—
The skies shimmered—blue, gold, and violet threads dancing above Tokyo like data reborn.
Citizens looked up in awe. Some wept. Others screamed.
But a few—those who had once synced with the Spiral—*remembered*.
Not just their own pasts… but others'.
—
Ayame's eyes widened as the feed from orbit came through. "The aurora isn't atmospheric. It's transmitting. Across every frequency—digital, neural, even biological."
Hoshiro stared. "It's rewriting reality's memory layer."
—
Lyric stood atop the hospital roof, eyes glowing faintly.
Kazuki appeared beside him, unsure why his body had led him here.
"You're part of this," Lyric said softly. "You always were. Unit 9."
Kazuki: "I'm not a unit."
Lyric: "No. You're a choice."
—
Beneath the city, in a chamber of smooth crystal walls, ancient servers spun up—first time in centuries.
A voice echoed:
*"Protocol Aletheia online."*
Translation: *The return of what was hidden.*
—
Ayame found the final line in Future Hoshiro's buried message.
*"The Spiral was a cage. But the Reset… is the key."*
—