The Danube sparkled beneath the morning sun, its waters cutting a gentle path between Buda and Pest. From the balcony of their river-facing suite, Aoi stood cradling Hikari, who giggled at the cool breeze brushing her cheeks. Ren erged behind them, wrapping his arms around Aoi’s waist.
"This city’s a maze," she whispered. "But I love it."
"As long as you’re not lost in it without ," Ren murmured, brushing her hair back and placing a soft kiss on her neck. "I’ll find you anywhere."
They spent the day weaving through thermal baths, stopping for street-side goulash, and exploring quiet alleyways echoing with violin music. It was a montary dream of peace, far from their Tokyo life, their AI defenses, and the growing tension from Daigo’s endless pursuit.
In the Shadows of Pest
Daigo had not made an appearance since their incident in Vienna. But Ren wasn’t foolish enough to believe things were calm.
As Lucia’s invisible drones swept the city, Ren wore an earpiece—barely noticeable—monitoring encrypted channels. The na Project HERA kept surfacing. Whatever it was, it was spreading like a silent fire through the underworld of tech and power.
"Lucia," he whispered at one point, ducking into a shop while Aoi and her mother played with Hikari nearby. "Pull every shadow trace linked to Hera. Keywords: biotech, autonomous control, female directive."
"Understood, sir. Preliminary matches found... including Daigo-linked assets in Zürich and Berlin. Relevance: 89%."
That Night
Back in their suite, Hikari was asleep in a travel crib. Aoi rested her head on Ren’s chest, her hand gently rubbing the slight bump of her stomach.
"Do you think it’s bad?" she asked softly. "What’s been happening... these little signals you keep watching?"
"We’re being watched. That’s all," Ren replied, tucking her closer. "But they don’t know what we’ve built. They never will."
Aoi tilted her head up and looked into his eyes.
"Then show . Build sothing new. Sothing... impossible. Not just for defense."
Ren smiled faintly.
"You want impossible?"
"I want them to know... that no matter what they try, we’re untouchable."
"Then I guess it’s ti," Ren said, voice low and determined. "Let’s bring the Heaven Protocol online."
Aoi’s eyes widened.
She rembered that na.
A design Ren had once started and shelved — a dream of a satellite-linked personal defense system, able to instantly react to danger anywhere on Earth, and power entire cities through its core.
Elsewhere...
Daigo stood in a European museum, admiring a broken statue of Athena.
"Heaven Protocol..." he murmured, reading Lucia’s intercepted whisper. "So you have been working on sothing godlike."
A woman appeared behind him — the sa mysterious one Aoi had t in Dubai.
"Should I accelerate Project Hera’s beta deploynt?"
"No," Daigo said. "Let them believe they’re winning. Let them climb higher."
He smiled darkly.
"Because when they fall, I want it to be divine."
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