Ayato blinked.
He was standing in a square white room.
No windows. No doors. Just walls, floor, ceiling—each perfectly smooth, cold, and silent.
'Where are the others?'
He spun around, heart pounding. Nothing. Just blank surfaces. Even the air felt sterile, dreamless. He touched the wall—cold as glass, smooth as stone. No seams, no handles, not even a corner to dig into.
Then the system's voice echoed in his mind.
[Floor 9: The Doorless Room]
"There is no exit. There never was. Only those who stop looking may leave."
– Rule 1: You are alone.
– Rule 2: Doors are illusions created by belief.
– Rule 3: Escape is found through forgetting.
Ayato swallowed.
'A paradox floor. It wants to break cognitive continuity. It wants to break me.'
He paced the edges of the room, tapping each wall. All solid.
'No way out. No way in. Just… nothing.'
He sat cross-legged in the center, forcing himself to breathe.
'It's not physical. It's conceptual. A trap for minds that try to solve puzzles logically.'
He reviewed what he knew.
'I arrived with Mio, Ren, and Yui. The system separated us. Each person must forget their desire to escape.'
He laughed, the sound bitter in the empty space.
"So I have to stop wanting to leave?"
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
'But I can't do that consciously. It's like telling your heart to forget how to beat.'
The system began projecting visions on the walls.
First: Mio screaming for help behind glass.
'She's not really here. It's just a test.'
Second: Ren, frozen mid-swing in combat, blood on his face.
'He's not hurt. Not yet. This is just the Tower messing with me.'
Third: Yui, staring at nothing, mouth stitched shut.
'Stop. They're not real. The room is just trying to break me.'
Ayato clenched his fists.
'These aren't messages. They're pressure points.'
Then came a new projection:
Himself. Standing in an endless library. Wearing a black jacket and silver gloves.
'Cycle 3? Is that me? Or just another trick?'
The projection spoke:
"You still think you can rewrite this ending?"
Ayato stood and approached the wall.
"You're not real."
The projection smiled.
"Neither are you. Not in this version."
The wall cracked where the projection smiled.
Ayato stepped back, heart racing.
'It's getting inside my head. It's using my own memories against me.'
Time passed—indistinct.
Every time Ayato closed his eyes, the walls changed color slightly. He heard breathing that wasn't his. The sound of footsteps.
'Am I hallucinating? Or is the room just that good at messing with me?'
Once, his own voice echoed back at him, repeating his thoughts before he thought them.
"How many cycles have I already failed?"
He gritted his teeth.
"How many times have I betrayed them to get here?"
The air grew heavier with each realization.
'I'm supposed to break. I'm supposed to give up.'
Then it all stopped.
No sound. No vision. No weight.
Just him in a blank space of white.
'I'm not supposed to escape. I'm supposed to accept the room.'
He stood again. Walked to the center. Sat.
Closed his eyes.
'Let go of the idea of winning. Let go of progress. Let go of names, even.'
He whispered one word aloud.
"Stay."
There was no flash. No sound.
He simply opened his eyes…
…and found himself standing outside the room.
Mio stood beside him, stunned. Yui sat nearby, weeping softly. Ren leaned against the wall, eyes shut in exhausted victory.
They were all free.
The room was gone.
[Floor 9: The Doorless Room – Cleared]
All participants escaped through surrender.
Cycle Memory Fragment Unlocked (Ayato Only)
"In one version, you built this room to trap Kazuki. He escaped. You didn't."
Ayato touched his temple.
'I remember that failure now. I remember watching Kazuki smile from the other side of the wall. Never again.'
They rested in the hub, the air thick with silence and relief. Mio sat beside Ayato, her hands shaking slightly.
She whispered:
"The next one… is the Mirror Labyrinth, right?"
Ayato nodded.
"And after that—Floor 11."
'The end of Arc 2… and the first death that won't rewind.'
Mio looked at him, eyes searching.
"Are you okay?"
Ayato sighed.
'No. But I have to pretend. For them.'
"I'm fine," he said. "Just tired."
Ren groaned. "Tired? I feel like I've been hollowed out. That room… it took something from me."
Yui wiped her eyes. "It took something from all of us. I don't even know what."
Ayato looked at his hands.
'It took our certainty. Our hope. Our belief that we could win.'
He closed his eyes, remembering the room. Remembering the failure. Remembering Kazuki's smile.
'Never again. I won't let him win.'
Mio leaned her head on his shoulder. "We'll get through this, Ayato. We have to."
He nodded.
'Yeah. We have to. Even if it kills us.'
Ren stood, stretching. "So, what now? We just wait for the next floor to eat us alive?"
Yui managed a weak smile. "Pretty much."
Ayato almost laughed.
'At least we're still together. For now.'
He looked at the gate ahead. The next floor pulsed with shadows and whispers.
'Mirror Labyrinth. Then Floor 11. The end of the Arc. The first death that won't rewind.'
He clenched his fists.
'I have to be ready. I have to protect them. No matter what.'
The lights in the hub flickered. The system's voice was silent, but the weight of the Tower pressed down on them all.
Mio closed her eyes. "I'm so tired of this place."
Ayato squeezed her hand. "Me too."
Ren groaned. "We all are. But we're not done yet."
Yui nodded. "We can't give up. Not now."
Ayato looked at them—his friends, his family.
'I have to keep going. For them. For myself. For all the versions of us that failed before.'
He closed his eyes, listening to the others breathing, to the hum of the Tower, to the echo of his own thoughts.
'Bring it on. We're not done yet.'
(Chapter 16 End)