Lullaby of the Lost

  The hospital room was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Haruto hadn’t said anything since he got back. Aika was awake, her head resting against his shoulder, but they weren’t talking. Just... breathing in the same silence.

  Mina hadn’t visited.

  At first I thought maybe she needed rest. But when two days passed and even Yuki started to get worried, I knew something was off. Then came the next mission.

  “VFO Unit 06. Unusual frequency vibrations and civilian disorientation near an abandoned music conservatory deep in the woods. Possible sound-based Akujin. Proceed with caution.”

  I glanced at the briefing screen, something cold running down my spine.

  Sound-based?

  Mina stood in the corner, head bowed. Something in her posture made me pause—her hands were clenched.

  “Mina…?” I stepped toward her.

  “I’ll sit this one out,” she said quietly.

  Takeshi raised an eyebrow. “That’s not like you.

  ”She just gave a soft smile. “Please.”

  But I knew.I knew something was wrong.

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  The music conservatory looked like a ghost town. Phones vibrated with static. Windows shattered without warning. Even the birds had stopped singing. And in the center of the square stood a figure cloaked in black and silver, her long hair drifting like threads of mist.

  The moment she turned toward us, the air cracked

  .Yuki gasped.

  Takeshi flinched.

  I heard it too, a lullaby. Warped and broken. Then Mina’s voice came over the comms.

  “Stop her. Please… don’t kill her.”

  The woman raised her arms and screamed. The shockwave didn’t just hit our ears—it hit our minds.

  I saw flashes. Myself. Alone. Mina bleeding. My hands covered in lightning and regret.

  Takeshi fell to one knee.

  Yuki clutched her ears.

  Haruto deep in thought like he revisited what happened last mission.

  Then suddenly, a lavender glow cut through the air—and Mina descended from a rooftop, violin in hand, eyes unseeing but shining with something fierce.

  “Mina?!”

  “I didn’t want you to find out this way,” she said gently. “She’s my mother. She raised me after my parents died. Her name is Kaori ”

  I stared. My face flushed with red. She looked like a literal angel coming down from the roof.

  Her bow touched strings—and everything stopped

  .The discord cracked. The scream lessened.

  But Kaori corruption flared, deeper than grief. Her voice warped again, this time directing all her fury at me.

  “You took her away! You ruined her! You made her fight!” The soundwave came toward me like a wall of knives. I couldn’t move in time.

  But Mina did.

  She threw herself between us—shielding me with her body, a ripple of sound trembling from her fingertips as she screamed in harmony with her mother.

  The wave shattered.

  Mina fell.

  We caught her before she hit the ground. Blood traced lines across her arms, thin scars lighting up like veins of lightning.

  “Mina, no—stay with me—”

  “I’m okay,” she whispered, breath ragged. “I… I had to reach her with my music.”

  Her mother—still corrupted—fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face as her body shimmered, the Akujin form melting away.

  “Mina…?” I said my voice shaking.

  “I’m here,” Mina breathed. “Always.”

  After the mission, Mina was rushed to the hospital.

  I sat by her bedside that night, watching her sleep, the faint scars glowing under her skin like echoes of the battle.

  Her hand found mine, eyes closed. “You’re still here.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  And I meant it.