Terror in Resonance: If - Sphinxes of the Sleepless City
Terror in Resonance: If — Sphinxes of the Sleepless City
Nine and Touji have returned—not to the Tokyo of their world, but to another sleepless city where the festival lights flicker and the shadows of the Athena Plan still reach. The bomb is set. The detonator is ready. And the world is watching Sphinx.
But in this world, a girl sits alone in the corner of a classroom, her downcast eyes carrying the weight of a silence no one else can hear. She is not Mio. She is just a classmate. A stranger.
Terror in Resonance: If - Sphinxes of the Sleepless City - The Beginning of the Echo — The Sphinxes, Once Again —
The bomb was far heavier than he'd expected.
Kokonoe Arata closed the floor storage hatch slowly, then tightened his grip as if checking the cold of the metal still clinging to his fingertips. It was a summer night, yet the room in the old apartment they used as a hideout felt oddly chilly. Through the thin walls, the faint sound of a distant festival drifted in.
"Now we can start anytime, huh."
Hisami Touji, still sitting on the floor, said it with an innocent smile. He pushed back the bangs plastered to his forehead with the back of his hand. His voice carried something closer to anticipation than fear of what was to come.
"Yeah."
Nine answered briefly and lowered his gaze to the detonator in his hands. One last check to make sure the homemade circuit would work. His fingers traced the switch wiring without hesitation. If this device went off, the small atomic bomb they'd stolen from the nuclear reprocessing plant in Aomori would unleash enough force to burn Tokyo's skies to ash.
(How many will die?)
The number surfaced in a corner of his mind. Detonated in the city center, the death toll would exceed ten thousand. Those caught in the blast, those vaporized by the heat, those who would die slowly from radiation. Lives of people whose names and faces he'd never know, snuffed out by this one switch.
But Nine's fingers didn't stop.
(It's necessary.)
To force what happened at that facility into the world's view in a form no one could bury, he had to go this far. The Metropolitan Government Building bombing, the blackout—all of it was nothing but groundwork. To expose the truth of the Athena Plan, they needed the world's attention.
"Hey, Nine."
Touji stood and peered over Nine's shoulder at the device.
"Does this really explode if you push it?"
"It does."
"I see."
Touji said only that, then walked over to the fridge. The sound of rummaging, then he pulled out two cans of juice. He tossed one to Nine. Nine caught it one-handed without taking his eyes off the device.
"I watched the news today. We've gotten kinda famous, huh."
Touji popped the tab on his can, wearing a bashful grin. The TV had been talking about Sphinx No. 1 and No. 2 all day. Two weeks since the Metropolitan Government Building bombing. The police still hadn't even found a lead on the two of them.
"The more attention we get, the more danger increases."
Nine said it without changing expression. He didn't touch the can, kept inspecting the device.
"It's not just the police. America is starting to move too. The more the public builds us up, the tighter the noose around our necks."
"I know."
Touji leaned against the window and drank his juice. His throat moved up and down. Outside, the festival music was still playing.
"But man, the comment section on that video was insane. 'Sphinx is justice.' 'Expose the government's lies.' Young people were going crazy over it."
"Public frenzy can be used. But don't let it swallow you."
"I won't. I only listen to what you say, Nine."
Touji laughed. His face said he truly, genuinely trusted him. Nine gave no reply and carefully placed the detonator into its case.
(This guy still doesn't understand anything.)
Nine thought. Touji was bright and pure—and that was exactly what made him dangerous. His synesthesia let him perceive sound as color. The screams of this world, the cheers—he saw them all as color. And yet he could still smile.
Whether that was salvation or a curse, Nine couldn't judge.
When he turned on the TV, a debate program happened to be covering Sphinx.
"—Which is why the trend of treating them as heroes is extremely dangerous. Praising terrorists is unacceptable for a nation of law."
A commentator in a suit was pontificating with furrowed brows. Below the screen, a ticker read: "Sphinx Support Surging Among Youth."
"But Professor, the massive blackout they caused—how many people realized the government's incompetence because of it? Shouldn't that be acknowledged?"
The young moderator pushed back. The commentator raised his voice further.
Nine turned down the volume with the remote.
(Heroes, huh.)
Not bad. The more the public supported Sphinx, the harder it became for the police to act. It wouldn't loosen the investigation, but public backlash would definitely dull the organization's judgment.
But there was danger in it too.
(Heroes, when they fall, are the first to be stoned by the very people who once lifted them up.)
Nine knew that well. The facility had taught him. Humans are at their cruelest when tearing down the ones they once raised up.
"Hey, Nine. So, um."
Touji turned off the TV and faced him.
"You're going to school tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."
"Transfer students really stand out, huh."
"They do."
"Right?"
Touji clasped his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. The old fluorescent light flickered now and then.
"But I wonder what school's like. I've never been, so I'm kinda looking forward to it."
Nine didn't answer. Touji said nothing more either, and silence fell between them for a while.
The night deepened.
Nine stood alone by the window. Peering through a gap in the curtains, he saw a small light rising in the distant sky. Fireworks. The finale of a summer festival, blooming and fading in the dark.
A thud of sound shook the walls and reached the room.
(Mio.)
The name surfaced unbidden.
Memories from the facility. White walls, white ceiling, the smell of disinfectant. The girl he'd grown up with in the same room. She was always gazing out the window.
"Hey, what do you think the outside world is like?"
Mio had said it with a smile.
"Have you ever seen fireworks? I read about them in a book. Flowers that bloom in the sky. Hey, let's see them together someday."
What had Nine answered? He couldn't remember anymore. Only her smile remained, burned into him.
(I ran, and left her behind.)
Eight years ago. Nine and Touji escaped the facility. They couldn't take Mio with them. No—to be precise, they had no margin to bring her. Surviving themselves was all they could manage.
He didn't even know where she was now, whether she was alive or dead.
(Not much time.)
Nine thought about his own body. The effects of the new drug administered under the Athena Plan. For those who survived, the price would come, without fail. His time was far shorter than a normal person's.
(I'll end it all before then.)
Another firework bloomed in the sky. Red light scattered and vanished. Watching it, Nine renewed his vow to carve proof that they had lived into this world.
The next morning, the moment they entered the classroom, every eye in the class turned to them.
"Transfer students, huh." "Two of them?" "That's rare, at this time of year."
Whispered voices. Curious stares. Nine ignored them all and waited beside the podium for the homeroom teacher's introduction. Behind his dark navy self-framed glasses, his deep brown eyes quietly swept the room.
"These are Kokonoe Arata and Hisami Touji. Everyone, please make them feel welcome."
Scattered applause rose at the teacher's words.
"I'm Kokonoe Arata. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Hisami Touji! Nice to meet ya!"
When Touji greeted them in a bright voice, a few of the girls let out small squeals. Nine, expressionless, headed for the assigned seat by the window.
He sat down and placed his textbook on the desk. Then his eyes caught on a corner of the classroom.
(...What's that.)
The seat farthest from the window, at the very back on the hallway side. A girl sat there, head bowed deeply. Her shoulder-length black hair bounced slightly. Her round dark eyes were downcast, wavering with something like unease.
Mishima Risa.
Nine knew the name from the class roster he'd obtained in advance.
The air around her alone seemed different. Her classmates had pulled their desks together as if avoiding her. No one spoke to her. She, too, wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.
(That expression.)
Something small creaked deep in Nine's chest.
The dark expression. The downcast eyes. An isolated existence, cut off from everyone around her.
(She looks like Mio.)
The image of his childhood friend, suffering the drug's side effects at the facility yet unable to ask anyone for help. Risa's profile overlapped with that memory.
Nine realized his fist was clenched without his meaning to.
"Nine?"
Touji called quietly from the seat beside him. He seemed to have noticed the change in Nine. He peered over with worried eyes.
Nine gave a slight shake of his head—it's nothing. His expression stayed as calm as ever.
(Don't waver. That's not Mio.)
He told himself. Risa was just a classmate. Nothing to do with their plan.
But her figure in the corner of his vision wouldn't leave his mind.
After school.
As the classroom's bustle drained away, Risa finished packing up faster than anyone. She stuffed her textbooks into her bag and stood, glancing around nervously.
"Hey, you're Mishima, right?"
A bright voice suddenly called out to her.
Risa's shoulders jumped, and she turned. There stood the transfer student, Hisami Touji, wearing a friendly, welcoming smile.
"Uh... y-yes."
Risa's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"I'm Hisami Touji. I just transferred in today, so I don't really know my way around school yet. Would you mind telling me about stuff?"
"I-If you're okay with me..."
Risa answered timidly. Her gaze swam around Touji's chest, unable to look him in the face.
The moment Touji heard her voice, his eyes blinked wide.
"Pale yellow."
"Huh?"
Risa looked up, confused. Touji smiled happily and shook his head.
"No, nothing. Hey, let's talk again tomorrow. I don't have any friends yet, you see."
"...Okay."
Risa gave a small nod, then fled the classroom as if escaping.
Touji watched her go, then hurried over to Nine, who was reading by the window.
"Nine, did you hear? Her voice."
"I heard."
Nine answered without looking up from his book.
"It was pale yellow. You hardly ever see a color like that."
Touji's voice was buoyant. His synesthesia perceived sound as color. Risa's voice was a special color to him.
Only then did Nine raise his head and glance toward the classroom entrance. Risa was already gone.
"A rare color, huh."
"Yeah. A really beautiful color. It felt... comforting, somehow."
Touji smiled. Seeing that smile, Nine said quietly:
"Even if the color of that voice is special, don't drag her into our plan."
Touji's smile clouded slightly.
"...I won't drag her in. I just want to be friends."
"Then fine."
Nine lowered his eyes to his book again. The fingertips turning the page pressed just a little too hard.
(That girl is different from us.)
Nine thought. Risa was an ordinary high school girl. She seemed to be bullied, and maybe she had problems at home too. But even so, she had the right to live an ordinary life.
She was different from people like them, searching for a place to die.
That night.
Back at the hideout, Nine glanced out the window and froze.
Across the street. Beneath the streetlight, a black sedan was parked. The engine was off. The windows were closed. But in the driver's seat, a man was looking up at them.
(...We're being watched.)
A cold sensation ran down Nine's spine.
"Touji."
He called in a hushed voice. Touji poked his head out from the back room.
"What's up?"
"Close the curtains. Kill all the lights."
Nine gave the low instruction as he moved away from the window. Touji's expression tightened in an instant, and he quickly shut the curtains. They turned off the lights and hid themselves in the dark.
"Someone found us?"
Touji's voice trembled slightly with tension.
"Yeah."
In the darkness, Nine began gathering their things. There was no hesitation in his hands.
"Someone is after us."
"The police? Or..."
"I don't know. But I saw that car yesterday too. Parked in the same spot."
Nine reported calmly. There had been something off yesterday already. No one parks in a place like that for hours unles
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.