The afternoon came slowly, bringing light that felt brighter than usual.
The sky was clear. There were no dark clouds. No sign of any disturbance. As if the blackout across the city that morning had merely been an ordinary technical error that was already over and forgotten.
In the living room, the fan spun steadily.
The lights remained on without flickering.
The house was back to normal.
Too normal.
Arou sat on the sofa while staring at his phone. The electricity bill had already been paid. The payment receipt was stored neatly. His balance was low again, but at least the problem was over.
For now.
Nora sat across from him, leaning back with her arms crossed. Her face was no longer as angry as it had been that morning, but she was clearly not completely calm yet.
Lumina read the news on her tablet.
Priscilla helped Airi tidy up the kitchen.
Shi stood near the window, as usual, observing the outside world as if there was something only he could see.
Akari sat quietly.
Her eyes were not on her phone.
Not on anyone else.
But on the light on the ceiling.
"Are you still thinking about what happened earlier?" Arou suddenly asked.
Akari did not answer immediately.
"Yes."
"Do you think it was my fault?"
There was a brief silence.
"It's not that simple," Akari finally replied.
Nora snorted softly.
"A diplomatic answer."
Arou looked at Nora.
"Don't start again."
"I'm not starting anything. I'm just not finished yet."
Lumina lowered her tablet slightly.
"We all agree that the electricity experiment was a bad idea."
Arou raised his hand.
"I already admitted it."
"But," Lumina continued, "a blackout across an entire city for three minutes is not a small thing."
Shi spoke quietly without turning around.
"The frequency was synchronized."
Everyone turned toward him.
"What frequency?" Arou asked.
"The current waves when the power went out and when you touched the panel earlier this morning."
The room fell silent.
Arou swallowed.
"That was a coincidence."
Shi did not answer.
Akari slowly stood up.
She walked over to the light switch again.
Click.
The light turned off.
Click.
The light turned on.
Normal.
"We cannot determine the cause-and-effect relationship," she said calmly. "But we cannot ignore it either."
Nora rubbed her face.
"I hate it when strange possibilities start making more sense than ordinary explanations."
Airi came out of the kitchen carrying cold drinks.
"You've thought about it enough this morning," she said gently. "It's afternoon now. The world is still moving."
She was right.
Outside, the sound of vehicles could be heard. Children were playing. The neighbors were talking about the blackout earlier in a casual tone.
To them, it was just an ordinary power outage.
To this house—
Not entirely.
Arou stood up and walked toward the window.
He looked toward the street.
Everyone looked normal.
There was no panic.
No technician's car coming to his house.
No sign that anyone was investigating.
But there was one feeling he could not explain.
As if something had briefly noticed him.
And now… it was silent.
"I'm going outside for a bit," he suddenly said.
Nora immediately looked at him.
"What for?"
"Just walking."
"Don't touch any cables."
"I told you, I won't."
Akari also stood up.
"I'll come with you."
Nora let out a long sigh.
"Don't cause any more trouble."
Arou raised his hand in surrender.
"I just want some fresh air."
They left the house.
The afternoon was warm. The wind blew gently.
Everything looked normal.
But as Arou walked along the sidewalk, he noticed something.
A streetlight at the end of the alley.
Even during the day, that light was usually off.
Now?
It was on.
Arou stopped.
Akari stopped as well.
"Do you see that?" Arou asked quietly.
Akari nodded slightly.
The streetlight was glowing steadily.
It was not flickering.
It was not dim.
It was simply… on in the middle of the day.
"System malfunction?" Arou asked.
"Maybe," Akari replied.
"But it doesn't feel like one."
Akari did not deny it.
Several other houses looked normal.
There were no strange lights.
Only that one.
Arou stepped closer.
The closer he got, the stronger that strange feeling became.
Not fear.
More like… awareness.
As if something was responding to his presence.
He stood directly beneath the streetlight.
The light fell directly over him.
Even though the afternoon was bright, its light was still visible.
Akari stood several steps behind him.
"Don't touch it," she said.
"I'm just looking."
Arou stared at the streetlight pole.
There was no strange humming sound.
No sparks.
Normal.
But—
The streetlight suddenly went out.
Click.
Dark.
Arou froze.
Akari narrowed her eyes.
A few seconds later—
The streetlight turned on again.
Click.
Steady.
Arou took one step back.
"I didn't do anything."
"I know."
They looked at each other.
Back at the house, Nora was staring at her laptop screen.
She opened the local news.
A small headline appeared:
"Three-Minute Blackout Suspected to Be Caused by Distribution System Fluctuation."
She read it quickly.
There was no detailed explanation.
No definite cause.
Only a technical suspicion.
Nora closed the laptop.
"System fluctuation…" she muttered.
Lumina looked at her.
"You still think it wasn't a coincidence."
Nora did not answer immediately.
She simply looked toward the door, where Arou and Akari had gone.
Outside, Arou finally moved away from the streetlight.
"Let's go back," he said quietly.
Akari nodded.
As they walked back, the light turned off by itself.
And this time… it stayed off.
As if it had never been on.
They entered the house.
Nora immediately stood up.
"Did you see something?"
Arou stopped.
"How did you know?"
"Instinct."
Arou glanced at Akari for a moment, then looked back at Nora.
"The streetlight at the end of the alley was on in broad daylight."
Nora tensed slightly.
"Now?"
"It's already off again."
Silence.
Shi spoke quietly.
"Response."
"Response to what?" Lumina asked.
Shi slowly turned around.
"To a presence."
The room fell silent again.
Arou sat down.
He felt that it was not only the electricity that was strange.
But the pattern.
Small things that changed.
Then returned to normal.
As if the world was testing his limits.
Akari sat beside him.
"You feel it too, right?"
Arou nodded slowly.
"Like… someone pressed the pause button this morning."
And now—
It was making sure everything remained stable.
Nora sighed.
"I hate it when strange theories start making sense."
Lumina looked at Arou.
"If there really is a connection between your intention and the electrical current earlier…"
Arou immediately interrupted,
"Don't continue."
"It still needs to be considered."
Airi came over carrying drinks for everyone.
"Whatever happens," she said gently, "don't let it make you suspicious of each other."
Nora looked at Arou.
"I'm not suspicious."
"You clearly are," Arou replied.
"I'm just being cautious."
Akari stood again.
"What matters now isn't who caused it."
"Then?" Arou asked.
"Whether it will happen again."
Silence.
The sentence hung in the air.
The afternoon remained bright.
The clock kept moving.
There were no more blackouts.
No strange lights.
No glitches.
But everyone knew—
Something had changed.
And the change was too subtle to prove.
Arou leaned back against the sofa.
"If I really have something to do with this…"
He stopped.
Nora looked at him.
"…I didn't mean to."
"The problem isn't whether you meant to or not," Nora replied quietly.
"But the impact."
Silence.
Akari looked out the window.
The wind blew gently.
The sky remained calm.
"Sometimes," she said softly, "the world doesn't crack with a loud sound."
Everyone listened.
"But with small disturbances that are almost impossible to notice."
The light in the living room remained on.
Stable.
Calm.
Yet deep inside a system that could not be seen by human eyes—
Something had taken note.
Three minutes of blackout.
A streetlight turning on in broad daylight.
An intention attempting to alter the current.