Jay stood in the middle of the academy courtyard, eyes fixed on the blue sky that... pulsed.
Yes, pulsed, like a heartbeat.
The clouds didn’t drift. They jittered. Repeated. Looped. Froze.
Students walked past him like background NPCs—faces cheerful, expressions blank, so walking through trees as if the collision detection had been turned off.
He blinked once.
And the grass turned to stone tiles.
He blinked again.
And it turned back.
> [Warning: Anchor Sync Failing]
[Rei Kazuma has exited Dream Layer -2 prematurely.]
[Reality Coherence Dropping: 76% ➜ 63%]
Jay sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Of course he’d ss with the layering," he muttered, tone drier than dust. "Can’t let enjoy a single lazy afternoon without turning the world into a glitchy indie horror ga."
---
The System HUD flickered, struggling to remain stable.
His stats glitched.
> [Strength: ∞]
[IQ: 999x]
[Sleep Debuff: Permanent]
[Causality Load: 92% - UNSTABLE]
---
He shuffled toward the library tower, or at least where it should have been.
Instead, a giant floating clock stood in its place, ticking backward, bleeding sand from its minute hand like it was lting ti.
People walked in and out of it, unaware.
Jay narrowed his eyes.
"Soone’s trying to overwrite the anchor code," he whispered.
---
Inside the clock tower, the air was... heavy.
Like dreams were congealing.
Rows of monitors blinked with fragnts of Rei’s mories—flashes of a girl holding his hand, an explosion in reverse, a sword planted in ash, soone calling out a na Jay didn’t rember having.
At the center stood a chair, cracked and glowing. Empty.
But beside it was a data fragnt floating mid-air.
Jay stepped forward. The System warned:
> [DO NOT INTERACT]
[Fragnt Origin: Rei. Type: mory. Status: Glitched]
Jay ignored it.
His hand passed through the mory—
And suddenly he was underwater.
No. Not water—code.
He floated in a sphere of cascading logic, voices whispering from all sides.
> "He shouldn’t have woken up."
"This system wasn’t designed for two anchors."
"Terminate the Lazy Variable."
---
Jay clenched his jaw.
"So that’s how it is, huh?"
The Lazy Genius... wasn’t lazy by chance.
It was intentional stasis. A lock. A failsafe. He wasn’t supposed to move, because if he moved—
The whole thing began to unravel.
---
> [New Thread Unlocked: USER-ZERO]
[Would you like to access your original purpose?]
Jay stared at the screen.
Then laughed.
"No thanks. I’m having fun now."
He turned away, only to freeze—
Because Alicia was standing in the doorway.
Or rather... a version of her.
Eyes glowing.
Mouth stitched.
Floating two inches off the ground.
"Jay," she whispered. "You’re still dreaming."
---
> [ALERT: SLEEP CONTAMINATION LEVEL 91%]
[PRIMARY SYSTEM ANCHOR THREAT DETECTED]
[BEGIN CLEANSE? Y/N]
Jay looked around.
The tower shook. Voices scread inside the walls. The grass outside was now white static. Rei’s awakening had broken sothing foundational.
> "Guess I’ve got no choice," he said.
He pressed [Y].
Everything exploded.
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