The bedroom door clicked shut behind them as Emily and Lucas slipped out of Ryunosuke's room, hearts pounding like they'd just escaped a museum heist.
Back in the living room, Emily paced slowly across the hardwood floor, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
Lucas flopped onto the couch and pulled out his phone. "Alright. Let's say she's real. Let's say she's not just some weird grief projection or sleep-paralysis demon."
"She's real," Emily said immediately.
"I know, I know," he mumbled, already scrolling. "So how do we find a girl who shows up in sketches like a glitch in the Matrix?"
Emily opened her own phone. "Hollywood. That's where we saw her."
Lucas squinted. "Great. You're going to search 'mysterious girl with violet eyes standing like a cursed statue in Hollywood'?"
Emily didn't answer.
Instead, she opened the photo gallery from that day—the one where they'd wandered through tourist hell, goofing off in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre, mocking fake stars, Lucas pretending to trip over a Spider-Man cosplayer.
She scrolled slowly.
Then stopped.
"There."
She held the phone out.
In the background of a group selfie—half obscured by the crowd—a young woman stood near the curb. Long lavender coat. Hair swept to one side. Her face shadowed.
Lucas leaned in. "That's her."
The image wasn't crystal clear, but her posture, the stillness, the shape of her gaze—it was unmistakable.
She was staring straight at the camera.
Lucas looked up, his voice quieter now. "Okay… this just got real."
Emily zoomed in. The violet in her eyes wasn't visible at this distance, but something about her presence bled through the screen. Cold. Focused. Present.
"She was watching us," Emily murmured. "Even back then."
Lucas frowned. "And she didn't move?"
"I didn't even notice her," Emily whispered. "But Ryunosuke did. He froze."
They both sat in silence, the weight of realization settling in.
Then Lucas cracked his fingers. "I'll run a reverse image search. Socials, forums—someone had to have seen her."
Emily nodded. "And if no one has, maybe someone saw her with someone."
Lucas tilted his head. "Like Victor Navarro?"
Emily didn't laugh.
Lucas blinked. "Wait. You think she's connected to him?"
Emily looked back at the photo.
The woman in the crowd. Still. Aware.
"I don't know what she is," Emily said. "But she's not random. And she's not just some shadow Ryunosuke invented."
Her voice softened. "She's tied to him. I don't know how. But if we don't figure out who she is…"
She trailed off.
Lucas finished the thought.
"Then she might be the one who decides what happens next."