The frost spread.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Deliberate.
Like something savoring my fear.
The glass of my window crackled softly as thin white veins crawled outward from the shadow's palm. Cold flooded the room in waves, draining all warmth from the air.
My breath came out in fog.
Behind me, Rex shifted on the couch.
"Five… more minutes…" he mumbled.
Good.
He was still half asleep.
"I asked you something," the shadow whispered from the window.
"Do you know what happens to miswritten characters?"
My throat felt glued shut.
"D–deleted," I forced out.
The shadow's head tilted.
Correct.
The frost thickened, darkening into jagged crystal patterns. The glass bent inward slightly, like the pressure of an invisible fist on the other side.
[DANGER: CRITICAL]
[OUTSIDE FATE ENTITY – DIRECT INTERFERENCE]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 0.7%]
"…That's not comforting."
[SYSTEM: PANIC IS UNDERSTANDABLE.]
[SYSTEM: PLEASE BEGIN HUMILIATION PROTOCOL.]
"WHAT HUMILIATION PROTOCOL!?"
The shadow spoke again, voice layered and echoing.
"You were meant to burn villages.
You were meant to shatter the heroine's heart.
You were meant to die beneath the Hero's blade."
The pressure increased.
Crack.
A thin fracture split the glass.
"But you stumbled," it continued softly.
"You apologized.
You *confessed*."
The word sounded like an accusation.
"You bent the line of fate."
"I tripped on purpose!" I shouted. "That should count as obedience!"
Silence.
Then—
Laughter.
Not from the shadow.
From the system.
[CRINGE SURVIVAL SYSTEM – EMERGENCY MODE ACTIVATED]
[YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE ERASED.]
[ONLY EXTREME EMBARRASSMENT CAN DESTABILIZE OUTSIDE FATE OBSERVATION.]
"…Say that again. Slowly."
[YOU MUST EMBARRASS YOURSELF SO HARD THAT EVEN FATE CANNOT MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT.]
"…I hate you."
[AFFECTION NOT RECIPROCATED.]
The shadow's hand pressed harder.
The crack widened.
Outside, darkness twisted like living smoke.
"You will be corrected," it said.
Correction.
Deletion.
Same thing.
My mind raced.
Extreme embarrassment…
The system wasn't asking for a stumble.
It wasn't asking for stuttering.
It was asking for… social annihilation on a metaphysical level.
Rex chose that exact moment to sit up.
"Why is it cold—?"
His eyes landed on the window.
On the shadow.
On the frost.
On the cracks spider-webbing across reinforced academy glass.
"…"
Rex blinked once.
Twice.
Then pointed.
"Kyle."
"Yes?"
"Is that your girlfriend?"
"…Not yet."
The shadow froze.
Literally paused mid-motion.
Even the frost stopped spreading for half a second.
[TARGET OBSERVATION FLUCTUATING]
I felt it.
A tiny opening.
A moment of confusion.
I seized it.
"YES!" I shouted suddenly, way too loudly. "THIS IS MY GIRLFRIEND! SHE'S SHY! SHE LIKES TO WATCH ME THROUGH WINDOWS AT NIGHT!"
Rex stared at me.
Then at the window.
Then back at me.
"BRO," he whispered urgently,
"YOU ARE INTO SOME WEIRD STUFF."
Something in the shadow's form *twitched*.
[CRINGE OUTPUT: HIGH]
[OUTSIDE FATE STABILITY: 96% → 89%]
It worked.
A little.
But not enough.
The shadow spoke again, tone no longer calm.
"You attempt to distort perception with false narratives."
"IT'S NOT FALSE," I shouted. "SHE HAS BEEN WATCHING ME ALL NIGHT!"
"That's not helping!" Rex hissed.
The shadow raised its other hand.
The frost surged violently.
The glass bulged inward.
Rex finally reached the correct emotional conclusion.
"…Okay. This is not a girlfriend situation."
[EMERGENCY CONDITION MET]
[SYSTEM INITIATING 'ULTIMATE SOCIAL SUICIDE' RESPONSE]
"My what."
[CONDITIONS: YOU MUST OUTDO YOUR ACADEMY CONFESSION BY AT LEAST 300% CRINGE OUTPUT.]
"…I would like to formally protest."
[PROTEST DENIED.]
The shadow leaned closer to the glass.
"Your script ends now, Kyle von Blackthorn."
Cold slammed into my bones.
My teeth chattered violently.
Then—
The system dumped a glowing red scenario into my vision.
[FINAL CRINGE OPTION AVAILABLE]
[ACTION REQUIRED:
Perform a romantic serenade to the observing entity.
Include:
Eye contact
Hand gestures
At least one emotional lyric
WITNESSES REQUIRED: YES]
I slowly turned toward Rex.
Rex slowly turned toward me.
Our eyes met.
"…No," Rex said firmly. "Absolutely not."
"If I don't," I whispered, near tears,
"we both get deleted."
Rex sucked in a deep breath.
"…Do I at least get to live long enough to regret being friends with you?"
"Unclear."
He closed his eyes.
"Okay. Do it. I want the universe to witness how I die."
The shadow pressed its face closer to the glass.
Its features warped briefly—
As if reality itself resisted rendering its form.
I stepped forward.
My legs shook.
My soul screamed.
Then I did it.
I placed one hand on my chest.
The other against the cracked glass.
And in the coldest, most trembling voice of my life—
I sang.
Not well.
Not confidently.
Not correctly.
"I–I don't know your name~
I don't know your face~
But you've been stalking me
From a really creepy place~"
Rex covered his mouth.
The shadow's form shuddered violently.
[CRINGE OUTPUT: EXTREME]
[STABILITY DROP: 89% → 61%]
I kept going.
Because my life depended on being unhinged.
"Y–You tap on my window~
You freeze all my glass~
But girl, if you want my heart~
You gotta stop trying to erase my ass~"
Rex collapsed onto the couch.
"I'M GOING TO BE ERASED FROM SOCIETY EVEN IF I SURVIVE THIS," he wheezed.
The shadow recoiled.
Not backward.
Inward.
Like the concept of it was… folding.
[CRINGE ARMOR – OVERDRIVE]
[OUTSIDE FATE OBSERVATION DISRUPTED]
I leaned forward, desperate now.
"…W–Will you be my mysterious window girlfriend?" I finished, voice completely broken.
Silence.
Then—
The shadow staggered back.
The frost shattered instantly, melting into nothing. The cracks in the glass sealed as if they had never existed.
The room's temperature snapped back to normal.
The pressure vanished.
The shadow's voice echoed faintly.
"This observation… has become contaminated."
Its form dissolved into black mist.
But before vanishing entirely, it whispered:
"You are no longer invisible to *them*."
And then it was gone.
The window was whole.
The room was quiet.
The world resumed.
I collapsed to my knees.
Alive.
Again.
---
System Aftershock
[MAJOR EVENT SURVIVED]
[ENTITY INTERFERENCE: REPELLED – TEMPORARILY]
[CRINGE LIMIT BROKEN]
[REWARDS GRANTED]
Strength +3
Agility +3
Endurance +5
Luck +4
Embarrassment Resistance +25
[NEW PASSIVE SKILL UNLOCKED]
Fate Static (LVL 1) – Low-level fate observation becomes unstable around you.
[CURRENT STATUS – KYLE VON BLACKTHORN]
Strength: 27
Agility:27
Endurance: 30
Intelligence: 18
Charm: 36
Luck: 22
Embarrassment Resistance:43/100
Execution Countdown: 1 Year, 363 Days
Special Flags:
Watched by Outside Fate (Active)
Hero Interest Increasing
Saint Observation Ongoing
Survivor of Deletion Attempt
"…I weaponized a love song," I whispered.
Rex stared at me.
For a long time.
Then he said quietly:
"…You sang to a cosmic horror."
"Yes."
"And it worked."
"Yes."
Silence.
Then:
"I'm sticking with you till the end," Rex said.
"Because nobody will ever believe this if I don't."
---
Seraphina flinched.
For the first time.
A subtle tremor passed through the crystal before her.
"The observation failed," she murmured.
Her golden eyes sharpened.
"…Something interfered with the Watchers."
She turned her gaze toward my dorm building.
Slow.
Intent.
"And he survived again."
Something unfamiliar coiled in her chest.
Not desire.
Not affection.
Interest so deep it bordered on fixation.
---
Aether abruptly stopped mid-training.
A pulse of pressure washed over the academy.
Then vanished.
"…Something just tried to kill someone," he said slowly.
Lina swallowed.
"You think it was Kyle…?"
Aether didn't answer.
His grip tightened around his sword.
---
Rex stood up, energized despite the trauma.
"So. New rule between us," he said.
"What?"
"From now on, you tell me when invisible nightmare women come to visit."
"That was my first one."
Rex stared.
"…WHY DO YOU TALK ABOUT IT LIKE IT'S A DAILY OCCURRENCE?"
I lay back on the floor.
"…Because it feels like it will be."
Outside, the academy lights dimmed.
Day turned to night.
And somewhere beyond the sky, something ancient rewrote part of its calculations.