Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

Meanwhile, in a house on the other side of Tomoeda Town.

The curtains in the study were drawn, and the main lights were off; only a desk lamp beside the desk emitted a dim, yellowish light.

The coat that Gojo Satoru had casually placed on the sofa before leaving in the morning was still there, with a bag of candy he brought back from the Kinomoto family yesterday lying next to it.

Sumi Kichikawa sat alone in the shadows, her eyes closed.

His consciousness had sunk deep into the origin of himself.

Touya said yesterday that although the mark attached to his body had faded, it still remained.

Actually, even before that, Sumi Kichikawa already had some doubts.

If he could consider bringing Gojo Satoru through time for the first time as an accident, then he could still consider it an accident.

After that, similar things happened one after another, which didn't seem like a coincidence. It was more like something was secretly adjusting the coordinates and opening up a passage that shouldn't have appeared in the first place.

He tried calling out to the system, but never received a response.

He later secretly investigated his origins, but could not find any clear traces.

Everything acted as if the system had completely left.

But now, Touya has given him a definite answer.

It has never left.

"come out."

Kikawa Sumi spoke coldly from the depths of her consciousness.

The surroundings were deathly silent.

"I know you can hear me."

There was still no response. The system was clearly determined to play dead, since according to the rules, it could no longer interfere with the retired host's life.

Kikawa Sumi lowered her eyes, her expression unchanged.

He simply raised his hand slowly, his five fingers spreading in the void, and then directly grasped a wisp of core light that constituted the origin of his soul.

That is the foundation of his existence.

The next second, he clenched his fingers without hesitation.

"Click."

A sickening, soul-crushing shattering sound echoed deep within consciousness. Fine cracks instantly spread wildly inwards along the light.

Doing so is tantamount to tearing your own soul apart.

A sharp pain instantly swept through his entire body, and Kikawa Sumi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, with cold sweat beading on his forehead. But he did not hesitate, and simply continued to increase the intensity.

He has no intention of negotiating or slowly probing.

He knew very well that the system was constrained by its underlying logic and could never stand by and watch its former host's soul be completely shattered in front of it.

"I'm saying this one last time."

Kikkawa Sumi's voice remained calm as still water, as if the person whose soul had been torn apart was not him at all.

"come out!"

He suddenly increased the pressure on his hands.

The cracks in the origin instantly widened, and blinding light burst forth from the cracks in the origin, causing the entire consciousness space to tremble violently.

The system finally gave out.

It had originally wanted to gamble that Kikawa Sumi was bluffing, but the moment it sensed that the host's soul was about to collapse, the underlying protection mechanism completely overwhelmed the command to hide.

[Stop!!! What are you doing!!!]

A long-absent, piercing scream suddenly exploded in my mind.

Sumi Kichikawa stopped, but did not let go.

A moment later, a faint ray of light tumbled out from the deepest corner of the origin.

It was much dimmer than before, and the orb of light was still trembling uncontrollably, clearly terrified by Kikawa Sumi's reckless behavior just now.

Are you crazy?!

The system shouted, both exasperated and still shaken.

That's your own essence! If you crush it, you'll be the one in pain, you might even be annihilated, while I'll just be forcibly ejected!

"But at least it can force you out." Sumire looked at it, her tone indifferent.

【You've pushed me to my limit! Can you loosen your grip now?! Why are you even more extreme now than when we were on missions?!】

Kikawa Sumi ignored its accusations, her grip on his hand remaining firm in the slightest. The crack still stretched across his soul, radiating a dangerous sense of oppression.

"Was it you who orchestrated the previous time travel?"

"...part of it is." The system, looking at the crumbling source, dared not lie.

[It wasn't me at first. The bond between you was inherently unstable; it was only through the resonance of the powers of the two worlds that the passage was opened. I simply... later adjusted my landing point slightly.]

"a little?"

[At least I'm making sure you don't fall into the sea, a volcano, or some kind of vacuum! This is just emergency evacuation, not excessive intervention!]

Why aren't you responding to me?

[According to regulations, I have terminated my task relationship with you. Continuing to appear would be a serious violation of regulations and would affect your retirement life!]

"But you didn't leave; you continued to interfere secretly, and you refused to explain why."

The system flickered slightly twice, then remained silent, feeling guilty.

Kikawa Sumi's fingers clenched tightly, and the light in his palm emitted a dying wailing.

The system, startled, shrank back sharply and let out a piercing scream: [Stop right now!!!]

Sumi Kichikawa did not immediately relinquish her grip, her eyes icy and piercing: "This is the last warning."

Kikawa Sumi stared at the faint ball of light. "Don't try to test my limits. Tell me, why haven't you left?"

"...Kikawa, you're in a very dangerous state right now." The system was clearly surprised that Kikawa would be so ruthless towards herself, and her voice trembled slightly.

"Answer me." Sumire Kichikawa pinched him again with her hand, and the tearing sensation spread throughout her body once more, but she didn't even flinch.

[Stop pinching me! I'll tell you! I'll tell you, okay?!] The system was practically crying. [I was originally planning to tell you after confirming!!]

"Confirm what?"

[The state of this world!]

Sumire Kikawa finally loosened her grip.

The cracks in the source stopped spreading. Although they didn't heal immediately, the terrifying sense of oppression that threatened to collapse at any moment finally disappeared.

He looked down at his palm and coldly uttered two words: "Continue."

The system seemed to breathe a long sigh of relief, as if it had survived a disaster, and slowly drifted closer.

[Promise me you won't threaten me with your own existence again.] The system was still shaken. [You used to be cold and aloof, but you would never joke about your own existence.]

"Back then, I had no one I cared about." Sumi Kikawa looked at it calmly. "But now, I must find out anything that might threaten the connection between him and me."

The system was silent for a moment.

Of course it knew who Qichuan Cheng was referring to. It was precisely because it knew what that person meant to Qichuan Cheng now that it dared not stand idly by when the spatial fluctuations occurred several times before.

"Okay, it's my fault." The system sighed resignedly, its tone gradually becoming serious. "I shouldn't have kept pretending to be dead, and I shouldn't have kept the channel adjustments a secret from you. Next time something similar happens, I'll let you know in advance."

"Anything else?" Sumire Kichikawa stared at it, her gaze sharp. "The mission is over, the system must disengage. Why don't you leave?"

This time, the system did not try to gloss over the issue.

It paused in mid-air for a moment, its voice carrying an unprecedented solemnity.

[Qichuan, you should know that the retirement worlds chosen by mission takers are basically worlds where the main storyline has completely ended, right?]

"Know."

Only when the main storyline concludes and the world stabilizes will the prolonged stay of the mission participants prevent a butterfly effect from disrupting the original progress.

These are the most basic screening criteria in the world of retirement.

The system looked at him and sighed softly.

That's why I haven't left.

The main storyline of the world you are in now is far from over.

The system paused for a moment.

[It's even still under development.]