Yuuya stopped trying to sleep around 3AM.
The ceiling fan wasn't moving. The light outside wasn't changing. And his phone kept blinking the same message:
> [Awakening Class: Unclassified]
[Trait: True Learning – Active]
It didn't feel real. No power surge. No special vision. No flame in his chest.
Just… awareness.
Everything felt sharper. Sounds. Words. Silence. Even his own breath had a rhythm to it now. One he couldn't unhear.
---
At school the next day, he walked through the gate like everyone else.
Codex officers were still standing by the entrance. They didn't stop him.
But they looked at him longer than usual.
He looked back.
One of them blinked twice—like his eyes weren't synced properly.
Yuuya kept walking.
---
"Bro!" Haruto waved from the cafeteria. "They added scanners in the gym. Two second-years got flagged as 'emotionally unstable' and got pulled out mid-class!"
"Emotionally unstable?" Yuuya asked.
"Yeah. Like, what kind of sci-fi rule is that? You get mad, and boom—you're on a list."
Makoto joined them, looking tired.
"They're not wrong. The last few cases? People snapped before mutating. Rage, grief, whatever… it's like the system latches onto strong feelings."
Haruto leaned back, chewing. "So we're all just one bad day away from turning into monsters?"
Makoto didn't answer.
Yuuya didn't either.
Because he remembered the dog. And the way its shadow didn't match its body.
---
After class, Yuuya stayed behind. The hallways were quieter now. People talked less. Laughed softer.
He walked past the mirror on the second floor. It was still cracked.
He stopped.
And looked.
His reflection was normal. Same hair, same uniform.
But the background was wrong.
The hallway behind him in the mirror was darker. Deeper. Like the school had more layers than it should.
> "You seeing this too?" a voice asked.
Yuuya turned.
It was Mika.
He blinked. "You're back."
She nodded, arms crossed, looking tired.
"Not for long. The forgotten gate… it's spreading. Another one opened near the river. But this one's not leaking memories. It's leaking something else."
"What?"
She looked straight at him.
"Creatures. They're not awakened. They're not human. They don't even seem alive. Just… loaded in. Like someone pressed copy-paste from another world."
Yuuya's jaw tightened.
"They're starting early," he muttered.
Mika raised an eyebrow. "You say that like you expected it."
"I didn't," he said. "But the system did."
---
That evening, he stood on the rooftop alone.
City lights flickered in the distance. Not from power outages. From sync failures.
The world wasn't breaking.
It was changing its settings.
He watched the sky. It felt like something was behind it now.
Waiting.
The wind didn't blow.
His phone buzzed one more time:
> [New Classification Pending]
> [Entity Status: Being Watched]
> [Prepare Yourself]
> [They're coming.]