Kaito Sora exhaled sharply, his breath visible in the dimly lit chamber that served as the team's base. The atmosphere was heavy, the weight of the earlier reconnaissance mission still palpable. He glanced around at his teammates. Yuki was cleaning her weapons with methodical precision, while Aria tapped away on her wrist-mounted interface, no doubt cataloging data from their encounter. Kaito's fingers drummed on the surface of the table in front of him as he tried to make sense of what had transpired.
The Class-6 anomaly had been unlike anything they'd faced before. It hadn't just reacted to his glitch powers—it had anticipated them. The System interface had flared with warnings and cryptic messages, and even now, fragments of those notifications lingered in his memory.
SYSTEM ALERT: ANOMALOUS ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED. USER INTERFERENCE UNAUTHORIZED.
The words had been cold, clinical, yet strangely personal. For the first time, Kaito felt like the System wasn't just a tool—it was something sentient, watching, calculating.
"You're awfully quiet," Yuki's voice broke through his thoughts. Her sharp blue eyes flicked up to meet his. "That's unusual for you."
Kaito smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Just savoring the silence before you start complaining about my latest screw-up."
Yuki rolled her eyes but didn't take the bait. Instead, she gestured to the small stack of System-generated reports in the corner.
"Those are your responsibility, by the way. Don't think I'm doing your homework for you."
Kaito groaned. "Come on, can't we just pretend those don't exist? It's not like the System is going to give me a gold star for reading them."
"It might save your life next time," Aria chimed in, not looking up from her interface. Her tone was gentle but firm. "The anomaly… it knew how to counter your glitch abilities. That's not normal. We need to understand why."
Kaito sighed, running a hand through his messy black hair. "Yeah, about that. Did anyone else notice how the System freaked out when I used my powers? It's like it didn't expect me to do that."
Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Isn't your whole shtick that you're unpredictable?"
"True," Kaito admitted, "but this was different. The System isn't supposed to have feelings, right? It's all logic and algorithms. So why did it feel like it was panicking?"
Aria's fingers paused mid-typing, and she looked up, her green eyes narrowing in thought. "You're suggesting the System has emotions?"
"Not emotions, exactly. More like… instincts?" Kaito leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. "What if it's more than just a tool? What if it's… alive?"
The room fell silent. Even Yuki, who usually dismissed Kaito's wild theories with a snarky comment, seemed to be considering his words.
"If that's true," Aria said slowly, "it changes everything. The System's purpose, our relationship with it… everything."
"Well, great," Yuki said, breaking the tension. "Now I'll never sleep again. Thanks, Kaito."
"Anytime," he replied with a grin. But the truth was, the idea unsettled him as much as it intrigued him.
Later that night, Kaito found himself alone in the training room. The System's glowing interface hovered in front of him, awaiting his input. He stared at it, his mind racing. If the System was alive, what did that mean for him? For everyone?
"Let's see what you're hiding," he muttered.
Kaito activated his glitch powers, a faint shimmer enveloping his hand. The System's interface flickered, and for a brief moment, he saw something unusual: a string of runes, ancient and unfamiliar, dancing across the screen.
SYSTEM WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," Kaito said, ignoring the warning. He reached out, his glitching hand brushing against the interface. The runes flared brighter, and suddenly, he felt a pull, like the System was drawing him in.
His vision blurred, and he found himself standing in a void. The only source of light was a massive codex floating before him, its pages filled with the same glowing runes he'd seen earlier.
"Okay, this is new," Kaito said, looking around. "Where's the exit sign?"
The codex opened, its pages flipping rapidly. One page stopped, and the runes rearranged themselves into a message:
USER KAITO SORA. ACCESS TO ARCHIVE GRANTED. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
"Archive? What archive?" Kaito stepped closer, his curiosity outweighing his caution. He reached out, and as his fingers touched the page, a surge of energy shot through him. Images flooded his mind—worlds beyond his imagination, creatures of unimaginable power, and a sense of purpose that both terrified and exhilarated him.
When he came to, he was back in the training room, gasping for air. The System's interface was gone, replaced by a single glowing rune on the floor.
"What the hell just happened?" he muttered. But deep down, he knew this was only the beginning.
The next morning, Kaito shared his experience with Yuki and Aria over breakfast. Predictably, Yuki was skeptical.
"So let me get this straight," she said, stirring her coffee. "You glitched into the System, found a magic book, and now you're… what? The chosen one?"
Kaito shrugged. "I'm not saying I'm the chosen one. But something's definitely up. That codex… it felt like it was waiting for me."
Aria, on the other hand, looked intrigued. "Did you recognize any of the runes?"
"Not really," Kaito admitted. "But they felt familiar, like I'd seen them before."
"We need to study this," Aria said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "If the System has an archive, it could hold the key to understanding its true purpose."
"Or it could be a trap," Yuki countered. "You're playing with fire, Kaito."
"When am I not?" he replied with a grin. But the truth was, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd stumbled onto something far bigger than himself.
As the team prepared for their next mission, Kaito couldn't help but wonder: Was the System guiding him, or was he guiding it? And what would happen when he finally unlocked the secrets it had been hiding?