Scene 1 — Morning Resonance
Dawn light filtered through cracks in the ceiling.
Akihiro stirred, realizing his head rested on something soft.
He looked up—Suiren's lap, her hand unconsciously resting over his heart.
He didn't move. The warmth between them was too calm, too fragile to break.
Why does this feel… safe? he wondered.
When she awoke, surprise flashed behind her mask, but she didn't push him away.
Scene 2 — The Attempt to Unmask
Curiosity stirred. He reached a hesitant hand toward her mask.
Before his fingers touched it, spiritual resistance pulsed—like a mirror rejecting reflection.
"Not yet," she whispered.
He lowered his hand, nodding.
For the first time, trust formed not through words, but restraint.
Scene 3 — The Name and Mission
She helped him sit, wrapping his cloak around him.
"…Suiren. My name is Suiren Amizuki," she said quietly.
"I'm… technically your senior in the academy."
Akihiro blinked. "Senior? Then why—?"
She explained the mission: investigating rifts near the Lotus Sanctuary, the ambush, the anomaly that consumed her team.
When she asked how he'd found her, he said softly,
"A lotus petal led me. Maybe my flame just followed your reflection."
Scene 4 — Echoes of the Ancestors
Akihiro drifted back into sleep mid-conversation.
As silence settled, a gentle luminescence filled the cave.
Muwan Tsukihara's spirit appeared, visible only to Suiren.
Her tone was warm but grave:
"The father's blood burns within him—Daikuro's flame."
The cave trembled. Stones rattled; ripples spread through the pool.
Suiren's breath caught. Daikuro?
The name whispered through history as myth and calamity.
She realized the truth: the quiet boy resting against her was heir to a bloodline that once split worlds.
Scene 5 — The Eye's Whisper (Alaric's Domain)
In Akihiro's dreamspace, Alaric's presence loomed cold, analytical.
"Loyalty to others is betrayal to oneself.
Betraying others is loyalty to yourself.
it's the leash of the weak.
Break it—or remain prey to mercy."
Each word seared into Akihiro's subconscious, forging clarity through cruelty.
Scene 6 — The Silent Oath
Suiren gazed at him, her usual stillness replaced by something fragile.
She placed her hand gently over his.
"Whatever you're becoming… I will witness it."
The Heartlink pulsed once—acknowledging the vow.
Outside, the dawn deepened into gold.
Two lights flickered in harmony—violet and lotus-gold, reflected against the cave walls like twin souls learning to breathe as one.