The golden light of the setting sun poured through the tall windows of Purple Star Academy, casting long shadows across the hallways and tinting everything with a warm, melancholic glow. In the senior classroom, the remnants of another school year still lingered in the air as students packed their bags and prepared to return home.

  Clara and Seiji stood near the back, quietly organizing the last of their belongings. Their movements were slow, distracted, as if their thoughts weighed more than the books they packed.

  “I’m still worried about Satsuki,” Clara murmured, her voice low. She stared out the window, half-hoping to see her friend walking through the garden like nothing had happened.

  “I get it,” Seiji replied, zipping up his bag. “But she needs time alone. You know how she is. She’ll pull through—it’s just going to take space… and time.”

  They exited the classroom and descended the marble stairs that led to the main courtyard. Waiting there were their sisters: Sayaka, Akane, and Fei Long. Just behind them, the sharp click of metal on stone made them all turn.

  Satsuki was approaching—slow, unsteady, but on her feet. Supported by crutches, her frame was still upright, but her face bore the same hollow expression she’d worn when they last visited the Kurogane estate. There was pain there, clearly—but also something deeper. A quiet weight: helplessness… maybe even guilt.

  “Satsuki?” Clara stepped forward gently. “Are you okay?”

  Satsuki raised her eyes and met Clara’s gaze. She didn’t speak—only gave a small nod. Not in affirmation, but as if to acknowledge the question had been heard.

  No one pressed further. Everyone knew that forcing her to talk wouldn’t help. Instead, they simply turned and walked the rest of the way home together, wrapped in silence.

  Once they arrived at their doorstep, Sayaka stopped suddenly. She turned to face them all, a new intensity burning in her eyes.

  “There might be a way,” she said. “A way to wake Homura.”

  Her words struck like lightning—sharp, sudden, and impossible to ignore. The air around them seemed to still.

  Satsuki’s dull gaze lit up with a flicker of hope—brief, but unmistakable.

  “I have something that might work,” Sayaka continued. “But… I’ll have to ask Tetsu Shiba for help.”

  The name hit like a slap to the face. The others flinched, as if some half-buried memory had suddenly resurfaced.

  “Wait,” Akane said. “You told us about your project for the magical engineering competition. You said… you heard a voice that day, didn’t you?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Sayaka nodded, slowly, her brows furrowing as her own thoughts connected.

  “I did. And if my calculations and theories are even half-correct… that voice wasn’t a hallucination. I think it came from the subconscious of someone present that day. A spontaneous psychic echo—something that broke past the bounds of normal magical theory. But I need to confirm it. And for that… I need him.”

  For the first time in days, the path ahead didn’t feel hopeless. It was uncertain, yes—dangerous, even—but it held possibility.

  And for now, that was enough.

  Back inside the Amagiri household, the siblings gathered around the main room’s long table. The tension in the air was palpable—less from exhaustion, and more from the feeling that something important was beginning to stir.

  Sayaka was the first to speak.

  “All right,” she said. “We need to move. Now.”

  With practiced efficiency, she activated a compact control panel and projected a holographic map of D-City across the table. Her fingers danced across the interface, marking routes and key points of interest.

  “First, Clara and I will go meet with the Shiba siblings. We’ll need their help.”

  Clara raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  “And why can’t you go alone?”

  Sayaka sighed, clearly restraining her temper.

  “Because if I see Tetsu, I’ll want to punch him. Repeatedly. I need someone to keep me in check.”

  Clara laughed, resting her elbow on the table.

  “I’m pretty sure he’d wipe the floor with you before you finished your first spell.”

  Sayaka rolled her eyes.

  “Doesn’t matter. You’re coming.”

  She then turned to face Satsuki and Akane.

  “You two are heading to the Kurogane estate. We need to know more about what happened to Homura—anything that might point us in the right direction.”

  Satsuki didn’t hesitate. Her posture straightened, her eyes resolute. Whatever pain she still felt, she was willing to push through it.

  “And what about us?” Seiji asked, folding his arms.

  “You and Fei Long will stay here. I want you both to start digging into the corporations that might’ve been involved in the attack. Look for financial anomalies, weird contracts, company movements—anything that stands out. I’ll give you access to my computer.”

  She tapped her device again, opening several secure channels.

  “And you can use Dad’s investigative system.”

  Fei Long’s eyes widened.

  “Wait, we can actually use that?”

  “Of course,” Sayaka answered.

  “Since when?”

  “Since now.”

  Seiji raised a brow but didn’t argue further.

  “All right,” he said. “Then let’s get to it.”

  A sense of purpose settled over them. Everyone moved into action.

  Seiji took his place at the control station while Fei Long headed to the Amagiri family’s intelligence division. Sayaka and Clara left for the Shiba territory in the western district. Satsuki and Akane departed for the Kurogane mansion, chasing shadows in search of light.

  But as the gears of their plan began to turn, far across the city, the veil of twilight thickened.

  In the crumbling remnants of an abandoned warehouse, cloaked figures stood silently. The air buzzed with tension and the scent of cold steel.

  “Shouldn’t we strike now?” one asked, a crow-like mask distorting his voice.

  “I’d love to,” answered another—taller, voice calmer, but laced with quiet menace. “But their defenses are still too tight. Rushing in now would be suicide.”

  A pause. Then the taller figure continued:

  “The good news is… we’re ready. All reinforcements are in position. With this much firepower, even the Shiba would fall.”

  A deep, humorless chuckle echoed through the shadows.

  “Then we wait… but not for long.”

  As the Amagiri family pushed forward, others in the dark made ready to strike.

  Neither side knew who would make the first move.