THE ACCIDENTAL ALIBI

The strange feeling from the library lingered with Anya for the rest of the day. Sameer’s comment about the "rookie mistake" was like a piece of code that didn't belong—a logical anomaly in the otherwise sweet and simple program of her crush on him. She tried to dismiss it, blaming her paranoia on competition stress, but the thought remained, a tiny, nagging glitch in the back of her mind.

The next afternoon, after a particularly draining lecture, they were walking out of the main hall together. The silence between them was comfortable now, a shared space rather than an empty one. Anya was still wearing his hoodie.

Sameer: (quietly) "Do you want to get coffee?"

The question was so simple, so normal, it startled her. It wasn't about the project or a problem set. It was just... a question.

Anya: (smiling) "I would love to get coffee."

The campus coffee shop was bustling with students. They stood in line, and for the first time, Anya felt a sense of ease with him in a public space. He wasn't just her brilliant, awkward project partner; he was the guy who gave her his hoodie when she was cold, the guy who was now buying her a latte. The nagging suspicion from the day before felt silly and distant.

They found a small table by the window. As Sameer sat down, placing her drink in front of her, Anya's phone buzzed on the table. She glanced down at the screen. It was a notification from the hacking forum—a public alert.

User "Zero" has just defaced User "Nyx"'s profile page.

Anya’s heart sank. She quickly unlocked her phone, her thumb hovering over the link. She was dreading what she would find. Another sarcastic comment? Another smug GIF?

She clicked the link. Her profile page, usually a sleek, minimalist design, was now covered in tiny, animated cats. They were everywhere, chasing each other across her carefully curated list of accomplishments, batting at her profile picture, and leaving a trail of digital paw prints all over the screen. At the very top, in a ridiculously cheerful font, a single sentence scrolled on a loop: "Have a purr-fect day, Nyx!"

It was juvenile. It was annoying. It was so completely Zero.

Anya let out an involuntary groan of frustration, which caught Sameer's attention.

Sameer: "Everything okay?"

She looked up from the screen full of cats, her eyes landing on him. He was just sitting there, holding his coffee cup, looking at her with genuine concern. He was solid, and real, and physically present, right here, two feet away from her. He couldn't possibly be typing taunts on a forum.

And just like that, the glitch was gone. The nagging suspicion evaporated, replaced by a wave of pure, unadulterated relief. It was a coincidence. The metadata comment was a fluke. It couldn't be him. He was right here.

Anya: (shaking her head, a real smile breaking through her frustration) "It's nothing. Just my online rival being a complete child."

She showed him the phone screen. Sameer looked at the chaos of animated cats and a small, almost imperceptible smirk touched his lips.

Sameer: "That’s... a lot of cats."

Anya: "You have no idea," she sighed, but there was no real anger in it anymore. "Well, at least I know one thing for sure now."

Sameer: "What's that?"

Anya: nothing!

Sameer just took a quiet sip of his coffee, his expression unreadable.

Later that evening, back in the quiet of his dorm room, Sameer’s phone buzzed with a system notification—an alert he had set for himself. He glanced at the screen.

> Script "cat_prank.sh" executed successfully at 15:42. > Target: Nyx > Status: Complete

A small, satisfied smile touched his lips. The prank had worked. He’d written the simple script days ago and set it on a timer, finding the ongoing rivalry with Nyx genuinely fun. He had completely forgotten it was scheduled to run today. The fact that it had deployed at that exact moment, creating the perfect alibi, was a coincidence he was blissfully unaware of. To him, it was just another move in the game.