—
The child—quiet, unmoving—finally spoke.
Just one word:
"Begin."
Alarms flared across the hospital's lower decks. Doors locked. Lights flickered into ultraviolet pulses.
Ayame's screen went black. Then a symbol appeared:
*∞*
—
Hoshiro jolted upright. "That's not the Spiral's mark."
"No," Ayame whispered. "It's older."
—
In a hidden databank beneath the ruins of Spiral Core 6, dormant code stirred. Not Spiral. Not human.
The Reset Protocol had been activated.
Designed by unknown engineers from the Spiral's first era—before control, before memory syncing. Before *Hoshiro*.
Kazuki received a signal ping on his old neural band, long thought useless.
Message content:
*"Unit 9, report. Earth status compromised. Begin integration."*
He didn't understand it. But his body did.
Something inside him *switched on.*
—
In the ward, the child stood.
Shadows moved with him. Not behind him—*with* him.
He looked at the nurse and said, "Your name is Lyra. You dreamed of flight once."
She froze. Tears welled in her eyes. "How… how do you know that?"
He smiled faintly. "Because this world is remembering."
—