The next day, Shi Mu walked into Classroom 3B.
Empty.
Early.
Quiet.
She crossed the rows without hesitation, stopping beside the desk near the second window—third row, first seat on the left.
It had always been Lin Xue's.
She didn't remember assigning it.
But now, she couldn't imagine her sitting anywhere else.
Shi Mu placed her palm gently on the desk.
"Lin Xue," she whispered.
The surface grew cold.
Not chilling.
But responsive.
A presence settling in.
"She was beside me for weeks," Shi Mu said later, back in the dorm with Fu Yunshen and Zhou Zhi. "Listened to everything. Took notes with me. Walked home after class. I don't remember saying goodbye."
Fu Yunshen nodded. "You didn't."
"She just disappeared?"
"The system triggered a recall. When subjects show early instability, they're pulled for reintegration."
"But she never reintegrated," Shi Mu whispered.
"No. She got stuck."
Zhou Zhi sat down heavily. "That explains it. She's not angry. She's lost."
Shi Mu nodded slowly. "Lost and waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
Shi Mu looked up, eyes distant.
"For me to say goodbye properly this time."
They returned to Classroom 3B that night.
The lights buzzed overhead. The air was still.
Shi Mu placed a notebook on Lin Xue's desk. Her handwriting filled the front page.
"I'm sorry it took me this long to remember.You mattered.You still do."
A breeze swept through the room, curling the edges of the notebook.
And then—
A shape formed in the seat.
Barely visible.
Almost transparent.
But unmistakably her.
Lin Xue.
Her head turned.
And she smiled.
[System Notification]
Emotional Closure Initiated – Echo Stabilized
Spirit: Lin Xue – Acceptance in Progress
Brotherhood Value +115 (Final Seat Visitation + Written Goodbye)
Current Total: 3,840 / 1,000,000
As the shape faded slowly from view, Shi Mu felt something else in its place:
Warmth.
As if her seat, too, had been waiting—
Not to be haunted.
But held.