—
The child tilted his head. "You feel like me."
Hoshiro knelt, heart pounding. "What's your name?"
"I… don't remember," the boy whispered. "But I dream of spirals. Of falling and flying at the same time."
He was barely ten. But his presence *buzzed*—like the Spiral had left one final thread behind.
—
Ayame's voice buzzed in Hoshiro's comm.
"Anomaly spike near your location. Are you—"
"I found it," he said. "*Him*."
Kazuki cut in. "Another clone?"
"No," Hoshiro replied. "A consequence."
—
They sat in silence as the wind passed.
"I see things before they happen," the boy murmured. "But now… it's fading. The patterns are leaving me."
"That's good," Hoshiro said softly. "It means you're becoming *yourself*."
The boy looked up. "Then… who are *you* now?"
Hoshiro didn't answer right away.
Finally: "Not a weapon. Not a savior. Just someone who chose."
—
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
Not Spiral tech.
Something *else*.
Ayame's voice: "We're picking up pulses from beyond the former Spiral perimeter. Unknown origin."
Hoshiro stood, eyes narrowing.
"Something's filling the vacuum."
—
The Spiral is gone.
But reality doesn't stay empty.
And something new… is coming.
—