The hallway is silent after the anomaly dissolves, but the silence feels wrong—heavy, charged, like the air is waiting for someone to breathe too loudly.
Airi can't move. Her hands are still wrapped around Ren's shoulders. His blood is warm against her palms. His body feels too light, too loose, like he's about to slip away if she doesn't hold on.
The Unknown User steps closer.
"Get away from him." Airi's voice cracks, but she says it anyway.
He stops. Not because she told him to. He stops because he wants to.
"Airi Kisaragi," he says again, calm and almost gentle, "you didn't listen when I warned you. And now look."
His eyes drift to Ren. To the wounds. To the blood.
Airi pulls Ren closer. "Don't touch him."
The Unknown User tilts his head like the request is interesting but irrelevant.
"You triggered an Override," he says. "Uncontrolled. Destructive. You could have leveled this entire corridor."
Airi stares at him, her heartbeat ragged. "What do you want?"
He looks at her like she's asking the wrong question.
"What I want doesn't matter. What matters is what you are becoming."
She flinches. "I'm not becoming anything."
"Oh? Then what do you call this?"
He gestures lazily toward the wall—toward the crater where the anomaly had been thrown by her blast. Sharp splinters of metal and plaster stick out in every direction.
Airi shakes her head. "I didn't mean to. I couldn't control it."
"And that," the Unknown User says, "is exactly the problem."
Airi's vision wavers. The air swims. The strain of the Override claws back at her head. Her System keeps sending warnings she can't process.
Ren stirs slightly in her arms.
"Airi…"
His voice is faint. His breathing shallow.
She grips him tighter. "Ren, stay awake. Please."
The Unknown User watches, almost curious.
"You shouldn't waste your energy," he says. "He's stable for now. The anomaly didn't reach anything vital."
Airi glares at him. "So you knew what it was going to do?"
"I gave you space," he answers simply. "To see how far you had progressed."
The floor seems to tilt beneath her. "Progressed? Ren almost died."
"And now you know what losing control feels like."
He steps closer. Slowly. Unthreatening. But Airi feels the pressure of his presence like a hand closing around her throat.
"This isn't about Ren," he says quietly. "It's about you. And the reason I've been watching you since the moment you registered in the System."
Airi's heart stutters. "What reason?"
"You," he says, "are the glitch."
Her blood runs cold.
"I'm not—"
"Yes, you are." His tone is not cruel. Not mocking. Just…true. "Everything about you is inconsistent. Your readings fluctuate beyond normal parameters. Your Synchronization spikes without cause. And now—an Override event triggered by emotion alone."
Airi shakes her head. "I'm just… I'm just a student."
"No," he says. "You're a fracture waiting to happen."
Ren tries to push himself up, wincing. "Don't… talk to her like that…"
The Unknown User looks down at him almost sympathetically.
"You care about her," he says. "Too much. Enough to stand between her and an anomaly you couldn't win against. Admirable. Reckless."
He turns back to Airi.
"And you care enough about him to lose control of your Sync entirely."
Airi's throat tightens. "Just tell me what you want from me."
He stops in front of her. Close enough she can see his reflection in Ren's blood.
"I want," he says quietly, "for you to come with me. Before this place tears you apart."
Airi's breath hitches. Her mind races. Her body refuses to move.
Ren grips her sleeve weakly. "Airi… don't…"
The Unknown User kneels. Closer. Too close. His voice drops to a whisper only she can hear.
"You've felt it, haven't you? The fractures. The distortions. The things no one else notices."
Airi's fingers tremble. Because he's right. She has felt things. Seen things. Moments where reality shivered like a glitching screen.
"How do you know about that?" she whispers.
His eyes flicker—dark, unreadable.
"Because I am the only one who understands what you are. And the only one who can help you survive it."
Airi feels the world tilt again. Ren's weight grows heavier in her arms. Her breathing stutters.
She tries to stand, but her legs buckle. The Unknown User catches her before she falls—carefully, gently, like she's something fragile.
"Your Sync is collapsing," he murmurs. "If you stay here, you will break."
Airi forces the words out. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
He smiles slightly. Not kind. Not cruel. Just inevitable.
"You won't have a choice soon."
The lights flicker. The floor trembles. Her System screams warnings.
Fracture Imminent Override Residue Detected Stabilization Failure: 72%
Airi gasps. Her vision fractures—literally. Lines split across her sight like cracks in glass.
She clutches Ren tighter.
"Ren… Ren…"
He tries to lift his head. "Airi…"
The Unknown User stands.
"It's beginning," he murmurs. "Much earlier than I anticipated."
Airi tries to speak, but her voice breaks.
"What's happening… to me…?"
He answers softly.
"You're waking up."
The floor ripples beneath her. A sound like tearing fabric splits the air.
A fracture opens behind her.
Ren's eyes widen. "Airi—move!"
But she can't. She can't even turn.
The Unknown User reaches toward her.
And the fracture expands.