It wasn't music. At least, not in the way he expected. It was a high-fidelity recording of silence, but not empty silence. It was the sound of a room waiting for someone to speak. Then, a cough. A familiar, melodic cough. Then a voice—Ariana’s voice—but raw, unpolished, sounding exhausted.
The text changed.
He recoiled, knocking his coffee mug. It shattered on the floor, but he didn’t hear the smash. The audio from the 2026 track swelled, drowning out the real world.
The search query glowed in the darkness of Leo’s bedroom:
"Who is this?" Leo shouted, his voice sounding muffled to his own ears, as if he were underwater.