30 - Wolfram

Yesterday, before sleep hit him like a brick, Kai had sent a long-form letter straight to the Wolfram Institute. It detailed everything—from his fake noble lineage to Seren's fictional Eisenmark background. He had forged every record, attached every ID, and even added a family crest. It was clean. Maybe too clean.

It's March… no sane institution would allow mid-year entries unless they had a reason to. But that's why I made us nobles. Nobles bend systems.

Now it was Saturday. The school grounds were mostly dead. No students, just the occasional staff or professor cutting across courtyards or sipping coffee on benches.

Kai and Seren walked the marble path between the main building and the Admissions Hall. Seren wore a long coat and boots, her eyes darting at every little architectural detail like the school was a palace.

"So this is it? The place where you go to back then?" she said, half-joking.

"Yup. It feels weird coming back not half-dead."

They stepped into the Enrollment Office. The place was cleaner than it needed to be—faint smell of ink and sterile floors. A professor sat at the front desk, an older man with narrow glasses and a file already open on his tablet.

He looked up. "You're… Ottokai Von Seraphis, yes?"

Kai nodded. "And this is Seren von Eisenmark. We sent word ahead."

"I read your message. It's quite the lineage. Former baron blood, and her, princess of the Southern Tributaries. The Eisenmark family hasn't been active in Earth's sphere for a while now."

Kai shrugged, tone casual. "It's complicated. The war, the politics, the Rift gates… we laid low. Now we're back. We don't like hiding."

The professor leaned back in his chair, clearly testing the waters. "So what brought you to Wolfram specifically?"

"Security, education, and opportunity." Kai held eye contact. "We don't like the direction things are going. Parasite incursions, rogue Devourers, collapsing outer zones. We want to be involved with it. It's better than sitting behind golden walls doing nothing."

"And the girl?" The professor nodded toward Seren.

Kai spoke before she could. "She's with me. She wants to train, to adapt. Maybe she's not a fighter now, but she'll get there. I'll make sure of it."

The professor studied them both.

"So you expect us to let in two unscheduled students mid-semester with zero verified field time, no combat records, and suspiciously clean documentation?"

Kai smirked. "We're nobles. We don't show up in databases. We show up in history."

That made the man pause. Then he smiled, just a bit.

"Well. That's quite the bold answer."

He tapped the tablet and stood up.

"In that case… I'll take this to the principal. Normally this would be shut down immediately, but I suppose an exception could be made for royal bloodlines, especially with what's been happening lately."

He gave them a nod.

"Wait here. I won't be long."

As he left the room, Kai exhaled.

If this goes through, we're in.

Seren leaned toward him. "Do you think they'll really say yes?"

"They will. Nobles always get in the door." He glanced toward the hall. "It's what we do once we're inside that matters."

The professor returned, tablet still in hand. He walked with a subtle shift in tone—less formal now, more focused.

"I spoke with the principal. You've both been approved for mid-year enrollment."

Kai blinked. "Really?"

"Yes," the man smiled faintly. "Consider it a rare exception. I'll be watching you two closely."

Seren grabbed Kai's arm, whispering. "Yes! That was easier than I thought."

"I'm Professor Halbrecht," the man added. "I handle admissions for special cases and oversee Rift-related deployments. And I'm… interested in you, Ottokai."

Kai raised a brow. "Just call me Otto. Or Kai."

The professor paused. "Kai, huh?"

He sighed, rubbing his temple. "You know, we had a student here—real name Kai. Died just last week."

Kai's eyes froze. "Really?"

"Yes. He was a quiet kid, loner type, and he was depressed. According to the GCC reports, it was ruled as suicide."

Suicide? That's what they think happened to me?

Professor Halbrecht shrugged. "That's why I'll call you Otto. Kai just… carries baggage right now."

They don't know that's me. But suicide? What would Emil think? Or Aria? Hell, even Yona…

"Anyway," Halbrecht continued, not noticing Kai's silence, "you'll receive the standard Wolfram uniforms next week. Until then, you're free to return home. Classes resume Monday."

He looked at Seren. "As for your ward—she'll be processed the same way. Your identities passed our checks."

"Thank you," Kai said flatly.

"Don't thank me yet. I expect results. Nobles or not, if you can't keep up, you'll be dropped. This is Wolfram, not a charity."

They both nodded.

As they stepped out of the office, Kai's mind kept circling one thing.

They think I took my own life. Like I just gave up and vanished…

Seren glanced over. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Let's just… go home. We've got work to do."

---

Inside a cold, reinforced briefing room of the GCC Police Department, the fluorescents buzzed faintly overhead.

Wenzel sat straight, his fingers interlocked as he stared across the table at the man in uniform—jet-black armor with silver accents and a crimson badge marked [S.O.R.]—Special Operations Rift.

Commander Erhardt Schwarzklinge. GeneDevourer, Rank A, Rift Class Specialist.

"So," Erhardt said, tapping his data tablet, "you want to reopen an investigation into Kai Vogel. A boy who's been officially declared dead."

Wenzel nodded. "Because I don't believe he is."

"And why would I waste resources chasing a dead minor?"

Wenzel leaned forward. "Because Kai Vogel isn't just some random teenager. He's the last confirmed bloodline holder of the Vogel clan. One of the three root lineages that survived the Great European Collapse. That makes him valuable, especially now."

Erhardt raised a brow. "You're talking about the clans again."

"Yes," Wenzel replied. "After the Great War, most of the nobility was abolished, but the bloodlines didn't vanish. They just moved underground, into forests, wastelands, abandoned zones. They became clans. They dropped their flags and took up gene-anchored cultivation. The Vogel clan was one of the most secretive—lived in the eastern Blackpine region."

"And?" Erhardt's voice was dry.

"And," Wenzel continued, "when I first met Kai, he was nine. Just nine, and already defeating boys twice his age from the Welt and Drexler clans. He wasn't just talented—he was tactical and ruthless. He had that instinct you can't teach."

Erhardt's gaze didn't change, but he no longer interrupted.

Wenzel went on. "Then the rift came—a B+ rift. Half the forest was turned to rot, the village vanished, and all of the Vogel died, except one. Kai was the only one alive and had been living with a powerful parasite inside him. Then, he died in the rift Grin told me to enter. But, I believe he isn't dead!"

Erhardt set down the tablet. "And what exactly do you want to do?"

"I want to find him," Wenzel said, standing. "I want to find out what really happened to the Vogel clan—and if Kai Vogel is still alive, then I'll be the one to bring him in."

Erhardt crossed his arms. "Permission granted. You'll be assigned two agents and a Riftwatch drone. Be careful, Wenzel. If that boy is alive… and bonded to a parasite as you suspect… he's not just valuable. He's volatile."

Wenzel nodded. "Understood."

---

Seren was already curled up on the couch, blanket half slipping from her shoulder as she breathed softly, and Manny had passed out at the keyboard again, head resting between half-written lines of code and a half-eaten circuit chip. So, Kai didn't say anything as he slipped on his jacket and stepped outside into the night.

He didn't know where he was walking at first, or maybe he did and just didn't want to admit it to himself, but he walked anyway, down the cracked pavement, past flickering streetlights and neon signs barely alive, past people shouting from alleyways and couples whispering under broken lamps, past music that sounded like gunshots and gunshots that sounded like music.

I want to go… to my grave. I need to see it.

And so he walked. He didn't stop walking. He passed the old train station and the district market, then took the turn down the stone path to the cemetery near the edge of the northern wall, and there was no one there at first, only the dead and the dirt and the scent of old flowers left to rot in their plastic vases.

He used a binoculars and viewed past the graves one by one, until he found it—his own name, etched in cheap grey stone, "Kai Vogel – 2100 to 2115 – Found Peace," though he never asked for peace, and he never died to begin with.

Then, he froze.

Because someone else was already sitting there.

A girl, dark hair with sharp bangs covering her eyes, draped in thick, military-grade black fabric, legs folded in front of her like she'd been waiting for hours.

Her posture wasn't stiff, and she wasn't crying either, just… talking. She was talking.

And beside her, curled loosely around a stone slab, was a white serpent with a glowing scale under its jaw. So she's been in the Rift again. The Midnight Band's still active then.

He crouched low and stayed behind the gravestone to the side, breath held.

Then he smiled.

Finally, George 3, you're good for something. Boost my hearing—let's see what she's saying.

The parasite activated with a low pulse in his skull, and suddenly the world sharpened, and her voice came through like she was whispering into his ear.

"After you died, you made me start from zero," she said softly, brushing dust off the grave with her sleeve. "But I managed. I managed to live a wonderful life. You know, I became friends with Aria—she was such a nice person, smarter than she looks. Then there's Emil and Rander—both perverts, yeah, but they're funny, and they listen. I'm really happy I trusted you, Kai."

She shifted slightly, placing a small stone figure beside the headstone, a carved wooden fox.

"So, even if we only knew each other for a few days, I'll remember those days forever. I'll cherish them. So tomorrow… if there's a tomorrow… you have to smile, okay?"

Kai didn't move.

He couldn't move.

A tear broke loose and slid down his cheek, and he wasn't even sure when he started crying, but he wiped it quickly and stood.

She remembered what I said.

He didn't say anything, and he didn't make a sound. He just turned around and walked away, slowly, carefully, like if he made a noise it would ruin something too delicate to fix.

And the night swallowed him back up as quietly as it had let him go.