Time: 07:55 AM
Date: 2742-08-27
Location: Ren's House – Kitchen (a.k.a. Domestic Warzone)
Ren came downstairs rubbing his temples. He was hoping—naïvely—that after last night's cryptic Core-whispers and memory-shards, he could at least grab some coffee without a soap opera.
Ha. No such thing.
He stopped dead in the doorway.
His mom was at the stove, flipping tamagoyaki.
His sister, Mina, was on the couch, fully dressed for school.
And his coworker, Maya, was in his living room. Again. Still in his oversized T-shirt from who-knows-when.
He blinked.
"…Did no one go home?"
His mom turned with the deadliest smile in East Kyoto.
"You almost died. We're nesting."
Mina nodded. "You're officially under family surveillance. If you so much as breathe weird, we'll call a priest."
Ren opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked at Maya.
She gave a sheepish shrug and lifted her coffee cup. "I brought donuts. And trauma bonding."
FROST:
"You're not safe in your own house. This is a domestic hostage situation."
BLAZE:
"I warned you about the emotional surveillance squad. No one escapes Mom Protocol."
Ren groaned and collapsed into a chair. "Fine. Just… give me caffeine before I commit arson."
Time: 09:40 JST
Location: Kyoto Streets – En route to Hell (a.k.a. his office)
He finally got out of the house, mom tears and all. Maya said she'd "hold down the base," which sounded suspiciously like "eat all your snacks and pet your cat."
But outside… things felt off.
Too off.
At first, he thought it was just sleep deprivation. Or possibly caffeine withdrawal.
But then—
—a tree glitched.
Its shadow froze.
The leaves shimmered like pixels, then snapped back into shape.
Ren stopped mid-step. "The hell…?"
Then a passing train seemed to pause, slightly, like a buffering YouTube video, before continuing its journey.
FROST:
"Uh. Are we going to ignore the part where gravity just hiccupped?"
BLAZE:
"Confirmed. Temporal distortion wave. Low frequency. Probably a bleedover from a nearby Aetherium leak."
A can rolled off a vending machine. Just… floated for a half-second. Like the world blinked.
Ren stepped back as his feet felt heavy.
Like the sidewalk had turned to syrup for a split-second.
He grabbed a signpost.
"Okay, okay—what the hell is going on now?"
CORE (suddenly alive):
"[THREAD INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
[GLITCH FREQUENCY: ECHO_OF_CORE_03]
[RECOMMENDED RESPONSE: FIND SOURCE. AVOID PANIC. OR PANIC QUIETLY.]"
Ren muttered, "Panic quietly?! That's not helpful—!"
A digital billboard flickered as he passed it.
Then—
His own face stared back at him.
But not him.
Older. Tired. Scarred. Same eyes. Same face.
But that Ren… was crying.
Just for a second.
Then the screen went black.
FROST (quietly):
"…That wasn't a glitch."
BLAZE:
"That was a message."
Ren swallowed. His pulse roared in his ears.
He took one deep breath, steadied himself, and kept walking.
Whatever was happening—
The next Core wasn't just waiting.
It was calling.