I sit here... in this cold, silent cell—no chains, no guards, yet everything feels heavier than it should. My arms rest on my knees, but it's like the weight of everything I've done, everything I've tried to do, is pressing down on my shoulders.
What was I even thinking?
Was I brave? Or just stupid?
I close my eyes. Only the silence speaks—and it screams. I keep seeing that pod... her face... that moment her finger moved. Arisu. That little glimmer of life.
I don't regret trying. Not one bit. But damn... why does it feel like I've already been buried, even though I'm still breathing?
The world outside this tiny room moves on, but I'm stuck here, a prisoner not just of this place, but of the truth I've seen... and the lies I might've uncovered.
What was I supposed to do? Watch and walk away?
...No. I couldn't. I wouldn't.
What kind of world lets people like Arisu be caged like that? Just because she's different?
A voice in me keeps whispering—you failed her.
But another voice, quieter... warmer, says, not yet.
This isn't over.
I don't know who she is, or why the Nexus is hiding her, but I swear… if I get out of here, I'll find her again. And next time, I won't just watch through glass.
I'll tear the whole place down if I have to.
---
The walls here are made of thick alloy, cold and grey like the mood I'm in. One tiny vent hums somewhere above me, but the air still feels stale. The light overhead flickers every few seconds, like it's thinking whether to give up or keep going—kind of like me right now.
This cell… it's not just a room. It's a statement. You're a criminal.You're dangerous.You messed up.
I sit on a bed that's more like a slab with a pillow pretending to be soft. No windows. No clock. Just silence, and the slow tick of my thoughts reminding me how badly this all went down. I tried to do something right. Tried to save a girl. And now here I am, locked away like a villain.
I rest my head against the damp wall and close my eyes for a moment. Not to sleep—sleep left me behind hours ago. Just... to think.
What must the others be thinking right now?
Kaito-san… he's probably calm. Trying to understand the situation. Maybe he's sitting cross-legged somewhere with his arms folded, muttering something like, "Takumi wouldn't do this without a reason." He trusts me. At least, I think he does.
Shizuka-san, on the other hand... she's probably panicking. I can already imagine her running through every report, every camera feed, arguing with every officer she finds. She always tries to fix everything. Even me.
Yora... he must think I'm done for. A fallen comrade. Someone who crossed the line and couldn't come back. That fatty's got a wild imagination. He's probably written my name in some heroic-but-tragic poem already.
Hayato… honestly? I don't know. He's always been distant. Stoic. Probably just raised an eyebrow when he heard and went back to training.
And Ruby-san…
She's probably the calmest of them all—but not because she doesn't care. She's sharp. Sharp enough to know something's off.
Maybe right now… she's thinking, "What the hell did you get yourself into, Takumi?"
And honestly… I'm wondering the same.
I just hope—wherever she is—she hasn't already written me off as a traitor. That'd hurt more than these damn cell walls.
---
The cell door creaks open. Two guards step in. Between them walks a tall man in a black coat, silver badge on his chest—the Vice inspector.
He stops in front of me, adjusts his gloves, and speaks in a steady, formal voice.
"Takumi Hinoyama. After thorough review of your actions—unauthorized infiltration, property damage, and attempted breach of a secured containment—you have been found guilty under Section 47-C of Nexus Law."
His words cut through the air like a blade.
"By the authority of the Cyberwatch Council, you are hereby sentenced to death penalty. Execution date to be declared soon."
I feel everything go still inside me. The guards turn. The man gives me one last look—emotionless—and walks away.
I don't flinch. I don't scream. I just… breathe.
Death penalty, huh?
Kind of expected it, didn't I?
After all, I did break into one of the most guarded places in the country. I did knock out guards. I did try to free someone they were clearly hiding for a reason. And most of all—I trusted a man who was already condemned.
Ryuuto…
Just yesterday, I was hunting him down. Just yesterday, I was the hero. The law-abiding one. And now?
Now I sit in the same cell he once did.
Same crime. Same punishment.
Infiltrating a place we weren't supposed to touch.
Funny how things flip so fast.
Maybe we're not so different, after all. He walked into the dark to save his daughter.
And now, I've done the same—for Arisu.
Hah… I judged him at first. Thought he was just another criminal pulling stunts.
But in the end, we both broke the same rules… for the same purpose.
Ah man… I really want to save her.
Even now, even after all this… that thought just won't leave me.
Is there anything I can do now?
I mean, if I just let myself die like this—quietly—then nothing changes, right?
The place stays rotten. The girl stays trapped.
And the truth? It dies with me.
I wanted to change things.
I wanted to live…
And more than that—
I wanted her to live. Be free. See the sky, taste real food, maybe even laugh like a normal girl.
But now what?
What do I do… when there's nothing I can do?
---
Days slipped by like dust through the cracks of silence.
No one visited. No news came.
Just the ticking of time, counting down to tomorrow—my execution.
Funny, isn't it? I don't even flinch at the word now.
Death.
It feels more like… a quiet exit than a punishment.
I stopped hoping. Stopped thinking. Stopped fighting.
What's the point of pushing when there's no door left to open?
So I sit here, slumped in the corner of this cold, grey cell, eyes half-shut, waiting for the end like it's just another nap.
And just when I finally decide to stop caring—
Something soft brushes my wrist.
…a rose petal?
...
...
...
"Hey, kid. It's me."
My eyes shoot up.
No way.
That voice—soft, sly, familiar—echoes in the empty cell.
"Ruby-san…?" I whisper, unsure if my mind's playing tricks now too.
"Miss me?" she smirks.
I sit there, frozen. "Wh… What are you doing here?"
She shrugs like she just popped in for tea. "Saving your butt. What else?"
I feel my breath again.
She's real.
Ruby-san's here.
She leans casually against the bars.
"Yo, how's the weather inside?" she grins. "Out here, it's a disaster. Politics, secrets, explosions of ego—classic Nexus drama."
I blink at her, still trying to process this.
"...You broke in?"
"Technically, I walked in. Charm's a deadly weapon, remember?" She winks, then glances over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got five minutes before someone realizes the security feed's throwing a tantrum."
She lowers her voice slightly. "Heard you're scheduled for a one-way trip to oblivion."
I sigh. "Yeah. Lucky me."
"You always did have a flair for dramatic endings," she says, and then gently adds, "But maybe… just maybe, this ain't your ending."
BOOM
The door swings open with a sudden force. And just like that, she's inside.
Ruby-san.
She strolls in like she owns the place—hands in her coat pockets, eyes scanning the sorry state of the room, and then landing straight on me.
A pause.
She raises an eyebrow.
"...Wow."
That's all she says at first.
Then she walks closer, squinting like she's inspecting a long-lost fossil.
"You look like a mop that got rejected from the cleaning closet."
"...Hey," I mumble.
She clicks her tongue. "I mean seriously—messy hair, dirt on your face, eyes like you just lost a staring contest with a void. Have they been feeding you? Or just showing you your reflection every morning as punishment?"
I try not to laugh—but it slips.
"…Good to see you, Ruby-san."
She smirks, flipping her hair over her shoulder like she's on some red carpet rather than inside a prison cell.
"Of course it is. I'm a national treasure, after all."
I let out a tired chuckle. "Yeah… more like a national threat."
"Ouch," she says, clutching her chest dramatically. "Straight to the heart, Takumi-kun. Didn't know prison turns people into comedians."
I shake my head, still leaning against the wall. "I haven't laughed in days."
She quiets down for a moment, then walks over and sits beside me on the floor.
"…Well, you're laughing now."
I glance at her. "You always show up like this?"
"Only when the world's about to end or a friend's about to die." She says it casually, but there's a softness under her tone.
I sigh. "Guess I tick both boxes."
She hums, looking at the cracked ceiling. "Y'know… I always figured if you were gonna get arrested, it'd be for something like stealing cafeteria pudding."
"That was one time and it was an accident."
"Really? Lmao."
Silence settles for a second. Then, her voice drops just a bit—still casual, but serious underneath.
"…You really found her, huh?"
I nod slowly. "She's real, Ruby-san. And she's in pain."
"I see."
She stands up, brushing dust off her long coat. "Then what are we still doing in this rat hole?"
I blink. "Wait—you're breaking me out? Just like that?"
She shoots me a playful wink. "No, I'm giving you a motivational speech and tucking you in for the night. Yes, I'm breaking you out, dumbass."
"But the security—"
"Already taken care of. I had to flirt with a half-drunk systems officer for a retinal scan, knock out three guards, and hack a panel using a toothbrush and an ancient candy wrapper. Not my finest heist, but definitely stylish."
She tosses me a fresh cloak and a pair of shoes. "Put those on. You smell like the inside of a forgotten sock."
I do as told, wincing as my stiff limbs complain. "You got a plan?"
She smirks. "Takumi, I don't just have a plan. I have backup, smoke bombs, exit routes, a distraction set in motion, and—wait for it—a stolen Cyberwatch hoverbike parked two floors down."
"…You're serious."
"I don't do jailhouse jokes."
As we step into the dim corridor outside the cell, she hands me a small orb. "Smoke bomb. Throw it if things get messy. And don't say anything dumb like 'what does this do' before you throw it, alright?"
"Got it." I grip it tightly.
We move quickly. The hall is eerily empty—too empty.
"…Ruby-san, what if we get caught?"
She throws me a glance. "Then I'll just break us out again. Come on, we've got a girl to save."
We sprint through the flickering emergency lights. Our feet slap against cold metal floors. My breath's ragged, Ruby-san's faster, more agile—but we're both determined. Alarms start to echo all around, red lights dance across the walls like a twisted disco of doom.
Then—
HALT!
A wave of guards flood in from the left corridor. I brace, ready to throw the smoke orb, but Ruby-san's faster. With a flick of her wrist, a burst of rose petals explodes in front of them. We slide past, knocking down two guards on the way, I elbow one in the gut—he folds like paper. Ruby-san kicks another in the chin with such style I feel like clapping.
We're almost there—the main exit is just a few meters away, the soft buzz of the hoverbike calling out like freedom.
But then—
Thud… Thud…
A slow, heavy presence fills the air.
And then he steps into view.
Tall, built like a wall, draped in a dark high-collared coat, eyes glowing faint blue with strange glyphs rotating behind them—Vice Inspector of the Cyberwatch Daigorah.
"The traitor and the witch," he mutters, his voice thick with contempt. "Trying to leave the stage before the final act?"
Before either of us can respond, he slams his palm into the air.
CRACK!
Chains of glowing blue light spiral out from his hand, snaking like living things—they wrap around us, freezing us mid-run. My body locks up, limbs tight and numb.
"What the hell is this?!" I struggle, but it's like my own energy is being siphoned.
Ruby-san grits her teeth."Tch… cursed sealing spell…!"
Daigorah walks toward us, calm as a storm in control. "You broke law, order, and peace. There is no salvation for criminals. The sentence shall be carried—again."
Ruby-san lets out a low breath. "Your 'peace' is just a pretty word for prison."
He smirks. "Better than chaos."
We're trapped. The exit so close, yet far. My fists clench.
I shift my eyes toward Daigorah. My body's still frozen, but my mouth—thankfully—isn't.
"Why are you doing this?" I say, staring him down. "You know what's in that room. You know who she is. Why is she even locked up like that?"
He doesn't reply. His eyes remain blank, indifferent, as if my words are just background noise.
"She's just a girl," I continue, louder this time. "What law says a human being deserves to be locked in a glass cage like an experiment? What law justifies this?"
Daigorah adjusts the cuff of his uniform calmly, his voice flat. "You violated high-security zones. You tampered with restricted tech. You assaulted guards. You endangered state security. That is all the law needs."
I shake my head. "That's not what I asked. I'm not asking what I did. I'm asking why the hell you people are doing this to her."
Silence.
Then Daigorah takes a step closer.
"Laws are not concerned with your emotions. What you think is right or wrong is irrelevant in the face of order. Protocol exists to maintain balance. You disrupted that."
"Balance?" I scoff. "Keeping a girl locked up like some kind of cursed weapon is your idea of balance?"
His gaze sharpens. "She is not an ordinary girl."
"I know that!" I snap. "She's Arisu. She's alive. She breathes, she moves, she thinks. She's a human not an god damn Oscuro. That should be enough."
Daigorah says nothing. No flicker of guilt. No doubt. Just that same dead expression carved in stone.
Man, this guy… he's not listening. Maybe he never did.
But still… I had to try.
"Um, excuse me?" Ruby-san's voice slices through the tension like a thorn through silk. "Sorry to interrupt, but we don't really have time to sway this idiot here, Takumi."
She cracks her neck slightly, then with a flick of her wrist, petals swirl from beneath her coat. A sudden burst of crimson and violet blooms in the air—floral sorcery, elegant yet explosive. The bind around her body shatters like glass kissed by wind.
Daigorah's eyes narrow, glowing faintly. "You... Bloodthorn Witch."
She brushes some dirt off her shoulder, unbothered. "Oh wow, still calling me that old nickname? Guess the Cyberwatch's creativity department really died years ago."
Daigorah's lips tighten. "You're interfering with classified enforcement. Turn yourself in, Ruby Scarlett."
"Mm, tempting," she shrugs, then throws a smirk my way. "But I've always been allergic to boring conversations—and shackles."
Daigorah steps forward. His aura flares—a cold, crackling pressure like frost biting into bone. The man looks like a fortress in a uniform, unmoved, unshaken.
Ruby-san, on the other hand, looks like a storm disguised in a smile.
"You've always been a thorn, Scarlett," Daigorah says, voice sharp. "And thorns get trimmed."
She twirls her finger, and petals spiral like blades around her. "Trim me, then. But be careful. Roses bleed back."
Without warning, Daigorah stomps down—the floor beneath him pulses, summoning a binding wave of metallic sigils that shoot toward Ruby-san like iron snakes.
She leaps sideways, landing lightly with a graceful spin. The petals around her suddenly whip into razor-thin vines that slash through the wave mid-air.
Daigorah growls, now forming jagged constructs of pure Seishin—floating discs, spinning blades of condensed law-magic.
Ruby-san narrows her eyes. "Playing with your shiny toys?"
She sweeps her arms outward—Petals burst from beneath her feet, clashing into the constructs mid-air. Each petal explodes on impact, dazzling light against the dull silver of Daigorah's powers.
I stand back, unable to take my eyes off it. The difference in their styles is huge—Daigorah is rigid, calculated. Ruby-san? She flows like poetry set on fire.
Daigorah raises a wall of law sigils and lunges forward.
Ruby-san sidesteps, grabs a handful of petals mid-air and slaps them into his chest.
BOOM.
A burst of crimson light hurls him back a few steps—he doesn't fall, but the floor beneath him cracks.
"I don't need your laws," she says, standing tall, her voice sharp and clear. "I'm writing my own."
Daigorah steadies himself. Steam rises from his coat.
With a flick of his wrist, dozens of silver chains erupt from the floor—Regulatory Binding, a signature move of Cyberwatch elites. The chains rush toward Ruby like a swarm of mechanical serpents.
Ruby-san twirls once, her coat flutters as a wave of petals blasts outward like a blooming storm. Each chain that comes close is shredded by the razor-sharp edges of her sorcery. Sparks fly, clinks echo—but she keeps moving, weaving through the chaos like wind through flowers.
Daigorah grits his teeth and slams both hands into the ground. The floor glows beneath Ruby—Judicial Seal—a massive spell meant to lock down space itself.
But Ruby-san's already in the air.
With a graceful flip, she raises both hands and chants low, her voice like a whisper in a hurricane.
"Hana Majutsu... Rosalia."
Floral sorcery... Final Bloom.
From every crack in the ground, petals rise. A thousand. No—a blizzard of crimson.
They whirl around Daigorah in a perfect spiral, wrapping tighter and tighter with each second. He tries to break through with raw magic, but the vines move with intent, responding not to strength, but will.
He stumbles, struggles—and in a final move, Ruby-san clenches her fist.
Snap.
The vines constrict and freeze mid-air, locking Daigorah in a cocoon of petals, roots, and thorns. Only his furious, narrowed eyes remain visible through the gaps.
Ruby-san exhales, brushing dust off her shoulder.
Then, cool as ever, she turns toward me and says, "I ain't wasting no more time on metalheads with a law kink."
She walks off.
And yeah, I follow her—'cause when Ruby-san blooms, even steel has to kneel.
---
After dashing through dark corridors echoing with alarms and flickering red lights, the cold hum of lockdown sirens behind them, we finally see it.
The exit.
A split of light… the outside world.
As soon as we step out, I feel the warmth hit my skin—real warmth, not the dead air of a prison cell. A breeze runs through my tangled hair, and I look up.
The sky—blue, vast, so open.
Birds fluttering across it like little messengers of freedom.
I almost forgot how they looked.
How the sun felt.
How living felt.
It's been so long… too long.
And I swear—I'll make sure she sees this too.
The wind, the sky, the sun… everything. Arisu deserves the world.
"Yo," Ruby-san waves casually as she skids around the corner on the Cyberwatch hoverbike, clearly not hers. "Hope you don't mind stolen rides."
I can't help but chuckle and run up.
"Ruby-san… you're a legend."
"Hop on, we've got a kid to rescue and a world to flip upside down," she smirks.
I jump behind her, gripping the back bar tight. The engine hums like a dragon ready to fly.
"Let's make some noise," she says, and with a sharp twist of her wrist, we shoot forward—straight into the sky.
---
As the hoverbike roars through the wind, I cling onto Ruby-san from behind. The cold air slaps my face, the world feels like finally open again after all that darkness.
I hesitate for a moment, then ask, "Ruby-san… what's going to happen to us now? Our clan… the Hyakuren?"
She doesn't answer right away. The wind carries a heavy silence between us. Then, finally, she says, casually but with a sharp edge, "Well, starting today… we're no longer that clan."
"…What?"
"I—the Clan President—broke into a government facility. Freed a prisoner. Punched a vice inspector in the gut with a flower," she shrugs. "You think they'll just let that slide?"
I feel my throat tighten. "So… they'll brand us criminals?"
"Yup. Rogue clan status incoming," she says. "Banners torn, names wiped. Everything we stood for? Gone in their books."
"But the others—Kaito-san, Shizuka-san…"
"I'll handle them," she cuts in firmly. "And I'm sure they'll understand."
I grip the seat harder. "You planned this?"
"I hoped it wouldn't come to this," she says. "But I always plan for the worst. That's why I'm president, right?"
The wind howls, but even through that, her words stay sharp. Everything has changed.
And there's no going back now.
I lower my head slightly, watching the land blur beneath us.
"So, this is it then," I mutter. "We're the bad guys now."
Ruby-san scoffs. "Bad guys? Nah. We're just inconvenient truths in a world full of lies."
"But we were the Hyakuren… people looked up to us."
"They looked up to a version of us. The one polished by government approval. The moment we stopped playing along, we stopped being useful. That's all it ever was, Takumi."
Her words hit hard… but they're not wrong.
I shift slightly on the hoverbike, gripping the seat tighter as the wind brushes against my face. My voice comes out quieter than I expected.
"…Ruby-san. How did you know about Arisu? All of this?"
She doesn't respond right away. The engine hums beneath us, but I can tell she heard me.
"I know more than I let on," she finally says. "I've known about the government's dirty laundry for a while now. Where they hide their messes, who they silence, the experiments, the lies."
I blink. "Then… why didn't you ever try to expose it?"
She lets out a bitter laugh. "Because I never cared to. It was easier not to. Safer to pretend none of it was my problem. I thought… as long as our clan stayed clean, as long as we weren't directly involved… it wasn't our fight."
"…Then why now?" I ask. "Why risk it all for this?"
She glances over her shoulder, and there's a soft grin tugging at her lips.
"Thanks to you, idiot."
I stare. She continues, her voice gentler than before.
"You barged in where no one else would. Risked everything. For a girl the world had already buried. That kinda reckless hope… it reminded me why I ever became a Hyakurensha in the first place."
I lower my head again. The weight of her words settles in my head.
"Then let's not stop here, Ruby-san. Let's finish what we started."
She looks forward again, hair fluttering in the wind, her voice firm now—clearer than ever.
"Then from now on," she says, "we don't fight for the government."
I lift my head.
"We fight for what we believe is right. Whether it's against the Oscuros, the Asuras, or even the damn Cyberwatch."
I stare at her back for a second, then a small smile creeps onto my face.
"Yes President," I whisper. "Let's do that."