—
Tokyo's skyline flickered.
For one second, Hikari Tower was gone—replaced by a spire of black glass spiraling into the sky like a drill through time.
Then it snapped back.
Hoshiro staggered. Kazuki caught him.
"You saw it too," Kazuki muttered.
"The Spiral Twin's presence is destabilizing everything," Ayame said. She was running readings from the Archive's core—readings that should've been impossible. "Reality's folding in on itself. Time… is beginning to loop."
—
Inside the pod room, the Spiral Twin now stood.
No restraints.
No hesitation.
"Why fight what you are?" he asked Hoshiro. "I embraced the Spiral. That's why I remember all timelines. Every failure. Every version of us that died."
"You *chose* the Spiral," Hoshiro snapped. "I chose *free will*."
The twin tilted his head, smile fading. "Free will's a comfort humans cling to when they fear what they're capable of."
He raised a hand. Around them, the walls of the Archive bent—twisting into spirals. Data streams turned into memory threads, spinning into impossible patterns.
—
Ayame's voice cracked through the tension. "He's syncing with the Archive's source code. If he completes the loop—"
"Everyone becomes Spiral," Hoshiro finished grimly. "Including me."
—
He turned to Kazuki and Ayame.
"I need you to get out. Now."
"What are you—"
"I'm going to break the loop."
He slipped on the cracked mask.
It sealed with a hiss.
"I'll face myself."
—
The Spiral Twin opened his arms.
"Let's end it, brother."
—