The rain had started without warning.
Fine needles of water sliced through the city's humid air as Elira stepped out of Reyna's apartment building. The neon lights blurred into streaks of crimson, sapphire, and violet, like a giant oil painting smearing under invisible hands. She pulled her hoodie tighter, but the chill that wrapped around her had little to do with the weather.
Her chest still pulsed from their encounter.
Not a kiss. Not even a touch—except for that brief moment when she'd placed Reyna's hand over her heart. But somehow, it felt more dangerous than any physical contact they could've shared.
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
Unknown Number:
They're watching you. Don't go home.
The message vanished a second later, like it had never been there.
Her stomach twisted. She'd been trained to recognize signs of surveillance. Clean messages like this — disappearing immediately — were Syndicate protocol. But the question was... who had sent it?
The Syndicate?
The Rebellion?
Or someone else?
Elira exhaled slowly, feeling her pulse settle, locking away her emotions like a soldier slipping back into armor. She couldn't afford to panic.
Not now.
Inside St. Laphine's Academy
The iron gates groaned open with their usual reluctant cry as Elira returned.
The academy's front courtyard was empty. Midnight curfew had swept the other girls back into their rooms. Only the dim garden lamps glowed faintly under the silver rain, casting long shadows across the statues.
A gust of wind carried whispers through the courtyard.
"To kiss is to curse."
The phrase haunted her more tonight than ever.
She walked briskly through the archways, passing beneath tall stained glass windows and marble pillars etched with old Laphinian runes. Every step echoed softly, as if even the academy itself listened closely to every secret.
When she reached the west wing, instinct made her pause.
She wasn't supposed to be here after sunset.
"Emotional contamination has been detected," Rika's voice echoed in her memory.
But tonight, something pulled her. Like invisible strings guiding her feet toward the forbidden hallway.
The door to the west wing wasn't locked.
It opened with a soft click.
Inside, the air was thick — warmer than the rest of the academy, almost humid, as if breathing. The marble tiles glistened faintly under soft crimson lighting. Strange symbols glowed on the walls, shifting like living ink beneath their protective glass layers.
Elira's heartbeat quickened.
She had heard rumors — that the west wing was where they conducted "purifications," for those students who broke emotional contamination rules. Where memory extractions happened.
Where souls bled.
She moved further down the corridor, her footsteps nearly silent.
A distant hum filled the air. Like the vibration of machines operating far underground.
Then she heard it—
Voices.
Not whispers, but deliberate conversations. Murmurs slipping through the cracks of a heavy steel door at the end of the hall.
She edged closer.
Through the small square window, she saw them: two figures standing beneath a web of glowing tubes, holographic displays flashing rapidly behind them. One she recognized immediately — Headmistress Satsuki, her presence as cold and poised as ever, draped in the academy's ceremonial black silk.
The second figure stood partially in shadow.
But Elira recognized the outline.
Rika.
They were reviewing files — dozens of them — with student profiles flashing across the screen.
And then... her face appeared.
Subject #34 — Elira.
Next to her photo were two words that made her skin crawl:
"Memory Lock: Incomplete."
"Emotion Suppression: Unstable."
Her throat tightened.
"She's adapting too quickly," Rika whispered. "The older barriers are failing. If she remembers too much—"
"She won't," Headmistress Satsuki interrupted coolly. "We've already set the triggers. The moment she reaches threshold, the suppression protocol will engage."
"And if Reyna continues interfering?" Rika asked.
A thin smile curved across Satsuki's pale lips.
"Then Reyna will be dealt with."
Elira backed away, heart hammering.
The memory lock… suppression protocol... Reyna interfering...
It was all connected.
Suddenly, a hand closed over her shoulder.
She spun around—but it was Yui.
Her roommate stood in the shadows, breathless, eyes wide.
"What are you doing here?!" Yui hissed.
"What are you doing here?" Elira countered, her voice sharp.
Yui glanced nervously at the sealed door behind them. "You shouldn't be hearing any of that. If they catch you—"
"They'll erase me?" Elira whispered bitterly. "Like they've done before?"
Yui's expression faltered. The deflection in her eyes told Elira everything she needed to know.
"You knew," Elira accused softly. "Didn't you? You knew about the memory locks. About what they've done to me."
Yui looked pained. "It's not that simple."
"Then explain it to me."
Before Yui could answer, a soft alarm buzzed through the hallways — low and vibrating.
Security sweep.
Yui grabbed Elira's wrist. "We don't have time! If they catch you down here, there won't be a second chance."
"Let go—"
"Please, Elira!"
Her voice cracked, desperate.
Elira froze for a moment, then reluctantly allowed Yui to pull her through a maintenance hatch in the wall. They slipped into the narrow crawlspace just as the hall flooded with red scanning beams.
Minutes later — inside the hidden tunnel
Their breath misted in the cold air as they crouched together.
Elira finally spoke.
"How long have you known?" she asked in a whisper.
Yui avoided her gaze. "Since the first week you arrived."
Elira's stomach sank.
"You're part of them."
Yui shook her head furiously. "No — I was... I was recruited to monitor new transfers. But I never agreed with what they do." Her voice broke. "You're different, Elira. They think you're unstable — that your emotions can unlock dangerous memories they want buried."
"What memories?"
Yui hesitated, then whispered:
"The ones they stole from you."
Suddenly, a sharp metallic clang echoed behind them.
Elira spun.
From the dark tunnel, two pairs of glowing mechanical eyes locked onto them — small spider-like drones, their steel legs clicking rapidly across the stone.
Yui cursed under her breath.
"They've sent retrieval units!"
The drones accelerated, firing thin electric taser lines.
Elira reacted on instinct. Her training — buried deep beneath memory suppression — surged forward. She dodged the first strike, grabbed Yui, and rolled into an alcove as sparks exploded behind them.
Another drone lunged.
Elira seized a loose pipe from the floor and slammed it into the nearest drone's central eye. It sparked violently, collapsing into convulsions.
The second one fired again —
A narrow miss.
Elira flanked to the side, using the shadows. As the drone recalibrated, she lunged, smashing its central node with surgical precision.
Both drones sparked... then fell silent.
For a moment, the only sound was their ragged breathing.
Yui stared at her in shock.
"That… wasn't normal," Yui whispered. "How did you—?"
Elira's mind spun.
Her reflexes. Her instincts. They weren't ordinary.
The file she saw earlier — her military history blacked out. Her origins unknown.
Who the hell was she before St. Laphine's?
Her thoughts were interrupted as Yui gripped her arm.
"We need to go. Now."
Back in her dorm room — 3:17 AM
Elira paced the floor restlessly, replaying everything:
The file. The conversation between Rika and Satsuki. Yui's confession. The attack.
Her world — once a fragile lie — was shattering piece by piece.
And at the center of it all... Reyna.
The knock came softly at first.
Elira froze.
A second knock followed.
Then a voice.
"Let me in," Reyna whispered from the other side of the door.
Elira's pulse raced.
Slowly, she opened the door.
Reyna slipped inside, her expression unreadable but intense. The room dimmed behind her, like the entire world shrank to only the space between them.
"You shouldn't be here," Elira breathed.
"I had to see you."
Their eyes locked — that same electric tension from before, now amplified.
"Something's happening," Elira whispered. "I'm remembering things they never wanted me to know."
Reyna stepped closer, her voice low and steady.
"Then let it all break, Elira. Let them lose control."
Her hand reached up — gently brushing a strand of hair behind Elira's ear.
No kiss.
Not yet.
But dangerously close.
"You said once you didn't know what I wanted from you," Reyna whispered.
Elira swallowed hard. "Do you?"
Reyna smiled faintly.
"Everything they're afraid of."
END OF CHAPTER 4