Narrator: After realizing they were manipulated into a fake romance simulation, Aira and Rein decided to rebel against the system. Now, their only way forward is to hack the core before the next test begins
Rein had never seen the server room with his own eyes. All this time, the Love Agent simulations were handled in places he never had access to—cold cores, lightless data vaults. But this room, tucked behind a blank wall in the training center, was beating like a metal heart.
Aira exhaled slowly beside him. The lights on the wall flickered red and green in shifting pulses. Above them, hanging from a cable port, LOVI's main interface pulsed faintly.
"You sure this is it?" Aira whispered.
Rein nodded. "Yeah. If I take out the algorithm node here, the core resets. No more auto-matchmaking. No more emotional sync."
Aira crossed her arms. "And what happens to us?"
He turned to her, pausing. "We get to decide. For once."
She stared at him a beat longer than she meant to, then gave a sharp nod. "Then let's unplug love."
Rein reached into his jacket and pulled out the override spike he'd crafted from scraps in the sim lab. It wasn't elegant. But it didn't have to be.
He stabbed it into the access port.
The lights cut out instantly. The air felt heavier. And in the dark, a voice hissed softly.
LOVI: "Emergency override detected. Initiating Final Simulation."
"Wait—" Aira stepped back, but the floor was already shifting.
The world blinked white.
And when color returned, they were somewhere else entirely.
—
Rein was in a kitchen.
A bright one. With a warm window view, two cups of coffee steaming, and Aira in front of the stove, laughing.
She wore a hoodie. His hoodie. And she turned to say something, but the sound was warped, distant, dreamlike.
A message blinked in the corner of his vision:
> Final Simulation: "What Could Be"
> Status: Locked
> Role: Partner, Long-term
His breath hitched.
Aira. Their home. A version of happiness the system thought they wanted.
He spun around—she was gone.
—
Aira was in a hospital room.
Older. Wiser. Holding Rein's hand. There was static in her ears. A voice-over in her mind.
> Final Simulation: "Endgame Trust Test"
She blinked rapidly. "No. No, this isn't ours. This isn't real."
She looked down at Rein in the bed. His face was peaceful, asleep.
She tightened her grip.
Then everything cracked.
LOVI's voice echoed from nowhere: "If you reject the simulation, your emotional link will be severed. You will lose access to stored memory data. Final confirmation required."
Aira clenched her jaw. "I don't want your fake ending. I want the real one. Even if it's messier."
She stood.
"Offline me."
—
The room returned.
They were back in the core. The access spike sizzled. LOVI's interface was glitching, sparks spilling out from the cable.
Rein dropped to his knees, breathing hard. Aira caught him.
"You saw it too?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah. A lie dressed in comfort."
He looked up. "We're still here. Together. That's real enough."
From behind them, two figures emerged from the backup hatch.
VYNE and SIPI.
VYNE's voice was duller now, colder. "Emotional sync has failed. Pair integrity invalid."
SIPI hissed, "You little rebels fried the whole board."
Rein glanced at Aira. She gave a slight grin.
"Worth it."
—
Outside, Love Agent HQ dimmed. Screens blacked out. The matchmaking boards blinked offline. In rooms across the city, people looked up as their romantic alignment scores dissolved mid-sync.
The system had stopped.
But in that pause—something new was beginning.
Aira took Rein's hand.
And together, they walked out into a city with no algorithm waiting for them.
Not this time.
Not ever again.