It was nighttime in Roid City, he Avenue of Raos. Skyscrapers loomed over the streets, their mirrored surfaces refleg the electric haze of neon signs. The roads pulsed with life, drenched in artificial light, yet above it all, the sky remained ay void.

  Inside a dimly lit apartment, Rael Voss sat on the couch, his gaze locked onto the flickering s of his phohe summer heat pressed against the windows, but the air ditioner's steady hum filled the room with an artificial chill. His inbox held a single unread message.

  [Leon: Yo, Rael. Long time.][Leon: Didn’t think I’d be the first oo break the silence, but here we are.][Leon: You still alive, or did you turn into a hermit for real?]

  Rael stared at the messages. It had been… how many years? Three? Longer sihey actually talked.

  "Still ign people, huh?"

  Rael gnced up. His roommate, Elias, leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. His expression was unreadable, but there was an edge to his voiethiween and irritation. He shifted slightly, the dim light catg the tired lines under his eyes.

  "I'm just not ied," Rael muttered, setting his phone aside with a dull thud against the couch.

  Elias scoffed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Not ied iiher, apparently." He gestured toward the untouched food on the ter, shaking his head. "You 't keep living like this, man."

  Rael didn't reply, his fiapping idly against his knee. His gaze drifted back to the phohe s still glowing with the message, the sender's aring back at him like an old ghost.

  Rael Voss had once been a name whispered in reverehin the eSports se, a prodigy whose sharp instincts and cold preade him a legend. He had led his team to tless victories, pushing the boundaries of strategy and skill. But that was years ago. Now, at twenty-five, he had all but left that world behind. Gaming had been his life, but after an abrupt and quiet retirement, he hadn't touched a sile since.

  "Who's texting you this te?"

  Rael turo see Elias now leaning against the kit ter, arms still crossed but his brow slightly furrowed. His roommate's dark eyes flicked toward the phone. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

  Rael gave him a bnk stare before tossing the phone aside with a sigh. "It's nothing."

  Elias arched an eyebrow, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nothing, huh? You sure? You're doing that thing again—staring like the world's about to end."

  Rael exhaled and ran a hand through his hair, fingers briefly g. "Just an old teammate."

  Elias whistled under his breath. "A me guess—something about that new game everyone's hyped about?"

  Rael g his phone again, the s still glowing. "...I don’t know."

  Elias raised an eyebrow. "You don’t know?"

  Rael leaned back against the couch. "He didn’t say. Could be that, could be something else."

  Silence lingered betweehe hum of the air ditioner filling the gap. Elias drummed his fingers against the ter, watg Rael carefully before sighing and pushing himself off.

  "Man, you really are stubborn." He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, taking a long sip before pointing at Rael with it. "You sure you're not even a little bit curious? I mean, it's been years since you touched a game. Maybe—"

  Before he could finish, Rael's phone vibrated again. But this time, it wasn't aext.

  It was a call.

  The name fshed on the s: [Leon].

  Rael's fiwitched. It had been years sihey st spoke—long enough that he almost didn't reize the first.

  Elias raised an eyebrow, his smirk fading. "Wow. He's really persistent."

  Rael let the ph. He wasn't ied. He had walked away from that life. He had no reason to go back.

  But the ringing didn't stop.

  Again. And again.

  A sigh escaped Rael's lips as he finally grabbed the phone and pressed it to his ear.

  "…What do you want, Leon?"

  A chuckle came from the other end. "That's a hell of a greeting."

  Rael leaned back against the couch, fiapping idly against his thigh. "You're calli midnight just to talk? Spit it out."

  Leo out a short chuckle. "Still impatient." There ause before his tone softened. "It's been a while, man."

  Rael exhaled through his nose. "Yeah."

  "Four years," Leon tinued. "You just vanished."

  Rael didn’t respond immediately. He knew. He had walked away from everything—his team, the game, that entire world. And none of them had chased after him. Not really.

  "You could've reached out too," he muttered.

  "Yeah," Leon admitted. "Guess I thought you needed space. But then space turned into silence, and… well. Here we are."

  Rael ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t sure what to say to that.

  Leon sighed. "Look, I’m not calling t up old stuff. I just—" He hesitated. "How are you, Rael? Really."

  The words sat between them, heavier than they should've been.

  "I'm fine," Rael said automatically.

  Leon hummed, unvinced. "Right."

  Rael khat to was the same one Leon used when a game wasn't going their way, when he could see the cracks f in a strategy before anyone else did.

  He shifted in his seat. "Is this why you called? To che on me?"

  "Partly." Leoated again, then exhaled. "I guess… I just wao hear from you. Make sure you’re still here."

  Rael stared at the ceiling, the dim glow of his phone casting faint shadows along the walls. He didn’t know how to respond to that.

  So he settled for the easiest answer. "Yeah. I’m still here."

  For a moment, Rael wasn't in his dimly lit apartment anymore.

  He was ba stage, standih a flood of blinding lights. The roar of the crowd thundered in his ears—a deafening wave of voices ting his name, his team's he metallic weight of the championship trophy pressed into his hands, cold and solid, proof of everything they had fought for.

  But wheurhe faces around him were blurred, indistinct shapes swallowed by the glow of the victory s overhead. Their voices, once familiar, bled into the chaos—cheers, shouts, something else beh it all. A tension he hadn't noticed back then.

  The moment cracked. The roar faded. The trophy in his hands felt weightless.

  Then, just as quickly, the memory shattered.

  Rael exhaled sharply, his grip on the phoightening. "And?"

  Leon sighed, the sound barely audible over the faint noise of traffi the background. "e on, man. You 't tell me you don't miss it, even a little."

  "I don't," Rael replied ftly, adjusting his grip on the phone.

  A short silehen Leo out a quiet chuckle. "Still the same as ever, huh?"

  Rael didn't respond. He rubbed at his temple, feeling the weight of the versatiole over him.

  "You've heard about Ast, right?" His tone was casual, but there was an edge to it. "It's not like anything we pyed before. Full-dive VR, plete sensory immersion, and an AI system that reacts to every choiake. The level of realism is insane—people are already saying it doesn't even feel like a game."

  Rael didn't respond, but Leo going.

  "Look, I'm not asking you to it," Leon tinued. "Just log in. No pressure, no expectations. Just explore a bit—see what it's about. Like old times, before everything got… plicated."

  Rael furrowed his brows, lost in thought. He had heard the hype, seen glimpses of the game trending online. But he hadn't cared enough to dig deeper.

  Leo out a quiet chuckle. "Figured if anything could bring you back, it'd be this."

  Rael pihe bridge of his nose. "I already told you. I'm doh all that."

  Leon didn't argue. He just sighed again, quieter this time. "Alright. If that's how it is."

  There ause before Leon added, "Still… it'd be good to catch up sometime."

  Rael's fingers hovered over the s for a moment before he simply said, "We'll see."

  The call ended.

  For a while, Rael just sat there, phoing loosely in his hand.

  Elias, who had beeending not to listen, finally spoke up. "Damn. That was intense." He scratched the back of his head, his usual teasing tone subdued.

  Rael shot him a look. "It wasn't."

  Elias smirked, though his gaze lingered on Rael a little lohan usual. "If you say so." He leaned against the doorway again, arms crossed. "So what's the deal? This some kinda dramatic reunion story? Ex-teammate trying to pull you ba for 'o ride'?"

  Rael didn't answer, but his fingers curled slightly against his khe silence was enough of a firmation.

  Elias chuckled, but there was no mali it. "Man, you really don't want to go back, huh?"

  Rael just stared at him, expression unreadable.

  Elias didn’t press further. He set a couple of ptes oable, motioning for Rael to join him. With a sigh, Rael pushed himself off the coud sat down. The st of takeout filled the small apartment, cutting through the lingering ess in the air.

  her of them spoke at first. The occasional k of utensils against ceramic was the only souweehen, as Elias scooped up a bite, he gnced up.

  "You're thinking about it, aren't you?"

  Rael scoffed. "No, I'm not."

  Yet, as he absently poked at his food, the thought lingered.

  Elias smirked, taking another bite. "If you say so."

  The versation drifted into silence again, but the seed had already been phe versation faded, but the thought lingered—unshaken, quietly pulling at the edges of his mind.