The message haunted Ikaru all night.
"Stop digging. Some rejections should stay buried."— [???]
He stared at his phone screen long after the glow had faded, replaying every possibility in his mind. Who sent it? How did they know about the System? More importantly—what exactly were they warning him not to find?
He had too many questions and not enough answers. But sleep eventually claimed him, fitful and dreamless.
The next morning at school felt… heavier.
Not just because of the message. Yui had been absent from class. No text. No explanation. Not even a System notification.
"NPC: Kusanagi Yui - Status: Unavailable (Route Suspended)."
Suspended? Was that even possible?
Every time he tried to focus, the System refused to shut up. Notifications came in like clockwork—each one more cryptic than the last:
"Memory Branch unstable. Route Interference Detected.""New Player Detected in Vicinity.""Warning: Not all Players are friendly."
The word player had never sounded so threatening.
Ikaru found himself glancing around class more than usual. His eyes lingered longer on his classmates. Anyone could be it. A fellow Player. A past victim. A future enemy.
Even teachers felt... off.
It wasn't until lunch that things took another turn.
He found a small envelope in his shoe locker.
No name.
No sender.
No frills.
Just a single folded note inside.
"Room 3-B. After school. Come alone. Don't let the System know."
His heart stopped for a beat.
"Don't let the System know"? Was that even possible?
SYSTEM STATUS: Monitoring...[Transparency Mode: OFFLINE][Emotion Index: Stable][Cognitive Drift: Moderate]— "No suspicious behavior detected."
He swallowed hard.
This was getting dangerous. Or maybe it already was.
But he went anyway.
The third floor was empty when classes ended. Most students had already gone home. The hallway lights flickered slightly—old wiring, neglected maintenance. Shadows clung to the corners.
Room 3-B was near the end of the corridor.
Ikaru reached for the doorknob. It was cold. Slightly ajar.
He pushed it open slowly, unsure of what to expect.
Inside, the windows were shut, blinds drawn, and a single desk was lit under a portable lamp.
Behind it sat a girl.
Not Yui. Not Rei.
Someone new.
She was dressed plainly—blazer slightly oversized, bangs too long. Her eyes, however, were piercing. Like she wasn't just seeing him—but the System inside him.
"You really came," she said softly, almost disappointed. "That means you're already in too deep."
"Who are you?" Ikaru asked. His voice cracked.
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she held up a small, cracked phone—old, maybe three models behind his—and on its screen… was the same translucent System panel he'd seen days ago.
Identical.
But hers was broken.
Glitching. Shaking. Words mismatched. Values corrupted.
PLAYER STATUS:Name: ???Trait: Forgotten LoveSanity Index: 19%Route Access: LOCKEDDamage Taken: [DATA CORRUPTED]
"I was like you once," she said, not looking at him. "Confused. Curious. Lonely. The System feeds off that."
She stood, taking a slow step forward. "You think it's helping you. That it's protecting you from rejection. From heartbreak. But it's just preparing you for something worse."
"Worse than heartbreak?" Ikaru scoffed bitterly.
Her eyes hardened.
"Yes. Obsession."
SYSTEM GLITCH DETECTED.Player Exposure Exceeded Safe Limit.Emergency Override Activated.— "Conversation is being erased."
"No!" she suddenly grabbed his wrist. "Listen to me—before it wipes this—the System is not a game. It's a program that was made to study us. People like us. Those who can't let go."
SYSTEM OVERRIDE SUCCESSFUL.Memory Logging Deactivated.Vocal Recognition Jammed.Route Erasure Initiated…
She winced in pain, blood trickling from her nose.
Ikaru panicked. "What's happening?!"
"I—I tried to hack it," she whispered. "Tried to delete mine. It didn't like that. So it punished me."
WARNING: Player Proximity Violation.Communication with Restricted Entity Detected.New Title Acquired: "Rule Breaker"
Her body trembled. "They'll find me again soon. I thought I could warn you before that happened."
"Wait—what do you mean they?"
But she was already fading—visually glitching—like a person trapped between code and reality. Her voice became fragmented, the room spinning.
SYSTEM RESET IN PROGRESS.Emergency Memory Patch Initiated.
Then everything went black.
Ikaru woke up on the school rooftop.
The sun was setting. His phone buzzed like crazy.
But his memory… was hazy.
Why was he here?
What was he doing?
SYSTEM NOTE:"Daily Summary: Rejection Level Stable.Emotional Damage Healed: +2No irregular activity detected."
His brows furrowed.
No irregular activity? That couldn't be right.
Something… someone… was missing.
And then, a tiny note fluttered out from his pocket.
Handwritten.
"If you remember this, the patch didn't fully work. Find me again. Don't trust the System. —Aiko."
That name sparked something. A half-buried memory.
He didn't know who she was.
But he needed to find her again.