System Status: OFFLINE.
User: Kael Adrienne
Consciousness: Active
Location: ???
Kael awoke to the sound of something soft brushing against his cheek.
Feathers?
No.
Fingertips.
Warm. Gentle. Dangerous.
His eyes fluttered open.
Gone was the white void.
Gone were the seven obsessions.
Gone was the System's voice in his head.
Instead—
He was lying in a bed.
A real one.
Silken sheets. Velvet pillows. A faint scent of roses and something darker… like old ink and burned memories.
He sat up slowly.
His breath caught.
There was a girl sitting beside him.
She Wasn't One of the Seven.
And yet…
She looked familiar.
Her long hair shimmered silver-blue, cascading down her back in waves, with streaks of midnight along the ends. Her eyes were two different colors—one crimson, one gold—like the sun and the moon were arguing inside her.
She wore a black-and-red uniform, tight in all the wrong places, short where it shouldn't be, and stitched with a heart-shaped sigil over her left breast.
The moment Kael moved, she smiled.
"Ah. You're awake, Master."
He blinked.
"...Who the hell are you?"
She Didn't Flinch.
In fact, her expression brightened—like he'd just quoted her favorite movie.
"You don't remember. Of course. That's okay. The reset did its job. But don't worry…"
"I remember everything."
Kael swung his legs off the bed.
The room wasn't familiar. And yet…
A framed photo sat on the dresser.
It was him.
Standing beside her.
His arm wrapped around her waist, her face flushed with delight.
What the actual hell—?
System Interface: Missing
Attempting Manual Recall… [ERROR]
Obsessions: Inactive / Unknown
Kael Adrienne – Free Will Restored
He looked at her.
"What do you mean you remember everything? Were you… part of the game? One of the Trials?"
Her smile tilted.
"Game? Trials? Is that what you thought all that was?"
Kael stood, taking a step back. He wasn't wearing a shirt—just loose black pants. The mark over his heart, the one the System etched there as a "link" to the yandere obsession network…
It was still glowing faint red.
The girl followed his gaze.
"You think that mark is gone? You think the game ended? No, Master. The prologue just ended. Now we get to the part where you finally start remembering."
Kael's voice was low. Cold.
"I'm not your Master."
She tilted her head, eyes gleaming.
"You've said that before. Every time you forget. Every time I find you again."
Kael's Heart Skipped.
"You've done this before…?"
She nodded slowly, walking toward him.
"Seven resets. Each one harder than the last. But I always find you. I always remember. Because you gave me a memory no one could erase."
Kael backed up until he hit the window.
"Why? Why me?"
She stopped, inches away from him, her fingers reaching to touch the edge of his jaw.
"Because you were the first person who looked at me… and didn't scream."
Flash Memory Recovered
Sudden. Unstable. A flicker.
A hallway. Dim.
A girl in a glass chamber, chained by the wrists. Covered in runes. Her body trembling from pain, voice gone from screaming.
Kael had been walking past.
He stopped.
"What's your name?"
She looked up. Her eyes burned with madness. And hope.
"You… can see me?"
Back in the present, she whispered, trembling:
"You gave me a name. So I became real."
Kael Whispered:
"What… is your name?"
She smiled, eyes wide.
"You forgot again. That's okay. I'll tell you…"
She leaned in close.
Her lips brushed his ear.
"My name is Nyx. Your eighth obsession."
System Rebooting...
Unauthorized Entity Detected: Nyx
Classification: Glitched Obsession – Forbidden Tier
Emergency Protocol Active – Memory Collapse Event Delayed
Kael pushed her back, panic in his voice.
"I don't remember you! I never chose you!"
Nyx didn't resist. She simply stood there, hands folded, smiling gently.
"You don't choose me. You never do. And yet I always return."
Kael stared at her.
"You're insane."
Her smile widened.
"Yes. And you built me that way."
A New Door Appears
Suddenly, the room trembled. The bed vanished. The walls cracked.
Behind Nyx, a massive black door materialized, pulsing with symbols Kael couldn't read.
[Choose a Door to Begin the Next Phase]
Nyx stepped aside and gestured toward it.
"Behind this door lies every version of us that could've been. Every timeline. Every broken Kael. Every girl who lost their mind because you refused to remember."
Kael took a breath.
"Why should I go in?"
Nyx leaned close, her lips brushing his again.
"Because you already did. Seven times."
She pulled something from her pocket—a shattered pocket watch.
Inside?
A photo.
Kael and Nyx, kissing in the ruins of the Academy.
His hand in her hair. Her tear-streaked face radiant with joy.
"This time," she whispered, "we finish it."
Kael Reaches for the Door.
His hand hovers over the handle.
The mark on his chest burns brighter.
"What happens if I go through?"
Nyx replies with a whisper.
"You'll see what obsession really is. Not romance. Not lust. Not even madness."
She steps close, her voice now trembling.
"You'll see what it's like… when you forget the girl who remembers you better than anyone else."