Hajime and Sockoo stepped into the Music Club

  But for Hajime, everything had.

  The room that once felt like home now carried a strange weight, knowing this was the last time he’d be here as a student.

  Makoto was the first to notice them. "Hey, look who finally decided to show up! Took you long enough, lovebirds."

  Hajime rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

  Rizra leaned against the table, smirking. "So, Hajime, how does it feel? Last day in school, last day in Music Club."

  Hajime shrugged. "Weird. Like, I know it’s happening, but it doesn’t feel real yet, y’know?"

  Daka nodded. "That’s how it always is. But it’ll hit you later, trust me."

  Emily clapped her hands together. "Well, we can’t have you leaving without a proper send-off!"

  Bondo grinned. "Yeah, we put something together for you!"

  Before Hajime could react, Makoto grabbed him by the arm and shoved him into a chair. The club members quickly moved around, and within moments, music started playing.

  Angel held up a camera. "We made a slideshow of all the dumb moments you had here! Enjoy!"

  The projector turned on, and the first image that popped up was a very

  unflattering picture of Hajime—mid-sneeze, mouth wide open, looking like he had just seen the gates of hell.

  The room burst into laughter.

  Hajime’s eye twitched. "WHO TOOK THAT?!"

  Makoto grinned. "I did. Beautiful, right?"

  The slideshow continued.force-feeding him vegetables

  Hajime covered his face. "This is bullying. This is actual bullying."

  Sockoo giggled. "It’s called , Hajime."

  More images flashed—Hajime and Daka arguing over music sheets, Hajime getting chased by Emily after an off-hand rude comment, and Hajime laughing with the whole club. As the sun began to set, casting an orange glow over the town, Hajime walked home with Daka, Rizra, and Sockoo

  Sockoo walked beside him, casually bumping into his shoulder every now and then. "So, Mr. Graduate, how does it feel?"

  Hajime sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Honestly? Feels weird. Like, I know I'm leaving, but it hasn’t hit me yet."

  Daka glanced at him. "It’ll hit you when you realize you don’t have to wake up early for school anymore."

  Rizra scoffed. "Yeah, but knowing Hajime, he’s still gonna wake up early out of habit."

  Hajime groaned. "Don’t remind me. I hate how right you are."

  They walked in silence for a bit, the only sound being the occasional cars passing by and the crunch of gravel under their feet.

  Sockoo suddenly stretched her arms behind her head. "Well, at least you’re free now. No more rules, no more teachers, no more security guards stealing your cookies—"

  Hajime gritted his teeth."Don’t bring that up. I still want revenge."

  Daka snickered. "You’re never letting that go, huh?"

  "HELL NO!""One day, that guard will know the pain of stolen happiness!"

  Rizra rolled her eyes. "You are so dramatic."

  Sockoo giggled but then looked at Hajime seriously. "So, what now? After graduation, what’s your plan?"

  Hajime looked up at the sky, thinking for a moment. "Honestly? I don’t know yet. But I do know one thing—I'm not staying in one place forever. I feel like… I have to keep moving. Find my own path, y’know?"

  Daka nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get that. Sometimes, staying still isn’t an option."

  Rizra smirked. "Well, wherever you go, just make sure you don’t die. I refuse to hear some tragic news about you doing something stupid and getting yourself killed."

  Hajime smirked. "Please, It’d take more than that to kill me."

  Sockoo smiled softly. "Well, wherever you go, just don’t forget us, alright?"

  Hajime looked at her, then at Daka and Rizra, and gave a small smile. "Tch. Like I could ever forget you idiots."

  The four of them continued their walk, the sun slowly dipping below the horizon. Even though things were changing, at that moment, everything felt the same—like old times.

  Finally, the last picture showed the entire Music Club together, smiling at the camera, with "Music Club Forever"

  The room fell silent for a moment.

  Then, Makoto grinned. "Alright, Hajime, any last words before you officially leave this place?"

  Hajime looked at everyone, his usual cocky smirk appearing. "Yeah. You guys are all idiots."

  The room groaned. "HEY!"

  Hajime laughed. "But…""I guess I’m gonna miss you guys."

  Sockoo nudged him. "Awww, look at you being all sentimental."

  Hajime scoffed. "Shut up."

  Emily wiped a fake tear. "Our little Hajime is all grown up."

  The group erupted into chaos, teasing, laughing, and making fun of Hajime.

  And for the last time as a student, Hajime laughed with them.

  Sockoo, Daka, and Rizra stopped in their tracks as Hajime suddenly went silentcut shortthrobbed with paineyes turned completely white

  "Hajime?"Hajime didn’t react

  Daka narrowed his eyes. "Oi, Hajime? Quit messing around."

  Hajime didn't respondemotionlessmuttered something under his breath

  "What did you say?"

  Then, his voice came out—low, eerie, almost not his own.

  “The story… is shifting.”

  A sudden gust of windtwitched

  "Hajime! Snap out of it!"his head jerked up violentlystared directly at her—but it felt like he was looking through her.

  Then, as suddenly as it started, his eyes returned to normal.

  His body relaxed, the wind stopped, and he stumbled forward, panting heavily.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Hajime!"

  Hajime blinked rapidly, confused and disoriented. "Wh-What… just happened?"

  Daka crossed his arms, eyes narrowed. "You tell us. One second, you're fine, then you go all creepy on us."

  Rizra placed a hand on her hip. "Your eyes turned completely white. And you said something weird—'The story is shifting' or whatever that means."

  Hajime wiped sweat from his forehead, still breathing heavily. "I… I don’t know. I don’t remember saying that."

  Sockoo kept a steady grip on him, her brows furrowed in worry. "Are you sure you’re okay?"

  Hajime forced a small smirk. "Yeah… Probably just tired. It’s been a long day."

  But deep down, he knew something was wrong.Hajime’s fist crashed into his gutboom

  "Hajime! What the hell?!"

  Hajime tilted his headunnatural grin

  spreading across his face. His eyes flickered between their usual color and a distorted, glitch-like effectunstablebroken puppet on tangled strings

  "Hajime?"

  But Hajime chuckled darklyas if multiple voices were speaking at once"Maaaaybe I’m Hajime… maybe I’m not. Who knows?~"

  Rizra immediately pulled Sockoo back, her eyes sharp with realization. "That’s not Hajime."

  Hajime—or whatever he had become—grinned wider"Not Hajime, huh? Hmmm… then what should you call me? How about… ‘Glitch Hajime’?"

  His body distorted for a split secondhe lunged forward

  Daka, still coughing from the impact, gritted his teethsummoned 30 golden swordslaunched at Hajime

  But Hajime—or rather, Glitch Hajime—didn’t even flinch.

  As the swords approached, his body flickeredthrough him like he wasn’t even there

  "Tch!"

  Glitch Hajime let out a distorted chuckle"Ohhh~? That was cute, Daka. But… you’ll have to do better than that."echoed

  Then, in an instant, he was right in front of Daka

  "Boo."

  Before Daka could react, Glitch Hajime backhanded him with insane force

  Sockoo immediately stepped in, summoning her claws while Rizra clenched her fists, ready to fight.

  "We need to knock him out—NOW!"

  But Glitch Hajime only tilted his head"Aww, you guys wanna play? Let’s see if you can keep up with me~"

  Then, in the blink of an eye, he vanished.a blur of motion zipped past themlightning-fast streak

  BAM!

  Hajime—or rather, Glitch Hajime—was sent flying backward, crashing into the pavement with a loud impact.cracked beneath him

  Everyone turned in shock to see Bondocrackling with residual energygoneserious expression

  "Damn, Hajime,""Didn’t think I’d have to be the one to put you down today."

  Glitch Hajime let out a distorted laughbody twitched unnaturallyglitched back onto his feet

  "Ohohoho~! Now THAT was a punch!""Looks like I’ll actually have some fun today."Sockoo and Rizra quickly moved to Bondo’s side, while Daka got back on his feet, shaking off the pain.

  "Bondo, what the hell are you doing here?!"

  Bondo smirked. "Call it a gut feeling. Good thing I showed up when I did."electric sparks flickering around him"Now, let’s bring our boy back before he does something we’ll all regret."

  Glitch Hajime grinned wide

  "Heh… you’re welcome to try."snapped his fingersblue flames erupted from his body

  They flickered and glitched unnaturallyshifted colors

  "Blue flames? Heh, nah—this is something way worse."

  Glitch Hajime grinned, extending his hand toward them. "Try not to burn too fast, okay?"

  FWOOOOSH!

  He unleashed a massive wave of corrupted blue firebreaking reality itselfburnerased

  Bondo barely dodgedvanished into a fragmented void for a split second before snapping back into existence

  "What the hell kind of flames are those?!"barrier of ice and windbarrier flickered like a broken screenshattering into pixelated fragments

  "Tch—it's breaking through defenses like nothing?!"

  Sockoo grabbed Hajime’s shoulders, trying to snap him out of it

  "Hajime! Fight it! Whatever this is, you can beat it!"

  But Glitch Hajime just tilted his head unnaturally

  "Fight it? Oh, Sockoo, Sockoo, Sockoo…warped"What if I don’t want to?"

  He suddenly vanishedright in front of Sockoo.

  Her eyes widened.

  Glitch Hajime whispered with a smile:

  "Would you still love me if I wasn’t me?"

  Before she could answer, Bondo crashed into him with a lightning-charged tackle

  "Enough talking. If he ain't snapping out of it—"

  Bondo cracked his knuckles, his body sparking with cyan electricity"—we beat it out of him."flinched

  from Bondo’s tackle. Before Bondo could react, a single, lightning-fast kick

  struck him in the gut—

  BOOM!

  Bondo’s body slammed into the grounddeep crater beneath himflickered

  "Tch—damn… that strength…!"

  Glitch Hajime dusted off his shoulder, his body briefly flickering in and out of existence like a corrupted image.

  "Come on, man, I was . Rude as hell."

  His tone was playful, but his grin was unsettling. "Interrupting a heartfelt moment? You got no manners, Bondo."

  Sockoo and Daka stood ready, preparing to fight.

  Rizra clenched her fists. "Damn it, Hajime! Snap out of it!"

  Glitch Hajime slowly turned his head toward her, his eyes flashing with distorted light

  "Snap out of what?""What if I this?"

  The air around him warpedflames flickered between blue and black, occasionally disappearing and reappearing in random spots.

  Sockoo’s hands tightened into fists"Hajime, if you’re still in there, prove it! This isn’t you!"

  Glitch Hajime tilted his head

  "Isn’t it, though?"

  And then, he vanished.

  A split-second laterright behind Sockoo.

  Glitch Hajime leaned in close to Sockoo, his voice dripping with smooth confidence.

  "You know, Sockoo,""you’re even cuter when you’re flustered."

  Sockoo’s face turned red instantlyfight back a squeal."S-Shut up…!"way too soft to be convincing.

  Daka, arms crossed and visibly irritated"Sockoo! Snap out of it! This dude ain’t even Hajime—he’s a glitchy, corrupted weirdo!"

  Sockoo tried to shake it offGlitch Hajime smirked and ran a hand through his messy, slightly glowing hair

  "Tch. Normal Hajime follows rules. Me? I

  'em."

  Sockoo covered her face"Damn it, why is he kinda… kinda…"

  Daka’s eye twitched."No. No, no, no! Don't you dare fall for this. This is not okay!"

  Sockoo tried to shake off the thoughtsstealing glances at Glitch Hajimesmirking like a rogue villain.

  "He’s just… so cool,"

  Daka threw his hands up."I DON’T CARE! STOP SIMPING FOR GLITCH HAJIME!"

  As Daka kept yelling at Sockoo, a new voice cut through the chaos.

  "Tch. What the hell is all this noise about?"

  Everyone turned to see Ray Hamamoto standing there, unwrapping a lollipop with his usual lazy expression.Glitch HajimeDaka, Sockoo, and Rizra

  "Lemme guess,""Hajime’s gone off the deep end, and now he thinks he’s the main villain?"

  Glitch Hajime smirked, spinning a flickering blue flame between his fingers."Villain? Nah, man. More like... an upgrade."

  Ray popped the lollipop into his mouth and exhaled."Right. Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy.""So, you just gonna stand there looking edgy, or do I gotta knock you back to normal myself?"

  Glitch Hajime chuckled."Oh? You think you can take me, Candy Boy?"

  Ray took the lollipop out of his mouth, "Candy Boy?"

  He scoffed, then cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Glitch Hajime. I was just here to chill, but now? I think I’ll beat the pixels outta you."glitching blur of blue flames

  BAM!

  Hajime’s body jerked backward, crashing into the ground with a heavy thud.

  Silence.

  Nobody saw what happened. Not even Daka, Rizra, or Sockoo.

  One second, Glitch Hajime was charging, and the next, he was out cold on the pavement.

  Ray casually adjusted his sleeve, rolling his shoulder."Hmph. That was easier than I thought."

  Rizra narrowed her eyes. "Wait… what the hell just happened?"

  Daka looked around in confusion. "Did anyone even see him move?"

  Bondo, still lying on the ground from earlier, blinked. "Nope. I was expecting a whole battle, man."

  Sockoo ran to Hajime's unconscious body, shaking him."Hajime?! Hey, wake up!"Hajime was back to normal… just completely knocked out.

  Ray put the lollipop back in his mouth."Relax, he’s fine. Just needed to be shut down real quick before he got annoying."

  Daka stared at Ray, still in shock."How the hell did you punch him that fast?"

  Ray smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"“Follow me.”

  Glitch Hajime. Reality bends around him, his flames corrupt, his body flickering as if he no longer fully exists. What follows is a desperate battle against someone who looks like Hajime, talks like Hajime—but clearly isn’t.

  Ray Hamamoto appears—and ends the fight instantly, knocking Hajime out before anyone can even see him move.