Chapter 72: Doutor Coffee

Mio

The shimmer held little resistance. Mio wasn’t sure if she liked that.

[Entering Incursion]

[Kokubunji Station — Grade: B]

[Type: Nested]

[Hostiles: 8]

The escalators were still running. Bureau should have cut power an hour ago.

Chigusa stepped on without waiting, one hand on the railing, eyes on the dark below. Her hair was dyed in blue streaks. The brunette and blue caught Mio’s eyes and stuck.

She’d thought about dyeing her hair that same color. Before.

“Single file. I’m point, Mio-chan behind me, Enokida behind her. Everyone else—keep up.”

She didn’t ask.

She went first because that’s where she went.

Mio had been through Kokubunji once. Back when her parents were still alive, and Nana was a little toddler. She remembered a Doutor Coffee near the ticket gates and a flower shop with dried bouquets in the window. Especially the time Nana pooped her pants.

Mio couldn’t stop laughing then.

That was a long time ago.

The Doutor was gone. The flower shop was on the ceiling—storefront inverted, glass cases dangling, bouquets pointing at the floor. The ticket gates had multiplied into rows that processed invisible commuters, clicking open and shut in sequence.

“Two days,” Enokida said, wiping his forehead. “It’s had time to redecorate.”

Past the gates, the concourse split into three staircases going down. Signs above each one—Nishi-Kokubunji-Shita, Kokubunji-Chūō-Ura, Kokubunji-Naimaku. None of them real.

Chigusa held up her fist.

“Pulse.”

Enokida closed his eyes. The air rippled around his chest.

[Sonar Bloom]

“Three platform levels. One down each staircase.” He opened his eyes. “Three hostiles. One per level. All in defensive positions—they’re not patrolling. They’re waiting.”

Three. Mio looked at her Engine again. Eight.

“My system says eight,” Mio said.

Enokida shook his head. “Sonar Bloom doesn’t miss. Three.”

Chigusa put her hand on Mio’s shoulder. “He’s never been wrong before. You can relax, Mio-chan.”

Mio found Kaito’s eyes. He mouthed something. It’s fine.

Chigusa bit her thumb knuckle through the glove. She looked up through the cracked walls breathing and eroding at the foundations. Mio couldn’t make out her face.

“Can’t single-file through three levels. Destabilization’s too fast.” She turned to face them. Held up three fingers—open hand, ring and pinky folded down. “Three teams. Simultaneous. We push inward and collapse whatever’s coordinating them.”

“Why not just go through each one altogether?” Mio said. “Minimize risk.”

“Because each pathway is a nested incursion itself. Clear one, risk the other two imploding, then the incursion itself, then the block.”

“Then the Men Upstairs would bomb the city to oblivion,” Washio said.

“My Engine says eight,” Mio said again.

Chigusa looked at her. Not unkindly. “Mio-chan. Enokida’s Sonar Bloom has cleared nineteen incursions. Three hostiles. One per level. We go simultaneous, collapse the core, and get out.” She waited. “Okay?”

The Engine had never lied to her, not once.

“Okay.”

She pointed. “Path A—me, Mio-chan, Enokida. Path B—Kaito-san, Togashi, Kise. Path C—Mori-san, Washio, Bannai.”

She looked at all of them.

“Either way, I don’t like this. The Bureau sent nine agents for one B-grade incursion. Set a watch on your phones. Thirty minutes. Come back, no matter what. If all else fails, we dip. Nested incursions are unpredictable.”

Mori sniffed. “I’m with Mio-san.”

“You’re on Path C.”

“My assignment is Mio-san’s squad.”

“Your assignment is whatever I say it is inside this incursion.”

“I’m her squad leader.”

“And I’m convergence commander. My operation, my calls.”

“Segawa-san said I lead.”

“The Men Upstairs changed their minds.”

Mori didn’t move. The hazel eyes were fixed on Chigusa. The fever had been making her sleepy all morning.

She wasn’t sleepy now.

Chigusa stepped toward her, close enough that Mori had to look up.

“Path C. Washio at point. You direct.” She held Mori’s stare. “Unless you’d rather sit in the van.”

“You want to try it?”

The heat began rising.

It was faint, but Mio noticed the seams on Chigusa’s jacket begin to unravel. Thread by thread. The stitching glowed purple where it pulled loose.

Kaito stepped between them, sheathed sword held sideways.

“Clock’s ticking. Tear each other’s throats later.”

Chigusa’s seams restitched. She tugged her collar and turned back to the staircase.

Mori sneezed and rolled her eyes like she was denied a treat. Walked toward the third staircase without another peep.

Bannai set his blanket by the station entrance. Folded it, creased the edge.

“Hold onto this for me?” he said to no one in particular.

Then he picked up Kise’s gear bag and followed Washio into the dark.

Kise was already gone. She’d walked into her staircase the moment Chigusa assigned it, charges clicking against her belt.

Togashi glanced at Kaito. Kaito nodded. They went.

Path A took the central descent. Damp steps. Bureau boots squeaking on every landing. Chigusa at point, same posture as the escalator, weight forward.

The landing behind them folded shut. Concrete grinding over concrete until the passage was gone.

“We’re cut off,” Enokida said.

Chigusa kept walking. “Expected.”

Train tracks threaded through the corridor floor, then curved up the left wall and disappeared into the ceiling. Yellow tactile strips ran up the opposite wall and across the ceiling like the station had rolled over in its sleep.

Mio felt a pulse of mana behind her. Small, controlled. She glanced back. Enokida had his eyes closed again, fingers spread against the wall.

He opened them. “Clear ahead.”

Jii tapped twice in Mio’s jacket pocket. Mio flattened her hand inside. Jii stood on her palm with one toothpick dagger pointed forward into the tunnel.

The other pointed behind them, at Enokida.

Mio tucked her back in.

The tiles ended twenty meters past the last landing. Bare concrete, wet and warm against Mio’s fingertips where she braced the wall. The ceiling dropped low enough to brush with the obsidian arm.

Chigusa cracked a chemical stick from her vest. Green glow on the walls. She looked back at Mio. Green light caught the blue streaks in her hair.

“Anything can happen.” Their eyes met. “You can count on me, Mio-chan.”

Mio nodded and found her pace.

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