The scientist residential had gone quiet again after Shougo's departure, but the silence didn't mean anything had stopped.
If anything-
It meant things were moving more carefully.
Inside the central lab, Reiju stood alone, the scattered mess from earlier now partially cleaned, though the chaos in his mind clearly wasn't. Papers were still layered across the tables, calculations overlapping each other, diagrams rewritten again and again as if none of them were ever good enough.
He stared at a blank sheet for a long moment.
Then-
He picked up a pen.
Slowly, deliberately, he wrote a name.
Mr. Fushi Simon.
The moment the ink settled, Reiju's hand paused.
"…Fushi Simon…"
He leaned back slightly, tilting his head as if testing how the name felt in the air.
"…Interesting."
A faint smirk formed beneath his mask.
"I haven't heard about you… until now."
He tapped the pen lightly against the paper, eyes scanning through nearby documents. Bits of information were scattered partial reports, incomplete observations, fragmented notes that didn't fully explain anything, yet hinted at something dangerous.
"…Someone who doesn't appear in records properly… yet influences outcomes…"
His smirk widened.
"…That kind of existence…"
Reiju let out a quiet laugh.
"…I like it."
He placed the paper down carefully, almost respectfully compared to how he treated everything else earlier.
"…While others waste time chasing strength…"
His voice lowered slightly.
"…You're creating it."
He turned slightly, walking toward a nearby table filled with tools and half-built devices.
"…An old man, building counters… saving the world…"
He chuckled again, shaking his head.
"…Wasting himself for something that will never stay saved."
His hand brushed over a metallic structure the frame of something incomplete, wires exposed, energy nodes dim but waiting.
The Energy Extraction Chamber.
It wasn't fully active yet.
But it was close.
"…You fight to protect balance…" Reiju continued softly, almost as if speaking directly to someone far away. "…I break it to understand it."
His fingers tightened slightly as he adjusted one of the components.
"…Let's see which one matters more in the end."
Elsewhere in the facility, deeper within the data sector, the atmosphere felt colder.
Raizen sat quietly in front of a computer, the faint glow of the screen reflecting in his eyes. His usual gentle expression was gone, replaced by something more focused, more calculating.
Lines of data filled the monitor.
Names.
Experiments.
Results.
Failures.
Successes.
He scrolled slowly, reading through everything without rushing.
"…Still doing the same thing…"
His voice was barely above a whisper.
The cursor blinked at the top of the screen.
Then-
He typed.
'delete data'
A confirmation window appeared.
He didn't hesitate.
Enter.
The system processed for a moment.
Then-
Files began disappearing.
One by one.
Entire records wiped clean, traces of experiments vanishing like they had never existed. Names erased, results gone, histories rewritten into nothing.
Raizen watched quietly.
"…You go too far sometimes, Reiju…"
His tone wasn't angry.
Just… disappointed.
The process finished.
The screen cleared.
Empty.
Raizen leaned back slightly, exhaling as he closed his eyes for a moment.
"…Balance matters too."
He stood up, stretching slightly before turning away from the computer.
No one saw him.
No one questioned him.
He walked out of the room like nothing had happened.
Back in the central lab, Reiju continued working.
Unaware.
Or maybe
Not caring.
The chamber now stood more complete than before, its structure forming into something more stable, though the energy within it still flickered unpredictably. Small pulses of light ran through the system, reacting to each adjustment he made.
"…Almost there…"
He reached for a small device, inserting it into the core of the chamber.
The reaction was immediate.
The energy surged
Then stabilized slightly.
Not perfect.
But better.
Reiju stepped back, observing it carefully.
"…Still unstable…"
He tilted his head, analyzing every detail.
"…But that's fine."
A quiet hum filled the room, the chamber now alive in a way it hadn't been before.
Reiju crossed his arms.
"…I don't need perfection."
His eyes shifted slightly toward the paper on the table.
The name still there.
Fushi Simon.
"…I need results."
He walked back toward it, picking it up again.
"…Let's see what kind of variables you bring into this…"
The smirk returned.
"…Because if you're involved…"
His voice dropped.
"…Then this experiment just became far more interesting."
Behind him, the chamber pulsed again.
Stronger.
Like it was responding.
Like it was waiting.
And somewhere within the growing silence of Squadra Diciotto
Two different forces were now moving.
One deleting the past.
One building the future.
Neither of them
Planning to stop.