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8 chapters to the system
Don't forget to add to library
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Tatsuya felt a faint smile creep across his face as he left the hall and returned to his room. He fell into a restless sleep, a habit he'd grown accustomed to. For a few hours, he found peace, but it didn't last.
He tossed and turned, haunted by the usual torment that plagued his dreams, before jolting awake, gasping for breath as though he had just escaped from hell itself.
"Miyukiiii…" he groaned, his voice barely a whisper, thick with pain. His body was drenched in sweat, tears streaming down his cheeks. He wiped them away quickly, his hands trembling.
Reaching for his phone, a new message blinked on the screen: a directive for the top-ranking students to prepare for relocation. The words were brief but clear.
With a heavy sigh, Tatsuya packed his only bag and made his way downstairs.
His mind was still clouded with the remnants of his nightmare. In the basement, the bus was already waiting, idling, filled with his fellow students.
As he stepped on board, sharp, accusatory stares met him. He was the last to arrive, and their glares told him exactly what they thought of his lateness.
Ignoring them, he slumped into a seat near the back, exhausted. The bus began its journey, and soon, Tatsuya was back asleep, too tired to care about anything else.
When he woke again, they had arrived at an airport. A private plane awaited them, an unusual luxury for mere students. The group boarded silently, no one voicing the strange feeling that hung in the air.
Hours later, they landed on what was supposedly an island, though the place was much more than that. It was lavish, opulent—almost unnerving. Tatsuya could have sworn this area was marked as ocean on the maps.
They were led through the island to a sprawling resort, an extravagant facility that could rival any five-star hotel.
The students were assigned to luxurious individual rooms and instructed to rest. They were told to report to an auditorium in two days for further instructions.
Tatsuya, indifferent to the excessive wealth around him, felt no excitement. His thoughts were elsewhere.
As he walked through the halls, a familiar, unsettling sensation crawled up his spine.
Someone was watching him. It was the same feeling he'd experienced days earlier at the café.
He glanced around but saw nothing suspicious, just the other students heading to their rooms. Still, the unease lingered.
Unbeknownst to Tatsuya, from a gallery above, a man and a girl were observing the students as they filed in.
The man looked contemplative, almost wistful, as if he saw the future unfolding before his eyes. The girl, however, was different. Her eyes were cold, filled with a murderous intent that she made no effort to hide.
She was the same girl who had followed Tatsuya for days, the one whose presence he had sensed in the café.
Her intent was now undeniable, though he remained blissfully unaware of the danger he was in.
"Are you sure about him?" the man asked, his voice laced with concern as he turned to the girl.
Silence. The girl said nothing, her gaze never wavering from Tatsuya. Her silence spoke louder than words.
With a sigh, the man turned away and left her to her thoughts. The girl's eyes remained fixed on Tatsuya as he disappeared into his room below. Something dark was brewing, and Tatsuya was at the heart of it—whether he knew it or not.
Meanwhile, at another entrance to the resort, four newcomers arrived—two boys and two girls. Unlike the excited group of 84 students, these four exuded a calm, collected demeanour. Their IDs marked them as "Passed for Program," a distinction different from Tatsuya's group, who simply had "Passed."
Over the next day, Tatsuya explored the island, trying to glean any information about their strange surroundings. His phone had no signal, and his frustration mounted.
Leaving the regular paths, he wandered into the dense forest, searching for something—anything—that could give him answers. By evening, he returned to the resort empty-handed, his irritation growing.
Just as he entered the elevator, a familiar couple caught his eye. His heart sank, dread washing over him as he recognized them.
"No… it can't be," he muttered, praying it was just a trick of his mind. But when he rushed to check the corridor, it was empty. Relieved, he convinced himself that his eyes had played tricks on him.
The next morning, Tatsuya was late again. He had barely 30 minutes to reach the auditorium. Running at full speed, he soon came across a girl in the same situation, also sprinting to make it on time. They ran together for a while, but Tatsuya suddenly slowed down in his tracks. The girl followed his gaze and gasped.
A lone figure—a girl—sat under a tree, staring out at the ocean, her back towards them, looking so beautiful. Her beauty was like a delicate cherry blossom, radiant and enchanting, captivating all who laid eyes upon her Tatsuya's heart skipped a beat.
For a fleeting moment, an unsettling sense of familiarity washed over him, as if his worst nightmares had manifested into reality.
He froze, breath caught in his throat, feeling a strange connection to the girl, as if she was someone from the deepest recesses of his past—the very past he had tried to escape.
For an instant, the world around him blurred, his pulse quickening with fear that everything he had been running from had finally caught up to him.
But as reality settled in, he forced himself to calm down. The back profile he saw couldn't be familiar. It was just a trick of his mind, a figment of old fears resurfacing.
With a heavy heart and a clearer mind—grounded by the knowledge that he had to face the present—Tatsuya tore his gaze away and resumed running, pushing the unsettling feeling aside.
He barely made it to the auditorium before the doors closed behind him.
After he passed through, the girl under the tree slowly turned her head, her expression enigmatic and calculating.
It was her—the girl who had been following him all along. The recognition sent a chill down his spine, a lingering sense of dread as he tried to shake off the feeling that something far more sinister was at play.
Tatsuya, snapping out of his daze, resumed running, barely making it inside the auditorium before the doors closed.
He quickly found a seat next to the girl he had been running with, who introduced herself as Sinon, a student from France. They exchanged brief pleasantries, but before they could continue, the lights in the auditorium dimmed. A spotlight appeared on stage, illuminating a middle-aged man who stood in the centre. He looked pleased, nodding to himself as he scanned the crowd.
"welcome…
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