The morning after the fire was strangely quiet.
No headlines. No breaking news. The institute had burned down, but the world moved on as if it hadn't mattered. Just another abandoned building lost to time.
But for Haratu Sota, it wasn't over.
He stood in Ryoko's apartment, the notebook Miyako had given him open on the table. Ryoko poured two cups of black coffee, her movements sharp and tense.
"She planned this for years," he said, flipping through the worn pages. "Each murder. Each victim. All converging in this… pattern."
Ryoko nodded slowly. "And now she's given the entire design to you."
He didn't answer.
The last page still haunted him.
"Haratu Sota – Designer or Destroyer – TBD."
"What does that mean?" she asked, sitting across from him.
Haratu traced the ink with his fingers. "I think… she saw me as the final decision point. If I keep solving the cycle—trying to predict it—I become her. Another manipulator. But if I choose to destroy it…"
"You break the chain," Ryoko finished.
"But that would mean letting someone die to stop it." His voice dropped. "Someone innocent. Possibly you."
She leaned forward. "Then we change the rules."
He raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"By finding someone who isn't in the notebook. Someone outside Miyako's spiral."
Haratu stared at her for a long moment. Then he stood up and walked to the whiteboard he'd set up the night before.
He marked three names: Rin Shibata, Kazuo Inoue, and Kana Yuzuki—victims who had no obvious connection, yet were all part of the new phase of the cycle.
But one stood out.
Kana Yuzuki.
She was a university student. Seemingly random victim. But in Miyako's notes, there was a star beside her name.
Haratu tapped it. "She wasn't supposed to die yet. Miyako's timeline had her murder scheduled two weeks later. That means someone is acting outside the spiral now."
Ryoko's eyes widened. "A copycat?"
"Or a rebel," he said.
A knock came at the door.
Ryoko instinctively reached for her sidearm. Haratu approached cautiously and peered through the peephole.
A young woman stood there, soaked in rain, eyes wide with panic.
He opened the door.
"Detective Sota?" she asked breathlessly. "My name is Yuna Tachibana. I think someone's trying to kill me."
Haratu froze.
"Why do you think that?" Ryoko asked.
Yuna stepped inside, pulling out a photograph. It was a polaroid. On the back, scrawled in red ink, were the words:
"YOU'RE NEXT."
Haratu took the photo. The image showed Yuna sitting in a café… from behind. She hadn't known she was being watched.
"When did this appear?" he asked.
"This morning. It was inside my mailbox with no return address. I don't know anyone who'd want to hurt me. But…" her voice trembled, "last night I saw someone watching me from across the street. A tall man in a raincoat. I tried to ignore it—but when I went to the window, he was still there. Just… staring."
Haratu exchanged a glance with Ryoko.
A new killer.
Outside the timeline.
This wasn't Miyako's work anymore.
"Do you know Kana Yuzuki?" Ryoko asked.
Yuna shook her head. "No. Should I?"
"She was murdered two days ago. We think whoever killed her may now be targeting you."
Yuna's face paled. "Why me?"
Haratu folded his arms. "We'll figure that out. But first, you're staying under protection."
Ryoko nodded and called the precinct, arranging a protective watch.
As Yuna sat on the couch, shivering despite the heat, Haratu walked to the balcony. Rain fell steadily over the city.
He looked up at the skyline. Somewhere out there, someone had deviated from the spiral. Someone had started killing early.
The notebook was no longer enough.
Someone had broken Miyako's rules.
And that meant the real spiral had just begun.
The next morning, Yuna Tachibana was placed in a safe house under constant surveillance. Ryoko stayed with her, while Haratu dug deeper into her background.
The police database yielded little—Yuna was clean. No criminal record, no involvement in any of the known victims' lives. She worked part-time at a flower shop and studied music theory. If there was a reason she was targeted, it was deeply hidden.
Haratu returned to his apartment and scanned Miyako's notebook again.
Every victim had a connection. A shared thread of revenge, debt, or betrayal. But Yuna was the anomaly. Unless…
He opened his laptop and searched through old case files again—this time, for family names.
After an hour of combing public records, he found it:
Keisuke Tachibana – a minor gang enforcer arrested fifteen years ago in a sting operation involving a murder-for-hire plot. The intended victim?
Kana Yuzuki's mother.
Haratu's eyes narrowed.
So that was it.
Kana's family had been targeted long ago by Yuna's father.
But that incident had ended with Keisuke Tachibana going to prison and dying five years later of cancer. Why would Kana's murder occur now?
More importantly—who knew enough about that ancient, buried crime to orchestrate this revenge?
Suddenly, the photo made more sense. This wasn't a random threat. It was personal.
A deeper spiral was unfolding—one that Miyako hadn't even known about.
Haratu grabbed his coat and headed to the safe house.
---
Ryoko opened the door before he knocked. "I was about to call you."
Yuna stood in the corner, pale and stiff.
"She got another photo," Ryoko said grimly, holding it up.
This time, Yuna was sleeping in her bed—clearly taken from outside the window. The word scrawled this time was:
"ONE DAY LEFT."
Haratu stared at it. "The killer is escalating."
Ryoko nodded. "And mocking us."
"I dug into her background," Haratu said. "Yuna's father tried to have Kana Yuzuki's mother killed fifteen years ago. Someone is continuing that cycle."
Ryoko's brows furrowed. "A second spiral?"
"Looks like it. And this one might be a bloodline vendetta."
Yuna was shaking now. "I didn't even know about my father's past… I only knew he was in prison. I never thought—"
Haratu held up a hand gently. "You're not responsible for his sins. But someone out there thinks you are."
Ryoko added, "We've increased surveillance, but Haratu… whoever's doing this is good. No cameras picked up the person near her window last night."
Haratu stared out the window. "They're studying us. Learning our patterns."
He turned to Yuna. "We're going to set a trap. You'll need to act as bait."
Her eyes widened. "Bait?"
He nodded. "Only for one night. We'll stage your apartment. Leave it unguarded. Let them think you're vulnerable. But we'll be waiting."
Ryoko gave a sharp nod. "It's dangerous, but if we want to stop this, it might be our only chance."
Yuna swallowed. Then, slowly, she nodded. "If it helps stop this… I'll do it."
---
That night, everything was set.
Yuna's apartment looked completely dark and empty. Cameras and motion sensors were placed around the perimeter. Haratu and Ryoko waited in an abandoned apartment across the street, monitoring the live feed.
Time passed slowly.
Midnight. Nothing.
1:12 AM. A flicker on the motion detector.
Haratu tensed. "Camera 3. Southeast window."
A figure emerged—tall, draped in a long raincoat. Just like Yuna had described.
The figure moved with eerie precision, bypassing the hallway camera with uncanny timing.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Ryoko muttered, aiming her pistol.
"He's not just a killer," Haratu said coldly. "He's trained."
They watched as the figure pulled out a lockpick kit and quietly worked the door.
Haratu whispered, "Now."
They burst from their apartment and charged down the stairs, timing their approach perfectly.
But when they reached Yuna's front door—silence.
The door was ajar.
They rushed in—only to find it empty.
Yuna was gone.
And on the bed, another photo:
Haratu and Ryoko standing at the window of their stakeout.
The message beneath:
"Still too slow."
Chapter 22: Spiral Threads – Part 3
The silence in Yuna's apartment was deafening.
Ryoko rushed through each room, heart pounding. "She's not here. Dammit, how did they—?"
Haratu stood frozen, staring at the photo left behind. His eyes burned with calculation.
"They were watching us the entire time."
He turned the photo over. Something was scribbled on the back:
"Round and round we go. You chase shadows. I hold truths."
Ryoko clenched her fists. "We were outplayed."
Haratu didn't respond immediately. He walked to the window and looked out at the city. His mind whirred, piecing together patterns.
Then he turned sharply. "This isn't just about revenge anymore. This is about design."
Ryoko gave him a questioning look.
Haratu held up the photo. "They knew our surveillance setup. They predicted our movement. That means this isn't just a lone killer. There's infrastructure—support."
"Are you saying it's a group?"
Haratu nodded slowly. "Kōkai no Me."
Ryoko paled. "You really believe they exist?"
"They do. I've seen hints for years. Whispers in old cases. Victims who never found justice. Criminals who died in patterns too precise to be coincidence. But this time… they want us to know. They're turning this into a performance."
---
Meanwhile, in a dimly lit underground chamber, Yuna sat tied to a chair.
A single pendant light swung above her, casting shadows on the walls.
A man stood in front of her, face hidden behind a porcelain mask etched with a spiral.
"You don't know who I am," he said softly. "But your blood does."
Yuna whimpered. "Why… why are you doing this?"
"Because justice forgotten must be reborn," he replied. "Your father destroyed a family. And justice was never served."
"But he died in prison!"
"Prison is not enough," the masked man said. "Not when the law forgets. Kōkai no Me remembers."
Yuna shook her head. "This isn't justice. This is madness!"
The masked figure leaned in. "No. Madness is letting evil fester unpunished. We are correction. You… are the symbol."
---
Haratu and Ryoko returned to the headquarters and ordered an emergency sweep of all known Kōkai no Me rumors.
Hours passed. Then an alert came through—a traffic camera caught a black van near Yuna's apartment shortly before her disappearance. The van had no plates, but a blurry reflection on a window across the street showed a partial symbol:
A spiral with an eye at the center.
Haratu zoomed in. "That's it. That's their mark."
He made a call. "Trace every known graffiti tag of that spiral in the last five years. I want all locations—especially abandoned sites."
Ryoko placed her hand on the desk. "If we find even one, we may have a lead."
---
At dawn, they found it—an old subway station shut down ten years ago. Multiple sightings of the spiral mark on its outer wall.
They geared up and moved in silently.
The station was dark, dust swirling in shafts of broken light. The place reeked of rust and old stories.
They moved as one—Ryoko covering left, Haratu right. Then they heard it.
A humming sound.
Music.
A woman's voice singing softly from deep within.
Ryoko whispered, "That's Yuna. She's singing."
They crept toward the sound and descended an old stairwell.
At the bottom, a chamber opened into view—lit with candles, symbols drawn on the walls, and in the center, Yuna, still tied, singing shakily to calm herself.
And behind her—four masked figures stood silently, guarding her.
Haratu whispered, "We're outnumbered."
Ryoko smirked. "So what?"
Then they moved.
The fight was brutal. Ryoko took down two of the guards with stun rounds, while Haratu fought hand-to-hand with the leader in the spiral mask.
The masked man was fast—unnaturally fast.
"Who are you?" Haratu growled as they grappled.
The man laughed. "A ghost of your past. A student of your silence."
The words chilled Haratu.
Then he saw it—the masked man's wrist bore an old scar. Haratu had given that scar to a boy he'd interrogated once, years ago, in a juvenile correctional center. The boy had vowed vengeance.
"You're… Seta."
The man chuckled darkly. "Seta is dead. I am reborn. Through purpose. Through Kōkai no Me."
They fought again, fists and rage clashing in the flickering light.
Finally, Haratu slammed the man into the wall and yanked the mask off.
The face was older, twisted by years, but it was him.
Haratu whispered, "You're doing all this… for revenge?"
"No," Seta said through gritted teeth. "For balance."
Ryoko freed Yuna and called backup. Sirens echoed down the tunnels moments later.
Seta, bleeding, smiled as he was dragged away. "We are many. And the cycle has just begun."
---
Outside, as dawn lit the city again, Yuna sat wrapped in a blanket. Ryoko stood beside her, arms crossed.
Haratu looked out at the skyline.
Ryoko asked, "Think it's over?"
Haratu didn't answer immediately.
Then, quietly: "No. This was just one thread in a much larger spiral."