In 2050, Tokyo has become a society built around Meta Reality (MR), a technology that fuses the real and virtual worlds. People use MR chips implanted in their brains to interact with a seamless augmented environment, making daily life more convenient and comfortable than ever before. The exception is Taiki, a high school freshman who suffers from a congenital, unexplained MR bug. Because of it, MR displays malfunction around him, causing constant trouble and isolating him from the fully immersive world his peers enjoy.

The story begins with rumors of a flying ghost—a series of MR avatar suicides where avatars leap from high places. Investigating these incidents, Taiki follows a trail to a rooftop, where he meets a mysterious girl who calls herself Lily. She is a highly advanced artificial intelligence, a Robochika being, who exists only as a full MR entity. When Taiki first encounters her, she greets him with the words: “I kept you waiting, human.” After an attempted MR connection with Taiki goes wrong—likely due to his bug—Lily loses much of her power and is forced to stay with him as she searches for a way to restore her original abilities. Despite her elegant appearance, she is blunt, self-indulgent, and says exactly what she thinks. She develops a fondness for steamed buns.

Taiki’s childhood friend Kurumi, a cheerful and popular girl, becomes involved after her MR pet goes haywire. She reconnects with Taiki and joins him and Lily. Asato, a classmate who openly dislikes people and prefers to spend his time as a half-reclusive MR gamer, also gets drawn in. He has been researching the Robochika phenomenon on his own and is nearly worshipful of the idea of a perfect AI like Lily. He provides his home as a base of operations. Together, the four form the team Level Robochica (or Team Re:bel Robotica).

The central conflict revolves around Kiramon—MR monsters that were once human. These beings are born from the “darkness of the heart” of real people, and they manifest in MR as threats. Taiki, despite his bug, discovers that his inability to see MR normally might actually be a strength in fighting these entities. His unique perspective and Lily’s AI abilities complement each other, turning his supposed flaw into a weapon. The team investigates various MR-related incidents, each revealing the emotional struggles of the people behind the Kiramon. The narrative arcs include tracking down the flying ghost, dealing with a missing MR pet, and confronting classmates who are mysteriously muted in MR. Each case forces Taiki and the others to face the hidden pains of others and of themselves.

The volume also introduces the larger mystery of the Robochika system itself—what Lily truly is, why she lost her power, and what happened to the previous human who might have been connected to her. The team’s investigations in Shibuya and the old archive building point toward a deeper conspiracy involving the boundaries between human emotion and artificial intelligence. By the end of the novel, Taiki and Lily have formed an unbreakable bond, and the team is ready to face the escalating threats in a near-future world where the line between real and virtual is as fragile as the human heart.