CHAPTER 10: INTO THE BLOOM HE GOES.

For what felt like forever, all Kentaro could see was white.

Light flashed, then vanished. The roar of teleport energy dropped into complete silence.

His feet hit something solid.

The moment stretched.

He blinked, eyes adjusting to a cold, endless blur. Breath shallow. Limbs numb. The Anchor circlet on his head pulsed with a low, throbbing that vibrated in his skull.

Then, clarity snapped in.

The plaza.

But not his plaza

The world around him was a twisted reflection, a bloom and Kentaro had stepped right into its fractured heart.

Frozen rain hung suspended midair, sharp as glass. The concrete shimmered like blue ice, laced with veins of cracking light. Buildings warped in impossible like forgotten memories. Every sound was wrong, his own breath echoed five seconds late, his heartbeat looped and overlapped.

Even his shadow looked off. Wrong shape. Wrong time.

The Anchor circlet screamed in his ear, a pure, high note that rose and fell like a warning bell.

"Crap..." Kentaro whispered, clutching the side of his head. "This is a level 2?"

He staggered forward, his boots crunching over brittle frost. The Plaza was empty, eerily so. Ice covered everything. Even the memories.

But there was still no sign of Ice-Breaker.

Not yet.

He moved with care, entering the frostbitten corridor, where the plaza opened up, surrounding the area were loads of shops, and in the middle near the front door was two escalators, the same space where he and Tenka used to hang out after school. Where they’d laughed. Shared food. Watched Festival dancers pass by.

Now it was dead. Frozen. Silent.

Until.

There.

Just ahead, between the twin escalators, she stood.

Ice-Breaker.

His second ever encounter with an Alberline.

She looked small. Not fragile. Not helpless. Just... Detached.

Cloaked in black frost. Shoulders trembling. Head down. A soft whimper carried through the air like a broken violin note.

She was crying.

They were real tears. But they floated around her, Suspended, locked in along with the rest of building.

Kentaro stepped forward, pulse climbing.

"H-hey..." he said quietly. "what’s your na-"

But before he could finish his sentence pain slammed into him like a migraine from hell, almost like someone threw a spike at the centre of his skull.

He dropped to one knee, clutching his head. Blood pooled in his vision. His Anchor circlet flared red hot.

Each step closer made the pressure worse, like his own memories were being torn out of him and shredded.

He stumbled back two steps. The pain faded immediately.

"Is this some kind of mental barrier...?" he hissed, panting trying to centre himself.

Then-

Her voice.

"W-who... are you?"

"W-who... are you?"

So quiet. So fragile.

So heavy with fear.

He looked up

Her lips barely moved. Her eyes never met his.

Still, he forced out words, voice shaking.

"I’m.... Kent-"

He didn’t finish.

Searing cold wrapped around his left hand.

He screamed.

Frost raced up his arm like liquid metal, turning skin to cracking blue glass.

"PLEASE! I’m not here to hurt you!" he shouted, his voice echoing across the Plaza.

But the Alberline didn’t flinch, it was clear she didn’t trust his word.

"Your lying" She whispered. Then Louder.

"You’re all liars. You want me gone."

Her voice deepened, no longer soft. Not innocent. It became inhuman, like a distortion echoing from the ice itself.

"Your with them humans aren’t you, y-you want me dead."

Kentaro thrashed his arm against a pillar, shattering some of the ice off. His skin stung with frostbite. But even so, he did not care about that his eyes fixated on her.

"I’m not! I swear, i came here to help you!"

She looked at him now, finally. Eyes hollow and shimmering like frozen moons.

"Go, Go away," She said Coldly.

"If, you Value your life."

With a flick of her wrist, a cyclone of frozen wind tore through the hallway like a cannon blast. It hit Kentaro full force, launching him backwards.

And straight out of the front door.

He crashed into the icy pavement outside, tumbling like a rag doll, scraping against concrete.

He laid there for a second, his breath gone.

"Tsch... That... Hurt..."

Ice clung to his jacket. Blood in his mouth. He wiped it off with a shaky laugh.

Then.

BBZZT

"KEN! Are you all right?"

Tenka’s voice in his ear, firm, sharp, but layered with concern.

He sucked in air. "Still here. Slightly airborne. With minor bruises."

The comm crackled, Haruka’s voice filtered in next.

"We saw everything. Drone visuals confirmed: physical rejection and memory feedback. Her Bloom is defensive-first. You’re lucky you didn’t get shattered."

Kentaro spat onto the ground, shaking the last frost from his collar.

"Yeah. Felt like getting hit with a snowplough made of knives."

Tenka cut in.

"Listen, Ken. You must remember, she’s scared. Every Alberline we’ve made contact, has already been attacked by Cradle. Their entire view of humans is twisted."

"Understood. But then how do I get through to her?" he asked, staring at the frozen doors, still pulsing faint blue.

Tenka paused.

Infront of her in the command room everything was all red, the lights flickering feeds.

Tension clung to the air like frostbite.

Onscreen, ice-breaker remained hunched beneath the escalators, silent and shaking. Her tears floated upward in slow spirals. Kentaro, still outside, Knelt just past the threshold, one foot in the cold, one eye on the storm

"Ideas NOW!" Tenka’s voice cut through the room.

"She’s unstable, he’s bruised, and we are running out of time"

Shogo raised a hand immediately, far too confident.

"Okay, okay, okay, hear me out," he said, already way too excited.

"What if we, like... catapulted Kentaro back in from above naked?"

Dead silence.

"I mean, think about it. She wouldn’t expect a guy flying at her, right? And the whole no-clothes thing? Total distraction. It’ll buy us time. I’m not wrong, am I?"

Everyone stared.

Somewhere in the room, a pen slipped from someone’s hand and hit the floor with a soft clack.

Yumi didn’t even look up from her console.

"Shogo. That’s not a strategy. That’s, That’s."

She couldn’t finish the sentence.

Drone (Daichi) Chuckled.

"I mean... It’d be cool. Just not survivable.

Shogo, muttering:

"Okay, damn, everyone is too sensitive."

Haruka stepped in quickly before Tenka could react.

"What we know, she reacts to verbal input with hostility, but she didn’t freeze him immediately on sight. So maybe if we keep things non, verbal,"

Yumi cut in, soft but clear:

"She’s terrified. She thinks any touch is an attack. We need a way to break through without looking like a threat."

Riku, arms folded tight.

"Only thing that’s gonna break her trance is emotional shock. We need to snap her out of the loop she’s caught in."

Yumi nodded.

"She’s not just breaking down, she’s looping. Same pattern of tears, same posture. Her trauma’s feeding the bloom."

Tenka paced slowly behind the projector.

"What if..." she murmured. "What if he doesn’t sync with her?"

The room paused.

"What if she syncs with him?"

Haruka blinked

"You mean, transfer the anchor?"

Tenka turned toward the screen.

"Exactly. He’s wearing it. But it’s not working. She’s rejecting every signal. So give her the anchor. Let her feel what he’s feeling. Let her choose to connect."

Drone, eyes widening.

"That’d reverse the sync. We’ve never done that before."

Emi crunched her sunflower seed.

"Because no one’s been crazy enough to get that close."

Tenka chimes in.

"He doesn’t need to be close right away. Just enough to place the anchor. The touch completes the loop."

Riku leaned in.

"And how does he survive long enough to make the handoff?"

Tenka turned back to the team.

"We’re going to test the route. Controlled re-entry. A calm walk-in isn’t working clearly. So we try it differently.

Yumi raised an eyebrow.

"Please Commander define ’differently’

Tenka looked toward the exit hatch.

Then down to Kentaro on the screen.

"We swing him back in.

But not Shogo-style."

Shogo immediately perked up, clearly offended.

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

Tenka smirked slightly.

"It means with timing, not chaos."

She nodded once, and as if it had been rehearsed, Haruka stepped forward, her tablet glowing faintly under her arm.

"We’ve been monitoring her movement patterns. They’re not random."

She tapped the screen once, freeze-frame footage looped on the projector.

"Each time she attacks or lashes out, there’s a pause afterward.

Like a recharge phase. A low-state window."

Shogo, squinting:

"Recharge? So... she’s a phone?"

"No, idiot," Mika snapped. "She’s traumatised. That’s her version of breathing."

Haruka continued, unbothered.

"It’s roughly five to ten seconds each time. Not long, but enough.

If we sync Kentaro’s entry right after one of her outbursts, she’ll be at her weakest. Least reactive. Least afraid."

She paused.

"But we’ll still need speed. Or we get another ice cannon to the chest."

Riku nodded, arms crossed.

"We cut the distance first. Put him just outside strike range. Then drop him in with momentum."

Drone stood up his face lit up.

"I’ve got a drone with a mini sling attachment. Not enough to launch him, but it can push him forward fast if he’s already moving."

Emi, her face flat not impressed by the idea presented.

"So... We’re literally pushing our anchor into a time bomb"

"Better than yeeting him like a projectile," Mika muttered while glancing at Shogo.

Tenka pointed towards the plaza feed.

"We keep him low, silent, and we time it to the heartbeat. He enters as she exhales."

She looked at Kentaro’s cam feed, he stood just past the threshold, tension coiled, eyes locked on the frozen doors.

"Ken. Ready for round two?"

His voice cam through the comms, breath sharp but there was a hint of nervousness.

"I Was born ready."

He paused letting out a massive sigh

"J-just please don’t use Shogo’s idea" He said dejected, anticipating them to use his idea.

"HEY!, WHAT WRONG WITH MINE IT’S GENIUS!" Shogo protested.

Tenka smiled faintly, a rare moment of softness cutting through the tension.

"Don’t worry, I’d never do that to you," she said, giggling slightly.

Then, she went back to commander mode.

"Let’s move. Kentaro, follow our lead...."

"YES MA"AM!" Kentaro barked, his mentality in full soldier mode as he jogged toward the frozen door with the confidence of a man who didn’t know yet, what his life had in store from him.

But just before his hand could reach the frosted handle, he froze, not from the cold or the Alberline’s aura.... But because something buzzed above him.

A drone. A single drone.

His spine locked.

Until Tenka’s voice came through the comm:

"Kentaro, that’s Drone’s unit. He’s lowering a rope, i need you to grab it. We’ll use it to drop you in close.

But brace yourself."

Kentaro looked up just in time for the rope to gently slap him in the face.

"Ow... Okay, this is starting to feel like on of Shogo’s plans."

Drone chimed in, full of confidence.

"Don’t worry my man Ken.

Unlike Mr dingbat Shogo, you won’t be forty feet in the air screaming for your mother.

He paused a light smirk was made on his face.

"You’ll only be... like, five at most."

Kentaro squinted, grabbing the rope.

"Why dose that still sound life threatening?!"

He got no response.

Nevertheless, he held on.

The drone began to drift backwards, slowly lifting him off the ground, prepping for momentum.

His grip tightened. His doubt increased. His soul started writing its will.

"J-just drone, please don’t launch me straight into a wall or a support beam or an escalator or-"

No one answered.

And then the drone stopped mid-air.

And then-

WHOOOM!

The drone shot forward like a fired cannonball.

Kentaro screamed like a civilian in the middle of a cursed episode.

The wind slapped his face. His legs kicked. The door grew closer.

"WAIT-WAIT, THE DOOR’S STILL CLOS-"

The sound of the door being smashed into was loud, as Kentaro blasted through the door like a human missile, spraying ice and shards across the entrance.

"SUCCESS!" Yumi shouted punching the air

"Hold up." Shogo muttered, squinting.

Dose anyone... know how he’s gonna stop?"

Haruka went silent.

Tenka paled.

Then came in the realisation.

"...OH SHIII-"