The sun slanted through the stained-glass panels of North Building, casting kaleidoscope beams on the freshly waxed floors of Orion University.
It was just another Monday morning.
The scent of over-toasted bagels wafted from the campus café, tangled in the usual chaos of students cramming for quizzes, caffeine-dependent zombies, and two overly enthusiastic drama kids sword-fighting with baguettes.
Kiel Donovan just wanted a sandwich.
That was all.
Not love. Not drama. Not this interface flickering in the corner of his vision like some intrusive dating sim ad that refused to die.
“Name: —Unknown—Age: —Unknown—Mood: —Jittery—Affinity Level: —Establishing...—SYSTEM INITIALIZED. TOUCHPOINT DETECTED.”
He blinked.
The screen shimmered and vanished. His hand was still warm.
Someone had just bumped into him.
“Sorry! I was—uh—trying to grab the last cranberry muffin,” said a voice, breathless and light, like someone who perpetually forgot how legs worked in public.
Kiel turned.
They had short pink hair, earbuds half-dangling, one shoelace untied, and a very complicated-looking laptop bag slung diagonally across a puffy NASA bomber jacket.
There was a smudge of cream cheese on their cheek. They stared at him like he was the end boss in a dungeon they weren’t prepared for.
“Oh. Wow,” they whispered. “You’re...glitching.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, not like you—I mean your stats bar. I saw it. Like a...mini HUD? Floating window? Thing? Did you see it too or am I sleep-deprived to the point of developing anime-grade hallucinations?”
Kiel opened his mouth. Closed it.
Checked behind him, just in case a prank team was filming. Nothing.
“Okay,” he said carefully. “Just to confirm... you also saw a weird screen?”
“Yup. Said something about ‘Touchpoint Detected,’ which sounds way more romantic than I’m comfortable with on a Monday.”
There was an awkward pause. A microsecond of static. And then:
NEW ROUTE UNLOCKEDPartner ID: [001 - Ryn Elara]Age: 18Mood: ??FlusteredCommon Memory: Under the Blue Canopy [Fragmented. Requires 3 Affinity points to unlock full shard.]
Ryn blinked. “I think I just unlocked you like an NPC. Is this... a dating sim? Because if so, I’m gonna need a settings menu and a user guide.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“I think we both need a settings menu.”
They both backed up.
Not dramatically—just the kind of half-step that said whatever this is, I wasn’t ready for it.
The screen dissolved again.
“…So…” Ryn scratched behind their neck, looking around the café. “If we’re both seeing this, does that mean we’re, what, magically bonded now? Cursed? Soul-linked?”
“I was just trying to buy a sandwich.”
“Same. Except muffin.”
Another beat.
Then, for reasons beyond logic, Kiel laughed.
A short, stupid burst of nervous amusement.
Ryn cracked a grin too. The panic softened just enough to let something else in—curiosity.
“Okay, look,” Ryn said. “We obviously touched. Something got triggered. And now there’s... data. About us.”
“Like what?”
“I saw your name. Kiel Donovan, age...well, that didn’t show up, but I’m guessing eighteen?”
“Nineteen.”
“Close enough. I’m Ryn. Ryn Elara. Digital arts major, part-time barista, full-time chaos gremlin.”
“English major. No gremlin status, I think.”
“Give it time.”
Another ping echoed softly in Kiel’s head, like a notification from an app he hadn’t downloaded:
Affinity +1Memory Shard Progress: 1/3 [Under the Blue Canopy]
“What the hell is that?” Kiel muttered.
“I think...we’re in a game. Or a system pretending not to be one.”
“No way this is real,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction.
“Then explain the shard thing.”
“Memory fragment, right?”
“Yup. Mine said Under the Blue Canopy. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I used to sit under a blue umbrella near the old fountain when I was a kid. Drew comics in the rain. But that was... ages ago.”
Kiel froze.
He remembered it. The fountain. The umbrella.
The tiny figure sketching with plastic-covered notebooks while he sat across the quad reading sci-fi.
They had never spoken. Just existed within each other’s periphery. Like side characters in the same episode who never shared a line.
“…I think I saw you once,” he said quietly. “I was the guy reading Star Rangers across the plaza.”
Ryn’s eyes widened. “Oh my god. That was you?”
Memory Shard Fully Recovered[Under the Blue Canopy – View? Y/N]
Kiel blinked. The screen hovered patiently.
He tapped “Yes.”
Memory Shard: Under the Blue Canopy
Rain. The smell of old stone. A canopy of cobalt blue above a folding chair.
Ryn is twelve. Drawing superheroes in bubble helmets.
Kiel is thirteen. Reading a tattered paperback, hiding a broken wristwatch in his coat.
They don’t speak. But they look up at the same moment when thunder cracks.
A shared smile—small, wordless, but sincere.
Rain pours harder. Ryn gestures silently, offering half the umbrella’s space.
Kiel declines, mouthing “thanks,” and holds up his book like a shield.
Ryn sketches a new panel: Boy holding back time under a storm.
The shard ends.
Kiel exhaled, lightheaded. Ryn looked just as shaken.
“That wasn’t a dream, was it?” they said.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then this... system… remembered something we didn’t.”
“Or hid it until now.”
A pause.
Ryn looked up at him. “I don’t believe in fate. But I do believe in good glitches.”
Another ping:
Affinity +2Route 001: Progressing...
“Are you seeing this?” Kiel asked.
Ryn nodded. “Yup. And it just got more real.”
Suddenly, from across the café, someone called Ryn’s name.
A tall figure with buzzed hair, piercing blue eyes, and that too-charming smile that said complication incoming.
“Oh no,” Ryn groaned. “That’s my ex. And she does not play nice.”
As she walked toward them, Kiel watched his interface twitch.
PENALTY WARNING: External Flirtation DetectedRoute Stability: —Compromised—
Kiel sighed. He just wanted a sandwich.
