The pristine order of Professor Kenji Sato's office at JAXA headquarters felt like a different planet from Elyra's cluttered university sanctuary. Here, the air was filtered, the surfaces gleamed, and the only sound was the whisper of the climate control. Elyra sat stiffly in a sleek leather chair, facing not only Kenji but two other men whose presence made the room feel several degrees colder.
Dr. Tanaka, the senior administrator from the Ministry of Defense, began speaking. He was a man with a face like a closed door, his suit impeccably tailored and his eyes devoid of academic curiosity. Your work has always been ambitious. But this latest report on anomalous gravitational echoes is causing ripples in circles you do not have clearance for.
Kenji shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Elyra, what Mr. Tanaka is trying to say is that the data from the Himawari satellite is being reclassified. The incident near the ISS is now considered a matter of national security, not academic inquiry.
Elyra's heart hammered against her ribs. National security? It was a scientific anomaly. My models...
Your models are speculation, interrupted the third man, Dr. Akio Yamamoto, the newly appointed director of the agency's Advanced Threat Analysis division. He was younger than the others, with the sharp, hungry eyes of a predator. We've reviewed them. The conclusion is sensor malfunction compounded by atmospheric interference. The official stance is that nothing happened.
Nothing happened? Elyra's voice rose, her scientific integrity screaming in protest. The data is clear. The gravitational lensing, the residual particle decay... it is a signature. And the civilian reports from Saitama...
Are the ravings of a frightened jogger and the overactive imagination of a researcher too close to her work, Yamamoto said coolly, his gaze pinning her. The man in the woods, as you call him, does not exist in any official record. No CCTV, no other witnesses. He is a ghost.
Elyra felt a cold dread trickle down her spine. They were not just dismissing her. They were erasing the event. She looked at Kenji, pleading with her eyes, but he looked away, studying a diagram of a rocket engine on the wall. He was a scientist, but he was also a bureaucrat, and he knew which side his funding came from.
The topic is closed, Dr. Tanaka, Mr. Tanaka stated, his tone final. You will cease all investigation into this matter. You will delete the raw data from your personal drives. You will not speak of it to colleagues or students. Is that understood?
The order was a physical blow. You are asking me to ignore evidence. To betray the scientific method.
We are asking you to be a patriot, Yamamoto countered, a thin, unpleasant smile on his lips. The geopolitical landscape is fragile. The Americans, the Russians, the Chinese, they are all looking for an advantage. A whisper of a new, unknown technology or entity could trigger a panic, an arms race we cannot control. Silence, in this case, is your duty.
The meeting ended with the quiet finality of a tomb sealing. Kenji walked her to the door, his hand on her shoulder. Elyra, please, he murmured. Let it go. For your own good. Yamamoto, he has powerful friends. He does not make idle threats.
She walked out of the JAXA building into the bright Tokyo afternoon, but the sunlight felt cold. They knew. Or at least, they suspected enough to bury it. The weight of their warning pressed down on her, a gravity she could not escape.
That evening, Azar sensed the change in her the moment she entered the apartment. He was standing by the window, having learned to occupy that space while waiting for her return. He watched as she dropped her bag, her shoulders slumped, the usual light of curiosity in her eyes extinguished, replaced by a dull sheen of fear and frustration.
He approached her slowly, a movement he had learned mimicked concern. He stood before her, his dark eyes searching her face. He saw the subtle tightening around her mouth, the slight tremor in her hands. He perceived the elevated cortisol levels, the accelerated heartbeat. She was in distress.
Elyra looked up at him, this silent man who held the secrets of the stars in his mind and the power to unmake apples in his hand. He was the most profound truth she had ever encountered, and the world was demanding she call him a lie.
They, they want me to forget you, she whispered, her voice cracking. They want to pretend you do not exist.
Azar did not understand the words forget or pretend. But he understood the patterns of energy. He understood cause and effect. A negative stimulus had been applied to Elyra. His presence was the cause. The logical action was to remove himself, to eliminate the negative effect on this fragile, complex system he was beginning to map.
He took a step back, toward the door.
No. The word burst from Elyra with a force that surprised them both. She reached out and grabbed his wrist. His skin was still cool, but the contact was electric with her desperation. Do not you dare. You cannot leave.
She held on tightly, as if he were a lifeline. In that moment, the bureaucrats with their cold threats, the erased data, the official silence, it all melted away in the face of this one, undeniable truth standing in her living room. They could have their official story. She had Azar.
He looked down at her hand on his wrist, then back at her face. The distress signal was still there, but it was now mixed with a new, powerful imperative. Stay.
He relaxed his arm, yielding to her will.
A shaky breath escaped her. They can try to hide you, she said, her voice firming with newfound resolve. But you are my discovery. And I protect what is mine.
She would be more careful. She would hide him in plain sight, just a quiet foreigner working construction. She would play their game, nod and agree in the hallways of JAXA. But in the sanctuary of her apartment, with the star charts on the walls, the real work would continue. The silent man from the stars was now her secret, and she would guard it with a ferocity she never knew she possessed. The unseen hand of the state had tried to close around her, but in doing so, it had only made her grip on her cosmic truth tighter.