The morning after the dream, Kaito woke up feeling like he'd been through a war.
Not a physical one—those left bruises and blood.
This was worse.
It was mental resistance. The kind that tears you apart on the inside, piece by piece, and then demands you put yourself back together stronger.
The kind that forced evolution.
---
Ayase Household – Living Room
Momo tilted her head at him over her cereal. "You good? You're doing that stare-against-the-wall thing again."
Kaito sat down across from her, silent for a beat. "I think they tried to overwrite me."
Seiko looked up from her morning paper, face suddenly serious. "The aliens?"
He nodded. "In the dream… they showed me a version of myself. One without thought. Without pain. Just… pure evolution. It was them trying to erase everything that makes me me."
Momo's brows furrowed. "So, like… brainwashing?"
> "More like replacing."
Seiko stood. "Then we need to prepare. Because if they're not just watching, but intervening, this world is about to become a lab rat for something far beyond yokai and ghosts."
---
Later – Back Streets of Tokyo
Kaito walked with Rin through the quieter parts of town. They'd gotten used to patrolling places with weird energy—fluctuations in space, cold spots, phantom voices.
But this time, Kaito felt something pulling at his mind. A soft hum at the base of his skull.
> A message.
A command.
> "Let go. Let us shape you. Accept perfection."
Kaito clenched his fists.
> "I'm not yours to shape."
Suddenly, his legs gave out. His vision spun.
Rin caught him. "Kaito!"
He was on the ground, breathing hard, his evolution mark glowing violently.
A voice echoed in his head.
> "You resist. Good. Growth requires friction. Let us increase the pressure."
---
Mental Plane – Trial of Resistance
Kaito's eyes snapped open—but not in the real world.
He stood in a white void, surrounded by shifting walls of thought. In front of him stood the perfect version of himself again—tall, flawless, utterly calm.
Its voice was like silk soaked in ice.
> "You cling to scars and emotions. They're hindrances."
Kaito met its gaze. "They're memories. They make me real."
> "They make you weak."
Kaito summoned a shard of pain—his worst moment. The sound of his name whispered in terror from under a childhood bed. His first failure. His last regret.
> "Then I'll be weak. And I'll evolve through it anyway."
---
Battle Begins
The perfect version lunged.
It struck like a machine. No anger. No emotion. Just precision and dominance.
Kaito took the first hit full-force. He flew backward, the white floor cracking beneath him.
But as his ribs ached, his spine protested, and his body trembled, he smiled.
Because he felt it.
> Adaptable Evolution Triggered
(Stimulus detected: Psychological Domination. Resistance Engaged.)
> New Trait Acquired: Cognitive Armor
(Reduces impact of mental attacks and psychological manipulation.)
Kaito stood again.
This time, he struck back.
---
Real World – External Signs
Back in Tokyo, Rin stared in horror as Kaito's body hovered two inches off the ground, locked in stasis.
His aura had changed.
Blue and silver energy crackled around him. Small objects lifted into the air, defying gravity. A nearby streetlight shattered.
Momo and Seiko arrived seconds later.
"What's happening to him?" Momo shouted.
Seiko's eyes narrowed. "He's not being attacked. He's fighting from within."
---
Mental Plane – Turning Point
The perfect version shattered a blade of light across Kaito's shoulder. It burned.
Kaito's hand, bleeding and trembling, reached up and caught the next strike.
> "You think I fear being broken?" he growled. "That's what I was."
He pushed forward.
> "But every time I break, I come back sharper. Stronger. And more me than ever before!"
He roared, energy erupting from his mark. A spiral of black and crimson light engulfed the clone, forcing it back.
> "Perfection is stagnation," Kaito said. "But resistance… resistance is growth."
---
Victory and Integration
The void pulsed.
The perfect version faltered. Its body cracked like glass, pieces falling away to reveal something fragile underneath.
A core.
> "You… resist well," it whispered.
> "I don't want to be flawless," Kaito said. "I want to be alive."
He touched the core—and it melted into his chest.
---
Real World – Awakening
Kaito's body fell.
Rin caught him again, barely steadying him as he groaned.
"I'm okay," he rasped. "They… tested me. Again."
Momo helped steady him. "Did you win?"
Kaito nodded slowly.
> "I did more than win. I grew."
Seiko raised an eyebrow. "New ability?"
Kaito smiled weakly.
> New Trait: Neural Inertia
(Increases resistance to identity-based manipulation. Conscious mind gains 'anchor points' tied to memory and will.)
He exhaled, looking toward the sky.
> "Let them watch. I'll grow stronger every time they try to take control."
---
Closing Scene – Alien POV
Far above Earth, in an invisible ship orbiting the planet, one of the watchers recorded the latest data spike.
> "Subject has resisted Phase 2 overwrite. Evolution now advancing beyond projected curve."
> "Begin contingency preparations."
Another figure entered the chamber.
> "And the others?"
> "He's beginning to bond. The girl with the blood. The psychic. The elder exorcist. Emotional entanglements are deepening."
> "Good," the voice replied. "Then we can begin the next test.