Chapter 5: The Academy of False Light
Classroom 2-B looked the same.
Chalkboard. Desks. Posters about midterms.
But something was off.
Too perfect. Too clean.
Like it was repeating the same second over and over—just slightly desynced.
The bell rang.
Then it rang again.
And again.
Different tones. Different times.
Nobody reacted.
Except Airi.
And him.
He sat in the back row, near the window.
Black hair. Pale skin. A single silver earring.
His gaze never met mine—
but I felt like I was being calculated.
Ishigami Kurogami.
Rank 1 in every subject.
Never talks. Never smiles.
Rumors say he sleeps with his eyes open.
Some say he never blinks.
After class, I tried to leave.
But the hallway stretched infinitely.
I took 20 steps and ended up at the same door.
Airi stood beside me, silent.
Then a voice behind us:
"You noticed it too."
I turned. Ishigami.
He walked toward us, hands in pockets, eyes half-closed like he was bored of reality itself.
"This school... It's a looped architecture. We're inside a reality shell."
"Someone's feeding illusions into our senses. For most students, it works."
He looked at me sharply.
"But not for people like us."
Ishigami pulled out a pen and stabbed it into the wall.
It didn't break plaster.
It tore through canvas.
Behind it—black static.
"This school is a forgery. A well-dressed prison."
"And the warden is watching."
Suddenly, alarms echoed.
The lights dimmed.
Students screamed—but didn't move.
Their mouths opened, voices echoed, but their bodies stayed perfectly still.
Airi whispered, "They're just echoes. Memory puppets."
Ishigami nodded, unfazed.
"We're entering the real school now."
Walls collapsed.
Ceilings turned into mist.
We stood on a floating platform above a dark abyss, hundreds of desks floating in midair.
And at the center—
A massive eye.
Watching.
A voice echoed from the void:
"SIT. STILL. LEARN."
Tentacles of ink burst from beneath the desks.
Voidspawn Teacher.
"QUIET CLASS. QUIET MINDS."
Ishigami didn't move.
He simply raised a card.
Checkmate.
Suddenly, the floor reassembled into a massive chessboard.
Every desk turned into a piece.
The Voidspawn twitched.
"NOT. IN. RULES."
Ishigami spoke coldly:
"In my class… I'm the instructor."
He turned to me.
"Hiragi. Move like a knight. Take the core."
I nodded.
[Void Resonance: Black Vein Shift]
I vanished—then reappeared behind the creature.
One strike.
The eye cracked.
The illusion shattered.
We stood in the empty hallway again.
Real this time.
Breathing heavily.
Ishigami brushed dust off his sleeve.
"I'm joining your little war," he said.
"Not because I care."
He stared at me coldly.
"But because I'm curious how far a broken piece like you can go before it shatters."
To be continued…