The blue streaks in the sky did not fade.
Instead, they multiplied.
One after another, lines of light crossed the night above the forest like falling stars, except they moved with unnatural precision.
Not random.
Not celestial.
Engineered.
Aarav stood beneath the moonlit trees, staring upward.
"What exactly are those?"
Aelina's gaze remained fixed on the sky.
"Orbital signal satellites."
Her voice was calm, but he could hear the tension beneath it.
"They are scanning for awakened biosynthetic signatures."
Aarav's eyes shifted to her.
"You mean they're looking for you."
Aelina lowered her gaze.
"For us."
The word hit differently.
For us.
Not just her anymore.
Aarav let out a slow breath and glanced toward the distant city lights.
The world out there still looked normal.
Cars moving.
Buildings glowing.
People are probably returning home, scrolling through their phones, and worrying about exams, jobs, or family.
None of them had any idea that satellites from the future were now scanning the planet.
None of them knew that time itself had begun to move.
Aelina suddenly took a step forward.
Her eyes narrowed.
"The signal is stabilising."
Aarav frowned.
"What signal?"
Instead of answering immediately, she lifted her hand.
A translucent holographic interface flickered into existence above her palm.
Blue rings of light rotated around a central map.
The map zoomed outward.
India.
Asia.
Then it locked onto one location.
Tokyo.
A red pulse flashed over the city.
SECOND UNIT SIGNAL CONFIRMED
MIRA-700
STATUS: AWAKENED
Aarav stared at the glowing letters.
"Mira…"
Aelina nodded.
"She is from a later century than mine."
"How much later?"
Her voice lowered.
"Two hundred years."
Aarav let out a breath.
"So she's from the year 2726."
Aelina looked at him with a hint of approval.
"Yes."
He ran a hand through his hair.
He had barely processed one future girl.
Now there was another.
And apparently, this one was even more advanced.
Aelina's expression turned serious.
"If Mira has awakened, then the Hunters will prioritise retrieval."
Aarav looked at her.
"Then we need to reach her first."
For a moment, Aelina simply stared at him.
Then the faintest smile touched her lips.
"You are adapting quickly."
Aarav gave a dry laugh.
"I don't think I had much choice."
The holographic map suddenly pulsed again.
A stream of data appeared.
Coordinates.
Subway lines.
An underground structure.
A sealed chamber beneath Tokyo.
Aelina's expression changed.
"She's in a containment vault beneath Shinjuku."
Aarav blinked.
"You can tell all that from a signal?"
"She is transmitting a coded distress pattern."
Her voice softened.
"It's an emergency call."
Aarav looked at the red pulse on the map.
A girl from seven hundred years in the future.
Awake.
Alone.
Possibly already being hunted.
He made the decision instantly.
"We're going."
Aelina's eyes widened.
"To Tokyo?"
"Yes."
A strange silence followed.
Then Aelina asked quietly, "Why?"
Aarav looked at her as if the answer were obvious.
"Because no one should wake up alone in a world they don't know."
The words hung in the cold air.
For a moment, Aelina said nothing.
Then her glowing blue eyes softened in a way he had not seen before.
"There is something unusual about you, Aarav."
Before he could respond, a sharp vibration echoed from her holographic display.
The signal distorted.
A new feed appeared.
Static.
Then an image.
A dark underground chamber.
Blue emergency lights.
A shattered glass pod.
And standing in front of it—
a girl.
Long black hair.
Eyes glowing violet.
A sleek, dark bodysuit traced with flowing silver lines.
Unlike Aelina's soft and luminous appearance, this girl radiated something colder.
Sharper.
Dangerous.
6
Her expression was unreadable.
Then, suddenly, she looked directly toward the feed as if sensing them.
Aarav's breath caught.
Could she actually see them?
The girl spoke.
Her voice was colder than steel.
"If this transmission reaches Unit AELINA-500…"
"Do not come."
"They are already here."
The feed cut to static.
A second later—
gunfire.
An explosion of sparks.
Then darkness.
Aarav's chest tightened.
Aelina's face went pale.
"Mira…"
The sky above them flashed.
One of the blue satellites suddenly changed direction.
Its beam narrowed.
Focused.
Directly at their location.
Aarav's pulse spiked.
"Aelina…"
Her eyes widened.
"They found us again."
A deep mechanical hum echoed through the forest.
Aarav turned.
From beyond the trees, multiple red lights began moving toward them.
Hunter units.
More than before.
At least six.
Aelina grabbed his wrist.
"We need to move now."
Aarav looked once more at the fading signal on the hologram.
Tokyo.
Mira.
Danger.
The future was already spiralling.
And somehow, he was now at the centre of it.
He tightened his jaw.
"We survive tonight."
He looked at Aelina.
"Then we go to Tokyo."
For the first time, her expression carried something more than trust.
Something warmer.
A quiet certainty.
She nodded.
"Together."
Behind them, the red lights in the forest came closer.
The hunt had resumed.
And somewhere far away in Tokyo, another girl from the future was fighting alone.