Chapter 19: Composure Cracks.
Tokyo, Japan.
I.R.I. The Inhuman Research Institute.
A facility veiled in secrecy and brilliance, where the brightest minds of the nation gathered not to chase fame -but to confront the future.
Today, the future arrived in a black body bag.
Another inhuman corpse, fished from the coast near Chiba, was brought into the cold-lit lab. The researchers-clad in white, voices low-moved like ants, efficient and focused. Their task: dissect and decode. Their hope: create something that might one day stand toe-to-toe with the terrifyingly gifted [Source] users.
Their tools were sharp. Their goals were desperate. Their progress? Fragmentary.
But everything stopped when she walked in.
Heels clicked once on tile.
That was all it took.
The chatter died instantly. Scalpel hands froze. The air thickened with reverence-and fear.
Amanika Miko.
The daughter of Amanika Koji and Rukia.
A genius in her twenties, known across the institute as Professor Cold.
She was not feared because of her name. She was feared because she earned it.
Brilliant. Ruthless. Efficient.
She didn't smile. She didn't flinch. While others vomited over dissected organs, she worked in silence-steady hands, icy eyes.
She created a wall between herself and the world. But at home, that wall softened. She laughed. She teased. She loved. Only her family saw that version of her.
In here, she was myth and machine.
Miko took her seat at the central desk. A stack of research files awaited-ten of them, each over 200 pages.
She flipped through them all in a matter of minutes. The team watched in disbelief.
And then-she stood.
"Alright. I see some inconsistencies in the recent files."
Her voice, calm and clipped, sliced through the room.
"Ryomen-examine the heart of the inhuman we recovered last week. Cross-reference it with Kijima's notes. The structure overlap might be more than coincidence."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Akane-there's missing data on the shell composition.
Trust my instinct and rebuild the simulation from scratch."
"Understood!"
Her gaze shifted toward the man slouching in the back.
"And you-"
"Yessss!" he beamed, hand raised like a child in class.
She sighed. "Mr. Aki-"
"Akira-san, please~," he said with a grin.
Another sigh. "Fine. Akira-san, take apart the brain of the latest corpse. Compare it against the last five inhumans we catalogued. Check for cerebral pattern overlaps."
"On it!"
The team applauded her efficiency. Miko clapped once, sharply.
"Back to work."
She returned to her seat, reading the latest reports. News was spreading fast-inhuman sightings in Korea had spiked.
Akira appeared beside her, leaning over her desk.
"The outbreak's spreading west."
"If you're here to gossip, save it."
"How cold." He slid a folder toward her. "But useful cold."
Her eyes narrowed. "This is done already?"
He nodded. "There are only two active [Source] users found on record in this region."
He tapped one image.
"Aqua. Tried talking to him. Worthless. No interest in helping anyone. And the second one..."
He pointed at a blurred photo. A streak of motion-like wind caught on film-near Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.
"This one's different. Saw him slay an inhuman. Said nothing. I sketched the face later. All from memory."
Miko looked at the hand-drawn face beside the blurred image.
"Don't approach again. It's likely his territory."
Akira smiled, impressed. "Exactly."
Miko flipped back through the report.
"These two files-one was made recently. The other... over a year ago."
He blinked. "How the hell how did you even-?"
"Just intuition."
Before he could respond, her phone buzzed.
Her uncle was calling.
"I'll take this on the roof," she said. "Handle the lab."
"You're not my boss!"
She didn't answer. Just walked out, fast and silent.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Up on the rooftop, under pale sky and wind, she answered with a calm smile.
"Been a while, Uncle. What's the occasion?"
Silence.
Her smile faded.
"...Is everything alright?"
Something coiled in her gut. A feeling she hated. A premonition she had tried to ignore.
It was about her sister.
Her voice lowered. "Did Nino... break up with her boyfriend? I mean, it's not the worst thing to-"
The pause that followed was too long. Too heavy.
"...You're making me scared," she whispered.
‹Give me a moment...›
She waited.
‹...She was kidnapped... and... .›
Her uncle's voice broke.
On the other end, she heard sobs.
The phone slipped from Miko's hands.
It clattered on the rooftop floor, but she didn't move. Didn't blink.
Her heart was pounding, ears ringing, knees threatening to to give out.
It was as if her brain refused to process the words.
But it had no choice.
She ran.
Down the hallway.
Past security.
Into the garage.
Akira spotted her on the way. "Hey, Miko-!"
She didn't even glance at him.
He caught a glimpse of her face-and froze.
'What happened? What could make her-her-look like that?"
She didn't explain. Didn't stop. Just drove.
The moment she stepped into her car, she called her division head.
"I'm transferring command to Akira, Handle the lab."
"Professor, is something wrong-2"
"Just do it!" she snapped, startling him.
He obeyed.
Nobody had ever seen Miko like this.
And Miko, gripping the wheel, didn't even know where her hands were taking her.
The hotel? The hospital? The house by the shore?
She didn't know.
All she knew was that her composure had cracked.
That nothing would be the same.
And that she was-
Lost.
And confused.