Neo-Tokyo — Sector 3 Slums
Time: 2:17 a.m.
Location: Abandoned Maintenance Room D4-17
The room was dim, lit only by the faulty flicker of a dying wall strip. Old tools rusted in bins. Dust floated like ghosts in the air. The floor stank of engine oil and blood.
Lin lay sprawled on a cracked mat, shirtless, bandages loose around his chest where the Ark-Hunters had scored him. His eyes stared at the ceiling, unblinking. One hand clenched around the old locket that no longer pulsed, the other numb from the fight.
He remembered the first time Rune had bled in front of him. A scraped knee. She hadn't cried—she'd just stared at the blood like it was an alien thing. And then smiled, like it was nothing.
"You're always afraid of pain, Nii-san," she'd said.
"But I think pain is proof. That we exist."
Now all he could feel was the cold ache where she used to be. The real Rune was gone. And what remained, asleep in Shizuma's tank, wasn't her. It was a counterfeit memory with her face.
He gritted his teeth.
"I failed you, Rune…"
The door slid open.
Lin didn't move. Just said, "I told you not to come."
"Too bad," Nel replied, stepping through with soft boots on rusted metal. Her long coat swayed as she walked, face unreadable in the flickering light.
She knelt beside him without asking.
"You always bleed in silence," she said. "Like it's a virtue."
"No," Lin murmured. "I bleed because I still haven't died."
He didn't look at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Nel said quietly, "I saw the footage. From the greenhouse. You saved Rika. You saved everyone… and still disappeared."
Lin's jaw tightened. "I had to."
"Why?" Her voice cracked slightly, just enough to catch his attention.
He finally turned to look at her. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
Lin sat up slowly, wrapping the towel tighter around his chest. "I had a sister."
Nel froze.
"I was made to forget. They deleted the files, the missions, even her name from some of the logs. But I remember. Her laugh. The stars. Her warmth in the cold. I failed her. And they built another."
He looked at Nel with a haunted gaze. "Shizuma didn't just kill her. They cloned her. Reconstructed her soul from fragments like they were repairing a machine."
Nel whispered, "Rune…?"
He nodded.
"You never mentioned..."
"You're not human. You're a Spiriter. You don't understand what it's like to feel something and break."
She didn't answer. Instead, she reached out, and her fingers moved into his hair—softly brushing sweat-soaked strands from his forehead. Then, slowly, carefully, she pulled his head to her chest, cradling it over her heartbeat.
"I'm not a doll," Nel whispered. "I don't know what you lost. But I feel it… right now. Through you."
His breath trembled.
He lifted his head, eyes searching hers.
And she kissed him.
Not urgently. Not desperately. Just… real. Soft lips, quiet fire. A reminder that he was still here. Still human. Still allowed to feel something other than rage.
When they parted, she said, "You are not alone, Lin."
But outside, the city was already moving again.
---
Neo-Tokyo — Sector 0
Yumi Kisagari's Office
Time: 3:04 a.m.
Stacks of encrypted drives lay scattered on Yumi's desk. The files bled together—disjointed footage, incomplete operations, redacted memos from Helix sub-divisions. Her hands moved over the keyboard like a pianist in mourning.
She bypassed a final security wall, and a line of data scrolled into view.
> BKA201 ACTIVATION RECORD
SUBJECT: BALCK REAPER
STATUS: ACTIVE
DATE OF AWAKENING: AFTER INCIDENT 7-RED (ELECTRO KID TERMINATION)
BODY COUNT POST-REACTIVATION: 23
CODE RED CLASSIFICATIONS CONFIRMED: 4
UNREGISTERED EXECUTIONS: MULTIPLE
OBJECTIVE: UNKNOWN
Yumi leaned back, hand over her mouth.
"Black Reaper…?"
She closed her eyes. She remembered the boy from the academy. Quiet. Too kind for his own good. Who brought her herbal tea when her mother was hospitalized. Who laughed awkwardly when he couldn't hold a blade right.
Now the Black Reaper.
And she was hunting him.
---
Later That Night – Under a Neon Ramen Sign
Yokohama-6 Side Street
Yumi pulled her coat tighter as steam curled from the ramen bowl in her hands. The streets were mostly empty—rainfall soft and glowing under electric signage. She stared blankly ahead, trying to taste something, anything.
Then she saw him.
He stood across the street, half in shadow, hands in his coat, eyes lowered. His black hair fell around his face like a curtain. A faint scar across his collarbone. And that impossible stillness—like the world moved while he didn't.
"Lin…" she whispered.
She stood, the bowl falling from her hand.
He looked up slowly. Their eyes met.
For a long second, no one spoke.
No weapons drawn. No words exchanged.
Only memory.
Then Yumi took a step forward.
And he didn't run.
---
To be continued...