Transported back to the Itsuka Family from the Fraxinus, the familiar living room was currently suffused with an oppressive heaviness that was hard to dispel.
Shido slumped on the sofa, his eyes hollow as he stared at the ceiling, as if he could still smell the mixed scent of gunpowder and blood from the battlefield.
Kotori, meanwhile, hugged a pillow, curled up in the other corner of the sofa. Her usual energetic commander mode was gone, leaving only deep exhaustion and solemnity.
The late-night news played on the TV, the anchorwoman reporting with a professionally steady tone about the "major consecutive gas pipeline explosion incident" that occurred today in a remote industrial zone.
On the screen were pixelated images of the ruins and the experts' tired clichés about "workplace safety."
The efficient official cleanup and information control had completely erased all traces of the Spirit and the destruction, leaving behind only a "plausible" explanation that was utterly absurd.
This mundane "calmness" formed a sharp contrast with the world-shaking turmoil the two had just experienced, making the atmosphere in the living room even more oppressive.
Just then, two electronic sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
"Ding—"
It was Shido's phone. The screen lit up, showing a new text message. He numbly picked up the phone and unlocked the screen.
Sender: Phoenix-in Chinatsu.
The content was just two simple characters: [Goodbye].
There were no extra symbols, no explanation, and not even a hint of emotion.
Yet, these two simple words were like a cold dagger, instantly piercing through Shido's already chaotic emotional defenses.
Shido's fingers tightened abruptly, almost crushing the phone.
His heart felt as if it were being violently squeezed by an invisible hand, and a suffocating pain spread through him.
Goodbye... Did it mean 'never seeing him again'?
Was she putting the final period on the farewell outside the factory, or was she setting the stage for... what she was about to do next?
(Goodbye...? Is it over... just like this?)
Almost at the same moment, the encrypted communicator Kotori carried, which was directly linked to the Fraxinus, vibrated urgently. She snapped out of her daze, immediately answered the call, and put it to her ear.
[Commander! Emergency situation! Our covert observation post near the Koushi Residence has sent an alert! Target Phoenix-in Chinatsu suddenly appeared inside Koushi's dwelling thirty seconds ago! Her energy signature is extremely weak and unstable!]
[Based on the limited footage captured and analyzed... she appears to have performed some kind of... procedure... on Koushi himself, who was inside the room! The exact nature is unknown, but Koushi subsequently fell into a state of unconscious sleep! Phoenix-in Chinatsu spiritualized and vanished after completing the procedure!]
[The more serious problem is!] The operator's voice carried a hint of panic.
[Our monitoring systems show that all records concerning the identity 'Phoenix-in Chinatsu' in the network and certain official databases—including transfer records, household registration information, and even footage of her from street surveillance—are being accessed, locked, and... completely deleted by an unknown force at an astonishing speed! It's like... like an invisible eraser is wiping away the evidence of her existence from this world!]
[At this rate, in less than an hour, the identity 'Phoenix-in Chinatsu' will cease to exist online!]
"What?!" Kotori gasped, leaping up from the sofa, her face instantly turning ghostly pale.
"Are you sure?! To Koushi... what did she do to her own brother?!"
[We cannot be entirely certain, but based on the residual energy pattern and Koushi's vital signs (stable but unconscious)... it is highly likely to be... memory manipulation! She may have... erased all memories of 'Phoenix-in Chinatsu' from Koushi's mind!]
"..."
Kotori froze where she stood, as if struck by lightning. The hand holding the communicator fell limply, and the operator's anxious cries of "Commander? Commander!" from the device became muffled and indistinct.
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