The wind was stronger on the rooftop.
The academy lights below still flickered from the disturbance earlier that night, though the training grounds had gone dark again. From above, Cronos looked calm. Controlled. Untouched.
It wasn't.
Taren stood near the edge, arms folded, gaze fixed beyond the campus walls.
Kaga approached quietly.
"You said it was time I knew," she said.
He didn't look at her.
"We were part of New Order."
No buildup. No dramatics.
Just fact.
Kaga absorbed it slowly. "All of you?"
Haruka answered this time. "The six of us. Including Vega and the other two."
Tenshi stepped forward, moonlight catching faintly along his profile. "We believed in it," he said. "At least at first."
"That it was right…" Kaga murmured.
No one corrected her.
Taren's jaw tightened. "We weren't dragged into it. We stayed."
"That doesn't mean we understood everything," Tenshi added quietly.
Kaga studied them one by one. "And what was it?"
"A project," Haruka said. "One that shouldn't have existed."
Taren didn't elaborate.
He didn't explain its structure. He didn't describe what they did there. He didn't explain what they had become because of it.
"Does Ryuu know?" Kaga asked.
That made Taren finally look at her.
"He shouldn't."
The answer came sharper than the rest.
The wind moved between them again, colder now.
Kaga nodded once. She had more questions. But she understood enough to wait.
Below them, the academy felt quieter than usual.
The next morning, the ruins looked smaller in daylight.
What had once been listed in old municipal archives as a "restricted training compound" was now little more than fractured stone and exposed structural veins. Dust clung to twisted metal supports. Arcane conduits ran like dead circuitry along collapsed walls.
Risu moved carefully across unstable ground, scanning what fragments remained embedded in the debris.
Vega followed in silence.
"There," Risu said suddenly.
A cracked plating panel bore partial directory markings:
Residential Block C — Youth Sector
Bio-Arcane Development Wing
Risu brushed dirt away with careful precision.
"These sectors weren't referenced in any public record," she said. "If they were separate from the main facility, that means they were deliberately omitted."
Vega stared at the lettering.
It meant nothing to him.
And that was the problem.
He knew how New Order labeled its internal divisions. He remembered the structure. The terminology.
This didn't fit.
Risu stood, pulling up data on her device. "One of these coordinates aligns with a redevelopment zone. They're scheduled to start construction on a large concert complex in there, around next month. If demolition begins before we verify what's underneath, any structural evidence will be gone."
A concert complex.
Vega's fingers tightened slightly at his side.
Too convenient.
He crouched beside another fragment bearing the organization's insignia.
A circle.
A diagonal line cutting across it.
His eyes narrowed.
The line was reversed.
Mirrored.
Subtle. Precise.
Wrong.
"What?" Risu asked when she noticed his expression.
"The emblem," Vega said quietly. He traced the diagonal with his finger. "It runs the other direction."
She leaned closer. "It could just be an error in reproduction."
"No."
His answer came almost instinctively.
New Order had been exacting about presentation. Every angle measured. Every symbol uniform.
They didn't mirror their own mark.
Risu straightened slowly. "Even if it's imperfect, the directory codes look authentic. I'll confirm through the station. If this site is tied to an active redevelopment contract, we won't have much time."
Vega stood as well.
"I'll check something first," he said.
She nodded, already focused on pulling archived zoning records. "I'll contact you once I verify the files."
She walked ahead, unaware of the way Vega remained staring at the mirrored insignia.
Deneb found him near the eastern walkway of campus.
Altair stood nearby, arms folded, posture relaxed but alert.
"The locations are wrong," Vega said without greeting.
Deneb's expression shifted instantly. "Explain."
"They don't exist."
Altair raised an eyebrow slightly. "That's odd."
Vega held up a photo of the insignia fragment. "The emblem is mirrored."
Deneb stepped closer. She didn't need long to see it.
Altair's gaze sharpened.
"You're certain it´s not just the photo?" Deneb asked.
"Yes."
Silence settled between them.
"Then someone reconstructed it," Altair said. "Convincingly enough to pass surface inspection."
"Convincingly enough to mislead official review," Deneb added.
Vega lowered the device.
"And convincingly enough to create urgency."
Kaga didn't return to class.
Her thoughts circled around the rooftop conversation from the night before.
Six of them.
All involved.
She turned the corner near the dormitory entrance just as the door opened.
Ryuu stepped out.
Composed as always. Sleeves adjusted neatly. Expression unreadable.
As he walked past her, something slipped from his hand.
A folded sheet of paper.
He didn't pause.
Kaga hesitated only briefly before picking it up.
Her eyes scanned the contents.
New Order.
Facility layouts.
Sector designations.
Detailed enough to seem legitimate.
But something about the terminology felt inconsistent with what Taren had implied the night before. Certain labels were too formal. Others too vague. As if pieced together from incomplete sources.
She looked up.
Ryuu was already halfway down the path.
He didn't turn.
But the faintest shift in his shoulders suggested he knew exactly what she had found.
And had meant for her to find it.