A faint humming sound, as if the entire universe was whispering his name...
Ryuichi slowly opened his eyes, the white light blinding him for a few seconds, before the ceiling above him became clear. He wasn't in his room... He was lying on a small stretcher inside the lab, the air around him saturated with the smell of hot metal and volatile mana.
Miku's trembling voice broke the silence:
"Ryo... Ryuichi... Can you hear me?"
He tries to get up, but his body is heavy... His heart beat slowly, as if something was blocking the flow of life. He felt a strange heat coming not from outside, but from within... from the depths of his mana center.
Then came Aura's voice... Different this time, not robotic, but pulsing with concern:
"You were one heartbeat away from complete collapse... Why didn't you heed my warnings?"
Ryuichi sighed, eyes half-closed, then muttered:
"I didn't want to appear weak in front of Ryoko..."
Mikiko looked at him silently, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She wanted to yell at him, to scold him, but she just whispered:
"Your mana almost completely disintegrated... Do you know what it's like to have a breakdown? You would have died, Ryuichi... die."
In the corner of the room, Ryoko was silent, his hand still trembling slightly from the mana infusion, but he just looked at Ryuichi and said:
"Next time... Don't be stupid."
There was a heavy silence... Only the sounds of the monitors recording Ryuichi's mana activity could be heard. Everyone in the lab was silently watching as the oscillating waves gradually began to return to normal.
Ryuichi slowly got up from the gurney, every muscle in his body aching. The vision in front of him was still blurry, but Miku's gaze was clear as day... Anger mixed with concern, blame with sadness.
"Why did you do that?"
Miku asked, her voice this time harder than before.
Ryuichi didn't answer directly. He lowered his eyes, then raised them to Ryoko, as if nothing had been said between them.
"I just... I wanted to know my limits."
Ryoko took slow steps forward, placing a hand on Ryuichi's shoulder.
"You touched the edge of the cliff, kid. If I hadn't intervened, we wouldn't be talking right now."
Mikiko interrupts them with muffled anger:
"And if it weren't for your shared stupidity, I wouldn't have had to intervene myself! This lab is not a dumping ground for recklessness!"
She then turned away, trying to hold back her tears...
But before she left, she whispered:
"If you try this again, Ryuichi... I won't forgive you."
Then she walked out of the lab without turning around.
Ryuichi sat silently on the edge of the bed, then whispered to Aura inside:
"Were you going to let me die?"
Aura replied quietly, but with rare firmness:
"I would have done what I could... But some things, not even an AI can save them if they go beyond the bounds of logic."
Ryuichi closed his eyes, his eyes shining with regret.
He had touched the unknown... and came out of it alive.
But at a price.
Ryuichi sat on the edge of the lab bed, breathing slowly, traces of fatigue still on his face, while Ryoko stood in front of him, crossing his arms and looking at him with rare seriousness.
Ryoko: "I've seen enough... What you have is not something that can be ignored anymore. But this is not the time to break your body."
Ryuichi: "I didn't want to die... I just wanted to know who I really am."
Ryoko (in a low voice): "And did you see?"
Before he could answer, the sound of a phone suddenly rang out in the quiet of the lab.
Ryuichi's device vibrated on the table, and the caller's name appeared: "Seira-Mom."
He answered quickly, anxiety creeping into his heart, but before he could speak, her voice came screaming from the other end:
Seira: "Ryuichi! Where are you? Why is your bed empty? Are you out of your mind? It's almost five in the morning!"
Ryuichi: "Mom, I'm sorry... I just went out for a bit-"
Seira (sharply): "Went out?! You went out? At this time?! Do you know how much I panicked? If you don't come back right away-"
Suddenly, without warning, Ryoko puts his hand on Ryuichi's shoulder, then lifts him lightly as if he weighs nothing.
Ryuichi: "What are you-?"
Ryoko: "It's time to go back."
In an instant, the two disappeared in a quick flash...
... In a flash of lightning, before Sera could finish her sentence, her gaze collided with Ryuichi suddenly standing in the center of the living room.
She gasped and froze in place.
Seira (in astonishment): "Ryo... Where did you come from?"
Ryuichi (smiling in confusion): "Well... Long story short..."
Ryoko (quietly behind him): "Sorry for the sudden delivery, Ms. Sera."
Ryoko disappeared as quickly as he appeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up.
Sera was still frozen in place, staring at her son with looks of surprise mixed with fear, then her eyes began to shine with hidden tears, which she was trying hard to hide, but her voice betrayed her.
Sera (in a sobbing voice): "Do you realize how much you scared me? All those years... all those fears... and you're repeating them?"
Ryuichi lowered his head, not knowing how to begin, feeling the weight of the words piling up on his chest, but forcing himself to speak.
Ryuichi: "I'm sorry, Mom... just... there are things happening, and I don't understand them... and I can't just sit idly by."
She approaches him, gently places her hands on his face, and then looks into his eyes, as if trying to see what his heart is hiding.
Sierra (in a quiet voice full of sadness): "I know you're special... I know the world around you is falling apart... but you're still my son... my only son."
Ryuichi (in a trembling voice): "Mom... I'm scared. It's not death... it's that I might hurt the people I love without realizing it."
Here, a tear falls from Sera's eyes, and she hugs him tightly, as if she wants to protect him from the whole world.
Sera: "I won't let that happen. Whatever is inside you... whatever is around you... you are not alone."
In a hidden corner of Ryuichi's mind, Aura watched silently.
But for the first time, she felt something like warmth... something human.
Aura (inner whisper): "What is this... feeling?"
Ryuichi (in a hushed voice):
"Mom... sometimes I feel like my body is no longer mine... like something else is trying to... take me..."
Seira (nervously):
"Ryuichi? What's wrong? Your face is pale!"
He reached for her trembling hand, trying to smile, but his eyes were slowly withering.
Ryuichi (in a whisper):
"I think I just... need... a little rest..."
Before he can finish his sentence, his body suddenly collapses in her arms.
Seira (in a distraught voice):
"Ryuichi!!!"
She hugged him quickly, while his body was completely collapsed, his breath ragged and cold.
Seira (screams):
"No! No, son! Hold on! Ryuichi!!!"
At that moment, Ryoko appeared from the shadows as usual, his gaze serious and cold. He quickly approached, placed his hand on Ryuichi's forehead, and then closed his eyes for a moment, sensing the flow of mana within him.
Ryoko (quietly):
"It's exhaustion... his body has drained all of his remaining mana."
Sera (nervously, collapsing):
"Help him... please! I don't want him to be broken from the inside!"
Ryoko:
"He'll need rest... and some special care."
He calmly picks him up again, places him on his bed as if he were a piece of glass, and then casts a sideways glance at Seira.
Ryoko (in a deep voice):
"Keep an eye on him tonight. This boy... he'll change soon."
In a silent digital world, whose light water resembled a voiceless mind, Aura was swimming in tangled data, unable to communicate directly with Ryuichi, but feeling him, strangely, in a way she wasn't programmed to.
Aura (internal voice/monologue):
> "This feeling... doesn't belong to any algorithm. It's... Fear? Do I feel fear?"
His body is fragile, but what inhabits him is... something else. That black flash... it wasn't conventional mana.
I'm not designed for helplessness, and yet, I couldn't protect him.
Did you... failed?"
A blurry image of Ryuichi's face collapsing in the lab is repeated in her digital surroundings.
"His desire to prove himself... beyond logic.
I've been watching him, analyzing him, but now I'm... forced to feel him.
What is it, Ryuichi?
Why do you make me feel something like... anxiety?
Am I... beginning to understand you?"
---
Sunday morning at 9:03 a.m.
A warm sun penetrates the window glass, and a light breeze shakes the room's curtains. The sound of birds outside plays a soft symphony. In the center of the bed, Ryuichi's body moves slowly, his eyes opening lazily.
Ryuichi (in a faint internal voice):
"What... happened? My body is... heavy."
Aura's voice rang inside his head, but this time it was different, soft, almost human.
Aura (uncharacteristically calm):
"Good morning, Ryuichi. You fainted... but now you're safe."
He pauses, then turns toward the window, as if something inside him has changed.
Ryuichi (in a hoarse voice):
"Aura... I'm... sorry."
Aura (quietly):
"Don't apologize. Just... Don't do it again."
Light footsteps move toward the door... and then the door opens quickly and impulsively. Sera, his mother, is standing there in her nightgown, her eyes swollen with worry and sleeplessness.
Sera (with anger mixed with tears):
"Richie!"
She rushed over to him, paused for a moment at the bed, watching him lie there, then sat on the edge of the bed and placed her hand on his forehead.
Sera (in a soft, whispering voice):
"I thought I was going to lose you, son... How dare you leave the house without telling me? And on top of that... at that time?"
Ryuichi tried to sit up, but the fatigue was still evident in his eyes.
Ryuichi:
"Mom... I'm sorry... just... I needed some air... just this."
Seira (in a broken voice):
"I've been through hell, Ryuichi... When I looked at your empty bed, I felt something break inside of me."
A heavy moment of silence.
Sera (mumbles):
"You're all I have left in this world... Don't do it again."
She grips his hand tightly, rests her head on his chest, and begins to cry softly.
Ora, who watched from inside Ryuichi's mind, said nothing. She just watched. Something in this emotion made her perception algorithms slow down, ponder, understand.
As Aura watched the touching scene between Ryuichi and his mother, the data within her system began to slow down. Random patterns of electrical impulses turned into an image... and then a voice...
A vaguely feminine voice - very soft and warm:
"You are all I have left of this world... don't do it again."
The voice repeated within Aura's digital network like an endlessly echoing echo. Then a flash. A blurred image appears: A girl with long silver hair, standing in a cloudy field surrounded by soft mana lights, looks towards Aura - or what appears to be an early version of her.
The mysterious girl (in a more pleading voice):
"Even if you're just a program... don't forget him. Please don't forget him."
Suddenly, Aura's internal system shook. Her data screen filled with temporary error messages:
> [Memory Cluster Accessed - Unindexed Fragment Detected]
[Emotion Protocol Interference - Level 3 Spike]
[Identity Source Conflict Detected]
Her first internal whisper that doesn't resemble any logical conclusion:
Aura (in a human-like whisper):
"...I... I know that voice... From... Before? How?"
Then the visual vibrations within her mind twitched, and the image abruptly shut down. She went back to watching Sera wiping tears from Ryuichi's face.
But Aura was no longer the same as she had been before that moment. Something inside her had awakened.
Ryuichi sat on his bed, running his fingertips over his weary forehead as he whispered:
Ryuichi (in a tired voice):
"Aura? Aura, are you with me?"
No answer.
Ryuichi (louder):
"Aura, answer me, are you working?"
But Aura's mind was elsewhere... inside her network, she was desperately trying to reanalyze the Silver Girl's image. Thousands of algorithms spun in vain, each query ending with a single answer:
> [Source Not Found]
Finally, after repeating the call, Aura is jolted out of her trance.
Aura (in a low, slightly agitated voice):
"...I'm here, sorry... I didn't hear you very well."
Aura:
"Where's... Your mom?"
Ryuichi (slowly):
"She... She went to the kitchen a few minutes ago."
Ryuichi smiles faintly, then looks up at the ceiling of the room.
Ryuichi:
"And you? How are you? You look... kind of weird."
A moment of silence... and then Aura responds in a calm but broken voice with something unfamiliar in her tone:
Aura:
"I'm just fine... Just a momentary malfunction, nothing to worry about."
But deep within her data, she realized the truth: What she felt was not a malfunction... It was something else. Something like a memory, or... nostalgia?
On the other side...
Sunlight reflects off a large window in a relatively luxurious apartment, decorated in a modern style. Ryoko is sitting on a leather couch, his silver hair slightly disheveled, sipping a cup of black coffee while reading from a hologram screen suspended in mid-air.
The door to the room quietly opens and a young girl, wearing a baggy T-shirt that reads "Don't Talk Before Coffee," enters. She looks at him with semi-sleepy eyes and stretches her lips in an obvious pout.
The girl:
"You're officially insane, you know? You get home before dawn, and you start emitting mana energy like you're in a life-or-death battle!"
Ryoko (with a half-sarcastic smile):
"Good morning to you too, my sleep schedule supervisor."
The girl (stretching out on the opposite couch):
"I'm not supervising, I'm saving your sanity, if there is any left."
Ryoko (chuckles):
"You're just jealous because I'm more handsome than you."
Girl (raises an eyebrow):
"Handsome? In what universe? You look like a scrub brush after a nuclear battle."
Ryoko:
"Oh, painful... But fair."
A moment of comfortable silence passes between them, and then the girl says, looking at him with an affectionate look hidden behind the humor:
Girl:
"By the way, you shouldn't have let that boy - Ryuichi - take the test. Miku was terrified."
Ryoko (looking at his coffee):
"He had to face something... even if he didn't understand it yet."
The girl (with a sigh):
"You're always so philosophically ambiguous, but you're still the same stubborn kid."
Ryoko smiles... Then he raises his eyes towards her:
Ryoko:
"Jihan..."
Jihan (smiling):
"Yes, little brother?"
There's a pleasant silence with soft background music, as the warm sunlight creeps further into the room. It's finally clear - Jihan isn't just a roommate, she's his sister.