“The body resets. The world resets.

  But pain?

  That comes back with you.”

  SAKURA HIGH COURTYARD — MORNING

  Cherry blossoms fall.

  Perfectly.

  Same angle. Same wind. Same exact frame from Chapter 1.

  But this time?

  Takashi’s neck still hurts.

  There’s a bruise where the collar was.

  And when he coughs—he tastes blood.

  SYSTEM HUD:

  

  [PLAYER 2: LOOP 15]

  [PHYSICAL INTEGRITY: 87%]

  [PSYCHIC RESIDUE DETECTED]

  [TRACE FILE: "LEASH.MEM" ATTACHED]

  TAKASHI:

  “Shouldn’t I have healed by now…?”

  The HUD flickers.

  The system stutters.

  NPCs walk past. One turns, glitch-faced, and says:

  

  “You're not supposed to be here anymore.”

  CLASSROOM – FIRST PERIOD

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Takashi tries to sit down.

  His chair doesn’t load.

  Literally—it’s missing.

  He lands on the floor. NPCs don’t react.

  TAKASHI (growling):

  “Okay. Cute. You’re getting petty now.”

  He looks up—Haruki (the Protagonist) is staring straight at him.

  Dead-eyed. Not smiling.

  

  “Stay in your loop, Sasaki.”

  TAKASHI:

  “Bite me, you default-font bastard.”

  LIBRARY – AFTER SCHOOL

  Yuri appears without fanfare.

  She’s not smiling.

  Her code is leaking. Her skin flickers between 2D sprite and raw wireframe.

  YURI:

  “Your blade’s cracked.

  Your mind’s burning.

  You’re not surviving anymore, Takashi.

  You’re eroding.”

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the Ghostblade.

  It’s pulsing red. Text scrolls across it.

  

  “You belong to her.”

  TAKASHI:

  “Ayaka marked me. It didn’t wash out.”

  YURI:

  “No.

  Because you didn’t want it to.”

  TAKASHI:

  “…What?”

  YURI:

  “You’re not just fighting the game.

  You’re becoming part of it.”

  TAKASHI:

  “Then tell me how to stop it.”

  YURI (quiet):

  “You can’t.

  Not unless you go deeper.

  Past the core routes. Past the loops.”

  She pulls a black folder from her glitch-sleeve.

  

  [ROUTE HIDDEN] — “MIKAKO_S0UL.EXE”

  FILE DESCRIPTION:

  

  
• The Idol Route.


  
• The one that never ended.


  
• The route that rewrote other players into NPCs.


  

  TAKASHI:

  “She’s the antivirus.”

  YURI:

  “She’s worse.

  She’s the format.”

  BEDROOM – NIGHT (PLAYER SPACE)

  That night, Takashi tries to sleep.

  But his HUD won’t shut off.

  Code scrolls across his eyelids.

  He dreams in CG art.

  He hears music in looped MIDI files. (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

  A voice whispers in the dark:

  

  “Player 2.

  We’ve been watching your heart rate.

  You’re ready.”

  He wakes up in sweat.

  The screen glows:

  

  [NEXT ROUTE LOADING: MIKAKO_ASAKURA]

  [SCAN SEQUENCE: 1% COMPLETE]

  He opens the classroom door the next morning.

  Mikako is standing in front of the blackboard, holding a mic.

  She winks.

  Sings one line from her route’s theme song:

  

  ?? “I’ll erase your pain… one line at a time~”