The Five Evolution

『"Back to Normal?"』

The estate gates opened and the five of them walked through. They were back at the Machine, and somehow campus looked exactly the same.

Stone buildings, the same weather that always sat at a -5°C, well below freezing, and students in uniforms moving between classes. Everything exactly as they’d left it.

"Does it always snow here...?" Hiro asked, rubbing his gloved hands together despite the multiple sweaters he wore.

"I don’t know, it’s kind of growing on me," Raj said, walking slightly ahead of the group, his bag clutched a little too carefully. His movements tense.

Amara noticed this. "Okay, why are you acting like that?"

"Acting like what?" Raj didn’t turn around.

"I don’t know, weird?" she said.

"You are acting kinda strange," Sophia added.

Raj slowed down and Amara matched his pace, an eyebrow raised. "Raj."

"Okay, first of all," Raj began defensively, "I think everyone’s overreacting already."

"You haven’t even told us what you did yet," Ethan pointed out.

Raj sighed before slowly opening the bag hanging from his shoulder. Inside was a clear plastic container.

And inside that container was a disgusting chunk of white-and-red fungal matter pulsating faintly like rotten meat with a heartbeat.

Everyone stopped walking and Sophia stared at it. "Why the hell do you have that?"

Raj immediately pointed at her. "See? This is why I didn’t tell you people earlier. Negative energy."

"Raj," Amara said slowly. "Is that a piece of Plague’s parasitic fungi?"

"Technically," Raj said, lifting a finger, "it’s a souvenir."

"A souvenir?" Ethan asked with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, souvenir," Raj said defensively. "For Naomi. In case she asks how Tokyo went, I figured I’d show her what we were up against."

Amara stared at him for a moment. Honestly, she had no idea what to say to that.

Hiro started walking again and the rest followed.

"That’s very sweet," he said. "Fungal biomass as a souvenir. Why didn’t I think of that?"

Amara just sighed and looked ahead. "At least tell me you got permission to take that and you didn’t actually steal it?"

Raj looked away for a few seconds. "...fine," he said finally. "I stole it."

Sophia groaned. "Raj."

"It’s not a big deal—"

"You stole from the Institute?" Hiro’s eyes widened. "Are you insane?"

"You know what? I don’t have time for this. I’ve got classes to catch up on." Amara kept walking until they reached the door. Then she faced Raj and gestured to his bag. "Just... don’t let anyone see that."

***

They split off after that for classes. Or at least the illusion of classes.

Nobody among them was mentally present enough to absorb lectures after Tokyo, but apparently the Machine still expected assignments regardless of emotional trauma or near-death experiences.

It’s been twelve days since they almost all died in a cavern, and Amara just wanted to get back to normal. Whatever normal meant for them.

By the time the day ended, they regrouped at the cafeteria, back to blending in.

The cafeteria was crowded and loud as always. But unfortunately, not much had changed with the gossip and backroom talk either.

The moment they walked in, they immediately felt the atmosphere shift as the whispers started.

"Oh great. Them..."

"There they are..."

"The disaster squad’s back."

"...I heard they fought two Bishop-class Malices..."

"...heard they caused some kind of incident..."

Raj puffed his chest out proudly, not the least bothered by the whispers. "I love our reputation."

"You shouldn’t," Amara said.

The cafeteria itself was packed with students, voices blending together beneath the soft hum of machinery and automated serving stations.

The food dispensers looked different now, more modern. Large digital menus hovered above the serving stations while small service drones floated between tables carrying trays.

One of Hiro’s eyebrows went up as he looked at one of them. "Did the cafeteria always look this dystopian?" he asked while grabbing a full tray.

"I think they upgraded everything while we were gone," Ethan said, grabbing a tray as well.

"That explains why the food tastes worse," Sophia muttered after taking a bite from her plate before they even found a table.

"Over there." Amara gestured with her head at a table with empty seats by the corner. Then they all took their seats.

"Blurgh..." Hiro slowly spat out the food he ate, the meatloaf sliding down his tongue and back into the plate. "You’re right, this food tastes like cardboard," he said after the first bite.

"It can’t be that ba—" Amara immediately grabbed a tissue and placed it over her mouth, spitting it out. "It... definitely got worse."

It was at this point that two familiar figures approached their table.

Naomi dropped into the empty seat beside Raj without invitation. "What’s up, dorks?"

Andre sat beside her with a lazy nod. "Yo."

Raj immediately sat up straighter. Way straighter. And when Sophia noticed, she rolled her eyes instantly.

Naomi leaned back in her chair. "So I hear congratulations are in order."

Amara looked up. "For?"

"Tokyo," Naomi said. "Word around the Machine is your mission actually went well."

"Well enough," Amara said.

"There are also rumors," Andre added casually, "that y’all ran into some secret organization out there."

The table went quieter for a moment and the five of them exchanged glances.

"Just rumors," Ethan said eventually.

"Uh huh," Naomi replied immediately, clearly unconvinced.

But she didn’t push. Instead, she grabbed a fry off Raj’s plate and bit into it, then immediately made a face. "Right, almost forgot about this crap."

Hiro pointed accusingly at his tray. "Seriously, why does the food suck now? Not that it didn’t suck before."

Andre groaned softly. "Don’t remind me."

Naomi looked irritated. "The Machine switched cafeteria management to some new AI-operated system last week."

Raj blinked. "AI?"

"Apparently it’s supposed to ’optimize nutritional distribution and improve student satisfaction,’" Andre said, making air quotes.

Raj took another bite. "You know, it’s growing on me. It’s crap compared to my mom’s cooking though," he paused. "Then again, everything’s trash compared to mom’s cooking."

One of the hovering service drones suddenly turned toward them and its digital face glowed blue once.

STUDENT SATISFACTION LEVELS DETECTED: LOW.

Everyone stared at it. Then the drone slowly floated away again.

Hiro watched it leave. "Okay..."

Raj suddenly snapped his fingers. "Oh! Speaking of Tokyo—"

Hiro’s face went flat immediately. "Don’t."

"What?" Raj pulled out the plastic bag anyway.

Hiro put his face in his hand. "Amara, do something."

Amara raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I told you guys to leave me out of it."

Raj held up the fungi piece proudly. "Check it out." Inside, the fungal parasite twitched weakly.

Naomi physically recoiled. "What the fuck is that?" she pointed.

"This," Raj announced proudly, "is a piece of one of the Tokyo monsters."

Several nearby students immediately abandoned their tables.

"It belonged to a Malice," Raj continued. "Crazy right?"

For a moment, Naomi just stared at the grimy, organic chunk of monster sitting in a plastic bag on the lunch table. Then she looked at Raj. "Are you serious right now?"

"It’s a souvenir—"

She didn’t wait for him to defend himself. She just flicked her pointed finger, reacting entirely on instinct, and a bolt of electricity shot out, hitting the fungi dead center.

The electricity blasted the container straight out of Raj’s hand and the fungal mass slammed against one of the cafeteria walls beside a serving terminal with a wet splat.

"Hey!" Raj yelled.

Naomi looked horrified. "Why the fuck would you SHOW me that?!"

Andre was laughing too hard to help while Hiro looked seconds away from a migraine.

Amara dropped her face into her hands. And nobody noticed what happened next.

Because where the parasite had splattered against the wall, tiny strands of white-red fungus began twitching. Naomi’s blast had left a residual charge in the parasite.

The serving terminal beside it sparked once. A thin spark that crawled through the damaged circuitry of the new AI food system where Naomi’s lightning had also struck.

Slowly at first, almost imperceptibly, the splattered goo began to shift and creep along the wall. Then toward the nearest electrical panel.

The fungus reacted immediately as tiny tendrils spread across the metal surface almost instinctively, threading themselves into exposed wires. Like veins finding a heartbeat.

Somewhere deeper inside the cafeteria systems, something responded. A low mechanical hum passed through the walls, and the nearby service drone paused midair.

Its digital face glowed red.

PROCESSING.

Then: NEW DIRECTIVE RECEIVED.

The lights overhead dimmed for exactly half a second before returning to normal. Of course, nobody noticed. Mostly because Naomi was still yelling at Raj.

The fungal tissue had successfully seeped into the electrical pathways, intertwining with circuits, wrapping around processors and merging completely with the system.

Across the cafeteria, another service drone slowly turned toward their table and stayed there. Watching...