Code:Null.Refrain — Ergo=Magna Arc (Book 2)

// ACCESS POINT : ASTRAL-TECH ARCHIVE NODE_09

// USER : UNKNOWN / REQUEST LEVEL : Unauthorized (Bypass Detected)

// FILE FOUND : C07-FS-ΔR_2211 — Null-Class Termination Protocol

A pale blue light illuminated the edges of the terminal.

The cooling fan hummed low, faint static flickering across the display.

I quietly inserted the cable and slipped past authentication.

Against my palm, the Lumis Node pulsed faintly.

My name couldn’t possibly be in this tower’s records—which is precisely why I had to check.

OPEN FILE? [Y/N]

──Y

The light flashed once, sharply, and the record unfurled.

An old military report.

A black label bore the words: <<C-07 Containment Operation>>.

Amongst the sterile strings of characters, identification codes pierced my chest.

SUBJECT ID : 07-B

STATUS : TERMINATION / COMPLETED

My breath caught.

Something rasped deep inside my heart.

At the bottom of the screen, a line with a seal tag blinked intermittently.

[LOCKED SEGMENT : CHLOE_RHEINBERG/θ]

02:16:47 Manual Override Detected

—This line alone bore the trace of “someone’s fingers”.

02:16:49 Data Recode : SUBJECT_07B → “YUI”

02:17:12 External Report : “All targets disposed.”

OPERATOR : L.VISEL

My vision swam.

This was—the record of the moment I “ceased to be a number”.

The designation <<07-B>>, which belonged nowhere in the world,

had been converted, for the first time, into a single “sound” that night.

Deep in my ears, overlapping voices resurfaced.

“…Your name?”

“…Yui.”

Deep in my chest, my soul resonance trembled faintly.

As if responding to Leon’s voice, another waveform rose from the depths.

—Long ago, the “proto-name” Kyle had called through soul synchronization.

That trembling, small voice had resonated as “sound” before it held meaning.

The name Leon had given, and the waveform that had always existed within my soul.

The moment those two converged upon a single point.

At the edge of the screen, handwritten characters remained.

“The moment I broke orders, I became ‘human’ again.”

The instant I saw that handwriting, heat flooded my chest.

Leon had broken orders.

He’d chosen a single life over the mission.

That choice had kept me—“Yui”—in this world.

The Lumis Node responded, projecting my soul waveform onto the HUD.

【HUD: MN42/AN87/NS26 → Stable】

The pale blue bars swayed gently, as if breathing.

“…It was Leon after all. I knew it.”

My voice was absorbed into the electronic noise.

At the bottom of the screen, red warnings flashed rapidly.

WARNING : Unauthorized Access Trace — ACTIVE

Location: Ergo = Magna Tower / B9-Layer

I severed the connection immediately and drew a deep breath.

The terminal’s light died, leaving only cold air in the darkened room.

Still, a faint warmth kindled within my chest.

—The name that man had given me.

Not a number, not an identifier, but “a sound to remain in this world by”.

The moment I closed my eyes, that sound resonated quietly deep within my chest.

<<Yui>>.

The instant the record sealed completely, light from the outside world filtered in faintly.

The tower’s gate opened, and time in the real world began moving once more.

I started walking.

Carrying the truth of that night within my chest.