Volume 1 — Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Story

The story begins in the distant future.

Humanity had already conquered the Moon, established colonies on Mars, and begun exploring the outer reaches of the solar system.

But space still remained a mystery.

There were countless planets that had never been visited, strange signals that no one could explain, and regions of space where even the most advanced equipment could not predict what might happen.

For this reason, special schools were created to train young space explorers.

One of these schools was located aboard a massive orbital station.

It was here that a group of teenagers had been selected for an experimental training mission.

Their objective was simple:

Explore a mysterious planet that had recently appeared on the radar.

At least, that was what everyone believed.

The spaceship slowly moved away from the orbital station.

Inside the command room, a fifteen-year-old boy stood in front of the main navigation screen.

His name was Ren Kisaragi.

He was tall for his age, athletic, and well built. Ren participated in several sports at school and was known for his physical strength.

But his greatest talent was leadership.

He looked at the enormous holographic display in front of him.

"How much longer until we reach the planet?"

A thirteen-year-old girl sitting at the navigation station quickly checked the coordinates.

Her name was Mio Takahashi.

She was Ren's best friend and one of the youngest students ever accepted into the advanced navigation course.

"About forty-seven minutes," Mio replied.

She adjusted several controls.

"Everything looks normal."

Ren nodded.

"Good. Keep monitoring the radar."

"Already doing it."

Mio smiled slightly.

"You're always worried about something."

"That's because I'm responsible for everyone here."

Ren looked around the command room.

Two boys were sitting at the main control stations.

Kai Moriyama and Sora Fujita were both twelve years old and specialized in operating spacecraft systems.

Navigation.

Communications.

Life support.

Engines.

Security.

They had been trained to control almost every function of the ship.

Meanwhile, two twelve-year-old girls were examining information about the mysterious planet.

Aika Hoshino and Nana Mizuki were students of an advanced ecosystem and wildlife research course.

They were investigators and young scientists.

Aika studied the planet's atmosphere.

Nana analyzed possible forms of life.

"Atmospheric composition is strange," Aika said.

"How strange?"

"Not dangerous... but I've never seen readings like this before."

Nana stared at the screen.

"Neither have I."

Ren walked over.

"Could the planet support life?"

"Possibly."

Nana hesitated.

"Actually... I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

She pointed at the screen.

"The data keeps changing."

The room became quiet.

Mio turned toward them.

"Changing?"

"Yes."

Nana enlarged the graph.

"Look."

The atmospheric readings had changed again.

Then the radar suddenly began to beep.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Everyone turned toward Mio.

"What happened?" Ren asked.

Mio stared at the screen.

"I don't know."

The radar displayed something that shouldn't have been there.

A second signal.

Then a third.

Then dozens.

"Those aren't asteroids," Mio whispered.

Ren stepped closer.

"What are they?"

"I don't know."

The spaceship suddenly shook.

BOOM!

Everyone was thrown against their seats.

"What's happening?!"

Kai grabbed the controls.

"Something hit us!"

"Damage report!" Ren shouted.

Sora checked the systems.

"Engine output is falling!"

"Communication?"

"Offline!"

"Navigation?"

Sora stared at the screen.

"...We've lost our coordinates."

Ren's expression changed.

"What?"

Mio frantically tried to restore the navigation system.

"Wait!"

She looked at the radar.

"The planet is disappearing."

"What?"

"The planet we were heading toward... it's gone."

Silence.

That was impossible.

A planet couldn't simply disappear from a radar.

Then the entire ship was engulfed by a strange light.

Several minutes later...

Everything was silent.

The spaceship drifted through darkness.

No signal.

No communication.

No connection to the orbital station.

Nothing.

Ren slowly opened his eyes.

"Everyone...?"

One by one, the others regained consciousness.

Mio sat up.

"Ren..."

"I'm here."

"Where are we?"

Ren looked at the main screen.

The screen displayed only one message:

UNKNOWN LOCATION

He froze.

Kai checked the navigation system.

"We're not on the original route."

"How far?"

"I don't know."

Sora looked at the star map.

"The stars don't match anything in our database."

Ren clenched his fists.

"Can we contact the station?"

"No."

"Can we return?"

"No."

The realization slowly spread through the room.

They were lost.

Somewhere in space.

Then Nana suddenly spoke.

"Wait."

Everyone turned toward her.

"What?"

"I heard something."

Ren listened.

At first, there was nothing.

Then—

Beep...

A faint electronic sound came from somewhere behind them.

Mio stood up.

"That's not coming from the control system."

They followed the sound toward the rear section of the ship.

The signal led them to a small storage area.

Ren opened the door.

Nothing.

Only old equipment.

Then Mio noticed something.

"There's another door."

"That wasn't on the ship's original layout," Kai said.

Ren approached it.

The door opened automatically.

Inside was a small room.

And someone was lying on the floor.

Everyone froze.

It was a little girl.

She looked about ten years old.

She was unconscious.

Her clothes were strange.

Her uniform was extremely old and badly torn.

But something immediately caught Ren's attention.

There was a symbol on her uniform.

A silver star surrounded by a distinctive circular design.

Mio stared at it.

Her face became pale.

"Ren..."

"What?"

"That symbol..."

Ren looked closer.

He recognized it too.

It belonged to a legendary space exploration corporation.

Space Dash.

Sixteen years ago, Space Dash had sent a highly advanced exploration group into deep space.

The mission had disappeared.

No survivors.

No wreckage.

No explanation.

The incident had become one of the greatest mysteries in the history of space exploration.

Ren stared at the girl's uniform.

"This can't be..."

Mio whispered:

"That uniform is from sixteen years ago."

Everyone remained silent.

A ten-year-old girl wearing a sixteen-year-old uniform.

And somehow...

She was inside their spaceship.

Nana slowly approached her.

"Is she alive?"

Aika checked her pulse.

"Yes."

Then the girl suddenly moved.

Her eyes slowly opened.

Everyone stepped back.

The girl looked around the room in confusion.

She seemed frightened.

She looked at Ren.

Then at Mio.

Then at the others.

Her eyes filled with uncertainty.

Finally, she spoke.

"Who are you...?"

She paused.

"Where am I?"

No one answered.

They couldn't.

There was no explanation.

No logical answer.

Only silence.

Outside the window, endless stars stretched across the darkness.

Then—

Music began to play.

No one had activated it.

No one knew where it came from.

A quiet, mysterious melody echoed throughout the spaceship.

The girl looked toward the window.

Ren slowly turned toward the stars.

Space was beautiful.

Space was vast.

And space was dangerous.

They had thought they were going to explore a mysterious planet.

Instead, they had become lost somewhere beyond everything they knew.

And the appearance of the mysterious girl was only the beginning.

Because somewhere in the darkness of space...

Someone—or something—was waiting for them.

To be continued...

end of chapter 1