“You can’t fix a system this rotten.

  But you can feed it a virus.”

  BATHROOM – LUNCH PERIOD

  Takashi stares at his reflection in a cracked mirror.

  Half of his face flickers between his current model and an older, jankier build—Blocky 2010 beta Sasaki.

  

  Corruption Level: 66%

  Save Progress: NULL

  He speaks aloud, but the mirror doesn’t match his movements.

  TAKASHI:

  “Time to stop bleeding.

  Start recruiting.”

  FLASHBACK – YURI’S WARNING

  

  “Don’t trust the NPCs.

  They remember only what they’re told to remember.

  But the forgotten ones?

  They remember everything.”

  CLUBROOM HALLWAY – AFTER SCHOOL

  Takashi heads to the back of the school.

  Where the unused character sprites get shuffled.

  He opens an unassigned door. It shouldn’t even exist.

  But the system doesn’t stop him.

  

  [LOADING: CLASSROOM 4-D – UNRENDERED]

  [ASSET STATUS: ABANDONED]

  Inside: dust, no lighting… and someone humming.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  NPC #44 “KAI”

  He’s a background character from the base game.

  He was meant to appear in a “Boys’ Friendship Route” DLC that got scrapped.

  Now?

  He sits in the dark, humming the game’s theme in reverse.

  He looks up.

  

  “Took you long enough.”

  TAKASHI:

  “You remember?”

  KAI (laughs bitterly):

  “I remember every goddamn loop.

  I was supposed to be the childhood friend before they wrote me out.”

  TAKASHI:

  “I’m building something.

  A party. A resistance. You in?”

  KAI:

  “I’ll join. But only if I get to kill the Protagonist myself.”

  

  [NPC JOINED: Kai — Class: Deleted Friend]

  Skill: Flag Jammer (prevents scripted romance events)

  Weapon: Rusted Confession Letter

  CAFETERIA – NIGHT

  Reika, the teacher route, appears next.

  But this time…

  She’s not seductive. She’s glitching hard—eyes backwards, hair rendering off-model.

  She speaks in four different voices at once:

  

  “Please… make them stop making me love you.

  Again. Again. Again—”

  Takashi holds out his hand.

  

  “Help me break the cycle.”

  She sobs.

  Then nods.

  

  [NPC JOINED: Reika – Class: Route Ghost]

  Skill: Loop Disruptor (forces the game to skip scenes)

  Passive: Generates System Regret Logs

  ROOFTOP – NIGHT

  They gather.

  Takashi.

  Yuri.

  Kai.

  Reika.

  And in the shadows, three more “invalids” hover—NPCs missing faces, missing dialogue, waiting to be named.

  TAKASHI:

  “We’re not characters anymore.

  We’re code.

  And code can rewrite everything.”

  He slams the Ghostblade into the center of the rooftop.

  

  [PARTY FORMED: GLITCH CORE]

  Objectives Unlocked:

  

  
• 
  
    

  Destroy the Love Engine
  
    



  
• 
  
    

  Kill the Protagonist
  
    



  
• 
  
    

  Write Your Own Ending
  
    



  

  SYSTEM RESPONSE:

  

  [ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED FACTION DETECTED]

  Deploying: LOVE ENFORCER AI (Haruki Kazama – Route: Angel Mode)

  GYM – THE NEXT DAY

  Haruki appears mid-event.

  Wearing an all-white school uniform variant.

  Eyes glowing gold.

  Smile… too clean.

  

  “Mr. Sasaki, I heard you’ve been interfering again.”

  TAKASHI (smirks):

  “I’m not interfering.

  I’m recruiting.”

  Haruki’s voice changes.

  Distorted.

  Machine-layered.

  

  “Player 2, you’ve become a virus.

  You must be sanitized.”

  He draws his blade.

  

  [WEAPON DEPLOYED: “LOVE ETERNAL” – Source Code Blade]

  TAKASHI:

  “Bring it, Player 1.”

  He raises Ghostblade.

  Blood leaks from his eyes.

  His HUD reads:

  

  “You are now a threat to the narrative.”