The days that followed were strangely… quiet.
No yokai attacks. No psychic anomalies. No alien interference.
Just silence.
But Kaito knew better.
This wasn't peace.
This was the breath the world takes before it screams.
---
Morning – A Feeling in the Air
Kaito stood outside the school gates, bag slung over one shoulder, eyes scanning the sky.
The wind had shifted. There was a strange taste in it—metallic, electric, and heavy.
> "Something's coming."
He didn't need a vision or warning to feel it in his bones.
His Adaptable Evolution had made him sensitive to threat. And whatever was approaching… it wasn't human.
Or yokai.
Or even the aliens he'd already faced.
This was something older.
Something that remembered the shape of the universe before it was born.
---
Classroom – Momo Notices
During class, Momo kept sneaking glances at him.
He wasn't paying attention. He hadn't turned a page in his textbook for thirty minutes.
Finally, she passed him a note:
> "You okay?"
He wrote back:
> "No. Something's wrong. Like… the world's holding its breath."
Momo's eyes flicked toward the window.
She felt it too.
---
Later – Seiko Confirms It
After school, Kaito and Momo rushed back home. Seiko was already waiting on the porch, cigarette smoldering low.
"Something's happening, right?" Kaito asked.
Seiko nodded slowly. "Not yet. But close."
She flicked ash from her sleeve. "The spirit world's gone silent. That only happens when something strong enough to make the dead afraid starts moving."
"Do we know what it is?" Momo asked.
"No," Seiko said. "But I know it doesn't care about yokai, humans, or aliens."
She looked up at the darkening sky.
> "It cares about balance. And someone—maybe you, Kaito—has tipped the scale too far."
---
Nightfall – Memories Return Again
That night, Kaito stood alone in the garden, watching the stars.
He could feel echoes of the past creeping in again.
More fragments.
A memory of standing at the edge of a cliff, eyes burning with firelight.
Another of holding a shattered object, something that felt sacred—like a soul.
And a voice:
> "When the storm comes, run toward it. Not away."
He clenched his fists.
"I need more than fragments," he muttered. "I need the truth."
But the truth wasn't ready to reveal itself.
Not yet.
---
Rin's Warning
The next morning, Rin appeared at the school gates before anyone else.
She was pale. Angry. Rattled.
"I saw something last night," she said. "In a vision."
Kaito turned, alert. "What did you see?"
"A storm. But not just wind and thunder. A storm of souls. Screaming. Twisting. Remembering."
She looked at him hard.
> "And in the eye of it all… you."
He said nothing.
Then, quietly:
> "I think they're coming for me. Not to kill me. To reset me."
---
Alien Ship – The Order is Given
Above the Earth, aboard a ship hidden from every eye and sensor, a council of beings studied a glowing model of Kaito's energy profile.
> "Adaptation complete. Resistance solidified. Emotional reawakening nearing stage three."
> "He is no longer compliant."
> "Then proceed to Phase 3."
> "Release the Harbinger."
Somewhere in deep space, a sealed chamber cracked open.
And something forgotten began to stir.
---
Ayase Household – Preparation
That evening, Seiko gathered the group—Kaito, Momo, Rin—into the basement, where protective charms, spirit stones, and ancient talismans glowed with latent power.
"I don't know exactly what's coming," she said, "but we'll face it together."
She handed Momo a seal-inscribed blade.
To Rin, she passed a crystal of bottled psychic energy.
And to Kaito—
A pendant. Silver. Cold. Inscribed with a rune that flickered like it was alive.
"This belonged to your soul," Seiko said. "Not this body. The you before."
Kaito took it, the weight of memory pressing into his palm.
> "What does it do?"
> "It remembers."
---
Closing Scene – The Storm Begins
Thunder cracked the sky, even though there were no clouds.
The lights in the Ayase home flickered.
Momo stood, tense. "That's not normal thunder."
Seiko looked to the horizon. "No."
> "That's the sound of something old crossing back into the world."
Kaito stepped outside.
The wind whipped around him, carrying whispers.
> "We found you."
"Time to reset."
"Come back to perfection."
He clenched the pendant.
And smiled.
> "Then come and try."