A few days later...

Ulrich his currently just arriving at home on a rainy day, his entire body completely drained from schoolwork and training.

Ulrich: "(groaning) Please... just one day I can sleep..."

He grudgingly enters his room, kicking off his shoes and burying his face in the pillow of his bed.

Ulrich: "(muffled) First it's school, then Mira and I have to train, then when I get home I have to blaze through my homework and then study for any upcoming tests."

He rolls over and keeps the pillow pressed against his face.

Ulrich: "(muffled) How can they do it? How can anyone not crumble under all this?"

He pulls the pillow away.

Ulrich: "I just... don't know what to do."

His phone is vibrating.

Ulrich: "(sighing) Who is it?"

He picks up his phone to see that it's Kyle calling him.

Ulrich: "Kyle?"

He answers it and holds his phone to his ear.

Kyle: "Hey uh... are you okay?"

Ulrich: "I-I'm fine, just burnt out."

Kyle: "O-Oh, I just wanted to ask because you because you just walked past everyone today."

Ulrich then stares at the ceiling.

Ulrich: "Hey, what was it like when you were in my position?"

Kyle: "H-Huh?"

Ulrich: "When you were training back when Hack 01 attacked a few years back. What were you thinking each and every day?"

The call goes silent for a minute.

Kyle: "To be honest, I felt like the weak link. Micheal was already miles ahead of me and he was technically the newbie. I felt like I couldn't do anything meaningful in the fight."

Ulrich is shot right in the heart by those words.

Ulrich: "S-So what'd you do to get through?"

Kyle: "I just cast my doubts aside, didn't let the outside world get to me, and just went for it."

Ulrich can't help but to let out a faint smile.

Ulrich: "Thanks for letting me know."

He hears the front door open.

Ulrich: "Mom just got back, so I gotta go."

Kyle: "O-Okay, see you later."

They hang up.

Ulrich: "Guess he's a lot more adamant than he seems to be."

He pockets his phone.

Ulrich: Can't go letting myself go down after a message like that."

He gives his cheeks a quick pinch.

Ulrich: "So I won't go letting all this stress get the better of me!"

He exits his room...

Meanwhile...

Nyel is tapping his foot impatiently, Walker's time limit only 2 days away from the end.

Nyel: "He's really gonna make me wait until the last second isn't he?"

He smashes a hole in the wall.

Nyel: "He really likes grinding our gears!"

A little bit of green, binary dust seeps through the cracks...