Ken froze.
Berlin stood in the hallway's shadow, arms folded, no smile on his face—just disappointment. And something else underneath it.
Fear.
Not of them.
But of what they now knew.
"I see you found the journal," Berlin said calmly, like he was commenting on a spilled cup of coffee.
Ken didn't move. Misty tensed beside him, clutching the ribbon-wrapped book to her chest.
"Step out of the closet," Berlin said, tone sharp now. "That's an order."
Misty opened her mouth, but Ken stepped forward instead.
He was done being quiet.
"We know what this school is."
Berlin stared at him for a long moment. His eyes flickered to the ceiling as if watching for listening devices—then back down.
"And you think that makes you special?"
"No," Ken said. "It makes us dangerous."
Berlin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I tried to keep you out of it, Ken. I told them not to move you to B-2. But once Crow got here, it was already set in motion."
"What is he?" Ken asked.
"A weapon," Berlin said. "Wrapped in charm and green hair. He's been activated."
Misty's eyes widened. "Activated for what?"
"To pull you apart," Berlin replied, voice flat. "From Ken. From your memories. From who you really are. And from the truth."
Ken looked over at Misty. She looked small again. Lost. He hated it.
"I'm not leaving her behind," Ken said.
Berlin laughed once, dry and bitter. "You don't even know what she is."
Ken didn't flinch. "She's human. That's enough."
Berlin's eyes narrowed. For the first time since Ken met him, the teacher looked tired. Like a man who had been screaming in silence for years.
Then: "Follow me."
Ken hesitated. "Why?"
"Because if you stay here," Berlin said, "you'll disappear. Just like the others."
They followed him through a hallway none of them had seen before. It curved downward, into the school's lower levels—unmapped, unsupervised.
No cameras here.
No smiles either.
Berlin led them into a room lit by a single fluorescent bulb. It flickered slightly.
On the wall was a large map of Bright High Academy—but it was... wrong.
There were extra rooms, layers below the surface. Some marked in red. One labeled "R-0."
"That's the Room they're moving Misty to," Berlin said. "The transfer just got approved under my override code."
"You didn't authorize that," Misty whispered.
"No," Berlin said. "But someone pretending to be me did."
Ken stepped forward. "Who's running all of this?"
Berlin stared at him for a long time.
Then he tapped the map.
A red symbol at the center of the school. A circle inside a square. A digital eye.
"The Board," he said. "They watch. They test. They erase."
Misty's breathing started to quicken.
"You're saying... I'm not real?"
"No," Berlin said quickly. "You're real. But your memories? Your past? It's been rewritten. Patched. Erased and rewritten again. You're what they call a 'Resonant.' You bounce back."
"Why me?" Misty asked.
Berlin looked at Ken.
"Because he's the key."
Ken blinked. "What?"
Berlin pointed at him, stepping forward now, more animated.
"You're the only student in this school whose memories were never wiped. Not fully. You're immune. Resistant. And they don't know why."
Ken felt his chest tighten.
"I don't remember anything," he said. "Not before I met Dawn. Nothing before the swing set."
"That's because you weren't supposed to meet Dawn," Berlin said. "He was a prototype. The first failed erasure. But instead of vanishing, he survived—and ran."
Ken thought of the white-haired boy, swinging as though the wind could save him. The one person who didn't lie.
"Where is he now?" Ken asked.
"I don't know," Berlin said. "But I do know one thing..."
He looked between Ken and Misty.
"If you don't leave tonight—you'll never leave."
The rest of the day passed like a dream.
Ken sat in class, silent, still, watching the others laugh, whisper, play their parts in the machine. Berlin stood at the front, performing like nothing had changed. Misty kept her eyes down, saying nothing, as if afraid her face might betray the truth.
Only Ravyn was different.
She stared at them both the entire period.
And Crow? He wasn't in class at all.
That night, Ken packed his bag in silence.
There wasn't much to take. Nothing he wanted to keep.
He grabbed the journal. A flashlight. And the one photo he had of Dawn—faded and torn, taken by accident.
They were on the swings, both blurry, both laughing.
He didn't even remember it being taken.
Maybe that's the point.
Misty was waiting at the exit, hood pulled up.
"You ready?" she asked.
Ken nodded.
Together, they ran into the darkness.
Not away from something—
But toward it.
In the security room, the monitors flickered.
Camera 12 showed Ken and Misty slipping into the forest behind the academy.
A man in a lab coat smiled.
"They always run," he said.
Ravyn stood behind him, arms folded.
"They won't get far."