Outside the official residence, in the darkest hour before dawn, a small sound echoed—like something falling. Shinjou Kamiki opened his eyes beneath the thin futon. It was still dark outside. Through the shoji screen over the window, a faint breath of night air seeped in. From the next room, he could hear Kaga's sleeping breaths—steady, quiet little sounds. *(What was that... just now?)* He strained his ears. His heart began to beat slowly, heavily, deep in his chest. From beyond the hallway, faint footsteps. But not the regular rhythm of military boots. An eerie quiet, like someone walking barefoot, stepping softly. A bad feeling crept over him. Kamiki threw off the futon and stood. The cold wooden floor bit into the soles of his feet. "[whispers] Kaga, wake up." Kamiki shook his best friend awake, keeping his voice low. Kaga Hiroto murmured a sleepy "Mm..." and fumbled around, searching for his round, black-rimmed glasses. "[whispers] ...Souta? What's wrong?" "[serious] I heard something. I'm going to check on Bandou-sensei's room." He stepped into the hallway. The cold air clung to his face. The Sixth Residence, where they were being held, had not a single lamp lit. The darkness was thick; the end of the hallway looked as if it had been flooded with ink. He stood before Bandou Junzou's room. The fusuma door was slightly ajar. He reached out. His fingers trembled. Inside the open room, there was no one. Only the futon lay on the tatami, like an empty shell. The window's shoji screen had been removed. "[angry] You've gotta be kidding me." Kamiki turned on the spot. Behind him, Kaga gasped. "[scared] Souta, run! We have to tell Lieutenant Watanabe right away!" The two of them burst through the residence's door as if kicking it down. Outside, the world was still wrapped in indigo air. The sentry looked at them, startled. "[angry] Bandou-sensei has escaped!" They rushed into Lieutenant Watanabe's guard station. Under the steady lamplight, the lieutenant's face froze over as he heard their report. "[cold] What? Seal the gates, immediately!" Orders flew. The arsenal's main gate closed with a heavy, groaning sound, and the footsteps of soldiers raced across the ground. But Bandou was already gone. The gatekeeper's records showed that a man had exited through the rear supply entrance thirty minutes earlier. Kamiki bit his lip. He could already taste blood. Beside him, Kaga spoke in a trembling voice. "[serious] But Souta, you reported it right away. That's what matters. That's integrity. The colonel will surely understand." Kamiki didn't answer. *(If only integrity still meant something to a man like that.)* Beyond the arsenal walls, the world was quietly beginning to go mad. Just as the eastern sky began to pale, military police raced through the main street of Koishikawa. Where they headed, a ring of passersby and merchants had already formed. At its center, a white-haired man was shouting. "[angry] Assassinate the Emperor! He is the head of militarism! To guide this country correctly, I will show you the right path!" Bandou, his face pale, scattered his ideology across the main street. Passersby couldn't believe their ears; some fled, their faces drained of color, while others trembled at the blasphemy. "[angry] Look at these monsters in military uniform! You are all obsolete! If militarism is not ended now, this country will perish! I know—I know the future!" The military police pounced. Bandou struggled, yet he kept shouting. "[angry] Shinjou! I am right! You understand, don't you?! This is the correct path!" Kamiki and Kaga, having rushed after him, stood frozen at the scene. Led by Lieutenant Watanabe to stand before the military police, Kamiki saw Bandou's eyes looking up at him even as he was dragged to the ground—the eyes of a madman, bloodshot yet brimming with conviction. "[angry] You understand, don't you, Shinjou?!" Kamiki couldn't answer. His mouth was bone-dry, his tongue stuck fast. Kaga lowered his face. The gathered townspeople whispered among themselves, voices hushed. "Has that strange man lost his mind?" "What terrible things to say..." Kaga murmured quietly. "[sarcastic] Even by this era's standards... he really is a strange person, huh." "[sad] ...This isn't something to laugh about." Both their faces were taut. Bandou was no longer an adult meant to protect them. He was now someone trying to drag fifty-two lives down with him. When Kamiki returned to the arsenal, Colonel Arisaka Nariakira stopped him. The main building's hallway was still pale with the cold morning light. "[cold] Shinjou." His voice was colder than it had ever been. The deep wrinkles etched between the colonel's brows cast dark shadows. "[cold] Your comrade spoke of assassinating His Majesty on the main street of the Imperial capital. This is no longer an individual deviation—it is a collective danger." "[serious] Please wait! Bandou-sensei just went rogue on his own. We have nothing to do with it!" Kamiki desperately argued back. But the colonel's eyes did not waver. "[cold] When those who eat from the same pot have one rot among them, all will rot. That is the common sense of the Empire. I acknowledged your integrity. But it no longer holds any meaning." The colonel uncrossed his arms and delivered a decisive pronouncement. "[cold] By the end of today, move everyone to the supply warehouse. Confiscate all smartphones and blueprints. My report to the arsenal director will be tomorrow morning. —I cannot decide what happens after that." The colonel turned his back. "[angry] Wait! Just hear me out!" Kamiki took a step forward. *Clank.* The sound of scraping metal. Two guards crossed their bayonets right in front of Kamiki's face. The sharp blades reflected the morning light in thin, cold glints. Colonel Arisaka did not look back. Only the heavy footsteps of his military boots receded down the hallway. Kamiki stood there, rooted to the spot. For the first time, he truly felt that the path had been completely cut off. The thin thread that should have existed between him and the colonel had now snapped cleanly. The supply warehouse was a gloomy building on the northern outskirts. The brick walls on all four sides had only one small, barred window. The dim interior was saturated with the musty smell of wood and years of accumulated dust. The fifty-two of them were crammed inside like livestock. Outside the entrance, soldiers were roughly tossing their smartphones and the vital blueprint files into a wooden crate. A heavy lock clanked shut. "[crying] It's okay, everyone... It's absolutely going to be okay." Kaneda-sensei desperately repeated the words, her voice tearful. The ponytail at her neck swayed along with her trembling body. In her hands, she held only words that seemed like a prayer wrung out of desperation. But her voice did not reach the students' ears. "It's over now, isn't it." "This is what happens when you try to work with the military from the start." "We should never have groveled in the first place." Several classmates turned cold eyes toward Kamiki. In the darkness, only their eyes gleamed with an eerie whiteness. Kamiki couldn't say anything back. He turned away and faced the wall. He slammed his fist against it. *Thud.* Once, twice, three times— A dull, heavy sound echoed through the warehouse. The skin on his knuckles scraped away, blood seeping onto the hard brick. Kaneda-sensei quietly approached his back. Just as Kamiki was about to swing his fist down again, her slender hands gently wrapped around his. Her palms were warm and slightly damp. "[gentle] Stop... you'll break your hand." Her voice trembled, as if about to fade away. Kamiki couldn't turn around. Only his shoulders shook in small, convulsive tremors. Kaneda-sensei said nothing. She simply kept her hand resting softly against his back. Night came. In a corner of the warehouse, Kamiki and Kaga sat facing each other, hugging their knees. "[sad] ...Hey, Souta." Kaga's voice had lost its usual gentleness. His eyes behind his glasses were dark and stagnant. "[sad] To be honest... I think it might be impossible now. As long as we don't know what Bandou-sensei will do next, no matter how correctly we act, everything might just be destroyed." Without his usual preface of "logically speaking," Kaga simply let his true feelings spill out. Kamiki tried to argue. He opened his mouth, but no words came. Only air trembled in the back of his throat. Instead, something hot spilled from the corners of his eyes. *(I couldn't protect them.)* He thought it over and over. The trust with the colonel. The safety of his classmates. Kaga's expectations. Everything had slipped through his fingers. Seeing Kamiki cry, Kaga fell silent. He said nothing, just continued sitting right beside him. A long silence stretched on. How much time passed? Kamiki held his bloodied palm up to the moonlight filtering through the small window. "[whispers] ...Even so, before tomorrow morning comes, we have to think of something." His voice was completely hoarse. He forced out each word as if wringing them from the pit of his stomach. Even at the very bottom of despair, something in the corner of his mind was trying to stir. Kaga simply watched Kamiki's profile in silence. Outside, only the sentry's footsteps continued their unchanging, regular rhythm, coming and going. The judgment the arsenal director would hand down tomorrow morning—it would either mean imprisonment for all of them, or something far worse.