Hikaru woke surrounded by compact blue walls.
Soft purple neon lights glowed beneath wooden panels.
He lay on a mattress of dark silk.
His heart raced.
Fully dressed and free of restraints, he stood up.
Another chamber.
Transparent walls shifting in opacity.
Storage compartments for supplies.
A foldable bed.
Holo-consoles for navigation and entertainment.
He continued forward until he was swallowed by absolute darkness—except for the lights at the bow of a small nanoboat.
A nano-aerodynamic nanohull.
QNanotechnological structure.
Integrated nanopanels for solar energy.
Propulsion so silent that the silence echoed like the abyssal sea itself.
The vessel cut through the unpredictable waters of the Pacific like a shadow.
Kuso.
The mysterious figure leaned against the railing.
He slipped a deck of cards back into his pocket.
Who was this man, after all?
Hikaru wondered.
He turned toward the nanoengineer.
Finally awake.
His eyes smiled, though his soul remained quiet.
An unusual strangeness hovered within it.
It came from the presence of the enigmatic Seven of Cups.
He had drawn it thinking about the nanoengineer.
"So Hika-chan decided to wake up?"
He knew his name.
How had he ended up in such a disturbing situation?
Those bastards…
This man…
What kind of damn mess was this?
"Who are you?"
The smile widened.
That fear.
That vulnerability that had once been so intoxicating…
Gone.
Now he faced a wild cat.
Feline traits sharpened his stubborn expression.
For the first time, something strange stirred in his chest.
It hardly mattered.
How entertaining would it be to play with him?
"Saymon."
Saymon?
What did he want?
Hikaru stepped closer.
Why did something inside him churn before that presence?
His aura triggered alarms deeper than anything Hikaru had felt within the Ninkyō dantai.
It exhaled terror.
Cruel greed.
Something beyond fear.
If it were only that…
But there was something else.
Something that burned differently.
Something he kept refusing to name.
He was no longer under the influence of Erosen.
Because what resonated was a…
No.
Madness.
Unthinkable.
"Where are you taking me?"
Something told him that fighting would be useless.
Saymon moved closer.
Close enough to steal Hikaru's breath.
Hikaru held the golden gaze.
His posture firm.
"Trindade Island."
His hoarse voice blew a warm shiver down Hikaru's spine.
The nanoengineer stepped back.
His shoulders lowered.
A new weight pressing against his chest.
Tanu…
Guilt bit into his mind.
"Worried about your friend?"
The cutting tone made him turn.
The deactivated robot rested against the wall.
Still there.
A warm relief filled his chest.
Yet something still weighed on him.
"Going to turn him on?"
Hikaru nodded, leaning against the railing.
"Forget it."
Maybe it was better that way.
S-2876 • L3 Sintoluna
"Four days, one same sky in living resonance. Teceli steadies the step; Abete opens gentle space. Alonli stretches the curve; Silenri seals the fine thread. Sintoluna guides the tide—and the story flows in perfect tone."D20 • Teceli
They sailed through calm waters.
The forecast warned of storms ahead.
Saymon studied the nautical charts.
Hikaru adjusted the nanomotors.
D22 • Abete
A tropical storm shattered their planned course.
High waves.
Cutting winds tested the vessel's resistance.
They activated nanostabilizers to prevent damage.
Hikaru remained calm.
Guiding the vessel with precision.
Saymon managed the supplies.
They exchanged only a few words.
D25 • Alonli
After the storm, conditions improved.
They navigated through hidden reefs.
Saymon's sharp eyes detected danger in time.
Hikaru connected the nanosonar to map the ocean floor.
Avoiding collisions.
That night, Hikaru dreamed.
A fox with golden eyes circled him.
Sniffing his fear.
Tasting his unrest.
He woke abruptly in the middle of the night.
Walked to the bow.
Saymon stared at the horizon.
"Nightmare, Hika-chan?"
Wind and droplets slid across his untamed expression.
"Insomnia?" the nanoengineer asked, suppressing a cough from the heavy sulfur scent of the polluted sea.
Saymon shortened the distance between them.
Bringing with him his overwhelming aura.
He brushed Hikaru's cheeks with the tips of his fingers.
"How could anyone sleep near such an entertaining target?"
He smiled sideways when the nanoengineer turned his back and returned to his cabin.
Hikaru clenched his fists.
His heart racing wildly.
Why the hell did it beat like that?
Chikushō.
D27 • Silenri
They spotted another vessel.
Saymon touched Hikaru's back.
"That boat looks suspicious.
Let's avoid it," he whispered close to his ear.
Hikaru ignored the shiver.
His skin prickled.
His face warmed.
He activated nanocamouflage.
Saymon watched him in his own rhythm while shuffling the cards in Chaos Rain, his foxlike eyes smiling.
Each shuffle painted a stroke into the wind.
The deck burst open like an exploding cloud.
Cards fell in a dry rain, clinking in the air like blades of paper.
Before they touched the ground, his gesture captured them in a fan, as if gravity itself were merely another puppet of his chaos.
And so the two sailed across restless waters.
Through invisible frequencies testing them.
At times they expanded.
At times they merged.
A dissonant harmony.