Morning came quietly.
Too quietly.
Room A-0174 slowly returned to life.
Saito was still asleep, somehow managing to occupy half of his bed despite being only one person.
Yume was already awake.
Haruka wasn't.
At least—
Not physically.
His eyes were closed, but his mind was already running.
Information.
Patterns.
People.
The academy.
The government.
Alastor.
Sakura.
And that strange future he had seen through Chrono Split.
Haruka finally opened his eyes.
He stared at the ceiling.
"...I'm tired."
No dramatic meaning.
No hidden philosophy.
He genuinely meant it.
Saito suddenly moved in his sleep.
"Five more minutes..."
Haruka glanced at him.
"You've been saying that for thirty-seven minutes."
Saito opened one eye.
"...How the hell do you know?"
"A bunch. "
"...You're weird."
"Good morning to you too."
Yume quietly laughed from the other side of the room.
For a few seconds—
It felt normal.
Almost painfully normal.
Haruka sat up.
And for once, he didn't immediately think about Alastor.
He just got ready.
The academy grounds were already loud.
J-Class students filled the halls.
Some were heading toward training.
Some were arguing about yesterday's exercises.
Some were talking about rankings.
Others were simply trying to survive another school day.
Haruka walked through the crowd.
He didn't look suspicious.
Didn't act suspicious.
Didn't even think he was doing anything suspicious.
But he was listening.
Always listening.
"Apparently the eastern field is closed again."
"Why?"
"No idea."
"I heard someone got transferred."
"Transferred where?"
"...Government facility, maybe."
Haruka's eyes shifted slightly.
He kept walking.
Another conversation.
"Did you hear about the crate?"
Haruka slowed for half a second.
It sounds weirdly familiar.
"The what?"
"That huge crate they brought in yesterday."
"Where?"
"Near the old storage hall."
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
A pause.
"But there were guards around it."
Haruka continued walking.
He didn't turn around.
He didn't ask anything else.
But he remembered it.
Crate.
Storage hall.
Guards.
Interesting.
He made a mental note.
Then kept walking.
Information
By lunchtime, Haruka had already spoken to six different students.
None of them knew they were helping Alastor.
That was the point.
He didn't ask:
"What are you hiding?"
He asked:
"How's your class?"
"Who's your instructor?"
"Why's that hallway closed?"
"Do you know where the old records are kept?"
Normal questions.
Casual questions.
Questions people answered without thinking twice.
One student mentioned that teachers occasionally received sealed orders.
Another said that some students were suddenly reassigned without explanation.
Another mentioned that the academy had storage areas students weren't allowed near.
And one student—
A nervous-looking boy from another J-Class group—
mentioned the crate.
"It came in yesterday."
Haruka leaned against the wall.
"What crate?"
"The big one near the old hall."
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
"You saw it?"
"Yeah."
"Anything unusual?"
The boy hesitated.
"...There were scratches on the outside."
Haruka's expression remained neutral.
"From what?"
"No idea."
The boy shrugged.
"Probably nothing."
Haruka smiled.
"Probably."
The boy walked away.
Haruka watched him disappear into the crowd.
Then his smile faded.
Probably nothing.
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
Later that afternoon—
The J-Class corridor was unusually quiet.
Students were still in training.
Most of the hall was empty.
A student walked alone.
Their footsteps echoed against the floor.
Step.
Step.
Step.
They looked around.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
They continued.
Then—
A shadow crossed the wall.
The student stopped.
"...Who's there?"
Silence.
A slow whisper, "Har... -"
The whisper ended in the middle before finishing whatever it wanted to say.
A figure emerged from the darkness behind them.
No uniform.
No visible badge.
No recognizable face.
The student barely had time to turn.
A flash.
A struggle.
Then silence.
The student collapsed.
His head beside his body
His limbs broken.
Blood flowing like water...
The mysterious figure stood over them for several seconds.
No words.
No hesitation.
Then they simply walked away.
The corridor returned to silence.
Minutes later—
Another student found them.
The scream that followed echoed through the entire J-Class building.
Rumors spread.
By the time Haruka heard about it—
Everyone was talking.
"Someone was killed."
"Inside the academy?"
"Yeah."
"Who did it?"
"No idea."
"Was it a villain?"
"They said there wasn't even a fight."
"Then who—?"
Haruka stood among the crowd.
Silent.
Listening.
Yume stood beside him.
Saito was on his other side.
Saito whispered:
"This place is getting worse."
Haruka didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the corridor.
Something about the timing bothered him.
Not the death itself.
The location.
The silence.
The fact that someone had managed to enter the hall, kill a student, and leave without being identified.
That wasn't random.
Or—
Maybe it was.
Haruka didn't know.
And that bothered him more.
(dear readers... Shifting to next scene... I'm bad at scene shifting. Sorry for the inconvenience eueheuheueheueheu💢💢💢💢)
Evening arrived.
Haruka walked back toward Room A-0174 alone.
The academy was quieter now.
His footsteps echoed.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Then—
Another sound.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Haruka stopped.
The second footsteps stopped too.
He slowly looked behind him.
Nothing.
An empty hallway.
A flickering light.
A few closed doors.
Nothing else.
Haruka stared for a moment.
Then shrugged.
"...Probably someone's walking somewhere else."
He continued.
Step.
Step.
Step.
A few seconds later—
Again.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Two sets.
Haruka stopped.
Silence.
He looked back.
Nothing.
His expression remained blank... Or he was trying to keep it blank
Because deep down he knew he was scared...
He turned around again.
"...strange."
He kept walking.
The footsteps followed.
But this time—
Only one set reached the end of the hallway.
Haruka entered the washroom after he had reached the end of the hallway.
Locked the door.
Silence.
He stood in front of the mirror.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
The reflection stared back.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same person.
But somehow—
He didn't recognize himself anymore.
Haruka placed both hands against the sink.
His breathing became uneven.
"...I don't want this."
The words were barely audible.
He lowered his head.
"I don't want to lead anyone."
Silence.
"I don't want to calculate everything."
His voice cracked.
"I don't want to keep thinking about governments, villains, powers, timelines..."
He swallowed.
"I just..."
His eyes became wet.
"...want to live."
A tear fell.
Haruka quickly wiped it away.
"I want to be normal."
Another tear.
"I want to laugh."
His shoulders trembled.
"I want to waste time."
He looked at himself through the mirror.
"I want to be stupid sometimes."
"I want to have fun without wondering who's going to die tomorrow."
He covered his face.
"I already had that life."
His voice became quieter.
"...Why couldn't I just keep it?"
The room remained silent.
No answer.
No miracle.
No timeline correction.
Just Haruka.
A kid who had somehow become responsible for things far bigger than himself.
He stared at the mirror again.
And for the first time—
He didn't look like a prodigy.
He looked tired.
Completely exhausted.
Then—
His hand moved toward his face.
He began to scratch his face... He can't take it anymore. It was pissing him of...
He was crying... So he began to scratch his eyes. Suddenly he felt blood.
His eyelids, now on his hands.
It was bleeding... His eyes... They were bleeding.
He couldn't blind... His eyes were burning.
He almost screamed but he slipped and fell.
Immediately he used wrath's artwork without knowing what he did.
His eyelids healed... Or more like those cells restored back to the moment where his eyelids were fine.
He washes off the blood from his face and his hand
The washroom was quiet again.
Haruka eventually stood upright.
His breathing slowly stabilized.
Whatever had happened inside that room—
He wasn't going to let anyone see it.
Not Saito.
Not Yume.
Nobody.
He looked at himself one last time.
"...Back to work."
He unlocked the door.
And walked out.
He entered Room A-0174.
Saito was sitting on his bed.
"You disappeared."
Haruka walked past him.
"I was in the washroom."
"For that long?"
"Thinking. And probably taking a shit."
Small chuckle among everyone
Yume paused and looked at him.
She noticed something.
Not what happened.
Just—
Something.
"You okay?"
Haruka stopped.
For half a second, his usual expression almost disappeared.
Then—
A smile.
Small.
Natural.
"Yeah."
Yume studied him.
Haruka sat down.
Saito tossed him a pillow.
"You're acting suspicious."
Haruka caught it.
"I'm always suspicious."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know."
Yume smiled faintly.
The three of them sat together.
No plans.
No strategy.
No Alastor.
Just silence.
Haruka looked at them.
And something inside him softened.
These two—
He didn't want to use them.
He didn't want to manipulate them.
He didn't want to turn them into pieces on a board.
They were his friends.
Maybe that was the one thing he could still protect alongside Sakura, Kenjiro, Jack, Marie, Marcus, Aurel, Nayoki, and Fuyuki.
Then—
A sound came from outside.
Step.
Step.
Haruka's eyes moved toward the door.
Nothing.
Another second passed.
Silence.
Saito frowned.
"Did you hear that?"
Yume looked over.
"Hear what?"
"Footsteps."
Haruka stared at the door.
"...Probably someone passing by."
He didn't get up.
Didn't investigate.
Didn't use Chrono Split.
He ain't a dumbass. He can't see through the door by using Chrono Split of course.
Didn't think about it any further.
But outside Room A-0174—
A shadow slowly disappeared around the corner.
And somewhere else inside the J-Class venue—
The mysterious crate remained untouched.
For now.
Its destination unknown.
Its contents unknown.
And most importantly—
Nobody knew why it had been brought there.
Haruka looked out the window.
The sunset reflected against the academy walls.
For a moment—
Everything looked peaceful.
Almost beautiful.
Then his right eye twitched.
A faint blue glow appeared.
Gone.
Haruka blinked.
"...Not again."
He looked away.
Tomorrow would come.
And whatever was inside that crate—
Whatever had killed that student—
Whatever had been following him—
Was already moving.
Haruka simply didn't know it yet.