The headquarters map had been open for less than twenty minutes, and it had already become outdated three times.
Tatsu slid two fingers across the screen and enlarged the western sector. A yellow line connecting to the infirmary had just regained continuity after being interrupted for several minutes.
Around him, the command room continued operating at an intensity that left almost no space for silence.
Six operators were spread across the consoles. Two handled internal communications, two others monitored the cameras that were still functioning, and the rest tried to keep the approximate positions of each group updated.
Tried.
That was the problem.
In some sectors, information arrived several minutes late. In others, the cameras had stopped responding entirely, and communications had been reduced to broken messages sent from portable devices.
On the digital map, Tokyo headquarters no longer looked like an organized facility.
Now it was a combination of colors.
Green.
Yellow.
Red.
And far too much gray.
Kana stood in front of the main screen with her arms crossed.
A red point blinked near the northern wing.
Then it disappeared.
"What happened to that contact?" she asked.
One of the operators checked his console.
"We lost the signal."
"How long ago?"
"Just now."
Tatsu looked toward that sector.
"Last report?"
"Two hunters evacuating technical staff. They said they'd found routes blocked by something like… threads."
Kana didn't need to hear the rest.
"Mukuro."
Tatsu nodded.
Hana and Yui had managed to leave that area with Kanzaki and the wounded hunters they had rescued, but the remnant still controlled much of the northern access.
He hadn't pursued the group.
That was what worried Kana the most.
If Mukuro had simply wanted to kill them, he would have tried to break through the bulkhead after them.
Instead, he had stayed there.
Blocking routes.
"Mark the north as compromised," Kana ordered. "Nobody enters without a confirmed alternative route."
The operator obeyed.
The sector changed from yellow to red.
Only a few seconds later, another voice came from the opposite side of the room.
"Report from the western sector."
Tatsu turned.
"Go ahead."
"Kirino is maintaining the route to the infirmary. They requested relief a few minutes ago. The team has already arrived."
Kana lifted her gaze slightly.
"Injuries?"
"Several hunters. No confirmed deaths in Kirino's group."
"The students?"
"Arimoto and Wada are exhausted, but neither has serious injuries."
Kana exhaled slowly.
"Good."
Tatsu updated the map.
The western line shifted from a harsher yellow to a more stable shade.
Not green.
Nothing there could truly be considered safe yet.
But at least the route was still open.
"One less route to lose," Tatsu commented.
Kana looked at him.
"Don't say that."
"Why?"
"Because every time someone says something like that, five minutes later we get another report."
Tatsu looked at the screen.
"I don't think the remnants are listening to our conversations."
"I'm not taking the risk."
Tatsu said nothing.
For several seconds, both of them watched the map.
A short alarm sounded from one of the consoles.
Another sector lost communication.
Kana closed her eyes for a moment.
"There."
Tatsu looked at her.
"I didn't say anything."
"You thought it."
The reports arrived in no useful order.
One patrol had reclaimed a corridor.
Another had vanished.
A group of workers had reached a safe area.
Two hunters were requesting support.
One access point had been blocked.
Another was operational again.
Every time Tatsu tried to build a complete picture of the situation, new information appeared and forced him to change it.
He picked up a small tablet and opened the unit registry.
"Kagami, Kaito, and Harada are still moving."
Kana approached.
"Toward where?"
"Last confirmed position: Central Sector Four. They responded to a distress call from a group trapped near the service corridors."
"Recent contact?"
"Two minutes ago."
Kana nodded.
"Good. Don't redirect them while they still have communication."
Tatsu continued.
"Kasumi is with the veteran group near the archives and internal storage areas. Still no direct contact with any major enemy."
"Still."
Tatsu moved to the next name.
"Kato…"
Kana said nothing.
The marker assigned to the eastern sector moved irregularly.
They had received three communications since Ginjiro had decided to leave on his own.
The first had been brief.
The second, even shorter.
In the third, he had barely said that he was still advancing.
"He's alive," Tatsu said.
Kana glanced at him.
"That's a very reassuring standard."
"It could be worse."
"It can always be worse."
Tatsu scrolled again.
"Shishido isn't responding either."
Kana placed both hands on the table.
"What a surprise."
"He could be injured."
"He could also have decided the communicator ruins his style."
Tatsu kept looking at Baku's name.
His last recorded position was near the descent to the lower levels.
Since then, nothing.
"Sending another group after him would be dangerous," he said.
"And they'd probably end up chasing him through half the headquarters."
Kana stepped away from the table.
"Leave him."
Tatsu raised an eyebrow.
"You trust him?"
Kana took a second before answering.
"I trust that, if he's still alive, he's going to do exactly whatever he feels like doing."
"That didn't answer my question."
"Then you already know the answer."
Tatsu decided not to insist.
Baku was difficult to keep track of even under normal circumstances.
In the middle of an invasion, asking him for discipline was almost an invitation to do the opposite.
An operator called Tatsu over from a side console.
"We have confirmation from the infirmary."
He approached.
"Hana and Yui?"
"Yes. Both are there. Mana exhaustion and minor injuries. They've already been evaluated."
Tatsu checked the unit registry.
There had originally been three names assigned to that group.
Hana Sendai.
Yui Takashima.
Masato Kanzaki.
Only two had arrived.
Tatsu looked toward Kana.
"Kanzaki?"
Kana kept her eyes on the main screen.
"He's already on his way."
The answer came too quickly.
Tatsu held her gaze for a few seconds.
Kana added nothing.
Neither did he.
He closed that section of the registry.
None of the operators seemed to have paid attention to the exchange.
Several minutes passed before the room regained even a minimum degree of stability.
Tatsu used the moment to organize the reports received since the beginning of the invasion.
He shifted the map and began placing small markers on every point where remnants had been reported.
At first, they seemed meaningless.
There had been attacks in the north.
In the east.
Near maintenance sectors.
Others close to transit areas.
Enemies had also appeared inside zones that, in theory, had no direct connection to the external entrances.
Tatsu enlarged the image.
Kana was still speaking with one of the operators when he called her.
"Mizushima."
She turned.
"What?"
"Come look at this."
Kana approached.
Tatsu removed some of the map's layers until only confirmed remnant contacts and their movement routes remained visible.
"What am I looking at?"
"I'm not sure yet."
Kana rested one hand on the table.
Tatsu pointed to several locations.
"These groups attacked sectors with a significant hunter presence."
"Yes."
"But they didn't stay."
Kana looked at him.
"Go on."
"Sector Five had at least eight hunters when the remnants appeared. They injured two and continued deeper into the facility."
He moved the map.
"Something similar happened here. A group passed through maintenance without pursuing the workers who escaped."
Another marker.
"And here, we have a report of a remnant that literally ignored two wounded hunters."
Kana studied the lines.
"They're not looking for fights."
"Some of them are."
"The necessary ones."
Tatsu fell silent.
Kana was beginning to understand.
The invasion looked chaotic because battles were happening all across headquarters.
But many of those fights might simply be the result of encountering hunters along the way.
"They're not trying to occupy Tokyo," Tatsu said.
Kana slowly shook her head.
"No."
"It doesn't look like they're trying to cause the maximum number of casualties either."
Kana stared at the red sectors.
"That would be much easier."
Tatsu enlarged an inner section of the map.
"Look where several of these routes end."
Kana followed the lines with her eyes.
Two converged near the archives.
Another advanced toward the internal storage areas.
A fourth led toward a zone whose information appeared restricted even to most of the operators in the room.
Kana stopped moving.
Tatsu noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"That didn't look like nothing."
Kana enlarged the map herself.
"Keep checking."
Tatsu looked at the routes again.
There were too many coincidences.
"Do you think they know the layout of the headquarters?"
Kana didn't answer immediately.
A radio report filled the room for several seconds, describing a group trapped on a stairwell.
Kana waited until it ended.
Then she answered.
"I think they know enough."
Tatsu looked at the plan.
That answer was worse than he expected.
"How?"
"I don't know."
"To reach some of these sectors, they have to know which corridors to use."
"I know."
"And others don't even appear on the standard plans."
Kana looked at him.
"I know that too."
Tatsu went quiet.
Kana turned away and studied the whole map again.
The evacuation routes were still under attack.
There were remnants fighting hunters.
There were deaths.
None of it was fake.
But behind the violence, a direction was beginning to appear.
A purpose.
And Kana would have preferred a meaningless invasion to that.
"Confirmation from Nagoya."
One of the operators raised a hand.
Kana turned immediately.
"Tell me."
"They've mobilized a team. They still can't provide an exact arrival time."
Tatsu approached the console.
"How many?"
"Unconfirmed. They're reorganizing personnel before departure."
Another voice came from the communications desk.
"Osaka has responded as well. They're preparing hunters for Tokyo."
Kana looked at the clock on the wall.
She had requested support shortly after they understood the scale of the attack.
It had been the right decision.
But the other branches weren't located on the other side of a door.
Mobilizing hunters, organizing transport, and making sure their own territories weren't left unprotected all took time.
"Then we're still on our own for a while," Kana said.
"Yes," Tatsu replied.
"Tell me as soon as we have real estimates."
"I will."
Kana looked at the map again.
"And don't let them empty their branches."
Tatsu looked at her.
"You think there could be other attacks?"
"I think we've made enough assumptions today."
She didn't need to say more.
If Tokyo was the only target, concentrating reinforcements there made sense.
If it wasn't, they might be doing exactly what the remnants wanted.
Tatsu returned to the attack routes.
The more he studied them, the harder it became to believe they were random.
There were zones the enemies seemed to pass through almost without stopping.
Other points remained under constant pressure.
"They did something similar during the first war," Kana said.
Tatsu looked up.
She was still watching the map.
"Ignoring the hunters?"
"Choosing what was worth attacking."
Kana shifted one section of the map.
"At first, we thought every attack was meant to kill people or control territory. We wasted too much time responding as if every position had the same importance."
Tatsu knew the official reports from that war.
He also knew they were incomplete.
"Ryuichi?"
Kana remained silent for several seconds.
"He took too long to understand it."
There was no obvious accusation in her voice.
No nostalgia either.
Only exhaustion.
"What were they after back then?" Tatsu asked.
Kana stepped away from the screen.
"Several things."
"Very precise answer."
"Old habit."
Tatsu watched her.
"You seem to have a lot of those lately."
Kana was about to answer when an urgent transmission interrupted the conversation.
"Central, we have contact."
The voice came through with interference.
Tatsu grabbed the main communicator.
"Identify yourself."
"Archive team. Shirogane."
Kasumi.
Kana approached immediately.
"We hear you."
The transmission crackled.
"We found enemy activity in the inner corridors."
"How many?"
"Can't confirm. We saw four. There may be more."
Tatsu checked the position on the map.
It was an area close to the internal storage facilities.
"Are they advancing toward you?"
There was a pause.
"Not exactly."
Kana frowned.
"Explain."
"They found us. There was a brief exchange. Then they pulled back."
"They ran?"
"No."
Another burst of interference.
Kasumi continued.
"They moved toward the storage corridor. They didn't try to pursue us."
Tatsu looked at Kana.
She was already watching that part of the map.
"What are they doing?" Kana asked.
For several seconds, there was only static.
Then came the answer.
"They're looking for an entrance."
The room seemed to grow quieter.
Kana rested one hand on the console.
"Kasumi, don't pursue them alone."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Keep your distance. Confirm which sector they're heading toward and report before engaging."
"Understood."
The transmission ended.
Tatsu enlarged the indicated corridor.
There were several facilities there.
Storage areas.
Technical archives.
Maintenance rooms.
And a series of access points whose information was restricted.
He looked at Kana.
"What's there?"
Kana didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes remained fixed on that part of the map.
"Something they shouldn't know about."
Tatsu waited.
No further explanation came.
"Should we send a team?"
"Kasumi already has veterans with her."
"That's not what I asked."
Kana looked at him.
"Not yet."
Tatsu returned his attention to the map.
The routes were beginning to make too much sense.
Mukuro was blocking evacuation routes in the north.
Other groups had moved toward internal facilities.
Kasumi had just found enemies searching for an access point.
And Corridor Seven was still completely silent.
Tatsu opened the registry.
"Corridor Seven still hasn't responded."
Kana went still.
"Since when?"
"Last confirmed contact… seventeen minutes ago."
Kana looked at the clock.
Then at the map.
"Did you try every frequency?"
"Three times."
"Cameras?"
"Offline."
Tatsu shifted the screen toward the area.
The gray marker remained.
They had no idea what was happening beyond it.
"Do we send someone?" he asked.
Kana didn't answer.
Her attention remained fixed on Corridor Seven.
Tatsu checked the unit registry again.
"Kanzaki hasn't communicated again either."
Kana slowly lowered her gaze.
For the first time since the attack began, Tatsu thought he saw something other than concentration in her expression.
Concern.
It lasted only an instant.
Kana straightened her shoulders.
"Then let's trust that he got there first."
Tatsu watched her.
That sentence confirmed something he had already suspected.
Kana knew where Kanzaki had gone.
And she had probably known before he left Hana and Yui behind.
But this wasn't the time to ask.
A new signal appeared on the map.
Then another.
Another sector requested assistance.
Tatsu closed the registry and returned to communications.
Kana remained in front of the screen.
She studied the red lines running through Tokyo and the points where they were beginning to converge.
For the first time since the invasion began, the problem was no longer only how many enemies had entered headquarters.
It was what they had come to find.
And how much they knew about where it had been hidden.