Three days had passed since the mini-live's success. The second floor of the office was quiet from morning. Outside the window, the shopping district was beginning to stir. The sound of a tofu vendor's cart rolling across the stone pavement, a bird singing somewhere. Ren borrowed a corner of the desk and opened a terminal, studying Void Sign data. (Still not enough.) The skeleton of the encryption structure was visible. But to completely pinpoint the source, there had to be something else—information from a different angle. While thinking this and drinking coffee, footsteps came from the stairwell. Not brisk. Rather, quiet and measured. The office space door opened. Silver short-bob hair swayed gently, reflecting the morning light. Large headphones around the neck. A small star-shaped tattoo at the left temple. Sharp golden eyes scanned the entire room in an instant. Then they stopped on Ren's terminal screen. "You're Ren?" "Who are you?" "Kamiya Yao. Former technical staff here." Haruka appeared from halfway down the stairs. "[gentle]Yao-san, you came back." Yao gave a small nod toward Haruka. That was all the greeting. The next moment, she turned back to Ren's terminal screen. "This is all the Void Sign analysis data?" "That's what we have so far." Yao stood beside Ren without speaking. About fifty centimeters away. Staring intently at the screen. Then—for just a moment, her expression changed. Her golden eyes widened slightly. A moment when someone who never showed emotion couldn't hold it back. "[whispers]This..." A low voice. Hard. "It matches perfectly with the pattern I've been tracking for the past six months." --- The two began working side by side. Yao had brought six months of attack logs. Records of cyber attacks that Noise had set up at offices and venues across the region, collected one by one by hand. Ren's accumulated Void Sign pattern data and Yao's logs were cross-referenced. Haruka placed coffee in front of both of them, then sat in a chair by the wall. Watching without interjecting. As the data comparison progressed, a structure emerged. The encryption method. The error handling structure. The key distribution pattern. Ren traced the terminal screen with a finger. "I've seen this structure before." "[serious]It's the same architecture as SAF's internal security system." Yao said it first. Ren had been reaching the same conclusion. "It's not a coincidence. Even the quirks in how the encryption is structured match. Someone deeply involved with SAF's system is working with Noise." Ren was silent for a moment. SAF—the Stella Entertainment Federation. An industry organization with over 340 entertainment agencies nationwide as members. They set safety standards for live venues, mediate disputes, and have even established an investigation committee for Noise problems. Inside that organization, there was a Noise collaborator. Haruka stood up from the chair by the wall. Her face was pale. "[scared]Does that mean... there are Noise-related people in the investigation committee that SAF is running?" "That's highly likely." Yao spoke quietly, still looking at the terminal. "[serious]This is the worst." Her voice was emotionless. But the weight those two words carried was clear to Ren. --- They shared the discovered facts with the office members just after noon. Ten minutes later, everything began to collapse. Haruka's smartphone rang. An SNS notification alert. One, two—three, four. It didn't stop. Haruka opened the screen. Ren saw her complexion change from the side. "[scared]Ren... this..." Ren looked at the screen. A post had appeared from 765 Production's official SNS account. "Regarding the recent series of live cancellations, we have allocated a portion of the refund funds to office operating expenses"—a fake apology. A fabrication. The account had been hacked. The repost count increased as they watched. Three digits, four digits. Comments flowed. "That's fraud." "The worst." "Where did the ticket money go?" At the same time, the office's landline began ringing. Haruka picked up the receiver. "[serious]Yes, 765 Production speaking—" A voice leaked from the receiver. Shouting. "Give the money back." "Fraudsters." Haruka kept responding carefully, one word at a time: "That's a misunderstanding." Her face grew whiter and whiter. "Two-pronged attack." Ren spoke quietly. Yao nodded. "[cold]The fabricated SNS article, and what comes next is—" Before she finished, an envelope was pushed through the office door. Ren picked it up and opened it. A document with the SAF logo. The title read "Investigation Commencement Notice Based on Performance Preservation Act Article Eleven." The content could be read in one line. —Investigation is being initiated regarding suspected unlicensed producer activities by individuals at 765 Production. The Performance Preservation Act. A law created to heavily punish obstruction of live performances, but its provisions also included "idol production activities by unlicensed individuals" as a violation. Maximum sentence: five years imprisonment. It was naming Ren specifically. Through fraudulent issuance of an ID card. "[cold]They've been preparing this the whole time. These guys." Yao spoke quietly. Not anger, but a voice of confirmation. --- SAF investigators appeared at the office forty minutes later. Two men in suits. Expressionless. One stood holding documents, the other stood behind blocking the door. "You're Kashiwagi Ren, correct?" "That's right." "We'll temporarily confiscate your producer ID card as evidence." Ren thought for just one second. There was no point in resisting. He pulled the card from his pocket. It had been there since the first day of transfer. The only thing that showed what he "was" in this world. The moment it passed into the investigator's hand, the sensation of the card's corner against Ren's fingertips disappeared. "You are prohibited from entering this office until the investigation is complete." "[angry]Wait a moment, please." Haruka stepped forward. "This person has been helping us. They haven't done anything wrong. They protected our live from Noise attacks—" "[cold]Obstruction by related parties falls under Performance Preservation Act Article Twenty-Two." The investigator standing in back cut her off quietly. An emotionless voice. Haruka fell silent. The two investigators left the documents and departed. The sound of the door closing echoed through the office. --- No one said anything. The SNS notification sound continued ringing without pause. Ren watched Haruka's smartphone screen from the side. A hashtag—"Fraud Idol Amami Haruka"—was spreading in real time. Haruka stared at the screen. Her face grew paler and paler. The dimple that usually showed was gone. Her straight gaze was fixed on the screen. Someone in the corner of the office whispered. "[whispers]Is it really okay to keep performing like this...?" Haruka tried to say "It's okay." But her voice wouldn't come. It stopped in her throat. Ren saw that moment. This was his fault. It was his ID card that had brought the investigators. It was his analysis that had made them a target. Haruka's SNS being attacked, the office being cornered—by being here, Ren had given them an excuse. He understood. And understood, a weight of iron sank into the pit of his stomach. "Get out." He said it himself. Before the investigators could. Haruka turned around. "[sad]Ren..." "It's off-limits. If you don't follow that, it'll cause trouble for all of you." Yao was watching Ren. She said nothing. Ren took only the terminal and left the office. --- Dusk in Shione Ward. In an alley one block off Komachi Street, Ren stood. The same dimly lit alley where he'd woken up on the first night of transfer. An old star-shaped graffiti was drawn on the wall. He'd been here that night too. The situation was worse than that night. That night he'd simply had no identity. Tonight he'd been driven out from watching the office members get hurt as a criminal suspect. Ren leaned his back against the wall and looked up at the sky. The sunset was red. In the second-floor window, Haruka's shadow was visible. Holding a phone, not moving. Was she dealing with SNS responses? Apologizing to sponsors? Or just staring at the screen? (It's my fault.) That certainty no longer wavered. More than emotion, it was data. The causal relationship was too clear. Ren clenched his fist once. Then he started walking. He had no destination. But something was moving in his head. It wouldn't stop. The Void Sign encryption structure matched SAF's system. Noise had collaborators inside the industry. And today's two-pronged attack—the SNS hack and the ID card report—had come almost simultaneously. Too precise. Not coincidence. Someone had been watching this place all along. Not just the office. Ren's movements. The progress of Void Sign analysis. Someone was aware of it. And that someone was still somewhere in this city. In the darkness of the alley, Ren opened the terminal screen. No ID card. No authority. But he had data. The six months of attack logs combined with Yao's, and the Void Sign patterns still remained in this terminal. There wasn't much time before they made their next move. Ren kept walking. Shione Ward's dusk slowly transformed into night.