The city always smelled faintly of metal.
It wasn't rust or blood, but something in between. Like wet copper, soaked into the concrete and the rails. Maybe it was the rift residue. Maybe it was psychosomatic. Either way, Kaito could smell it now—just barely.
He blinked against the late afternoon sun as he stepped off the local bus, his hood pulled low over his face. The plaza near Okabe Station wasn't busy yet. Still early. Still quiet.
He didn't know why he'd come.
Just that something had pulled him here.
The further he walked from home, the stronger the pressure in his chest became—like an invisible current humming beneath his ribs. And every few steps, the HUD flickered back to life in his peripheral vision.
[ HOLLOW NODE: STABILIZING… ][ WARNING: NO CORE ANCHOR DETECTED ][ SYSTEM CALIBRATION: 7% ]
It had been at 6% yesterday.
Elsewhere, Aiko sat in the back row of classroom 3-C, doodling in the margin of her worksheet.
The topic was dungeon laws: emergency response classifications, containment protocols, boundary fluctuations. Stuff she could recite in her sleep. Stuff her brother used to help her cram for.
She tapped her pen against the desk.
Someone behind her whispered. She didn't catch it all, but her name was in there. So was Kaito's.
Mari, sitting one seat over, leaned close and muttered under her breath, "Don't listen to them."
"I'm not," Aiko said, not turning.
"You should hear what they said yesterday. That people who come back from dungeons aren't really people. That sometimes their faces don't match their soul signature."
"That's not how it works," Aiko snapped.
"I know that. But it's what's going around."
Aiko's hand gripped her pen tighter.
Then she heard Kaoru's voice—low, tired, from the front row.
"System anomalies have been recorded since the second generation breaches. Most of them don't mean anything. Half of the time, the scanners are wrong."
He wasn't even facing her. But it was enough to silence the room.
Mari grinned. "Told you he pays attention."
Near Okabe Station, the plaza filled slowly. School kids in loose uniforms. Office workers on break. A hot bun vendor shouting over the hum of foot traffic.
Kaito lingered near the side, under a narrow tree still holding onto its last yellow leaves.
There was a system scanner set into the wall of a nearby shop—one of the newer ones, designed to detect unstable mana flow in high-traffic areas. Most people ignored it.
Kaito didn't.
He drifted closer.
As he approached, the scanner let out a soft ping.
[ NO MATCH: INVALID SIGNATURE. ][ STATUS: HOLLOW. ACCESS LEVEL: NONE. ][ ADMIN NOTIFIED. ]
He stepped back quickly.
The scanner shut down for two full seconds before rebooting.
No one else noticed.
Meanwhile, at school, Uchida-sensei handed out project approval forms.
Kaoru accepted his copy with a grunt. Mari practically sparkled.
"Research interviews count for bonus credit, by the way," she said, elbowing Aiko. "And I might've set up a meeting."
"With who?"
Mari beamed. "An Awakened. System certified. Works with the outer zone patrol units—data collection and combat support. Apparently, he used to be a researcher before getting pulled into a dungeon."
Aiko blinked. "Seriously?"
"He survived a tier 3 collapse. By himself."
Kaoru looked up. "So he's either a genius or a liar."
"Why not both?"
The man waiting at the café that Saturday afternoon was taller than Aiko expected.
He had a scar above his eyebrow and wore an old coat, even though it wasn't cold. A thin bracelet on his left wrist blinked quietly—standard-issue mana limiter. Not active.
He introduced himself as Rei Yanagi. Late twenties. Ex-researcher. Currently stationed with the Southern Tokyo Rift Containment Unit.
He drank his coffee black.
Mari started the questions immediately, flipping open her tablet and adjusting the recording angle.
"How many times have you entered a live dungeon, Mr. Yanagi?"
"Three," he said. "Four if you count the one that collapsed."
"And how did you survive the breach?"
"I don't recommend it."
Kaoru smirked.
Aiko just watched.
Rei's eyes flicked to her once or twice—not in suspicion. In curiosity.
Halfway through the interview, Rei asked a question of his own.
"Have any of you ever been inside a dungeon?"
Kaoru shook his head.
Mari hesitated. "Just a training sim."
Rei looked at Aiko.
She blinked. "No. But my brother has."
That made him pause.
"Was he system-registered?"
"No. He got pulled in accidentally. Came out a week ago."
Rei went very still.
"What was the rift location?"
"Exit 3," she said.
"Station-side?"
A nod.
He sat back in his chair, coffee forgotten.
"I was there."
After they left the café, Aiko lingered on the corner.
Kaoru and Mari had wandered off, arguing about whether Rei was cool or just cryptic.
She stayed behind.
Rei came out a moment later, coat slung over his arm.
"You said your brother came out of Exit 3," he said, quietly. "But the breach logs showed no survivors."
"I know."
He studied her. "And you're sure he's okay?"
"No," she said. "I'm not."
He nodded.
Then, more gently, he asked, "Does he smell magic yet?"
Aiko blinked. "What?"
Rei gave a humorless smile. "Most people don't know this, but once the system tags you, your senses shift. Mana has a scent. Dungeons carry it like fog."
He started to walk away.
"Tell him," he added without turning back, "that if he hears voices soon… he should ignore them."
Aiko stared after him.
She didn't move for a long time.
That night, Kaito sat on the floor of his room, the lights off, hands wrapped around his knees.
He'd thrown up twice after dinner.
Not because of the food.
Because the streetlamp outside his window had flickered in a way that matched the pulse in his chest.
He was starting to hear things.
Faint static. Like whispers through a cracked radio.
And worst of all, he could smell something.
Not food. Not metal.
Something thick and ancient, like burnt ozone and stone dust.
He didn't know what it meant.
But whatever was inside him…
…it was waking up.