It started with a delay.
Not the kind you notice.Not the kind that breaks schedules or raises alarms.
Just a half-second pause where something should have happened—and didn't.
We were crossing a narrow street when a delivery truck rolled through the intersection too fast. Normally, the driver would've leaned on the horn. Normally, someone would've cursed. Normally, it would've been another near-miss swallowed by the city's noise.
Instead, a stranger stepped forward and raised a hand.
"Careful," he said.
Not loud.Not angry.
The truck slowed. The driver nodded once, embarrassed. The moment passed.
No one looked at us.
But I felt it.
The other Ishaan went still.
That wasn't you, he said.But it used your shape.
✦
Arjun noticed my expression change."What?"
"Someone intervened," I said."Without escalation."
The girl followed my gaze."That happens all the time."
"Yes," I said."But not like that."
