"Where do you want to go, young man?" The old driver asked the only passenger in his car. "You better pay me this time."
After assuring him that he would pay, Liam told the driver his destination and then stared off into space. In his hand, his phone remained unlocked, the screen displaying a message interface opened in a browser. The messages spanned three days, with the last one sent just the previous night.
Jared: Dude, where are you? Why isn’t anyone responding to my texts and calls?
Jared: Just leave a message if you finally feel like talking, man.
Jared: Finally replied, you shithead. What sorry?]
After watching the passing scenery outside, Liam lowered his gaze to his phone. His finger hovered over the send button, reluctant to press it.
He had accessed his old account and composed this message as soon as he regained access to the internet, but he had always postponed sending it. Then three days ago, Jared unexpectedly reached out to him, but even then, Liam couldn’t bring himself to send this message.
Today, however... It should be the right time now, right? Rayen should have seen his body by now.
Exhaling deeply, Liam shut his eyes and pressed the send button.
Just then, the car skidded sideways, making Liam stumble in his seat. He heard the driver cuss and hit the horn repeatedly.
Before Liam could hear the rest of the curse, another loud noise filled his ears.
The world spun. A ringing sound filled his ears, and his vision blackened. When he regained his senses, everything around him was a wreck.
As his clarity returned, Liam turned his attention to the driver.
The driver was nowhere to be seen.
Liam’s heart tightened. Frantically, he glanced around, searching for the driver, who might have been flung out during the crash, but all he saw was smoke and the wreckage of the car.
He had nearly died a second time.
Just then, a strange phenomenon caught his attention. From the corner of his eye, outside the shattered window, a bizarre black smoke whirled, slowly making its way toward him.
Alarms rang in his mind. The scene felt ominous. Trying to move away, Liam hissed in pain.
Slowly, slowly, the black smoke crept closer. Liam held his breath, as if that might stop it from approaching him.
Yet, before it could reach him, the phone in his hand buzzed.
"System reconnected," a distorted mechanical voice announced.
The black smoke halted.
Liam stared at it until it dissipated. Finally, he exhaled in relief. He lifted the phone in his hand to see the familiar notification.
’Damn Liam. I knew it.’
Rayen cursed inwardly. He didn’t know if it was deliberate or not, but Liam had left them out of the blue.
What hostage? He and the driver probably conspired together.
Though Rayen knew this wasn’t true, he couldn’t help but feel that he was tricked by his friend because of the encounter in his apartment.
Just then, a vibration in his pocket startled him. Realizing what it might mean, Rayen hurriedly pulled out his phone.
A vibration meant he had reconnected with the system!
On his lock screen, Rayen was greeted by a pleasant string of text.
[Propagator System has something to say to you.]
Rayen tapped on it, worried that this thing might malfunction again.
Mini Plotter directly popped out of the corner of Rayen’s screen, his playful smile absent.
"My physical incarnation is coming to fetch you. Don’t move away from where you’re standing," the familiar distorted voice echoed through Rayen’s phone speakers.
’So he’s not mute anymore?’
After Adrian pointed out the weirdness of his system, Rayen realized that Mini Plotter always went silent whenever there were other people around him. Rayen didn’t know if it was because of the situation right now or because Adrian knew about it, but it seemed to have dropped the act.
Rayen peeked at Adrian, who silently observed mini Plotter on Rayen’s screen, but he couldn’t read his expression at all.
Turning back to Mini Plotter, Rayen waited for any other instructions.
"Abracadabra," Mini Plotter muttered.
With those words, a multi-colored book page materialized and floated out of Rayen’s phone before dispersing into the air. Their surrounding suddenly seemed to be covered by an invisible blanket. The ambient noises around them seemed to weaken.
The scene made Rayen recall the time they activated the Ninja book page during their first performance.
"I will arrive," Mini Plotter declared, seemingly to himself.
Just as Mini Plotter’s words ended, a dark slit appeared in the air. Descending from the slit was a small figure, his frilly attire fluttered in the wind as his feet reached the ground.
Spotting Rayen, Plotter sighed in relief. Unlike his usual teasing demeanor, he looked genuinely concerned and excited, just like their first meeting after Rayen’s revival.
"You’re alright!" Plotter exclaimed.
Relaxing visibly, Plotter glanced at Adrian. His expression softened further as he sighed in relief once more.
Adrian’s brow raised.
’Was he glad I was also safe?’ Adrian wondered.
"What happened?" Plotter blurted.
However, Rayen’s lips twitched when he heard that.
’How would we know?! You’re the one we should be asking! It’s your teleportation portal that just malfunctioned.’
But Plotter wasn’t asking them. He was asking the mini version of himself in Rayen’s phone.
"Answering," Mini Plotter said, realizing that it was him his physical incarnation addressed.
The three people turned to him.
"A strange phenomenon occured. Interference was detected."
A frown appeared on Plotter’s ethereal face, his expression became even graver after hearing Mini Plotter’s words.
Meanwhile, Adrian speculated, "I think we were sent to the places we’re originally from."
"Why? How did you come to that idea?" Rayen asked.
"Because the three of us came here. This place is home for all of us."
’It doesn’t make sense...’
Suddenly, Plotter interrupted their conversation. "We don’t have time. Let’s go back first."