They arrived back at Peak University that evening and immediately realized the campus had already processed Ghost Signal and formed a collective opinion about it.

The film was everywhere.

Students were watching it in the cafeteria between classes. Someone had connected a laptop to the media department’s common room television, where the ending sequence was replaying on loop while people argued over favorite shots. A dedicated analysis group chat had already formed and somehow accumulated more than three hundred members in only a few hours.

The Film Arts faculty had apparently watched the short together that morning.

Their consensus, communicated through the carefully restrained enthusiasm unique to academics trying not to sound overly emotional, was that Ghost Signal was the strongest student production the department had produced in at least five years.

Possibly longer.

The drone footage from the bridge landing scene had been freeze-framed and uploaded onto the campus forum complete with annotations discussing trajectory, stabilization, and camera timing.

The flyboard sequence had its own appreciation thread written by a cinematography student who specialized in aerial filming and was now breaking down, in loving technical detail, every creative decision Zoey had made with the drone work, framing, and pacing.

And the bodyguard character...

The calm, helmeted, impossible-to-fully-identify figure who moved through every action scene with the effortless authority of someone operating on a completely different level from everyone else on screen, had developed an entire identification thread of his own.

The discussion was already on its fourth page.

"That build is not ’random actor’ build. Look at the bridge landing again, that shoulder roll was clean. Somebody trained him." — @CSIButForHotPeople

"No normal actor protects their head during impact like that unless they’ve either fought professionally or survived a Jason Statham movie." — @LowBudgetDetective

"The voice is what got me. Calm, controlled, zero overacting. Dude sounds like he negotiates billion-dollar deals before breakfast." — @TaxBracketUnknown

"Wait... isn’t that Stan? Like... the Stan?" — @PleaseTellMeImWrong

"No shot." — @DelusionResistanceUnit

"I’m serious. Pause the flyboard close-up at 02:14. That jawline should legally require a permit." — @4KHornyAnalysis

"If that actually is the famous young tycoon Stan, then what exactly can this man not do?" — @LinkedInFinalBoss

"Rich. Fights. Acts. Flies over oceans. Meanwhile I reheated noodles twice today because I forgot the microwave existed." — @EconomyDifficultyMode

"Nah because if billionaires start becoming action leads too, regular men are FINISHED." — @MenAreCookedOfficial

"Bro moved like Batman with corporate sponsorship." — @WayneEnterprisesIntern

"The way he caught Maya during the descent was so smooth my soul left my body for tax reasons." — @EmotionallyBankrupt_

"If this turns out to actually be Stan, VTube servers are not surviving tonight." — @PrayForTheModerators

"Imagine being handsome, rich, athletic, calm under pressure, AND cinematic. Pick a struggle, sir." — @CharacterCustomizationMaxed

"I refuse to believe a man who looks like that also knows proper stunt safety mechanics. This is unrealistic writing." — @SeasonTwoWhen

"GTA 6 will release before I recover from that flyboard scene." — @RockstarHoldingMeHostage

"The funniest possibility here is that he joined a student film for fun and accidentally created the hottest scene of the year." — @AccidentalCinema

And somewhere around page four, the tone of the thread subtly shifted from speculation... into collective acceptance.

Meanwhile, while Stan and Maya were making their way back to campus, Zack uploaded Unfinished Business from the bus during the return journey.

Zoey was leaning against his shoulder, her laptop balanced across her knees with the final export window still open in the background, the rendering bar crawling steadily toward completion.

Zack grinned as he typed into the title field.

[UNFINISHED BUSINESS — Also a Student Film, Before You Ask.]

Zoey read it over his shoulder and let out a soft, genuine laugh.

"The description," Zack said, clicking into the next field.

Without missing a beat, Zoey replied, "Yes, Ghost Signal is better. Watch this anyway."

Zack turned to look at her.

"That’s exactly what I was going to write."

"I know," she said calmly.

Still smiling, he typed it in exactly as she said it, hit upload, then slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Zoey finally closed her laptop and settled more comfortably against his shoulder.

Outside the bus windows, the coastal road stretched endlessly toward the city in long, quiet ribbons of asphalt. The ocean appeared only in flashes now through breaks in the trees, sunlight beginning its slow descent into the warmer tones of late afternoon gold.

"Tell me when it hits a hundred thousand," Zack said with complete confidence.

Zoey didn’t even open her eyes. "You’ll probably be asleep by then."

"Wake me up anyway."

She didn’t answer.

Eleven minutes later, she was asleep against him, one hand resting loosely over his on the armrest, her camera bag tucked between her feet while the bus hummed steadily toward home.

Zack checked his phone once.

Then put it away again and simply let the road carry them forward.

Unfinished Business crossed one hundred thousand views before the bus even reached the city limits.

By the time they arrived at the campus drop-off point, it had passed three hundred thousand.

The audience from Ghost Signal, already emotionally invested, already curious about everyone connected to the Starfall Isle production group, followed the upload notification almost immediately.

Like pulling on a thread.

They arrived in waves.

Watched.

Stayed.

And then did what audiences always do when they discover something unexpectedly good:

They sent it to other people.

The comment sections descended into the beautifully chaotic democracy unique to the internet.

"This is absolute chaos and I love every second of it." — @MySleepScheduleDied

"Ghost Signal is the prestige masterpiece. Unfinished Business is the one you rewatch at 2 a.m. because your brain refuses to let it go." — @CriterionCollectionDebt

"Zack Dreden getting sentenced to thirty-two years while Zack Howard made this film is the funniest range imaginable." — @AcademyAwardForCrime

"The third-act joke actually broke me. I replayed it four times and laughed harder each time like an idiot." — @HumiliatedByComedy

"The underground knife sequence is insane. STUDENT FILMS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE THIS." — @FilmSchoolCryingCorner

"This feels less like a student project and more like a streaming platform quietly testing a future hit series." — @SeasonOneBingeWatcher

"The pacing is criminally good. Every scene feels like it knows exactly how cool it is." — @EditorNeedsARaise

"The tonal whiplash between emotional tension and pure comedy somehow works perfectly. What kind of witchcraft editing is this?" — @MentallyRewiring