This chapter contains scenes of abuse and violence that may be disturbing to some readers.
Hide was taken into the torture room, strapped tightly to a metal table. He couldn't move—his wrists and ankles were bound by cold steel cuffs. From the rooms nearby, he could hear screaming. The cries echoed through the walls—other subjects, enduring their own agony.
A door creaked open. Footsteps echoed.Hide looked up and saw a man step into the room—it was Hojo.
The director was whistling softly as he approached, a key dangling from his hand. He stopped beside Hide and unlocked the cuffs one by one.
"Sorry about that, Hide," Hojo said casually. "But torturing you won't do much good here."
Hide looked at him, confused. "Director Hojo… why did you come here?"
Hojo slipped the key into his coat pocket, still wearing that detached smile. "Because you're my subject. My responsibility. You're the only one capable of adapting to… new changes. Now, let's get out of here before I get sick of this place."
He turned and walked toward the door without another word. Hide hesitated, then followed.
The hallway outside was filled with the sound of suffering. Hide glanced into the other rooms as they passed—subjects were being torn apart, burned, injected, dissected. The air stank of metal and blood.
A question clawed at him. Why me? Why had Hojo come to save him?
As they walked, Hide began to realize the truth.Hojo wasn't saving him out of kindness.He was obsessed with him.
The way Hojo looked at him… the way he spoke to him… it was different from how he treated the others. Cold interest mixed with something disturbingly personal.
They arrived at Hojo's office—a cluttered room buried in stacks of papers, books, and broken instruments. Hide stood silently while Hojo rummaged through a pile of documents on his desk.
"Something wrong, Director?" Hide asked quietly.
"Nothing," Hojo muttered, sighing. "You can leave, Hide."
Hide nodded and turned toward the door. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something on the desk—two framed photographs.Both were of him.
He said nothing and stepped out of the office, a faint chill running down his spine.
When he reached his containment cell, something felt wrong.The door to Subject 02's cell was broken—torn apart, twisted metal hanging from the hinges. He looked inside, but it was nothing but darkness.
Maybe she escaped, he thought. Or they moved her…
Then he heard voices down the hall—followed by screams.
Hide ran toward the sound.
Two guards lay dead on the floor, their throats slit. Standing above them was a girl—Subject 02. She turned at the sound of his footsteps, her wild eyes meeting his. She had escaped, and she was fighting her way out.
More guards flooded the corridor, weapons drawn. They raised their guns—tranquilizer darts loaded.
"Take down Subjects 01 and 02!" one of the captains shouted.
02 leapt forward, striking fast, but she didn't notice the guards aiming. Hide moved instinctively, knocking her aside as the darts fired. They hit the wall instead.
More guards arrived. More shouting. Sirens began to blare overhead—the alarm for a containment breach.
"When will they get here?" a captain barked.
"They're on their way now!" another replied.
They? Hide wondered. Who's coming?
Then he saw them.Directors Hojo and Aura entered the hall.
02 froze when she saw Aura. In that split second, a guard struck her from behind, sending her to the ground. Hide tried to move toward her, but the guards swarmed him next.After several minutes of struggling, both of them were subdued and dragged away.
They awoke in a sterile white room. Both were restrained on separate tables, unable to move.
"Commence the test," Aura's voice commanded from above.
The door opened. Several scientists entered, rolling in a metal cart lined with surgical tools and two syringes filled with a thick, crimson fluid.
One scientist approached. "In these syringes," he explained coldly, "is a new substance that heightens nerve sensitivity. It will make you feel pain three times stronger than normal."
He injected 02 first, then Hide.
The burn was immediate. Hide's veins lit up like fire. He grit his teeth, but soon the first scream tore out of him.
Another scientist took a long, pointed instrument—a metal awl—and pressed it against 02's hand. Slowly, deliberately, he pushed through the skin, carving a hole straight through her palm. 02 screamed until her voice broke.
Then the tool was pressed against Hide's hand. The pain exploded through his body as the steel pierced flesh and bone. His vision blurred, his breath caught in his throat.
He regenerated quickly—but the pain didn't fade. The drug kept it alive, burning through his nerves.
The torture continued—each time their wounds healed, the process began again. The floor was slick with blood. The air stank of iron and screams.
Eventually, 02 lost consciousness. Aura descended from the observation floor, silent and calm. She lifted 02's limp body into her arms and carried her away, leaving Hide alone.
"Sir," one of the doctors said, "the drug's effects are fading."
"Then inject him again," Hojo replied flatly. "But this time—into his eye. It should last longer."
"As you wish."
The scientist turned toward Hide, preparing a new syringe.
"Hide-kun," he said almost gently, "we're going to inject the same serum, but this time through one of your eyes. This will hurt… but bear with it."
Hide's breath quickened. His heart pounded. "No—stop—"
They held him still. The needle pierced his left eye. The serum burned as it entered, a fire spreading through his skull. Hide screamed until his voice cracked, blood streaming from both eyes.
His body convulsed. The cuffs tore into his wrists and ankles, ripping skin and muscle as he struggled. His mind began to fracture—colors, sounds, and shadows blurring into one.
"Sir," a scientist said quietly, "he's hallucinating. He can't take it anymore."
Hojo said nothing.He simply turned and walked out of the observation room.
Hide was left trembling on the table—eyes bleeding, breath ragged—his body healing, his mind breaking.