Lu was losing it.
Not in a dramatic, emotional breakdown kind of way.
Not even in an I've-given-up-on-life way.
No.
Lu was losing his mind in the worst way possible.
The kind of way that keeps you up at 3 AM, staring at the ceiling, questioning if your entire life is a lie.
And the worst part?
Gojo and Subaki were just getting started.
Step One: Let the Paranoia Sink In.
At first, the changes were minor.
A figure slightly moved here. A book tilted slightly out of place there. His favorite anime mug moved an inch to the right.
But Lu?
Lu was a geek.
A true geek.
And a true geek always notices.
At first, he thought, Maybe I did that and forgot.
Then it escalated.
The arrangement of his posters changed.
His carefully sorted DVDs were out of order.
His PS5 controller was suddenly on the left side of his desk instead of the right.
"Okay," he muttered to himself. "Maybe I just… did that without thinking."
Then one night, at exactly 2:37 AM, Lu shot up from his bed.
His heart was racing. His hands were shaking.
He had realized something.
Something terrifying.
The total amount of manga on his shelf had changed.
By one.
"No… no, no, no, no—" Lu scrambled to his shelf, counting. Double counting. Triple counting.
One was gone.
But when he checked in the morning?
It was back.
Right where it should have been.
Lu sat down, head in hands.
"I'm losing it. I'm actually losing it."
Gojo, sipping his morning coffee, casually glanced over.
"Rough night?" he asked.
"Shut up."
Gojo smirked behind his cup. Phase one was a success.
Step Two: The Dream Infiltration Plan.
Messing with Lu's physical space was one thing.
Messing with his dreams?
That was next level.
And Gojo?
He was ready to take it there.
So, one night, using a little divine interference, Gojo infiltrated Lu's dreams.
And what did he do?
He didn't plant nightmares.
He didn't whisper creepy messages into his subconscious.
No.
He did something far worse.
He made normal, realistic dreams—but with the tiniest, most infuriating changes.
His house keys were always in the wrong pocket. His laptop password was suddenly one letter off. He tried to type in his Crunchyroll login, but it kept saying incorrect password. His favorite anime? Suddenly had one extra episode that never existed. His MHA fan war victory post? Deleted.
By the time Lu woke up, he was seething.
"Why do I feel like I've been fighting a battle all night?!"
"We all have our demons," Gojo said sagely, sipping his coffee.
Step Three: The Glitch in Reality.
Now came the final phase.
The moment Lu would completely snap.
One day, while casually scrolling through his phone, Lu noticed something off.
His Spotify playlist.
The songs were slightly different.
Not enough to be obvious—but just enough that he felt something wasn't right.
Then it got worse.
His text messages had minor changes. The timestamps on his emails were out of order. His Netflix watch history showed shows he never watched. His Google search results included things he had definitely never looked up.
And then, the final straw.
One morning, Lu looked in the mirror—
And for one second—
He saw his sister's reflection instead of his own.
He stumbled back, heart pounding.
But when he blinked—
It was gone.
"No… no, no, no, no—"
He ran to Gojo and Subaki, panting.
"Tell me the truth. Have I been acting weird? Do I… seem different?"
Gojo, keeping the most serious face possible, nodded.
"Now that you mention it… yeah. You've been moving stuff around a lot at night."
Subaki tilted her head, looking concerned.
"And you do talk to yourself a lot…"
Lu froze.
He had never spoken to himself.
And yet—
The CCTV footage said otherwise.
He checked.
He watched himself, at 3 AM, walking around, moving things.
He had no memory of it.
And that was it.
The breaking point.
Lu slumped onto the couch, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm losing my mind."
Gojo and Subaki shared a secret high five behind his back.
The Final Nail in the Coffin.
Later that night, Gojo stood outside, smirking at the success of the plan.
Subaki walked up beside him.
"So, what now? Do we keep going?"
Gojo chuckled.
"Oh, we're far from done."
Subaki raised an eyebrow.
"You've already made him doubt his own reality. What else could you possibly do?"
Gojo grinned.
"Now? We let him stew in it. Let him overthink. And right when he starts recovering?"
He looked toward the night sky dramatically.
"We hit him with something big."
Subaki tilted her head.
"…Like what?"
Gojo pulled out a single, crumpled coin.
5 yen.
The source of everything.
His eyes gleamed with vengeance.
"Like making sure he never finds out why we did all this."
Subaki blinked.
Then burst out laughing.
And thus, the ultimate mind game continued.