Yuki sat rigidly at his desk, staring blankly at the math equations scrawled across the blackboard while his entire left side numbed from a barrage of constant, rhythmic vibrations.
His smartphone was practically singing with hidden encrypted data down in his uniform pocket.
RING!
The sharp, high-pitched chime of the school bell shattered the academic monotony, announcing the start of the afternoon lunch break.
A collective sigh of relief swept through the classroom as students immediately began to chatter.
Some pulled out their wrapped boxes of home-cooked bento right at their desks, while others stood up in small, loud groups and headed out to buy food at the school cafeteria.
Yuki let out a slow breath, sliding his hands into his desk to pull out his lunch container.
The second his fingers brushed against the casing of his phone, he slid it out, eager to finally check the notifications.
But before he could even unlock the screen or lift the lid of his bento, a soft, incredibly timid voice cut through the ambient classroom noise right beside him.
“Um… Sato-kun?”
Yuki paused, tilting his head to find Kawai Ritsu standing a few paces away.
She was clutching her lunch bag tightly to her chest, her large, expressive eyes looking up at him through her bangs with a delicate, nervous energy.
“Oh, Kawai-san,” Yuki said, offering a warm, reassuring smile as he subtly turned his phone face down against his desk.
“What’s up?”
Ritsu hesitated for a brief second, a soft pink hue tinting her cheeks before she stepped closer, speaking in a hushed, secretive whisper meant strictly for his ears.
“I… I finished reading the volume of Steins;Gate,” she stammered, her voice returning to that passionate cadence she only used when discussing his literature.
“The ending… where Okabe finally reaches the Steins Gate world line and crosses paths with Kurisu in the streets of Akihabara… it was a masterpiece. The story felt completely whole, but… please, you have to tell me. Is there a continuation to it? A sequel or a spin-off? I just can’t get those characters out of my head!”
“I’m really glad the ending resonated with you, Kawai-san,” Yuki smiled, trying to guide her back to reality before her excitement drew the attention of the students still lingering in the room.
“But as of right now, Steins;Gate is finish. A continuation isn’t planned yet.”
Ritsu’s shoulders visibly slumped, her gaze dropping to the floor as a profoundly sad, deflated pout took over her face.
For a girl whose entire universe revolved around the sanctuary of literature, saying a final goodbye to a universe she loved was nothing short of tragic.
Seeing her look so utterly devastated, Yuki felt a wave of guilt.
If she was going to crave more of his plots, he might as well try to direct her focus toward his earlier works to alleviate that anxiety.
He leaned back slightly, resting his hands on his desk as he looked up at her expectant face.
“Steins;Gate is done for now, Kawai-san,” Yuki explained softly, keeping his voice down so the students heading out to the cafeteria wouldn’t overhear.
“But if you really want to read something else of mine, I have two completed works from before I started writing about world lines. One is a sci-fi epic about an autonomous AI idol trying to save the future, called Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song. The other is a bit darker, a high-octane cyberpunk tragedy set in a neon city, called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.”
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking up at her expectant face.
“I don’t happen to have copies of those older novels with me today,” Yuki explained softly, “But if either of those premises sounds like it’s to your liking, I can bring the books for you tomorrow.”
Ritsu’s head snapped up instantly, her large eyes widening to the size of saucers as her previous sadness completely evaporated.
A brilliant, radiant smile broke across her face, and she nodded her head so fast her bangs blurred.
“Yes! Please, Sato-kun, I mean, Sensei! I would love to read both of them! I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll read everything you write!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll bring them tomorrow,” Yuki chuckled, gently guiding her back to reality before her intense literary passion drew the attention of the remaining classmates left in the classroom.
“But please, don’t call me Sensei here. Let’s just stick with how we normally address each other so no one suspects anything.”
Ritsu blushed, her small hands flying up to cover her face as she nodded in embarrassed agreement.
“R-Right! Sorry, Sato-kun,” she whispered behind her fingers.
“I’ll be careful.”
“Thanks, Kawai-san. Now, you should really start eating your lunch. We don’t have that much time for a lunch break.”
With his interactions smoothly handled, Yuki opened his lunch container and began to eat while keeping his eyes locked onto his smartphone screen.
He immediately navigated to the [ FORUM ] logs, a genuine wave of administrative pride washing over him as he read through the operational data.
He saw how fast O5-6 Twilight had successfully secured his designated mission in Berlin, followed closely by the successful recovery log uploaded by O5-4 Young Monster in Egypt.
The foundation’s roster was already proving itself to be terrifyingly efficient.
However, as he swiped down to close the forum directory, a flashing blue indicator caught his attention.
He had received a direct private message from O5-6 Twilight.
___
FROM: O5-6 (TWILIGHT)
TO: O5-1 (THE REINCARNATOR) The source of this chapter is g.com.
An anomaly was briefly flagged directly over my location.
However, upon immediate investigation of the location, the blip on my radar vanished.
A system notification logged that the integrated Psionic Scanners picked up a brief, residual cognitive signal before dissipation.
The place remains clear of physical hostilities, but the anomaly tracking is unresolved.
Advise on the situation.
___
“Psionic Scanners…?” Yuki muttered under his breath, his chopsticks stalling over his bento.
He racked his brain, trying to find a match in his memory.
It had been seventeen long years since he was reincarnated into this world.
While he had once been a major fan of the SCP Foundation universe in his past life, expecting himself to flawlessly remember every hyper-specific technical term, minor sub-classification, or obscure containment protocol after nearly two decades was simply out of his league.
The raw passage of time had dulled the finer details, leaving him staring at variables he was no longer equipped to decode from memory alone.
As if responding directly to his sudden mental block, his phone suddenly vibrated against his palm, the screen flickering into a rapid, automated terminal script.
___
[CORE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION: PATCHING]
INTEGRATING O5 INTERNAL RESOURCE METRICS…
INTERFACE RECALIBRATING…
SUCCESS.
___
The dashboard bloomed back into view with its new layout.
Nestled cleanly right beside the Radar and Forum tabs, a new, prominent utility button had been added [ GLOSSARY ].
Curious, Yuki tapped the new function.
The screen instantly rendered a highly encrypted, smoothly scrollable alphabetical index of specialized technical terms, acronyms, and scientific concepts exclusively utilized by the research divisions of the SCP Foundation.
Yuki tapped the entry for Psionic Scanners.
The glossary immediately pulled up a detailed, clinical definition: Specialized anomalous devices used to detect and measure psychic energy, telepathy, and mental manipulation.
“Psychic energy and telepathy…” Yuki muttered under his breath, staring at the screen.
So, whoever was sitting in the seat of O5-6 had a literal mind-reader, an esper, or some sort of psychic entity hiding inside their vicinity.
The scanner must have picked up a sudden burst of mental energy before the target fell back, causing the tracking blip to vanish.
Yuki let out a silent breath, a small smirk playing on his lips.
He quickly typed a brief, direct response to O5-6’s private message thread, keeping his tone perfectly professional and administrative,
___
TO: O5-6 (TWILIGHT)
The administrative database has just deployed a system patch to all council terminals.
Access the newly integrated [GLOSSARY] utility on your dashboard.
You will find the precise operational parameters for ‘Psionic Scanners’ there.
Since the tracking blip has dissipated, stand down investigation protocols for those specific coordinates unless a physical breach manifests.
Use the glossary to cross-reference any further anomalous data.
___
With that minor crisis handled, Yuki picked his chopsticks back up and resumed eating his bento.
He exited the private chat and tapped back into the main radar notification feed to see the rest of the alerts that had been piling up all morning.
The screen flickered, text scrolling down rapidly to populate three critical new entries,
___
[ALERT]
[ANOMALIES DETECTED BY MONITORING GRID]
AI ALGORITHMS DETECTED AN ANOMALY
-> LOCATION: Nippon Budokan, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
-> STATUS: Automated security algorithms flagged an unclassified anomalous event manifesting precisely between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM during the local performance schedule.
Investigation required.
2.
LOCAL HUME ANOMALY
-> LOCATION: Kamiyama High School, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
-> STATUS: Two distinct spikes in local Hume levels have been registered within the campus perimeter.
Reality stability is fluctuating.
Investigation required.
3.
LOCAL HUME ANOMALY
-> LOCATION: Beika City, Tokyo, Japan
-> STATUS: Unstable, continuously shifting Hume levels are detected, affecting the entire geographic expanse of the city.
High-frequency anomaly footprint detected.
Investigation required.
4.
PSIONIC SC…
___
Yuki nearly choked on his food, his chopsticks freezing centimeters from his mouth.
The first alert in Tokyo was a mystery, but the second and third ones were an absolute psychological ambush.
Two Hume spikes were happening right now, at Kamiyama High School, the exact school he was currently sitting in.
And the third alert was for Beika City, an entire municipal district lighting up with unstable, shifting reality metrics on a city-wide scale.
The normal, peaceful high school morning he had just now had just been completely shattered by his own phone screen.
Yuki didn’t waste a single second.
He immediately backed out of the notification feed and tapped the [ RADAR ] utility on his phone.
The screen instantly rendered the hyper-detailed, real-time overhead grid of Kamiyama High School.
Two distinct, white dots were blinking aggressively against the layout of the campus buildings, pulsing in perfect synchronization with the localized Hume fluctuations.
Yuki zoomed in on the structural map, his eyes locking onto the specific building coordinates as his mind ran the calculations.
His throat went completely dry.
The tracking system didn’t just point to a random corridor or a students locker.
The two blinking markers were pinned dead-center right inside a specific first-year classroom.
The exact room where Honda Tohru was currently sitting for her lunch break.
Two separate reality-defying entities or phenomena were actively manifesting right beside their orphanage caretaker.
***
Author’s note:
Muwahaha!…
New anomalies…
and next will be Loid’s turn again…
It’s hard to do this in a tablet…
Got to busy at work, I wanna go home…
=_=
If you see a problem in this chapter, sorry…
Hehe…
But I guess the Bieka City anomaly is a given one…