Arc 1: Nightbloom · Luz

Episode 01

The first thing they took was the light.

The stage above Nightbloom station went dark halfway through our soundcheck. Not a blown fuse. Every shop on the block still glowed.

Mika tapped her microphone twice. The second tap came back from a speaker we hadn't brought. Three beats, then silence.

I knew those beats. Zara had found them stitched into the lining of an old jacket from the Juku. A warning, she said. Not a song.

Kira looked across the platform. Seven long coats stood beneath the departures board. Azure. Deep. Rose. White. Flame. Jade. Violet.

The Dragonites had arrived without an announcement. That frightened me more than a crowd ever could.

Hana touched my sleeve and pointed up. A camera above the stage had turned toward us. Its red light blinked with those same three beats.

I could have stopped. The Hunters followed every performance, and the Dragonites were watching. Hiding would have been sensible.

But there were people waiting below us. People who had finished shifts, missed trains, walked through rain. They had come for a song.

So I sang the first note without a microphone. Blood Pulse carried it down the platform. No commands. No stolen choices. Just a voice reaching.

Across the tracks, the Azure coat moved. Hikari wasn't looking at me. She was looking at the camera.

For one second, we noticed the same thing. Then the departures board replaced every destination with our names.

I won't let someone else's warning become our ending.