Chapter 96: Unreadable Emotions
Rain hammered against the windows of Guardian Network Headquarters.
The conference room remained silent.
The notebook rested in the center of the table.
Its final message lingered in everyone’s mind.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER WANTS TO BE FOUND.
THEY ARE THE BAIT.
Nobody touched the notebook.
Nobody wanted to.
Commander Yuna broke the silence.
"...Thoughts?"
Dana leaned back in her chair.
"...It’s a trap."
Mira nodded.
"...A very obvious one."
Dr. Yeon looked toward the photographs scattered across the table.
"...Which usually means..."
"...The real threat isn’t the trap."
"...It’s whoever set it."
Lyra remained staring at the notebook.
"...No."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...The notebook isn’t warning us about the trap."
"It’s warning us..."
She slowly looked toward Dillan.
"...About what comes after."
Dillan rubbed his forehead.
"...Someone’s been watching me for eight months."
"...Someone else wants me to notice."
"...And another person keeps trying to tell me my real name."
He laughed weakly.
"...My life got complicated really fast."
Dana smirked.
"...You noticed?"
A few quiet laughs escaped around the room.
The tension eased...
Only slightly.
Commander Yuna stood.
"...Until we know who’s behind the photographs..."
"...Nobody investigates alone."
She looked directly at Dillan.
"Especially you."
"I know."
"...Promise me."
"I promise."
Sasha silently lowered her eyes.
Promises.
That word always found its way back to them.
Hours later...
The team divided responsibilities.
Mira tracked digital records.
Dr. Yeon analyzed the photographs.
Dana strengthened headquarters security.
Commander Yuna contacted the Hunter Association.
Lyra entered the Resonance Chamber.
Only Sasha...
Didn’t receive an assignment.
She quietly stood by the window.
Watching the rain.
Dillan noticed.
He walked over.
"...You okay?"
She smiled automatically.
"...I’m fine."
He looked at her for several seconds.
"...That’s becoming your favorite lie."
Her smile faltered.
Just a little.
"...Sorry."
"You don’t have to apologize."
Silence.
"...You can tell me."
She looked outside again.
"...Not yet."
The rain reflected across the glass.
For a brief moment...
Dillan noticed her reflection.
It looked...
Different.
Not smiling.
Its crimson eyes seemed darker.
He blinked.
The reflection returned to normal.
"...Weird..."
"What?"
Sasha asked.
"...Nothing."
He shook his head.
"...Probably tired."
Across the city...
Inside an abandoned apartment...
Hundreds of photographs covered the walls.
Every one featured Dillan.
Some showed him laughing.
Others captured him sleeping.
Training.
Eating.
Walking.
Reading.
Smiling.
The earliest photograph...
Dated back eight months and eleven days.
A pair of gloved hands slowly pinned another photograph onto the wall.
Today’s date.
Guardian Headquarters.
Dillan speaking with Sasha.
The person stepped backward.
Admiring the collection.
Then quietly spoke.
"...He’s changing."
A second voice answered from the darkness.
"...Of course."
"...The Locks are opening."
The first figure slowly tilted their head.
"...Should we continue?"
"...Yes."
"...Until she breaks."
Guardian Headquarters.
That evening...
Mira finally discovered something.
"...Commander."
Yuna walked over.
"What did you find?"
Mira enlarged one of the oldest photographs.
"...Look behind Dillan."
Everyone leaned closer.
At first...
Nothing seemed unusual.
Then Dana noticed it.
"...Wait..."
A tiny figure stood reflected in the window of a nearby shop.
Not Dillan.
Not the photographer.
Someone else.
A little girl.
White dress.
Long black hair.
Commander Yuna’s expression hardened.
"...Platform Zero..."
Lyra slowly shook her head.
"...No."
"...That’s impossible."
"The Memory Echo disappeared."
"It did."
Lyra whispered.
"...Which means..."
She stared at the photograph.
"...Who is she?"
Sasha quietly walked closer.
The moment she saw the little girl...
Her entire body froze.
Her breathing stopped.
"...No..."
Everyone turned toward her.
"Sasha?"
She didn’t answer.
Her eyes remained fixed on the tiny figure.
"...I know her."
Silence.
Dillan slowly looked at Sasha.
"...You do?"
A tear formed in the corner of her eye.
"...She used to..."
Her voice became almost inaudible.
"...Stand beside me."
The room went completely still.
"...When?"
Commander Yuna asked.
"...When I was little."
"...I thought..."
"...She was an imaginary friend."
No one spoke.
The implications were far too disturbing.
Late that night...
The pocket watch suddenly chimed.
Not a tick.
A chime.
Soft.
Clear.
Dillan immediately opened it.
The hands had moved again.
4:21...
4:22.
The System appeared.
[Chronological Lock: 3/7 Responding.]
[Condition Near Completion.]
Before Dillan could read further...
His apartment phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
He answered.
"...Hello?"
Silence.
Then...
A little girl’s voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
"...Dillan..."
His blood ran cold.
"...Who’s this?"
A tiny laugh answered.
The same laugh from Platform Zero.
The same laugh from his recovered memories.
Then...
One final sentence.
"...She’s crying again..."
The line went dead.
Dillan stared at the phone in silence.
Across the city...
Sasha sat alone in her apartment.
Holding the old blue paper crane.
Tears quietly rolled down her cheeks.
She didn’t know why she was crying.
She only knew...
She couldn’t stop.
Outside her apartment building...
The Third Seat watched from across the street.
He quietly closed his umbrella.
"...It’s beginning."
He whispered.
"...The third lock has finally started to open."
The call had ended.
Yet Dillan still held the phone against his ear.
The silence on the other end somehow felt louder than the voice itself.
"...She’s crying again."
Those four words refused to leave his mind.
He slowly lowered the phone.
The apartment suddenly felt too quiet.
Too empty.
Then...
The pocket watch chimed once more.
Ding...
The second hand continued moving.
4:22.
The System appeared.
[Chronological Lock: 3/7 Active.]
[Emotional Synchronization Detected.]
"...Emotional..."
Dillan frowned.
"...Synchronization?"
The notification vanished before he could ask another question.
Across the city...
Sasha sat alone beside her bedroom window.
Rain rolled down the glass.
She hadn’t turned on the lights.
The blue paper crane rested in her hands.
She didn’t know why she was crying.
Nothing had happened.
Nobody had hurt her.
Yet...
The tears wouldn’t stop.
"...What’s wrong with me..."
She whispered.
A soft breeze moved through the room.
Then...
Very quietly...
A child’s voice echoed behind her.
"...Don’t cry..."
Sasha spun around.
Nobody.
The room was empty.
"...Who’s there?"
Silence.
Only the rain answered.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
The following morning.
Everyone immediately noticed Dillan looked exhausted again.
Dana tossed him an energy drink.
"...You look awful."
"...Thanks."
"...You’re welcome."
He sighed.
"...I got another call."
Commander Yuna immediately looked up.
"...From who?"
"...A little girl."
The room became silent.
"...What did she say?"
Dillan looked toward Sasha.
"...She said..."
"...’She’s crying again.’"
Every eye slowly turned toward Sasha.
She lowered her gaze.
"...I..."
She hesitated.
"...I cried all night."
Silence.
"...Why?"
Dana asked gently.
Sasha slowly shook her head.
"...I don’t know."
Dr. Yeon quietly typed something into her tablet.
"...That’s impossible."
Commander Yuna looked over.
"...What is?"
"...The timing."
She rotated the screen.
Dillan received the call at exactly 11:17 PM.
Medical sensors inside Sasha’s apartment...
Connected to Guardian’s emergency monitoring system...
Recorded elevated stress levels...
At exactly 11:17 PM.
The room became completely silent.
Lyra quietly closed her eyes.
"...They’re connected."
Nobody questioned her.
Because everyone already suspected it.
Meanwhile...
The Third Seat stood atop a skyscraper overlooking the city.
The masked figure approached.
"...Report."
"The emotional resonance increased."
"...How much?"
"Thirty-one percent."
The Third Seat smiled faintly.
"...Excellent."
"...She’s resisting less."
The masked figure looked toward Guardian Headquarters.
"...Should we continue?"
"...Not yet."
He looked toward the cloudy sky.
"...The next move..."
"...Belongs to him."
That afternoon...
Dillan found Sasha sitting alone beneath the greenhouse.
Not inside.
Outside.
Watching butterflies drift between the flowers.
"...Mind if I sit?"
She smiled faintly.
"...You never have to ask."
He sat beside her.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Finally...
"...Can I tell you something strange?"
Sasha nodded.
"...I keep feeling..."
He searched for the right words.
"...Like I can tell when you’re sad."
Her eyes widened.
"...Really?"
"...Yeah."
"...Yesterday..."
"...Before that phone call..."
"I suddenly felt..."
He pressed a hand against his chest.
"...Heavy."
"...Like someone else’s sadness..."
"...Was sitting here."
Sasha stared at him.
Unable to speak.
Because...
She had felt exactly the opposite.
Yesterday afternoon...
Just before Dillan laughed with Dana during training...
She had smiled.
For no reason at all.
"...Maybe..."
She whispered.
"...We’re remembering each other."
Dillan smiled.
"...Maybe."
Neither of them realized...
Lyra had been standing inside the greenhouse the entire time.
Listening.
Her expression slowly became serious.
"...No..."
She whispered to herself.
"...This isn’t memory."
"...It’s Resonance."
Later that evening...
Mira discovered something inside the old photographs.
Not another hidden figure.
Not another Watcher.
A pattern.
Every single photograph had been taken...
On days when Dillan experienced a recovered memory.
She quickly ran the dates again.
One hundred percent.
Not a single exception.
She rushed toward Commander Yuna.
"...Someone..."
She whispered.
"...Has been documenting his awakening from the very beginning."
Commander Yuna’s face hardened.
"...Which means..."
"...They already knew."
"...Before Dillan did."
Night.
Dillan returned home.
The apartment felt unusually warm.
The notebook lay open on the table.
No fresh ink.
Only one sentence.
Written larger than any before.
Don’t let her carry it alone.
Dillan frowned.
"...Carry what?"
The answer appeared slowly.
Each word forming with painful slowness.
The promise.
His breathing stopped.
Before he could read another line...
Someone knocked on his apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
It was nearly midnight.
Nobody should have been visiting.
He cautiously approached.
Looked through the peephole.
No one.
The hallway was empty.
He slowly opened the door.
Nothing.
Only...
A small white envelope resting on the floor.
His name was written neatly across the front.
To Dillan.
Beneath it...
Smaller handwriting.
From the girl who never stopped waiting.
His heartbeat quickened.
He picked up the envelope with trembling hands.
Unaware...
That across the street...
Hidden beneath the shadow of a bus stop...
Someone quietly lowered a camera.
The shutter clicked.
Click.
Another photograph joined the collection.