chapter 15

I woke up slowly, as if emerging from a deep whirlpool I'm not sure whether I fell into or was pushed into. My head is heavy... my eyes don't respond immediately. The air is warm, but a shiver runs down my spine.

This time... I almost lost the body completely.

A familiar feeling has been creeping in for weeks now, hiding in the folds of my sleep, growing quietly... that invisible clash between me and her. Mirai. I thought her consciousness had completely faded when I entered this body, but it seems I was wrong.

It's coming back.

At first, it felt like a hallucination… an unusually heavy sleep. Moments where my awareness of the world vanished, as if I were being pulled backward inside my own head… Sometimes I'd wake to find myself in a different place, without realizing how I got there. Sometimes I'd hear thoughts that weren't mine.

I thought I was in control... but the truth is, deep down, this body never forgot its owner.

It doesn't reject me—but it doesn't belong to me.

Now, every night has become a silent battle... I feel as if something within me is trying to push me out, to expel my consciousness. Not with force… but with gentleness. As if the body itself is reordering its priorities.

They said this is a model of a sentient digital world, one that no one can control the way they do in the real world. They said it simulates every detail of reality with precision—even its psychological and physical laws...

But… is it because I stayed in this body too long?

Or is my original body... dying?