Oshi No Ko: My Gamer System

Ch. 1: Prologue

The soft hum of the campus quieted as the night deepened, only the distant sounds of crickets and the occasional rustle of leaves filling the silence.

In his cramped dorm room, Aiden sat bathed in the pale blue glow of his laptop screen, typing the final sentence of his term paper.

His eyes burned from hours of staring at the screen.

With a groan, he rubbed his face and leaned back, the creak of his chair breaking the silence.

"Finally done," he muttered to himself. a sigh of relief slipping from his lips.

It was well past midnight and the quiet hum of his dorm room was the only sound in the building.

As he hit save and closed the laptop, a deep rumble echoed through the silence.

Aiden looked down and patted his stomach and said, "I guess I haven't really eaten anything since lunch."

He glanced at the clock at the corner of his room and said, "It's past 2 AM... Most places are already closed by this time."

Aiden sat there pondering, but the hunger gnawed at him, urging him to find something, anything, to eat.

He glanced at his phone, flicking through Google Maps until he found a glowing beacon of hope. "Yes!" He grinned. "There's a 24-hour fast-food joint and it's only a few miles away."

It wasn't healthy or even good, but at this hour, he didn't care.

Grabbing his keys and jacket, Aiden stepped out of his room into the chilled air.

The campus, so familiar by day, now seemed unsettlingly empty.

He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and walked faster, the sound of his own footsteps were uncomfortably loud.

Every shadow seemed deeper, every movement caught in his peripheral vision made his heart race.

His mind filled the silence with paranoia, 'What if someone was following me?'

He quickened his pace. 'No one's there, no one's there,' he chanted inwardly, but the faster he walked, the stronger the feeling grew.

By the time he reached his car, he yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind him, immediately locking.

He exhaled sharply, shaking his head at his own foolishness. "It's just your imagination."

Pulling out of the dorm parking lot, Aiden tried to relax.

The city streets were deserted, lights flickering in shop windows long since closed for the night.

His fingers drummed the steering wheel as he thought about his order, 'Maybe a burger? And fries?.. Whatever's quickest.'

But an uneasy feeling lingered and his instincts screamed, 'Don't look at the rearview mirror.'

His grip tightened on the wheel as he drove through the dimly lit streets, his gaze fixed firmly ahead. A thought continued to appear in his mind, 'What if... there's someone in the backseat?'

He could almost hear the playful warning of his friend, Matt had shared on late-night drives like this one. "What if you look in the mirror and see a ghost sitting behind you?"

Aiden shook his head and let out a snort.

'It's just a stupid joke,' he reminded himself, but the chill creeping up his spine said otherwise.

He kept his eyes forward, focusing on the road, pretending he didn't feel the urge to check the mirror.

When the lights of the fast-food joint came into view, his shoulders loosened a little. 'Almost there.'