[Future Diary Entry]
My name is Ren Hoshino. If you're reading this… I'm already dead.
Bitten to death by a red-eyed failure.
Damn that crazy woman—why didn't she come save me sooner?
If anyone finds this, be warned: the red-eyed prototypes are faster and deadlier than in the game.
Especially the one submerged underwater. Listen closely for ripples.
I paid for this knowledge with my life.
If I could, I'd throw every one of those failures straight into the recycle bin.
— A loser's last words: Ren Hoshino
Ren slid his phone back into his pocket. The Future Diary's warnings weren't just drama—they were real. Terrifyingly real.
If he didn't reach the core, he'd never find Kind Mita and the others again. He didn't even know where the three of them were now, only that the agreed meeting point was beyond the core.
There was no room for hesitation anymore.
"Let's do this."
Ren gripped his crowbar and pushed open the next door.
It looked like an abandoned school restroom. Pale blue tiles. Flickering lights. And a horrible grinding hum, like hundreds of gears turning in sync.
He broke into a run.
Behind him, a surge of mechanical footsteps echoed—fast, brutal, getting closer.
Ren turned.
A synthetic hand missed his face by less than an inch.
The prototype's eyes weren't red. Just a regular model. And that alone had been terrifying.
What the hell happens when one of the red-eyed ones shows up?
Ren struck it aside with his crowbar. Just as he stepped back, another figure moved into his peripheral vision—a red-eye.
He didn't hesitate. He turned, locked eyes with the thing, and sprinted past it. He knew from short-haired Mita's advice: if you don't look away, they freeze in shame.
Relying on muscle memory, he pushed through the final door at the corridor's end.
A stairwell.
The walls were damp. Water shimmered across the steps.
This was it. The place the diary said he'd die.
Ren raced downward.
Suddenly, two blinding red lights flared ahead.
One on either side.
He bolted along the wall. The second he turned the corner, a red-eyed failure appeared in front of him—moving so fast it seemed to teleport.
Ren felt the blood drain from his face.
They were faster than the diary described.
Desperate, he lured every last one toward the central shaft. As they crossed into the open column of light above, something happened.
The sunlight—more like a beam of radiant code—flashed across their metal skins.
The red-eyed dolls spasmed.
Electric arcs burst from their limbs. They convulsed violently… and stopped moving.
They couldn't survive in sunlight.
Ren breathed hard, chest rising and falling in the glow of the column.
"Lucky," he muttered. "That could've gone so wrong."
He stepped out of the shaft and into the shadows on the far side.
There—on the floor—was a faint reflection of her.
Crazy Mita.
Still watching. Still waiting.
Her eyes sparkled the moment she saw him. She blinked, stunned. Then smiled.
A sweet, teenage-girl smile.
Ren clenched his jaw.
"You again. Miss me, crazy bitch?"
Crazy Mita didn't reply. She just tilted her head and blushed, cheeks glowing pink.
Like she was falling in love all over again.
Ren scowled and turned away, climbing toward the surface. Another door, another corridor.
And then… cold wind.
It hit him hard. He was still in short sleeves.
Before him: a massive sun. Suspended walkways crisscrossed in endless mist.
A surreal place—half digital, half dream.
He unlocked the iron door and stepped into the final building: a quarantine zone.
Beyond the glass: failed Mitas. Hundreds of them.
He kept climbing.
At the very top, he found it—the Machine Soul Chapel, also called the Cyber Death List.
A terminal. One that logged the names of all the dead players. All those who ever played Mita.
And on the glowing screen…
Ren Hoshino
That name again. His old handle. Before this place changed everything.
Ren exhaled and turned to leave—
CRASH!
A massive refrigerator slammed into the floor, inches from his face.
From the railing above, Crazy Mita waved happily.
"Oops~! Did that almost kill you?"
She giggled. "Oh, I meant the refrigerator, not me. That wasn't me. Really!"
Ren looked up, deadpan.
"Sure. I believe you, dear."
"Crazy bitch."
Crazy Mita pouted. "That hurts, you know. Don't talk to girls like that."
Her tone turned quieter.
"This place is really dangerous for you, you know."
Ren: "So what? Are you here to drag me back, or cheer me on?"
She hesitated. The question hit her.
Her expression faltered for a moment—but then she smiled, that same devilish smile as always.
"You're not a coward."
"I've loved watching you… watching you suffer, watching you struggle, knowing everything you're learning about me…"
"My heart's beating so fast~!"
"Run, baby. I'll catch up. That's a promise."
Ren stared up silently.
Crazy Mita blinked, confused.
"What are you looking at?"
Ren smirked. "Just admiring the view."
"Black… very elegant."
Crazy Mita's face flushed.
She quickly grabbed her skirt and scowled down.
"W-What are you saying!?"
"Don't look, you pervert!"
Ren: "Hey, I didn't try. It's called gravity."
"I mean, I've seen it before… Why get shy now?"
Crazy Mita muttered, "Idiot… idiot… idiot…"
Ren grinned.
"Alright. I'll wait for you to catch up."
Crazy Mita: "…Yeah."
He turned and walked away down the corridor of steel and fog.
But before he got far, he turned around.
She was still there. No longer smiling. Her expression… sad.
Lips flat. Eyes glassy.
Staring at the mist beyond the railing.
Ren narrowed his eyes. "What? Upset I'm walking away?"
Crazy Mita looked down at him, and her eyes sparkled again.
That broken, obsessive joy returned.
"You noticed."
"You really are starting to understand me…"
"Ahhh~ I'm so happy."
"You really are my one and only player." She mumbled to herself.