## 2:00 p.m.
Time had turned viscous.
Aya refreshed the monitoring dashboard. Again. Forums, Twitter, news aggregators, Reddit clones—she'd cycled through them so many times the URLs were burned into her vision. Still nothing.
She attempted actual work. Opened an email about distribution rights. Read the same sentence four times without processing a single word. Clicked over to the dashboard.
Nothing.
At 2:47, she abandoned the pretense and went to find Yuuki.
"Anything?"
His eyes stayed locked on his screens. "Twelve hours since the breach. If they wanted immediate chaos, we'd be drowning already."
"So what does that mean?"
"Either they're not going to use it—" He finally turned to look at her. "—or they're waiting."
"For what?"
"Late afternoon, probably. Four, five o'clock. People checking phones on their commute home, evening news cycles spinning up. Maximum carnage."
Something cold settled in Aya's chest. "That's disturbingly specific."
"Used to consult on security. You learn how these people think." He shrugged, but his jaw was tight. "Could be nothing. Could be we're all paranoid for no reason."
"I'd rather be paranoid."
Aya pulled out her phone. Mrs. Takumi's number glowed on the screen. Her thumb hovered.
*What do I even say? 'We've been breached but nothing's happened yet, just wanted to ruin your day preemptively?'*
She pocketed the phone.
When—if—it leaked, she'd call. Not before.
---
## 4:27 p.m.
Yuuki's screen erupted in red.
"Aya." His voice cracked high. "It's live."
She was across the room before her brain caught up.
The posts were simple. Simultaneous. Devastating.
**[EXCLUSIVE] Avatar: The Last Airbender Author Identity Revealed**
**Real Name:** Ken Takumi
**Age:** 17
**School:** U.A. High School, First Year
Below: scanned contracts. Profile documents. Photos from the signing meeting.
Everything.
"How long?"
"Thirty seconds. Maybe."
The comments were already piling up.
*"Another fake. People have been trying to unmask K.T.R.T for months."*
*"Check the signatures tho. These look real??"*
*"U.A. student? Impossible. Those kids don't have time to breathe."*
*"He's SEVENTEEN?"*
*"Holy shit someone just doxxed a minor"*
*"But is it TRUE? Did a U.A. kid really write Avatar?"*
The numbers climbed like a fever. Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands.
4:29: Trending on HeroX.
4:31: News sites picking it up.
"Get legal," Aya heard herself say. Her voice sounded distant, underwater. "And marketing. And the CEO. Everyone needs to know."
She dialed Mrs. Takumi with hands that wouldn't quite steady.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
*Please—*
**[HI! THIS IS AKIRA TAKUMI. LEAVE A MESSAGE!]**
"Dammit!" She jabbed redial. Same result.
Around her, the office had detonated into controlled chaos. Phones screaming, voices overlapping, monitors blazing with the unstoppable spread.
"Aya!" Watanabe waved frantically. "We need to release the statement."
"Version three." The words felt like stones in her mouth. "Full acknowledgment."
"Five minutes."
But they both knew. The information was out. The secret was ash.
And somewhere, a seventeen-year-old kid was about to walk into the wreckage of his life.
---
## 4:45 p.m. - Shibuya
The university student nearly fumbled her phone into her latte. "Oh my god. The Avatar author is younger than me?"
Her friend laughed without looking up. "Sure he is."
"No, look—" She turned her screen.
The laughter died. Her friend started scrolling. News outlets. Verification threads. Screenshots multiplying like cells.
"...Oh my god. It's everywhere."
Around the café, screens lit up in cascade. Tablets, phones, laptops—the same headline refracting through a dozen languages and formats.
The barista muted the music and turned on the wall TV.
**Breaking News: Identity of Hit Novel Author "K.T.R.T." Allegedly Revealed**
The newsreader's voice stayed professional, but something sharper cut underneath.
"—hours after U.A. High School was attacked by the villain organization calling themselves the League of Villains, the hero school is back in headlines. Leaked documents appear to show contract information for the bestselling author behind Avatar: The Last Airbender. The individual identified is reportedly seventeen years old and currently enrolled at U.A.—"
"U.A.?" Someone in the back. "How? Those kids barely sleep."
"Maybe his Quirk helps? Like an analysis type?"
"Doesn't matter what his Quirk is." The first girl was still scrolling, face pale. "If this is real, this kid's life just ended."
The café's energy had shifted—casual afternoon buzz sharpening into electric curiosity. Everyone checking phones now.
"Wait, is this the book Midnight recommended?"
"My brother reads it. He's going to lose his mind."
"Seventeen. Jesus. When I was seventeen I could barely finish my homework."
On TV, scanned contracts with highlighted sections—names, dates, signatures. Hard to fake.
"Everblue Publishing has confirmed a security breach occurred this morning, though they have not directly confirmed the author's identity. Law enforcement has been contacted—"
"So it's real." The girl's voice barely a whisper. "It's actually real."
---
## 4:52 p.m. - Train to Musutafu
The salaryman's phone buzzed. Then again. Then continuously.
He pulled it out to find the internet on fire.
**HeroX Trending:**
#AvatarAuthor – 847K posts
#KenTakumi – 623K posts
#UAStudent – 891K posts
He clicked a thread at random:
*"I'm not saying I don't believe it but a 17yo wrote one of the most philosophically complex narratives of the decade??? While at the most intense hero school in Japan??? Literally impossible."*
*Reply: "The contracts are RIGHT THERE. Signatures. Bank transfers. Unless this is history's most elaborate hoax, it's real."*
*Reply: "His Quirk has to be analysis-based. No normal kid writes like that."*
*Reply: "Or maybe he's just talented? Not everything needs to be Quirk-related."*
*Reply: "Nobody our age writes existential philosophy unless they've got help. That's reality."*
The salaryman looked up. Three high schoolers across the aisle, huddled over a single screen, gasping. Two rows down, an elderly man showing his companion something, both shaking their heads.
"Next stop, Musutafu Station."
Half the car pulled out phones simultaneously.
---
## ELSEWHERE - Family Group Chat
**Daughter:** HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE NEWS?
**Mom:** What news sweetie?
**Daughter:** About that Avatar book??
**Dad:** What book?
**Son:** Dad. Seriously?
**Daughter:** Typical
**Mom:** Watch it. What's happening?
**Daughter:** MOM THE AUTHOR IS MY AGE
---
## 5:15 p.m. - Everblue Office
The office had achieved a kind of organized apocalypse.
Every phone line occupied. Lobby locked down after three reporters tried to force entry. The website had collapsed under traffic so heavy even the error page crashed.
Aya stood in the eye of it, headset crooked, two phones buzzing unheeded.
Her inbox was an avalanche: journalists, advertisers, legal teams, foreign distributors all screaming for confirmation. She ignored them, phone pressed to her ear, trying Mrs. Takumi again.
Voicemail. Still.
"Dammit." She ended the call.
Yuuki appeared with his tablet. "You need to see this."
**Social Media Monitoring:**
Mentions "Ken Takumi": 2.1 million (last hour)
Mentions "Avatar Author": 3.4 million
#UAStudent: Trending #1 Japan, #3 Worldwide
"It's accelerating. International now—English, Korean, Chinese—"
"The family," Aya cut in. "Have we reached them?"
"No answer on any line."
Aya pressed fingers to her temples. "They're going to find him before we can warn him."
Somewhere out there, Ken had no idea his life had just detonated.
Yuuki spoke quietly. "Cyber-Crimes says the files are on seven mirrored sites. Can't delete fast enough. Every takedown spawns ten reuploads."
"Then we control the narrative." Aya's voice felt far away. "Keep trying every five minutes. I don't care if it's excessive."
"Aya." Watanabe appeared, harried. "Legal wants to know about pressing charges."
"Against who? We don't know who did this."
"Against anyone sharing the stolen documents. Redistributing illegally obtained private information is technically—"
"So we sue the entire internet?" Her laugh tasted bitter. "That'll go well."
"I'm just telling you what they said."
"Tell them to find who breached us first. Then we'll talk charges."
Watanabe vanished back into the chaos.
Hana emerged from the conference room, expression grim. "CEO wants a full incident report by morning. Timeline, everyone involved, what failed, how we're fixing it."
"Of course he does." Aya rubbed her face. "Anything useful from the meeting?"
"They're bringing in an outside security firm. Internal IT isn't trusted anymore."
"That's not fair. They've been working nonstop—"
"I know. Just telling you what's happening." Hana's voice softened. "You should go home. There's nothing more you can do tonight."
"Not until I reach them."
"Let me keep trying. You've been here since two a.m. You're running on fumes."
Aya wanted to argue. But Hana was right—exhaustion was making her useless. Tomorrow's media circus would require coherence.
"Fine. But call me the second—the *second*—you reach them."
"Deal."
Aya gathered her things on autopilot, mind already racing to tomorrow's disasters. Legal battles. PR nightmares. Potential lawsuits.
Long day.
"...Hello..."
Her thoughts stopped. The call had connected.
"Mrs. Takumi—"
"Miss Hoshino." Ice. Pure ice. "Please explain why my son is all over the news without my permission."
"..."
This was going to be an even longer night.
---
## ELSEWHERE
Taneo Tokuda stared at his laptop.
**[EXCLUSIVE] Avatar: The Last Airbender Author Identity Revealed**
His breath stopped.
No.
He refreshed. Again. Still there—every document, every photo, every scrap of data he'd spent weeks gathering.
All of it. Dumped on the internet like trash.
"No. No no no..."
The contract scans. Everblue memos. Confidential ID forms—everything locked on his encrypted drive.
The scoop of the year.
Gone.
He slammed the desk hard enough to rattle his coffee. Watched the news metastasize across the internet.
His strategy—leak through a private account, let it simmer, then "break" it through legitimate channels—worthless now. Someone had beaten him by hours.
He checked the metadata. Anonymous user. VPN. No trail.
Professional.
"Son of a bitch." He closed the laptop with controlled violence. "Someone just handed the biggest story of the year away for free."
His phone buzzed.
**Editor:** *Did you see the Avatar leak? Massive. Can you get us an exclusive with the kid?*
He stared at it. Then at the manila envelope on his desk—the files he'd guarded like gold.
Useless.
He sank into his chair. "Weeks. Weeks of work. And some hacker just—"
He stopped.
A hacker.
Professional timing. Simultaneous uploads. Clean exit.
Not a reporter. Not a leaker. A professional.
Someone who wanted this public immediately—not for profit, not for credit. For impact.
Chaos. Revenge. Maybe justice.
Taneo reopened his laptop, instincts roaring back.
If he couldn't break the story, maybe he could solve it. Track down whoever outplayed everyone—Everblue, the press, him.
He opened a new document:
**"The Ghost Who Exposed a Prodigy: Inside the Everblue Leak"**
If he couldn't profit from the secret, he'd profit from the aftermath.
Whoever did this—whoever thought they could stay invisible—was about to become his story.
___
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