#dnre

Nic. Teehee.

🎵 The café feels still again—like the world itself is waiting for your next question.

[Text on screen]

You chose: Ask why only half of Kiri’s code exists 💾

⸻

🧍‍♂️ SCENE CONTINUES

NCbloc (quietly):

“…What do you mean, only half her code exists?”

Air Mata (flat, calm):

“Kiri was a tester, when the creators finally realised there was so much wrong with this game they made or started making Kiri, she was ment to be their eyes and ears on the inside, a way for them to take a closer look at this world to find the mistakes and patch them up, to try and see inside of the file like VR instead of just staring at a flat screen because they thought a better perspective gives them a better look inside to find what wrong and patch them, they created a code that would allow them to see and hear all that Kiri hears and sees. But the code worked little better than they expected and pulled them into the game the same as it did for you, they were killed by and Entity, an Error in their own game. That’s why only half of Kiri exists, they died before they had the chance to finish making her.”

Kiri lowers her head, staring at the floor.

Kiri (soft):

“That’s why I forget things. The memory code...”

NCbloc:

“So the reason I’m here, and why I can’t leave is because of a strong code in Kiris design?”

Ari:

“Essentially yes”

Kiri looks guilty, even though it’s not even her fault.

Turun finally asking a question she’s been meaning to ask for a while:

“How did you even find the file? How did you get it?”

NCbloc:

“It was emailed to me, no message just the file.”

Ari (for once shows a hint of emotion, confusion):

“Emailed? By who?”

NCbloc:

“I don’t know, the email address was terlukasurat27@gma-”

Kiri cutting you off:

“Terluka!?”

⸻

[Text on screen]

Choose what to do next:

1. Who is Terluka? 🤷

2. Leave cafe and explore. 🚪

3. Ask about the creators. 💾

Prev ⬆️

🎮 DO NOT RUN.EXE – PART 15

🎵 A low hum creeps back under the floor.

[Text on screen]

You chose: Ask what Turun whispered to Ari 👂

⸻

🧍‍♂️ SCENE CONTINUES

NCbloc (curious):

“…What did you say to her?”

Turun freezes, then holds her arm while looking toward the ground.

Kiri fidgets, feeling guilty.

Turun:

“Kiri, can I—”

Kiri doesn’t answer for a moment, then nods.

Turun:

“Kiri’s best friend became an Entity when an errored character—one of the ones that turned into Entities—feels overwhelmed by any emotion, positive or negative. That’s when the transformation happens. Kanan was arguably the smartest character in this game—”

Ari forces a cough.

Turun:

“One of the smartest! He taught me most of the coding and loopholes I know. He came up with the idea of the clown faces. He was always calm. We never suspected he was errored… neither did he. No one ever thought we needed to apply the clown face to Kanan, but if only we did.”

Kiri (soft, teary voice):

“He was like a brother to me. Before—when the ‘they bite’ warning appeared—I was trying to release Kanan from Hold, where we trap Entities that we manage to catch—”

Ari:

“Which is only possible with a code that works inside this café.”

Kiri, now in tears:

“I thought… I thought maybe I could calm him, and—and—”

NCbloc (piecing everything together):

“So that’s why you didn’t want to come to the café. You thought it was Kanan chasing us, and you wanted to corner him to talk to him.”

Kiri nods. Turun hugs her tightly.

The lights flicker violently. The Entity slams against the barrier again.

Ari pulls out the same device from the flashback and types:

HOLD-DELIVERY SEND [ENTITY:BLACK]

NCbloc:

“Wait, so if the clown face patch thing didn’t exist then Kiri would be”

You look at the black entity

Kiri:

“I was overwhelmed in the fear of failing to bring back Kanan.”

Ari:

“Which you did.”

Kiri:

“Hey! I tried ok!”

Air Mata’s expression doesn’t change, but her voice sharpens:

“Unfortunately, not only is Kiri errored—half of her code is missing. The part that holds memories. She’s not too good at remembering things unless it’s something she cares about, like the memory of me ‘dying’ or her memories of Kanan. Which doesn’t make her the best at remembering codes. She’s probably the only character who doesn’t even remember the simplest ones.”

Turun, annoyed at Ari’s bluntness:

“That’s not her fault!”

Ari:

“But still her responsibility.”

DELIVERY SUCCESSFUL

Entity Black fades away—probably sent into the Hold.

⸻

[Text on screen]

Choose what to do next:

1. Take everyone out of the café to explore 🚪

2. Stay quiet and let Air Mata handle everything 😶

🎵 The café’s hum is gone. Only Air Mata’s voice seems to exist in the silence.

[Text on screen]

You chose: Ask Air Mata how they got here 🕰️

⸻

🧍‍♂️ SCENE CONTINUES

NCbloc (hesitant):

“…How did you even get here?”

Air Mata turns her head slowly, her face still flat, serious. No flicker of emotion.

Air Mata (voice low):

“I never left.”

Kiri’s and Turun’s eyes flick nervously between her and the Entity.

Air Mata (still monotone):

“When the Nics code collapsed, everyone believed I was dead after being cornered by her. But people forget… I’m always two steps ahead of what appears.”

Kiri shivers, hugging herself.

Kiri (voice cracking):

“That’s not possible. I watched you die.”

The Entity tries to move, but Air Mata has already trapped it inside a coded wall of digital water.

Air Mata (flatly):

“Perhaps some backstory would help.”

⸻

⬅️ Backstory

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“We know who Nic is. Many of us shiver at the name. But for your sake, I’ll explain.”

A flashback plays: a younger Air Mata runs, panting, down a hall much like the ones you’ve seen. The vines are shorter—older footage, perhaps. She slams a grey door shut and frantically searches the drawers of a dimly lit room.

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“The one you know as Entity Black was once a person like the rest of us. A normal code of a normal OC. But this file is errored. It was not made correctly… or entirely legally.”

Flashback: Young Air Mata finds a key, locks the grey door, then collapses on the floor.

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“This file is a Frankenstein of stolen assets—existing documents, programs from real video games, and rushed original code. Characters like us. Backgrounds like these. That means mistakes. And mistakes mean errors. Some of them even inside us.”

Flashback: A sudden screech echoes closer. Young Air Mata panics, crawling under the bed.

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“Some errors made characters more powerful than they were ever meant to be. That wouldn’t have been an issue… if the errors hadn’t also made them angry, and hungry.”

Flashback: A creature bursts into the room—the same shape as Entity Black but white, with cloud-like streaks of pink and purple, and eyes dark as night. Under the bed, young Air Mata types desperately into a strange device pulled out of her pocket:

DENY ENTITY:NIC-PULPIN ACCESS TO ‘AIR MATA’S BEDROOM’ VIA TEARS

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“Technically, none of us are supposed to know anything about the file or the fact we’re just characters inside a game. But because there are so many errors, there are loopholes. Some of us learned to read the error messages. Some of us worked it out the hard way.”

Flashback: A younger Kiri runs into the room as the Entity lifts the bed like paper and throws it against the door, blocking her entrance.

“Ari!” she screams.

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“Eventually we worked out how to ‘raise around’ becoming an error—by replacing it with…”

She points in the present to the printed blue clown face on Kiri’s skin.

“…That. But they weren’t quick enough to fix Nic. Nic was meant to represent an actress if the ‘game’ worked properly. Instead, she became one of the most powerful Entities I’ve ever seen. She placed a tracker on my program. The only way I could survive…”

Flashback: On-screen, young Air Mata cries as a message flashes:

BANISHING THE ENTITY WILL NOT WORK. ENTIRY ALREADY IN ROOM.

Kiri can only peek through the gap, helpless, as the Entity closes in.

Air Mata (Voice Over):

“…was to duplicate my code. It was dangerous. The duplicate died where I was sat. Everyone thought it was me. But the real me actually went into hiding for four years. Until yesterday.”

The flashback ends just before young Air Mata’s duplicate is destroyed, and young Kiri ran away sobbing.

⸻

Back in the café, NCbloc is still trying to process everything.

NCbloc (shaken):

“Why did you have to hide? What’s dangerous about copying yourself?”

Air Mata (calmly):

“In the original state of this game, copying yourself was just a way to take a break. A duplicate would do the work while you rested. It was a handy feature for the over worked characters, when the creators played the file all the time before release. But then people started disappearing for days then eventually month at the time. When they came back, they explained they couldn’t leave spectating mode. People stopped using it because the time spectate mode became longer and longer. I knew I would be gone a long time before I could tell anyone I was still alive. Before I could help and stop just spectating.”

Air Mata turns to Kiri, walking right up to her. She places both hands on Kiri’s face, turning it to inspect the printed clown face.

Air Mata (flat, unblinking):

“How long has it been on?”

Kiri (voice muffled):

“About half an hour… right, NCbloc?”

NCbloc:

“Uh… yeah. Maybe less.”

Ari (Air Mata’s nickname):

“What were you doing when it appeared?”

NCbloc:

“Uh… we were trying to open the computer when there was a warning about something that ‘bites.’ Then Kiri said it wasn’t supposed to show up—”

Kiri (panicked):

“Shhh!”

Ari and Turun exchange a look—the kind of look an older sister gives when the younger one makes a huge mistake.

Turun (softly):

“Kiri… why did you try reaching for the deleted Entities—oooh.”

Ari (turning sharply):

“What? What ‘oooh’?”

Turun leans close, whispering something into Ari’s ear while glancing at you to make sure you can’t hear.

A faint vibration rattles the floor. The Entity is still close, thrashing against the digital water.

⸻

[Text on screen]

Choose what to do next:

1. Ask what Turun whispered to Ari 👂

2. Ask what the clown face means 🎭

🎵 Silence. Not even static—just heavy emptiness.

[Text on screen]

You chose: Speak directly to the Entity ⌨️

⸻

🧍‍♂️ SCENE CONTINUES

NCbloc to the entity:

“What are you?”

The glowing white eyes blink once. A jagged outline forms in the dark, taller than the others—its shadow stretching across the café floor.

The Entity (voice glitching, distorted):

“… I am… mistake.”

“… I am… hungry.”

“… I am—”

But then—another voice cuts in. Clear. Flat. Emotionless.

??? (Hidden at first):

“No. That is not true.”

The black glow flickers. The eyes hesitate.

From behind the kitchen door steps Air mata (Ah-yer mah-tah). Her face is pale, serious, and completely calm. Their voice is low, steady, and flat.

Air mata (staring at the Entity):

“He is a remnant. A corrupted file from when the system broke. He survives by lying. By convincing you he is everything you fear.”

(beat)

“…He is no one. I am Air mata.”

Turun (whispering to Kiri, startled):

“Air mata! How are you alive?”

Kiri (trembling):

“I thought you didn’t make it!”

The Entity growls, its outline shuddering.

ENTITY // BLACK (distorted):

“YOU WEREN’T CALLED.”

Air mata (completely flat, unbothered):

“I don’t need permission to exist.”

She step closer. Her presence seems to push the shadows back slightly.

Air mata (to NCbloc, still straight-faced, almost sad):

“If you want to live, stop listening to monsters that don’t know themselves.”

The eyes blink out. Darkness deepens, leaving only Air mata’s faint gray outline in the flickering glitch light.

⸻

[Text on screen]

Choose what to do next:

1. Ask Air mata how they got here 🕰️

2. Ask why Turun says she shouldn’t be here ❓

3. Stay silent and wait… ⏳