Day Three at Camp
Kazuki is starting to get used to it.
The sirens.
The whispers.
The daily reality breaches.
Breakfast cereal that occasionally tries to eat him.
Normal stuff.
Until today.
Morning Drill – Group Imagination Sync
The assignment: focus on someone else's memory and try to visualize it together. Kazuki gets paired with Hikari.
"Just think of my childhood," she says. "It's a safe one. Just trees and drills."
"Like… military drills or dentist drills?"
She doesn't answer.
That should've been his first warning.
They start the sync.
Kazuki focuses.
A memory begins to form.
A forest. Pine trees. A campfire.
Then—Screaming.
Rain.
Sirens.
And a man in uniform yelling Hikari's name.
Kazuki gasps.
The air warps.
Something claws its way into the room.
A memory.
Too real.
Too sharp.
It wasn't his.
But his brain made it real.
Emergency Protocol Activated
Natsuki's voice blasts through speakers.
"All personnel evacuate Room Theta. Repeat: one idiot has manifested someone else's suppressed trauma."
Hikari's eyes are wide.
She's shaking.
Kazuki panics. "I-I didn't mean to—"
"It's not your fault," she says through gritted teeth. "You didn't know."
But she doesn't meet his eyes.
And that's worse.
Later – Infirmary
Kazuki sits on a cot.
Staring at his hands.
Aya bursts in five minutes later.
"TELL ME YOU DIDN'T SUMMON A GHOST DOG OR SOMETHING."
He doesn't speak.
So she softens.
"…Hey. What happened?"
He tells her everything.
She listens.
Then, softly:
"So your power's evolving."
He nods.
Aya crosses her arms.
"And now people are scared of you."
He doesn't respond.
She kneels beside him.
"And do you want to be scared of yourself?"
He finally speaks.
"No. I want to be better."
That Night – Outside the Dorms
Kazuki sits under the stars.
Trying not to think.
Because now it's not just his own thoughts.
It's others'.
And if he can manifest trauma—
What else?
Someone walks up behind him.
Not Aya.
Not Natsuki.
It's Hikari.
She sits beside him.
"You didn't do anything wrong," she says.
He opens his mouth to argue.
She stops him.
"I brought the memory too close. You just… turned up the volume."
Kazuki exhales.
"Still. I don't want to be a walking trigger."
"You're not."
Pause.
"…You're just a mirror that leaks."
Meanwhile – Administrative Office
A heated discussion.
A man in a suit slams a folder on the desk.
"A civilian is living in the dorms. Unauthorized."
He points at a photo of Aya.
"She's disrupting regulation. She's influencing him."
Natsuki doesn't blink.
"She's also the only reason he hasn't broken yet."
"She's not trained. She's not cleared."
"She's keeping him human."
The man frowns.
"Then what happens when he loses her?"
Natsuki is silent.
Because that—
Is a good question.
The Next Morning
Kazuki wakes up.
His bunk is empty.
Aya's bed is empty too.
No note.
No warning.
Just gone.
Then—A knock at the door.
An envelope is slipped inside.
He opens it.
"She's been removed from the facility. For your protection."
His hands shake.
"For my protection."
That's when the lights flicker.
Reality hums.
And the wall begins to ripple.
Kazuki doesn't notice.
He's already running.