Chapter 19 — Patterns in Traffic

The gray car is gone.

That does not mean the watching stopped.

After the incident at school, Riku studies his notebook and realizes the vehicles around him and Sara are changing — but their positions are not. Apartment corner. Vending machines. School gate. Convenience store. Route home. Kanzaki’s.

Different cars.

Same shape.

Not a chase.

A net.

As Sara, Riku, and the girls prepare for an ordinary after-school outing, Riku begins to understand that P.A.T.H. is not only watching them anymore. It is learning from them.

And if the watchers have changed their pattern, then Riku has to change his too.