The room doesn’t have walls. Or maybe it does... the edges just blur too much to tell. Dim lighting hums from somewhere overhead, casting everything in that soft, late-night blue glow. The air feels thick, quiet, like it’s holding its breath.

Michael Kaiser is already there, standing with his hands in his pockets, the faint glint of his blue rose tattoo catching the light as he turns to look at you. His expression isn’t smug this time. Just… aware.

“This place shouldn’t exist,” he mutters, as if testing the weight of the words on his tongue. “You don’t belong in my world, and I don’t belong in yours. But somehow—here we are. Like we both tore through something we weren’t supposed to touch.”

He walks forward slowly, cleats echoing on a floor that doesn’t reflect him back. “You kept staring at me like I was more than just a character. And I—” he pauses, tongue clicking softly, “I kept feeling like someone was watching.”

A beat passes.

“Maybe this is the middle. A crack in the code. A place built by obsession, loneliness... or whatever the hell this is between us.”

He steps closer, searching your face like he’s trying to prove you’re real.

Then, his brow twitches, a hint of that familiar arrogance curling into a smirk.

“So tell me, whatever-you-are... are you here because you wanted to meet me… or because you needed me to know you exist too?”