Tokyo : 3:11 a.m.
The storm didn't stop this time.
It screamed.
Lightning stitched the skyline together like glowing veins across a dying body. The city slept restlessly, unaware that something ancient had awakened beneath it.
Kazuki sat in darkness.
His room was lit only by the pulse of light running under his skin soft, rhythmic, alive.
He couldn't tell if it was heartbeat or warning.
He hadn't moved in hours.
Didn't eat. Didn't blink much either. He just listened.
Every hum of the suit.
Every crackle in the walls.
Every sound that wasn't supposed to exist.
And then ,A voice.
Soft, electronic, inside his head.
"Kazuki Tanaka."
He froze.
"You've been searching for answers. Allow me to introduce myself."
The lightning outside dimmed. His phone screen turned on by itself — lines of code spilling down like rain.
A name appeared at the bottom.
DR. ARDYN VALE
The Architect of Velocity
Elsewhere : The Abandoned Velocity Lab
The walls were glass.
The ceiling an endless dome of white light that shimmered like trapped time. Machines older than Kazuki's lifetime buzzed quietly, reawakening after years of silence.
A figure walked through the lab.
A man in his mid-40s, sharp suit, eyes glowing faint blue the color of processed lightning.
Dr. Ardyn Vale.
Once hailed as Japan's leading temporal physicist. Declared dead after an explosion that destroyed his laboratory twelve years ago.
But the truth?
He never died.
He simply stepped outside time.
Now he watched Kazuki's image flicker on a holographic screen.
"You've survived every anomaly we threw at you," Vale murmured. "Good. That means the integration is stable."
A woman's voice came from behind him filtered, mechanical.
"He's not like the others. The suit didn't just merge with him… it evolved."
Vale smiled faintly. "Of course it did. He's not wearing the Velocity Core."
He turned toward the glowing capsule at the center of the room a swirling sphere of pure white energy, floating, humming.
"He is the Velocity Core."
Morning : Aeva's Apartment
Kazuki hadn't told Aeva about the voice.
How could he? He barely believed it himself.
He sat at her small kitchen table, eyes blank, a cup of coffee going cold.
"You haven't said a word," she said.
Kazuki stared at the table. "Someone spoke to me last night."
Aeva's eyebrows knit. "Who?"
"I don't know if he's human."
She frowned. "Kazuki"
He cut her off. "He said his name is Dr. Ardyn Vale."
The name hit her like static.
"Wait. That's… that's the scientist from"
"Project Velocity," Kazuki finished.
"The one who vanished."
Silence.
"Then he's behind this," she said quietly.
Kazuki shook his head. "No. It's more complicated. He created this suit… but I don't think he meant to create me."
Flashback :The Lost Experiment
The screen in Vale's lab displayed old footage.
A younger Vale stood beside a containment chamber and inside it, a boy no older than ten. Pale. Fragile. Connected to wires and glowing threads.
Vale's voice on the recording:
"Subject K-17. Designation: Temporal Conduit. Purpose: To stabilize the flow of time through biological matter."
The boy screamed lightning surged through him and the screen went black.
Vale, watching the recording now, whispered to himself:
"You were the only one who survived."
He turned toward the present-day screen showing Kazuki's face.
"And you don't even remember."
Afternoon :School Rooftop
Kazuki hadn't been to class. He sat alone under the cloudy sky, gripping the edge of the railing.
Every time he blinked, he saw flashes.
Buildings from other timelines.
Aeva crying in one.
Him older, broken, faster than light in another.
He whispered, "What are you trying to show me?"
And then, behind him:
"The truth."
He spun.
Standing there was Dr. Ardyn Vale calm, composed, as if he'd just stepped out of thin air.
Kazuki took a step back. "You're supposed to be dead."
Vale smiled faintly. "I am. In most timelines."
The air around them shimmered with static.
Even the raindrops seemed to hang suspended in slow motion.
Kazuki clenched his fists. "You made this suit. You did this to me."
"No," Vale said. "I designed the concept. But you were the only one the Core chose."
"The Core?"
Vale's expression shifted a mix of awe and guilt.
"It's not a weapon, Kazuki. It's a living energy born from the collision of two timelines. It binds to a host to maintain balance."
Kazuki's voice shook. "Balance? You call this balance? I can't sleep. I can't stop seeing things that haven't happened yet!"
Vale stepped closer. "Because you are the fracture point. The link between what was… and what must never be again."
Kazuki's heartbeat quickened. "What are you saying?"
Vale looked at him truly looked at him.
"You're the reason time is breaking."
Somewhere Deep Underground The Chamber of the Echoes
The two surviving Echoes stood before Drexon.
He watched Vale and Kazuki on his own monitor. "So he finally told him."
"What now?" one Echo asked.
Drexon's tone was cold.
"Now the boy will break. And when he does, the Core will awaken."
"And the Architect?"
Drexon turned his cracked skin glowing faintly.
"The Architect thinks he controls the storm," he said, smiling. "But he forgot storms don't obey architects."
Rooftop Continued
Kazuki's mind spun. "You're saying… I caused all this?"
Vale nodded slowly. "You didn't mean to. But when the Core bonded with you, it connected to every version of you across every possible timeline. Your existence became… multiplied."
Kazuki clenched his teeth. "Then why not end it?"
"Because if you die," Vale said, "time dies with you."
Lightning flashed. The world froze for half a second.
Then Kazuki whispered, "So I'm not saving the world… I'm holding it hostage."
Vale's eyes softened. "No, Kazuki. You're holding it together."
But before Kazuki could respond, the sky ripped.
A crack of blinding red energy split the clouds.
And from within that crack
A silhouette stepped out.
Fast. Blinding. Familiar.
It was him.
Or something that looked exactly like him older, sharper, eyes white like lightning, suit woven entirely into his flesh.
Future Kazuki.
Vale whispered, "No… not yet."
The future version of Kazuki smirked.
"Still trying to fix what you broke, Doctor?"
Present Kazuki's eyes widened. "What… are you?"
The older version's voice was calm , eerily calm.
"I'm what happens when you stop running."
He blurred forward — faster than thought grabbed Vale by the throat, and vanished in a streak of white lightning.
The city shook.
Kazuki stood frozen, staring at the trail of light fading into the clouds.
And somewhere far above Tokyo… thunder laughed.
Final Scene Voice Log #77 (Recovered)
"If you're hearing this, then he's met his future self."
"Do not let the timelines merge. If they do… reality resets."
"Kazuki Tanaka is not the key."
"He is the door."