Scene: Seimei High – Auditorium, Morning Assembly
The principal's voice was unusually tense.
> "Due to recent events," he announced,
"all clubs are suspended. After-school access is revoked. Any form of masked gatherings will be treated as criminal behavior."
Students shifted nervously.
The rebellion had made its mark.
But now the school's tone had shifted.
They weren't cracking down out of fear anymore.
They were organizing.
Someone was pushing them harder.
And then it happened.
A glitch appeared on the giant digital screen behind the stage.
Static.
Then red letters:
> "THE TRUE VOICE OF SHIRANAMI IS HERE."
Students gasped.
The screen flickered—then a figure appeared. Masked. Smiling.
The face was blank white. No eyes. Just a wide, permanent grin drawn on like a child's nightmare.
The voice was distorted, but clear.
> "Kaito Shiranami is brilliant."
"But he is silent. Passive."
"I am not."
> "You followed the mind—now follow the flame."
---
Reaction – Kaito (Watching from the hallway)
He stopped mid-step.
Jaw clenched.
This wasn't part of his plan.
> "Who the hell…?"
Airi ran to him.
> "It's not you. But they think it is."
> "They're not quoting me anymore," Kaito said quietly.
"They're quoting my ghost."
---
Scene: Blue River Intelligence Division – File Entry
Subject: "White Mask"
> Estimated Age: 16–20
Behavior: Mimics ideological structure of Subject Kaito Shiranami
Methods: Public psychological warfare, masked digital intrusions
Threat Level: Unpredictable / Mimetic Contagion
> "Shiranami started a fire.
White Mask poured oil."
---
Scene: After School – Airi's Apartment
Kaito paces the room.
> "Someone's hijacked the signal," he says.
"They've taken the fragments of what I planted—and weaponized them into something I never meant."
> "But people are listening," Airi said. "Even your enemies think it's you."
> "Which means anything they do… I get the blame."
He sat down. Head in hands.
> "This isn't revolution. It's theater."
---
Scene: Anonymous Student Forum – Viral Clip
> A video circulates:
Masked students spray-painting over Seimei's school seal.
Above it, in red:
> "THE SYSTEM DIES TONIGHT."
The audio isn't even Kaito's real voice.
It's AI-modulated from an old speech.
But the illusion is real enough.
Comments flood in:
> "Shiranami is finally fighting back!"
"This is what we waited for."
"They can't shut him up anymore."
---
Flashback – Kaito, Age 13
He once wrote an essay titled:
"The Danger of Becoming a Metaphor."
> "If people ever see you as more than a person—hero, villain, god—they stop listening to what you say."
"They start hearing what they need."
"That's when they weaponize you."
He never imagined it would happen to him.
---
Final Scene – Anonymous Package
Later that night, Kaito returns home to find a box at his door.
Inside:
A white mask.
A burner phone.
A single message on the screen:
> "You inspired a world.
Let me ignite it.
Or try to stop me."
No sender. No trace.
But Kaito's hands trembled—not with fear.
With something worse:
Recognition.
---
Scene: Seimei High – Girls' Restroom, 2nd Floor
Kaito stared at the message on the mirror. Again.
> "WE SPEAK IN YOUR NAME."
– THE VOICE
It was scrawled in blood-red lipstick, drawn over a cracked reflection.
The security footage had no answers.
The system showed nothing.
The rebellion was evolving—not just hiding… but erasing its footprints.
> "They're not following me," Kaito murmured.
"They're following the idea of me."
Airi stood at the door, watching him with quiet fear.
> "You always wanted to burn the system," she said softly.
"But did you ever expect the fire to start without you?"
---
Scene: Faculty Room – Emergency Staff Meeting
Tension buzzed in the air like static.
> "We can't distinguish between regular students and dissidents anymore."
"They're not organizing—they're mimicking."
"Even the quiet ones wear symbols. Masks. Quotes."
"Is this still Shiranami's doing?"
Principal Rokkaku stood in silence, eyes on the confiscated materials:
Flyers, screenshots, transcripts.
All stamped with a new seal:
> "THE VOICE IS LAWLESS. THE LAW IS A LIE."
He crushed the paper in his fist.
> "I want Shiranami expelled by month's end. If not by behavior—then by public shame."
---
Scene: Kaito's Hunt Begins – Underground Terminal Access
Kaito tapped back into the Siren Subnet, searching for any digital trace of the White Mask.
> "Track: Voice packets with cadence-matched impersonation. Source code ID: Echo-line fragments."
The screen pulsed.
Result:
> MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
MULTIPLE USERS
MULTIPLE MASKS
He wasn't chasing one person.
He was chasing a network.
A hydra wearing his smile.
> "You didn't hijack my image," he muttered.
"You fractured it."
---
Scene: Issei Rindo – Watching From the Sidelines
Even Issei had stopped intervening.
He now observed Kaito like a scientist watching his own experiment mutate.
> "This isn't warfare," he noted in his neural log.
"It's mythology turning on its prophet."
> "The question is no longer if Shiranami will burn the world…"
"…but whether the world needs him to finish it."
---
Scene: Late Night – Rooftop of Building B
Kaito receives a message:
> "You want truth? Meet me. Alone. Midnight. North Rooftop."
He arrives, breath fogging in the cold wind.
There, under the pale moonlight—
a masked figure waits.
The smile on the mask is even wider than before.
Paint dripping like a grin carved too deep.
The voice distorts softly:
> "They don't need you anymore, Kaito."
"You lit the first match. We built the pyre."
"Let go. Or burn with your ego."
Kaito clenches his fists.
> "You're not me."
> "I don't need to be.
I just have to be louder."
The masked figure backs away.
Disappears into the dark—
Leaving behind a single flare of red light and a note.
> "If we're lies... why does the world believe us?"
---
Journal Entry – Airi Tachibana
> I thought I understood Kaito.
I thought he was always in control—always the mind behind the madness.
But now I wonder…
Is he still the creator of this world?
Or just a relic of what it used to be?
---
Final Scene: Kaito's Reflection
He stood in front of a mirror. Again.
But this time…
he didn't recognize the boy staring back.
The world called him a villain.
The rebellion called him a god.
And somewhere in the cracks between those labels…
Kaito Shiranami disappeared.
---
Scene: Basement Archives – Seimei High (Restricted Access)
Kaito moved through the shadows.
Every file cabinet had been sealed.
But he had memorized the override patterns from a prior life—back when he was still "the model student."
Now he was a myth.
He slipped open a drawer marked:
> "Shadow Council – Internal Operation (Phoenix Stream)"
Inside:
A list of names. Meeting records. Surveillance plans.
But one name was circled in red:
> "Souta Yuregi" – Liaison, White Mask Division
Former best friend.
---
Flashback – Kaito, Age 14
Souta Yuregi used to walk home with Kaito every day.
Back before the silence.
Back before the system tore his life apart.
They talked about absurd things—like building a society where lies were outlawed and everyone spoke with brain-to-brain honesty.
> "People don't want truth," Souta had once said.
"They just want truth that doesn't hurt."
> "Then they're cowards," Kaito replied.
They laughed like kids.
Now Souta was helping a rebellion use Kaito's name…
to twist the world into something unrecognizable.
---
Scene: Issei's Personal Observation Notes
> "Yuregi Souta is more dangerous than Kaito Shiranami ever was."
"Why? Because he isn't broken."
"He believes the revolution should be palatable."
"He gives people a weapon that feels good to hold."
> "Kaito gave them a weapon that made them question if they deserved to hold it."
---
Scene: Masked Rebellion Hideout – The Old Theater Hall
Kaito infiltrated the space wearing a borrowed mask.
Slipped into the crowd like smoke.
The scene was surreal:
Students dressed in black, whispering code phrases.
Projected slogans, echoing his philosophy—
but repurposed, softened, corrupted.
Then Souta stepped on stage.
Still the same gentle smile.
Still wearing the hoodie Kaito once gave him.
> "You've heard his words," Souta said.
"But I give them structure."
"We're not here to destroy—only to remake.
We burn the broken pillars, but build in their place."
Someone from the back yelled:
> "What would Kaito say?!"
Souta raised his hand, unshaken.
> "He'd say this world doesn't deserve a gentle correction.
But I disagree."
Suddenly—
> "Then maybe you never knew me at all."
Every head turned.
Kaito had stepped out of the crowd.
No mask.
Just truth.
---
Scene: Kaito vs. Souta – The Ideological Duel
> "You stole my voice," Kaito said.
"And made it acceptable."
> "I made it usable," Souta snapped back.
"You gave them despair. I gave them hope."
> "Hope built on dilution is just anesthesia," Kaito growled.
"You made the fire warm. I made it real."
> "Then tell them!" Souta shouted to the crowd.
"Tell them to follow your chaos!
Tell them to drown the system in blood!"
Kaito turned to the crowd.
Paused.
Then whispered:
> "No."
> "You don't follow me.
You ask why you wanted to.
And then you choose to burn what's holding your thoughts hostage."
Silence.
Not fear. Not awe.
Understanding.
Some removed their masks.
Some cried.
Souta stood alone now.
Not defeated—just out-evolved.
---
Journal Entry – Airi Tachibana
> He could've crushed Souta.
He could've stolen the spotlight.
But instead… he gave the crowd their minds back.
He doesn't want to lead.
He just wants the world to think without permission.
---
Final Scene: Rooftop – Morning After
Souta sat beside Kaito on the edge.
> "You always hated being the center, didn't you?"
"I hated being misunderstood," Kaito replied.
"But now… maybe misunderstanding is the first step to thinking."
Souta smiled sadly.
> "Then what now?"
Kaito stood.
> "Now the system sees me as the fire again.
But this time… they'll learn—fire doesn't ask permission."
---