Chapter 14 - "Map"
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The hangar was slowly emptying out. Cleanup drones buzzed around the mechs like insects, recharging cables snaking across the floor. Mio hopped down from the cockpit first, ponytail bouncing, then reached up to offer me a hand.
I took it, stepping onto solid ground. My legs still felt shaky from the adrenaline and the weird intimacy of being crammed inside that thing with her.
Rei had already disappeared—probably off to debrief or sharpen her blades or whatever she did after fights. Ren's unit was powering down a few bays over, but I didn't see him.
Mio glanced at me as we walked toward the exit.
"Hey," I said, keeping my voice low. "Where do these monsters even come from? They just… appear?"
She stopped for a second. Her usual energy dimmed, like she was weighing how much to say.
Then she tilted her head toward the corridor.
"Come to my room. I'll show you."
I blinked. "Your room?"
"It's easier than explaining here."
I shrugged. "Okay."
We walked in silence through the academy halls. A few students nodded at Mio—respectful, almost deferential. She didn't seem to notice. Or maybe she was used to it.
Her room was on the upper dorm level. Brighter than mine—yellow accents, posters of mech designs and training formations, a big holographic projector in the center.
She locked the door behind us and activated the projector without preamble.
A detailed map of Japan appeared in the air—current borders glowing blue. Cities, barriers, mana zones marked in red.
I stepped closer.
Something was wrong.
The shape was off. The northern island stretched farther east. The entire Korean peninsula—North and South—was fused seamlessly into the landmass. No sea gap. No separate countries. Just one continuous territory labeled "Greater Yamato Prefecture."
I stared.
*This isn't right. There used to be an ocean. Japan was islands. Korea was… Korea.*
Mio didn't comment on the changed map. She just zoomed in on the southern extension—what used to be South Korea, now part of Japan.
"Major mana caves are clustered here," she said, highlighting pulsing red zones along the southern coast and inland mountains. "That's where most high-level breaches start. Monsters keep pouring out from those caves. Predictive systems catch some, but not enough."
She looked at me seriously.
"If we want to stop the bigger waves—not just react when they hit the academy—we have to go in. Clear the source caves. Or at least map them properly."
I swallowed.
"So they're coming from… that area?"
Mio nodded.
I pointed at the map, at the place where the ocean should have been.
"But… how? There used to be sea between Japan and Korea. How are they crossing?"
She gave a small, tired smile.
"We built bridges. Massive ones. Elevated roads, rail lines, floating platforms. Connected the territories after the Cataclysm. Easier to move people, supplies, troops. But mana monsters… some can fly. Others swim. The bridges became highways for them too."
She zoomed closer on one red zone—deep in the mountains.
"That's why the southern prefecture is so dangerous. The caves are deep. Unstable. And they're spreading."
I looked at the glowing red blotches.
Then back at Mio.
"How do you know all this?"
Her expression changed. Softer. Sadder.
"My sister," she said quietly. "She's stationed at a forward research outpost there. She sends reports when she can. The data matches restricted academy files."
I didn't know what to say.
Mio stared at the map for a long moment.
Then she turned it off.
The room went quiet.
I looked at her.
She looked back.
Neither of us spoke.
But the weight of what she'd just shown me settled heavy between us.
The world had changed more than I'd realized.
And the monsters weren't just random threats.
They were coming from somewhere specific.
Somewhere her sister was right now.
Alone.
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*End*