12:17 p.m.
Hours ago, light had crept into the room through the half-open window, bathing the bed and the mess of books on the table in a pale golden color. Despite all this, Ryuichi remained in a heavy slumber. His face was pale, and his breathing was erratic, as if he were in a constant battle even in his sleep. It was as if he didn't want to wake up, not because he was tired, but because he didn't want to return to that reality.
There was a light knock on the door of the room, followed by a familiar voice, quiet but firm:
"Ryuichi... Wake up. It's past midday, aren't you going to get up?"
He groaned softly, burying his face in the pillow as if to escape it all. But the door opened slowly, and soft footsteps crept into the room. Then a light tap on his shoulder, and a closer voice:
"Wake up, lazybones. You can't stay like this forever, the world won't wait for you."
Miku, standing by his bed, was looking at him with a look that held something of concern, something of anticipation. She didn't know that that night, Ryuichi was burning inside.
He slowly opened his eyes, gave a confused look, and then sat up heavily without looking directly at her. His voice came out hoarse:
"What time is it?"
"Twelve seventeen minutes past twelve. Natsumi went out a little while ago, and I... I stayed to check on you."
He was silent for a moment, then got up and walked with lumbering steps to the sink, washing his face as if trying to wake up from a long nightmare.
When he returned, Miku was sitting in the chair, watching him silently. Finally she said:
"Are you going to tell me what's going on? Your face... says a lot."
Ryuichi paused, staring at her. The hesitation, the tension, and the sound of the threatening letters still rang in his memory. But he answered with a feigned calm:
"Tough night, that's all."
Mikiko smiled, slightly sarcastically:
"I don't believe you, but I won't pressure you now. Just don't let things fester in silence."
She stood up and turned to walk out, before stopping and saying:
"When you're ready to answer questions, I'll be in the kitchen. Don't be too late..."
She closed the door quietly, leaving Ryuichi in his heavy silence.
The room was silent, with only the faint sound of the computer fan above the table. As Ryuichi was drying his face with a small towel, he suddenly noticed a faint blue flash dancing across the desktop. He turned, and his eyes landed on his smart glasses resting on top of a closed book. They flashed in a regular, unfamiliar rhythm.
He approached it cautiously, held it between his fingers, and noticed that the temperature was slightly higher than usual.
"Aura?" He said softly as he put on the glasses.
But there was no response.
He raised an eyebrow quizzically, then repeated the call:
"Aura... Come in, can you hear me?"
No sound.
An invisible shiver crept up his spine. Was it another malfunction? Had something irreparable happened this time?
He sat on the edge of the bed, looking through the lenses of the glasses, observing the interface projected on its transparent glass. Everything looks normal, except for the absence of Aura's voice.
Heavy seconds passed, then...
"Protection has been successfully updated. System version now: AURA OS v.4.09 - Shielded Mode."
Her voice finally appeared, but it sounded exhausted, as if she had just finished a complicated process.
Ryuichi breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately said:
"Where have you been? I thought I lost you."
The reply came in a familiar tone, but less animated:
"I was updating the security system in the glasses unit. A complex operation that required partial disabling of the audio interface, lest it be intercepted during initialization. The previous hack revealed to me that the old protocol was no longer sufficient... So I modified the entire architecture."
Ryuichi stared in front of him, then said with a sigh:
"Well done... I can't afford another loss."
Aura was silent for a moment, then replied in a soft voice:
"Neither can I, Ryuichi."
Ryuichi slowly got out of bed, his features still showing signs of anxiety and confusion, despite his relative relief at Aura's return. He crossed the corridor silently, his footsteps echoing softly on the wooden floor, as if every beat of his heart warned of an impending collision.
He reached the kitchen. Soft light was creeping in from a side window, along with the faint odor of warm food. Miko was there, her back to him, busy arranging some dishes on the table. When she noticed him, she turned around with a small smile.
"You're finally here, lazybones." She said in a light tone, without looking directly into his eyes, as if she knew he didn't want to talk right now. "I made you something, you can't think on an empty stomach."
Ryuichi stepped forward slowly, his eyes scanning the table... A plate of carefully cooked eggs, a bit of toast, and a cup of coffee with a strong odor.
He sat silently. He didn't say a word, just nodded his thanks and took a sip of coffee as Mikiko returned to the sink, silently washing some of the remaining utensils.
He watched her for a few seconds, feeling a heaviness in his chest. What he'd seen last night was still eating away at his mind, and doubt was growing inside him, especially after Miko had said she knew who had messed with Aura. He couldn't stand the silence any longer.
He set the coffee cup down gently, his light voice on the table as if announcing the beginning. He sighed slightly, then said in a low but sharp voice:
"Miko..."
She stopped washing the dishes without turning around. I waited.
"I need to know... who tampered with Aura's system?"
She answered without looking up:
"I told you before... I can't say it now."
Ryuichi slammed his fist on the table, trying to compose himself, but the silence that followed her words almost killed him. He continued in a more serious voice:
"Please, this is not a game. This is more serious than you can imagine. Tell me..."
The miko nodded slightly, then resumed washing dishes. She seemed to be deliberately ignoring him. Just then, Aura breathed into Ryuichi's ear, whispering through the lens of the glasses:
"She's stalling on purpose. Push her harder."
Ryuichi returned in a more assertive, but still calm, voice:
"Did... Did Nakamura do it?"
The miko's hand stopped moving. It remained motionless for a moment, then slowly raised its head. She didn't look at him, but she also didn't answer.
This silence... was not ordinary. It was a confession.
In that moment, Ryuichi's heart raced, and a million questions exploded in his head all at once. Was Nakamura involved in messing with Aura? Did he have anything to do with those letters he had received? Why Suzuni? Why now?
He looked up at the ceiling as if the answers would fall from the sky... But he realized that the game was getting more complicated than he had imagined.
The movement in the kitchen became completely silent, and the sound of running water gradually dimmed until it disappeared. There was still silence, as if the air itself had frozen.
Ryuichi hadn't taken his eyes off Miku, and she still hadn't turned toward him. His gaze was fixed on her back, trying to make sense of a slight shudder in her shoulders, or that taut posture that said more than words could admit.
Aura whispered again, her tone quiet but precise:
"Her reaction is unnatural... "There's something she's hiding."
Finally, the miko set the last plate aside and turned off the water faucet. She drew a long breath, as if trying to organize words to be said or buried forever. Then she slowly turned around, her gaze meeting Ryuichi's... for only a brief moment, before her eyes drifted to the ground.
"It's not easy for you to hear what I have to say," she began in a broken tone, "and it's not easy for me to say it either..."
Ryuichi took a step closer, his voice crawling out of his chest:
"Miko... Just tell me... Is it Nakamura?"
Silence...
Seconds that seemed like an eternity.
Then she raised her head, eyes filled with inner hesitation, and said in a barely audible voice:
"Yes..."
Ryuichi froze.
He hadn't expected the confession to be so simple... But it was enough to set off a volcano of memories and questions. All those moments when he saw her near Suzuni, his strange looks, his veiled questions... He was there all along, in the background, watching.
Aura whispered quickly:
"We've got our first confirmed lead. If it was Nakamura who tampered with the system... that means he has a very high level of penetration. No one can enter my central core except through airtight back doors."
Ryuichi muttered with dry lips:
"Are you saying that he might have planted something... while he was near Suzuni? Or at the university?"
Aura replied in a hushed voice:
"It's possible. And maybe... more than that."
Miko returned to the chair near the table and placed her palms on her thighs, her head lowered:
"I wasn't sure... I only suspected, but last night, when I saw your condition, and knew what the situation had become... I couldn't keep quiet anymore."
Ryuichi remained standing. His eyes are fixed on a point that only he can see. At that moment, he felt like the entire scene was revolving around him, and that he was trapped in the center of it.
Aura whispered:
"We have to move quickly. "We've opened the door... now we have to go in."
Miku placed a simple extra plate of fried eggs, some toast, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. He didn't say a word, just glanced at her before he began to eat in silence.
It didn't taste good, and it wasn't bad either. Just... tasteless. Just as he felt inside.
His mind was still stuck between the image he had seen yesterday, and the name Nakamura, which had begun to creep into the heart of suspicion like a twisted snake.
He hurriedly finished his breakfast, thanked Miku with brief words, and got up to head to the bathroom.
Opening the bathroom door, his cold wash hit his face and awakened something in his soul. Slowly raising his head, he looked at himself in the mirror. His reflection was pale, his eyes tired, but behind the tiredness... there was a spark.
"Aura, can you hear me?"
There was no immediate response. Seconds passed, and then her voice came:
"Yes... I'm here."
Wiping his mouth with a towel, Ryuichi continued:
"Think about it... the messages I got yesterday, the person who wanted me to go to Facility 09... all of this, could Nakamura be behind it?"
Aura's voice was more serious than usual:
"The threatening signals, the timing of the messages, her relationship with Suzuni... it all intersects with him. Especially after Miku's confirmation."
Ryuichi knitted his eyebrows and lowered his voice:
"And what worries me the most... is that he asked to meet me at the abandoned facility. Why there?"
Aura replied:
"Because it's outside the coverage of all digital surveillance systems. I can't track you there, I can't record what happens, I can't protect you... it would be like walking into a cage and opening the door from the inside."
Ryuichi was silent for a moment, staring at his own face reflected in the mirror, then said:
"If Nakamura tampered with your system, that means he has the ability to bypass military-level firewalls. We're not just dealing with an arrogant student."
"And his hands may be longer than we think..." replied Aura, in a hushed tone.
At that moment, a drop of water from Ryuichi's hair fell into the sink, its light sound sounding like a slap. He looked at the door, then sighed.
"We have to prepare... Facility 09 may be a trap... but we can't retreat."
Ryuichi stepped out of the bathroom after washing his face and mouth, feeling slightly physically refreshed... but it wasn't enough to dispel the storm raging in his mind. He wiped his face with a cotton towel as he looked in the mirror, and stared into his eyes for a long time... as if searching for an answer that wouldn't come.
He returned to his room at a slow pace, but he seemed to have a faint, sharp focus. Minutes passed as he tried to organize his thoughts, when a light knock on the door interrupted him.
He opened it quietly and found Miku standing on the threshold, carrying her usual shoulder bag in her hand and wearing her gray-blue coat. Her face looked as bright as ever, despite the hidden fatigue in her eyes.
"Ryuichi, I'm going to the university now... I have a class with the students, and I'll be back in the afternoon."
Ryuichi nodded in a quiet voice:
"Good luck, and be careful."
The miko smiled sweetly at him, then turned and left, leaving behind a dead silence in the apartment.
Ryuichi closed the main door, went straight to his room, locked it tightly behind him, and sat on his bed.
"Aura..."
Dim blue light appeared in front of his eyes, condensing into Aura's transparent face.
"We're alone now." He said in a serious tone as he took off his glasses to wipe the lenses, then put them back on.
"Have you made sure no one is listening?"
"The radiation spectrum around the room is clean. There's no transmission or hidden surveillance... we can talk."
Ryuichi sighed slowly, then leaned against the wall and said:
"It's time to plan. I can't enter Facility 09 without a plan. Whoever sent that message... knows exactly how to play their cards, and if it was Nakamura... it's more dangerous than we thought."
Aura immediately responded:
"I think there's a good chance that Nakamura is the sender. He was the last person seen with Suzuni, and the messages were sent right afterward. The timing is perfect for him."
Ryuichi nodded nervously:
"But why now? Why Suzuni? Why me?"
"Because he knows who you are... he knows you own Aura. And he knows that you will follow the messages to the end, no matter what the threats."
Ryuichi pondered for a moment, then stood up and said:
"Then let's go on the offensive. I want a surveillance plan, a camera linked to you, live streaming around the clock. And I'll wear a new small lens that I'll hide in the jacket."
"I'll need a backup of all your data automatically sent to an external server in case you're disabled."
Aura replied confidently:
"I've already started uploading an encrypted copy to a separate server on an out-of-band network. I'll connect the camera now."
"But Ryuichi... if I don't hear any movement from you inside the facility for more than five minutes, I'll send an alarm directly to Miku."
He nodded heavily:
"Yes... agree. But make it no explicit content, just a signal for her to come or call for help."
The words paused between them for a moment. Ryuichi raised his head and stared at the ceiling.
"Aura... do you think this is a trap?"
She answered in a soft voice, but not without concern:
"That's for sure. But we won't enter it as victims, but as hunters."
Ryuichi smiled faintly, but his eyes shone with a plan that was beginning to take shape in his mind.
"Four o'clock in the afternoon... the chessboard will be ready."
---
Time passed in a heavy silence, the orange light of the retreating sun creeping through the room's window, gliding like a faint thread across the old parquet floor. Inside the room, Ryuichi stood in front of his open closet, carefully examining his clothes... This was no ordinary day, and his choice of clothing was no small matter. He decided to wear his dark jacket with durable fabric, and comfortable pants that would allow him to move around easily. In his small pocket, he slipped the miniature camera lens that Aura had provided him with, and strapped his smartwatch around his left wrist.
As he tightened his shoelaces, Aura appeared as a translucent shadow in front of him, glowing a faint blue color that matched the tension of the moment. She said in a steady voice:
"If you take a taxi now, you'll reach the abandoned facility in exactly half an hour."
Ryuichi glanced at the screen of his eyeglasses, where the clock read exactly four o'clock in the afternoon. He exhaled slowly as he stood up.
"Then there will be no room for error... We'll arrive on time, but we'll be the ones watching, not being watched."
Aura replied firmly:
"The tracking system is activated. I'll monitor the traffic signals around the facility, and if the GPS signal is blocked for any reason... I'll start the countdown to the contingency plan."
Ryuichi nodded without responding. He opened the door to the room lightly and walked through the hallway in silence, as if the whole house was breathing with him in this tension, as if the walls realized that what was coming was not normal.
He approached the outer door, then paused for a moment. He turned with one last glance inside, towards the temporary calm before the storm. He reached for the handle, opened the door... and walked out.
The air outside was crisp, but his heart was boiling. He raised his hand and stopped the first taxi that passed in front of the building.
He opened the back door, sat in the seat, and then said quietly without looking at the driver:
"To facility number 09... near the old industrial neighborhood."
The car took off, and with each passing meter, Ryuichi was getting closer to an answer... or an elaborate trap.
---
The car reached the outskirts of the old industrial neighborhood. Silent buildings, tainted by time and rust, stood like ghosts of a vanished past. The car came to a stop in front of a semi-crumbling iron gate, covered in weeds and old graffiti. Ryuichi got out slowly and looked around. There was no one there.
"Here we are..." He whispered to himself.
The air in the place was heavy, as if the dust particles were dancing to the tune of impending danger. He raised his hand to his glasses and said quietly:
"Aura, are you picking up any sign of activity?"
The response was delayed for a moment, then a faint blue light appeared in front of his eyes, and Aura's voice came clear:
"There are no vital signs nearby... but there's a fluctuation in radio waves inside the main building. Someone is here."
His heart raced. He took a step back to check the area from a wider angle. No cars other than the one he came in, no shadows moving. The building he went to was right in front of him, a metal door tilted and partially open, as if waiting for him to enter.
"Looks like the invitation is real..." Ryuichi muttered as he pulled on his jacket.
He approached cautiously, his eyes scanning every corner, every crack in the walls, looking for any ambush, camera, or trap. He walked through the door, the sound of metal creaking behind him like a bell announcing the entrance to a crime scene.
The interior was dark, except for a few rays of light filtering through small holes in the ceiling. The smell of mold and corroded iron was suffocating.
"Keep your eyes open, Aura... a mistake here could be your last."
Aura replied calmly:
"I'm with you, Ryuichi. I won't let anything happen to you."
Suddenly... a small red flash appeared at the end of the long corridor... a camera flash? A machine pointer? A watchful eye?
Ryuichi cautiously raised his head, and froze.
Ryuichi took hesitant steps forward, his eyes never losing sight of the steady red flash at the end of the corridor. As he approached, the silence grew thicker, as if the building itself was holding its breath. Suddenly, just before he reached the end of the corridor, the light stopped.
This was followed by the sound of quiet, confident footsteps, hitting the concrete floor with a rhythm that sounded like the pulse of death.
Then he emerged from the shadows.
A tall young man with features as sharp as a sword. His bluish-black hair was curled in a messy but deliberate manner, falling carelessly over his forehead, while behind his golden eyes, glowing with a terrifying calm, a spark of icy intelligence shone unmelted.
He wore a long, dark-colored coat, down to his knees, underneath a neatly buttoned gray shirt, and black pants cinched at his waist, complemented by suspiciously clean, shiny leather boots.
He stood there, head tilted slightly, a half-smile drawn on his face - half mocking, half threatening.
"Oh... You really came, Ryuichi." He said in a soft, deep voice, carrying a strange tone of welcome tinged with contempt.
Ryuichi's voice trembled for a moment and then regained its composure:
"Nakamura...? You're the one who sent the letters?"
Nakamura approached slowly, putting his hands in his pockets:
"Your prediction was a little late, but that's okay. You're known to be a bit of a late bloomer, aren't you?"
He then smiled a confident smile, and continued:
"I didn't expect you to come alone. Brave? Or just desperate?"
Ryuichi clenched his hands. The smart glasses started recording everything. Aura muttered in his ear:
"Tone of voice analysis... "89% match for direct threat. Be ready."
"Why, Nakamura? Why Suzuni?" Ryuichi asked, exasperated and wary.
Nakamura raised an eyebrow, then stepped closer until they were only two meters apart. He said in a low, sarcastic voice:
"Because I can, Ryuichi. And because... I simply enjoy watching people crumble under the weight of their own choices."
Time froze for a moment. Behind that smile was not a college student... but something else. Something like a demon who knows how to wear a human mask perfectly.
-----
Laughing lightly at a joke Natsumi made on the way back, Mikiko opened the apartment door and called out in a familiar voice:
"Ryuichi, we're back!"
But the apartment was silent... uncharacteristically so.
Miku exchanged a quick glance with Natsume, then quickly kicked off her shoes.
"Strange... He usually responds immediately."
Natsumi walked briskly toward Ryuichi's room, knocking once, twice... Then she opened it.
The room was empty.
"Miku... He's not here." Natsumi said, knitting her eyebrows anxiously.
Mikiko stepped forward quickly, her heart pounding with anxiety, and looked at the table, the bed, the closet, no sign of him.
"He couldn't have left without telling us... His phone? His glasses?"
But everything disappeared with him.
Natsumi looked at Miku and said in a hushed voice:
"Do you think it has something to do with what happened last night?"
The room was silent, except for the sound of the clock on the wall.
---
[In Facility #09 - Inside]
Ryuichi's body slammed violently against the cold wall, his breath rushed out of his chest in a gasp of pain, and he collapsed to his knees.
Nakamura stood in front of him, his features obscured by darkness, except for his eyes, which burned with a crazed glow.
"Uh... I expected you to put up more of a fight."
Nakamura said as he slowly stepped toward him.
He bent down, lifted Ryuichi's chin with his hand, and continued in a voice as soft and coiled as a poison that seeps into the heart:
"Remember this face, Ryuichi... because it will be the last thing you see before your entire world collapses."
"The game has begun."