Tyler POV
Now that I've finished everything…
Hero persona? Check.
Villain persona? Double check.
Tragic backstory? Chef's kiss.
OmniScript on standby? Locked and loaded.
All that's left?
The Plot.
The Scenario.
The Arc.
I mean—what's the point of having power, identity, and lore if no one even knows it's happening?
Every great story needs witnesses.
Needs cast.
Needs collateral damage characters who evolve into emotional anchors—yes, that kind of thing.
"Kekekeke…" I chuckled to myself as I spun slowly in my swivel chair, dramatic cloak flaring.
Suddenly—
RIIING!
My phone buzzed.
A call?
I glanced at the name.
Harry Frees.
I picked up and clicked the green button.
"Hello?"
His familiar voice came through, casual and upbeat.
"Hey man, you wanna hang out with our college group after this? Maybe hit the arcade or grab wings?"
The moment I heard Harry's voice, something clicked in my mind.
Of course.
Harry Frees.
Lily Croft.
James Conrad
And yes… Sara Debeu.
All three of them—my closest friends. Of course, Sara became my… maybe closest friend.
Anyway after Highschool we all took the same Business course together, but our bond went beyond that. Late-night projects. Group presentations. Dumb pranks in lecture halls.
They were real.
And now?
They would be perfect.
(Yes… yes. That's it.)
They'll be my cast.
The unknowing side characters who slowly uncover the truth.
They'll notice I'm acting weird—aloof, distracted, sus.
They'll start following me. Asking questions.
And then…
They'll witness it.
The first battle.
Crow vs. "Unknown Hero" Tyler.
They'll see the shadow powers.
They'll gasp.
They'll find out I'm the hero.
And I'll pretend to be shocked, like:
"W-What?! You saw that?! I didn't want you to know…"
Kekekeke.
This is gonna be perfect.
"Hello? Tyler? You there?"
Oops.
"OH, pardon me Harry," I said quickly, clearing my throat. "I was… thinking of something."
"You okay, man?" he said. "You sounded like you were monologuing."
(He's already suspicious. Excellent.)
"I'm good. I'll come. Where we meeting?"
"Usual spot. Lily said she's bringing her sketchpad again. Probably to roast us."
"Great. I've got… things to talk about too," I said ominously, letting a little mystery drip into my voice.
"Uhh... okay?"
I maybe make it Day 7 of being sus kekekeke
Heh. Let the plot begin.
…
Day 1 of Being Sus
The Beginning
We met at our usual spot—Dixon's Diner, five minutes from campus, stained-glass windows, sticky menus, and the eternal scent of melted cheese and betrayal.
Sara and James focus on their own agenda.
Lily was sketching strangers again without asking—classic Lily.
And Harry? Waving at me like a golden retriever on Red Bull.
I entered with purpose.
Dark hoodie. Hands tucked deep in my pockets.
Eyes low, distant—like I'd just learned a terrible truth from a haunted monastery.
The bell above the door chimed, and I timed my step to match it.
Because dramatic entrances matter.
"Yo, Tyler!" Harry grinned. "You okay? You look like you just stepped out of a crime documentary."
I slid into the booth. Slowly. Deliberately.
"…Just tired. Been… doing things." I muttered. Eyes avoiding theirs like they burned.
"Okay dude." James mumbled, unsure.
Sara arched a brow.
Lily narrowed her eyes at me… then at Harry.
"He's being weird again."
"No, like—extra weird."
Perfect.
…
Day 2
Midway through our Business class, right when the group was analyzing market trends on a painfully dry PowerPoint, I did it.
I vanished.
No sound. No warning.
One second I was beside Harry.
Next? Gone. Like the fog in a noir film.
"Guys?" James looked around. "Where is Tyler?"
Phones lit up.
James: Wtf is this
Sara: Are you trying to be mysterious again like that chuuni crap in high school
Lily: You better not be doing drugs
Harry: Dude...
I saw the messages.
I left them on read.
Mysterious silence: ✅
Worry planted: ✅✅
..
[Day 3]
Back to campus. Just another Wednesday.
My bag was slung over one shoulder. Hoodie on. Slight eye bags. The usual.
No weird messages. No exits through windows. Just me.
Normal Tyler.
First class of the day: Business Ethics. I sat next to James, Lily, and Harry like always.
Sara came in a few minutes later, wearing earbuds and munching on a protein bar.
I pulled out my notes and tapped my pen, pretending to care.
James leaned over.
"Yo. You good?"
"Yeah."
"You were kinda MIA yesterday."
I shrugged.
"Family stuff. Nothing big."
(Technically true. Leo showed me his new drawing. It was dope.)
Lily was sketching something in the margins of her notebook. Looked like… Harry riding a llama?
Harry glanced at me and smirked.
"At least you didn't ghost two classes in a row. Thought you got abducted by your imagination again."
I chuckled lightly.
"Nah. Still Earthbound."
Sara didn't say much, but I saw her glance at me more than once.
We went through the lecture like normal. Professor Reynolds talked about ethical dilemmas in corporate structures. I took notes. Occasionally zoned out. Doodled in the corner of my page.
A feather.
Nothing obvious.
After class, we grabbed lunch at the quad. Everyone sat under the usual tree.
James passed me a bag of chips.
"You look tired."
"Didn't sleep much."
That was true, too. I was busy writing Crow's scenario in the OmniScript system.
Lily watched me for a second.
"You're being quiet lately."
"Just thinking a lot."
I popped a chip in my mouth and leaned back against the trunk.
Sara changed the subject. Something about a dumb group project.
Everyone started laughing at Harry's bad idea to do a presentation with sock puppets.
Just a normal day with my friends.
No drama.
No plot.
(But in my mind… things were moving.)
…
[Day 4]
Lunch hour. Dixon's again. Mozzarella sticks this time.
I waited for the moment—when the table was laughing, relaxed.
Then I answered my phone.
(I set a fake ringtone from the OmniScript system, obviously.)
I stood, turned slightly away, and whispered just loud enough for them to hear:
"Yes… I understand. We proceed at midnight. I'll take care of it."
Dramatic pause.
Slow, heavy exhale.
Then I hung up.
Eyes all on me.
"Bro," Harry said slowly, "are you in an anime right now?"
"He's 100% chuunibyou again," Lily muttered, head in her hands. "It's happening. We've lost him."
"...I think he's serious," Sara whispered.
I looked at all of them. Grim.
"Guys.... Uh you go first and Uh I have something to do."
Then I walked away.
Everyone just stood there
Good let them overthink
(Well … I Just went to the restroom. Still washed my hands, though. Hygiene is power.)
..
[Day 5]
It was a slow friday afternoon on campus. We were outside the economics building, sitting on the old wooden benches near the courtyard fountain.
Lily was sketching something in her notepad—probably us without asking again.
Sara was flipping through a business textbook.
Harry was doing his usual thing, tapping a stick against his shoe like a bored dog waiting to be thrown a bone.
James had a Sudoku book. He always said it "helped clear his thoughts."
I sat down without a word, hoodie up despite the heat. Kept my eyes low. The usual.
Then, halfway through the silence, I suddenly slapped my wrist—sharply. Like a reflex.
"Jesus, what was that?" Sara blinked.
"…Bug," I muttered, shaking out my sleeve.
But I stared at the shadow under my bench a second longer than necessary.
James leaned toward me.
"You've been acting kinda… off lately, man. You okay?"
"Yeah. Just thinking," I said, soft. "There's something… weird in the air."
Lily looked up from her sketchpad.
"What, like pressure before a storm?"
"Yeah. Something like that."
I leaned back. Quiet. Let the words hang in the breeze. No more explanation. Just mood.
Harry frowned.
"You're not doing that high school phase again, right?"
"It's not a phase if it never ended," I replied, dry.
I smiled. Just barely.
…
Day 6 – Saturday
Lecture Hall 2B – 6:13 AM
[Note: Technically, it was Saturday. But our campus suddenly announces about "Flex Sessions"—It's a mandatory weekend catch-up lectures when professors felt we were falling behind. Lecture Hall 2B was our assigned torture chamber this month. Everyone hated it, but showing up was still better than having to explain to the Dean why you didn't.]
Anyway I left early. Way before campus stirred. Before security did its second rotation.
The morning air was sharp—biting in that way that forces you to move or freeze.
By the time the sun filtered through the glass roof of Lecture Hall 2B, I was already gone.
But I left something behind.
In the far back corner, written in red chalk, faint but deliberate:
"Even in broad daylight, some things remain hidden –?"
There was no name. Just a small, rough sketch of a crow drawn underneath the quote.
Not flashy. Just enough to catch the eye—if you knew where to look.
It was Lily who noticed it first.
She froze mid-step, pointing.
"Okay… weird. Definitely wasn't here yesterday."
James walked up to it, squinting.
"Is that… a crow?"
Harry turned, then glanced around.
"Tyler?"
"What about me?" I asked.
I had just walked in. Calm. Quiet. Headphones around my neck, still humming the end of a low lo-fi beat. I kept my pace easy. Unbothered.
Sara tilted her head. "Did you write that?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"What? No. What even is it?"
I stepped closer, narrowed my eyes at the chalkboard—
a slow, performative squint. Then shrugged.
"Sounds kinda poetic, though."
And with that, I sat down. Opened my notebook. Flipped to a random page.
Pretended to read.
But I could feel it—their eyes. All of them. A slow burn of suspicion creeping like fog.
They were trying to piece it together.
That was the point.
…
Day 7 – Sunday
[Most students were probably still in bed, dreaming of pancakes and normal weekends. But not us. Welcome to the "Accelerated Academic Pathway," a.k.a. Sunday morning misery. They called it a privilege. We called it cruel and unusual punishment.]
Anyway in Courtyard during lunch hour
I kept it going.
James leaned into Lily, voice low.
Sara wasn't even trying to hide her glances anymore.
They were starting to compare notes. Good.
So I gave them more.
At lunch, I stepped away to take a "call."
There was no call. No vibration. Just dead air on a blank screen.
But I held the phone close and murmured just loud enough for them to hear:
"No. Not yet… Too risky in daylight. I'll signal if things shift."
Then I snapped the phone shut with a sharp click.
Turned to the table, eyes steady.
"I'll be back," I said quietly.
Harry blinked like I'd just quoted a spy movie.
"Wait—where are you—"
"Just something I have to check," I muttered, already walking off.
I didn't go far. Just down past the gym, to the old storage shed in the back.
Slipped into the shadow for a moment—long enough to disappear.
Long enough to let them wonder.
From behind the hedges, I could still hear them.
Sara's voice, low but clear:
"Did he just walk off like a spy?"
Lily whispered, "He's doing something."
James muttered, "If this is another prank, I'm kicking him."
Harry added, "He's not that good an actor."
But I am.
And I didn't laugh. I didn't smile.
Because this wasn't acting.
This was plotting.
And the real show hadn't even started yet.
..
Sara Debeu POV
It's Monday. Great. I'm already over this week. Tyler's chuunibyou act has been getting on my nerves, but hey, it's not like I care, right? I'm just… curious. Yeah. Curious. That's it. Not worried at all.
It's 9 AM, and of course, Tyler shows up in his usual hoodie, looking like he just crawled out of some low-budget noir film. He's holding his phone up to his ear, talking in that low, "I'm-important-and-you're-not" voice that just irritates me.
James, as usual, can't take a hint.
"Tyler, yow men!"
Tyler doesn't even acknowledge him. Figures.
Harry, with his usual enthusiasm, chimes in next.
"What you doing with your bag? Are you skipping class?"
Of course, Tyler, the genius that he is, responds with his best "mysterious" answer.
"Uh, emergency. Nothing to worry about, hahaha."
He says that, but I can't help but roll my eyes. Like we're all supposed to believe that. Real believable, Tyler.
Lily narrows her eyes at him.
"You being kinda sus, Tyler."
Oh, so I'm not the only one noticing. At least someone's on the same page.
I decide to ask him myself, just to keep the ball rolling.
"Where are you going anyway?"
Of course, Tyler doesn't bother to answer. He just keeps walking off, like he's some kind of secret agent on a mission. Typical.
"Hey, wait! I'm asking you, where are you going?"
I shout after him, but he just keeps walking. Great.
I turn to the group, noticing the same irritation starting to creep onto everyone's faces.
"Let's follow him," I suggest, though I'm sure my tone doesn't exactly scream "concerned friend."
James looks at me like I just suggested something totally wild.
"How do we follow him?"
Come on, James. You're not that dense.
Lily, with that look she always gives when she's too observant, glances at me and raises an eyebrow.
"Are you that worried so much about him?"
I snort and flip my hair out of my face, trying to hide the slight irritation I feel creeping up.
"Idiot, who's worried about that geek?"
I cross my arms, trying to act like it's not bothering me at all.
"Hmph. Let's just see where he's going."
I'm not worried. Seriously, I'm not. Just… curious. That's all.
To be continue