"If she writes the dream, we live it. If she dies, we're trapped inside it forever."
Scene: Spirit Dive Chamber – Office Basement
The pen left behind by the Dream Scribe pulsed with Void resonance. Airi analyzed it with a spectral lens.
"This isn't ink," Airi muttered. "It's condensed narrative essence."
"She's still dreaming," Hiragi said. "And Pageburner is feeding her more."
To retrieve her, they needed to enter the dream—not just mentally, but metaphysically.
A procedure only Nolan had taught Hiragi.
Ishigami: "You sure you can handle a dual-layer dive?"
Hiragi: "I've walked through Void. A dream can't be worse."
The Dive Begins
Hiragi lay in the sigil circle.
As the room darkened, his mind slipped—through ink, through flame, through memory.
And then—he landed.
Scene: The Dream
A giant library towered before him—endless, spiraling into a starless sky. Books screamed. Pages bled.
There she was: the Dream Scribe, floating midair, eyes closed, pens orbiting her like satellites.
Each pen wrote a different version of reality.
Some had Hiragi dying.
Some had him forgotten.
One had him as Pageburner.
Hiragi: "Wake up."
No response.
"This dream isn't yours. It's his."
Still nothing.
Then suddenly, the entire dream shifted.
The library collapsed into water. Books dissolved into screams. And from beneath the ink ocean, something rose—
Manifestation: The Pageburner
Not a man. Not anymore.
A skeleton cloaked in burnt stories. His mouth stitched with words that wanted to escape. His eyes: glowing bookmarks.
Pageburner: "You shouldn't have entered her. Now you're part of the rewrite."
Hiragi: "Then write this down."
He unsheathed a dagger of Void.
And charged.
Battle Inside the Dream
Each strike tore through unreality.
But Pageburner rewrote every wound. His power? Absolute editorial control.
"Delete pain."
"Undo injury."
Until Hiragi was pushed back, cornered between collapsing timelines.
Turning Point
Then—the Dream Scribe's eyes fluttered open.
For one second—clarity.
"Don't fight him with force… fight him with contradiction."
"Write your own story."
Hiragi's Counter
He stabbed his own palm.
Let Void ink drip.
And wrote on the collapsing air:
"I am not yours to erase."
"Your story ends with me."
Suddenly, the dream began fracturing from the inside.
Pageburner's Last Words
"You'll regret remembering…"
And he vanished—back into the deepest vault of forgotten books.
Scene: Back to Reality
Hiragi gasped awake.
The Dream Scribe lay silently on a bed. The pens stopped.
She was still asleep.
But now... peacefully.
Ishigami: "Did you find him?"
Hiragi: "No. But I found his fear."
To Be Continued…