Chapter 34: — "The Calm Before the Final Showdown!”

I sat at a chair in the basement, the faint hum of the city seeping through the window, neon flickers, distant sirens, life still moving while I froze.

My phone screen glowed in my hands, showing a single unfinished message:

Staying with a friend for a few days. Don’t worry about me.

It looked so ordinary. Like something any normal girl would send before a sleepover. But this wasn’t that, and I wasn’t normal anymore.

I stared at the text for a long time before pressing send.

The word “Delivered” popped up, and it felt like a door quietly closing behind me.

Dad wouldn’t think twice about it. He’d probably just nod when he saw it, assuming I needed space or wanted time with friends. He always trusted me too much, never asking where I went, or why I sometimes came home looking tired, distracted. He deserved better than another lie.

But if I told him the truth, that I was about to go on a raid outside the city, against an organization like Syntrix Umbra, he’d never sleep again.

I placed the phone face-down on the desk and looked out the window. The streetlights reflected off the glass, cutting lines of gold across my reflection. My eyes looked calm, but inside, everything was twisting.

Today is where everything could change...

Kaito was trying to act like he had it all under control, but I could see the strain in his shoulders, the quiet rage when Kouji’s name came up. Rin was hiding her worry behind sarcasm as usual. And Jiro… well, Jiro was trying to play it cool, but his hands shook whenever he talked about the mission.

And me? I was terrified, but not of dying.

I was scared of what might happen if I saw something I couldn’t stop.

I breathed out slowly and picked up my blaster from the nightstand. The metal felt steady in my hands, grounding me.

“Everything’s gonna be fine,” I whispered to myself. “We’ve made it this far.”

The words didn’t sound convincing, but they were all I had.

—

The room was dark except for the faint blue glow of the data pad on the desk. Lines of coordinates and schematics reflected off Kaito’s eyes, but his focus wasn’t on the screen. It was on a single recording, one he’d replayed too many times.

“My dreams have changed, Kaito.”

Kouji’s voice echoed, clear but distant, like a ghost caught in static.

Kaito pressed pause, his jaw tightening. That same line had been spinning in his head for weeks now, refusing to fade.

He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, the other clenched around the pendant hanging from his neck, a faint silver piece with a tiny crack down the center. It used to match Kouji’s.

“Changed, huh?” he muttered under his breath. “Yeah… mine did too.”

The clock on the wall ticked softly, the rhythm uneven, like it was stalling, hesitant to move forward.

He looked over at the pile of weapons on his desk: two blasters, a tactical knife, an encrypted communicator. Everything cleaned, calibrated, ready. No excuses left.

He exhaled slowly.
He could still remember Kouji’s laugh, the way he’d always cover his mouth when he grinned too wide, the way he used to call Kaito “the serious one.” It used to annoy him. Now he’d give anything to hear it again.

But that version of Kouji, the one who believed in them, in change, was gone.
Syntrix Umbra took him, reshaped him into something else.

And tonight, Kaito would have to face whatever was left.

He stood, the chair scraping softly against the floor. His reflection in the mirror caught his attention, tired eyes, old scars, a calmness that didn’t feel human anymore.

“You said dreams change,” he whispered. “Guess mine did too… mine became revenge.”

He tightened his gloves, checked the blaster one last time, and turned off the light.

The darkness felt familiar, almost comforting.

—

The basement was louder than usual, not with voices, but with noise. The steady hum of monitors, the soft whir of cooling fans, the faint clicks from Kaito checking his weapon for the fifth time.

I sat on one of the crates, pretending to review my blaster’s power cells, but really just… listening. Watching.

Jiro had buried himself behind a fortress of cables and hardware again. Wires coiled around his workstation like snakes, and the holographic map of Lysethia flickered over his face in shades of blue.

Across from him, Rin leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, that familiar smirk tugging at her mouth.

“So, nerd-boy,” she said, breaking the tension in her usual way. “Ready for your first big mission?”

Jiro didn’t even bother to look up. “Stop calling me that.”

Rin tilted her head, pretending to think. “Hmm… nah. It fits too perfectly.”

I hid a small smile behind my hand. Same old Rin, teasing because she didn’t know how else to say she’s worried.

Jiro sighed. “You know, for someone who’s supposed to be the quiet one, you sure talk a lot.”

“Yeah, well,” Rin said, shrugging. “Talking’s what keeps me sane.”

He muttered something under his breath I couldn’t catch, but it made Rin grin wider.

Kaito glanced over from across the room, eyes narrowing slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe he knew, his was how everyone was dealing with the nerves. Jiro fidgeted, Rin joked, Kaito brooded… and I pretended not to notice.

Rin finally pushed off the pillar and stepped closer to Jiro’s table, peering over his shoulder. “So what’s all this, huh? You planning to summon a satellite, or just trying to make it look complicated so we think you’re smart?”

Jiro huffed. “It is complicated, thank you very much. And yes, I’m smart.”

“Cocky too. Great combo.”

He shot her a quick glare. “You done?”

“Not even close.”
Then, softer: “You sure you’re ready for this? You could’ve stayed out of it, you know.”

That caught him off guard. His hands froze mid-adjustment, and when he looked up, there was something vulnerable in his eyes, like she’d pulled a thought he didn’t want to admit.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know. But I’m already in it. Might as well make myself useful.”

Rin smirked again, but her voice softened. “You should’ve stayed a nerd. Safer that way.”

Jiro’s lips twitched into a faint smile. “Yeah, well… too late for that.”

The two of them just looked at each other for a second, no teasing, no smirks. Just… understanding.

Kaito shifted beside me, tightening his gloves, and I glanced between them.
Somewhere under the sarcasm and static, there was something real forming between those two.

The night felt different. Too still. Too quiet.

By the time Kaito called us upstairs, the air in the basement had shifted, all the nervous chatter and teasing had been replaced with silence. The kind that wrapped around you and made every sound sharper.

I followed behind Rin, my boots thudding lightly on the metal steps. The moment we stepped into the garage, the first thing I saw was the car.

The Syntrix Umbra vehicle gleamed under the flickering ceiling lights, its black chassis polished to a mirror shine. The blue neon accents pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.

“Looks brand new,” Rin said, walking around it, her fingers brushing the hood.

Kaito stood by the driver’s side door, looking at it the same way someone stares at an old memory. “Riku did a good job,” he muttered. “Didn’t think it’d look this good again.”

He turned slightly, catching our reflections in the metal. “Everyone ready?”

Rin twirled her blaster, clicking the safety off with a smirk. “Born ready.”

I tried to smile, but my stomach was twisting itself into knots. I checked my blaster again anyway, even though it was already loaded, even though I’d checked it twice downstairs.

Jiro’s voice came through the comms in my ear, calm but slightly distorted.

“Everything’s set. The tracker’s active, the signal’s clean. I can see your position on the grid. When you’re ready, Kaito.”

Kaito’s hand hovered near the ignition.
For a second, none of us said a word.

Then he exhaled slowly. “This is it.”

Rin slid into the passenger seat, throwing me a look over her shoulder. “Hey. You good back there, Yuzu?”

I blinked, forcing my voice steady. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Lie. But a necessary one.

The engine rumbled to life, deep and smooth, like a beast waking up. Blue light flared across the dashboard, the entire garage filling with a low hum that made my heart race faster.

Kaito gripped the wheel, eyes fixed on the rolling door ahead. “Once we move out, there’s no stopping. We do this clean, we get out fast. No mistakes.”

Rin cracked a grin. “Since when do we make mistakes?”

He didn’t answer, just smirked faintly, the kind that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Jiro’s voice came through again, quieter this time.

“Good luck, guys. I’ll be watching the whole route. You mess up, I’ll yell at you through the comms.”

Rin chuckled. “Cute. Our nerdy guardian angel.”

“Shut up,” Jiro replied, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

Kaito flicked a switch, and the garage door began to rise. Cold air rushed in, the kind that smelled like oil, city dust, and rain that hadn’t started yet.

Beyond the concrete threshold, Lysethia’s skyline stretched out in neon blues and pinks, the streets wet from an earlier drizzle.

Rin muttered, “Here we go.”

Kaito pressed his foot down.

The car rolled forward, smooth and deliberate, the sound of tires echoing against the wet pavement.

I looked out the window as we left the safety of the garage, the reflection of city lights bleeding across the glass like streaks of color.

For a second, everything slowed.

All I could hear was the hum of the engine.
All I could feel was my pulse.

And all I could think was, this is it.

The night swallowed us whole.
The 'Final Showdown' had begun.