Eighteen hours into Scenario Four, the alliance was starving.
Not literally—seventy-two hours without food was survivable. But essence starvation was different. The power that had become part of their nervous systems demanded fuel. Every manifestation burned calories the body couldn't easily replace.
Kaito felt it in his substance control. What usually lasted three minutes now flickered after two and a half. State transitions took fractionally longer. The deep greenish-blue looked thinner somehow, diluted.
"Energy conservation," Rei instructed. Unknown Team had experience with deprivation—three years surviving Akashi's facility taught brutal lessons. "Minimum manifestations. Only when necessary."
"We have one medical kit," Yuna said quietly. She'd been rationing the supplies carefully. "Enough for minor injuries across eighteen people. Not enough for serious trauma."
"Then we avoid serious trauma," Takeshi said. But his reversal field flickered when he tested it—five meters still, but the duration had dropped to eighteen seconds. Resource deprivation affecting everyone.
Ayumi sat apart from the group, attempting transformation for the hundred-thirty-second time. Still nothing. Day three of recovery, and the essence connection felt more distant, not closer.
Kaito watched her hands shake as the costume anchor failed again.
His phone notes read: Deaths: 22. Injuries: Akira (recovered), Ayumi (ongoing).
The guilt list was getting longer.
The third resource drop came at hour eighteen.
Three objects materialized in the plaza center:
Essence restoration capsules (counteract power depletion) Strategic map (location advantages marked) Communication device (coordinate between partnerships)
RyÅma stood waiting, silver-white hair catching moonlight. His smile was predatory satisfaction. "STILL HIDING, COWARDS?"
Beside him, Sora's blue eyes scanned the shadows. Looking for Kaito specifically. Warning? Threat assessment? Guilt? Impossible to tell.
"We're not engaging," Takeshi said quietly. The alliance watched from three hundred meters away—outside RyÅma's essence sensing range. "Same strategy."
"He's baiting us," Hayato observed. "Wants us to attack so he can demonstrate the five-second stop."
"Or he genuinely believes we're evolutionary dead weight," Shin countered. "His philosophy isn't performance. He actually thinks might makes right."
"Then let him think it," Rei said. "We survive anyway."
RyÅma waited five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.
No one approached.
"PATHETIC!" His voice echoed across Yoyogi Park. "THIS IS NATURAL SELECTION! THE STRONG TAKE, THE WEAK STARVE! YOU'RE PROVING MY PHILOSOPHY CORRECT!"
"We're proving survival matters more than pride," Takeshi murmured. "That's a different philosophy."
RyÅma raised his hand. Time stopped.
Five seconds this time. Kaito couldn't perceive the gap—just sudden discontinuity. RyÅma had been standing at resource drop. Now he held all three items, and Cold Eyes Team was repositioned fifty meters closer to the alliance's hiding spot.
"FIVE SECONDS!" RyÅma's triumph was absolute. "I CAN FREEZE TIME FOR FIVE SECONDS! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS?"
"It means you're dangerous," Riku called back. "We already knew that."
"It means I'm superior!" RyÅma's philosophy bled through every word. "Evolutionary advantage! Time manipulation is the ultimate power! I am the apex predator and you are PREY!"
"He's getting worse," Akira observed quietly. "The power is feeding his ideology."
"Or revealing it," Kira corrected. "This is who he always was. The time stop just gives him proof."
Sora spoke—voice carrying despite distance. "RyÅma. We have the resources. Let's go."
"Why?" RyÅma turned to his partner team's captain. "They're starving, weakening, proving that cooperation with the weak is suicide. We should finish this."
"The scenario requires three partnerships to survive," Sora said flatly. "Killing them violates that."
"Does it?" RyÅma's eyes gleamed. "Or does letting them starve to death simply demonstrate natural selection? We're not killing them. We're just being stronger."
"Semantics," Sora said.
"Philosophy," RyÅma corrected. "And mine is winning."
They departed—eight essentials carrying all three resources, leaving eighteen watching from the shadows.
Hungry. Weakening. Surrendered.
But alive.
Hour twenty-four brought breaking point.
Daichi collapsed during basic training drills. Not unconscious—just empty. His kinetic amplification had burned through his remaining energy reserves. He needed food, rest, essence restoration.
They had none of those things.
"I'm fine," Daichi insisted, struggling to stand. "Just need a minute—"
"You need resources," Shiori said quietly. "Which we don't have because we're surrendering every drop."
"We're surviving every drop," Takeshi corrected. But his voice carried less conviction now. Watching his ally collapse from starvation was testing the doctrine brutally.
"Are we?" Hayato's frustration finally cracked through. "Or are we just slowly dying while RyÅma proves his philosophy? 'Might makes right'—and we're making him right by refusing to fight!"
"Fighting gets us killed," Rei countered. "Five-second time stop is lethal. He can slit throats before we perceive the gap."
"So we just accept weakness?" Hayato's fire crackled. "Just prove him correct? Evolutionary dead weight, starving while the strong feast?"
"We prove survival isn't about strength," Takeshi said. But the words sounded hollow even to Kaito.
Because Daichi was on the ground, unable to stand. Because their essence was depleting. Because seventy-two hours of resource deprivation would leave them too weak to function in future scenarios.
And RyÅma's philosophy was starting to sound less like villainy and more like accuracy.
"I hate this," Ayumi said quietly. She'd been silent for hours, attempting transformation mechanically while the alliance argued. "I hate that he's winning by doing exactly what he believes. Social Darwinism actually working because we're too afraid to challenge it."
"We're not afraid," Kaito said. "We're strategic."
"We're starving," Ayumi corrected. "And I'm powerless. And Daichi's collapsed. And in forty-eight hours when Scenario Four ends, we'll be too weak to fight in Scenario Five." Her hands clenched on the failed costume anchor. "RyÅma's right. We're proving cooperation with weakness is suicide."
"You're not weakness," Kaito said immediately.
"I literally cannot contribute to combat." Ayumi's voice cracked. "I'm dead weight. Evolutionary liability. Exactly what his philosophy predicts will die first."
"Then his philosophy is wrong," Takeshi said firmly. "Because you're surviving. We're protecting you and we're all still alive."
"For how long?" Hayato challenged. "Next drop is in six hours. Then six more after that. Then six more. Four total drops remaining. If we surrender all of them, we'll be too depleted to walk, much less fight."
Silence.
Because he was right.
Surrender strategy was survival in the short term. But long-term, resource starvation would kill them just as surely as RyÅma's time stop.
Hour thirty brought impossible choice.
The fourth resource drop:
Medical supplies (advanced, could help Ayumi's recovery) Essence restoration (full power recovery for six people) Tactical advantage tokens (system-granted combat boost)
Daichi still couldn't stand. Akira's recovered injuries were aching again—old damage returning under stress. Kaito's substance duration was down to two minutes sustained.
And Ayumi was on day three of recovery with zero progress.
"The medical supplies might help her," Kaito said quietly. "Advanced kit. Rei said essence recovery is partly physiological. Maybe—"
"Maybe nothing," Rei interrupted. "Essence damage is psychological primarily. Physical medicine won't fix mental blocks."
"But it might help," Kaito pressed. "We don't know. We've never had access to advanced medical supplies for essence injury before."
"We also don't know if RyÅma will kill us trying to take them," Takeshi countered.
"Five seconds," Akira calculated. "He can freeze us for five seconds. How many throats can you slit in five seconds?"
"All of ours," Shin said flatly. "I've tested. Five seconds with a blade, no resistance? You can kill seven people easily."
"So we die if we approach," Hayato said. "Or we starve if we don't."
"Catch-22," Yuna murmured. "Damned either way."
Kaito looked at Ayumi. She was staring at the medical supplies from three hundred meters away, hope and despair warring in her expression.
"I'll go," Kaito said.
"What?" Takeshi spun to face him.
"I'll go. Alone. Fast approach, liquid state for speed, grab the medical kit and retreat before RyÅma can react."
"He'll stop time," Rei said. "Kill you while you're frozen."
"Maybe," Kaito acknowledged. "Or maybe Sora's warning was genuine. Maybe Cold Eyes Team will stop him from murder."
"You're betting your life on Sora having a conscience," Hayato said flatly.
"I'm betting my life on Ayumi needing those supplies." Kaito's substance coiled—deep greenish-blue, stable despite depletion. "And I'm fast. Two minutes sustained duration, liquid state maximum mobility. I can cover three hundred meters in eight seconds. Grab and retreat in fifteen total."
"RyÅma's cooldown is ten minutes," Akira said. "If he used the time stop recently—"
"He used it seven minutes ago," Kira confirmed. Her sensory amplification tracked essence signatures. "Tested it on a bird. Killed it mid-flight to demonstrate power."
"Then he has three minutes before he can stop time again," Kaito calculated. "Plenty of time."
"Unless he's lying about the cooldown," Takeshi said. "Unless it's shorter than ten minutes and he's hiding the real duration."
"Then I die," Kaito said simply. "But Ayumi gets a chance at the medical supplies before I do."
"Kaito—" Ayumi started.
"I'm going," Kaito interrupted. "You need those supplies. I'm fast enough. This is happening."
"This is stupid," Hayato said.
"This is love," Miko corrected quietly. Everyone looked at her. "He's doing something stupid for someone he loves. That's not strategy. That's just... human."
Kaito's substance flickered black at the edges. Not corruption—emotion. "Thirty seconds. I'm going in thirty seconds. Anyone who wants to stop me needs to do it now."
No one moved.
"Fifteen seconds if possible," Takeshi said finally. "Grab and retreat. Don't fight. Don't engage. Just survive."
"Always," Kaito promised.
He ran.
Liquid state—maximum mobility. Kaito's substance propelled him across Yoyogi Park at speeds his human body couldn't match. Three hundred meters in eight seconds, just as calculated.
RyÅma saw him coming. Smiled. Raised his hand—
Sora grabbed RyÅma's wrist.
"Don't," Sora said quietly. "Killing him violates scenario intent."
"Does it?" RyÅma challenged. "Or am I just being superior?"
"You're being murder," Sora corrected. "There's a difference."
Kaito reached the medical kit. Grabbed it. Turned—
Time stopped.
Five seconds of frozen eternity. Kaito couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't perceive. Just discontinuity.
When time resumed, RyÅma stood directly in front of him. Blade pressed against Kaito's throat.
"I could have killed you," RyÅma said conversationally. "Five seconds. Slit throat. Watched you bleed. Proved my philosophy absolutely."
Kaito's substance exploded into solid state—armor, shields, defense—but too late. If RyÅma had wanted him dead, he'd be dead already.
"Why didn't you?" Kaito forced out.
"Because Sora asked nicely." RyÅma's smile was all teeth. "And because keeping you alive, starving, weak proves my point better than killing you. Dead martyrs inspire resistance. Living failures prove philosophy."
He stepped back. Lowered the blade.
"Take your medical supplies, failure. Try to save your powerless girlfriend. Watch it not work because weakness doesn't heal—it just dies slower."
RyÅma walked away.
Kaito stood frozen—not by time manipulation, but by the chilling accuracy of the philosophy he'd just survived.
He ran back to the alliance. Fifteen seconds total, just as promised.
But RyÅma's words followed him:
Living failures prove philosophy.
Hour thirty-six: Ayumi tried the advanced medical supplies.
Injections designed for essence recovery. Salves for nervous system restoration. Pills that supposedly facilitated power reconnection.
She tried transformation for the hundred-forty-eighth time.
The essence sparked. Flickered. Almost—
Failed.
"It's not working," Ayumi said hollowly. "Day three. Advanced medicine. Psychological trust exercises. Nothing's working."
"Give it time," Kaito said. But his voice sounded hollow even to himself.
"We're at hour thirty-six of seventy-two," Ayumi calculated. "I've been recovering for three days of the nine-day minimum. If I'm not showing any progress by now..."
She didn't finish. Didn't need to.
The implication hung heavy: Maybe I'm in the thirty percent who don't recover.
Around them, the alliance was depleting. Daichi still couldn't stand. Akira was rationing phase-shifting to preserve energy. Even Takeshi's reversal field duration had dropped to fifteen seconds.
Resource starvation was killing them.
And RyÅma's philosophy was being proven correct with every hour that passed.
Hour 36 of 72. Four resource drops remaining.
11 days, 0 hours until trials.
Ayumi: Day 3 recovery, no progress.
The math was brutal.
And getting worse.