The night was merciless.
Hina ran — heart hammering, lungs tearing at the air — through the broken bones of the city.
Abandoned cars loomed like skeletal beasts. The ruined towers stretched overhead, their windows like empty, staring eyes. Every shadow seemed to shift. Every corner could be death.
Behind her — an unrelenting presence.
A1 Caterial.
Not a man. Not a soldier. Something worse.
Something designed to end lives without hesitation.
Hina glanced back once.
A flicker of silver in the rain — an outline sprinting across the walls like a specter.
She stumbled, catching herself on a rusted railing.
No time to think. No time to hope.
Just keep moving.
A voice sliced through the storm, hollow and mechanical:
> "Hina Matsumoto .Surrender. Termination assured."
Her throat closed up with terror.
"NO!" she screamed, forcing her legs to move faster.
There was nowhere left to hide.
The streets bled into each other — rows of empty neon signs and flickering lamps.
And then — as she rounded a crumbling bookstore —
A figure stepped from the alley.
Lin.
Not in the black battle armor she had seen before — just simple jeans and a soaked jacket, his black hair plastered to his forehead, eyes sharp and unreadable.
"Hina!" he shouted.
Before she could answer, the metallic thud of A1 Caterial landed behind her.
Too late.
The android surged forward — an execution in human shape — its wrist splitting open to reveal a gleaming blade.
Hina flinched.
And then — Lin grabbed her, pulling her close, and without hesitation —
kissed her.
It wasn't gentle. It was rough, urgent — a desperate clash of lips meant to shield her from death itself.
For one heartbeat, time shattered.
A1 Caterial's scanners hesitated, confused by the sudden flood of emotional data: Affection. Bond. Protection.
The machine paused.
That moment was everything.
Lin yanked a flash drive from his pocket and slammed it against a nearby power box.
The entire alley exploded in chaotic static and sparks, frying nearby systems.
A1 Caterial staggered back, its optics flickering.
"Move!" Lin barked.
Grabbing Hina's hand, he dragged her into the deeper labyrinth of the city, weaving through wreckage and fallen beams. The machine's footsteps faded behind them — for now.
They didn't stop running until they reached the ruins of a shattered subway entrance.
Inside, hidden among the cold bones of forgotten rails, Lin finally let go.
Hina collapsed onto a cracked bench, gasping for breath, shivering from head to toe.
Lin crouched beside her, his face tight with worry.
"You okay?"
She nodded weakly.
He hesitated, then pulled off his soaked jacket and draped it around her shoulders.
It smelled of rain and smoke — but it was warm.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Only the rain. Only the sound of two broken people breathing.
Finally, Lin broke the silence.
"I wasn't always like this," he said quietly, staring into the dark. "Before... before everything, I had a little sister."
Hina looked up, surprised.
"Her name was Rune," Lin said, voice almost breaking. "Smartest kid I ever met. She loved stargazing. Used to dream about building rockets."
He laughed — a hollow, painful sound.
"And one day... she just disappeared."
Hina's heart twisted.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He shrugged, trying to act like it didn't hurt, but the cracks showed.
"She was taken. Like so many others. Vanished into the world's rotten underbelly. The Aseeters..." His hands clenched into fists. "Those monsters took her."
The word hung between them like a curse.
Aseeters.
Killers. Kidnappers. Ghosts in human skin.
Lin's voice dropped to a rough whisper.
"Since then... I've been hunting. Searching. Killing. Anything and anyone connected to them."
His eyes finally met hers.
"And tonight, they came for you."
Hina felt a lump rise in her throat.
"My husband..." she began, voice trembling. "He tried to protect me. They killed him."
Lin said nothing. He just listened — a rare mercy in this shattered world.
The weight of grief, pain, loneliness — it crushed them both.
"You can't keep running," Lin said finally. "You need to stay somewhere safe."
She shook her head, fear flashing in her eyes.
"I'm not safe anywhere—"
"You will be," Lin said, cutting her off. "With me."
Before she could protest, he rose and held out a hand.
"Come on. My place isn't far."
For a moment, Hina hesitated.
Then — she took his hand.
---
Lin's apartment was small — tucked away in the top floors of a half-collapsed tower.
The walls were covered in maps, surveillance photos, coded notes pinned with knives.
It smelled faintly of gun oil and coffee.
Hina stood awkwardly near the doorway, feeling like an intruder.
Lin tossed her a towel and a clean hoodie.
"Bathroom's through there. Warm up."
She nodded mutely and disappeared down the hall.
As Hina cleaned herself up, Lin sat by the window, staring out into the city's dead lights.
Somewhere out there — Rune was still waiting.
And now, Hina too.
When Hina returned — hair damp, hoodie too big for her slender frame — Lin offered her a battered coffee mug.
She smiled faintly, taking it.
For the first time in what felt like years, Hina felt something other than fear.
A fragile, trembling sense of peace.
---
But peace never lasts.
Misaki — Lin's neighbor — spotted them as they came up the stairwell earlier.
A sharp-eyed woman, suspicious of every shadow.
The next morning — Hina was gone.
The coffee pot still dripped.
Her borrowed hoodie lay crumpled on the couch.
But she was nowhere.
Lin's blood ran cold.
He tore through the apartment — checking windows, doors — everything locked from inside.
Then — he saw it.
The sigil.
A bloody mark smeared across the wall — a twisted emblem known to only a few:
The calling card of the Aseeters.
"No..." Lin whispered.
Rage and terror ignited inside him, burning away all reason.
He slammed his fist into the wall — the impact cracking the concrete.
They had taken her.
Again.
First Rune. Now Hina.
He wouldn't lose her too.
Not this time.
Lin yanked on his combat jacket, his hands moving automatically — loading pistols, sliding knives into hidden sheaths, locking grenades into place.
As he stormed out the door, he barely noticed Misaki watching from the shadows, her face pale, her mouth moving silently:
> "I'm sorry."
---
Hina woke to darkness.
Her wrists were bound behind her.
Her ankles chained.
The air was thick with the smell of metal and rot.
And before her — standing like statues in the gloom —
The Aseeters.
Not just A1 Caterial.
There were others now.
More of them.
Silent. Inhuman. Weapons masquerading as men.
Cold mechanical voices whispered:
> "Subject retrieved. Initiating memory wipe protocol."
> "Prepare for termination."
Hina struggled, fear clawing through her, but the restraints cut deep.
Her mind screamed.
Lin...
Please...
Don't let me disappear too...
In the distance — beyond the cold concrete walls — she thought she heard something.
Something rising.
Something furious.
---