Sora wasn't scared of much.
He wasn't built for fear — he was built for watching. Recording. Keeping his distance. That's how he survived. That's how he stayed invisible.
But when he saw the data log that morning — the skimmed file, the timestamp, the route of the leak —
his fingers trembled.
He hadn't been hacked.
He'd been watched.
Somehow, someone else had tapped into his capture feed while he was compiling the file on Keon. A single packet — just one — had been lifted clean, like a knife flicked through paper.
The worst part?
He didn't even know when.
All he knew was that someone else now had what he had:
Keon's face. His name. His ties to Mai.
A spark that could become wildfire.
And it was Sora's fault.
He didn't go to class that day. He lingered in the shadows of the back hall instead, hands stuffed in his hoodie, half-listening to hallway noise as students passed.
He saw Keon walk by, laughing at something Daiki said. Normal. Too normal.
That was the part that got to him.
Keon didn't even know the walls were closing in.
Sora hated that.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and stared at the message draft he'd written three times already:
"We need to talk.
Something's wrong.
I made a mistake."
He hovered over send.
Then hit delete.
At lunch, he followed from afar. Again. But this time, it wasn't intel.
It was guilt.
Nova was still watching him. He could tell — little things. A camera that blinked too quickly when he passed. A hall monitor that suddenly changed direction.
He knew she'd planted at least two people in the school now. He didn't blame her.
He'd do the same.
Still, he wasn't the threat anymore.
Someone worse was out there. And they had Keon's name.
"Why are you still here?"
Fuyu's voice cut through the corridor like a blade.
Sora turned slowly, unsurprised to see Fuyu leaning against the wall by the library stairs, arms crossed, eyes cold.
"You tailing him again?" Fuyu asked.
Sora exhaled. "No."
"You don't look like you're done stalking."
"I'm trying to help."
Fuyu took a step closer. "Last time you tried to 'help,' Nova nearly dislocated your jaw."
"I didn't leak anything," Sora snapped. "At least… not on purpose."
Fuyu froze. "What does that mean?"
Sora looked away. "I think someone got into my files. Took something they shouldn't have."
Fuyu's fists clenched. "You think?"
"I know," Sora said quietly. "I just don't know who. Or when. Or how bad it'll be."
"Then why the hell are you here?"
"Because I screwed up," he said, voice tight. "And I don't know how to fix it. But if something happens to him… I don't want to be sitting behind a screen pretending I had nothing to do with it."
For a moment, Fuyu said nothing.
Then: "If anything happens to Keon because of you, I'll make sure you don't walk away from it."
Sora nodded once. "Fair."
Fuyu stepped past him.
Then paused.
"...Thanks for telling me."
He didn't wait for a response.
That night, across the city, a dimly lit room hummed with low monitors and silence.
The man in the chair wore a suit without a wrinkle, gloves without dust, and a face without expression.
One of the monitors pinged softly.
He leaned forward.
Text blinked on the screen:
TARGET ACQUIRED
Name: Keon Rintarou
Affiliation: Unknown
Connected to: Mai [CONFIRMED]
The man smiled. But only barely.
He pressed a button.
Another screen flickered to life — showing the front of Keon's school. Students walking out in neat pairs.
Zoom.
There.
Keon. Laughing, backpack over one shoulder, unaware.
The man whispered:
"Now let's see what makes you break."