"It's so hot..."
"Oh, come on, Kojou—it's barely morning. How is it hot?"
"But it really is hot..."
"Stop talking nonsense. Hasn't Itogami Island always been like this? You've lived here for years. If you still haven't gotten used to it, that's on you. Look to yourself."
"Nagisa, how can you say that?"
"If you can't handle it, Kojou, you can just go wait at home."
"No way!"
They'd barely been outside when Akatsuki Kojou started wilting in the heat—even though it was autumn. His sister, Akatsuki Nagisa, gave him zero face and roasted him without hesitation. That, if anything, just showed how close they were; only family that close talk to each other with that little filter.
Kojou was long used to his sister speaking to him like that. He hated the heat, but going back wasn't an option. Who knew what might happen if he left—things he was worried about? He was on high alert about Shichen; ever since Shichen came back these past two days, Nagisa had been bringing him up nonstop.
"Kojou, you're such a siscon," Motoki Yaze muttered.
"Mind your own business!" Kojou shot back.
"Heh—didn't expect your dynamic to still be this good after I've been away so long," Shichen teased.
"They're the ones who are close. I'm not like those two, always being idiots," Aiba Asagi said, unimpressed.
"Who's an idiot?!"
"Yeah!"
"...You two morons, can you tone it down? People are staring."
"Uh..."
"Heh, Asagi, you really don't pull punches. Anyway, do you guys have a plan for today?" Shichen asked.
"Not really... we just wanted to hang out with you, Shichen-sensei."
"What? No plan?" Kojou was surprised.
Yaze sighed and shook his head.
"What's your problem? Can't we just wander?" Asagi glared at the two boys, then glanced at Shichen a bit sheepishly.
"Wandering's fine, but let's at least sketch a plan," Shichen smiled.
"Um... do you have any suggestions, Sensei?" Asagi asked softly.
"Me? I've been gone so long I'm not sure what's fun anymore."
"I have one!" Nagisa raised her hand. "It's not that early anymore—how about we check out the new bookstore and then grab lunch?"
"Bookstore?"
"Mm-hm! It's near MAR. There are lots of new magazines on fashion and food I want to browse."
"Sounds good," Shichen nodded.
"Great! Let's go!" Nagisa took the lead without a second thought, and the others followed.
"Oh, right—I saw on TV this morning there was an explosion near MAR yesterday. Is everything okay?" Asagi said.
"I heard that too!" Nagisa spun back immediately—she'd been itching to bring it up. "They said the road caved in. Pretty serious."
"Then is it okay for us to head that way now?" Kojou asked, worried.
"What are you afraid of, Kojou?"
"I'm not afraid!"
"That's what you get for skipping the morning news. The surrounding area is fine."
"If you say so..."
The massive explosion by MAR's affiliated hospital couldn't really be covered up; it was exposed immediately. The overpass near the blast center had vanished without a trace, and the road had collapsed into a huge pit.
"The news says it was a contractor's mistake—cracked underground piping let gas build up, and a stray spark from a short set it off," Asagi said, fiddling with her phone.
"Really? I thought it was a meteor," Nagisa said.
"'A meteor?'" said Shichen—the very culprit—smiling at her.
"Yeah. I heard they found wreckage of an unidentified flying object at the blast site and even recovered alien bodies, but the Island Management Corporation covered it up... Oh, Mom told me that," Nagisa said earnestly.
Nagisa and Kojou's mother, Akatsuki Mimori, was MAR's chief research officer. She was also an over-adapter in the medical division and a licensed physician.
When Nagisa had health issues before, her attending doctor had been Mimori herself. Mimori had obviously made something up to tease her daughter; there was no way she'd tell her the truth. And no one knew their mom better than Kojou.
"Don't believe whatever nonsense Mom says. Even online, people hardly spread anything that dumb anymore."
"Huh? So it was fake?" Nagisa froze, then flushed, unable to meet Shichen's eyes—she'd totally bought it.
"W-well, I did think it sounded weird, but Mom made it sound so believable..."
"Heh—Nagisa really trusts her mom," Shichen said, giving her an out.
"Mm..." Nagisa nodded, cheeks rosy.
"Who knows, maybe there really are aliens."
"Really?"
"Don't listen to him, Nagisa. Aliens? Come on—it's all fake."
"...You're such an idiot, Kojou." Nagisa stared at him deadpan.
"Eh? Why?"
Yaze patted his bro on the shoulder in silent sympathy, while Asagi gave Nagisa a calm sideways glance.
They soon reached the new bookstore Nagisa had mentioned, not far from yesterday's accident site.
"It really is a giant crater. Are we sure this wasn't a meteor?"
"Pretty sure it was a gas explosion."
"Don't overthink it. The shops around here are open like normal. Let's go check out those magazines Nagisa mentioned—I could brush up on cooking and fashion myself."
"You're into cooking too, Sensei?"
"Of course. I'm the one who cooks at home."
"Shichen-sensei cooking? I'd love to try it..." Asagi said, eyes bright.
"No problem—when there's a chance."
"Mm-hm!"
"Tch—no idea why, but the moment I got here my ribs started hurting," Kojou muttered as they stepped into the bookstore, pressing a hand to his chest with a frown.
"Your ribs?" Yaze's eyes flickered.
"Yeah. No clue why..."
"Want to grab a seat and rest?" Shichen offered.
He was actually in a similar state—only it wasn't pain. Someone inside him was getting restless. There were two "people" inside him now: Yatogami Tenka, who stubbornly refused to come out, and the No. 5 base body he'd absorbed just yesterday.
He also knew why Kojou's ribs hurt and why No. 5 was stirring: over at MAR's affiliated hospital were the owner of "Rib"—and No. 5's companion. Easy. You'll be meeting soon enough, he soothed the No. 5 within.
"Yeah, I'll sit for a bit," Kojou said, hunching over as he found a seat. Nagisa and Asagi didn't think much of it and headed for the magazine section together.
"Give me a minute—I'm going to grab some drinks," Shichen said, slipping out of the bookstore alone. As he walked, he masked his presence—and then vanished outright.
When he reappeared, he was already inside MAR's affiliated hospital, moving along a corridor while homing in on a presence with the same signature as the one inside him. The security cameras couldn't see him. The path was long, the corridors a maze, but he moved unhindered for a while until he reached what he figured was the destination.
Darkness pooled around him, veiled in white mist—cold so sharp it stung the skin. Frost sheeted the floors and walls, thick rime crept from metal seams, ice crystals blooming like petals and seeding the air with chill. Shichen raised a barrier around himself, then called golden flame to his hand and scorched the ice-choked blast door. He had no intention of hiding what he was doing.
"Wooo—!" The siren screamed before the door even opened. Shichen listened calmly. Moments later, the gate gave way beneath the sacred flame, sagging, melting, collapsing.
He stepped into the last sub-basement, a warehouse of ice where cold overran the dark. The chamber was bare, its metal bones exposed; countless pipes and insulated cables coiled along walls and floor, a chaotic space like the inside of some living thing.
It was state-of-the-art—and sealed off into an airtight quarantine no legitimate researcher would ever set foot in. The forbidding stillness felt like a sanctum for a noble corpse—or a cage meant to seal a vicious demon.
At the center, on a metal plinth, sat a transparent block of ice, over six meters across, cut into a complex, unmistakably artificial polyhedron.
Suspended at its heart, curled with her knees hugged to her chest, slept a petite silhouette—a girl so beautiful she looked fey. Her long hair floated in the ice, pale-gold tresses shifting in color like a rainbow as his angle changed. That ominously beautiful fairy slept on within her frozen coffin, like a princess cursed by a witch—Avrora Florestina, the No. 12 base body.
Shichen summoned No. 5. She stood quietly at his side, gazing in silence at her kin in the ice.
"Time to wake up." Shichen tossed a clot of sacred flame onto the coffin.
In an instant, the ice began to melt.