The summons arrived precisely twelve minutes after midnight.
No seal.No signature.Just a location and a time already passed.
Raishin read it once.
Then folded the slate and placed it face down on the table.
"They know," Kurogane said.
"Yes," Raishin replied. "Which means they're deciding how angry to be."
Masako was already awake when they reached her quarters.
"That wasn't a reprimand," she said before Raishin could speak. "That was confirmation."
Mizuki appeared moments later, robe half-fastened, expression taut. "The sensors flagged a null interval."
Kurogane frowned. "Null?"
"Nothing," Mizuki said. "No lightning. No compensation. No pattern residue. For six minutes."
Raishin exhaled. "Long enough."
"They don't understand how," Mizuki continued. "Only that it shouldn't be possible."
Masako leaned on her cane. "Then they'll ask the wrong questions."
"They won't ask him," Mizuki said, nodding toward Kurogane. "Not yet."
All eyes turned to Raishin.
"I'll go," he said.
Masako's voice sharpened. "Alone?"
Raishin met her gaze. "That's what they're counting on."
The council chamber was darker than usual.
Lights dimmed to archival levels. No audience. No observers. Just three figures seated in a shallow arc.
Akihiko.Valen.A third seat—unoccupied.
Raishin stopped at the center mark.
"You were instructed to remain within sanctioned bounds," Akihiko said calmly.
"You defined bounds after trust failed," Raishin replied.
Valen's tone remained even. "This is not disciplinary."
"Then don't phrase it like an autopsy," Raishin said.
Akihiko raised a hand. "We detected an absence."
Raishin nodded. "Correct."
Valen leaned forward slightly. "Explain."
Raishin did not.
"That silence," Akihiko continued, "created instability across adjacent systems. Patterns failed to resolve."
"It created choice," Raishin said.
Valen frowned. "Lightning does not choose."
Raishin looked directly at him. "That's what you were taught."
A brief pause.
Akihiko studied Raishin carefully. "Are you suggesting regression?"
"No," Raishin replied. "I'm preventing completion."
Valen's voice hardened. "Completion of what?"
Raishin hesitated.
Then spoke the words they feared.
"Inheritance."
The chamber cooled perceptibly.
Akihiko's jaw tightened. "That doctrine is classified."
"And still active," Raishin said. "You didn't erase it. You refined it."
Valen stood. "You overstep."
Raishin stepped forward.
"You're not afraid of destruction," he said. "You're afraid lightning won't need you to aim it."
Silence stretched.
Akihiko spoke carefully. "Your unsanctioned training ends now."
Raishin smiled once. "Too late."
Valen turned sharply. "What did you do?"
"I reminded him," Raishin said quietly, "that pain exists without witnesses."
Akihiko stood.
"You are suspended from instruction effective immediately."
Raishin inclined his head. "As expected."
"Additionally," Akihiko continued, "you will submit to evaluation."
Raishin's eyes lifted. "No."
A beat.
Then Akihiko said the word that mattered.
"Escort."
The doors opened.
But no guards entered.
Instead, Mizuki's voice echoed from behind.
"That would violate your own procedures."
Akihiko turned slowly. "This is internal."
"So is precedent," Mizuki replied, stepping into the chamber. "And precedent says you do not detain instructors without inquiry."
Masako appeared beside her.
"And precedent also says," Masako added softly, "that fear accelerates exactly what you are trying to contain."
Akihiko exhaled.
"Then we proceed differently," he said. "Kurogane's exposure increases. Immediately."
Raishin's breath caught.
Valen nodded. "Public application. Broader resonance."
Masako's face went pale. "You'll break him."
"No," Akihiko said. "We'll finish him."
Raishin's voice dropped to something dangerous. "Touch him like that, and you'll prove us right."
Akihiko met his gaze. "Then stop resisting."
Raishin turned away.
As he left the chamber, a single thought hammered through his mind—not fear for himself.
But time.
They were running out.
Somewhere in the academy, Kurogane opened his palm.
The lightning did not answer.
Not yet.
But it was listening.