We reached Arata's room.
I stopped.
My hand hovered inches from the door.
For a moment, I just… stared at it.
This was his space.
The last place he'd slept.
The last place he'd existed as just my brother.
My chest tightened.
What if I didn't want to know what he'd left behind?
What if opening this door made everything final?
I swallowed.
"…You okay?" Yuna asked, glancing at me.
"I—" I hesitated. "Just give me a second."
She nodded.
Then—
BANG.
The door flew open.
"TADAAA—!" Yuna announced cheerfully, throwing one arm wide.
"Welcome to Arata's Secret Lair!"
I jumped so hard my soul nearly left my body.
"WHAT THE HELL—?!" I shouted. "ARE YOU INSANE?!"
She peeked inside, then frowned.
"…Huh."
I blinked.
"…That's it?"
The room was… normal.
That was the first thing that felt wrong.
Too normal.
Yuna tilted her head.
"Well," she said slowly, "this is disappointing."
I stared at her.
"You broke the door for this?"
She shrugged.
"Hey, I was expecting lasers. Or at least a skull-shaped switch."
Despite myself—
I exhaled.
And for just a second, the weight lifted.
Then I stepped inside.
And the wrongness began to sink in.
No reinforced panels hidden behind walls.
No sealed locks disguised as furniture.
No weapons hum, no pressure in the air, no quiet threat waiting to be acknowledged.
Just a bed.
A desk.
A bookshelf lined with ordinary novels.
Clothes folded with the kind of care that came from habit, not paranoia.
It looked like the room of a man who came home every day.
And that unsettled me more than the armory had.
We searched anyway.
Closet first—shirts, jackets, a faint trace of cologne that made my chest tighten. I recognized it immediately. Arata had always used too much. Said it made people underestimate him.
Desk drawers next—documents, old receipts, a notebook filled with neat handwriting. Training schedules. Grocery lists. Notes about Renya's school events.
Nothing.
We lifted the mattress. Checked beneath the bed. Ran hands along the ceiling seams, the corners where shadows liked to cling.
Nothing.
Frustration coiled tight in my chest, twisting with something uglier—fear that this was all there was. That whatever Arata had truly left behind was already gone.
"Something's off," Yuna said quietly.
She reached into the Spacefold Bag and pulled out a thin tablet-like device. Its surface shimmered with layered circuitry, edges alive with faint blue light.
"Multi-Spectrum Tablet."
She activated it.
The room flooded with blue-silver waves that passed through walls, furniture, and air alike. Heat signatures, residual energy, spatial distortions—layer upon layer stacked over reality.
Nothing.
The display stayed stubbornly blank.
My brow furrowed.
And then—
Memory struck.
Sharp. Sudden.
Arata standing in the hallway, one arm casually blocking Renya from entering Mom's room. Lingering there longer than needed. Always positioned just right—halfway between the door and anyone else.
Watching.
My spine stiffened.
"…Mom's room," I said.
Yuna didn't ask why.
We rushed there.
The door creaked softly as it opened, the sound echoing too loud in my head. The room smelled faintly of lavender and dust. Sunlight filtered through half-closed curtains, illuminating the neatly made bed.
We searched again.
Drawers. Closet. Under the bed.
Nothing.
The pressure in my chest tightened further.
Then another memory surfaced.
Arata standing near the corner table, pretending to read something while his eyes tracked movement through the room. The way he'd leaned there during family arguments. During quiet evenings. During nothing moments.
"Try there," I said.
Yuna rescanned.
This time, the tablet flickered.
A faint rectangular outline pulsed once on the display.
My heart kicked.
I shoved the table aside.
The wall behind it looked… ordinary.
Too ordinary.
The scanner pulsed again.
I pressed my palm against the wall.
The apartment reacted instantly.
Doors sealed with a steel sharp hiss.
Windows shuttered as reinforced panels slid into place.
Lights dimmed, shifting to a muted red hue.
The air changed.
Not randomly.
Deliberately.
The apartment wasn't panicking.
It was switching modes.
Containment engaged.
A holographic panel flickered to life in front of us, hovering inches from the wall.
> [ WELCOME, ARATA ]
[ AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED ]
"…Authentication?" I muttered.
Yuna stepped closer.
"Place your hand."
I hesitated only a second before pressing my palm to the glowing surface.
Light swept over my fingers, my skin, crawling up my wrist like something tasting me.
> [ SCANNING… ]
[ IDENTITY CONFIRMED — KAIEN ]
The panel shifted.
The wall dissolved into light.
And the video began.
Arata sat on his bed.
Unmasked.
No armor.
No insignia.
No executioner.
Just my brother.
Tired.
Human.
Real.
"Hey, Kaien," he said softly.
"My dear little brother."
My throat closed instantly.
"If you're seeing this…" He paused, inhaling slowly. "Then things went bad."
He smiled faintly, the way he always did when he didn't want to scare anyone.
"Maybe I'm already dead."
The word hit me like a knife.
His eyes shimmered.
"Maybe you found my secrets… maybe not."
He looked down for a moment, fingers tightening in his lap.
"I didn't want to hide this. I swear." His voice softened. "But things kept getting worse."
Silence stretched.
"I was running out of time."
A tear slipped down his cheek.
I'd never seen him cry.
"Thank you… for everything," he said quietly.
My vision blurred.
"Please take care of Mom. Mei. Renya."
His voice cracked on Renya's name.
"And be careful of—"
Static exploded across the screen.
The audio warped violently.
"—Kura***—dem***—?"
The word fractured, pieces eaten by interference.
A knock echoed faintly in the background of the recording.
Distant laughter.
"Kaien—Renya—stop running!" Arata called offscreen.
The recording cut.
Silence.
"…Kura*****dem****?" I whispered.
Yuna shook her head slowly.
"Audio corruption."
My legs weakened.
I sank to my knees.
He knew.
He prepared.
He chose this.
Tears fell before I could stop them, hitting the floor in soundless drops.
Yuna stepped behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. Her grip was firm, grounding.
"He didn't abandon you," she whispered.
"He protected you."
Jacklin's face surfaced in my mind without warning.
Not the blade.
Not the blood.
Just her eyes.
Why?
The question rose like bile—and I forced it back down.
Betrayal was betrayal.
Answers wouldn't change that.
Not now.
Footsteps echoed outside the apartment.
Heavy.
Multiple.
I tensed, a low growl slipping from my throat.
"I'll finish them—"
Yuna grabbed my wrist hard.
"No time," she said sharply.
The lights dimmed further.
The wall behind the hologram shifted again.
Something moved.
Something old.
Something Arata had built not for comfort—but for survival.
And in that moment, I understood.
My brother hadn't just left weapons behind.
He'd left a path.
And it was up to me to walk it.
✦ END OF CHAPTER 32 - What Arata Hid ✦