The classroom emptied in controlled chaos.
Rei stood still for a second, staring at the sleek device in his palm.
Matte black. The NOX insignia engraved subtly on the back.
It didn't feel like a phone.
Enma walked past him, gold eyes sharp.
"You gonna stare at it all day."
Rei looked up.
"No."
Enma scoffed.
"Good. Don't slow me down."
Shiori stood a few steps away from them, hands folded lightly in front of her. Her silver grey hair fell softly around her shoulders. Her eyes faced forward.
She wasn't looking at them, but she was mapping.
Rei glanced at her.
She hadn't looked at him again since earlier.
Good. Or maybe not.
Rei stepped beside her.
"You good?"
He paused.
"Yeah."
She was calm on the surface, but nervous internally.
They followed Enma out.
Rei turned on his phone, and unlocked it.
TEAM 6
Kagutsuchi Enma
Mizunagi Rei
Kisaragi Shiori
Task 1: Infrastructure Stabilization - Sector C-12
Task 2: Civilian Coordination Simulation - Market District
Task 3: Strategic Territory Capture
Task 4: Blind Zone Retrieval
Rei blinked.
Enma looked over his shoulder.
"Of course."
Rei tilted his head.
"What?"
Enma exhaled slowly.
"They grouped two power types together."
Rei glanced at Shiori.
She was still silent. But her fingers tightened slightly when she noticed Rei looked at her.
Shiori's world shifted.
She activated her manifestation gently.
Not fully.
A grid formed faintly beneath her feet.
Squares. Positions. Energy signatures manifested ad pieces.
Enma burned bright, a knight.
Straight lines, overwhelming force, and a dominant presence.
Rei, the board flickered.
The square where he stood blurred. For a second he appeared as a King. Then a Queen, then nothing.
Her breath hitched slightly.
She deactivated the board immediately.
"Too early. I can't comprehend him."
She forced her expression to be neutral.
The hallway outside the classroom opened into wide corridors lined with glass panels. Beyond the glass was open air, or at least what looked like open air.
Artificial sky. Soft daylight simulation.
Below them, layers of the base extended downward in tiers. Balconies, transport rails, suspended bridges, distant platforms where personnel in uniforms moved.
The place was just large.
Rei adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder.
"...This place still freaks me out."
Enma didn't look back.
"It's a military base. Not a theme park."
Rei scratched his cheek.
"Yeah but who builds a city-sized base inside a mountain?"
"People who don't want to be found."
Shiori walked slightly behind them, steps precise. If someone didn't know she was blind, they wouldn't guess. She never stumbled.
But her breathing shifted subtly when Rei moved unpredictably.
She activated her ability gently, and the world transformed.
A grid formed across her perception, invisible lines diving space into squares. Energy signatures flared like pieces on a board.
Enma, solid and aggressive in direction. Rei, her focus tightened.
The square where he stood shimmered. For a second, a king. Then the outline stretched morphed.
A Queen, then nothing. The board glitched.
Her breath hitched. Her fingers curled slightly at her sides.
"Who is this guy?"
Task 1: Sector C-12
The maintenance sector was quieter than the upper levels.
The walls here were metal instead of polished paneling. Pipes ran along the ceiling. Low industrial lighting cast shadows across the floor.
A red indicator light blinked steadily near a control panel.
Their phones vibrated in unison.
Airflow disruption detected.
Stabilize the energy.
Avoid structural damage.
Enma stepped forward first, scanning the ceiling.
"It's overheating."
Rei glanced up.
"How can you tell?"
Enma's jaw tightened slightly.
"I can feel it."
Enma's eyes glowed gold.
"Something's choking the airflow."
He extended his hand slightly. Heat gathered around his fingers.
"Don't."
Shiori spoke for the first time since leaving the classroom.
Enma glanced at her.
"What?"
"If you increase the temperature in a closed system pressure will spike."
Enma's jaw tightened.
"You think I don't know that."
Shiori tilted her head slightly.
"You're been emotional. You shouldn't act on impulse."
Enma turned towards her sharply, clenching his fists.
Rei slowly stepped between them.
"Okay. Let's not start fighting. Enma chill out."
Enma clicked his tongue.
"Stay out of it."
Rei ignored him and crouched near one of the conduits.
"The task says airflow restriction."
He glanced upward. High above, a maintenance grate hung slightly misaligned.
Rei squinted.
"...That's pretty high."
Enma smirked. Flames flickered faintly around his hands.
"So? If I burn down the obstruction, it clears."
Rei looked at him.
"You'll burn down the room."
Shiori sighed slowly.
She activated her ability, this time smaller. Confined to room.
The grid appeared.
The malfunction registered as a blocked path. Airflow stagnation near the upper vent.
She calculated outcomes.
If Enma burns it: Air displacement. Minor explosion risk.
If Rei takes action: Low success probability.
Before she finished, Rei moved.
No strategy, he stepped toward the wall. He looked upward.
"Come on, please work."
Enma frowned.
"What are you doing?"
Rei didn't answer.
The world shifted for him.
Ethereal Steps activated.
His foot pressed against the wall. Then through it.
His body flickered. Half present, half slipping between layers of the wall.
He ran up the wall awkwardly, but determined.
For a second he almost lost balance. Phased halfway through the metal framework. Then solidified abruptly.
"...Whoa, okay."
Enma eyes twitched.
Rei reached the misaligned grate and grabbed it with both hands.
The metal was warm, then he yanked, and it shifted.
Air rushed violently downward as the system recalibrated.
The red light blinked twice, then turned green.
Rei dropped down harder than he meant to and landed unevenly, knees bucking slightly.
Enma stared at him.
"You idiot. What did you just do?"
Rei rubbed the back of his head.
"It looked obvious."
"Obvious?"
Enma didn't like that.
Shiori felt pressure behind his eyes.
Her board had glitched again the moment Rei moved.
He didn't follow the predicted probability she calculated.
He shifted. Like he was stepping between squares instead of moving across them.
She deactivated her ability. Her temple throbbed faintly.
Rei noticed the change in her posture.
"...You okay?"
"Yes… yeah."
He didn't push.
Their phones vibrated.
Task 1 completed - 120 Points
Enma crossed his arms.
"Let's move on."
MARKET DISTRICT - Task 2
The Market District was almost unsettling in its realism.
Holographic storefronts projected colorful signs. Simulated civilians moved along the street, their conversations layered into the background noise. Artificial smells, bread, coffee, oil were piped subtly into the air.
Rei blinked.
"They went all out."
"It's training."
Enma said flatly.
The simulation began without warming.
A delivery truck hologram flickered. Boxes disappeared from a vendor's inventory.
Voices rose.
"What do you mean the shipment's gone?"
"This is the third time!"
The crowd increased. Arguments overlapped.
Enma rolled his shoulders.
"Move."
Rei caught his sleeve lightly.
"Wait."
Enma's eyes snapped toward him.
"What!?"
Rei let go immediately.
"Just don't burn anything."
Shiori activated her ability again.
The board expanded, now dozens of pawns crowned the grid.
Enma glowed aggressively.
Rei unstable.
She adjusted her thinking.
Stop predicting him. Instead, predict outcomes around him.
She spoke softly.
"The left side group is the catalyst."
Enma didn't turn.
"Are you ordering me around?"
"I'm advising you."
Rei stepped forward before Enma could escalate it.
"Let me try."
Enma scoffed but didn't stop him.
Rei walked into the crowd.
He wasn't charismatic or commanding. He just looked tired.
"Hey."
No one listened.
He raised his voice.
"HEY."
A few holographic faces turned.
He swallowed.
"I get it. You're frustrated."
Someone shouted back.
"Of course we are!"
Rei nodded.
"Yeah. I would be too."
His voice wasn't polished. It cracked slightly.
"I've been hungry before. It messes with your head."
That shifted the emotional tone.
Shiori felt pawns slow.
Enma watched quietly now, arm folded.
Rei held up his phone.
"Before yelling at each other, can we verify the shipment log?"
Murmurs.
Uncertainty.
Shiori monitored the board.
The pawns were no longer converging on one explosive square. They were dispersing.
Rei accessed the logistics system on his phone. The interface projected above his palm, clean and precise.
Routing error. He corrected it.
The simulated truck reappeared on schedule.
The crowd's hostility dropped instantly.
Their phones vibrated.
Task 2 Completed - 200 Points
Bonus: Minimal Force Usage - 50 Points
Enma sighed slowly.
"...You don't fight."
Rei shrugged.
"I don't know how."
Enma studied him.
He wasn't lying. That made it worse.
Shiori deactivated her board.
Her nose tangled faintly. She turned slightly toward Rei.
"You're… inconsistent."
Rei blinked.
"Sorry?"
"You don't follow structure. But you work somehow."
Enma smirked faintly.
"That's putting it nicely."
Rei rubbed his neck awkwardly.
"I'm just trying not to mess up."
That wasn't false humility, it was baseline truth.
Shiori clenched her fingers slightly.
On her board, every piece had a rule. Even chaos has patterns. But Rei. He didn't break rules. He ignored them entirely.
That unsettled her. But it also meant something else. He wasn't trying to dominate the board.
He was trying to survive.
She didn't know how to categorize that.
Above them, the artificial sky shifted, simulating late morning.
Two tasks completed, and two remaining.
Enma walked slightly slower now. Shiori walked more cautiously.
Not from fear, but curiosity.
Rei just walked between them, unaware that in two very different ways.
He was destabilizing both of them.