Lab Zero held no morning light. The verification room without windows always maintained the same brightness. Fluorescent lights illuminated the floor uniformly, offering no hint of the weather outside. Late October had brought gray skies to Minami-Aoyama from dawn onward—he'd confirmed this when stepping onto the main floor—but once inside this room, such things ceased to matter. Tobio stood on the mini court's floor. It was Lab Zero as always, but today he wasn't alone. One meter from the floor, Rin sat with her laptop open. Her dark purple hair caught the light, and the star-shaped earring on her right ear swayed gently. She held a notebook on her lap, pen in hand, watching Tobio. The two of them had officially begun today as joint leads on a new athletic shoe project. The shoe's contact sensation with the floor material—specifically, the friction characteristics on both hard and soft floors and the weight distribution upon landing—needed verification through actual competitive