Dawn broke.
Early sunlight spilled across this long-abandoned ruined city—there was something almost post-apocalyptic about it, a dawn breaking over wreckage. But the fragile quiet of that aftermath didn't last long before a swarm of unwelcome arrivals shattered it entirely.
A massive formation of mechs and white-uniformed soldiers advanced into the desolate quarantine zone. They came burning with hatred. The previous night had been one of the GHQ's worst defeats since occupying this country—soldiers and materiel lost in staggering numbers—and they intended to sweep this mysterious organization called Funeral Parlor off the map.
Gai was up before first light. He had barely finished washing and dressing when the urgent comm burst from Argo reached him.
"Gai! We have a situation!"
"GHQ?"
Gai's brow snapped together. Whatever drowsiness was still in him evaporated.
"Yes—those white-coat bastards just pushed into Area 14 and they're rounding up civilians!"
Argo was pressed flat on a rooftop somewhere, telescope raised to his eye, reading the terrain below. Through it: GHQ's multinational soldiers herding and shoving a crowd of residents—people who couldn't pay the crushing tax levies and had been eking out an existence here in the quarantine zone. The previous night's operation must have brought this down on them.
Argo had thought about this possibility. He just hadn't expected the enemy to move so quickly.
"Keep watching. Report the moment anything changes."
"Gai—I can see Daryl Yan from here. That kid is going to be a problem!"
"Daryl?" The name caught Gai off guard for just a moment—and then a chain of possibilities snapped into place behind his eyes. A slow smile curved his mouth. "The Kaleidoscope, huh. Well. This just got interesting."
"Gai?"
Argo didn't understand how Gai could possibly be smiling at a moment like this. Had he already worked out a plan?
"Nothing. Keep watching. Stay hidden."
"Sir!"
...
...
Inori Yuzuriha was dragged out of a perfectly good sleep by the base-wide alert.
Much as she resented leaving the warmth of her blanket, this was one operation she had to be part of. She splashed water on her face, ran through a minimal wash, and headed out in the same grime-caked outfit from the night before. Showing up in fresh clothes without warning might make Gai suspicious.
The new dress King Crimson had brought last night was for the walk home after the operation was done.
She pushed open the iron door to the briefing hall and was immediately met by a wall of overlapping voices. Funeral Parlor was already assembled.
"Good morning, Inori."
Ayase, in her wheelchair, greeted her with genuine warmth.
"Mm… morning." Inori rubbed at her half-open eyes. "What happened?"
"GHQ's Anti-Bodies! They've entered the zone—we have to move now."
"The Anti-Bodies?"
The "Anti-Bodies"—officially the GHQ's Viral Disaster Countermeasures Bureau—were nominally responsible for managing and containing the Apocalypse Virus. In practice, they held lethal authority: the power to declare any person infected and, without any formal process, have them "disposed of." Their director was Shuichiro Keido, the man carrying Mana Ouma's soul—one of the story's key villains. He nominally answered to the GHQ, but that was largely window dressing. Word of the stolen Void Genome had probably reached him, and he'd sent people to investigate.
"You're here, Inori. Good—we've been waiting." Gai looked at her. "The Void—you understand why we need you."
"I know." Inori met his eyes, her gaze quiet, her long lashes still. "Diavolo already told me. I'm to cooperate with you for this operation."
"Oh?" Gai was visibly surprised. "He already knew about this?"
"He messaged me this morning."
"…" Gai exhaled slowly.
He had been prepared to work for Inori's cooperation—and he'd known it might be difficult, since Inori was effectively seconded to him rather than truly under his command. That Diavolo's intelligence had moved faster than his own was unsettling.
I've been underestimating him.
But for now, the operation had to come first. All the pieces were in place.
"Gai—are you sure about this?"
Shibungi's face was a picture of reluctant skepticism. From where he stood, they had no realistic path to victory.
"Given our current combat strength and the morale situation… the risk of moving in to rescue civilians is enormous. We should use this to retreat—consolidate our forces."
A sound, rational analysis. Without external factors, he was almost certainly right.
The aftermath of last night had left only one winner: Inori. Both Funeral Parlor and the GHQ had bled badly. The members standing in this room showed none of the drive from the original story. When Shibungi laid it out like that, the unanimously hollowed-out expressions confirmed it. Doubt was a predictable constant—even in the original, Shu had chafed against Gai the moment he joined. That was human nature, and there were bound to be more ordinary people like him.
"If the GHQ frightens you, stay here." Inori said it calmly, into the silence, before Gai could get a word out.
No heat. No obvious intent. Just clear, placid contempt, the kind that didn't need to raise its voice because it already knew what it thought.
"You're all just clowns who can't even get on stage."
Her eyes were bright and clear, a deep, clean red—no turbidity anywhere. It was precisely that absolute, ordinary calm—the look of someone to whom nothing in the world was worth more than a passing glance—combined with the dismissal embedded in every syllable, that landed squarely on the most sensitive thing these people had: their pride.
"What did you just say?! You—!"
"How dare you look down on us?!"
"Apologize!"
The room fractured. Voices overlapped, climbing over each other.
Even Gai hadn't anticipated this. Inori had just casually activated every aggravation switch in the room.
"Upset because I hit the mark?"
Inori turned back to face them. Her expression sharpened—brows lifting, the corners of her eyes following, a clean edge cutting through the softness of her face.
"From where I'm standing, you all look like teenagers throwing a tantrum at your parents. The moment it gets real, you're too scared to lift your own weapons. Go on—isn't that a little bit funny?"
She covered her mouth lightly and smiled, in the sweetest voice, saying the snidest things.
"What do you know—you just got here… We've been fighting for our lives out there!"
"Easy to say. What can you actually do? You think you can take on those soldiers by yourself?!"
"My capabilities? Your leader Gai can speak to those."
Inori glanced at Gai with the smallest shift of her eyes.
Gai was quiet for a long moment. Something complicated passed through his expression. Then, slowly, he began to speak.
"Inori—we're pressed for time. Don't stoke unnecessary conflict."
"Please don't misunderstand, Gai." Inori didn't yield. She held his gaze, her voice level. "I'll fight because Diavolo has asked me to. Whatever the rest of you decide to do doesn't change that. I'm going."
"Hey—is everyone here going to let a girl like this outpace them?"
A clear, ringing voice—unexpected—and every head turned.
It was Ayase Shinomiya.
"Yes, we lost badly. Yes, we lost companions." Her voice came out from somewhere between her teeth. "But we can't let that take our will to fight. Are you really willing to be mocked by someone like Inori—and then be protected by her?"
Ayase nearly forced those last words out one by one. She wanted to avenge the shame of last night's defeat. And beneath that: she refused to stomach the sight of certain members—people who had let one bad defeat make them doubt Gai, who had let fear hollow them out—and she had heard and seen it with her own eyes.
"I'm going to fight! Inori—I'm with you!"
"Suit yourself."
Inori gave a small shrug.
"Damn it… even Ayase is taking that newcomer's side…"
"But can we actually win? We're outnumbered ten to one minimum. And that's before the Endlaves…"
The voices were wavering now, the balance tipping.
In the original story, Gai had almost never made a strategic blunder—let alone come within a breath of dying. Being doubted by members who hadn't been with him long was entirely natural given what had happened. Shu himself had arrived resistant, and there were bound to be more ordinary people like him.
"Every mistake in this was mine. But here is my promise to all of you."
Gai stepped forward, his voice rising—clear and unshaking.
"I will stake my life on this. This time, I will lead you to victory."
"From here on, our objective is to eliminate the Anti-Bodies and rescue the civilians. This operation is unlike anything we've done before. No concealment. No shadows. With Inori at our core, we engage the enemy directly—"
"—and we announce Funeral Parlor to the world!"