Time returned to the present.
"Thanks to your discerning friend, I was able to add a complete failure to your career." Sunday glanced at Dr. Ratio behind him, then looked back at Aventurine.
Aventurine also looked toward the professor and his beautiful plaster head. He frowned, seemingly suppressing his anger, and let out a beastlike growl. "Dr. Ratio, you bastard..."
The professor remained immersed in an ocean of knowledge, as though he had not noticed the commotion, or perhaps he had noticed and simply had no desire to pay it any attention.
Sunday's methods were clever. Even now, he had to spell certain things out. Was this not another way of diverting trouble elsewhere?
Unfortunately...
The head of the Oak Family did not understand what it meant for that outstanding member of the Genius Society to put on his plaster head.
At that moment, he felt a brief surge of delight at having seen through Aventurine's scheme.
"You've shown your true colors. Incidentally, you temporarily have only seventeen System Hours left to live. Treasure this time, and savor the lingering taste of failure."
"...Why don't you explain that more clearly?" Aventurine asked Sunday.
"What I performed upon you just now was Harmony's holy baptism. You should have demonstrated your loyalty beneath THEIR light, yet you insisted on your own course, spewing lies and turning baptism into judgment. I truly have no reason to release you from it."
Aventurine's lips curled slightly. "So this is your so-called Harmony? Built on imprisonment and coercion."
"You misunderstand, Mr. Aventurine," Sunday said. "Punishment is reserved for the irreverent, but I saw your indomitable heart. Thus, I wish to grant you the possibility of rebirth.
"During these seventeen System Hours, you cannot leave the Dreamscape or communicate with your companions. Only two paths lie before