Don't smash an emotion. Crack it slowly.
Humans don't run from collapse—they always stay to watch the fragments fall.
Late afternoon sky.
School was almost over.
The corridors had thinned out, but in the silent music room one figure still stood—upright, unmoving, like a white chess piece yet to be touched.
Shiro Kaname.
Silver hair neatly kept, eyes a muted grey.
His uniform worn perfectly, yet the air around him seemed to slip outside the gravity of the normal world.
In front of him—the piano.
Closed. Untouched.
[SYSTEM SYNC STATUS: 67%]
[HOST: SHIRO KANAME]
[SOURCE: VALESTRA SYSTEM – DOMINANCE]
[INITIATING CONTROL SEQUENCE: LEVEL 1]
A voice entered his mind—no echo, no permission.
"You've stepped into the field, Shiro… but remember, this isn't about desire.
It's about control."
Shiro dipped his head slightly, hands still in his blazer pockets.
"I understand, Lady Valestra. I'm trying."
"Trying isn't enough.
You have to become the addiction."
The back door creaked open.
A short‑haired girl from the music club walked in, looking at Shiro with a flicker of awe.
"Ah… you're the new student, Kaname‑kun?"
Shiro smiled—just enough to make her stop two steps short.
"Yes. I'm just… getting to know the place. Sorry if I'm in the way."
"No, no!" she stammered, flustered. "I just… came for my songbook!"
She grabbed her book, bowed slightly, and ran out.
The door closed again.
Valestra's laugh curled through his head.
"So easy."
Shiro sat slowly at the piano bench.
Placed his fingers over the keys—
but didn't press a single note.
"But Yuriko isn't like that."
"That's why she matters.
Break Yuriko, and you break Lilith."
Shiro lowered his gaze.
"I can speak softly.
I can offer a shoulder, an ear.
But she's too smart to fall into sympathy."
"Who said anything about sympathy?"
Valestra's tone sharpened.
"All you need is to mirror the image she wants to believe.
She wants to feel understood—
so understand her… without ever touching her heart."
[NEW OBJECTIVE UPLOADED]
[TARGET: YURIKO HANEKAWA]
[STRATEGY: Mirror‑Self Theory / Passive Emotional Undermining]
[No physical advance. No verbal affection. All control.]
Shiro closed his eyes.
"She still looks at Acxell."
"And that's her weakness.
Use his name to push and pull."
Then—he felt it.
A pulse inside his emotional core.
A vibration not from within, but from the opposite direction.
Acxell.
[HOST COLLISION DETECTED]
[WARNING: INTERFERENCE FROM LILITH SYSTEM]
[SHIELD INITIATED]
Valestra whispered closer now, her voice right against the inside of his skull:
"He feels you. And he'll come."
"Let him feel… a deeper loss, before he starts to act."
Shiro rose.
His steps were slow as he left the music room—eyes down, mind already setting the chessboard.
He didn't need strength.
He only needed time.
And the strongest human…
…is the one who looks weakest, when everyone else is angry.
[SESSION SYNC: 71%]
[SHIRO KANAME – AVATAR LEVEL: 2]
[DOMINANCE SKILL UNLOCKED: Empathic Mirror]
[NEXT MOVE: Initiate subtle discord during group activity]