Hiro held the key in his pocket.
[It was warm. It buzzed like a phone on silent.]
He walked through the city at night. [The streets were empty. Lights were off. Everyone was sleeping in their perfect peace.]
'Where do I go?' he thought. 'The key wants to open something. But what?'
[He stopped under a street lamp. The key glowed through his pocket. Blue and red together.]
Then he saw it.
[A wall. Old concrete. Covered in posters about the Golden Peace.]
The key got hot. [Almost too hot to hold.]
Hiro looked at the wall. [It looked normal. Just a wall.]
But when he touched it with the key, the concrete rippled. [Like water. Like a dream.]
---
The wall opened.
[Not broke. Not cracked. It just... became a door.]
Behind it was a staircase. [Going down. Dark. Cold.]
Hiro took a deep breath. [His hands shook. But his feet moved.]
He walked down. [Step by step. The air smelled like old metal and dust.]
At the bottom, he found a room.
[Big. Round. Full of broken machines.]
In the center stood something covered with a white sheet.
[Hiro walked closer. His heart beat fast.]
He pulled the sheet off.
[It was a FRANXX.]
But not like the ones in the museum. [Not the single-pilot machines from this timeline.]
This one had two seats. [Side by side. Close together.]
'Strelizia,' Hiro thought. 'She was here. They built her for two. For us.'
[He touched the metal. It was cold. But the key in his pocket jumped.]
The FRANXX had no head. [Broken. Dead.]
But on the pilot seats, someone had carved words.
"For 002 and 016."
"Fly together."
Hiro's eyes filled with tears. [He did not stop them.]
'They knew,' he thought. 'Someone in this world knew about us. They built this. They hid it. They waited for me to find it.'
---
Suddenly, a light turned on.
[Hiro spun around.]
A boy stood in the doorway. [Same age as Hiro. White clothes. No expression.]
"Subject 016," [the boy said. His voice was flat. Like a robot.] "You are holding illegal memory objects. Return the key. Return the photo. Come quietly."
[Two more kids stepped in. A girl and another boy. Same white clothes. Same empty faces.]
'Who are they?' Hiro thought. 'They look like us. But wrong. Like dolls.'
"I won't go," [Hiro said. He put the key in his pocket and backed against the FRANXX.]
The first boy tilted his head. [No anger. No fear. Just... checking.]
"The Gardener wants to help you," [he said.] "Your memories hurt. We can make them stop. You will be happy. You will sleep well. No more red. No more pain. Just peace."
[The girl stepped closer. She smiled. But her eyes were dead.] "It is better this way. Love is heavy. Being alone is light. Come with us."
Hiro looked at their hands. [They held small silver sticks. Not guns. Something sharper.]
'They want to cut me,' he thought. 'Like she cuts memories. Prunes them. Makes them gone.'
"No," [Hiro said again. Louder this time.]
He grabbed a metal pipe from the floor. [Heavy. Rusty.]
The three white kids moved together. [Perfect sync. No talking. Like they shared one mind.]
Hiro swung the pipe. [Missed.]
The girl kicked his leg. [He fell. Hard.]
The first boy grabbed his arm. [Cold fingers. Strong.]
"Do not fight," [the boy said.] "Fighting is inefficient. You will forget her. You will thank us."
Hiro looked up. [At the FRANXX. At the two seats.]
'Zero Two,' he thought. 'I found where you should be. But you're not here. And I can't hold on much longer.'
[The boy raised the silver stick.]
Then —
BANG.
[A sound from above.]
The three kids froze. [They looked up.]
A shadow jumped down the stairs. [Fast.]
It hit the first boy. [The white kid fell.]
"Run!" [a voice shouted.]
Hiro looked. [A girl. Older than him. Blue hair. Familiar eyes.]
'Ichigo?' he thought. 'No. Different. But same eyes.'
The girl grabbed his hand. [Warm. Strong.]
"Move!" [she yelled.]
They ran. [Up the stairs. Through the rippling wall. Into the night.]
The white kids did not follow. [They just stood in the dark. Watching.]
---
They ran until their legs burned.
[Through alleys. Over bridges. Past the big tree.]
Finally, they stopped behind an old building.
Hiro bent over. [Breathing hard.] "Who... who are you?"
The girl looked at him. [Her hair was short. Her face was hard. But her eyes were soft.]
"I am from the other side of the crack," [she said.] "My name is Code. I am what happens when a bond gets cut but does not die."
Hiro stared. [Confused.]
"I don't understand."
[Code smiled. Sad.] "You don't need to. Not yet. Just know this: the Gardener is not one person. She is a machine that eats love. She made those white kids from broken bonds. They are empty because she took their 'Darling' away."
[She touched his pocket. Where the key hid.]
"That key opens more than doors. It opens the path back to her. But you are not ready. The Gardener knows your name now. She will send more cutters. More white kids. She will fill your dreams with static until you forget why you are fighting."
Hiro clutched the key. [Tight.]
"I won't forget."
[Code looked at him. Long and deep.]
"Then you need to learn fast," [she said.] "The cracks are closing. The tree is getting weaker. If you don't open the final door before the next full moon, the path to her will seal forever. And this world will stay perfect... and hollow."
'Full moon,' Hiro thought. 'Three days.'
"Where is the final door?" [he asked.]
Code pointed up. [At the sky.]
"Where the first Jian fell," [she said.] "Where 001 became the seal. The roots of her tree hide the oldest crack. The key opens it. But the Gardener guards it herself."
[She turned to leave.]
"Wait!" [Hiro called.] "Will you help me?"
Code looked back. [Half her face was in shadow.]
"I cannot fight her directly," [she said.] "I am only a shadow of a bond. But I can show you one thing."
[She threw something. Small.]
Hiro caught it. [A photo.]
It showed a girl with red horns. [Back turned. Reaching toward a light.]
Under it, one word:
"Soon."
[Code jumped onto a roof. Gone.]
Hiro stood alone. [The photo shook in his hand.]
'Not yet,' he thought. 'But soon. She is real. She is waiting. And I have three days.'
[He looked at the moon. Half full. Growing.]
The Gardener was watching. [The white kids were waiting. The perfect world wanted him quiet.]
But Hiro had a key. [He had a photo. He had a name that burned in his chest like fire.]
"Three days," [he whispered to the sky.]
[The wind picked up. A single red leaf blew past him.]
Not from any tree in the city.
'From her side,' he thought. 'From the crack.'
He walked home. [Not slow. Not fast.]
Ready.