Chapter 18: I Don’t Trust Reality Anymore, But We Still Have to Save the World1. When You Die in a Dream, You Wake Up… Right?I woke up screaming.
Not a manly scream.
A high-pitched, nightmare-fueled shriek that could probably shatter gss.
"YUUJI, SHUT UP!"
BAM.
A pillow smmed into my face.
I filed wildly. My arms punched the air. My legs kicked nothing. My soul left my body for a second.
And then—
I froze.
Wait.
Where was the blood?
Where was the pain?
Where was the killer cyborg that ripped out my spine and turned my organs into confetti?
Instead, I saw—
A small, messy apartment.
A tiny kitchen.
A low table covered in empty ramen cups.
A couch with a very angry assassin girl gring at me.
Mikasa.
Alive.
"...Wait," I croaked. "Am I dead?"
Mikasa’s gre got even sharper.
"If you were dead, I wouldn’t have to deal with you," she said ftly. "Unfortunately, you’re still here."
I blinked.
Looked at my hands.
Touched my face.
I was real.
I was alive.
And that meant—
"IT WAS A DREAM?!"
Mikasa sighed.
Then she leaned forward and flicked my forehead.
"OW!" I grabbed my head. "What was that for?!"
"For being stupid," she said.
…
Okay. Fair.
2. My Brain is Melted, and Mikasa Doesn’t CareI colpsed onto the floor.
I felt like I just ran a marathon inside my own skull.
Because WHAT. WAS. THAT. DREAM.
It was so real.
The pain. The fear. The way Nexus tore Mikasa apart. The way I died in agony.
And then—
Nothing.
Just… waking up in this apartment. Like it never happened.
I shivered.
Mikasa stared at me.
"Why are you making that face?" she asked.
"I just had a nightmare where you and I were brutally murdered," I muttered.
She blinked.
Then she smirked.
"Good."
…
WHAT KIND OF REACTION WAS THAT?!
3. Oh Right, We Still Have a ProblemI sat up.
Tried to calm down.
But my brain was still going a hundred kilometers per hour.
"Wait, wait, wait—" I rubbed my temples. "If that was a dream, then what’s actually happening right now?"
Mikasa sighed.
"We’re pnning how to take down Nexus," she said.
…
Oh.
Right.
The murderous AI that still wanted me dead.
The corporation that ruined Mikasa’s life.
The unstoppable monster that I just dreamed about being killed by.
…
I swallowed.
"So we’re still doomed, huh?"
Mikasa shrugged.
"Probably."
…
I hate my life.
4. The Hacker Girl is No Help (Again.)The front door burst open.
"HELLO, NERDS!"
I flinched.
Mikasa groaned.
And the hacker girl waltzed in like she owned the pce.
She was wearing an oversized hoodie and holding a bag of convenience store snacks.
"I got chips," she announced.
Mikasa crossed her arms.
"You were gone for three hours."
"I got distracted."
I frowned.
"By what?"
The hacker girl grinned.
"Memes."
…
I hate her.
5. The Final, Stupid PnMikasa sighed.
"Did you at least get the data we needed?"
The hacker girl plopped onto the couch.
"Yup!" she said. "We have everything on Nexus’s headquarters, security, and weaknesses."
I perked up.
"Weaknesses?"
The hacker girl nodded.
"Yeah. Turns out their entire system runs on a single central server."
I blinked.
"…That’s dumb."
Mikasa frowned.
"That’s really dumb."
The hacker girl grinned.
"Yeah. But it means if we destroy that server, Nexus is gone for good."
I sat up.
For the first time in this entire nightmare—
I felt hope.
"Okay," I breathed. "So… how do we break in?"
The hacker girl cpped her hands.
"Gd you asked!"
She pulled out a hand-drawn blueprint.
I looked at it.
And immediately regretted it.
Because it was the stupidest pn I had ever seen.
6. The Pn is Stupid, But We Have No ChoiceThe pn was insane.
Step 1: Sneak into Nexus HQ by pretending to be pizza delivery guys.Step 2: Cause chaos in the lobby so security gets confused.Step 3: Hack the elevators to reach the server room.Step 4: Destroy everything and run away before we die.I stared at the paper.
Then I stared at the hacker girl.
Then I stared at Mikasa.
"…This is the dumbest pn I’ve ever seen," I said.
Mikasa sighed.
"Yeah."
The hacker girl grinned.
"But it’ll work!"
…
I didn’t like how confident she sounded.
7. Last-Minute Panic ModeWe only had one day before we put the pn into action.
So I spent that entire day panicking.
Mikasa spent it sharpening knives.
The hacker girl spent it watching cat videos.
"How are you so rexed?!" I yelled at her.
She shrugged.
"I’m a genius."
Mikasa snorted.
"You’re an idiot."
The hacker girl grinned.
"An idiot genius."
…
I hate both of them.
8. The Night Before DeathThat night, I couldn’t sleep.
I y on the couch, staring at the ceiling, feeling uneasy.
Because…
That dream I had.
It felt too real.
Like a warning.
Like a message from the future.
Like…
No matter what we did, we were going to die.
I clenched my fists.
"No," I whispered.
Not this time.
This time, I’d make sure Mikasa survived.
This time, I’d make sure I survived.
I took a deep breath.
Closed my eyes.
And hoped that, when I woke up…
I wouldn’t have another nightmare.
To Be Continued…Next Time: "Somehow, We Broke Into a Cyber Fortress, and I’m Already Regretting It"
