulnerable, even. The strongest being he knew, scared of being judged by two ordinary humans.
He knocked.
His mother opened the door, her eyes narrowing slightly. His father stood behind her with arms crossed.
"Come in," his father said.
They stepped into the living room. The silence pressed in like humidity before a storm.
Suraj cleared his throat. "Mom. Dad. This is Yumiko."
Yumiko bowed lightly. "It's an honor to meet you."
His mother watched her closely, but eventually nodded. "Please sit."
They sat. Questions followed like bullets.
"What do your parents do?"
"I… don't have any," Yumiko said quietly.
"Oh… I'm sorry. Then, where do you live?"
"I stay nearby. It's temporary."
"What school did you transfer from?"
"I'm not enrolled. Yet."
Each answer was true in its own cryptic way. And yet, there was something disarming about the way Yumiko spoke. Her voice was soft. Her posture was perfect. And even as she dodged each trap with vague precision, she never once showed disrespect.
Eventually, Suraj's mother leaned back. "You're very polite."
Yumiko gave the smallest smile. "Thank you."
His father grunted. "Well. At least she speaks better than you do, son."
His mother elbowed him lightly. "We're not opposed to you dating someone, Suraj. But we want to make sure she's not just a phase. That she respects you. That you two are serious."
Suraj looked at Yumiko. She looked back with something between affection and possession.
"We are," he said simply.
That night, under a vast sky smeared with stars, they sat on a bench near the woods. The wind was cold, but the warmth between them kept the world at bay.
"Do you know why I love you?" Suraj asked suddenly.
Yumiko blinked, caught off guard. "Why?"
"Because you are the stars in my night sky," he said, voice low. "Your hair literally holds death—yet it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. How couldn't I fall for a girl like you?"
Yumiko's lips trembled. "You think my hair… is beautiful?"
"I think everything about you is. Even the terrifying parts. Especially the terrifying parts."
Yumiko leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder. "You make me feel… human."
"You make me feel protected," he whispered. "Safe. Wanted."
They sat in silence. No more confessions were needed. Just the comfort of being together in a world that didn't understand either of them.
From that night on, their bond grew stronger. But so did the shadows clinging to it.
Yumiko's obsession began to reveal itself in subtler, yet sharper ways. She no longer waited for him at the school gate—she met him halfway through the corridors. She memorized his schedule. She started calling him multiple times a night, sometimes just to hear his breath. She followed him even when he said he needed time alone.
Suraj noticed—but he didn't know how to say anything. And deep inside, a darker part of him didn't want to. Because being wanted like that, being needed, felt intoxicating.
Sometimes he would catch her watching him when he wasn't looking. Not in a casual way, but as if she was memorizing him. Every movement. Every blink. As if he might vanish, and she was preparing to remember every fragment of him forever.
Meanwhile, above their heads, something cold and unblinking watched.
A low-orbit surveillance satellite operated by the Indian Aerospace Research Center picked up a strange anomaly—a pulse of unidentified radiation centered in the outskirts of Suraj's small town. At first, they dismissed it. But when the anomaly pulsed again—sharper, more defined—the data was flagged.
At first, analysts speculated it was a rogue meteor signature or atmospheric distortion. But when the algorithm confirmed the wave pattern to be non-terrestrial in origin, red lights started flashing behind closed doors.
Teams were dispatched. Surveillance intensified. The energy signature traced back to a concentrated region around a forest bordering the school. Quiet drone operations began at dawn and extended deep into the night. Military-grade reconnaissance units were placed under civilian masks.
And Yumiko… felt it.
She didn't speak about it, but her senses tingled. Her instincts pulsed like sonar. Something was watching. Something was crawling slowly toward her world. Toward Suraj.
One evening, as they sat by a quiet stream, Yumiko said softly, "I think someone's looking for me."
Suraj turned to her. "Who?"
"I don't know. But I feel it in the air. The trees are quieter lately. The wind is listening."
He tried to smile. "You're being poetic again."
But her eyes didn't match his tone.
"I'm serious," she said. "Promise me something?"
"What?"
"If anything happens—if I change or if they come for me—don't run."
"I won't," he said without hesitation. "We're in this together."
She nodded. "Then I'll protect you with everything I have."
Later that night, while Suraj slept in his room, Yumiko stood silently by the window, eyes fixed on the stars. Her reflection in the glass shimmered slightly, an afterimage of something not entirely of this world.
What neither of them knew was that the first squad had already entered the region. Coded reports were being filed. Images captured. Yumiko's presence wasn't just noticed now—it was logged. And the hunt… had officially begun.
But for now, in that sliver of night where love met danger, they remained just a boy and a girl beneath the sky.
And neither had yet seen how fast the sky was falling. They knows if they will stay together they will survive it but that's always not what fate wants.