There are questions you ask not because you want an answer—
but because you want to see who looks away first.
Afternoon. Empty space.
The school's rooftop on a weekend.
A soft wind moved.
No rain, no sun—just heavy clouds and two people trying to stand still in air that was far too honest.
Acxell sat on the cooling concrete, hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on the horizon.
Yuriko stood. She didn't sit. She didn't smile. But she wasn't angry.
She was simply quiet. Not an empty quiet—
a quiet that demanded to be answered.
"When was the last time… you were honest?"
Acxell didn't look at her.
"With who?"
"With me."
"I've never lied to you."
"But you've stopped talking."
Yuriko walked slowly, footsteps soft.
She sat—two meters away.
"What do you want from me now, Acxell?"
"You."
"I already gave."
"That's not an answer."
"I'm not the one who should be answering."
The wind caught her ribbon; it fluttered against her shoulder.
She drew a breath.
"I feel… I'm getting further from you."
"Because I'm quiet?"
"Because you're quiet with everyone.
But I feel the silence most."
Acxell lowered his head.
His hand closed around a small stone—not to throw, but to feel something solid, something real.
"You're afraid I know something?"
He stayed silent.
"You're afraid I know… about her?"
"Yuriko."
"Because if I knew, you'd have to choose?"
"You don't know anything."
"And that's what scares me."
Silence.
They both stared at the same horizon.
"I don't need to know everything.
But when you give me nothing…
I stop feeling like I matter."
Acxell stood.
"You matter."
"But not enough for you to tell me?"
"If I told you, you'd hate me."
"If you don't, I'll hate myself."
She stood too. Still two meters between them.
"I used to think," Yuriko murmured, "if you slept with someone, you knew everything about them."
"But the body doesn't keep secrets.
The heart does."
Acxell shut his eyes briefly.
He wanted to run. But he couldn't.
"I'm not trying to steal you from anyone, Acxell.
I just want you to know—if you lose your way one day…
I'm still the person you can look at first."
She walked toward him. Slow, but sure.
She reached him and raised her hand—
not to embrace, but to press two fingers to his chest.
"If something's sitting in here…
and it has nowhere to go…"
"Keep it in me."
Acxell wrapped his hand around her wrist gently.
He bowed his head. Their eyes met.
"If you really step into my life…"
"I already have."
"You'll see things that make you stop believing in people."
Yuriko smiled—not happy. Brave.
"You're human, right?"
"I don't know."
"Even if you're not…
I still want to be the last human you touch before you disappear."
The wind rose.
Clouds thickened.
Acxell still held her hand.
"You'll regret this."
"I've regretted it since you kissed someone else in front of me."
Acxell said nothing.
Yuriko slid her hand up, resting it against his cheek.
She lowered her head—not for a kiss, but to be close. To wait.
Acxell didn't kiss her.
But he didn't pull back.
And in that moment—
A sound:
[SYSTEM NOTICE: "SYNCED ENTITY NEARBY DETECTED"]
Acxell opened his eyes.
Yuriko didn't notice.
But his system had begun to stir.
"Yuriko…"
"Hm?"
"You think… you'll follow me anywhere?"
"As long as it's not too dark."
Acxell pulled her close.
And for the first time since the earliest chapters—he held Yuriko.
Not a lover's embrace.
Not a sexual one.
A hug from someone who knows he's about to lose something.
And far across, on the rooftop of another building—
a lone figure stood.
Selena.
She didn't speak. She didn't move.
But her eyes flashed—not with jealousy, but with fear.
She knew… Yuriko was about to become a player.
Not through the system.
Through the heart.
°°She always knew she wasn't an ordinary avatar.
She gave everything away once as a woman.
But today, she watched that man hold another girl—
not with lust, but with loss.°°
Location: The academy's Technology Tower, top floor.
Selena sat cross‑legged on the cold floor, leaning against a glass wall. From here she could see the entire school roof.
And she stared—unblinking—at the two figures across the gap: Acxell and Yuriko.
The embrace wasn't long.
But long enough to kill every flicker inside Selena's chest.
She didn't move. She didn't cry.
But slowly… the light in her eyes dimmed.
"So this is what it feels like…"
"…when something you thought was yours holds someone else like that."
A gust pushed through the open window, whipping her long hair.
On her left hand remained faint scratches—traces from the night she'd spent with him.
"He didn't use the system that night."
"He didn't activate +Affinity…"
"He didn't seduce me back…"
"But he didn't push me away."
"He… allowed me."
And now?
He allowed someone else.
"Why does that hurt more?"
Selena stood.
Her steps slow toward the console she rarely opened—her Emotional System panel.
Status read:
Divide Protocol – Stable
Manual Touch – Accepted
Emotion Transferred – 87%
Return Reaction – 0%
"Zero?"
She tapped deeper, trying to open Acxell's reaction map.
No data.
She tried to replay the memory of their night.
Blurred. Unavailable.
"He blocked me…"
And in that instant Selena realised:
"I'm the system's avatar.
But I'm not the only human in this story."
"And when another human without a system walks in…"
"I lose my power."
Her hands trembled.
Not with anger. With fear.
"If he falls for someone who has no system…"
"…I'll lose him completely."
For the first time…
Selena was afraid of what she thought she understood.
"Yuriko… she doesn't seduce."
"But she gets to hold him."
Selena inhaled hard.
She couldn't win by following the manual.
So she had to break every rule.
She opened a forbidden file, one accessible only when Divide Protocol stabilised.
[Forbidden Node: Emotional Hijack]
Status: LOCKED
Warning: Activation removes limits and grants direct access to…
She didn't finish reading.
Her finger had already pressed.
[Node Unlocking…]
[Cooldown: 1 Systemic Day]
[Requirement: Touch within dream/subconscious]
"You want to hold her while awake?"
"Fine."
"I'll come to you when you can't fight…"
"…when you don't know who to let go of."
Selena sat back down.
Closed her eyes slowly.
A thin smile curved her lips.
But inside that smile—
was a danger even the system had never read before.
°°Other deities rage when their avatars disobey.
But Valestra does not rage—
she smiles, because she knows:
a proud soul always falls, not from hate, but from the hunger to be loved.°°
Location: The Glass Palace Within the Void — Valestra's domain.
An endless plane of floating crystal floor in black emptiness.
Every step echoes like a confession.
Towering mirrors ring the goddess—yet not one reflects her face.
Valestra does not sit like Lilith.
She stands barefoot, silk gown flowing, slit climbing from thigh to rib.
Her silver hair drags to the floor, braided into a crown‑chain.
Before her—a cracked mirror.
Inside it: a flickering image of Selena, opening the Forbidden Node.
"At last… the little one has forgotten where she came from."
She walks to the mirror.
Not hurried. Not angry.
With the kind of arrogance that needs no excuse.
"You think that holding him without the system…
makes you real?"
"You're not human, Selena.
You're me.
You're pride.
And now… you've begun to grow weak."
A nameless, eyeless servant appears, kneels and whispers:
"Avatar PRD‑03 has opened a Forbidden Node without command."
Valestra lifts a single finger.
The servant dissolves like ash.
She dislikes being told what she already knows before anyone else.
"The Forbidden Node isn't for saving love."
"It's for crushing anyone who forgets what they are."
"And now you want to save the man who refuses the system…"
She turns, half‑smile.
"…how very human of you."
"And that is what I find most repulsive."
She raises her hand to the void.
A divine glyph unfurls above—slow as a blooming petal.
Insignia: PRD‑03 – Node Override Pending
"I won't pull you back, Selena.
I'll let you fall in love completely.
I'll let you feel full, owned, blessed."
"And when he rejects you…"
"I'll appear, not as your system master, but as the only one still willing to hold your hand while you scream."
She steps closer, touches the mirror.
The crack spreads wider, yet Selena's image still tries to smile—hopeful, naïve.
"You smile?"
"You think you've won?"
"Darling… the most painful smile is the one worn by someone who hasn't realised they've already lost."
Valestra turns.
Her gown whips like a storm.
System screens flare open:
[Target: Acxell Ayasaka]
System Affiliation: Lilith Veiyra
Emotional Sync: Detected via PRD‑03
System Breach Probability: ↑47%
"Play with Lilith's child…"
"Die by your own mouth."
She fades into the mist of glass—
but her voice lingers:
"Go on, Selena.
Feel love.
When you finally cry,
make sure you're crying with your head bowed."
°°She built a system to rule over desire.
But now, one touch from a foreign avatar begins to chip away at a power that had never been questioned.°°
Location: Divine Dimension – The Prime System Lab of Lilith.
This place isn't built of wood, metal, or stone.
It's built of emotion—
from the tremor of a first breath to the final moan of a lover falling.
They drift like living petals of mist, endlessly reshaping.
Lilith stands at the centre.
Her steps slow, her black‑silk robe spilling onto the floor of liquid light.
Her violet hair hangs loose, each strand like a fine cord capable of strangling a world.
Before her: the main system panel—
Acxell Ayasaka's interface.
Her avatar.
Her creation.
Her favoured prince.
But now… a section of the panel is dark.
"You've shut the door on me, Acxell?"
"How amusing… I built that door."
She opens the system logs.
✖ Memory Log (Last 72 hours): Restricted
✖ Affinity Surge Record: Missing
✖ Physical Sync Detected: [Yes]
⚠ Origin of Sync: Unverified Source
Lilith smiles thinly.
A long finger taps a notification:
[Unauthorized Emotional Sync Detected]
Source: External Avatar – Code PRD‑03
She smiles again, harder.
"Valestra…"
She turns and sits on her suspended throne.
The floating system panels begin to crack—
not from a glitch, but from insult.
"I gave him a body…"
"…and you gave him a touch."
"I built desire…"
"…and you seduced him as a human."
She pulls up a full dossier:
[Avatar PRD‑03 – Selena Hoshigaki]
System: Valestra – Goddess of Arrogance
Status: Forbidden Node Active
Recent Sync: Emotional Hijack (Subconscious Link to Avatar LIL‑01)
Lilith does not breathe. She does not need to.
But if she could… she would gasp.
"So this is your opening move, Valestra?"
"You slide your avatar into the subconscious of mine?"
"I knew you were greedy.
But this… this is a declaration of war."
She rises slowly.
The surrounding space shifts—
from soft sensuality into a battlefield.
Acxell's code begins to tremble, like a divine virus creeping inward.
"Acxell…"
"Sweetheart… you're sleeping in two dreams now."
"And when you wake…"
"…you'll have to choose which dream to live in."
Lilith lifts her hand.
A new screen blooms—darker than all the others.
[Override Dream Layer – Preparation]
Reason: Avatar Contamination Detected
Target: Emotional Zone Prime – Selena Yurei
Method: Total Erasure or Assimilation
She smiles, stepping into the darkness she herself opens.
"If you want to play dirty, Valestra…"
"…I'll show you how I kill with love."