By the time Su Yuzu and Soga Yura left the Soga clan's hospital and returned to Keigunen Private Academy, dawn had barely begun to break.
Darkness still lingered like a ghost over the streets. Far off, above the highway that hugged the bay, thin tendrils of black smoke were still curling into the sky.
All along the road back, Investigation Bureau superintendents watched Su Yuzu with looks that were almost strange — unsettling in their intensity. The whole city had entered a state of high alert.
Last night's battle between Su Yuzu and "Raven" was impossible to cover up anymore.
The entire stretch of Highway 107 had been sealed off. At the main battlefield where "Raven" and Su Yuzu had fought — that long coastal road — the asphalt had been melted and scorched almost beyond recognition. Even now, the air there was thick with the reek of gunpowder and char.
At the other end of Highway 107, where Soga Yura had fought Dai Ling, entire hillside slopes had been torn up from the earth. Great swaths of road and greenery lay buried.
There was simply no way to keep any of this quiet.
And on top of that — the video of the Soga family's young lady fighting an Aberrant had been posted online. By the other side, most likely. Probably the other side.
Their exact purpose wasn't entirely clear.
But one thing was certain: Su Yuzu was now truly famous.
A striking girl was already eye-catching enough on her own. Add three consecutive videos, each more arresting than the last — and the name "Su Yuzu" had become a symbol. The kind people remembered without even trying.
If the streets were on alert — then Keigunen Private Academy had gone a step further, upgrading from alert to something that felt nearly like wartime readiness.
And yet.
There was one very practical problem.
Keigunen Private Academy was, at the end of the day, a high school.
Under normal circumstances, reaching the First Sequence at fifteen — like Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi — was already considered genius-level talent. The majority of Keigunen's students were apprentices, roughly comparable to what Zero had once been. The Assault Department students patrolling the campus could barely scrape together one First Sequence squad and a single Second Sequence senior — or, at best, a Third Sequence teacher.
Inside Keigunen Private Academy, Director Saionji was already waiting for Su Yuzu.
The woman looked exhausted — like she hadn't slept a single hour since sending Su Yuzu back last night.
Yamabuki Nanako and Unohana Chiyo were also already there, waiting.
"Good morning." Saionji Sagara looked at the two sisters walking side by side — close, yet with a subtle distance carefully maintained between them.
"Won't you rest a little longer?"
Su Yuzu shook her head lightly.
Soga Yura simply followed a step behind Su Yuzu.
"I thought you'd both sleep in a bit more." Saionji Sagara studied the girls' reasonably healthy complexions, then led them in the direction of the central training hall.
"The surveillance footage that recorded 'Zero' last night has already been compiled."
"Approximately twenty minutes after you left Keigunen Private Academy — that is, around the time you engaged the Aberrant on Highway 107 —"
"Zero left the Assault Department dormitory."
Director Saionji's expression darkened, as though she were berating herself for the oversight. "It was precisely when everyone's attention was completely fixed on the coastal highway."
"I never imagined... that such a massive gap could open up in the rear."
Su Yuzu gave a small nod to show she understood and followed quietly behind Director Saionji.
"The teacher on dormitory watch at the time was Ms. Kurukuzu Akiu — a Third Sequence hair-type ability user."
"Ms. Akiu's perception should already be quite sharp."
"And yet even she failed to notice any trace of Zero leaving."
"You can't blame Ms. Akiu." Su Yuzu let out a quiet sigh. "It happened because I removed Zero's Ascetic's Fetters. This is on me."
"Zero's innate ability is Raptor."
"For anyone who isn't a mental-type Esper, keeping tabs on Zero without disrupting ordinary daily life was always going to be incredibly difficult."
Otherwise, Zero wouldn't have been able to slip into Keigunen Private Academy so effortlessly in the first place — and pull off two successful incidents.
Zero's ability was Agile-type. Her innate ability was Raptor.
She was a born assassin.
No — more precisely: a perfect assassin, manufactured to be that way.
Director Saionji watched the subdued look on the girl's face and assumed Su Yuzu was consumed by guilt and worry. "But Yuzu doesn't need to be so... tense —"
She had almost said "guilt-ridden," but looking at her student's current state, she swallowed the word.
"From what the surveillance footage shows, Zero's condition at the time was unusual."
"She most likely wasn't fleeing Keigunen Private Academy out of malice."
"The way she looked..."
"More like she was being controlled."
Su Yuzu nodded to show she understood.
"There's also the question you emailed Yamabuki about last night." Once they entered the laboratory, Director Saionji's expression grew abruptly and entirely serious.
"Yuzu... you've already figured something out, haven't you?"
"Yes." Su Yuzu didn't deny it.
There was no point in denying something like this.
"Yamabuki —" Director Saionji looked toward the small figure beside her.
"We actually ran tests on Zero's various indicators some time ago."
"For any Aberrant... their bodies have long since undergone catastrophization. They are, in essence, walking vessels of Catastrophe."
"Which is why, upon death, they dissolve rapidly into ash and return to the embrace of the Abyss."
"Even for Aberrants below the Second Sequence —"
"Once they return to the human side, their bodies are locked in place by the influence of Catastrophe energy. Their abilities become fixed, and they can never advance again. Not even an inch. For the rest of their lives."
"Unless..."
"— Blessing." Su Yuzu finished the sentence.
"Mm." Yamabuki Nanako stood on a step stool to operate the controls, pulling Zero's data up line by line and displaying it in front of Su Yuzu.
She shot a slightly guarded glance at Soga Yura.
Director Saionji said directly, "As for Miss Soga... there's nothing to worry about."
"She's Yuzu's family. And besides — she's directly involved in all of this."
Yamabuki Nanako nodded. "The catastrophized genetic structure inside an Aberrant's body can no longer be described using ordinary human genetics."
"They are sequences of special code, interwoven with the will and power of the Abyss."
"The same applies to ability users —"
"Within Epiphany Manufacture, they generally refer to these as 'Factors.'"
"And based on our comparative analysis... Zero's body contains a large number of crystallized... human 'Factors.'"
"According to our assessment..."
"Those 'Factors' originated from you —"
Yamabuki Nanako looked at Su Yuzu.
Soga Yura's brow furrowed.
"And furthermore... because these are already crystallized 'Factors,' we can actually determine when they became fixed."
"In other words — when Zero was born."
"That was approximately twelve years ago."
The expression on Soga Yura's face — which had only just been a frown — went very, very dark.
That... time?
That was when Su Yuzu had cut her long hair short.
That was when Soga Yura had begun growing her hair out.
That was when Su Yuzu — who had once stood in the spotlight, the center of all attention — and Soga Yura had traded places.
And most importantly — Soga Yura bit down hard on her lip.
That was also —
The first time Su Yuzu had ever awakened.
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