21:47 JST Shinjuku City — Tokyo
Rain glossed the sidewalks in soft amber reflection. Street signs flickered. A pachinko parlor buzzed through shuttered windows. Buses passed. Nothing felt wrong. That was the problem.
The patrol car weaved through evening traffic like it was chasing something that hadn't happened yet. Inside the vehicle were two young operatives, barely out of trial class, but already branded with the Crucible's white-lined coats. The passenger, a pale-skinned girl with short hair fingers, tapped the mana scanner built into the console. It was reading flux disturbances like weather. Her eyes squinted at the readings as if trying to will them into making sense.
"Still nothing," she murmured.
The driver kept one hand on the wheel, the other on his Drive that pulsed under his palm. "You'd think with all the tech in this car, we'd be able to spot a Spiral before it even thought about doing anything…" He tried to keep it light, but there was a flick in his voice, too flat to be casual.
The passenger gave an annoyed look at her partner, "You want a refund?"
The driver shot an exasperated look back, "I want a different job."
The radio clicked once. Then crackled again.
"Command to Theta-4."
The driver leaned toward the mic. "This is Theta-4, how copy, Command?"
"Trespass confirmed in Building 12-G, Upper Nishiyama Commercial Block within Kabukichō. Proceed with extreme caution. You two are not to engage alone."
"Copy," the girl said before the driver could. "Approaching the block now."
The driver exhaled, fingers tightening around the steering wheel. "Nishiyama, why did you even enroll in the Crucible? You're the daughter of the Nishiyama Conglomerate, your life is set."
A pause.
Her expression didn't change, but her tone cooled like steel pressed against skin. "Maybe I'd rather be useful than inherited, Mitsuki." She didn't raise her voice. She never did when it came to this. He wasn't the first to ask.
He glanced sideways. Her eyes stayed forward. Mitsuki started to open his mouth, then shut it. A bus rumbled by in the opposite lane, faces flickering behind its rain-streaked windows. None of the passengers noticed the Crucible insignia on the cruiser's door. Theta-4 turned the corner, and the city swallowed them whole.
21:49 — Inside 12-G
The building wasn't abandoned. That's what made it worse. The lights were still on, at least on the lower floors. Elevator music played. A faint jazz tune from a second-floor café still open on the night shift.
Upstairs?
Silence.
On the third floor, office lights flickered. Someone had left a computer running. A vending machine in the hallway gave a quiet ding as it dispensed a bottle that no one had ordered. In the hallway were bodies. Slumped. Folded. Shattered into positions that made no human sense.
And crouched above them?
Hands slick with crimson, spine twitching with joy, was a figure that smiled too widely. Humanoid. But wrong. "I love this city," the Spiral rasped. "So much fear. So much flavor." It picked up a body. Pressed its face to the neck like it was listening. Then it bit in, slowly, giggling.
21:51 — Outside the Block
"Command to Theta-4, update: Spiral readings climbing. Aberrant-class readings detected. Evacuation has been issued and widened to Tier 3. Do not enter the building, support is on the way."
Mitsuki looked up from the dashboard, his face bathed in the scanner's dim blue glow. The building stood across the lot, silent, but somehow watching. He muttered under his breath. "…God, why did I even sign up for this job?"
Nishiyama didn't look at him. She was checking the sync lock on her Drive unit, expression flat. "Then leave," she said quietly. "No one's forcing you to be here."
Mitsuki hesitated. Then tried to shake it off with a crooked smile. "Hey, come on." He forced a weak laugh. "You hear what they said about Site 6 last week? A Spiral tore straight through a Crucible team. Burned one of 'em from the inside. Left his armor intact but melted the Drive like jelly."
That made her pause, just for a second. Not because she was scared. Just because she'd already heard it too.
"The med team couldn't even identify the Spiral's Rasenzou pattern," he added. "No evidence. like it was trying to hide itself."
Nishiyama didn't respond. Instead, she opened the cruiser door with a click, stepped into the rain, and shut it behind her like the conversation never happened.
Mitsuki blinked.
"Wait, you're not serious. Nishiyama? Hey, protocol says wait for backup—!"
She was already crossing the street, boots splashing through shallow puddles, coat collar raised against the wind. The Crucible sigil on her back glinted under a streetlight, ghostlike in the rain. She didn't hesitate. Not even when the door to 12-G groaned open at her touch.
Mitsuki sank back into his seat for half a second, fingers tightening around the steering glyph. "She's going to get herself killed..."
A pause.
"...Or promoted."
21:52 — Third Floor
It didn't hear her approach. Maybe it thought she was food, too. Another human mistake. A single footstep echoed through the broken tiles. The Aberrant turned, sluggish at first, as if drunk on what it had consumed. There she was, framed in fractured glass and moonlight, the city behind her flickering through the storm like a dying signal.
Long coat, gloves, stoic posture. Her eyes didn't blink.
She flexed one hand
—CRACK—
She had cracked her middle finger. "Cute. Guess the rumors weren't bullshit after all. A Spiral that looks human and still has the ego to pile bodies like it means something. You must be an Aberrant Class Spiral."
Her eyes flicked across the room. A pile of bodies. Torn. Rearranged. Some still warm. "Hmm," she continued. "Didn't think I'd see one in the city."
The Spiral twitched, head tilting unnaturally, as if trying to listen to her bones shift beneath the skin.
Blood glistened down its chin, a shard of jawbone caught between its teeth. It dropped it, "You're the one they warned me about." Its voice was low and gravel-wet. Male and not-male. Too many vocal cords vibrating at once. "You smell... foul. Wrong. Like them, but you reek like us. You're trying to pass as clean, aren't you?"
It stood fully now, rising in wet pops and spasms. Limbs too long. Ribs exposed in spiraling ridges across the chest. Its eyes adjusted, black sclera, red irises spinning like drills, zooming focus. "A Variant," it hissed. "Living with the food. Killing your own kind. Is that what you think you are? A human with a clever mask?"
She didn't answer.
"We were ordered to take you in alive." Its mouth stretched wider like it was smiling, "But I hope you don't mind if I break you a little first. Fear makes the marrow sweeter." A body twitched behind it reflexively.
She shrugged and exhaled softly. "Do you mind being my meal instead?"
The Aberrant froze.
Then, it laughed. Not loud. Not crazed. Amused.
"You're funny," it said. "Like a fly thinking it can kill its predator. Do you think wearing that coat makes you stronger? You still reek like a human. You still give off that sweet scent of Flux." It took one slow step toward her, shoulders twitching, jaw half-dislocated with glee. "Go ahead. Bare your fangs." Its bukinochi snapped free with a wet shriek of liquid muscle.
"Let's see who devours who."
21:53 — Combat Snap
The Aberrant surged forward as its Bukinochi wrapped around its left arm, forming a claw on it. It slammed its claw into her location, with full weight behind it. Shattering the tile on the floor and kicking up smoke and debris. Swallowing the corridor in gray.
Silence.
A low, satisfied exhale.
"Too easy…"
Then—
A sharp crack echoed in the room.
Then, two tails, crimson red, pulsing with spiral energy pierced through the smoke and into the window of the building. The tails pulled back, shattering the glass window. Causing the smoke in the room to billow out the window.
The Aberrant staggered back slightly, blinking into the clearing haze."…Oh?" A grin split its jaw again, delighted. "Still alive? Good. That makes the flavor deeper." It took one step forward—
And its body froze. The Spiral's body sagged. A wet slither echoed behind it. Something pulling free. The Aberrant looked down. Where its Bukinochi had once curled into a claw, only shredded muscle remained. Spiral tissue dangled, half-severed, the appendage missing.
Its pupils dilated.
"…Huh?"
Its head dropped seconds later. Landing face-first into the ground, next to the pile of corpses. A soft thud.
Still.
Rafters – Third Floor
She stood overhead in the rafters, crouched on a steel beam like a ghost. Her tails unfurled behind her, two crimson limbs, still slick, coiled like living weapons at rest. They pulsed faintly with Spiral energy, tips twitching in rhythm with her breath.
Her eyes glinted once. They had the same glow as the Aberrant's. Spiral-ringed and sharp, but colder. More in control. She looked down at the corpse. Then wiped her mouth with the back of her glove. "You tasted like rotting fish. Horrible aftertaste."
Then, silently.
She descended.
Her boots barely made a sound as she dropped down. The Aberrant's body twitched once more, a postmortem spasm rippling through the flesh. She stepped over it, cracked her finger again, and crouched beside the ruined torso. The Rasenzou was still visible. A pulsing, wet sac of spiral tissue embedded in bone and muscle. It throbbed faintly, still alive, even without its host. Attempting to rebuild itself. One of her tails curled downward, deliberate, almost gentle. It hovered above the Rasenzou. Then—
-SHHK-
The tail pierced it. A single strike, and ripped free a chunk of the organ, slick and glowing with spiral energy. The pulsing from it slowed. The Aberrant's final spasm twitched its fingers once. Then stilled. She reached out. The tail coiled forward like a feeding serpent, dropping the chunk into her open palm. She brought it to her mouth without hesitation.
-Crunch-
She chewed once. Swallowed. Her eyes flickered, briefly brighter than before. A twist of red and white light spun through the spiral rings in her irises. She exhaled slowly. "Still tastes like fish," she muttered. "But… less rotten."
Then—
SCREECH
The sound of tires cutting wet pavement echoed from the streets below. A pulse of red-and-blue light splashed across the walls through the shattered window.
Sirens
Distant. Then closer. Above, a low mechanical roar grew louder as a VTOL's silhouette cut across the storm-glossed skyline, its floodlights sweeping down over the building.
She looked up once, expression unreadable. "Crucible…Late, as always." She stood, coat flicking behind her. And walked back into the dark.
21:55 — Second Floor, Building 12-G
Footsteps thundered up the stairwell. Mitsuki nearly tripped rounding the landing, breath ragged, coat flaring behind him. The storm still echoed off the half-broken windows, mixing with distant sirens and the descending whirr of Crucible VTOL engines outside. "N-Nishiyama slow down—! Command said Tier 3 evac, we're supposed to wait for backup!"
Nishiyama's scanner buzzed sharply. She skidded to a stop mid-step, lifting the device embedded in her sleeve. "...No way." The display flickered with dense glyph-code and red spiral pulses.
Spiralization Factor: 8200Bukinochi DetectedStatus: Aberrant Class Engaged
Her eyes widened, just for a second. Then she broke into a sprint. "Drive Form: Initiate." As she surged up the stairs, glyphs ignited down her coat seams and across her gloves, white-blue lines syncing to her flux like a heartbeat. The scanner clipped to her arm dimmed, absorbed into her sleeve as her right hand flashed with sudden shape. With a crack of light and refracting metal, her Drive materialized. A curved mono-edge blade, thin as breath, glowing faintly along the inner edge. It shimmered like heat over ice. She caught it mid-spin without looking. One-handed. Balanced. "Come on, Mitsuki," she muttered under her breath. "Don't make me solo this."
Mitsuki froze. "Nishiyama—! Wait, what did it say? Did it say Bukinochi Detected?!" But she was already gone. "Oh my god, of course you'd rush in! That's not just Spiral activity, that's death wish energy!" He looked around the dim hallway, as if hoping someone else might arrive and save him from this.
No one did.
"Screw it. I swear, if I die here, I'm haunting your fancy estate." He gritted his teeth and raised his hand. "Drive Form: Initiate." His jacket flared with faint orange light, circuits lighting up along his shoulder as a gauntlet-like Drive expanded over his left arm with a metallic hiss. He sprinted after her, muttering the whole way. "This is why I wanted an accounting job."
As he reached the third-floor landing, he caught a glimpse of her ahead, Drive already drawn. A thin, curved blade shimmered in her grip, glowing white-blue, like moonlight on tempered ice.
Mitsuki squinted. "Oh, of course. You get the fancy Drive. Silent, deadly, and glows like it's sponsored." He glanced down at his own arm, bulky gauntlet, no shine, just glyphs pulsing like a warning light. "Meanwhile I'm out here cosplaying a traffic cone with mana gloves."
21:56 — Third Floor, Building 12-G
The scent hit them first. Pennies. Rotting flesh. Something else, too… thicker.Mitsuki gagged mid-step, pulling his collar over his nose. "What the hell—? Did someone microwave a cadaver in here?"
Nishiyama said nothing. She moved ahead, slow but purposeful. Her Drive was still drawn, posture low. The hallway was half-lit, flickering panels overhead struggling to hold power. Blood trailed in smears against the wall. Not splattered, but dragged, long and deliberate. They turned the corner.
And saw it.
A pile of corpses, twisted together like a ritual offering. Some barely intact. Some… rearranged. Mitsuki stopped cold. "Is this… was this all one Spiral?" Nishiyama's scanner pulsed once, red. "No," she whispered. "This had to be a recently transformed Spiral feeding ground."
At the center of the room, an Aberrant Spiral's corpse lay face-down. Head severed. Bukinochi strands torn out, half-congealed, glistening in a wet spiral across the wall. And crouched beside the exposed Rasenzou socket, the floor still slick with blood—
Was no one.
Mitsuki stepped forward slowly, blinking at the scene. "That Aberrant didn't just die… it got harvested. But by who? We are the first ones here…" Nishiyama didn't answer. Her gaze was fixed on a faint indentation in the floor, a place where someone had knelt. The blood pooled strangely around it, avoiding the space like it had been pushed back by something unseen. She lifted her scanner.
The readout blinked erratically.
FLUX INTERFERENCE DETECTEDRESIDUAL SIGNATURE MATCH: NONELAST RECORDED ACTION: -REDACTED-
Mitsuki's voice came quieter over her shoulder, not joking anymore. "You think this was an internal problem? Or...?"
She didn't answer.
A sound.
Faint. Wet. Like a drop of blood landing too close. Nishiyama's body moved before her thoughts caught up, blade rising, stance shifting low and precise. Something's still here.
But before the silence could break—
Shouts echoed from the stairwell. Boots. Gear. Radiocomms crackling. "Crucible Unit Delta, we've reached Theta-4's last ping!"
"Eyes on the third floor, go, go, go!"
"Window breach confirmed!"
Glass shattered across the opposite side as a VTOL floodlight slammed through the haze, followed by repellers and armed scouts fast-roping down into the carnage. Nishiyama didn't lower her blade immediately. Mitsuki flinched as the light swept across him. "Friendly! We're friendly, damn it!"
The lead scout jogged forward, Drive already powered. "Report. What the hell happened here?" Nishiyama's gaze stayed locked on the blood indentation. "We're not sure yet. But someone beat us to the Spiral."
21:58 — Third Floor, Building 12-G
The squad swept in, standard formation, boots clicking through the ruin.
"Secure perimeter."
"Watch the rafters. Other Spirals might still be here."
One agent knelt beside the Aberrant's body, scanning the shredded mass of its bukinochi. "This thing was bisected clean. Whatever hit it… wasn't human." Nishiyama finally lowered her blade, slowly. Mitsuki still hovered behind her, his Drive flickering from exertion.
Another agent's scanner beeped.
"No hostiles detected."
A sharp voice cut through the static. "Clear a path." The squad parted instinctively. Boots clicked once, then twice more, heavier, slower. A figure stepped through the breach. Long coat, black with crimson trim. Drive signature humming faintly. Masked. You could feel command before you saw it.
"Commander Hoshino," muttered one of the scouts under breath. The commander's eyes moved once across the room, visor scanning from the Rasenzou to the kneeling mark in the blood, then to the still-lit scanners. She spoke low, almost tired, "Theta-4. Report."