Yuuya sat in class like nothing had happened.
Because, really, what was he supposed to do? Raise his hand and tell the teacher he'd fought a distorted version of himself in a memory dungeon spawned outside his house? Yeah. That'd go over well.
So he just sat there.
Blank notebook. Open textbook. Pen in hand. Mind somewhere else entirely.
"Dude, are you even alive?"
That was Raiku. Classmate. Gamer. Part-time conspiracy theorist. Full-time food thief.
Yuuya blinked. "What?"
Raiku leaned over, pushing his notes across. "We're doing linear equations. You've been staring at your pen for fifteen minutes like it owes you money."
"I was thinking," Yuuya muttered.
"Oh, no. Don't do that. Thinking leads to existential crises, and we've got a math test next week."
Yuuya smiled faintly. Just faintly.
Across the room, someone laughed. Another conversation about the latest dungeon appearance was already brewing. That's how normalized it had become.
Rifts. Monsters. Rankings. The news covered it like weather.
"Think we'll get powers?" Raiku whispered.
"Why would we?"
"I mean, the way this world's moving—it's starting to feel like a shonen manga. Maybe we'll all awaken. I wouldn't mind shooting fireballs in gym class."
Someone else chimed in. Haruka, the girl who'd ranked second in their last science exam. "You're joking, but it's serious. If people like us start awakening randomly, who's keeping it all under control?"
Raiku pointed at the sky. "The System gods?"
Haruka rolled her eyes. "Helpful."
Yuuya stayed quiet. His notebook was still blank.
But in his peripheral vision, he could see something faint—like a new notification waiting to be acknowledged.
> [Passive Skill: True Learning – Absorbing Academic Structures…] [Math – Beginner Proficiency Gained]
"...It's copying my homework," he whispered.
"Did you say something?" Raiku asked.
"Nope."
---
Lunch came and went. Yuuya stayed behind in the classroom, pretending to review notes. In reality, he was checking his internal system quietly.
There was something new.
> [Trait: Cognitive Surge Active – Boosts memory usage, pattern recognition, and intuitive recall.] [Mental Sync Level: 8%]
> [New Marker Available: Hidden Rift – Location: School Archive Room]
He stared at that last one.
Archive Room?
That place had been locked for months.
Naturally, he went there.
---
The hallway to the Archive Room was empty. Lights flickered. Of course they did.
He checked behind him, then slipped the key he "borrowed" from the janitor's cart into the lock. Clicked open with no resistance.
Inside: dust, boxes, old desks stacked like forgotten Tetris blocks.
And a ripple in the corner.
Small. Almost shy. But definitely real.
> [Micro-Rift Detected: Tier – ???] [Status – Stable]
Yuuya stepped closer. His hand tingled.
> [Touch to Engage Memory Shell]
He hesitated.
Then touched it.
---
Vision flashed. Heat rushed through his brain.
And suddenly—
He was somewhere else.
A classroom.
But not his.
The students were different. The uniforms were older. He saw someone crying. A teacher yelling. A door slammed.
And then… a shadow. Watching. Not moving. Just watching.
> [Memory Shell Absorbed: Event Timestamp – 1987] [Cognitive Data Added to Archive Index]
> [New Skill Unlocked: Memory Tap – View latent history in fixed locations. Tier F]
He stumbled back.
Blinked.
Still in the Archive Room.
But now the lights were all on. Bright. Almost too bright.
And something else sat in the corner.
A cube.
No label. No dust. No explanation.
> [Artifact Acquired: Echo Core – Unknown Use]
He picked it up.
It pulsed in his hand, once.
Then went still.
Yuuya didn't say anything.
He just walked out of the room before anyone could find him.
---
That night, as he lay in bed, phone on silent, he stared at the ceiling.
The system was quiet.
Too quiet.
He knew something was coming. Another rift. Another test. Another version of himself waiting to fight him in some surreal deathmatch.
But also…
He wasn't scared.
Because now, he wasn't just reacting. He was collecting. Preparing. Learning.
And deep in his mind, something whispered:
> [Sync Level: 9.4% – Next Threshold Approaching…]
Yuuya smiled.
Let it come.