The voice came from behind the shelf again, then the owner of it stepped out.

A girl - smaller than Raizen, but not by much. She looked around one year younger than him, maybe two. Curly pale green hair framed her face in loose, messy coils, and her expression carried the kind of mischievous amusement that made you instantly suspicious.

She looked at Mina first.

Then at Raizen.

Then she smiled like she already knew something she shouldn't.

Mina's entire tone changed.

It was immediate. Like someone flipped a switch.

"Ohh" Mina said warmly, almost sweet. "Enya. Hi!"

Raizen blinked.

Mina didn't sound like Mina anymore.

Enya lifted a brow, pleased. "Hi, Professor."

Mina's smile stayed fixed. "Um... Could you give us a second, please? Thank you"

Enya's eyes widened in exaggerated innocence. "A second? For what?"

Mina's smile tightened. "Enya."

Enya leaned slightly to peek past Mina, looking at Raizen more directly now. Then she pointed at Mina like she was accusing her. "Are you kidnapping students again?"

Raizen almost choked with air. "Pardon?"

Mina's face slightly changed, cer smile bending into annoyance.

Enya laughed and backed away. "Relax. I'm joking."

She turned on her heel and started walking off, skipping almost, light on her feet like she didn't care about anything. Halfway behind the next shelf, she looked back. She didn't say anything, but she threw the two a very interested look.

Then she disappeared.

Mina stayed perfectly still for two seconds.

Then she exhaled hard.

Raizen watched her, still confused, still trying to connect what he just saw with the serious, controlled professor who stopped Kenzo and Atman with one sentence.

Mina ran a hand down her face, then muttered, "Ughh... That problem student."

Raizen's eyes shifted toward the direction Enya went.

The hallway prank.

The moving wall.

The gate that wasn't where it was supposed to be.

He felt the realization land slowly.

"So that's her" Raizen said quietly.

Mina didn't look at him. "Hm? You met her before?"

"No, no." Raizen stared at the corner where Enya vanished and caught one last glimpse of pale green curls slipping out of sight. "But I did come across one of her doings."

So that was the prodigy.

The one who manipulated nature like it was a toy.

The one who thought closing off an entire section of the Academy was funny.

Raizen's stomach tightened slightly.

Then Mina turned.

And whatever calm she had left vanished.

Mina grabbed Raizen by the collar and yanked him closer so fast Raizen didn't even react in time.

Her eyes were sharp and tired, irritation and fear pressed together under a layer of forced control. Up close, Raizen saw the little details he missed before - the dark circles under her eyes, the makeup that tried to hide it, the tension in her jaw like she clenched it for hours.

"What's taking so long?" Mina hissed.

Raizen blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Mina shook him once, not hard, but enough to snap him fully into the moment.

"The mission" she snapped. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

Raizen was so caught off guard he didn't answer immediately.

Mina's grip tightened.

"You're here" Mina continued, voice low but intense. "Because of a mission, right? You're inside Ukai, around the Academy..."

Raizen raised a hand and tapped her forearm lightly.

"Mina" he said calmly. "Time out."

Mina didn't move.

Raizen tapped again, then looked her straight in the eyes with a slightly amused expression.

"Let's take a step back" he repeated. "And talk nicely about it, yeah?"

Mina stared at him like she wanted to argue. But then she slowly released his collar.

"Fine" she muttered.

Raizen smoothed his shirt once, quickly, then took a slow breath. The greenhouse still felt warm and safe, but now the air carried tension too.

He kept his voice even.

"First" Raizen said, "what's your deal? Why are you here, and why do you have business regarding what I was tasked with?"

Mina rolled her eyes like the answer should be obvious. "Because I got sent to Ukai before you."

Raizen paused. "You were sent to Ukai... Before me?"

Mina nodded, then looked away briefly, as if she measured how much she could say without letting her mask slip too far.

"Then... I guess Alteea sent you, too. How do you know her?"

She spoke quickly, like she wanted to get it out and move on.

"I know Alteea" Mina said. "We graduated top of our classes. She was information and tech. I was biology and human anatomy."

Raizen's eyes narrowed slightly. He pictured it for a moment. Alteea, composed and sharp mind, climbing with calm confidence. Mina, different kind of sharp, the kind that learned bodies, systems and pressure points, the kind that understood living things the way Saffi understood machines.

"So you're close" Raizen said.

Mina snorted. "We were."

Raizen stayed quiet.

Mina's voice lowered a fraction.

"But life split our paths" she mumbled. "She climbed the Lighthouse. I… Ended up in the Rust Room."

Raizen didn't interrupt, but he remembered the Rust Room too well.

Mina shook her head as if she didn't want to linger on it.

"That's not important" Mina said quickly. "I'm here because things got sketchy."

Raizen's gaze sharpened. "With the Echelon?"

"Yes" Mina said. "Their studies. Their meetings. Their behavior. I don't know what exactly, but enough that Alteea didn't like it."

Raizen listened carefully.

Mina continued, still speaking fast, still controlled.

"So I played the part" Mina said. "Professor. Friendly. Helpful. Quiet. I infiltrated the Academy side and kept an eye on them."

Raizen frowned slightly. "You became a professor to keep an eye on Echelon."

Mina shrugged. "It wasn't excruciatingly hard. Ukai's standards are high, but they needed specialists. And I'm not that useless."

Raizen's smile widened

Mina's eyes narrowed at him. "Don't."

Raizen dropped the smile immediately.

Mina breathed out through her nose, then kept going.

"Lately, the task got more specific" Mina said. "Professor Eiden's file. Same thing you got tasked with."

Raizen's expression didn't change, but his focus sharpened even more.

"Yes" she said. "That file. The one the Echelon holds. The one we aren't supposed to touch. And I was supposed to retrieve it quietly, cleanly, without leaving any trail."

Raizen waited.

"...And then?"

Mina's lips pressed together.

"And then... Well, certain events happened."

Raizen didn't ask. He already had a guess.

Mina's eyes flicked toward the hallway outside the greenhouse, then back to Raizen.

"Someone" Mina said, "might've accidentally thrown away my stuff."

Raizen blinked. "Threw away?"

Mina's expression flattened. "My link with Neoshima. My clean communication. My untraceable methods. So I can't use anything else, if I don't want to risk everything."

Raizen's mind immediately went to Atman, his chaos and how he treated dishes and umbrellas like the world existed to be messy.

"Hu- Atman!?"

"Yes" Mina said. "That someone."

Raizen cleared his throat. "So you couldn't report."

"Exactly" Mina snapped. "And I couldn't improvise the way I wanted because I have to maintain my persona. I can't act like an operative or get caught doing anything suspicious."

She looked at him sharply again.

"So when you showed up" Mina continued, "I thought: "Good! Backup. Someone else to move. Someone else to take the risk, at least", but-"

Raizen interrupted her. "But you thought I wasn't moving."

Mina's eyes flashed. "Because you aren't."

Raizen held her gaze.

Then he said carefully, "Stuff happened on my side, too."

Mina shook her head slowly.

"Things intervened" Raizen went on, without giving her the time to comment. "Not small things, if it matters. And I can't just run around Ukai like an idiot. I have to look normal."

Mina's expression stayed tight.

Raizen kept his tone calm.

"I have time" Raizen said. "The Echelon meetings last at least one more week."

Mina stared at him for a long second.

Her shoulders dropped slightly, like she let go of tension by force.

Then she sighed.

"Sorry" Mina said quickly, like she said it because she had to. "Just making sure everything's okay."

It sounded mandatory.

Then her eyes shifted over Raizen's posture, his calm, the way he stood without fidgeting. She noticed him properly now, not like a mission piece, but like a person.

Mina's mouth curved into a small smile.

"But you've grown" Mina chuckled, amused. "Quite a young gentleman."

Raizen blinked. "What?"

Mina waved a hand vaguely. "Your skills. Your Eon. You don't move like you're made of jelly."

Raizen looked down briefly, then back up. "You remember how I used to move?"

Mina snorted. "Oh, but of course! You four, Kori's minions, were quite literally the pride of the Rust Room"

Raizen didn't know how to respond to that, so he went back to the main point.

"What are we going to do about the file?" Raizen asked. "Eiden's."

Mina's smile faded. She rubbed under one eye, trying not to smear her makeup.

"I'm too busy" Mina said. "I have to monitor them, maintain my face, keep the Academy stable, keep the Echelon from noticing anything. I can't focus on the file now."

Raizen studied her.

Even under the makeup, the exhaustion showed. Mina looked like she slept in short pieces and worked the rest of the time. Like every hour in Ukai demanded a mask.

Raizen's expression softened slightly.

"Then... Don't worry about me. I haven't forgotten. I'll carry on the mission as planned."

Mina looked at him, and for the first time in the conversation her eyes softened too.

"Good" she said quietly.

Then she glanced around the third floor walkway, as if she suddenly remembered where they were.

Her face tightened again.

"We shouldn't talk here" Mina muttered, half to herself.

That was exactly what Enya said.

And before Raizen could speak, the voice came again, cheerful and far too close.

"Well then" Enya said. "Good luck, Raizen."

Raizen's head snapped up.

Mina turned fast.

Enya hung upside down from the greenhouse ceiling.

Vines grew from the beams above, thick enough to hold her weight easily, wrapped around one ankle like a playful noose. She swung gently, smiling like this was the funniest thing in the world.

Her pale green curls hung toward the floor, and her eyes were bright with mischief.

She waved at them.

"Don't worry" Enya added lightly. "I heard everything."

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