Today was uneventful as always. In the end, you still don't know what caused that chat screen to pop up unscientifically.

You entered your home with a heavy heart, suddenly noticing that due to the strange things that happened around you, you started to become busy and your violent tendency wasn't as frequent as before. You wondered if this was a good thing.

Too absorbed in your own thoughts, you casually went inside your bedroom and didn't notice the doll that lied on top of your bed. It wasn't until you put down your bag did you see it blantantly changing its position in front of your eyes, as if purposely dropping its act of being a normal doll.

ーnot that you have ever thought of it as normal in the first place.

You stood there motionlessly. Your scream stuck inside your throat as you, right now, have no idea whatsoever how to exorcise the wicked soul who possessed this doll. Eventually, the doll moved close enough for it to touch the hem of your clothes. Its button eyes were looking in your direction, and its round head tilted to the side.

「(Y/n)?」

Your hands instinctively went to block your ears. The sound of someone calling your name was so close as if it were whispered right beside your ears. You turned around, looking for the source of voice, only to find that you were alone in this room, so the only possibility is this creepy doll.

As if to confirm your assumption further, it ran towards you and weakly pulled on the edge of your shirt with its soft cotton hands.「(Y/n), it's me, Kai! Can you hear me?」

Reflexively, your hand slapped the cursed thing away, causing it to fly across the room and hit the wall. You can hear it scream as it hits the floor.

「Hey, what was that for?! Are you still angry about what happened? I'm sorry for provoking you on the rooftop, okay? Let's call it a truce and forgive each other.」

You clenched your fists, disgust and fear clearly reflexed in your expression as that thing got up from the floor and patted itself. "What the hell are you...? How did you know my name?"

The ugly doll stumbled down as if shocked by your inquiry.「Iー I know I look unlike myself right now and I don't know why too, but it's me, Kai! You remember me, right?」

You frowned. "I know no one with a name like that."

The doll quivered slightly, as if it had taken a massive blow.「Whaー What about Chen Miao? Surely you know him, right?」

You don't know that name.

Though you don't know that name, why does it give you a sense of melancholy?

"Who?"

The doll remained shocked. If it could make an expression, it would have been flabbergasted by the fact that you, of all people, can forget your obsession. It then stood there for a while, as if mulling over something.

It looks at your school attire; you were wearing a different school uniform. It recalled how you once had the demeanor of a flirty fox, but now all it could see is a stressed cat. The doll looked at its soft hands and wondered if this is not actually the (Y/n) that he once knew but a different version of her. After all, anything can happen in a virtual game.

It then felt on its butts softly, as if losing hope. If its assumption was correct, then how will it be able to leave this game?

As it was about to be engulfed by despair, a soft mewl sounded from behind it, and from the tiny gap of the unclosed door, a disheveled little tabby kitten made its way out, peeking its head, and its infected eyes lit up at the sight of the doll.

Although Kai doesn't know why, he had found these poor animals inside that pet room of yours and had tried his best to accommodate them in a better environment after seeing the state they were in. As a result, they started to cozy up to him, especially the young ones.

Normally, people would have figured out the truth after seeing the state of those animals—that you were abusing those poor things—but Kael has never viewed you as that type of person. Sure, you were obsessed, but you weren't cruel, so his assumption when he saw those poor animals was that they were stray animals that you picked up, and you were trying to help them but just didn't have enough time to treat them.

So when the kitten suddenly pounced on the doll, Kael was pleasantly surprised that it had enough energy to do that despite how sickly it looks, but imagine his surprise when you suddenly scowled, eyes glaring at the tiny kitten with rage and disgust. Kai suddenly had a bad feeling when you suddenly grabbed a pillow, and the doll instictively shielded the kitten; fortunately, whether it was intentional or not, your aim was off, and it hit the wall. The kitten hissed and ran back to where it comes from while Kai looked at you in disbelief—not that anyone can see it since the doll's expression remained unchanged.

「Are you insane?!」

Unfortunately, that remark only caused you further irritation as you grabbed the doll. Compared to how scared you were of this cursed thing before, the you right now were so fearless that you had walked to the kitchen while holding it, and your other hand swiftly grabbed a kitchen knife.

"Ah, that's right. I'm insane, I'm crazy, I'm a lunatic!" You screamed, hair disheveled and eyes swirling with paranoia. "You think you know me? You think you understand what I'm going through? You have no idea! None of you!" 

"I knew that you were crazy, but I didn't know you were this crazy."

"Are those poor creatures not enough for you to torture, and now you decided to resort to harming a human being instead?"

"How can you laugh when you almost harm a person?"

Your breath quickened, and your chest felt stuffy as that person's words resounded in your ears. There's this 'urge' again, telling you to leave the talking doll behind and teach that kitten a lesson for dirtying your floor with its paws. You clenched your fingers around the knife, eyes closed, as you tried to calm yourself down to resist this frustration.

However, it was all futile when you could feel your resolve slowly crumbling down, and resorting to the last option, you plunged the knife into the doll's soft, cotton chest. The fabric tore, a ragged hole appearing where the stitched smile once was. The cursed thing struggled helplessly, but facing your strength, it was no match for you.

「Get a grip of yourself!」It scolded harshly.

Yet, as its button eyes met yours, facing the way you look as if you were on the verge of breaking down and falling completely into the abyss, especially when it overlapped with the you in his memory, it could feel his non-existent heart clenched painfully. Ironically, it should have felt painful from the stabbing you did, yet it felt nothing, and laughably enough, it felt sorry for you.

Kai felt like he had a gist of what's happening right now.