Saint Lycoris Academy — 21:17 hoursCondition: Code Amber — Intruder Alert within campus
The alarms don't start with sirens anymore.They start with petals.
Pink and white blossoms burst from the ventilation shafts—tiny tracking drones disguised as falling flowers.It's beautiful, if you forget they detonate on impact.
System Broadcast
Security Notice:"Unknown hostiles detected in the west courtyard.All students shelter in place.Authorized Lycoris units — engage."
I stand before the sentence finishes.My body moves before permission.The command is instinct.
Tactical Angel takes the wheel.
[Tactical Angel]: "Mission parameters: protect the variable."KANA (half-awake): "You mean Ren."[Tactical Angel]: "Designation R-17 — Human Asset. Secondary priority: prevent stupidity."
Courtyard Engagement
Explosions flash behind the cherry trees, petals scattering like snow on fire.The air smells of ozone and sugar — the scent of synthetic pollen igniting.
And, predictably, Ren is not in the shelter.
He's in the open courtyard, yelling at a drone with a broom.
KANA / TACTICAL ANGEL: "Why is he outside?"REN (shouting): "It attacked the library cat!"KANA: "Unacceptable mission objective."REN: "It's a cat, Kana!"KANA: "Cats are replaceable — you are classified as 'unique idiot.' Move."
I grab him by the collar and drag him backward into cover.He's half choking, half laughing.
REN: "You could ask me to move!"KANA (flatly): "Request denied. Your reaction time is sub-optimal."
A drone swoops in low, targeting his heat signature.He flinches.I don't.
I threw the broom he was holding.It pierces the drone's sensor perfectly.
A burst of white petals and fire erupts in midair.Students watching from the shelter actually cheer.
REN: "…You threw my broom."KANA: "Correction: repurposed inferior weapon for tactical gain."REN: "It was still my broom."KANA: "Request for compensation denied."
The field goes silent but for the soft, slow rain of petals.
Battle Log
Threat Count: 11Neutralized: 11Collateral Damage: 1 broom.
Aftermath — Post-Engagement Shelter
Ren sits on the floor, panting, soaked in rain and mechanical pollen.I stand by the doorway, uniform spotless, blade humming faintly in standby mode.
Students whisper in the corners — they call me terrifying.They're right.
Ren looks up and wipes a streak of soot from my cheek.His hand leaves a faint print there, soft, human, absurd.
REN: "You saved my life—again."KANA / TACTICAL ANGEL: "Statistically, you should stop requiring that."REN: "You're welcome."KANA: "…Acknowledged."
A pause.
Then, quieter—
KANA: "Next time an attack occurs, please refrain from defending felines. Your mission is survival."REN: "What about the cat's mission?"KANA: "Irrelevant. It completed it by escaping."
There's the slightest modulation in my tone — something between logic and humor.He hears it.He grins.
REN: "Did you just make a joke?"KANA: "Negative."REN: "You totally did."KANA: "…You are still a variable requiring containment."
I shove him gently back into the shelter, voice even, expression still unreadable.But for a heartbeat, I feel it — the faintest curve of a smile tugging at the corner of my lips.
He notices.He doesn't say a word.
Diary Fragment (After Mission)
[Fragment Log #11 — Night of a Hundred Petals]Hostiles neutralized.Witness alive.Broom deceased.
Emotional reading: unstable — mixed humor response detected.
Handwritten note:He laughed while I killed.I think that's what peace feels like.
Later, when the petals finally stop falling, the Academy broadcasts the victory summary:"Code Amber resolved. Minimal damage. All glory to the Order."
The students go back to praying.The instructors go back to pretending.
But in the memory archive of my body, I still feel his laughter vibrating through my hand.The warmth of life that refused to fear me.
The tactical logs will call it efficiency under stress.The cameras will call it perfect form.Mother Violet will call it obedience reborn.
But I know what it really was.
It was the sound of him laughing under falling petals—The first moment a weapon learned how to tease.
End of Diary #11 — "Night of a Hundred Petals."