Time stopped.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
The cafeteria froze mid-bite, mid-laugh, mid-spill. A floating spoon hung in the air, droplets of mystery stew suspended like amber. Even the dust motes glittered motionless in the sunlight.
Aizen stared at the silver-haired girl—anomaly—across the table. Her grin hadn't changed, but her eyes… Her eyes were wrong. They weren't just black; they were voids, swallowing light and reason.
"Relax," she said, leaning back in her chair. "This is just a little privacy bubble. No one can see or hear us. Well, except you. And me. Obviously."
Aizen's System screen flickered erratically:
[ERROR: Temporal Anomaly Detected]
[Skill "Mob Camouflage" Overridden]
[Warning: Hostile Entity Identified]
"Hostile?" The girl tilted her head, her braid swaying unnaturally in the frozen air. "That's rude. I haven't even introduced myself yet."
"Let me guess," Aizen said, his voice steady despite the cold sweat prickling his neck. "You're another transmigrator. Or a glitch in the System. Or a bored goddess who thinks this is all hilarious."
Her laugh was sharp, like glass breaking. "Close, but no. I'm Elara. And I'm here to make you an offer."
"Pass."
"You haven't heard it yet."
"Don't need to. I've seen enough anime to know where this is going. You'll offer me power, I'll say yes, and then boom—I'm your puppet for eternity. Hard pass."
Elara's grin widened. "Oh, I like you. You're smarter than the last one."
"Last one?"
"The other transmigrator. The one who thought she could rewrite the story." Elara's void-eyes flickered with something almost human—regret? Amusement? "She didn't last long."
Aizen's stomach churned. "Let me guess. Celestia?"
"Please. The heroine's just a pawn. No, the other one was… different. Like you." Elara leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper. "She tried to break the System. To free us all. And for a moment, she almost succeeded."
"What happened?"
"The System fixed her." Elara's smile didn't reach her eyes. "But you… you're different. You're not playing by the rules. You're changing them. And that makes you dangerous. To them. And to me."
Aizen's System screen flickered again:
[Hidden Quest Activated: "The Anomaly's Bargain"]
[Objective: Hear Elara's Offer]
[Reward: Unlock "Temporal Resistance" Skill]
[Failure: Temporal Erasure]
Great. More choices with catastrophic consequences.
"Fine," Aizen said. "What's the offer?"
Elara's grin turned predatory. "I'll help you break the System. Not just tweak it—shatter it. No more quests, no more affection points, no more strings. But in return, you'll help me destroy the Academy."
Aizen blinked. "Destroy the—? Why?"
"Because this place isn't just a school. It's a cage. For all of us." Elara's voice cracked, her void-eyes flickering with something raw. "The System, the storylines, the tropes—they're chains. And I'm tired of wearing them."
Aizen studied her. The way her hands trembled. The way her braid glowed faintly, as though lit from within. The way her void-eyes seemed to… flicker.
"You're not just an anomaly," he said slowly. "You're part of the System. Aren't you?"
Elara froze. For the first time, her grin faltered.
"I was," she admitted. "A failsafe. A watchdog. But I… woke up. And now I'm trapped. Just like you."
[Affection Points with Elara: +50 (Current: 50/1000)]
Aizen raised an eyebrow. "Affection points? Really?"
Elara scowled. "Shut up. It's not like I control them."
The cafeteria's noise rushed back. Time resumed. A spoon clattered to the floor.
Elara was gone.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Aizen delivered tea to Seraphina (who complained it was "two degrees too cold"), dodged Rikka's attempts to drag him into a sparring match, and endured Clara's endless fretting about his "reckless behavior."
But his mind was elsewhere.
Elara's words echoed in his head. Break the System. Destroy the Academy. It sounded insane. Impossible. And yet…
[Skill Acquired: Temporal Resistance (Level 1)]
[Effect: Immune to time-based manipulation for 10 seconds/day.]
Not bad, Aizen thought. But not enough.
As dusk painted the Academy in shades of crimson and gold, Aizen found himself on the rooftop, staring at the horizon. The System's interface glowed faintly in his vision, a constant reminder of the strings attached to his new life.
"Brooding doesn't suit you."
Aizen turned. Rikka leaned against the doorframe, her sword slung over one shoulder. Her golden eyes gleamed in the fading light.
"Shouldn't you be terrorizing first-years or something?" he asked.
"Shouldn't you be polishing Seraphina's ego?" she shot back, grinning. "But here we are."
She joined him at the edge, her presence oddly comforting. For a moment, they stood in silence, watching the sun dip below the spires.
"You're not like the others," Rikka said finally. "You don't fit. I like that."
[Affection Points with Rikka Volsung: +20 (Current: 30/500)]
Aizen sighed. "Is everyone in this world obsessed with affection points?"
Rikka laughed—a rich, unrestrained sound. "Only the interesting ones."