As soon as Xuān stepped out of the door, he was hit with cold and chilly air. For once, he was thankful he had listened to his jiějie's advice.

  It was a cold winter night. The walk to the bakery was a solid ten minutes. He could already picture Xian whining and complaining about her legs hurting if she had been sent to go get the ingredients.

  He entered the bakery, which was much warmer than the cold streets.

  As he walked towards the counter, he heard a group of middle school girls squealing, "Have you tried Fleeting Heartbeats, yet? It's so cute!"

  "I know right!? Suzumi is so cute!"

  "Kaito's confession in Tsuki's route was the best!

  "I know! Glad I didn't choose Saeko. I would have passed out if I had to hear her voice more than necessary."

  "Seriously, couldn't they atleast choose a better voice actor? Her personality is already boring."

  Again?

  Xuān had heard a pair of high school boys also talking about the same game. It must be famous, then.

  He passed the list to the girl at the counter, still distracted by the conversation going on between the young girls. He wasn't a creep, okay! He can't help if they shout like this in the bakery. It's night too...they should be at home.

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  When he turned his head to face the girl in front of him, he was met with a smile that was just a little too wide for simple courtesy. He ignored it.

  The woman, probably in her early twenties, skimmed over the contents of the list. "You must have a sweet tooth."

  "It's for my sister."

  He replied quickly.

  "Ah...what a nice brother. You don't get to see such nice men often."

  Xuān nodded, "I am just running an errand."

  The woman, Li Huá, her name tag read, put all the stuff in a plastic bag and passed it to him, leaning over the counter.

  "So late at night, don't you think this meeting is fate?"

  Xuān blinked. Twice.

  Turned around, the bag in his hand, and left the store.

  "Rude", he heard the woman say, she was definitely offended.

  He was again out in the cold. The breeze was especially cold that day.

  He walked on the side walks, fished his phone out of his pocket and absentmindedly clicked on Play Store.

  He typed in the name in the search bar— Fleeting Heartbeats.

  The game popped up, the icon was bright with a blonde haired girl. He looked at the few pictures and scrolled down to the reviews.

  "Nice game! Events are interesting and there are so many different endings!"

  "Yesss! Finally a new event for my queen Lumi!"

  "When will you remove Saeko? Add another character instead of her at this point tbh. Why is she even an option. Lol"

  "Why isn't there any new event for Suzumi? I am waiting!"

  Xuān read the reviews.

  He was about to put his phone back but someone bumped into him, his phone slipped out of his hand and fell on the road.

  He heard the man give a non-committal apology, not even stopping to check up on him. Son of a nice lady.

  Xuān sighed and crouched down to pick his phone up.

  Then, he saw it. A glitch. And the screen didn't have the too bright and colorful pictures on it anymore. But instead, it was glitching.

  Xuān's eyes widened as he saw a rabbit like creature. It was definitely supposed to look cute, but for some reason, he felt a shiver ran through his body.

  Then he heard a blaring sound.

  A horn.

  He turned his head, but it was too late. He was blinded by the bright lights of the car. It was too fast. It couldn't stop now.

  Crash.

  He felt his vision go blur, the driver came out and ran to him, fretting and panicking.

  He felt blood trickling down.

  And even at that moment, all he could hear was a ringing sound. Deafening, he heard a few statics. And amidst that, a c

  old, chilling voice spoke,

  "System loading... complete. Welcome, Host."

  Black.