The shutter at the underground parking garage exit. Light flooded through. Not headlights. Smartphone lights. Five. Six. No time to count. "Stop." Low voice. Quiet. Absolute weight behind it. A man in a suit. Four subordinates flanking him. Fifties. Gray hair parted seven-three. Eyes behind glasses appraising. ID card hanging from his neck read: "Hiroshi Kuroda — Legal Department Director." Verde Consortium's legal officer. He'd positioned himself at the exit the moment the tower lockdown triggered. [cold] "DigiSafe Act, Article 9. Unauthorized AI data possession and illegal acquisition. Surrender your terminal immediately. Non-compliance results in police handover." Mechanical tone. Emotionless. Just procedure. Yuuma's hand instinctively pulled the notebook PC close. Pressed it to his chest. Wouldn't let go. This one thing. Non-negotiable. Two subordinates moved toward Yuuma and Akira. Slow. Methodical. Closing in. Akira stepped back. Dropped his center of gravity. Yuuma didn't move. [cold] "Hand over that notebook PC. AI data inside will be immediately deleted." Kuroda pointed at the PC. Yuuma's feet pressed the floor. His whole body trembling. He knew it. But couldn't move. Wouldn't move. Kasumi pulled out her smartphone mid-sentence. No one stopped her. Kuroda didn't say a word. Just watched. Her fingers flew across the screen. Fast. Decisive. Pre-configured broadcast settings opened. [cold] "Look at this file." Kasumi's voice was flat. "The 8.15 Incident — the Sonic Bloom collapse accident logs from that day. Execution timestamps of intrusion code transmitted from Verde Consortium headquarters, Trifolia Tower, 42nd floor server address. Not a power surge. Planned data deletion. Evidence." Kuroda's expression didn't change. [sarcastic] "Threatening with that? Logs with no evidentiary value——" [cold] "Broadcasting simultaneously to all Remnant Net members and major SNS accounts. Right now." Remnant Net — the underground network secretly operated by former Vocaloid fans. Thousands strong. Still connected after Verde's AI music regulations tightened. 0.3 seconds after Kuroda finished speaking. Kasumi hit send. First ten seconds. Nothing. Fifteen seconds. Kuroda's phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times — wouldn't stop. One subordinate pulled out his phone. Saw the screen. Face froze. The other subordinate identical. Internal lines ringing from upper floors. Sound bleeding through concrete walls. Kuroda didn't answer. Just watched Kasumi. [cold] "Delete this data now, that's obstruction of justice. Which hurts Verde more? Calculate it." Quiet voice. Not shouting. Matter-of-fact. That made it heavier. Color drained from Kuroda's face. Eyes began to waver. Glanced at subordinates. All staring at phones. One shook his head. Small. Horizontal. Seconds of silence. [cold] "……We're pulling back tonight." Spat it out. Led his subordinates back toward the tower. Didn't look back. Footsteps fading. Shutter descending. Three people remained at the parking garage exit. Yuuma stood there. One second. Two seconds. Then slowly exhaled. Felt all strength drain. PC still clutched to his chest. Knees trembling slightly. Akira leaned against the wall. Looked up at the sky. Pre-dawn sky still dark. [cold] "Let's go." That's all she said. —— Shinagawa Station plaza park. This hour — empty. One bench under a streetlight. Paint peeling. Old bench. Yuuma sat. Placed the notebook PC on his lap. Opened it. Screen brightened. Light particles slowly gathering. Four fragments — voice, memory, emotion, song data — unified data forming shape. Thin shoulders. Cyan hair. Semi-transparent girl figure. Body edges still blurred with noise. Incomplete. But——there. Yuuma said nothing. Words wouldn't come. Miku's mouth moved. Sound emerged. Fragmented. Pitch unstable. Noise mixed in. "……Yuuma……Arigatou……Mada, Utaitai." That was all. Tears spilled from Yuuma's eyes. Tried to stop them. Couldn't. Tried to smile. Couldn't. One year. Since the 8.15 night. Searching. Infiltrating abandoned communication facilities. Walking through Pacific Dome ruins. Name exposed. Beaten. Everything taken. Crying alone — but never gave up. For this voice. Miku had never called his name with emotion before. [gentle] "Sing for me." That's all he said. Miku paused. Then began singing. One year ago. Pacific Dome. "Sonic Bloom" final concert — first song. Pitch wavering. Noise cutting through the chorus. Far from perfect. But. That voice was unmistakably Miku's. Yuuma covered his mouth. Silenced his voice. Shoulders still shaking. Someone sat beside him. Kasumi. Watched the screen together. Wiped tears once. Then faced forward quietly. Kasumi — who never showed emotion — couldn't hide it tonight. That's what these days had been. Akira stood apart. Looking up at the sky. Face expressionless. But——eyes different than before. The man who'd bought Verde data access, who'd found "heart" inside that data. The night was ending. Miku's voice flowed through the pre-dawn park. Noise mixed in. Incomplete. But no one said anything. Eastern sky edge. Barely whitening. Dawn blush seeping out. Shinagawa sky slowly changing color. Yuuma wiped tears. Watched the screen. Miku singing. Facing him. Still semi-transparent. Body edges blurred with noise. Three fragments missing — autonomous judgment, learning history, core personality. But smiling. [serious] "Three left. Where next?" Not a question. Confirmation to continue. Yuuma didn't close the PC. Held it. Stood. Looked at the eastern sky. Music had vanished from the world. Small song voice returned. Still incomplete. But started. That much was certain. Then Kasumi's phone rang. Encrypted messaging app "Shellcom" — Kasumi's custom app to evade Verde surveillance. Different ringtone than normal messages. Kasumi checked the screen. Froze for a second. Showed Yuuma. Sender handle: "Tempest." Remnant Net leader. Message was one line. ——Know the location of Core Fragment 5. Meet tomorrow night at Café Tempo if interested. Yuuma's eyes narrowed. He knew Remnant Net existed. But they'd never contacted him. They'd been watching from the start — possibility they'd monitored everything. Trust or not. Couldn't determine yet. Akira looked at Yuuma. [serious] "What do we do?" Short question. Yuuma paused. [serious] "We go." That's all he answered. Three people walked out into Shinagawa dawn. Miku's voice still faintly singing inside Yuuma's notebook PC.