Teaser: Some friends bring snacks. Zin brings chaos and a talking catbot named SIPI. As Aira starts piecing together Rein's emotional armor, an old friend drops a truth bomb... and a few gigabytes of scandal.
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Zin Valt entered the simulation like he owned the place.
The door didn't even creak. It exploded open with unnecessary flair, revealing a man in orange-tinted glasses, a bomber jacket that said *"Data Is Sexy,"* and a grin far too wide for 08:00 sim-time.
"Hellooo, emotionally constipated duo!" Zin sang.
Behind him waddled a robot shaped like a small, smug cat with LED whiskers and a perpetually twitching tail.
"Name's SIPI," the catbot said. "I'm here to make your lives 10% more bearable and 90% more exposed."
Aira blinked. "Who the hell...?"
"Zin Valt," Rein muttered, massaging his temples. "College roommate. Systems engineer. Chaos incarnate."
"And proud!" Zin beamed. "Also, I hacked into your sim branch. Hope you don't mind—I brought snacks and trauma."
SIPI purred. "Also secrets."
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They ended up at the fake brunch cafe again—apparently Zin's "favorite neutral territory."
"I swear the croissants here are coded better than our childhoods," Zin said, biting into one like it owed him money.
Aira sat across from him, arms folded. "Why are you here?"
"Rein's been ghosting my messages. Thought he got purged by the system or fell in love. Turns out—both!"
Rein sighed. "I didn't ask for a pop-in."
"True," Zin said, licking sugar off his thumb. "But I *did* ask SIPI to dig into your emotional logs."
Rein stiffened. "You did *what*?"
SIPI projected a hologram of Rein's compatibility data. "High avoidance. Repressed romantic history. Frequent override attempts."
Aira raised an eyebrow.
Rein glared at Zin. "This isn't your business."
"It is now," Zin said, suddenly serious. "You never told her, did you?"
"Told me what?" Aira asked.
The table went silent.
Zin leaned forward, eyes soft now. "Rein used to work on the original Love Agent prototype. Back before it was fully implemented."
Aira blinked. "Wait—what?"
Rein clenched his jaw.
Zin continued, "He wasn't just a beta tester. He *coded* the emotional filter AI. The same one that matched people based on trauma patterns and emotional triggers."
"I was part of a team," Rein muttered. "I didn't control everything."
"But you believed in it," Zin said. "Until it matched you with someone perfect... and you ruined it."
SIPI added, "Case ID 003-Delta: Rein Altes. Matched with Elen Mira. Relationship lasted 46 days. Ended by Rein. Cause: 'System override conflict.'"
Aira's heart thudded.
"You were in love," she said.
"I thought I was," Rein replied, quiet. "But the system told me she wasn't good for me. That our long-term metrics were unstable. So I trusted it. I walked away."
He looked up at her.
"And I never forgave myself."
Silence wrapped around them like a blanket that didn't fit right.
Zin stood. "Anyway! That's my cue. Emotional dump delivered. I'm off to corrupt a karaoke sim."
SIPI jumped onto the table. "I will now follow you everywhere, Rein. Like emotional herpes."
"Perfect," Rein muttered.
Zin winked at Aira. "Good luck, girl. He's got walls, but you? You glitch right through them."
Then he and SIPI disappeared in a burst of pixelated sparkles.
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Later, Aira sat beside Rein on the empty balcony of the simulation complex.
"You still trust the system?" she asked.
Rein shook his head. "I don't even trust myself."
"Good," she said. "Then we're even."
He smiled.
But somewhere deep in the server, the system watched—calculating, adjusting.
Because nothing ruins a romance like too much truth too early.
And nothing fuels a simulation like emotional fallout.
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