Mio
Mio had been casting Vitalize since midnight. Couldn't sleep. The rhythm was familiar now—the bite, the warmth, the number climbing. She'd stopped flinching hours ago.
[Reservoir: 4,500 / 12,500]
The apartment door opened. She didn't hear them knock.
Two of them. A man and a girl, both in the kind of plain suits that screamed government.
The man was older—salt-and-pepper hair, a face like crumpled paper. The girl was younger, sharper. No tablet, no clipboard.
Just watching.
Something pressed against Mio's skin the moment the girl stepped inside. Faint. Like standing near a space heater—not burning, but you knew it could.
High grade. Very high.
Mio was sitting at the kitchen table, cup of cold tea in front of her, still wearing yesterday's clothes. She hadn't slept. Hadn't eaten.
The man looked at her. At the dried blood still crusted in her hair. At the way she sat there, still as furniture, like she'd forgotten how to be nervous.
"Tamei Mio?"
"Who's asking?"
He flashed a badge. Bureau of Integrated Affairs. Special Investigations Division. Six interlocking circles on the seal.
Six circles.
"Segawa." He pulled out a chair and sat across from her. The girl stayed by the door, arms crossed. "Meguro incursion. Three delvers went in with you, none checked out. Mana spike off the charts for an F-Grade."
He rubbed his face.
"Took us twelve hours to get a reading. Whatever happened in there scrambled sensors for three blocks."
He leaned back.
"You want to tell me what happened, or should I guess?"
"I filed a report."
"Yeah, I read it. 'Anomalous entity encounter, party deceased, incursion cleared.' Real detailed." He tapped the table. "Try again."
Mio looked at the girl. She hadn't moved. Hadn't spoken. Just stood there like a statue with a pulse.
"What's her deal?"
The words left her mouth before she could stop them.
She waited for the spike of panic. The cold sweat. The voice in her head screaming shut up shut up you're going to die.
Nothing.
Her pulse was steady. Sixty beats per minute. She could feel it—the Engine tracking her vitals like a status screen she couldn't dismiss.
When did I stop being afraid?
Segawa glanced back. "Homura? Harmless. Eyes on the subject, please."
Homura smiled. Small. Patient.
It didn't make Mio feel better. It should have made her feel worse. But the fear she was waiting for never arrived.
"So talk," Segawa said. "What happened in there?"
Mio looked at the cold tea.
"System called it the Trial of Genesis. An Entity showed up. Killed my party. Marked me."
"Which mark?"
"Gaian."
Segawa closed his eyes. "Shit."
He opened them. Something in his face had changed—not fear, exactly. More like a man who'd just learned his least favorite coworker was moving into the cubicle next door.
"Gaian." He said the name like he was tasting something sour. "That conniving bitch."
He was quiet for a long moment. Behind him, Homura's posture shifted. Subtle. The pressure spiked for half a second—enough to make Mio's lungs tighten.
Then Segawa pulled out a cigarette. Lit it. Didn't puff. Just held it between his fingers, watching the smoke curl.
"You're the fourth one she's marked," he said. "You know what happened to the other three?"
Mio shook her head.
"First guy lasted six hours. Reservoir overloaded, cooked him from the inside out."
He tapped ash onto her floor.
"Second was a woman, made it two weeks. Heart gave out mid-cast. Third one lasted four months. Left a note about not being able to stop. The hunger, he called it."
He watched the ash fall.
"They found him with his tongue chewed raw. He'd healed it three times before he gave up on that and found something Gaian couldn't fix."
The ache in her chest pulsed. The one she'd been feeding all night.
The hunger.
She knew exactly what he meant.
"Gaian's mark is unstable," he continued. "The other five Vestiges figured their shit out a long time ago. Hers is still..."
He waved the cigarette.
"Experimental."
"Other five." Mio looked at the six circles on his badge. "There are six Vestiges."
"Six seats. Gaian's been empty six months." He tapped ash into her cold tea. "You're filling the vacancy."
"And now it's in me."
"Lucky number four."
"Why me?"
He looked at her like she'd asked why water was wet. "You were a Healer."
"So?"
"So that's the requirement. That's all I'm cleared to tell you." He held the cigarette near his lips, let the smoke drift. "You want more, hit Level 30. Then we talk."
"Level 30."
"Minimum security clearance for Vestige-related intel." He shrugged. "Bureau policy. The Marked don't fit our Grade system. So we measure you by what the Engine says."
"My status is different now," she said. "There's a level. I've never had a level before. The System doesn't—"
"The Engine." He said it like a diagnosis. "Yeah. That's new for you. We've been studying it—autopsies on the dead ones, observation reports on the living. Best we can figure, the mark installs something on top of the System. The Marked call it different things. Engine's the Bureau's term."
"What does it do?"
"Lets you grow." He shrugged. "Normal delvers, we're stuck. Grade you're born with is the grade you die with. The Marked?"
He gestured vaguely at her forehead.
"Somewhere to go. Ceiling nobody's found yet." He leaned back. "Plus you're stronger out of the gate. Faster. Tougher. The Engine rewrites the baseline—makes the Marked superhuman even at Level 1."
He shrugged. "Stats that would take a normal delver decades to reach, you get just for breathing. As of now, you're the equivalent of a competent Grade D delver."
As strong as Rin was.
"Don't let it get to your head though. Dead is dead. This isn't a game."
A giggle from the door.
Mio's head turned. The girl—Homura—had her hand over her mouth. Shoulders shaking.
"Sorry, sorry." She didn't sound sorry. "It's just—superhuman. That's cute." Her eyes found Mio's. Flat. Amused. "I could kill you before you blink. You know that, right? Pop your heart like a grape. Segawa-san's being nice because he needs you cooperative, but let's not pretend you're anything except—"
"Homura."
"—a baby deer learning to walk."
"Homura."
"What?" She spread her hands. Innocent. "I'm being helpful. Setting expectations."
Segawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go stand in the hall."
"I'm fine here."
"That wasn't a request."
Homura held his gaze for a moment. Then she smiled—small, patient—and pushed off the wall.
"Nice meeting you, Tamei-san." She waved without looking back. "Try not to die before I get a turn."
The door clicked shut.
Segawa exhaled. Long. Tired.
"She's..."
"Grade A," Segawa said. "Youngest to Integrate at that rank. That comes with some... personality."
The air felt lighter without her. Mio hadn't realized how heavy it had been.
A ceiling nobody's found yet.
"The champions," she said. "Where are they?"
Segawa was quiet for a moment. Then he set the cigarette on the edge of her table, letting it burn.
"One's here. Japan. Works with the Bureau—you'll meet her soon." He picked up the cigarette again, still not smoking it. "One's in America where things are worse. One's imprisoned. Don't ask why—you're not cleared."
He watched the ash grow.
"The strongest one went dark eight months ago. Gone."
"And the last one?"
He almost smiled. "Hasn't been discovered yet. He's smart. Hides his tracks. Stays off the grid, away from anything that might ping our sensors."
He looked at her. The cigarette had burned down to his fingers. He didn't seem to notice.
"Unlike you."
The words hung in the air.
Four went in. One came out. She hadn't even thought to hide.
"The money's been transferred," Segawa said, stubbing out the cigarette on her table. "Hazard pay plus compensation for the deceased."
He pulled out a phone. "Officially, this was an incursion malfunction. Mana spike, party wipe, sole survivor. That's the story for the families."
He met her eyes.
"For everyone."
A cover-up.
"And if I don't want to play along?"
"Then we relocate your sister. Secure facility, good education, supervised visits."
His voice was tired.
"I don't like it either. But those are the rules."
Mio's blood went cold.
No.
Not cold. That's what should have happened. What the old Mio would have felt.
Instead: something else.
The space in her chest stirred. Uncoiling. And for a single heartbeat the air in the kitchen stopped moving.
The door opened. Homura slipped back in—Mio hadn't heard her move.
Her arms uncrossed.
The movement was small. Automatic. Her weight shifted to the balls of her feet, hands dropping to her sides—not reaching for anything, but ready to. Her eyes had changed. Still patient. But awake now.
Segawa didn't turn around. Didn't look at Homura. Just kept his gaze on Mio, his voice the same tired monotone.
"Deep breath," he said. "Whatever you're feeling right now, it'll pass. Always does."
The air moved again.
Homura's arms crossed. Slow. Deliberate. Back to the wall, back to waiting.
But she was watching Mio differently now.
"She's eleven," Mio said. Her voice was flat. Steady. She hadn't known it would be.
"I know."
"That's—"
"Leverage. Yeah." He stood. "Welcome to the Bureau."
Mio looked at Nana's door. The DO NOT DISTURB sign in her careful handwriting.
What did you do to me?
"Fine."
One word. Flat. Like she was reading from a script she'd already memorized.
One cage to another.
"Good." He headed for the door. "Training starts tomorrow, noon, Shibuya Branch. Sublevel three. Don't be late."
He walked out. Homura lingered.
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a card—plain white, just a phone number. Set it on the table next to the cigarette burn.
"Bring water," she said. Quieter now. "He likes making the new ones run."
Then she smiled again. That same small, patient smile.
The pressure hadn't faded. It stayed, constant, a reminder of the gap between them.
And Mio understood. Grade A. Not harmless. Never harmless.
If she became a problem, Homura would be the one they sent.
The door closed behind her.
Mio sat in the silence for a long time, watching the afternoon light fade through the window. Orange and red. Bleeding into dark.
She pulled up her status.
[Status]
Name: Tamei Mio
Class: Biomancer
Level: 1
HP: 340 / 340
Reservoir: 4,500 / 12,500
Level 1.
One Marked in Japan, working with the Bureau. One in America. One imprisoned. The strongest gone dark. One hiding.
Five others. And her—the fourth attempt at Gaian's mark. The one who didn't think to hide.
Level 30 for clearance. That was the threshold. That was when she'd get answers.
The Vestiges were playing a game she didn't understand.
The Bureau wanted her as a piece.
But pieces could become players.
In the corner of her vision, the Engine's quest timer kept counting down.
[Time Remaining: 7:14:22]
Clear a C-Grade incursion. Before tonight.
She tried to feel something about that. Determination. Anger. Fear.
The emotions were there, somewhere. She could sense them moving beneath the surface like fish under ice.
But she couldn't reach them.
[Casting: Vitalize]
[Reservoir: 4,538 / 12,500]
Again.
[Reservoir: 4,576 / 12,500]
The hunger eased. The numbness didn't.
Level 30.
Training starts tomorrow. Noon. Sublevel three.
She kept casting. The pain was almost comfortable now.
The sun went down.
And she still couldn't feel afraid.
In the corner of her vision, the timer kept counting.
[Time Remaining: 6:58:11]
Seven hours to clear an incursion.
Mio stood up.
She left a 2,000-yen note on the table. For emergencies. For Nana.
Just in case.