I woke up.

  Cold air brushed against my skin, and silence seeped into my ears.

  The room that Aria had given me was still there, unchanged from yesterday—

  Yet everything felt... artificial, somehow.

  That sensation stemmed from a dissonance born deep within my mind.

  My memories were—distorted.

  When I tried to recall events from before my reincarnation,

  a piercing noise would tear through my mind, shattering words and images to dust.

  Why did I accept this so-called "divine mission"?

  "To avert my gaze from the void"—that’s what I had believed.

  But that answer was far too convenient.

  I met a god, was granted reincarnation, and came into this world.

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  Normally, one would question such a miracle again and again.

  And yet, back then, I nodded—without hesitation.

  The dissonance didn’t stop there.

  The memories I could recall didn’t come as images,

  but as predefined strings of text—

  As if I were reading from an instruction manual someone else had written.

  Was this really my life?

  Or was I merely playing out a role written by someone else?

  The Five-Minute Hypothesis.

  That phrase crossed my mind.

  What if all of my memories were fabricated five minutes ago?

  Whose memories was I living?

  No answer came.

  But one thing was certain:

  I had begun to doubt this entire world.

  Then it happened.

  A soft shimmer cut through my thoughts,

  and a translucent screen appeared in the air before me, glowing faintly.

  I had seen this interface many times in this world—

  a status screen.

  But this time, there were no stats.

  Only a single directive.

  ---

  Quest Accepted

  Client: Dream

  Objective: “Solve the case”

  Reward: “To be paid in dreams (contents unknown)”

  Deadline: None

  ---

  “…Dream.”

  The name slipped from my lips.

  The man in the silk hat I met in that dream—

  his mysterious smile still vivid in my mind.

  And I knew, instinctively:

  This quest was from him.

  Why now?

  It was probably related to Aria.

  But I also knew—

  Somewhere behind this request, a real answer awaited.

  The “divine mission.”

  Aria’s corpse.

  The truth of my reincarnation.

  And the distortion of my memories.

  Somehow, it all felt connected.

  ---

  I closed my eyes in silence.

  My thoughts sank deeper, and I touched upon a single resolve.

  I will accept this quest.

  Not out of curiosity.

  But because this is not an act of rebellion—

  It is a denial.

  A denial of the void.

  A declaration that I am not someone else’s memory—

  but my own person.

  “Solve the case.”

  That is the blade I will drive into this distorted world.

  The key to carve out the truth.

  ---

  I opened the door.

  A cold wind brushed my cheek, and the presence of the town spread before me.

  I would follow the shadow of Aria,

  and question the silence that clung to this city.

  It’s time to begin the investigation.

  And at the end of it—

  I will bring an end to every last lie.