13:05 JST – Daelic Crucible, Elevator – Descent to Central Square
The elevator thrummed faintly. Inside, the five stood in silence. Sekhmet leaned against the side rail, her scarf tucked neatly back into place, hands drumming idly along the steel.
Tokuda finally broke the silence. "H-how often does that happen?"
Mitsuki didn't look up. "Never. Not like that."
"If I remember correctly, they said Spiral intrusions were impossible." Kazuya said, his arms still folded.
"It's not impossible anymore." Sekhmet said aloud.
No one responded immediately.
Kabastis looked sideways at them all. "You're thinking too loud."
Tokuda blinked.
"Sorry?" Sekhmet tilted her head playfully.
"All this thinking is stupid. Following orders is absolute and someone would've taken care of that Spiral." Kabastis said, staring straight at a wall.
Tokuda stared at the floor. "So, you're s-saying to let it kill us all d-during the test?"
"Wait…" Mitsuki said sharply. His voice was quieter now. "There is a possibility that it was inside the Crucible before the simulation even started. Hell, before we were enrolled in the Crucible."
Kazuya whistled. "Hmmm, like it was waiting for something."
Sekhmet's eyes flicked between them. "Or watching. Learning how we move. How we plan. How to use a Drive."
Mitsuki's brow furrowed. "That wasn't just infiltration. That was mimicry. It knew the drills. It mimicked a cadet's mannerisms. The way she begged for help…"
"…and she was convincing," Tokuda finished hollowly.
Sekhmet gave a gentle hum, like a lullaby under her breath. As she hummed, she noticed everyone's posture relax a little.
Wait… It acted human… meaning it could have been…
Sekhmet stopped humming for a second. "Spirals are monsters, right? But that one played human better than most people I've met today."
Kabastis' hand curled into a fist. "You wanna say something Isshin-Namikaze?"
Sekhmet rubbed her throat a little before laughing a little. "Oh no, just speaking aloud to my senior who left an injured cadet during the test."
The doors opened with a faint hiss.
Sekhmet stepped out first, her footfalls light. "Looks like the Curriculum needs to change now, since we had a Spiral breach, and could possibly learn how to use clues to determine friend from foe. Especially using sound. It lies less than faces do."
Tokuda rubbed the back of his neck. "…You talk like someone who's heard those lies before."
Sekhmet's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Maybe I have."
She didn't wait for them to follow. Mitsuki looked at the others, then stepped out after her.
Kazuya exhaled slowly. "...She's weird."
Tokuda didn't disagree. But as they walked, he added, "I-i don't think she's wrong."
13:13 JST – Daelic Crucible, Dormitory Hall – West Wing
The corridor was still, lined with slate-gray walls and gently glowing overhead lights. Tokuda peeled off first, mumbling a vague "Later" as he turned down the hall.
His hands were still stuffed in his pockets, but his shoulders had dropped slightly less stiff.
Mitsuki hesitated a beat longer, walking slower as he trailed after him.
Sekhmet let her eyes drift to the ceiling for a second, then to Kabastis beside her. She hadn't moved yet. "You okay, Captain?" she asked, voice light. "You've been in your head since the debrief."
Kabastis didn't look at her. Her gaze lingered on the floor ahead, unreadable. "You stalled it. You didn't panic. You shouldn't have been able to."
Sekhmet's smile returned. "Guess I'm a fast learner."
She shook her head once. "No. You're something else."
"Still not sure if that's a compliment." Sekhmet tilted her head.
"It's not," she muttered. Then softer, almost to herself, "But… it's not the other thing, either."
A silence passed. She didn't push.
She finally stepped forward, brushing past Sekhmet. "Get some rest, Isshin-Namikaze."
Sekhmet saluted lazily. "Yes, Senpai." When she was alone in the hallway, the light in her eyes dimmed just slightly—or maybe the lights themselves flickered.
13:35 JST – Dorm Room
Inside, the lights were dim. Her scarf fluttered slightly as she stepped in. Shirogane Yu-Yevon was already there—half in uniform, head in her hand, and a holo-pad glowing faint pink in the other.
She looked up immediately. "Finally! The prodigal psycho-hero returns." Tossing the holo-pad aside, she added, "Do you know how boring it is without your sarcasm quota, Sin?"
Sekhmet blinked. "You have a timer for my sarcasm?"
"Of course! I have a spreadsheet on my phone." Shirogane put a hand on Sekhmet's shoulder. "I was starting to worry you'd been, like, abducted by an upper-classman or something. Rumor is that you went to the Student Council office."
Sekhmet set her scarf down. "Oh that? Don't worry about it. They wanted to know something about the sim test."
Shirogane flopped backward onto her bed with a dramatic sigh. "Ugh, I swear, if I have to read one more Crucible bulletin about 'adaptive hazard awareness,' I'm going to start an adaptive hazard awareness club just to mock it."
Sekhmet laughed softly. "You'd have at least three followers before they disbanded the club."
"Four, if you count your scarf," Shirogane said, pointing at it. "I'm pretty sure it's sentient at this point."
Sekhmet folded it carefully over the chair by her desk. "It's more obedient than most people."
"You say that like you've been taking notes."
"Maybe I have."
The exchange earned a grin, but it didn't last long. Shirogane propped herself up on her elbows. "Hey… seriously though. Are you okay? You look like you've been walking through someone else's dream."
Sekhmet blinked. For a second, her smile slipped. "What makes you say that? I just had a long day."
Shirogane stared at her a moment longer, then nodded like she understood more than she let on. "Right. Long day. You, me, ramen run tomorrow morning. Non-negotiable."
"That's an order?"
"A threat of friendship," Shirogane said brightly.
Sekhmet's laugh was softer now, but it lingered. She leaned back on her hands. "What about you? When I woke up, you were gone. Now you have a holo full of pink graphs. Don't tell me you actually studied."
Shirogane groaned dramatically. "Studied? Please. After my first Spiral encounter, I figured research was safer. Big mistake. I had to watch the Research Division's new drone prototypes. Do you know how many times they hit walls?"
"Mm. Six?"
"Seventeen. And the worst part? Every time one glitched, I saw exactly what line of code caused it. They wouldn't let me fix it."
Sekhmet tilted her head. "You wanted to rewrite their systems mid-test?"
"Of course I did!" Shirogane ruffled her hair, "It's like watching someone trip in slow motion while you're handcuffed. I swear, half their AI scripts were written by caffeine ghosts."
Sekhmet laughed softly. "At least it didn't try to mimic him."
"Don't joke about that," Shirogane said, quieter now. "There was talk in the lab… about the breach. They said something got past the Crucible's inner grid."
"Rumors spread fast." Sekhmet said as she stretched her arms.
"Yeah, well. It's not like the staff are denying it." She studied Sekhmet's face. "You were there, weren't you?"
Sekhmet met her gaze, then looked away. "Everyone was, in one way or another," she said — too quietly to be just deflection.
Shirogane frowned but didn't push. "Okay. Fine. But you're still doing ramen tomorrow. I'll even let you pick the place."
"Generous," Sekhmet said with a faint grin.
"I know," Shirogane replied, sinking back into her pillow. "You can thank me after I've ordered for you."
Sekhmet gave a mock salute. "Bold of you to assume I trust your taste."
"You don't have to. You just have to show up. Best ramen stall this side of the Western block."
Sekhmet stretched out on her bunk, watching the faint light from the city leak through the blinds. "You sound confident for someone who's never seen me eat."
"Please. The look alone tells me you can fight three cadets at once. I think you can handle a bowl of noodles."
Sekhmet laughed quietly, the sound more genuine than she meant it to be. "Maybe."
A comfortable quiet settled between them, broken only by the soft hum of the vents.
Shirogane turned her head toward the ceiling. "You ever think, for all the drills and protocols, this is the best part? Just coming back to somewhere that isn't trying to put your mind in the blender."
Sekhmet let her eyes drift closed. "Yeah. Somewhere you can actually breathe."
"And maybe eat something that doesn't come out of a dispenser."
Sekhmet smiled faintly. "Now that's the real mission."
Neither of them spoke after that. The holo-pad's light dimmed, and the room slipped into blue.
For the first time in the day, Sekhmet didn't mind the quiet.
18:03 JST – Daelic Crucible, Secured Briefing Chamber 3-A
[ACCESS: RESTRICTED / CLASSIFIED INCIDENT REVIEW / LEVEL-4 CLEARANCE]
The doors sealed with a soft hydraulic hiss, the lock pulsing red as the last of the faculty filed in. A faint vibration passed through the floor — internal dampeners syncing. A single obsidian ring-table dominated the space, lit from above by recessed ring light casting cool, white light.
Commander Hoshino stood at the head of the room. Her coat hung open at the collar. A datapad lay dormant in front of her. She hadn't touched it since they'd started logging.
To her left: Makima Tsuru, the simulation architect, fidgeted with a data cache crystal like it might dissolve in his hands.
To Hoshino's right sat Director Muroe, head of Crucible security, arms folded, gaze grim.
Next to Director Muroe sat Nejire Eiko, the Research Department Head. She thumbed through code with furrowed brows and pulsing overlays.
The last to arrive was Nishiyama. She didn't speak as she sat, only adjusted her cuffs — and the room seemed to settle around her silence.
The lock light faded to amber. A thin chime announced the recording sequence commencement.
"Session nine-three-five. Spiral Breach during simulation," Hoshino said, her voice steady, low.
Makima stiffened. "The training floor was fully sealed. Nothing short of an admin-level badge could've entered." He held up the crystal. "All the code confirms it."
Director Muroe leaned forward. "Meaning?"
Nejire exhaled. "Meaning something or someone deliberately put the Spiral there."
A silence settled. Only the quiet oscillation of the hologram filled the space.
Hoshino didn't look up. "Sim room integrity?"
"Restored," Muroe said, "but the breach can't be fully traced. Whoever was in Simulation Block C at the time—"
"Team Kabastis and the infantry newcomers," Hoshino murmured.
Nejire spoke more quietly. "Telemetry shows a blindspot at 10:04, right before Unit D crossed into floor 3. It lasted four seconds."
"A fluctuation?" Eiko asked.
"A manufactured one," Makima replied. "Someone spoofed the field, externally or internally. If it was external, they have tech we don't. If it was internal…" Her voice trailed.
"They've already gotten in," Muroe finished.
Makima's knuckles tightened around the data crystal. "They shouldn't have survived then. None of them had Drives."
Hoshino's eyes lifted at that. "They didn't. Not exactly."
The room stilled. Nishiyama, who hadn't spoken until now, finally leaned forward. Her voice was calm. "Define 'not exactly.'"
Makima's eyes flicked to the projection. "At 10:04:07, the Crucible's sensors logged a resonance field consistent with a Drive discharge — except there was no Drive present. The energy waveform originated inside the sim, localized around the entity that engaged Cadet Isshin-Namikaze."
Eiko frowned. "Localized around the Spiral."
Makima nodded. "Exactly."
Director Muroe leaned forward, voice low. "Meaning the Spiral wasn't projected into the Crucible. It was in the Crucible."
Makima tapped a control, freezing the waveform. "And when it got in the sim, the environmental readings spiked. The sim tried to compensate—but the anomaly fed off that correction."
Eiko's jaw tightened. "It used the system's own feedback loop."
"Right," Makima said.
Nishiyama's expression didn't change. "So the data says that Spiral breached the Crucible's containment field… through simulation feedback."
"We can't confirm how," Makima replied. "Only that when it happened, Isshin-Namikaze was within eight meters of the epicenter—and the Crucible logged her as the only stable bioform in proximity."
Nishiyama looked toward Hoshino before looking back at Makima. "Meaning?"
Makima exhaled. "Meaning every other reading—the environment, the Spiral, even cadet Tokuda's signal—registered as interference. She didn't adapt to it. The system failed around her."
The room remained silent for a moment longer, until the side door opened with a quiet slide. All heads turned as a figure stepped through, coat trailing behind them.
Professor Kuga Ienari, entered with the air of someone who rarely stepped into operational chambers unless summoned. His hair was pulled back in a loose tie, sleeves rolled, and fingers still stained with ink. He looked exhausted. But alert.
Commander Hoshino gave a faint nod. "Professor. You reviewed the field report?"
Kuga inclined his head, setting a holo-pad down on the table. "Three times. The logs. Telemetry. The cadet statements. More than enough to worry me."
Muroe didn't blink. "Was it targeting something?" Kuga's gaze flicked to the ceiling, then back. "Not something. Someone."
Tsuru frowned. "You mean Cadet Sekhmet?"
"No. I mean anyone. That Spiral was mimicking a cadet down to breath patterns. Vocal effect. Gestural mimicry. Not approximate. Intimate. That's not instinctual hunting behavior. It learned how to imitate a Crucible student."
Eiko looked up sharply. "Which means it's observed us. Up close."
"Worse," Kuga said quietly. "It had been studying us." Muroe's voice came low. "You're suggesting this wasn't its first attempt."
Kuga didn't answer directly. Instead, he brought up a static image. Frame-frozen from Sekhmet's bodycam. The moment the faux-cadet smiled before the transformation. "Real Spirals don't smirk before they kill. They consume. This one enjoyed the deception."
Makima muttered, "Spirals don't feel joy."
"This one did, meaning it was an Aberrant." Kuga said.
Another long pause stretched. The room seemed colder.
Hoshino's voice cut through it. "Motive?"
Kuga folded his arms. "Possibly adaptation. We've culled their kind for over a decade. Weaponized their flesh into Drives. They're evolving. Not just to fight, but to infiltrate. I think we got lucky though."
Eiko's fingers hovered over the telemetry pad. "A test."
"Exactly," Kuga said. "This wasn't about one cadet. It was reconnaissance."
Hoshino didn't blink. "Deliberate targeting of low-resistance units. It bypassed other squads. Chose Unit B likely for exposure and assessment."
Eiko tapped on her projection. "And its behavior shifted mid-engagement. It stalled them. Engaged briefly. But it was mimicking, studying."
Makima swallowed. "I thought they were beasts."
"You're thinking of grunts, which isn't wrong," Kuga said. "But that's also the problem. The simulations don't teach you what an aberrant could do. Just grunts."
"So aberrants are not predatory," Tsuru said softly.
"That's exploratory." Kuga's tone deepened. "Yes and no, but they are more dangerous."
Silence again.
Director Muroe leaned forward, voice low. "We need to review cadet footage. Especially from the Isshin-Namikaze girl."
Makima raised an eyebrow. "You think she triggered it?"
"No," Muroe said. "But it hesitated with her. Almost like it recognized something."
"That doesn't track," Eiko murmured. "Her files are clean. Background checks, entry scans, all green."
"Doesn't matter," Hoshino said. "Check it again."
Kuga's voice darkened. "If this Spiral was a scout, then something else is preparing a strike."
Makima rubbed his temples. "Gods. And we just gave it a map."
No one breathed. Even Muroe's fingers tensed where they gripped the table.
Makima sank back. ""We just showed it… us."
"No," Nishiyama said firmly. "We gave it a warning." She stood. The light above her dimmed as the table's record glyphs finalized the log.
Director Muroe's voice was quiet, but not hesitant. "Unless we didn't give anything."
Makima looked up sharply. "What are you saying?"
Muroe's gaze swept the room. "I'm saying we've looked at perimeter breaches, override logs, anomalies… and nothing suggests external force. But someone inside could have orchestrated this. A Spiral doesn't walk onto a training floor by accident."
Eiko froze mid-swipe, hand hovering above her console. "You're suggesting an internal breach? That someone used cadets as a live test?"
"No," Muroe said coldly. "I'm saying it looks like someone invited it in."
Tsuru went pale. "That's… That would be treason."
"It would be curiosity," Professor Kuga said darkly. "Twisted into method. If we're wrong about the breach and someone is experimenting… then Spiral infiltration isn't the real threat."
Eiko's voice was low now. "You think we've got Spiral sympathizers inside the Crucible?"
"Not sympathizers," Hoshino said, leaning forward. "I think we have people who've stopped seeing the line between tool and creature. Between harvesting and hosting. And if someone's trying to hybridize, if this was a trial run, then the Spiral wasn't the experiment." She looked toward the projection still flickering with Unit B's footage. "The cadets were."
Another long silence followed.
She didn't sit back down. Hoshino only looked at the display, jaw set hard. "Run silent investigations. Faculty first. Then contractors. Pull any genetic handling records or Rasenzou registry conflicts from the past five months." Her voice cut like glass. "If someone's building Spirals inside my Crucible, I want to know before they finish their next prototype."
END OF VOLUME