The restricted archive was colder than the rest of the Guild.
Not magically—just quiet in a way that pressed against the ears.
Shelves stretched endlessly, packed with sealed tomes, crystal memory slabs, and scrolls bound in chains that hummed faintly when anyone passed too close. Every few steps, a ward pulsed, reacting to Kuro like a wary animal.
Lucien noticed. Of course he did.
"…So it's not just me, right? The books are side-eyeing him."
"They are," the Guildmaster said grimly. "And they shouldn't be."
Kuro folded his arms, trying not to look at the nearest shelf as it softly vibrated. "I'm sorry?"
"You didn't do this," Mika said immediately, hand brushing Kuro's sleeve—brief, grounding. "Whatever this is, it existed before you."
The Guildmaster stopped at a long stone table etched with sigils older than the Guild itself. With a sharp gesture, he dispelled the seals.
Several tomes refused to open.
One cracked—then shut itself again.
Lucien leaned over. "Wow. That's… rude."
[They're rejecting him.]Elvastia murmured.[Or pretending they don't recognize him.]
Kuro stiffened. "Elvastia says they're pretending."
The Guildmaster's jaw tightened. "That confirms it."
"Confirms what?" Lucien asked.
The Guildmaster reached for a single book—unmarked, its cover worn smooth by time. This one opened easily.
Too easily.
"This is a pre-Guild record," he said. "From before ranks. Before contracts. Before names were… stable."
He turned the book so they could see.
The pages were blank.
Lucien blinked. "…Is this a joke?"
"No," the Guildmaster said quietly. "It's a deletion."
Kuro felt cold bloom in his chest. "Deleted by who?"
The Guildmaster met his eyes. "By consensus."
Silence.
Mika's voice was low. "You don't erase something like that unless you're afraid of it."
The Guildmaster nodded. "Or unless you believe erasing it is mercy."
Kuro's hands trembled. "So there was… something. Something everyone agreed not to remember."
"Yes," the Guildmaster said. "A being that existed between classifications. Not a god. Not mortal. Not summonable. Not killable."
Lucien swallowed. "Let me guess. It broke something."
"It held something," the Guildmaster corrected. "A function of the world. When it fractured, reality didn't collapse—but it destabilized."
Kuro's breath caught. "A fragment."
The Guildmaster looked at him sharply. "You already know that word."
Kuro nodded slowly. "It keeps calling me incomplete."
[Because you are.]Elvastia said softly—not cruel, just factual.[But that doesn't mean you're empty.]
Mika stepped closer to Kuro, solid and real beside him. "Say it."
The Guildmaster exhaled.
"The fragment didn't vanish," he said. "It reincarnated."
The word landed like a dropped blade.
Lucien stared. "…Reincarnated. As in—"
"As in born," the Guildmaster said. "With no memory. No awareness. And—" he hesitated, "—no safeguards."
Kuro's vision blurred. "You're saying… me?"
The Guildmaster didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Mika's hand closed around Kuro's, firm and anchoring. "That thing outside," Mika said, voice shaking with controlled fury. "It's not him."
"No," the Guildmaster agreed. "It's what was left behind."
Something inside Kuro cracked—not shattering, but opening.
"So it's hunting me," he whispered. "Because I'm the part that got away."
[No.]Elvastia said.[It's hunting you because you grew.]
The lights in the archive flickered.
Far above them, something vast shifted.
The Guildmaster closed the book with finality. "You weren't erased," he said. "You were hidden."
Kuro looked down at his hands—his very human, shaking hands.
"…Then what happens when it finds me?"
Mika didn't hesitate.
"Then it finds us," he said.
And outside the Guild—
The sky darkened, slowly, deliberately—
As if something had finally learned where to look.