Rain fell over the city.
But it wasn't water.
It was data.
Tiny glowing fragments, like shattered glass falling from the sky—visible only to those attuned to the Void.
Hiragi stood on the rooftop, blade in hand.
The world beneath him flickered.
Streetlights glitched.
People moved like corrupted frames in an old video.
The city wasn't just haunted.
It was overwritten.
"Airi. Status."
"We've got 14 anomalies in the southern district. One of them is warping space—civilians are walking into a loop."
"I'm heading in."
Hiragi leapt down—air bending around him.
As he landed, the glitch hit.
The entire street turned inside out.
Buildings folded like origami. Cars melted into walls.
A child screamed—then repeated the scream five times in a loop, as if stuck in a broken GIF.
Hiragi sliced through the illusion.
Reality snapped back.
The boy fell, unharmed.
But from the shadows came something worse.
Not a ghost.
Not a demon.
But a man wearing a mirror for a face.
"Slayer of void," it said. "You've trespassed Eden's subconscious."
"Eden is dead," Hiragi replied.
"Then why are you dreaming in its code?"
The man attacked.
Hiragi parried, barely keeping up.
Each strike distorted the world.
Every blow rewrote physics.
They weren't just fighting—
They were debugging.
As his blade clashed against the mirrored sword, Hiragi saw flashes.
Sena.
The classroom.
The first time he met Ishigami.
The night he died.
And one voice.
"You're not supposed to be here, Hiragi."
He screamed, slashing down with all his force.
The mirror shattered.
And behind it—
Was his own face