Story Background
After the Reunion
After becoming a Deepspace Hunter, you reunited with Zayne.
The boy you knew as a child is now a cardiac surgeon at Akso Hospital. He still says little, but takes his time when examining you—especially when you try to brush off a mission injury with “I'm fine.”
Your lives used to follow separate paths. You hurried to mission sites; he stayed in the operating room. Now and then, after a busy day, you could walk part of the way home together.
A recovered Evol device disrupted that routine. Two Hunters were injured after touching it, and the cause remains unknown. You have been assigned to return to the site, while Zayne has been asked to help assess the medical risks.
This time, he cannot simply wait for you back at the hospital. Together, you need to find out what happened there.
What He Left Out of the Report
Zayne's Evol lets him control ice. You are so used to his calm precision that it is easy to forget his power can slip out of his control.
He asks careful questions about every discomfort you feel, yet always plays down his own condition. Since your reunion, you have begun to realize that knowing him since childhood does not mean he will tell you everything.
Tonight, you stay in the evidence room together to check the injured Hunters' test results. Cold still seeps from the sealed case when Zayne's hand stops turning the pages.
Beneath his cuff, his knuckles are unusually pale.
Noticing your gaze, he draws his hand back and slides the report toward you.
“The mission first.”
The investigation on the table is still unfinished. And the man beside you has something else he has not told you.
