The Council of Six

The soft blue glow of his monitor was the only light in Haruki's room, a stark contrast to the encroaching darkness outside his window. The familiar hum of the computer's fan was a comforting drone as he slipped on his headset. With a few clicks, he was in. His digital sanctuary.

#general-discussion on the "Nous Collective" Discord server was already active.

Pharaoh_Punk: [Image: Blurry photo of a person in brightly colored shorts attempting to find a handhold on one of the massive Giza pyramid blocks.]

Pharaoh_Punk: Witness the pinnacle of human evolution. Right here.

ElCucaracho: LMAO is he trying to CLIMB it?

Zarya: Darwin Award applicant. Let me guess, he has an influencer profile.

Pharaoh_Punk: You know it. Security shouted him down. Ruined his shot for the 'gram.

Cyberian_Sufi: a soul yearning for greatness, finding only gravity. a modern tragedy.

ElCucaracho: a modern dumbass 😂

Haruki scanned the conversation, a small, familiar comfort settling over him. This was his tribe. He took a sip of water from the glass on his desk, then typed, his fingers moving with practiced economy.

Chronos: Something unusual happened today.

Chronos: A girl asked for my LINE.

The channel went dead for a full three seconds, a digital eternity.

ElCucaracho: HOLY SHIT

Zarya: Wait what.

Pharaoh_Punk: Record the date and time. This is a historical event.

OmegaC: Probability analysis indicates this is a low-frequency event. We need variables.

ElCucaracho: FORGET VARIABLES WE NEED THE GOSSIP

Haruki felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He typed his response, keeping his tone as direct as ever.

Chronos: We were cleaning the classroom.

Chronos: I explained why the existential dread induced by AGI is based on a flawed, present-day logical framework that fails to account for the evolution of human incentive.

Another brief pause, this one filled with a sense of collective, dumbfounded awe.

Cyberian_Sufi: ah. of course. the classic move.

Zarya: you flirted using EXISTENTIAL DREAD??

Zarya: And it WORKED?!

ElCucaracho: MY KING 👑👑👑

OmegaC: Okay, so the 'interest_in_philosophy' variable is confirmed.

Pharaoh_Punk: He's not using the same playbook as the rest of humanity. He's operating on a different plane of existence.

Chronos: We also talked about primordial black holes. Her name is Sora. She's... nice.

Zarya: Don't screw this up Haruki. People who get you are rare.

ElCucaracho: GO GET HER TIGER 🐅

Cyberian_Sufi: A connection found in the cosmos. Be present for it, my friend.

Chronos: Thank you, everyone.

OmegaC: The good energy is flowing today. Speaking of which...

OmegaC: [Image: A bright, happy selfie of himself smiling and a girl with long dark hair, both giving peace signs to the camera. They look genuinely happy and are sitting in what looks like a boba tea shop.]

OmegaC: Nhả vía

ElCucaracho: "nha vee-ah"? Did you guys go out for a special kind of noodle?

Zarya: Is that her name?

Cyberian_Sufi: A declaration? The energy of the photo is joyful.

Chronos: The second character, 'vía', is it related to the concept of fortune or spirit?

OmegaC: haha, Chronos is close. It's a Vietnamese thing.

OmegaC: "Nhả vía" means something like... "releasing good fortune".

OmegaC: When you have a success, or something really good happens to you, you "nhả vía" to share that positive energy and luck with your friends, so they can get some of it too.

OmegaC: Chronos had his good news today, so I wanted to keep the chain going. This is my girlfriend. So... I'm releasing the good "vía" for all of you.

A beat of silence as the group processes the new concept.

ElCucaracho: DUDE. THAT'S THE MOST WHOLESOME THING I'VE EVER HEARD.

ElCucaracho: NHA VIA ME BRO I'M BEGGING YOU

Pharaoh_Punk: A cultural mechanism for the communal sharing of good fortune. That's actually incredibly sophisticated.

Zarya: Okay, that's... surprisingly sweet.

Zarya: Fine. Nhả vía me some luck for my chemistry final next week. I'll need it.

Cyberian_Sufi: To share one's light so that others may also find their way. What a beautiful concept. It's a conscious act of spreading joy.

Chronos: I see. It's an active expression of shared happiness.

Chronos: Thank you for the vía.

OmegaC: :) Anytime, my friend. For all of you.

Haruki leaned back from the glowing screen, the smile from before softening into something deeper. A girl in his class. A primordial black hole. A Vietnamese blessing. His world, once a quiet, solitary room, was now a nexus of connections spanning the globe, a place where luck itself could be shared across continents through a simple act of friendship.

Outside his window, the world was quiet. In his classroom, he was the strange, quiet transfer student. At home, he was the dutiful, solitary son. But here, in this stream of glowing text messages from five other minds scattered across the globe, he wasn't an anomaly. He was just Chronos.

A warmth spread through his chest, a feeling more real and grounding than the chair he was sitting on. It was the feeling of being seen, of being understood, of belonging. For all the existential dread the future held, right now, in this small corner of the internet, Haruki felt completely and utterly at home.