The morning breeze drifted through the open windows of Room 2-B, carrying the scent of cherry blossoms from the hilltop beyond the school. Sunlight spilled across worn wooden desks, scattering long shadows onto the floor like brushstrokes on rice paper.
Souta Minakawa stood behind his desk, chalk in hand, though he hadn't written anything on the board yet. His eyes moved slowly across the classroom—not searching for problems, but studying quiet patterns. The slight shifts in posture. The focused gazes. The emerging energy just beneath the surface.
They were changing.
Yamada had already filled the margins of his notebook with small sketches—leaf shapes and curling stems annotated with times and temperatures. Kana highlighted her book as she read, but Souta could tell she wasn't reviewing—she was preparing. And Takeshi, fidgeting with his pen, was not doodling jokes today. He was diagramming a speaker system from memory.
Souta blinked.
[Host: Minakawa Souta]
Age: 39
Biological Cap: 53 Years
Brain Processing Power: 1.1x
Life Points: 1.4
Followers: 3
A new notification blinked beneath the usual interface.
Network awareness stabilizing. Passive cognitive link potential emerging.
Subsystem cohesion: Initial group resonance detected.
He tapped open the Follower Panel.
[Follower: Yamada Koji]
Brain Power: 0.75x
Life Points: 2.5
Link Quality: Strengthening
Task: Maintain plant observation logs. Optional: hypothesize plant behavior under variable conditions.
[Follower: Kana Ishikawa]
Brain Power: 0.65x
Life Points: 1.5
Link Quality: Stable
Task: Analyze classmate survey data on curiosity and intelligence motivation.
[Follower: Takeshi Murata]
Brain Power: 0.5x
Life Points: 1.1
Link Quality: Weak → Stable (pending)
Task: Repair science lab tools. Document learning outcomes per item.
The numbers were rising slowly—but meaningfully. This wasn't about raw stats. It was about the pattern beneath them. The emerging alignment. Their thoughts, once scattered like seeds, were beginning to reach toward the same sun.
That night, in her room, Kana sat at the edge of her bed, the soft hum of her desk lamp flickering beside her. The day's assignments were done. Her pencil lay beside her open planner.
But her eyes weren't on her notes.
She was looking at the subtle glow of the interface.
[Follower Subsystem]
Brain Power: 0.65x
Life Points: 1.5
Task Progress: 88%
Feedback Option: Available
She remembered the first night it had appeared—about a week ago. No explanation. No fanfare. Just a strange shimmer as she'd been working late, researching for a class project. It hadn't frightened her. It had felt like… a challenge. A quiet door unlocked by effort.
Since then, her thoughts had moved faster. Not wildly, not magically—just sharper. Clearer. She noticed questions before they were asked. She connected ideas more fluidly.
She tapped "Feedback" and typed:
Let me pursue ideas freely. I'll bring back what I find.
A soft pulse acknowledged her request.
Elsewhere, as the sun dipped low over the rooftops, the garage smelled like oil and metal and warm concrete. A single bulb buzzed above, casting a dim halo over the scattered parts on the workbench.
Takeshi leaned over a cracked oscilloscope, wires spread like tangled vines. His eyes flicked between the circuit board and the floating numbers that hovered faintly in his peripheral vision.
[Follower Subsystem]
Brain Power: 0.5x
Life Points: 1.1
Task: [2/3] Tools Repaired
Insight Threshold: 1.5x Required
Note: Exploration behavior increasing.
He hadn't told anyone about the interface. Not because he didn't want to—but because he didn't understand it yet. But ever since it showed up, he'd felt a strange hunger to finish things. To figure them out. His hands moved more confidently. His frustration came slower. Like his thoughts were lining up instead of scattering.
He touched the wire ends together, soldered the joint, and flipped the switch.
Task Complete.
+0.5 LP awarded.
Resonance Return: +0.1 LP to Host.
Takeshi grinned. "Huh. That actually worked."
The next morning, Room 2-B buzzed softly as students filtered in. Souta didn't begin the lesson right away. Instead, he passed out a printed sheet.
"Group task," he said. "You have twenty minutes. You'll need logic, deduction, and pattern recognition."
The problem described three fictional towns, six trade routes, resource shortages, and a train schedule. A logistical puzzle. Half the class groaned.
But Yamada, Kana, and Takeshi naturally drifted together—without a word.
They leaned over the desk, already scribbling notes and exchanging looks.
"You see how the east line loops back to Station F?" Takeshi said. "That delays everything unless we cut off shipments."
"But if you stop those, Town B runs out of copper," Kana replied, sketching a map.
Yamada nodded. "What if we alternate deliveries on a two-day cycle instead of three? That balances it."
Souta stepped away quietly, watching from the back of the room. He didn't smile, but something deeper than pride settled into his chest.
Group coordination detected.
+0.5 Life Points (Network Share: 0.2 LP to Host).
Passive synergy event registered.
Subsystem response: Higher-order group task calibration unlocked.
After school, Souta lingered in the faculty office long after the last student had gone. The low murmur of cleaning staff drifted through the corridor. He leaned back in his chair, letting his thoughts settle like dust in a sunbeam.
Not every student would notice the changes.
But three of them had.
And that was enough to begin.
With a quiet breath, he let his consciousness drift inward. The classroom walls faded. Time paused.
That evening, Souta sat in the grass of the Growth Matrix Space, the artificial stars overhead twinkling in their silent rotation.
The island had grown. What had once been a single grove of saplings was now a dense, layered forest. Mature trees whispered in the wind, time flowing around them like water over stone.
He rose and walked to the far side of the island—an untouched stretch of soil outlined by stone tiles.
New cultivation seed unlocked: Cognitiva Bloom.
Function: Amplifies conceptual connectivity in linked minds.
Estimated Yield: 0.01 LP per month under accelerated growth.
Souta knelt and materialized a tray of shimmering seeds. The Cognitiva Bloom glowed faintly—like pearls filled with starlight. He pushed one gently into the soil.
Then another.
Row by row, he planted them in silence.
10 seeds planted. Estimated LP yield per year (simulated): 0.1
Group synergy benefit: Pending system evolution.
He stood and dusted his hands. The soil around the seeds pulsed faintly as the system began its accelerated cycle.
He opened his interface one last time that night.
[Host: Minakawa Souta]
Age: 39
Biological Cap: 53 Years
Brain Processing Power: 1.1x
Life Points: 1.7
Followers: 3
Subsystem Evolution: Tier I Threshold Reached
Trial Mode: "Sync Calibration" Available
Initiate Sync Trials?
→ Not yet.
As the classroom emptied the next day, Souta stood alone by the windows, the light fading across the mountains. Kana passed by him in the hallway, notebook clutched to her chest. Yamada lingered behind, casually returning a book to the shelf. Takeshi wandered past, earbuds in, humming something faint.
Each of them looked ordinary.
None of them were.
They had begun to change.
And they didn't even know yet how far they might go.
Souta looked up at the sky beyond the village rooftops. A single star blinked into view above the clouds.
"They don't need to be pushed," he murmured.
"Just nurtured. Minds grow best when they think it's their own idea."