The third fragment is moving. Kasumi was glaring at the Memoria Trace log. She'd been sitting since last night. Yuuma's apartment. Coral Heights, Room 307. Daylight filtered thin through the curtain gaps. "[serious]Emotion node. Moving since this morning" Yuuma checked the monitor. Coordinates shifting. Shinagawa direction. Trifolium Tower——the building where Verde Music Technologies headquarters stood. That direction. "[serious]Someone's accessing it. Verde?" "[serious]Don't know. But it doesn't move on its own. 100%, someone's touching it" Time was running out. Two fragments recovered in three days. Five remaining. Time limit: seven days——less than four days left. Yuuma shoved the Resonance Key into his pocket. "Going" Kasumi closed her laptop instead of answering. ── Shinagawa. Ground level hit him with summer heat. Trifolium Tower loomed ahead. Fifty-two stories. Glass exterior walls bounced sunlight. Floors 42 to 48 held Verde's server clusters. The heartbeat of a company controlling 62% of the AI music market. Kasumi's laptop showed coordinates. Underground parking garage. Entrance was around back. "[serious]Not inside the building. Stopped at a communication point in the basement" "Why underground" "[serious]Think about it later. Hurry now" They circled around. Underground garage entrance. Shutter half-raised. Both crouched and slipped under. Concrete smell. Car oil. Fluorescent lights hung from ceiling at even intervals. White light. A figure in the back. A young man leaning against a pillar. Around twenty-three. Hair bright silver-gray, lit by fluorescent tubes. White shirt. Sleeves rolled up. Expression calm——no, too calm. Like he'd known they were coming. That kind of composure. Terminal in his right hand. Playing with it. Screen glowing blue. Fragment light. Yuuma knew instantly. "[angry]Give it back" The young man looked at Yuuma. Unmoved. Eyes cool. "[cold]Was protecting it. Before the Cleaner ate it" Low voice. No emotion in it. Like stating facts. "[serious]Your name" "Ginrei Akira. Freelance data salvager" Data salvager——specialists who rescued and recovered fading data. Freelance. That word stuck. Kasumi's eyes narrowed. Yuuma felt the same doubt. "[serious]I have a condition" Akira lifted the terminal slightly. "Let me join your team. Until the fragments are recovered" Kasumi opened her mouth immediately. Yuuma spoke first. "[serious]Show me your skills. If I'm convinced, I'll think about it" Kasumi turned back. Her eyes said "what are you doing." Yuuma didn't meet them. Kasumi crossed her arms. "[cold]How'd you track it. Emotion nodes should be hard-to-pinpoint coordinates" Testing tone. She already knew the answer. Akira operated the terminal. Another window opened. Program logs began scrolling. "[serious]Reverse-engineered the Cleaner's learning patterns. Analyze the 'paths it avoids,' you see what's hidden. Like a honeycomb——where the bee detours, that's where the honey is" Kasumi's eyes shifted slightly. Not surprise. Her assessment changed. That kind of look. "[serious]That's not all. I have a nullification program for the Cleaner too. Want to see" Akira activated it. Kasumi's laptop responded. Deep net——Deep Resonance visualization showed black haze moving. The Cleaner. When Akira's program touched it, it wavered. Processing saturated. Stopped. Kasumi said nothing. Long silence. "[cold]……Can't trust you" That's all she said. Looking at Yuuma. Eyes trying to stop him. Yuuma was calculating. Remaining time. Two fragments recovered. Five left. The Cleaner kept learning. Thinking new strategies each time. To recover five more——this man's skills were necessary. "[serious]Come on. I'm deciding" Kasumi made a small clicking sound with her tongue. Her gaze stabbed Yuuma's back, but she said nothing. ── Three people entered Yuuma's room past noon. Akira sat at the desk and started working immediately. One tote bag. No wasted movement. Kasumi positioned her own laptop between Akira and Yuuma, securing a spot where she could constantly monitor Akira's screen. "[serious]Combine them. Run my nullification program and Kasumi's Memoria Trace in parallel——we can suppress the Cleaner while recovering" "[serious]You've tested this" "Never. But theoretically it works" "[cold]Theoretically, huh" Yuuma pulled out the Resonance Key. Inserted it into the USB port. Authentication code flowed. Progress bar appeared. Two programs started simultaneously. Black haze appeared on the Deep Resonance screen. The Cleaner came. Advancing. Akira's program collided with it. The haze wavered. Processing jammed. Stopped. Frozen in place. "[serious]It's saturated. Now" Memoria Trace ran full speed. Progress bar jumped. 68%. 81%. 94%. ——100%. Authentication code flowed. Light spread across the screen. At first, just light particles. But different. Light curled. Became eye-shaped. A mouth appeared. Faintly——it smiled. Really smiled. Next moment, eyes narrowed, changed shape. Sad-looking face. Then different again. Head tilted slightly. Voice still missing. Memory still missing. Form still mostly incomplete. But there——definite emotional fluctuation. Yuuma couldn't move, staring at the screen. No words. Words wouldn't come. Kasumi's eyes fell to her terminal. But didn't leave the screen. Blinking increased. "[whispers]……She really is her, isn't she" Voice only Yuuma could hear. Kasumi——who never showed emotion——that single line pierced straight through his chest. Akira watched the monitor silently. Observing quietly what flowed between them. Third-party eyes. His face showed no expression. ── Past 2 AM. The door was broken down. No intercom. No warning. The metal door flew inward like it was ejected from inside. Four men in black suits entered the room. Yuuma stood up. Reflex. The leader held documents. Tall. No emotion on his face. "[cold]Verde Consortium Legal Division. DigiSafe Law Article 9 violation——unauthorized AI operation, caught in the act. Seizing equipment and data" Documents thrown at Yuuma. Fell to the floor. No time to pick them up. Numbers jumped into his eyes. Fine: 5 million yen. "[angry]Show me the warrant" Voice shaking. But he stood firm. One man moved. Grabbed Yuuma's arm. Strong grip. Dragged and slammed against the wall. Back of head hit concrete. Vision wavered. Fist came. Face. Sound rang inside his head. Metallic taste spread in his mouth. Lip split. Blood dripped down his chin. "[scared]Yuuma!" Kasumi rushed forward. Another man circled. Pinned both arms from behind. Kasumi thrashed. Couldn't break free. PC cables ripped out. Monitor fell to the floor. Glass cracked. Everything on the desk swept away. Drawers opened. Miku poster——man's foot on it. Paper tore. Storage with fragment data was taken. First voice. Second memory. Third emotion. All three. Yuuma collapsed against the floor, hand plunging into his pocket. Resonance Key. Gripped it. Covered the pocket with his body. Men moved around. No one noticed. Less than four minutes. They left. Door broken open. Hallway wind came in. Room——scattered debris. Cracked monitor. Torn Miku poster. Ripped cables. Kasumi knelt on the floor. Arms marked red where they'd been held. Nosebleed. Yuuma slid down the wall. Sat on the floor. Key in his hand. Still here. But three fragments were gone. ── Kasumi wiped nosebleed with the back of her hand and opened her notebook PC. It worked. Running on battery. "[serious]Akira's terminal. Analyzing logs" Akira stood in the corner of the room. Didn't try to stop her. Didn't even gesture to stop. Minutes later, Kasumi's face went blank. Completely blank. "[cold]External encrypted communication. Timestamp: this afternoon——right after leaving the underground garage" Voice flat. Like all emotion had been surgically removed. Yuuma looked at Akira. Akira stared at the wall. Wouldn't meet his eyes. "[serious]……You leaked it" Shaking. His voice. Anger, or something else——he didn't know. Akira didn't deny it. Didn't confirm it. Grabbed his jacket. Walked toward the door. Stopped in front of the broken door for a moment. Didn't turn around. "[cold]Wait" Akira kept walking. The door closed quietly. Couldn't close completely. Broken. But Akira was gone. What remained in the room: blood smell. Destroyed floor. Two people. Yuuma couldn't move, gripping the Resonance Key. Three fragments stolen. The man he thought was an ally was a traitor. Less than forty-eight hours remaining. But——the Key was still here. Silver USB in his pocket, pressing back against his palm. Only certain thing left in this room.