Perfect synchronization is fragile.
It depends on timing.
And timing can slip.
The cycles remained aligned.
Event windows approached with mechanical precision.
Positioning clustered.
Volatility compressed further.
In New York City, risk parity allocations reached new highs.
In London, structured desks sold convexity aggressively.
In Tokyo, leverage embedded in retail products expanded quietly.
Phase dispersion was nearly zero.
Coupling strong.
Energy stored.
Maya monitored frequency drift.
"Natural frequency is not constant," she said.
"System parameters evolve."
She wrote the slow drift term.
Keith narrowed his eyes.
"So even if forcing remains periodic—"
"It may no longer match."
Jasmine computed phase stability margin.
"Margin narrowing," she said.
"Mismatch increasing slightly."
No visible stress yet.
But microscopic slippage.
Then came the deviation.
Not a major shock.
A timing shift.
Data released slightly off expected pattern.
Liquidity thinner than forecast.
Flow magnitude misestimated.
Small.
But asynchronous.
In Chicago, options hedging triggered earlier than models projected.
In Frankfurt, credit reacted before equity stabilized.
In Singapore, macro desks found themselves marginally offside.
Phase angles diverged.
Barely.
But measurably.
Maya updated the phase equation.
"For small theta, stability holds," she said.
"But as mismatch grows—"
Keith finished.
"Sin(theta) loses stabilizing power."
Volatility ticked higher.
Not dramatic.
Just uneven.
Oscillations lost symmetry.
Correlation fractured momentarily.
In Hong Kong, futures diverged from cash unexpectedly.
In Zurich, hedging demand returned abruptly.
In Washington, D.C., no new information emerged.
The disruption was structural.
Not narrative.
Energy stored during phase lock began redistributing.
Amplitude no longer increased smoothly.
It wobbled.
Keith leaned forward.
"Is this the break?"
Maya shook her head.
"Not yet."
She wrote the threshold condition:
"At this boundary," she said quietly,
"lock fails."
They weren't there.
But closer than before.
Chapter 199 does not explode.
It detunes.
Phase slips microscopically.
Coupling strains to maintain alignment.
Energy shifts from smooth amplification to uneven motion.
Synchronization, once perfect,
Now imperfect.
And imperfect synchronization
In tightly coupled systems
Is not calm.
It is tension.
Rising.