By the time they left the cafeteria, the sun was just beginning to slant toward the horizon, and a slight warmth touched the crowded walkways between the trees and buildings. The four of them - Ryuichi, Ryoko, Jihan, and Takeru - made their way to a small square near the fountain, where students usually sit to chat or study.
They sat there for a few moments, chuckling and joking with each other.
Looking up at the sky, Ryoko said:
- "You know... I never thought I would spend a day like this, with friends like this."
Jihan smiled and said slyly:
- "You mean we've livened up your daily routine?"
Takeru laughed and added:
- "Honestly, I think each of you has a unique energy. It's strange how you all came together in this place, as if it was meant to be."
Ryuichi looked at them all, then said in a sincere tone:
- "Sometimes, we don't choose who comes into our lives... But we do choose how we give them a place in our lives."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Ryoko smiled and said:
- "Okay, and when do we start working on the graduation project, geniuses?"
Takeru replied enthusiastically:
- "Tomorrow morning. In the lab, nine o'clock. We'll start with neural modeling and review the data."
Ryuichi held out his hand and said:
- "Deal, let's do something memorable."
Takeru placed his hand on top of his, and then Ryoko and Jihan followed in a symbolic gesture that brought all four hands together.
Jihan said:
- "Agreed... and let's make a pact to support each other on this path, until the end."
The next morning, the neuroscience lab
The new day's sun rose softly over the university corridors, spreading its golden threads over the windows of the upper science building, where Ryuichi paced steadily, accompanied by the sound of Aura's voice as she reviewed with him the concepts they had studied the night before about artificial neural networks (ANNs).
Aura said in an analytical tone:
- "The data on brain oscillations and their effect on cognition could be the basis for an amazing simulation. Just don't let Takeru mess with the matrices too much."
Ryuichi smiled and said:
- "Rest assured... I won't let him change anything without going through you first."
When he arrived at the lab, he found Takeru waiting for him, wearing his white coat and holding a prototype of the project's interface in his hands.
Takeru said cordially:
- "Ryuichi! "You're just in time... I've finished the prototypes for the simulation, would you like to see them before the test?"
Ryuichi nodded, and together they entered the quiet laboratory, where the walls were littered with monitors, brain-tracking devices, and tiny sensors scattered across the center table.
The two sat down and got to work, hours passing quickly between complex analyses and deep scientific discussions, while Aura made observations and adjustments in real time.
After about two hours, the lab door quietly opened, and Jihan entered wearing protective goggles, followed by Ryoko, who looked a little grumpy.
Ryoko said as he looked at the equipment around him:
- "All this to record brain signals? I think I would have preferred to stay in the cafeteria."
Jihan replied with a slight smile:
- "Takeru asked us to attend the initial demo... and it's good that you decided to attend, despite your constant objections."
Ryoko replied, putting his hands behind his head:
- "I came just to make sure Ryuichi doesn't blow the place up."
The audience laughed, and then the demo of the graduation project, a visual simulation of thought patterns through a brain-computer interface that displays brain waves as light patterns that react to emotions, began.
Jihan said with genuine amazement:
- "This is... really amazing. You guys developed this in just a few days?"
Takeru replied calmly:
- "Thanks to Ryuichi, the design and implementation phases were accelerated. We passed stages that we thought would take weeks."
Turning to Ryuichi, he said:
- "By the way... a committee from the Neural Research Institute will attend the final demonstration. If the model is successful, we may get funding to continue developing the project as a postgraduate."
Ryuichi pondered for a moment, then said in a calm tone:
- "If this project will contribute to a better understanding of the human brain... I will give it everything I can."
[Closing Shot]
As the attendees were engrossed in discussing the results, Aura noticed something strange.
In Ryuichi's mind, she said in a low, suspicious voice:
- "Ryuichi... there's an unusual signal within your brain waves... these signals don't look entirely human... there's interference."
Ryuichi stopped abruptly, his eyes frozen on the screen in front of him. He looked confused, while the data lines pulsed in a strange pattern... as if trying to say something he couldn't decipher.
Ryuichi was staring at the screen transmitting his neural activity signals, trying to follow Takeru's careful explanation, but something began to upset his internal balance.
His vision began to blur slightly before his eyes. The sounds around him became farther away, as if they were coming from a distant corridor.
Aura whispered in a worried tone:
- "Ryuichi... are you okay? Your pulse is racing and your breathing is irregular."
Raising his hand to his forehead, he muttered in a low voice:
- "My head... hurts... suddenly..."
Everyone turned to him when they saw him swaying in his stance.
- "Ryuichi?!" Takeru said quickly as he reached out for him.
But before he could reach him, Ryuichi's knees failed him. He fell to the ground suddenly, hands on his head, breathing heavily.
Jihan immediately ran over to him:
- "Ryuichi! What's wrong?"
Ryoko stopped joking altogether and knelt beside him:
- "Answer me... are you conscious?"
Ryuichi could barely open his eyes. His voice was barely audible:
- "Just a... headache... sudden..."
Takeru quickly turned off the device, and helped Ryoko pick it up.
Ryoko said in an unusually firm tone:
- "Come on... we won't hesitate."
Before they left the lab, Ryuichi half-consciously looked up at the ceiling, a single thought swirling in his head:
"Not now... not after everything has stabilized..."
Then he closed his eyes.
[Medical Unit - Inpatient Emergency Ward]
Ryuichi was lying on the white bed, simple devices attached to his wrist and chest, accurately reading his vital signs. The atmosphere in the room was tinged with anxiety, especially from Aura, who was shouting into him in a sharp tone:
- "How many times have I told you to take care of yourself? What kind of exertion do you have in this condition... Are you out of your mind?"
Ryuichi didn't answer her, still feeling a heaviness in his head, trying to regulate his breathing while maintaining some mental equilibrium.
Ryoko entered with Takeru after speaking with the supervising doctor, Ryoko said in a semi-serious tone:
- "Were you in a combat engagement before arriving at the lab?"
Ryuichi looked at him silently for a moment, then muttered:
- "No..."
Takeru raised his eyebrows and said questioningly:
- "What does that have to do with this sharp fluctuation?"
Ryoko looked at him, his usual cheerful features gone, and replied in a low but sharp voice:
- "Ryuichi's mana center is extremely fragile, like fine glass in the middle of a storm. Any excessive stimulation, whether neurological or physical, can completely disrupt the internal balance."
He took a step forward and added:
- "Combat engagement, even if it only lasts a few seconds, creates a disturbance in the mana stream, especially if he is not psychologically prepared."
Takeru whispered, sounding deeply interested:
- "I didn't realize he was so sensitive... Is this the result of an old accident?"
Ryoko hesitated for a moment, then looked at Ryuichi before saying:
- "It's not my place to divulge everything, but it's enough for you to know that his body reacts in a sometimes unpredictable way. When you strain his energy, the damage doesn't just hit the muscles or bones, but the neural and mana structures as well."
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Ryoko said, looking at the doctor behind the glass:
- "He'll be kept under observation for a bit... There's no risk."
Takeru said in a soft tone:
- "When she's fully awake, don't worry about the project, we'll reprioritize."
Ryuichi smiled despite the pain:
- "We'll get it done... But not before another cup of orange juice."
The two smiled, as Aura continued to growl in the background:
- "And me? Who makes up for all this stress?"
Amidst the quiet of the medical room and the faint hum of digital equipment, Ryuichi was still lying there trying to process what had happened... when suddenly, the image of a familiar face flashed in his mind, very familiar.
"Erica..."
He slowly opened his eyes, as if that word alone was enough to awaken something inside him. Then he muttered in a faint but clear voice:
- "Where is Erica?"
Ryoko turned to him quickly, raising an eyebrow with a teasing smile:
- "Erica? You mean that pretty girl you're dating? No, I haven't seen her...don't say she ran away from you on the first date!"
He chuckled as Takeru looked at them with obvious surprise, and said:
- "Wait... Ryuichi is dating a girl? That's new to me."
Here, without coordination, the answer came as a double entendre:
- Ryoko (excitedly): "Hell yeah! A pretty and smart girl, and-"
- Ryuichi (in a shocked voice): "No! No way!"
The two stopped, then looked at each other for a brief moment of silence, before Takeru burst out laughing:
- "The truth seems to be lost between the two of you! Should I open a public vote?"
Ryuichi smiled wearily, then said sarcastically:
- "I don't even know how to categorize our relationship... However, her absence now is not unusual. She was supposed to be in the lab today."
At this point, some of the seriousness returned to his face. He looked at the ceiling and whispered to himself:
"Did she go willingly, or did something stop her?"
But before he could dig deeper into his thoughts, Ryoko interrupted, patting him on the leg:
- "Relax, we're not going to start weaving dark scenarios. You might just be late, or busy."
Takeru added in a reassuring tone:
- "Tomorrow we'll check it out... after she's fully recovered."
Ryuichi smiled lightly, but shades of worry did not leave his eyes, as something inside him was telling him that Erica's absence... was not normal.
In the corner of the medical unit, Ryuichi had finally sat down after regaining some of his physical balance, but he wasn't comfortable. His gaze was fixed on the void, his fingers fiddling with the bed sheet as if searching for answers among the threads of the fabric.
Then he suddenly turned toward Ryoko, and said in a firm but low tone:
- "Ryoko... give me the phone, I need to call Miku."
Ryoko raised an eyebrow, hesitating slightly:
- "You just woke up from your mana coma... and you're jumping straight to calls?"
- "It bothers me... Erica's absence isn't normal. Miko might know something."
Ryoko sighed as he pulled the phone out of his pocket, then handed it to him as he said:
- "Don't say I didn't warn you."
With obvious nervousness, Ryuichi pressed the numbers and waited. The phone rang once... twice... and on the third, a sudden voice came:
- "Hello...?"
It was a feminine tone... but it wasn't Miku.
- "Uh... Natsumi?"
- "R... Ryuichi? Are you calling?"
Natsumi sounded visibly stammering, as if she hadn't expected his voice, or didn't want to answer it.
- "Yeah, where's Miko? I wanted to ask her about... about Erica."
The silence on the other end was harsher than a reply. Then Natsumi's voice came again, but weaker:
- "Miko... she went out for a bit. I don't know where Erica went either... we haven't seen her since this morning."
Ryuichi unconsciously tightened his grip on the phone, his gaze dropping to the floor:
- "Since morning? And you haven't tried to contact her?"
- "We thought... she's with you."
Natsumi's tone trembled at her last words, then continued quickly:
- "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just... things today were weird."
Ryuichi slowly hung up, then handed the phone back to Ryoko, saying in a tone that was neither sharp nor sad, but rather devoid of emotion:
- "Even Natsumi doesn't know where she is."
Takeru looked at him seriously and said:
- "That's not reassuring."
Ryoko said, trying to lighten the mood:
- "She may have just chosen to lay low for a bit... sometimes people need time to themselves."
But Ryuichi didn't respond. His eyes were fixed on an imaginary point, and his breath rattled in his chest as if the world around him had lost its usual regularity.
He could feel it... Something wasn't right.
At that moment, as the medical unit sank into a heavy silence as if watching the tremors of Ryuichi's heart, the phone in Ryoko's hand suddenly vibrated.
A strange number appeared on the screen... just a series of encrypted numbers, no name, no sign, no familiar mark.
Ryoko looked at Ryuichi, then said cautiously:
- "I think this is for you."
Ryuichi hesitantly took the phone and slowly opened the line:
- "Hello...?"
A faint, cold voice, with something familiar but tense in its tone:
- "Ryuichi..."
Ryuichi's features froze for a moment, his eyes widening slightly:
- "Sigma...?"
- "Yes. Sorry if I'm bothering you... just... is Erica with you?"
Ryuichi's eyebrows furrowed, and his tone of voice dropped:
- "I was going to ask you the same question. No one knows where she is."
There was silence for a few seconds on the other end, then Sigma said in a more serious voice:
- "I haven't seen her since yesterday, she was nervous... she didn't tell me much, just said she was going somewhere to think... and then the call went dead."
Ryuichi looked at the ground, as if trying to recall missing details, before whispering:
- "Did she say something strange? A word... a phrase? Anything that might help?"
Sigma sighed:
- "She only said one thing... she said: If I don't come back tomorrow, know that everything is starting to crack from the inside."
Sigma's words were like a silent slap to Ryuichi's face.
- "Sigma... if you're hiding something, now is the time to tell me."
- "I swear... if I knew anything, I wouldn't have called you like that. Erica's been acting strangely lately, but I thought it was just about studying."
Before hanging up, Sigma added in a sharp voice:
- "Ryuichi... Erica isn't just disappearing... I feel like she was scared."
After hanging up, Ryuichi remained clutching the phone, staring off into space with a questioning gaze. The air in the room seemed to have become denser, as if everyone in the room sensed that something unusual was unfolding.
Ryoko, noticing Ryuichi's confusion, approached him and asked in a serious tone:
- "What is it? Did he say something important?"
Ryuichi replied slowly:
- "Erica... hasn't been seen since yesterday. Sigma doesn't know where she is either."
Takeru interjected, concern in his tone:
- "Could she have had an accident? Or maybe she just needs some time to herself?"
But Ryuichi, replaying Sigma's words in his mind, said in a low voice:
- "She told him... if I don't come back tomorrow, know that everything is starting to crack from the inside. It doesn't look like she was just intending to take a break."
At that moment, the call came back. It was Sigma.
Ryuichi quickly opened the line:
- "Sigma?"
Sigma answered, his voice sounding more urgent:
- "I listened to the recording of the last call. I'll try to trace the last signal from her phone. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pinpoint the exact location, but it's better than nothing."
Ryoko, starting to activate the analysis mode in his mind, said:
- "I can help you. Send me a copy of the data, and I'll use the lab's processing unit to analyze the temporal frequency of the signal, we might be able to narrow down the search."
Takeru said in a decisive tone:
- "If Erica is indeed in danger, there is no time to waste."
Jihan, who had been watching silently, added:
- "Could this have something to do with one of the university's secret projects? I mean... she can't just disappear like that."
Ryuichi, who was beginning to feel like everything around him was changing, looked up at Ryoko and said seriously:
- "I want you to prepare everything we need for the investigation... and personally, I'll start looking for any encrypted messages she left. Erica... she was never random."
He then turned to Takeru:
- "Stay in touch with Sigma, and if you get the location of the phone, let me know immediately."
Ryoko said with a crooked smile, trying to ease the tension:
- "Oh, this is turning into an adventure, isn't it?"
Ryuichi replied in a firm tone:
- "It's not an adventure... it's a mission. We'll find her."
---
In a dark room, shrouded in heavy shadow and charged silence, Erica was sitting in a cold iron chair. Her eyes are covered by a tightly bound black cloth, preventing her from seeing any light or movement around her. Her breathing is erratic, and the sound of her heartbeat echoes in the silence of the room like an echo of a parallel world of fear.
Suddenly, the sound of slow footsteps approaches. A tall shadow emerges from behind the door, wearing a black coat and a mask that covers his entire face, with only two prominent eyes glinting coldly in the darkness.
The masked figure stood in front of Erica, like his own shadow, silent, holding something indistinct in his hand. Then he spoke in a calm but threatening voice:
- "The time of reckoning has come, Erica... Everything begins with a choice, but not every choice returns."
He approached slowly, whispering in an echoing, otherworldly voice. The whole scene epitomized a watershed moment, a moment of destiny.
At that moment, a light sound emanated from afar, perhaps a whistling wind or a pulse, but it was enough to confirm that this darkness was only the beginning of a long nightmare.