The sensation of a strangely familiar energy slid down his back, leaving him breathless for a moment.

  'Sintony with Math? What the heck is that?!' he wondered, his heart seemingly rag even though he couldn't feel its beat.

  As if the dream was aware of his fusion, the writings began to transfain. The mist reanized with almost meical precision, taking on a new form.

  [ Today you learo t ]

  [ ting: The process of listing the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...) in an orderly sequeo determihe quantity of objects in a set or to ee elements. This process is the foundation of arithmetid basiumerical operations ]

  [ Math is proud of you! ]

  [ Math wants to reward you... ]

  And after a few seds of waiting, the mist thied once more, f other mystical writings in front of him:

  [ gratutions! ]

  [ You have obtained- ]

  But the writing didn't have time to finish.

  A sudden, sharp pain overwhelmed Mirac.

  But not in the dream. No!

  It was real, crete, tangible, and it seemed to be ing directly from his head.

  Something had struck him.

  And whatever it was, not only had it caused him head pain, but it had also woken him up.

  Like a sudden rip, the night sky abruptly vahe stars that had been sparkling around him moments before dissolved in the blink of aaking away the dreamlike writings that danced in the air with their ethereal glow.

  Everything vanished suddenly, leaving him in a void of fusion and pain.

  Finally, Mirac opened his eyes, finding himself abruptly thrust bato the real world.

  The fresh grass beh his hands felt sharp, and the rough trunk of the tree pressed against his back.

  With a muffled groan, Mirac sat up abruptly, instinctively bringing a hand to his head. His fingers found a small, throbbing bump, and a grimace of pain crossed his face as he tried to massage it.

  "Ouch!" he grumbled, massaging the sore spot. "What the heck was that?!"

  His gaze drifted down to the ground to his left, where he saw the object that had probably struck him: a red apple, perfectly round and shiny, y on the grass o him.

  "An apple? Where the heck did that e from?" he muttered in fusion, instinctively looking up.

  As soon as he did, Mirac got an immediate response.

  "An apple tree?!" he excimed, surprised, the branches den with red, shiny fruits, hanging like heavy clusters swayily to the rhythm of the wind. "Wow, I didn't even notice! Well, I guess I must have been too tired to pay attention."

  As the pain in his head gradually subsided, Mirac lowered his gaze back to the apple. He picked it up, turning it over in his hands with a raised eyebrow, as if it might somehow provide him with an answer.

  "What oh did I just dream?!" he wondered aloud, the memory still vivid in his mind.

  The bck starry sky...

  The mysterious writings...

  And those messages? What did they mean?

  Despite the apparent absurdity of the dream, Mirac couldn't shake the feeling that it was something more than just a simple fantasy.

  Those words, den with a meaning that eluded his uanding, kept eg in his mind like a persistent reverberation.

  Everything he had seen couldn't simply be reduced to a simple dream caused by fatigue or his fertile imagination.

  There was definitely something bigger, something that Mirac still couldn't expin, but that he felt clearly inside himself, like an invisible thread that tied him to that mysterious event.

  After getting up to head toward the castle and go up to his room, Mirac began to analyze aloud every detail of what had appeared in the dream.

  "Math is the nguage of the Universe… From now on, you are in Sintony with Math…" he repeated quietly, slowly enunciating each word. "Math-"

  Suddenly, Mirac stopped, his eyes wide open as if struck by a lightning bolt of realization. His heart started pounding hard in his chest, eg with an iy that nearly made him stagger.

  "Wait a minute! M-Math?!" he excimed, bringing a hand to his forehead. "Damn it, how did I not realize this detail right away!"

  Mirac stood still for a moment, feeling his emotions boil in his blood. The more he thought about it, the more his fists ched, while the tension grew so much that he could feel the weight of the apple in his hand.

  "From all the messages that appeared before me in the vision, ohing seems certain: in one way or another, Math is involved in all of this!" he decred firmly, even though that realization burned inside him, deeply irritating him.

  But at the same time, it fused him even more, because he couldn't uand how something like this ossible.

  Like... had "Math" really tried to unicate with him? It sure seemed that way.

  But if that was really the case, who or what was this "Math"?

  In his old world, Math was nothing more than an abstract discipline, a logical cept, a series of equations and theorems to study and apply.

  But here? Could it really represent a tangible Being?

  A supernatural entity?

  A GOD?

  Certainly, Mirac hypothesized, it must have been something or someone powerful enough to pull him into that transdental vision.

  And this being, paradoxically, seemed to be called "Math."

  Therefore, the question immediately sprang to Mirac's mind, sharp and insidious:

  'Could this be the same MATH that had ruined my previous life?!'

  Given all the stras he had experienced, such a wild and absurd possibility couldn't be ruled out. But the very thought seemed unthinkable to him, a reality so far from what he had hoped to build for himself.

  At this thought, every fiber of his being seemed to rebel strongly against this reality, so ued and unbearable.

  "Tsz! Damn it! It's true that I cried today, but it was only because of the emotion! Not because I FAVE Math!" he thought, remembering the tears he had shed after finally learning to t.

  However, the more he tried to justify those emotions, the more the irritation inside him grew, untamable, like a fire raging mercilessly.

  "But then, how dare it even tried to talk to me?! It has absolutely nht to do so!" he burst out, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.

  A moment ter, ahought crossed his mind, and his anger exploded again.

  "No, wait a sed... Could it be that... Math wants to ruin my life again?!" he snarled, furious, furrowing his brow in anger. "Damn it, screw you, Math!"

  Frankly, though, Mirac didn't even know who or what he was referring to at that moment.

  But his anger, now untrolble and powerful like a wave crashing over him, had to be released somehow.

  Soon after, breathing deeply and rexing his fists, as if trying to calm himself, Mirac thought:

  "From my past life, I've definitely learhat nothing good ever happens when Math is involved! Therefore, the best idea is defio not get further involved in all of this!"

  He stopped for a moment, thinking in silence, as if he were ready to make a definitive decision.

  "Yeah, I've decided! I'll ignore what just happened and move on with my life, like nothing ever happened!"

  The sound of his own voice, so firm aain, gave him a small sense of relief. But, despite his vi, the feeling that something much rger y seemed unwilling to leave him pletely.

  Still, he did his best to ighat thought.

  "I will not allow Math to ruin this life as well!" he excimed with determination, like a challenge against the fate that seemed i on breaking him.

  But behind those words, there was anoal that Mirated to protect at all costs: to finally live a peaceful, calm, and worry-free life.

  A life in which he could live well...

  To eat without w about starving…

  To sleep peacefully under a safe roof, with soft bo warm him in winter…

  To love and be loved by his family…

  A simple, fortable life, without any kind of problems.

  And Mirac—along with Vector—was willing to do anything to protect that fragile future he dreamed of: even to smother his immense curiosity, the ohat had alushed him to seek answers, to explore the unknown.

  Now more thahat curiosity tormented him, driving him to iigate the vision that kept lingering in his mind.

  But despite the persistence of his thoughts, Mirac seemed to resist.

  Because he was ready to give up even his own nature, just to live in peace.

  "Better safe than sorry, right?" he murmured, with a smile that carried bnation and bitter realism.

  Then, like a sudden wave, ahought hit him, almost as if it were meant to wake him up and distract him from his long refle.

  A thought as trivial as it was urgent, pulling him back to his daily life, full of more crete problems.

  "Ahhh..." he sighed, scratg his head in frustration. "Damn it! As if that wasn't enough, I just remembered I still have to do my homework!"

  He sighed again, trying to push the irritation away.

  "I'd better hurry up, then. If I finish before dinner, I finally lie down on my bed a. After a day like this, my body and mind definitely !"

  A practical thought, simple, far from plications.

  Shaking his head, he tried to shake off the lingering images of that supernatural vision that tio torment him, attempting t himself back to the reality he knew.

  Then, he resumed walking, his steps steady, but his heart still heavy.

  His hand, without even thinking too much, brought the apple to his mouth, and the fruit split under his bite with a satisfying sound. The fresh, sweet juice ed around his tongue, and a wave of warmth flooded his mouth, giving him a moment of pure pleasure.