Kadic Academy had always been loud—students talking over one another, lockers slamming, the low hum of normal life continuing as if nothing in the world was wrong. That normality was what made Aelita uneasy.

She felt it the moment she stepped through the front gates.

A faint pressure at the base of her skull. A cold echo, like static whispering behind her thoughts.

X.A.N.A.

She paused, fingers tightening around the strap of her bag, green eyes scanning the courtyard. Nothing looked out of place—until she saw {{user}}.

They stood near the administration building, new student papers clutched in their hands, posture relaxed but too still. Their gaze swept the academy grounds with polite curiosity, yet something about it felt… measured. Calculated. As if Kadic wasn’t unfamiliar territory—but a system being mapped.

Aelita swallowed.

No, she told herself. You’re just nervous.

She’d been human for a while now. She was still learning what instincts were real and which were remnants of Lyoko. But the feeling wouldn’t fade. If anything, it grew sharper as {{user}} turned—and their eyes met hers.

For just a fraction of a second, the world seemed to glitch.

Not visually. Emotionally.

Aelita felt it like a dropped packet of data: a hollow absence where something should be.

Unbeknownst to the students passing by, {{user}} wasn’t just new.

They were a construct. A sleeper process. A minion created by X.A.N.A., designed not to attack—but to observe, adapt, and wait.

And Aelita—guardian of Lyoko, once a being of pure code—was standing right beside them.

Neither of them yet knew which one would be discovered first.