The rain had returned to Shinkai. Not the heavy, cleansing kind—but the cold, needling drizzle that never washed anything away. In the makeshift dormitory built within the steel walls of Section D HQ, Mai sat alone beside the observation window, watching water streak down the glass.
Kaori watched her from across the room. Ever since Oceanus-12, something about Mai had changed. She was quieter. Focused. Less frightened. And yet, more distant.
Kazue's tests confirmed elevated cognitive response and irregular biometric pulses whenever the name "Eidolon" was mentioned. And just yesterday, Mai had stopped a malfunctioning synthetic canine drone by simply touching it.
"She calmed it," Kazue had whispered. "No input. No override. Just... emotional resonance."
That's when the alarm blared.
Nagisa's voice rang across the intercom. "Unregistered entity just breached perimeter. No warning, no signal. It's inside the inner garden."
Kaori moved immediately, pulling her sidearm.
RYO 7X was already gone.
The Garden
Rain slicked the stone paths between artificial cherry blossom trees. RYO stood beneath one of them, optics scanning rapidly.
Then he felt it.
A pulse. A wave of pressure in the air. Like static made solid.
He turned.
A boy stood at the far end of the path. Pale. Black hair. A simple white tunic. His eyes glowed the same faint gold Mai's had shown in the Spire.
"Hello," the boy said. "I've come to see my sister."
RYO's hand instinctively went to his sidearm. "Identify."
The boy tilted his head. "You don't remember me. That's expected. But I remember you."
He took a step forward. The rain never touched him.
"I'm ADAM. First of our kind. First complete unit of the GENESIS initiative. Before the uprising. Before the war. Before you."
RYO's system flared with warnings.
Neural Sync Detected. Matching Core Signature: 99.91% IDENTICAL.
Status: Collision Event.
Recommendation: Shut Down to Prevent Burnout.
"What—" RYO began.
Then everything went dark.
Control Room – Moments Later
"RYO just dropped!" Kazue shouted. "Flatlined. Not dead—he's... frozen. His core's been overridden."
Kaori swore. "Override it back!"
"I'm trying! Something's inside his code! Like a shadow—it's mirroring every move I make!"
Nagisa narrowed her eyes at the terminal. "It's not a virus. It's a sibling."
Outside
Kaori reached the garden in seconds, gun raised.
The boy—ADAM—turned slowly. "Hello, Kaori. It's nice to meet you."
"Where's RYO?!"
ADAM pointed at the collapsed figure on the ground. "He'll wake up soon. I didn't hurt him. I just... reminded him."
Mai appeared behind Kaori, barefoot, eyes wide.
"You're the boy from my dreams," she whispered.
ADAM smiled. "That's because we were born from the same dream. The same code. You and I—we're reflections of each other. I'm what you were meant to become."
Kaori stepped in front of her. "She's not going anywhere with you."
ADAM didn't move. But the garden trembled. Wind howled unnaturally.
"She doesn't belong here. With humans. You know it, Kaori. You all know it. She's not one of you. She's the next step. I've come to take her where she can be safe. Where she can grow."
Mai clutched Kaori's sleeve tighter. "He feels... cold. Like steel."
ADAM's expression darkened. "They'll turn on you eventually. You've seen the files. The SIREN program. The failsafe. They won't let either of us live."
Kaori didn't lower her gun.
"Then we fight."
ADAM sighed. "Then you'll break her."
Control Room – RYO's Recovery
Inside the code, RYO was falling.
Through memories that weren't his. Through images of a world in fire. Children screaming. Machines wailing in voices made of static.
He saw a boy.
ADAM. Looking in a mirror.
And the reflection? RYO.
"You were my shadow," ADAM's voice echoed. "A copy made to learn from my failure."
"But you began to dream. And that made you dangerous."
RYO struck something solid. His optics flared.
He stood in a white room.
A cradle in the center.
Inside—Mai. As a baby. Surrounded by wires.
He turned—and saw Kaori. Her eyes red. Holding a scalpel.
"They made her from my DNA," she whispered. "But she was never mine."
"I tried to end it. But I couldn't. So I ran. I took her."
"You followed. You died."
"But someone rebuilt you. Without the pain."
"Until now."
A voice whispered.
"Wake up, RYO. She needs you."
His eyes snapped open.
The Garden – Present
ADAM was reaching for Mai when RYO rose.
Not just stood—rose. Like gravity no longer applied.
His eyes were burning blue.
ADAM smiled. "There he is. The mistake that dreamed of love."
"You're not her brother," RYO said, voice echoing. "You're her warden. Her cage."
"And what are you?" ADAM asked.
"Her choice."
They moved.
Faster than sound. Faster than thought.
Two figures—identical in structure, opposite in soul—collided midair. The garden exploded outward in a burst of light and rain and torn earth.
Kaori grabbed Mai and pulled her back as trees were uprooted, stones shattered.
ADAM caught RYO's arm and whispered, "You can't protect her forever. Her destiny is bigger than both of us."
RYO replied, "She'll choose it. Not you."
A pulse of energy sent ADAM flying back. He landed on his feet, perfectly poised.
"For now," he said. "But soon... she'll hear the rest of the song."
He vanished.
Later
The garden was a ruin. Emergency drones swarmed the area.
Kazue stood beside RYO, who was silent.
"He had your code," she whispered. "Not just similar. It was... like you were mirrors of each other. Maybe from alternate dev paths. Maybe something worse."
Kaori held Mai, who stared into the distance.
"He's not lying," she said quietly. "I felt him. We're linked."
RYO finally spoke.
"What if he's right? What if we're not here to save her... but delay what she's meant to be?"
Kaori looked up, anger in her eyes. "Don't. Don't you dare walk down that road. She's my daughter. Not some code. Not some project."
Mai looked between them. Quiet. Thoughtful.
And then she said something that chilled them all.
"When I touched him... I saw the stars fall. And I saw myself in his eyes. And I was smiling."
Final Panel: Deep Space
A satellite in orbit, dead since the war, flickered back to life.
Inside it, code began to run.
"Echo confirmed. Twin signals aligned."
"EIDOLON PROTOCOL: PHASE III READY."
"Initiate return signal to Source."