“Why me?” Cole asked.

“They were erasing things,” Mateo whispered. “Files labeled ‘discrepancy’ and ‘suppressed’. So I made the game remember them.”

Marianne moved away and began a podcast assembling the real timelines behind the glitches. Mateo vanished, his name reduced to whispers in dev circles. The company that had pushed the update lost contracts and rebranded. M remained unknown.