MacKayden sat alone in his office long after the station had quieted.

The reports from Null Avenue were stacked in uneven piles across his desk, untouched. His eyes were on something else entirely.

The terminal screen glowed faintly in the dim room.

RESTRICTED ACCESS – CIVIC CONTROL ARCHIVE.

He paused for a moment, then keyed in his credentials.

A warning flashed once. Then the system opened.

Rows of sealed incident logs appeared, most heavily redacted. Entire entries were greyed out, replaced with clearance tags and authority overrides.

MacKayden scrolled slowly.

Nothing useful at first. Then a fragment caught his attention.

Incident File: Fire Event – Sector 14 Outskirts

Status: Closed – Classified Removal Order

His expression tightened slightly. He opened it.

What remained was incomplete.

Structural fire in a residential containment zone

Cause: Unresolved ignition source

Casualty records: Partially erased

Administrative note: "DO NOT REOPEN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE"

Then one surviving line of identity data.

Survivors: Yesuin Kaelitha – Sole Confirmed Survivor

MacKayden leaned back slightly.

A sole survivor. From a full structural fire

His eyes narrowed.

At the bottom of the file, a secondary tag appeared.

Case Oversight: Detective Clarke – Central Mental Division

MacKayden stared at it for a long moment.

Then closed the terminal.

***

The hotel was one of the quieter ones near the district border.

Rain tapped lightly against the windows as MacKayden stepped into the corridor, coat still damp from the night air. The receptionist hadn’t questioned him. They rarely did when CCD was involved.

Room 406.

He stopped outside the door and knocked once.

No answer.

He knocked again, firmer.

A voice came from inside. "The door’s unlocked."

MacKayden pushed it open.

Detective Clarke was sitting by the window, legs crossed on a chair that looked deliberately misused. A half-finished drink rested on the table beside him.

He looked up and smiled faintly

"Officer MacKayden. Late visit. I’m flattered."

MacKayden didn’t sit.

"I know you visited Housing Unit 7."

Clarke’s expression didn’t change.

"I visit many places.

"You asked about her," MacKayden continued. "Yesuin Kaelitha."

A brief pause.

Clarke tilted his head slightly. "Ah."

"And you arrived in this district days before the bombing," MacKayden added.

Clarke gave a small shrug. "I was already in transit. Timing is unfortunate for your theory, I assume."

MacKayden’s eyes stayed fixed on him. "You also covered a classified fire incident three years ago."

That earned a longer silence.

Clarke leaned back slightly, studying him.

"Someone kept better records than I expected."

"You didn’t file it properly," MacKayden said.

Clarke exhaled through his nose, almost amused.

"’Properly’ is a generous word in that situation."

MacKayden stepped closer now.

"Why were you there? At the Housing Unit."

Clarke met his gaze.

"I’m a detective," he said simply. "I follow the one case the system keeps refusing to finish."

A brief silence settled between them.

Then Clarke leaned back completely, tone easing just a fraction.

"And unfortunately for you, this district keeps producing reminders of it."

He picked up his drink again, taking a calm sip.

MacKayden didn’t move.

Clarke looked up once more. "That’s all, officer?"

The room stayed quiet.

Neither of them smiled.

***

The school counseling office had been improvised into a questioning room.

MacKayden sat before the table with Cee Cee by his side.

And one by one, Yesu and Trystia’s classmates sat before them.

The conversations began with Trystia.

"I don’t know much about her. She’s always so quiet."

"She has no friends."

"I heard she comes from a well-ranked family. That’s why she gets bullied a lot."

"I didn’t know about the bullying, I swear.

"I don’t give a fuck about what happens at this school."

"I’m innocent."

The questions shifted to Yesu’s behavior.

"Yesu? I don’t know..."

"Something’s off about her."

"She’s always asleep during classes but still gets good enough grades."

"There was this one time, during gym, she twisted her ankle but still defeated the guys in dodgeball."

"... She ran two hours straight without stopping."

"She signed an attendance list with a bloody fingerprint once."

"Is she dead again?"

"That girl’s crazy if you ask me. Who jumps after someone from a rooftop?"

And then there was Millie.

"Why am I here? I’m not Trystia’s classmate." She said,

"I know," MacKayden said. "Tell me what you think about your friend, Yesuin."

"She’s cool. A little weird, but she’s good."

"Noticed anything off about her?"

"She wasn’t trying to commit suicide. She’d never."

"You sound so sure."

"Well, to commit suicide one must feel sad... or devastated or... hopeless."

"Meaning?"

"Yesu doesn’t."

"Doesn’t feel sad or doesn’t feel?"

A pause. Millie blinked.

MacKayden smiled.

***

"The Principal gave an interesting commentary on Yesuin." Cee Cee told MacKayden as they drove away from the school premises. "The instructors aren’t too fond of her either."

"Can imagine," MacKayden said.l

"Weren’t we supposed to dig deeper into the bullying?"

"The school already decided it wasn’t important. Besides, you and I both know we didn’t come for that."

***

MacKayden sat across from Gerald in the empty restaurant, hands folded on the table.

"You should cooperate," he said evenly. "We already spoke to nearby shop owners. And your regular customers."

Gerald stayed quiet.

MacKayden’s eyes moved briefly around Gerry’s Pizza before returning to him.

"You’ve done well keeping your status hidden." He said calmly. "Most people in this district still think you’re a Zero."

Gerald’s expression changed slightly.

MacKayden leaned back. "So let’s not waste each other’s time." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"What exactly do you want to know?"

MacKayden held his gaze.

"Everything unusual you’ve ever noticed about Yesuin Kaelitha."

***

MacKayden sat alone in his office, the monitor light reflecting faintly in his eyes.

Files filled the screen.

Null Rank origin.

Fire incident survivor.

Records erased.

The accident with no driver.

Protest footage.

Rooftop incident.

Repeated survival anomalies.

Every report contradicted the last. Yet all of them pointed to the same conclusion.

MacKayden leaned back slowly, going through his conclusion.

"She is not unregistered," he read quietly. "She is not unknown."

A pause.

"She is documented. Incorrectly classified."

Even saying it sounded absurd. There had never been a case like this before.

He finalized the report and sent it directly to the CCD Head Office.

Then after a brief hesitation, I forwarded a copy to Bertram Corvane as requested.

MacKayden frowned slightly afterward.

Why would a man from The Assembly want the report personally?

Two hours later, his office telephone rang.

"Officer MacKayden." Came Commander Valecrest’s voice. "Access the CCD database immediately."

The line disconnected.

MacKayden logged in at once.

A new priority file sat above every active case in the district.

YESUIN KAELITHA

FLAGGED ANOMALY

Below it:

TO BE DELIVERED FOR STUDY WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

MacKayden stared at the screen silently, then finally understood how serious this had become.