On the first day of school, everyone is whispering about the Hoshino triplets.
"They're legends…"
"I heard one of them has precognition."
"The youngest one—Souta—he doesn't age, right?"
And from afar, someone observes them wearing tinted glasses.
A man with government connections.
His voice over the phone:
"The boy is real. Follow his movements. No contact yet. But if he slips again. we act."
Souta senses it. The air is more crammed now. The world is observing.
At home, Ai remains unchanged.
She sings while cooking. Plays back their shows. Hugs them in greeting. But Souta catches the subtle concern in her eyes more frequently nowadays.
She doesn't vocalize it—but she senses something is approaching.
That evening, as Souta toys with her locks on the couch, Ai whispers:
"I'd sacrifice the entire world if it meant you three would be safe."
Souta replies softly:
"Then I'll hold the world back for you."
He smiles.
But he doesn't mean metaphorically.
At school, there's a peculiar girl added to their class.
Her name: Yume Takaoka.A singer wannabe. Shy, gangly, with a gaze that occasionally glints like she's recalling something painful.
Souta is attracted to her—not romantically, but naturally.
"She's like me," he grumbles at Ruby.
"Broken?"
"Not broken. Just… left behind."
He finds out Yume was comatose until last year. No memory of the past. But she sings like nobody else—low, raw, real.
Souta starts training her for a school performance.
But something in her voice…
It warps the world.
Just like his own power does.
A government agent visits Ai's agency in secret.
They lay a picture on the desk: a blurred photo of Yume at a singing practice—shards of light defying her.
"We thought your son was the only aberration. He's not."
Ichigo Saitou is panic-struck. He cautions Ai.
Ai summons Souta home early.
"You must avoid that girl."
Souta scowls. "But she needs assistance."
"She is different from you. You had love. We don't know what she'll have."
Souta does not reply.
But that evening, he goes to see Yume anyway.
She's sobbing on the roof, a lone note humming from her throat.
He places his hand upon hers—and sees her soul.
Burning. Turbulent. Searching.
Yume tells the truth.
She was reincarnated too—but not from Earth.
She awoke in the middle of a song. No recollections. But she remembers she doesn't belong.
"I thought I was alone."
Souta stares at her, shocked.
"You're not."
But when he makes to go—
Time freezes.
And this time, it's not him causing it.
Yume stares at her hands in fear.
"I didn't mean to! It just… happened!"
Souta gets it. She's on edge. Raw. Like he was, all those years ago.
But unlike him, she didn't want love first.