It's Tuesday morning at SAIR Central Division 2's Bakju Complex. Outside the main wing, newly enrolled agents were training under the command of Haseku. Yet inside the complex, the interns were each preparing the upcoming lecture in the lecture room 203 in their own way: Araka and Jun checking the notes; Okuri looked at the blank white board; Sukeo was drawing on the corner of his note book; and Tenka was scrolling her social media feed for one more minute before the lecture really started.
Huashin, holding her tablet and a folder with a natural smile, entered the room right at 9:00am.
"Good morning, folks," she greeted the interns, "Before I start today's lecture, I would like to clarify one thing."
Tenka, while still scrolling her social media feed beneath the desk, straightened herself.
"As you may have heard about Monday's incident," Huashin said, "to be clear, it was never part of your curriculum."
She looked directly at Araka and Jun.
"But some of you managed to handle it pretty well, in fact: field containment; civilian redirection, yet zero fatalities," she paused and shifted her eyes to Araka and Jun.
"Explain to others in your words."
Jun stood first and described the incident at E.48 Sound Room in a precise fashion: the presence of the unsanctioned Matake user, the crowd risk, and the eventual containment with his own suppressor. Araka followed by describing how she had to pin the man with cables after isolating the Matake field. The room was silent when they finished.
As the two finished, it was Tenka who first commented: "That was right near my place… how was this under the SAIR's radar? I thought it was some kind of bar brawl when I heard the sirens."
Huashin tapped her tablet: "That's what I've been asking too, which is concerning."
She stepped back slightly, voice heavier now.
"There have been other incidents. Seven since last week. All low-profile. All civilian targets. Yet in every case, Matake behaviour wasn't there the day before, or at least not active."
She looked around the room: "It feels as if someone—or something—awakened dormant potential, all together."
The silence grew taut.
Sukeo raised a hand and went straight to the point: "do we have any idea on the man's background yet other than being a loanshark?"
"The man's in recovery. Barely made it. Suppression took a toll," Huashin, after putting away her tablet, said:"Once he's conscious, we'll extract more details. For now, he's just another person who shouldn't have had resonance, but instead did."
Huashin adjusted her stance, eyes scanning the room before settling back on Araka. "But there is of course a bit of luck playing here, because this time," she said, "you two helped more than you know."
Araka raised her eyebrow, wondering what did Huashin mean by that.
"In most incidents like this, by the time we arrive… the subject is already dead - either from psychic overload, self-destruction behaviour, or civilian panic."
She paused.
"This one lived - a live resonance-affected case. That alone gives us something to work with."
Jun hesitated, then spoke: "I heard that there are… civilians trying to investigate these Matake related incidents. Some online forum groups are now filled with rumors. Some of them are also appearing serious-"
Huashin didn't seem surprised.
"It has been like this for a while," she looked up, more direct now: "SAIR isn't an omniscient body. We don't have the PR resources like those of the federal ministries. Once those incidents happen more often, fear enters the public language."
The group went silent again.
"However, because of the changing situation, I've already spoken with Director Ninfo. He shares the concern." Her voice stayed even, "He may be older, as you may remember from your first time meeting him during the entrance exam, but he understands the threat. He said, I quote: 'if we can't stop Matake related cases, then we have to contain the spill over and build safety nets where it spreads.'"
A pause.
"But so far, SAIR Central was still trying to figure out whether all these cases are connected to a certain entity, and other branches are still assessing their cases on parallel."
Sukeo leaned forward slightly: "Instructor Huashin, so if someone in SAIR Central thinks it's all connected, have they considered embedding agents within these civilian networks?"
Huashin glanced at him with a hint of curiosity: "That's a quite sharp question for a first year intern. But yes, we've discussed it, and even Director Ninfo was considering that. However, since you have already read about SAIR's role, all of you should know that SAIR isn't some kind of federal intelligence agency like ARC, the Federal Intelligence Service, so covert operations was not the strongest area for the SAIR. Even if escalate the case to the federal government, especially those involving supernatural forces like Matake, it would either lead to some kind of civilian privacy debate." She then paused for a bit, letting her words settle down. "Hence for now, Director Ninfo suggested us to put aside."
The interns were still processing what Huashin had said. Araka, being on scene throughout the incident, was thinking about Huashin's implication: the way Huashin phrased it—deliberate, weighted, open-ended—meant even the SAIR didn't fully understand how Matake works.
"As for today's original agenda, we're going to continue to explore the basics of Matake we know so far. However, also this morning, Haseku, the captain of Division 2's Combat and Rescue Branch, received a report from the State Police that they may need our help."
Huashin tapped her tablet again, and behind her, a map of ridge lines of Nanyun Mountain Range, south of Bakju, shaded in digital topography, was displayed on the white board thought the projector."
"Of course, it's not urgent—yet. However, I do think this could be a good opportunity for you to understand how a proper mission plan is laid out backstage."
She gestured to a blinking red triangle near a forested valley.
"We have a solo hiker, female, went missing here. Civilian. No foul play suspected. The State Police are conducting a search and rescue. The superintendent had briefed us that if they find nothing by this evening, they're escalating the case. That means, if they involve us, we'll need a quick-response team prepared."
Tenka raised her hand, eyes alert now: "So… that would be our first real field operation?"
"Likely," Huashin nodded, with her tone softened: "If Matake resonance or even artifacts are involved, we'll have jurisdiction."
Tenka leaned back slightly, her tone lighter: "Well, I guess that's more like it. That's the kind of SAIR work I was picturing."
Sukeo, Okuri, and Araka chuckled.
Jun, however, frowned slightly.
Huashin turned from the screen, looked around the room: "But of course, this isn't necessarily a Matake incident, at least from what the State Police had described. That means we may be on standby to avoid jurisdiction overlaps before they give us clearance."
Okuri raised his hand: "So we're not engaging unless we are given clearance?"
Huashin nodded. "Correct. This time, it will be observation only. You might be instructed to provide some assistance, but no action unless I give the green light."
She tapped the screen again, and the image of jagged ridgelines and a winding forest trail prevailed. "As for now, we still have more questions to answer rather than just treat it as a typical rescue mission. As for the suspected cause, there are many possibilities especially in the mountain area of Nanyun - the cause may not even be a person," she let that hang: "It might be an animal. Or something geological. Maybe even one of the unmapped cave networks in this range."
Tenka's eyebrows lifted: "Caves?"
Huashin nodded again. "That's right. The southern mountains have several undocumented cavern systems. In most cases, hikers should stay on marked routes; but in case of a storm or being chased by wildlife, if someone loses footing or panics, they could easily fall into one," her voice flattened slightly: "And if that happens…it's getting harder for us as rescuers - lack of cell coverage, hidden wildlife, pockets of toxic gas, and even shard related resonance."
The interns went silent again, grasping about the implication. Then, Sukeo raised his hand: "Instructor Huashin, if we step in, what can we do as interns? We don't even know how to use our weapons."
Huashin tapped her tablet again and changed the screen to another slide, showing a variety of equipment, ranging from drones to terrain rover robots, all with SAIR labels.
"As you should have remembered, one of the primary roles of SAIR is civilian rescue during disasters. While nowadays it seems to be that the SAIR is more combat leaning, most, if not all, SAIR agents are still trained to coordinate civilian rescue missions. That is why we have the Combat and Rescue Branch rather than just having a Combat Branch for each division."
"Finally, that's something I can agree on," Tenka nodded while crossing her arms behind her head.
"As being said, even for civilian rescue missions, we also have many advanced techs and equipment," Huashin continued, "for instance, the drones we use, the ASP-XT1, are powered not by batteries but Chromimium power pacts that last longer even than solar powered ones; as for the terrain vehicles, we also have self driving rovers like SMA-3, which had a modular platform that we can mount everything from Matake sensors to energy weapons."
Meanwhile, Jun, still writing down the notes from earlier comments, turned his head toward Huashin with his eyes lit up. "That's my specialty," he whispered.
Araka, leaning back, caught Jun's phrase. "Wait, didn't you apply for the Combat and Research Branch? And you also chose the railgun for your weapon during the entrance exam."
Jun didn't respond, yet his lips talked themselves - he didn't weigh the choices when he filled the form.
Huashin continued the presentation, ignoring the chitchat conversation between Jun and Araka.
"Let's focus on drones first. These ASP-XT1s are equipped with terrain mapping, multi-spectral imaging, and resonance anomaly sensors. They are especially handy when mapping complex enclosed systems like caves in the past missions, and its antenna could allow real-time updates of the terrain as far as 150km in distance."
"That's interesting," Sukeo said.
"And for these terrain rovers, as I said before, they are also very capable for many tasks, such as surveying and could even be modified for combat by mounting weapons on them."
She changed the slide again: an aerial photo of the cave entrance flickered into view—shadowy, narrow, unmarked by any signage.
"While the State Police had sent us this footage of the entrance of the suspected cave, be aware—if we were called, which is likely, this one was likely missed during earlier mappings."
She looked at the class, then spoke again, calm but focused: "Since we have not mapped the cave out yet, there might be some wild panther hiding inside from storms, florals that haven't been identified, and even shard pieces like the one swallowed by the panther we killed last week."
The interns went silent, eyes focused.
She let the silence settle: "That's why we won't enter the cave just by ourselves, and why you won't enter the cave unless it's necessary. However, if the State Police really need our help, then that would also mean we need someone who could operate these rovers and drones- "
"Instructor Huashin, may I try the rover and the drone?" Jun raised his hand and cut Huashin's speech. However, Huashin didn't seem to be mad at Jun's request.
"Jun, aren't you the one who joined the combat division?" Okuri turned toward Jun and whispered, "I remembered you picked the laser railgun for the combat simulation, right?"
"Yeah, I didn't even remember you mentioned you're able to operate drones," Tenka said.
"And that was also a question I was wondering," Huashin said while looking slightly amused: "How come you picked a weapon that was so hard to use, yet you clearly stated on your profile that you've won robotic contests?"
"Ugh, that's em-" Jun said, "when I filled the application form, I just -"
"Jun, didn't you mean that you-" Araka frowned.
Jun nodded: "That's right, I just chose the "coolest" looking weapon in the "coolest" division."
"Well, I guess that sorts things out," Sukeo sighed, "because I was wondering the exact same thing when I heard about your decision."
The interns chuckled.
"Thank you for letting me know before the real internship started, Jun," Huashin said while putting her tablet away into her bag, while her lips were trying to hold her chuckles. "That being said, if your experience with robotics were indeed accurate, then what comes next will be your first opportunity to showcase your skill, which in this case could even save lives. Of course, without further ado, we're heading to the training room, and that should thrill you up a bit."
The group, led by Huashin, now entered the training wing of the Division 2 Complex.
"Here is training room B-1, which is the largest one here in the complex and the only one equipped with VR equipment and a control room at the back," Huashin said as she turned on the light.
The training room B-1, as the light-grey panelled wall lit up by white overhead ceiling lighting as usual, was filled with the quiet hum of the simulation pod, situated at the centre of the room. The pod was small and compact, yet as the door opened, it revealed a large screen and a comfortable chair with the console at the front.
"The pod here will be the place where you - Jun - control the virtual rover, while Instructor Anawa will set up the training environment for you."
Jun took a closer look at the pod. His slightly raised eyebrows made it clear he was indeed interested in the tech. Then, without much hesitation, he stepped inside the simulation pod, hands hovered over the motion feedback gloves, put on the headset, and gave a thumb toward Huashin and the others, now behind the camera inside the control room.
Anawa, sitting inside the control room with the headset on, gave her first order: "Jun, this is Instructor Anawa. I will guide you throughout the training session. First, I would like to remind you that all the scenes and objects you see throughout the simulation are based on a real Nanyun cave we have mapped out earlier. Second, in case of any nausea or severe discomfort, you can always press the red button on the right side of the pod to pause the simulation, and Huashin would come to get you out of the pod."
"Great," Jun said dryly: "I mean this is just a pod, so I think I can walk my way out."
The first part of the training was the basic handling of the rover. Jun, while already familiar with drones and robots, found it straightforward.
"Interesting, huh?" Huashin said: "That someone under my branch somehow was able to control the rover better than many first year agents from your branch."
"Well, Huashin, I guess you made the right call by switching Jun here," Anawa said while hearing Jun reporting back about his first experience with the virtual rover.
After going through the basic training, inside the control room, Anawa was setting up the simulation while adjusting the settings of the virtual rover on the console - wind speed, humidity, and temperature. Huashin leaned slightly forward with a small smile, showing her curiosity on her face like someone discovered her favourite new game.
"Hmm, interesting," Huashin said, "I didn't get a chance to check things here recently, and the simulation seemed more advanced than the last time I checked. Right, Anawa?"
"Well, I guess you being a shrine trained agent really makes you slightly less aware about the technologies, not to mention how you still stick to that Donlin X2 sedan while most vehicles on the road have self driving mode," Anawa said plainly while reading the data of the virtual rover.
Araka tilted slightly leftward, making her eyes fixed on the rendered terrains of the simulation; Sukeo, meanwhile, seemed more interested in the readings of the rover. On the lower right corner of the screen, a small map showing the stretch of the cavern system was displayed.
"The cave stretched much deeper than it appeared on the surface," Tenka pointed at the mini map and commented, "no wonder someone would've gone missing in one of those."
"Jun, the rendering should have been completed on your side. Whenever you're ready, you can proceed," Huashin instructed Jun through the microphone.
Jun, as appeared on the upper left window of the control panel, nodded and then put his gloves on the handle, and the "rover" slowly moved ahead in the simulation.
As the virtual terrain rover went deeper into the cave, the environment became increasingly dark, and the initially narrow entrance began giving way to jagged stone walls and dripping water from the stone ceiling.
"Jun, can you hear me?" Anawa spoke through the microphone on her headset.
"I can hear you loud and clear," Jun replied.
"Good. If you press the 'deep cave headlight' button on the right panel, you should be able to see the cave more clearly," Anawa said. "Beyond this point, the automatic headlight might not be sufficient here."
Jun nodded and turned the light on as instructed, and then the live feed from the virtual rover immediately got brighter as a result: this was more than a narrow passage, but the rover was in the middle of a large stone chamber, surrounded by ragged stone walls as well as some moss and vines seeping into the little cracks above.
"The walls of moss and vines here are massive… There seemed to be some kind of soil bed here that allowed these plants to grow," Jun gasped through his speaker, "I've never seen anything like this before, even being born here."
Jun turned the rover, and the feed lit up with fungal patches glowing as the light landed on the surface. Along with the moss and vines, these plants created a unique scenery in the middle of the cave which was supposed to be pitch black.
"Wait. So these plants, like those green leaves and glowing mushroom caps, are they even real? They just look like something out of this world, like something I could find in tropical rainforests in Basu," Jun scanned the surrounding environment and said.
"Instructor Anawa, did you say this simulation was based on the mapping of an actual cave south of Bakju?" Sukeo asked while crossing his arms.
There was a pause, and then Anawa spoke calmly over the microphone: "They're all real."
Jun blinked inside the headset. "What?"
"Those species were scanned by SAIR's mapping drone two months ago. Cave 1B, northeast corridor. This VR render uses real survey data," Anawa said calmly.
"…Then why do they feel so out of place? Like if there were no lights in the cave, how could they even grow here?" Jun asked.
"It was also the question we were still struggling to answer, but we still have some hypotheses: some said that these plants were smart enough to absorb the light source coming through the cracks above, and others said these plants were kept alive by the heat from below," Anawa said through her microphone.
Jun, while listening carefully, nodded and put his hand on the right joystick again, "So Instructor Anawa, may I continue the exploration?"
"You may," Anawa gave a concrete confirmation, "but you should be more cautious from now on: in real life scenarios, you should have already encountered some wildlife, which could get annoying if they found a rover disrupting their habitats."
Jun nodded.
"Also, you should also switch the view from live feed to thermal imaging mode." Anawa instructed Jun through the microphone, "You should find the slider on the right side of the righthand joystick.
Jun nodded and switched the camera as instructed: now from the "camera" of the virtual rover, all the sceneries are black and white, and a path leading to a narrow cave passage was revealed.
The rover slowly moved ahead without any trouble. However, from the back-end, Anawa had purposely rendered another section of the simulation.
Tenka, with her eyes fixed on the screen, seemed quite curious with the new section: "Instructor Anawa, did you just add another object to the scene?"
Anawa didn't answer.
On the other side, Jun's microphone was activated.
"Anawa speaking."
"Instructor Anawa, I've got something."
Inside the pod, Jun rotated the camera to right side, and then, a pale frame resembling the remains of an animal emerged from the darkness: bones, in dozens, barely formed the shape of a figure, and the long hone of the skull gave away this might have been a goat. There was no flesh, no mold, no insects, only bones.
In the control room, the group became increasingly curious about this "new" discovery. "Was this also from the results of the mapping last month? The one with Weimin?" Huashin asked.
"That should be the case," Anawa said while temporarily putting her headsets away, "what I am doing was just use the data collected during the survey and render it inside the simulation."
"But Instructor Anawa, if that's the case, then should there be wildlife appearing in the simulation?" Sukeo said.
Anawa didn't answer that question. Instead, she put on her headset again and gave Jun a new order: "Jun, could you scan the area around to see if there were any wildlife around?"
Jun, while still trying to process the skulls and remains, nodded. He turned the camera of the rover around all over the cave: "There is some moss and mold on the wall of the cave. Other than that, I didn't see any other traces of life. More importantly, this seemed to be a dead end, as I didn't find any other exits from the chamber."
Anawa, upon hearing that, replied: "Understood, and maybe let's head back a bit to the junction where you saw the florals. Still, be aware of your surroundings."
Beside Anawa, Tenka raised her hand: "Instructor Anawa, is this the end of the simulation?"
Anawa didn't answer immediately, still had her eyes fixed on the mini map of the control panel of the simulation, checking the sliders.
"What is that noise?" Jun said while controlling the rover.
"These are bats," Huashin said while not speaking to any microphone: "Jun, you can proceed."
"Jun, Instructor Huashin said you can still proceed as they didn't pose danger to you," Anawa relayed the message to Jun.
Jun nodded and the virtual rover continued venturing toward the upper level of the cave, traversing through the rugged terrain.
"Jun," Anawa decided to give a new order: "could you turn on the Matake field sensor? You can find it around the top right of the panel, a small icon said 'Matake sensor'."
Jun nodded and turned the sensor on. Now inside the render, the virtual rover had another red light on, indicating the Matake sensor is active.
On the minimap, the rover moved toward the earlier junction where Jun saw the vine. There was also a red bookmark on the chamber Jun had entered earlier, which a small label said it was the deepest point of the mapped cave.
While the rover approached the junction, Jun checked the panel: "Instructor Anawa, there is a spike on the reading here. Does that mean that there is a Matake or shard related field around the vines?"
"Which one had the spike? The red one or the blue one?"
"The red one," Jun replied.
"That means there is a shard there," Anawa said. "Could you check if there were any wildlife wandering around? We need to make sure if it comes from the soil or an animal."
Jun turned the camera around again. In the middle of the black-white footage, the cave looked surprisingly eerie.
"No thermal bodies yet," Jun said while checked the live feed from the camera: "But Instructor Anawa, if an animal accidentally swallowed a shard fragment, would the heat map be different from other animals?"
"Yes, that's correct," Anawa responded: "You will find the animal to be hyperstimulated in all senses, and that would produce a lot of heat within their body."
"I see," Jun said while still scanning the surroundings. He turned the camera one more time and stopped in front of a thick wall of vines.
"The image suggested that there is a passage behind the vine, and the Matake sensor said that was the supposed source of the resonance. May I check that part?"
Anawa shifted her focus onto the render panel. "Yes, you may proceed."
However, Araka, while watching the whole process, found a slight uncertainty in Anawa's expression: could that be that this section of the render was incomplete?
"Instructor Anawa, may I ask if the readings from this virtual Matake sensor is based on real field emissions embedded in the survey data?" Sukeo said.
Anawa didn't respond - she was still scrolling through the rendered data from the panel, while continuing observing Jun's reaction inside the pod.
Huashin, while looking at the minimap, said with a slightly playful tone: "Interesting, since it seemed to be that Jun was entering somewhere that is rather shallow, like a small cave."
Anawa, while checking the reading, sighed while putting away her headset, while turning the monitor panel to the interns, showing several lines of error message: "That - that was unexpected."
"What do you mean by that, Instructor Anawa?" Sukeo asked.
"Basically even I didn't know what was going on, but Weimin last time indeed mapped out a shard presence nearby, but it seemed that the camera was experiencing some fault when surveying that area."
"So that means," Araka interrupted, "this was actually nothing behind that cave in the render?"
Anawa nodded: "I didn't even expect Jun to be able to figure out how to maneuver the rover this fast, and while Weimin promised me to have uploaded the data, somehow he just sent me another corrupted file."
"So what do we do now? Telling Jun to pull back?" Okuri suggested.
As the uncertainty in the control room grew, Jun called back: "I think arrangement feels … a bit deliberate."
Anawa, upon hearing back from Jun, put on her headset: "What did you find, Jun?"
Inside the pod, Jun carefully rotated the terrain rover near the end of a narrow descent—a flattened chamber with little airflow.
"The system says this is the furthest point in the known cave network," he said. "No obvious vertical shaft. No signs of deeper drop. More interestingly, I found the texture of the rock here seemed a bit unpolished, as it was some kind of default videogame texture. Are these also accurate?"
Anawa, upon hearing this, instructed: "Well I guess you should head back."
"What?" Jun seemed confused by Anawa's sudden decision: "So we don't have to investigate the source of the resonance?"
"Well, I mean- yeah, because you're at the deepest navigable point—at least based on current mapping," Anawa said while trying to hide her own embarrassment.
Jun exhaled, quietly: "No wonder even the thermal imaging seemed not functioning beyond this point. Basically, do you mean that I'm out of the boundary of the simulation?"
"Well, you could say that," Anawa replied while adjusting the render: "it seemed to be you have explored an area that we haven't fully mapped out yet. I will ask the mapping team to redo the survey of the area."
"Okay, that makes sense, I'm heading out now."
The virtual terrain rover slowly moved back from the vine covered passage, and then on the way back to the top level of the cave.
"Before you head out, could you pick up an object in the cave, like some rock samples or bones? That should have completed your training session.
Jun nodded and turned the terrain unit to retrace his steps. He paused at a small cave located near the main passage and then reached out the bot's arm to retrieve an object half-buried beneath bone debris. It was rather uneventful - Jun completed the retrieval in one step under Anawa's instructions.
Later, as the simulation ended, the room lights returned.
Jun pulled off the headset, stretching his shoulders, and walked his way out of the pod, while the others waited outside.
"Nothing major," Jun said, still stretching his shoulders: "On my way back, I saw the bats and bones again. It was surprising that I haven't encountered any panthers yet."
Huashin, arms crossed, nodded slowly: "That's what most caves are, and-" she paused a bit, "I hope this one is too."
As the monitors flickered off, the pod became dark again, with the console reset to idle.
Huashin stepped forward, tapping her index finger once against her phone, which she just pulled out from her bag.
"I see," she told herself, then she turned toward the interns: "Anyway, here is an important update: The State Police just asked us to intervene, as they had yet found the trace of the female hiker in any known caves, and the only one left unchecked was one that emerged likely after a storm two days ago."
The intern team started to focus on what Huashin was about to announce.
"Now with the extensive discussion between the SAIR and the State Police, we have concluded the following outline for this upcoming field mission: we'll deploy five operators: three for aerial and terrain drones, two for rover navigation. All feeds will be monitored by the data group. No one enters the cave physically unless multiple survival indicators appear, and only if the survey clearance allows it."
She paused, eyes scanning the group, who were processing the details of Huashin's order: "in simpler words, we will survey the cave first to see if there were survivor there, and then we enter the cave to extract her."
The group then nodded.
"Remember," after scrolling through the message, Huashin reinstated the instructions in a typical SAIR fashion: "Retrieval isn't just about speed. It's about making sure we know the details before we proceed, and that includes the geological conditions, biological presence, and if applicable—Matake or shard field fluctuation."
Jun tilted his head, arms loosely crossed: "That's… more procedural than I saw in movies or anime."
In return, Huashin offered a faint smile: "Of course, SAIR isn't a sci-fi expedition group. We always proceed under established protocols. However, with the rising case of shard appearance and even Matake field manipulation, even with all that in place…"
She turned slightly, eyes falling on Araka.
"If the readings spike - if we detect any kind of resonant distortion or non-animal behavioural anomalies -"
A pause. "…Then yes, Araka may be needed. Especially if we're dealing with possessed wildlife or a natural Matake resonance fluctuation."
Araka, meanwhile, said nothing, yet her focused mind told otherwise: if this indeed involved something either like Matake or shard, then this is no longer a typical missing hiker case.
It was something else, some deeper truth that might wait to be revealed.