"All my life," he continued slowly, his voice shaking slightly as he tried to steady his breathing,
"I've pushed myself harder than anyone else around me. I studied longer than everyone, worked harder than everyone, topped every class, kept the highest GPA in the entire college… and even after all of that I was never satisfied."
Tears rolled down his face again while he spoke, though he tried to wipe them away quickly.
*Sniff*
"Just imagine spending your entire life chasing something," he continued,
"and then one day you realize that someone else can reach the same place without even trying."
The words hit me harder than I expected.
"Justin solved the equation," he said quietly. "And I couldn't."
Guilt settled inside my chest immediately, but I didn't interrupt him. I knew this wasn't something he had decided in the moment — this frustration had clearly been building inside him ever since the professor revealed the truth about the chips.
Anthony stayed silent as well, though his jaw tightened slightly while he listened.
"I'm sorry," William continued, shaking his head slowly.
"I shouldn't have done something like that… I just couldn't tolerate the idea that some stupid chip was fucking with my head."
He looked down again before speaking the final words.
"I'm sorry, guys."
For a moment I didn't know what to say. The guilt in my chest felt heavier than the silence in the room, yet I knew this wasn't the moment to argue or correct him.
I simply placed my hand on his.
"I don't know how to say this properly," I admitted, "but you are still the best, William. You—"
"Shut up, Justin," he interrupted immediately, though there was no anger in his voice.
"Don't say that," he continued while shaking his head.
"You have something that I worked my entire life to reach, and even if it's not your fault.... you can't pretend that it doesn't matter. I just… I just can't handle this ."
"I'm not pretending anything," I replied calmly.
"A chip can't erase who you are. You still score higher grades than almost everyone in the college, and the world hasn't stopped progressing either, which means that chip isn't turning people into idiots."
Anthony finally spoke.
"You're right, Justin." He stepped forward and looked directly at William.
"You might have worse fashion sense than me," Anthony said while folding his arms, "but you're still my friend and that's what matters."
For the first time since I had known him, Anthony's voice cracked slightly.
Even William looked surprised.
"You're also the only one allowed to make jokes about my clothes," Anthony added while sniffing once and trying to laugh. "Justin doesn't even try."
William let out a weak laugh.
"That's right," I said. "Come back to us, William. You're still the smartest person I know and that's not going to change just because of some stupid piece of technology."
I paused before continuing.
"And don't forget something else — almost everyone on this planet has that chip inside their head, not just you. If the world is still moving forward, then it clearly hasn't stopped people from doing incredible things."
William looked at both of us silently for several seconds.
Then he stood up slowly and pulled Anthony and me into a tight hug.
"I've caused you all too much trouble… thank you… and I'm sorry" he whispered while sniffing again. "Without you guys… I don't know what I would've done."
"It's okay," I said while patting his back gently.
"We'll go back home and everything will go back to normal. We'll live the same way we always have, and no matter what happens we'll deal with it together. But from now on you're never doing something like that again."
William nodded quietly.
For the first time since the accident, I felt certain that our friend had returned to us.
Erik stood near the door during the entire conversation, still confused about most of what we had discussed, yet he never interrupted the moment. He simply watched us quietly and smiled when the tension in the room finally eased.
Then suddenly the Holocast screen mounted on the wall flickered.
A loud alarm echoed from the Holocast Screen.
The news channel appeared instantly, flashing emergency warnings across the display.
"Global grid failure has halted all Chrono services," the news anchor announced urgently.
"Countries heavily dependent on Chrono systems are experiencing severe communication breakdowns and technological disruptions." the news Anchor said, placing her hand on the table... but the last line hung over the room longer than we had thought it would.
"All international flights and teleportation networks have been suspended until the grid stabilizes."
The room fell silent.
Because in that moment, none of us realized something terrifying.
The entire world had just begun to fall apart... And we had lost our way home.