Ayato stepped through the gate.
The moment his foot touched the threshold, the floor vanished beneath him.
He fell—not through space, but through time.
'Like dropping into an endless pit where gravity means nothing and every second stretches into forever.'
A flashing message filled his vision:
Time-Loop System Initiated
[Floor 21: The Crimson Spiral]
"There is no progress without reckoning."
Rule: Relive your greatest failure.
Objective: Change nothing. Accept everything.
Loop Count: 1 / ∞
Warning: High Emotional Karma Density Detected
He landed, breathless, back in the classroom he thought he knew so well. His old desk. The cracked whiteboard. The broken projector hanging crooked in the corner. Sunlight poured softly through barred windows, dust motes dancing like ghosts in the air.
'This room should feel familiar. Safe. But it's a cage. A memory trap that won't let me go.'
A voice called out behind him.
"Hey Ayato, did you figure out the clue in the music room?"
He turned slowly.
Mio. Alive. Smiling. Just like Day 1.
He froze. 'It's a copy. A simulation. A perfect recreation of the last day before everything broke.'
He went through the motions. Talked to Mio. Answered the questions. Avoided eye contact when possible. But this time, he didn't act. Didn't try to "fix" anything. He just… endured it.
The bell rang.
A siren wailed.
The classroom rumbled.
The dungeon breach began.
He watched Haruto scream.
Saw Airi dragged into the ceiling.
Watched himself hesitate—again.
'You knew. And still you froze.'
Then—
LOOP 2
He snapped back to the desk. Time reset.
The classroom restored.
"Hey Ayato, did you figure out the clue in the music room?"
Same smile.
Same sunbeam.
Same scent of chalk dust.
'This isn't Floor 1 anymore. This is me. This is my fracture.'
This time, he ran.
He left the classroom.
Barged into the hallway.
Found his past self.
Tried to shout—
But his voice made no sound.
The system muted him.
'You cannot change the memory. Only confront it.'
LOOP 3
He stood frozen again. And again. Each time, breaking a little more.
'The silence screams. The static hums inside my head.'
By the tenth loop, his eyes were hollow.
By the fifteenth, he didn't even flinch at the screams.
The faces of those lost washed over him—friends, classmates, memories too sharp to hold, too fleeting to keep.
LOOP 21
Ayato sat at his desk, unmoving.
Mio spoke softly.
"If you could go back, would you save us?"
He looked up.
"I did. Over and over. In my head."
"But not when it mattered."
"No."
She stepped toward him.
The sunlight flickered red.
Her face fractured.
Her skin peeled away like code. Beneath it—Yui. Then Haruto. Then Airi. Then no one.
Ayato stood up.
"I'm done running this simulation."
A hush fell. The world seemed still.
☯ SYSTEM RESPONSE: TRUTH ACCEPTED
"Loop terminated. Memory integrity stabilized."
– Player Ayato has accepted the unchangeable nature of his failure.
– Emotional Karma: +3 Honesty / –2 Denial
Reward: Trait Unlocked – [Burden Bearer]
"You do not heal quickly, but you do not break easily."
Floor 21 – Complete
Next Floor: The Inverted Chapel – Floor 22
Ayato stumbled out of the spiral door.
His hands shook, but not from fear.
He looked up.
A mirror was embedded in the wall.
For the first time in days, he met his own gaze.
And didn't flinch.
'This is who I am now. Broken, yes, but unbowed. Bearing the weight because I must. Because no one else can.'
He took a deep breath, steadying himself for what lay ahead.
The Tower whispered behind the walls—
'The reckoning has begun. The teeth sink deeper.'
And Ayato was ready.
(Chapter 28 End)