Star looked at Skycrawler through the glass wall.
Hours had gone by since they returned to the planet. She had woken up with a headache so severe that even her Quirk had failed to soothe it. Still, with the help of Healing Quirks, she had regained her faculties over time.
Skycrawler, though, had yet to wake up, his condition lingering on the verge of critical.
From the outside, the boy looked as whole as when she had first met him.
In fact, none of the doctors here had managed to find out why he hadn't woken up yet.
The only way they could tell that his condition was worsening over time was through his heartbeat, which kept slowing down before suddenly jumping through the roof and plunging into the abyss.
This kind of erratic heartbeat was enough to damage Skycrawler's heart.
Worse, if they didn't find a solution to his unusual situation fast enough, then…
Star balled her fingers into fists.
A soldier came running toward her, then. "Ma'am," he said, saluting. "They are ready for you."
Star, dressed in her Hero Costume, took one last glance at Skycrawler before turning away, her knuckles white.
After a while, Cathleen entered a large, round chamber.
The U.S. Military Commander — Timothy Agpar — stood inside with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on a massive, curved screen.
Next to him was Alexander Becking… or a shadow of him.
Star looked at the man she had seen many times before and found herself incapable of putting the two images together.
The Alex in front of her didn't exude raw power and might, but painted a much sorrier picture.
He wasn't mentally exhausted like her.
He wasn't facing an inexplicable condition like Skycrawler, either.
Yet the man who had single-handedly saved her and Skycrawler — the only two survivors of the ORIGIN disaster — looked horrible.
Star refused to believe that it was an effect of overusing his Quirk.
Because Alex wasn't stupid enough to spam his overpowered Quirk at ORIGIN, knowing how much damage it would cause.
The space station had still ended up exploding near the end, though, or so they said.
Before leaving on the mission, Star had believed she had uncovered the greatest mystery of Earth — The Boundary.
The Boundary was certainly the greatest mystery even now, but…
Star found that invisible wall, especially now, so vastly mystifying that it hardly mattered anymore.
What did matter were the comparatively lesser mysteries that surrounded her, clouding her vision — mysteries she could actually do something about; mysteries she could dare to understand without any fear of… becoming a monster in the process.
"Just what the hell happened up there?!" Star asked.
Despite her not shouting, the two men heard the sharp edge in her voice loud and clear.
Timothy Agpar slowly turned away from the dark screen and faced her, looking much older than when she had left him.
"We were hoping you could tell us that, Star," the Military Commander said.
"Why…" Alex growled, looking down, his fists shaking. "WHY?! Why did you make The Boundary transparent?!"
"…"
Star looked at Alex with a blank face.
Then, her eyes gradually shifted toward Timothy's weathered face.
Now that Alex's outburst had cut through the room, smothering her irritation, she could see it clearly.
It wasn't tiredness that the two men carried on their faces.
She had misread them.
It was… disappointment.
The most puzzling thing, though, was that Star had absolutely no clue what they were talking about.
"Make the Boundary transparent?!" Star repeated the wild, nonsensical accusation. "Why would I do that?! Could I even do that?! And even if I could, do you think I lost my mind to the point where I would do something so reckless and drastic without consulting Base?!"
"…"
Timothy and Alex's disappointed faces had no color left to lose.
Yet the moment they heard Star's response, the little resolve in their eyes vanished as well.
The two men looked away from Star and exchanged a bewildered glance that screamed one question: were they losing their minds?!
"Forgive me, Star," the Military Commander said, "but… we aren't speaking without reason."
Timothy turned around and switched on the screen. "Alexander took three good soldiers with him," he explained. "He wisely left one behind in the rescue ship, who managed to manually override ORIGIN's systems during the latter half of the mission.
"With the footage recorded by the soldiers inside the space station and the images and video salvaged by the third soldier independently, we can piece together part of what happened at ORIGIN after Alex reached there."
Alex let out an involuntary groan.
Timothy sighed. "Those weren't the only men we lost today, Alexander," he said. "There were Americans among the ORIGIN crew as well. They all sacrificed their lives for their country. Let's make sure that their sacrifice doesn't go to waste."
With that, the screen began playing the recordings.
In pin-drop silence, Star saw the most unbelievable and horrifying sights of her entire life.
From the nausea-inducing monster to the sudden, mysterious arrival of Gehrman Sparrow of the Apostles of Mr. Fool; from Alex and Gehrman teaming up to reach the Control Room while fighting off Rampagers, to the moment they finally found…
"Samuel Abraham?!" Star's eyes widened. "He was at ORIGIN?!"
Timothy and Alex shared another glance, finally realizing that they had been deceived… from the very start.
With every passing frame on the screen, Star's jaw dropped further, as if she couldn't believe its content.
She saw herself interacting with Dr. Sam on the tiny monitor.
However, she had no memory of either the man or the events.
Then, with a sudden glitch of static, the entire screen went blank, plunging the room into an uncanny silence.
"It seems…" Timothy finally said, pressing a hand to his forehead, "… this entire disaster was orchestrated for some nefarious purpose. We were played. It… was all a game. A sick game!"
Orchestrated?!
A game?!
Star and Alex shared a look.
All those lives lost…
All those innocents turned into monsters…
"Klein…" Star and Alex spoke the name in unison, their anger rattling the walls. "… Moretti!"