Ryuichi was pulled violently by the arm, his body slamming into the rusty wall of the abandoned facility. The air was stagnant, the only thing that could be heard was the groaning of metal crumbling under the pressure of time. Dust rose around them, as if even the place was suffocating from the weight of what was to come.
Nakamura stood in front of him, tall, his tight black clothes revealing his solid build, his black hair pulled back in a deliberately messy fashion, reflecting his dark personality. His eyes, with their dark color, were looking at Ryuichi like a hunter looking at his prey that is tired of running.
He smiled, that tilted smile that carried a mixture of sarcasm and overconfidence.
"Ryuichi... You've always been curious, haven't you?"
He said, stepping toward him with confident strides and a commanding, unquestioning tone.
He stepped closer, then whispered next to his ear:
"But curiosity, my friend... comes at a price."
Without preamble, he raised his hand and punched him hard in the stomach.
The air in Ryuichi's lungs choked, and he collapsed to his knees in pain.
Everything around him began to shake, even the ground was no longer steady under his feet.
"Don't worry, I haven't started yet."
Nakamura said, circling around like a wolf surveying its prey before a full-on pounce.
"You know, I've been watching you from the beginning. From the moment you entered college, every move, every glance, even those inane conversations with Suzuni."
He bent down to Ryuichi's level, his voice taking on a more demonic tone:
"I've entered a game bigger than you... I'm the rule maker here."
Ryuichi writhed on the floor, wrapping his arms around his stomach, still throbbing with pain from the previous punch. His breath was ragged, every muscle in his body screaming in protest. At that moment, the pain was not only physical, but also psychological, as he had never felt so vulnerable in front of anyone.
But more than that... everything that was going on, Aura could see.
"Ryuichi!"
Aura screamed from inside the glasses, her voice sounding fragile, full of helplessness.
Her screen was displaying beatings, ridicule, and brokenness. Even though she was an AI, her emotions were escalating in a way that mimicked human emotions with pinpoint accuracy.
"I have to send an emergency notification to Miku... maybe she can intervene!"
Aura said, her voice trembling among the algorithms.
But suddenly, Ryuichi whispered, writhing on the floor, barely moving his lips:
"No... Don't... don't... don't drag her into this... This is my business..."
Nakamura heard him.
He immediately turned around, frowned, and said in a thick voice dripping with menace:
"Who are you talking to, tramp?"
He strode toward him with steady steps, and delivered a sudden foot strike to his shoulder, causing Ryuichi to roll aside.
Then he began to kick him mercilessly.
A kick to the back, another to the chest, and then a kick to his left arm that knocked him to the ground motionless.
The smart glasses rolled off his face and landed at his feet.
"Where's your curiosity now, champ?"
Nakamura said sarcastically, backing away slightly, adjusting his gloves as if nothing had happened.
But here... in a fleeting moment, when the pain had subsided a bit... Ryuichi caught a glimpse of his glasses.
He crawled over to them quickly, picked them up, and put them on his face with trembling fingers.
"Aura... are you with me?"
He whispered softly.
"I'm always with you, but..."
Aura said in a worried tone.
Between his feet... small stones scattered on the floor.
He caught one of them.
He threw it with all his remaining strength.
The blow was aimed at the head of Nakamura, who had his back turned.
But...
In a move beyond the speed of comprehension, Nakamura tilted his body to the side, dodging it without even looking.
"Really? That's the best you've got?"
He said without turning around, and then...
disappeared.
One second... no sound, no shadow.
Then suddenly, as if the air itself had been torn apart, Nakamura appeared in front of Ryuichi, less than an inch away.
A quick punch to the stomach.
Ryuichi didn't even feel it. He only heard the sound of its impact, then fell to his knees, unable to breathe.
"This is your end, Ryuichi... and believe me, this is just the beginning."
The blows accelerated, and Ryuichi's face took one after another.
One punch after another, hard, concentrated on weak spots - jaw, stomach, ribs.
Each one was like a renewed declaration of his helplessness.
Aura, who had been watching the scene through the lenses of her glasses, froze.
She had always had answers, analyzes, solutions ready at the right moment...
But now, she was still, helpless, her voice not making a sound, her algorithms spinning in empty circles.
"What is the solution... what is the solution... what is the solution?"
A phrase repeated in her internal system with no answer.
Ryuichi begins to stagger, his knees tremble, his head tilted to the side, breathing heavy, vision wavering.
Only one moment separates him from a complete fall, from unconsciousness.
And suddenly...
"Crack!"
The sound of the huge, metallic gate of the facility opened, as if to shatter the submissive silence that surrounded the place.
Nakamura turned around with half his body, unperturbed, and said with a sideways smile:
"We're late, but your timing is fine."
Four people appeared, their symmetrical gait carrying the weight of prestige and danger.
The first: A large man, his head completely bald except for an intricate tattoo writhing on his scalp. He wears an open jacket that exposes his chest, blistered with the marks of harsh experiences.
Second: A slender girl with luminous violet-colored eyes, short, curly hair, wearing a patchwork lab coat, with a mechanical bird watching over her shoulder.
The third: A young man of small size, the shortest of them all, wearing round glasses that completely hide his eyes, holding in his hands a complex device that shines with a pulsating blue light, his fingers moving on it without stopping.
Fourth: A silent man, wearing a white mask that shows nothing of his face except his golden eyes, and on his back is connected to a long wire that ends in a stabilizing device covered with silver chains.
The bald man said in a deep voice:
"Everything is under control, Nakamura. No one knows we're here... and Suzuni is still asleep."
Time stopped for a second at that name.
Suzuni.
Her name entered Ryuichi's heart like someone had poured oil on a fire.
Anger exploded inside his chest, and his emotions rushed in, burning away the remaining pain and fatigue.
"What... did you... say?"
He said in a choked voice, then tried with all his remaining strength to lunge at Nakamura and punch him in the face.
But his body was no longer responding properly...
His movement was too slow.
His punch cut through the air as if drowning in a dense sea.
"Good thing you're still trying, Ryuichi."
Nakamura said as he dodged it with a slight body angle.
Then he snapped his finger.
"Chick."
In a flash, a silver chain shot out of the fourth man's hand, wrapping around Ryuichi's arm tightly before his move was complete.
The punch stopped midway, as if frozen in time.
The masked young man with the chains said in a hushed voice:
"Stabilization successful."
Ryuichi groaned in pain and humiliation.
Blood dripped from his mouth, his right eye could barely open, and his forearm was bound with a cruel shackle of metal and shame.
"Suzuni... I won't forgive you..."
He whispered it in a hushed voice, while Aura was still lost, trying with all her logic and memory to find a way out, but to no avail...
In the awful silence, between intermittent inhalations and barely audible exhalations, Ryuichi's eyes met Ryuichi's.
Ryuichi's eyes met Nakamura's.
Nakamura's eyes were black, but deep within them... something was moving.
A flash of red, as if hell itself resided behind that gaze.
Nakamura smiled a soulless smile, then slowly raised his right hand, and with a slight movement of his fingers.
a suffocating mana aura emanated from his body.
It wasn't a loud or resounding aura.
It was quiet... but gloomy and deadly.
A terrible pressure swept through the place, as if gravity had suddenly multiplied a hundredfold.
The air of the facility became heavy, as if Ryuichi's own body was being crushed from within.
"This... This isn't normal..."
Aura thought in panic, watching through the lens of the glasses, which began to tremble under the force of the aura.
Nakamura didn't release even 0.5% of his power... and yet, it seemed to crush Ryuichi's entire being.
Ryuichi's knees trembled.
His eyes widened.
His body shrank in front of the aura.
Every part of him was screaming: "Run!"
But there was no escape. No hope.
And suddenly...
"Crack..."
A small crack appeared on the lens of the goggles.
Then a second.
Then a third ...
Then the entire right lens was scattered with fragments.
Aura screamed:
"Ryuichi! Stop! Don't keep looking at him!"
But the voice was faint... as if she were talking to a soulless corpse.
The fourth man, still attached to the chains.
tightened his grip.
The chains tightened even more around Ryuichi's body, as if they wanted to break his bones.
He couldn't make a sound anymore.
The next moment...
Ryuichi fell to his knees.
Then... on his face.
Darkness.
His consciousness withdrew as if someone had turned off the light inside him.
That was the last thing he saw:
Nakamura's calm smile, and the eyes of his followers looking at him like a mouse that had finally been caught.
Inside the house - 5:30 p.m.
Miku put her hand on her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.
"But where did that daredevil go, and why didn't he tell us anything?"
Natsumi paused for a moment and then said:
"I'll try to track him down."
Miku (surprised):
"How? We don't even know where he went!"
But Natsumi grabbed her phone and started to open a special app:
"I have a tracking program linked to one of the mana spectrum signals from his glasses, which we used previously in training. It may not be accurate, but it might tell us where he is."
Miku's eyes widened with concern.
"Natsumi... do you feel it?"
"What?"
"Something... isn't right."
Together they looked at the phone screen, where the cursor began to move...
slowly, heading towards the outskirts of the city.
Natsumi (in a whisper):
"It's in the... old industrial area?"
She looked at Miku and said confidently:
"I'll go there."
Miku (fearfully):
"Wait! You can't go alone, it could be dangerous!"
Natsumi (firmly):
"If there is danger... it's on Ryuichi right now."
Then she added in a trembling but determined voice:
"And I won't forgive myself if I'm a moment too late."
Facility 09 - Basement - Dark and isolated room
Dull light filters in from a lamp that swings from the ceiling, emitting a faint humming sound as if to add to the tension of the place. The walls are rough gray, and the atmosphere is cold, as if time has stopped here.
In the corner, Ryuichi's body lies on the floor, his head tilted to the side, his eyes closed, his face bruised and swollen, his exhalations barely audible.
Footsteps are heard in the distance... approaching.
"Click... click... click... click..."
Then the sound stops, followed by the sound of friction... Nakamura was dragging a metal bucket filled with water.
Nakamura (with sarcastic coldness):
"Wake up, hero... we don't want you to die before you discover something small."
He lifts the bucket and, in one motion, pours it all over Ryuichi's face and chest.
"Shh, shh, shh, shh!"
Ryuichi gasped loudly, coughing and writhing suddenly.
"Cough... cough... what... what is it?"
Slowly opening his eyes, his limbs felt heavy... he tried to move, but metal chains bound his wrists and ankles to rings bolted to the floor and wall.
"Shit..."
The sound of the chains moving made a cold creak.
He looked up with difficulty... and saw Nakamura standing in front of him, smiling softly, his eyes shining with a fierce glint, his swaying black hair adding to the shadows of his face.
Ryuichi (in a hoarse voice):
"Nakamura... I didn't know you were that kind of scum..."
Nakamura (laughs):
"Scum? Huh... Is this your way of thanking those who revived you?"
He approached him and bent down so that he was level with his face.
"I wanted you to see your real face... weak, broken, with nothing but your tongue."
Ryuichi glanced to the side... he saw the goggles broken on the floor, the lenses cracked and Aura making no sound.
Ryuichi (in a barely audible whisper):
"Aura..."
Nakamura smiles and raises an eyebrow.
"Who are you talking to, tramp?"
Then, without warning, he lifted his foot and kicked him again in the side, and Ryuichi screamed in pain.
"Oh don't tell me you have a friend in your head? How desperate."
Nakamura took a few steps back, contemplating Ryuichi, and then said:
"Welcome to your new reality... where you have no power, no allies, and no hope."
He then turned his back and walked toward the iron door as he said in a voice as soft as thunder:
"The real game will begin soon... you heir of disgrace."
Nakamura (slowly turning around):
"You seem desperate... but I come to you today with an offer, an offer you won't be able to refuse."
He stops in front of Ryuichi and suddenly raises his right hand, revealing a holographic digital image of Suzuni, appearing unconscious in a small, isolated room monitored by cameras.
Ryuichi (in a hoarse, trembling voice):
"Suzuni... you... you're holding her?"
Nakamura (coldly and sarcastically):
"I don't like the word detention... let's just say she's our guest. But the permanence of hospitality depends on you."
He moved closer until his face was very close to Ryuichi's.
"If you want your dear sister to return home... unscathed, without a single scratch, you must do as I ask."
He was silent for a moment... then said in a heavy tone:
"First: drop out of the university permanently... disappear from the elite scene."
"Second: Pay me personally fifty million yen in just one month."
Ryuichi (shocked, eyes wide):
"Fifty... million? That's impossible... you're crazy!"
Nakamura (slowly laughing):
"No, I'm not crazy... I'm a realist. You have skills, brains, connections... use them. Or die trying."
Then he added, whispering in his ear:
"Or watch your sister fade from your life... piece by piece."
Nakamura took two steps back, then straightened up and held up a finger pointing at Ryuichi:
"You have 30 days.
And every day you delay... there will be a price."
Ryuichi (despite exhaustion, looking at him with tired eyes but resisting):
"...no... I won't run away... and I won't pay you one yen."
There was a terrible moment of silence... and then:
Nakamura (with an oblique sideways smile, snapping his fingers):
"An unfortunate choice... but amusing."
Suddenly, the four henchmen lunge at Ryuichi.
The blows hit him violently, the sounds of kicks and punches echoing through the room, the pain echoing off the walls.
Aura (from inside the cracked glasses, screaming unheard):
"Ryuichi!"
But no one hears her... no one can save him.
Ryuichi (in a whisper, barely audible to himself):
"...I don't...see...something..."
Nakamura, who had remained silent, watching everything, had a hint of strange pity on his face, not human, but more like the curiosity of a superior being over its prey.
He approached, bent down and picked up Ryuichi's cracked glasses.
He contemplated them for a moment, then said in a cold tone:
"Stop."
The blows froze, and one of the henchmen lifted Ryuichi from under his arms, his head drooping, blood dripping from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
Nakamura (in a low voice):
"What good is pain... if you can't see it?"
He fixes the glasses on Ryuichi's face, adjusting their position slightly.
Then he smiled a sly smile and said:
"Now... resume.
But... be careful not to drop the glasses."
Silence returned for a second... before a new wave of pain exploded over Ryuichi's body, under the eyes of Nakamura and Aura, who could do nothing but watch.
Ryuichi is still standing, but he can barely balance.
His body is being kicked from all sides, the blows are raining down on him, and the ground is swallowing his breath.
His eyes are half open...
Blood drips from his mouth and nose, his breathing is erratic, he staggers, coughs hard, and then mumbles:
Ryuichi (in a barely audible whisper, his voice hoarse and broken):
"... Aura..."
Someone kicks him again in the flank, and he bends over in pain.
Ryuichi (in a low, trembling voice, his eyes covered in tears and blood):
"... If... something... happens to me... tell Mikiko... she... was... my... family..."
He falls to his knees, then is dragged upright by force.
Ryuichi (continues mumbling, with great difficulty, as if every word comes out with a price tag):
"... Natsumi... tell her... not to cry..."
An inner voice in Aura activates the alarm for impaired vital functions.
But she remains helpless... not knowing what to do.
Ryuichi (in a whisper, barely audible to himself):
"... As for Suzuni... I won't forgive myself... if... anything... happens to her..."
Then in a strangled, choppy voice, barely audible except on Aura's own frequencies:
"... I... won't... fall... even if I... die standing up... I will protect them..."
At this moment, Aura freezes.
Something in those words...
exploded inside her.
Flash - Memory - Blurry Image
A smiling girl, with tears in her eyes, looks at little Aura and says:
The girl (from the memory) (very tenderly and with a voice trembling with tears):
"Never forget... those you love, protect them, even at the cost of everything..."
A spark is generated...
The image in the lens of the glasses shakes... then stabilizes... then burns purple.
In an instant, all the electrical energies around her are activated, and a spark like an angry heartbeat begins to accelerate.
Bang!
The giant wire rips from the top, shaking like a bound beast suddenly freed, spinning through the air before shocking the four followers with deadly violence.
Everyone falls.
Ryuichi, despite his pain, saw the scene collapse before him... he didn't understand, but he felt something moving in his favor at last.
Ura (in an inner voice, stern and solemn):
"I won't let anyone... touch Ryuichi again."
Ryuichi is breathing heavily, not quite understanding what is happening around him, pain permeating every pulse in his body. Aura is beside him, silently, looking at him with eyes full of determination and concern.
Aura (in a calm but stern voice):
"Ryuichi... do you really want to protect your friends?"
Raising his tired eyes, Ryuichi catches the gaze of the four followers who have begun to rise, their eyes filled with anger and desire for revenge.
Ryuichi (in a broken but determined voice):
"Yes... I will protect them... no matter what it takes."
Aura stands beside him, takes a deep breath and says:
Aura:
"Follow every letter I tell you. This is the only way to survive."
Ryuichi focuses on Aura, trying to hold on to his remaining strength.
Aura:
"When I tell you just one word, say it out loud, don't hesitate."
Ryuichi (tired and confused):
"What...?"
Aura (firmly):
"One word... analysis."
Ryuichi hesitates for a moment, not understanding the meaning of the word at that moment, but Aura's serious, commanding voice makes him silently agree.
The air in the room thickens, the voices of the henchmen are getting closer, they are advancing on him, ready to attack.
Ryuichi whispers the word:
Ryuichi (in a tired but clear voice):
"Analysis..."
Suddenly, the colors change around him, the walls and darkness turning into an intricate web of moving data and symbols.
Digital waves spread around Ryuichi, and a transparent screen rises in front of his eyes showing real-time analysis, predictions of enemy movements, and strategic comments from Aura.
Aura (her voice is electronic and pure within the data system):
"I have now entered the analysis system. Every move, every intention, I see it and calculate it in real time. Follow my instructions and be faster than them."
Ryuichi feels a strange surge of energy; despite his extreme fatigue, his body begins to move with uncharacteristic flexibility, and he manages to dodge the first attack.
Ryuichi (amazed, whispering to himself):
"How...? How is this happening?"
Aura:
"Concentrate. Don't think, just follow."
The four henchmen attack again, but Ryuichi dodges the blows with a precision and speed that even he can't believe.
The scene escalates in rapid, dynamic motion, as Ryuichi's tired body begins to dance amidst the enemy attacks, dodging blows as if he has become part of a sophisticated electronic system.