The next morning arrived under a gray sky.

  It wasn’t raining. There was no fog.

  Yet Kuoh felt wrapped in a silence that seemed to predict something.

  Kaelan walked toward the school with aching muscles, heavy legs, and the Resonance pulsing irregularly.

  Not a warning. Not an emotional echo.

  Overload.

  His body had processed too much the night before: three rogue exorcists, a forced buff on Koneko, an emotional link with Kiba, and a fragmented vision of Excalibur.

  Too much.

  Kaelan took a deep breath.

  “Easy… easy… you’re an extra, remember? Don’t get involved in more—”

  A soft voice interrupted him.

  “Kaelan-kun.”

  Koneko appeared beside him as if she had stepped out of the shadows.

  She was holding the white cat in her arms.

  Wrapped in a pink scarf that Kaelan was absolutely certain he had not put on her.

  “…Did you steal my cat?” Kaelan asked, incredulous.

  “No.”

  Koneko lifted the cat slightly.

  “I adopted her.”

  Kaelan blinked.

  “What do you mean you adopted her? I brought her home two days ago! She’s mine!”

  Koneko looked at him like he had just said the dumbest thing in the world.

  “The cat chose you. And she chose me too. Now we’re three. Like a team.”

  “…Is that emotional kidnapping?”

  Koneko shrugged.

  The cat purred.

  But two seconds later, Koneko’s expression turned serious.

  “I spoke with Rias,” she said suddenly.

  A chill ran down Kaelan’s spine.

  “…What did you tell her?”

  “Nothing about your power. But I told her about Kiba.”

  Kaelan tightened his jaw.

  The Resonance vibrated faintly, mirroring his anxiety.

  “And… what did she say?”

  Koneko sighed, her tone carrying the seriousness she only used when something truly mattered.

  “She said she already noticed something is… wrong with him. But that he shouldn’t have left last night.”

  “No,” Kaelan murmured. “He shouldn’t have.”

  Koneko glanced sideways at him.

  “You know more than you say.”

  Kaelan swallowed.

  “Koneko—”

  “I won’t push you,” she said calmly. “But if you’re going to keep helping Kiba like you did last night… don’t do it alone.”

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  Kaelan lowered his gaze.

  He didn’t promise anything.

  Because he knew he couldn’t.

  The moment they entered the building, Kaelan felt the looks.

  In the hallway, Issei waved at him… then looked twice, like something about Kaelan seemed off.

  Asia ran toward him.

  “Kaelan-san! You’re injured!” she said, touching his arm with genuine concern. “What happened last night?”

  “I trained too hard. Nothing serious.”

  “That isn’t training,” Akeno corrected from behind Asia, appearing with a tray of breakfast. “Training doesn’t leave someone’s aura vibrating like it was struck by divine lightning.”

  Kaelan stiffened.

  “It’s… stress.”

  Akeno narrowed her eyes with a dangerous smile.

  “You can always tell me what really happened.”

  Kaelan nearly felt his soul leave his body.

  “I-I’m fine.”

  But Akeno wasn’t stupid.

  Neither was Koneko.

  Both of them looked at him like they could see right through him.

  And worse—

  Kiba wasn’t there.

  Kaelan noticed immediately.

  The absence of his calm presence.

  Instead, a cold energy seemed to float through the hallway.

  Xenovia walked past them and, when she saw him, murmured quietly:

  “The Vibrating One…”

  Then continued walking.

  Irina waved enthusiastically.

  “Kaelan-san! Sorry about yesterday!”

  Kaelan sighed.

  “I forgive you… I guess.”

  Kiba didn’t return until mid-morning.

  He entered the classroom with steady steps.

  But something in his eyes was broken.

  A crack no one else seemed to notice.

  Kaelan felt it the instant he appeared.

  The emotional pulse was like a silent scream.

  THM.

  THM.

  Koneko sensed it too.

  Both of them turned toward the window at the same time.

  As Kiba passed through the hallway toward his classroom, Kaelan felt a tug in his chest.

  Not pure Resonance.

  Something worse.

  Residual connection.

  The memory was still open.

  “Kiba…” Kaelan whispered without meaning to.

  Rage.

  Trauma.

  Broken faith.

  A chained child.

  A heart burning as if it were waiting for an enemy.

  Kiba spoke quietly to himself.

  “If I see that sword again… I’ll destroy it.”

  Somehow, Kaelan heard him.

  A chill crawled down his spine.

  The Resonance pulsed like a tremor.

  The Occult Research Club gathered earlier than usual that day.

  What Kaelan hadn’t expected was that Rias had asked him to attend as well.

  He had no idea exactly what Koneko had told her, but apparently it had been enough.

  Which meant he had been summoned by the main protagonist herself.

  This was ridiculous.

  It felt like the world itself was telling him:

  You’re part of this arc now. Whether you like it or not.

  Where was Sona when he needed her? Didn’t she have a random mission for him somewhere?

  He almost missed rescuing cats from trees.

  Rias observed each of them… and when Kaelan entered, her gaze stopped.

  Not on his face.

  Not on his body.

  On his aura.

  “Kaelan,” she said softly but firmly, “you have a very strong emotional imbalance since last night.”

  Kaelan felt his heart stop.

  “I’m fine.”

  Rias stepped closer.

  “That’s not what I see.”

  Akeno added quietly:

  “Nor what I smell.”

  Koneko glanced sideways at him, something almost protective in her expression.

  Rias didn’t raise her voice.

  But her authority filled the room.

  “I won’t pressure you. But if there’s something I should know… tell me.”

  Kaelan clenched his hands.

  “There’s nothing to say. Everything is… under control.”

  Akeno watched him carefully.

  She didn’t believe him.

  Neither did Koneko.

  Asia tilted her head, worried.

  But Kiba…

  Kiba looked at him with those broken eyes.

  And Kaelan felt the Resonance screaming inside his chest.

  Rias sighed.

  “Very well. If you need to talk… you know where we are.”

  Kaelan lowered his gaze.

  Because he knew that if he spoke too much…

  he would break the canon.

  And for the first time, he feared that Rias might notice something even worse:

  that the pain of her knight

  was no longer only his.

  When the day finally ended, Kaelan walked out of the building thinking everything had already settled.

  That was a mistake.

  Kiba stood by the school gate.

  Still.

  Motionless.

  His gaze fixed on the sky.

  Kaelan approached.

  “Kiba… are you—”

  Kiba murmured:

  “If the Vatican brought Excalibur… then the one responsible for our experiment… might be nearby too.”

  Kaelan felt his stomach drop.

  “Don’t say that…”

  Kiba clenched his teeth.

  “I’m going to find them all. And I’m going to destroy every fragment.”

  The Resonance pulsed.

  Hard.

  Unstable.

  THM.

  Kaelan felt a wave of nauseating déjà vu.

  Those words sounded far too similar to what he himself had whispered alone in the bathroom the night before.

  The air around him seemed to rot with that emotion.

  And Kaelan understood.

  Something had changed.

  Kiba was no longer the smiling boy from the club.

  He was a thread of steel stretched to its limit…

  about to snap.

  Kaelan stepped back half a step.

  “Kiba… you’re not alone—”

  “No,” Kiba interrupted. “But I’m tired of waiting for the ‘right moment.’”

  He looked at Kaelan with eyes full of pain.

  “The first crack already opened, Kaelan. And all of you are inside it with me.”

  Then he walked away.

  Without looking back.

  A chill ran down Kaelan’s spine.

  The canon had accelerated.

  Kiba was overflowing.

  And the Resonance was far too connected to him.

  The night before hadn’t been an accident.

  It had been a warning.

  Kuoh was about to break.