He didn’t re-enter.
He was there.
The hallway outside the room—
empty.
Then—
occupied.
Ace didn’t turn.
She moved.
Because turning—
was already too late.
The strike came—
before the intent.
She shifted—
not reacting—
intercepting.
Contact—
glanced.
Not clean.
Not enough.
The figure stood behind her now.
Not moved.
Repositioned.
“Still behind,” he said.
Calm.
Almost conversational.
Mai stepped into the space between them.
Not blocking—
breaking sequence.
“You are not operating in time,” she said.
Flat.
The figure looked at her—
interested.
“Time’s fine,” he said.
A beat.
“You’re just using it wrong.”
Shammy inhaled—
slow.
The air—
didn’t follow.
Lagged.
Then—
surged.
“He’s out of rhythm,” she said.
The figure laughed—
quiet.
“Rhythm implies waiting,” he said.
“I don’t.”
V stayed near the wall—
eyes tracking—
failing.
“…Okay,” they muttered.
“…so how do you fight something that already happened?”
Ace didn’t answer.
She stepped forward again.
Deliberate.
No hesitation.
The figure watched—
not reacting—
already finished.
He spoke—
and the movement cut through it.
“You’re—”
The strike landed—
before the word ended.
Ace absorbed it—
shifted—
recovered—
but not cleanly.
Not fast enough.
Mai moved—
too precise.
Too correct.
The figure wasn’t there anymore.
Not gone.
Elsewhere.
“You think in lines,” he said from behind them.
“You wait for things to happen.”
A beat.
“That’s adorable.”
Shammy stepped sideways—
not toward him—
away from alignment.
The air—
spiked.
Then fractured.
The figure paused—
again—
just a fraction.
Ace saw it.
“Again,” she said.
Mai adjusted—
less precise this time.
Less optimal.
The space—
shifted.
Uncertain.
The figure moved—
but not cleanly.
Not perfectly.
His hand—
missed—
by nothing.
He frowned.
Slightly.
“Messy,” he said.
Not annoyed.
Interested.
Mai’s voice didn’t change.
“You require sequence.”
The figure smiled again.
“No,” he said.
A beat.
“I remove it.”
Ace stepped in—
closer than before.
No distance.
No delay.
The figure didn’t strike.
Didn’t move.
For a moment—
nothing happened.
That was new.
Then—
he leaned slightly.
Not back.
Sideways.
And the next action—
failed.
Not cleanly.
Not completely.
But enough.
Shammy pushed—
not force—
pressure.
The air—
collapsed inward—
then expanded wrong.
Timing broke.
Not for him—
for everything.
V blinked.
“…Okay,” they said.
“…that’s doing something.”
Mai stepped again—
less precise—
more variable.
The system—
no longer linear.
The figure tilted his head.
Curious now.
“Interesting,” he said.
A beat.
“You’re getting worse.”
Mai didn’t respond.
Because worse—
was the point.
Ace moved again—
not faster—
not earlier—
just—
unpredictable.
The strike—
didn’t align.
Didn’t connect.
The figure stepped back—
not retreat—
re-evaluation.
“You can’t keep that up,” he said.
Calm.
Certain.
“Neither can you,” Ace said.
Flat.
That was the first real answer.
Silence—
brief—
held.
Then—
he laughed.
Not loud.
Not broken.
Just—
genuine.
“Maybe,” he said.
A beat.
“But I don’t have to.”
And then—
he wasn’t there.
Not movement.
Completion.
Gone—
before absence registered.
The space—
settled.
Wrong.
Incomplete.
Shammy exhaled slowly.
The air—
stabilized.
Barely.
Mai didn’t move.
Her gaze fixed—
on nothing.
“He is not leaving,” she said.
Ace nodded once.
“No.”
A beat.
“He’s waiting.”
V swallowed.
“…For what.”
Ace didn’t answer.
Because the answer—
had already happened.
And they were still—
trying to catch up.
—
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