Did she just disappear?
Or rather...
Did she cease to exist?
Did the system cause this?
Simply because I didn't follow its stupid rules? Are you telling me she disappeared...?
No.
It's worse.
Did she cease to exist...?
Did the system... cause it...?
All this, just because I didn't follow its damn rules?
This... this makes no sense.
There's no logic. None.
While my head was spinning, the bustle of the students echoed around me.
They looked at me as if I were a circus animal.
As if I were already crazy.
——
After a few chaotic minutes, motionless in the middle of the classroom, I finally decided to sit down.
Although I longed to return to my dear, magic corner, I forced myself to avoid it.
Just thinking that someone—dead?—had been there sent a shiver down my spine.
Now that I think about it with a cooler head...
Is this the big consequence?
Disappearing, nothing more?
Isn't that beneficial for me...?
If you think about it, only the girls I'm supposed to conquer disappear.
So... it's enough just not to approach them, right?
It's too easy.
I won't lie… this crap scared me a little.
But, apparently… it's nothing more than a damn empty threat, right?
It doesn't affect my normalcy.
So, why worry?
…
«LOVE» I want to see what I have to do now.
I open the system window.
…
Nothing.
Nothing has changed.
My sarcastic stats didn't change.
Nor my stupid description.
I switch to the mission window.
…
Nothing, either.
There's only one line:
[MISSION]
>YOU HAVE FAILED YOUR MISSION, WHAT A FOOL YOU ARE.
——
After some classes, stares, and breaks, the school day finally ended.
It was time to go home.
…
I don't know why, but this departure felt… different.
Quieter.
As if the world had swallowed the noise.
After all, as weird as this day has been...
It was just one more day.
Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe.
——
On the way home.
But with every step I take, I feel the road stretching out… as if it doesn't want to let me arrive.
…
Truth is…
I feel guilty.
I think, because of me, she ceased to exist.
I was her executioner.
And I can't stop wondering:
What would have happened if I hadn't acted like that?
If I hadn't been such a damn idiot?
Those questions bounce around every corner of my head.
They pound like drums connected to an annoying amplifier, hitting again and again without giving me a break.
I can't silence them.
They don't leave.
I don't let them go…
Or maybe, I don't want to.
…
At that moment, I felt the skin on the back of my neck prickle.
As if... someone was right behind me.
I spun around suddenly, almost by instinct.
But there was no one there.
Not a single soul.
Just a long road. Vast. Silent.
"This crap is driving me crazy..." I murmured.
And, with a forced sigh, I looked back towards my house again.
Crack.
A dry sound, disgustingly real.
Something broke.
Not something. Me.
My neck turned... one hundred and eighty degrees.
Brutal.
I felt the skin stretch like a rope about to snap.
My throat folded in on itself, closing, crushing.
I couldn't breathe.
"Ah... Aghk..."
Groans.
Humiliating. Silent.
As if even my pain didn't have permission to exist.
Blood pooled, making it impossible for my body to function as it should.
My face turned red, but not in the way you'd expect...
No, it was the visceral, grotesque red, the color of someone on the verge of collapse.
My eyes, full of blood, injected with pain.
Every blink became torture, every breath, a noose tightening more and more.
I fell to the ground with a dull thud, my body no longer under control.
I don't want to die.
I don't want to die.
I don't want to die.
Please... please... please...
Every word, a plea choked in the air, every thought a growing desperation.
Help!
Help!
The word echoed in my mind like an echo, again and again, while my body trembled with terror.
I'm scared.
I'm scared.
The fear grew heavier with every passing second.
I'm young.
How can this be real?
Someone, please...?
Someone, please, listen to me!
My tears fell like rivers of despair.
What lies beyond this?
I don't want to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There I was, begging.
Begging for someone, ANYONE, to pull me out of this nightmare.
The system appeared again, but this time there was no title, no orderly structure, nothing.
[....]
Only cruel words, which like knives, tore through my mind:
>YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE.
TRASH
You...
You... Every...
EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!
EVERYTHING IS THIS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT'S FAULT!
Those words, those damned words, embedded themselves in my brain as if they were thorns.
My chest, crushed by the weight of despair, beat fast, as if each beat were the last.
WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME?!
WHY DIDN'T YOU CHOOSE ANY OTHER IDIOT AROUND HERE?!
Every thought, every internal scream, intertwined with the anguish of my decomposing body.
My breathing grew increasingly erratic, as if the air were escaping me, as if I were drowning in a pressure cooker of hatred and confusion.
WHY?!
WHY?!
WH...?
Every word, every question, was lost in the void, as if the universe itself ignored me.
And then...
Darkness.
An absolute void.
The fog in my mind began to engulf everything, and with it, everything vanished.
There was no sound. No light.
Only...
Darkness.
…