That night, insomnia clawed its way back again — but this time I welcomed it.
The face from that viral clip wouldn’t leave my head.
Was that really the same Akai I kept meeting in Night Lattice?
If our timelines were almost perfectly synced, he should’ve been in the Dream Core stage too.
So how did he die? In the real world?
Or was the dream world responsible?
What the hell happened to him?
I tore through every onion link forum, every buried thread I could think of—Night Lattice dreamer deaths, missing players, glitches, murder, system collapse.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
The silence felt intentional.
And then the reality I had been avoiding hit me like a punch to the ribs.
Airi.
What would happen to her now?
His only family. His only reason. The one person he fought the system for.
I flipped open my calendar. Two days.
Her life support window had two days left.
My throat closed.
“Two days… how the hell were you planning to save her?”
Even if he had lived—what plan could possibly exist?
Did he give up?
Did he… kill himself?
No. I couldn’t believe that.
Not the guy who held himself together on nothing but stubborn hope and scraps of strength.
Not the guy who looked like he’d rather tear apart the universe than let his sister die.
But then what?
What the fuck happened?
Somewhere between my spiraling thoughts and my frantic scrolling, a strange post flickered into view:
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
I don’t know why no one remembers you, David.
Where are you?
I clicked it.
404.
Gone.
And when I refreshed, even the title was gone.
Like it had never existed.
“Did I imagine that?” I whispered. My eyes burned. My hands shook.
Why was I even doing this? My own life was a landfill.
Why did I have to meet him?
Was I the reason he died?
A voice crawled up my spine—too familiar, too cruel:
You always ruin people. No surprise there.
I shoved it away.
The next morning, I couldn’t function. Words blurred. Screens buzzed. None of it mattered.
I signed out early and headed to the hospital.
The least I can do is pay for her bed, I told myself.
Akai deserved that. For trying. For fighting. For not abandoning his world.
When I told the receptionist I was a friend, she nodded and led me to a room.
Airi was awake.
She looked fragile, but beautiful — the kind of beauty that survives storms. I whispered a soft hello, afraid even sound might break her.
“I’m sorry,” she said gently. “I don’t know you.”
“I’m… your brother’s friend,” I managed.
I was still trying to figure out how to say the words he’s dead when she smiled faintly.
“Oh—you know Leon? Wait a second, he just stepped out for formalities. He’ll be back soon.”
Something ice-cold slid through my spine.
Leon?
I forced the words out.
“Is Leon another name for your brother Akai?”
The moment the name left my mouth, something shattered in her expression.
Her heart monitor spiked. Tears slipped down her cheeks before she even registered crying.
“A…kai?” she whispered. “Who is that? Why does that name hurt?”
She clutched her head. “I don’t know—I don’t know—stop—!”
I panicked. “I’m sorry, wrong room,” I blurted, signaling the nurse and stepping out.
I leaned against the hallway wall, shaking.
Why did saying his name break her?
I was certain now: whatever happened to Akai… it happened inside Night Lattice.
And the real world was rewriting itself around it.
But then another question stabbed through the fog:
Why doesn’t Airi remember him at all?
Who the fuck is Leon?
I called Yuki.
“Can you send me that reel you showed yesterday? The apartment case?”
“What reel?” she laughed. “I shared nothing like that. Stop being dramatic.”
“No—the mysterious death—”
“Girl, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The line clicked dead.
I scoured search engines, social platforms, darknet layers.
Nothing.
No Akai.
No case.
No apartment footage.
Like he never existed.
And then the words flashed back in my skull:
I don’t know why no one remembers you, David.
Where are you?
