Shiho Miyano

Chapter 1 — Shiho Miyano

Rain poured relentlessly over the research facility, each drop striking the cold concrete like the ticking of a clock counting down to the inevitable.

Deep beneath the building, hidden from the rest of the world, a lone prison cell remained silent.

Shiho Miyano sat motionless against the wall.

The dim light above her flickered every few seconds, casting long shadows across the empty room.

She no longer knew how many days had passed.

Perhaps three.

Perhaps seven.

Perhaps it didn’t matter anymore.

Her wrists still carried the faint marks left by the handcuffs. The Organization had taken everything from her—her freedom, her future…

…and finally, her sister.

Akemi.

Just thinking of her name made Shiho lower her head.

She remembered the last message Akemi had left behind.

A promise.

A dream of escaping together.

A future that would never come.

Closing her eyes, Shiho let out a quiet breath.

“I’m sorry, Onee-chan…”

Silence answered her.

No footsteps.

No voices.

Only the distant hum of machines somewhere beyond the steel walls.

The laboratory that had once been her second home now felt like a grave.

She had devoted years of her life to Project APTX 4869.

A miracle, they called it.

A scientific breakthrough.

But Shiho knew the truth.

It was never meant to save lives.

It existed only to take them.

After Akemi’s death, she refused to continue the research.

For that single act of defiance…

The Black Organization imprisoned her.

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

“So this is how it ends…”

She wasn’t afraid anymore.

Fear had disappeared the moment Gin pulled the trigger on Akemi.

What remained inside her was something far colder.

Regret.

Her gaze slowly shifted toward the small white capsule hidden in her trembling hand.

APTX 4869.

The very poison she had created.

A cruel irony.

She had spent years perfecting it.

Now…

It would become her final choice.

“If death is waiting for me…”

“…then I’ll choose it myself.”

Without another word, Shiho placed the capsule into her mouth.

She swallowed.

For a moment…

Nothing happened.

Then…

Pain.

An unbearable pain exploded through every nerve in her body.

She collapsed onto the cold floor as her heartbeat pounded violently in her ears.

Her vision blurred.

Her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

It felt as though every bone in her body was being crushed… and rebuilt.

She tried to scream.

No sound came out.

The room spun around her.

Darkness slowly swallowed everything.

…

…

When Shiho finally opened her eyes again…

Something was wrong.

The handcuffs that had once locked tightly around her wrists now lay loose on the floor.

Her lab coat hung from her shoulders like an oversized blanket.

Confused, she stared at her own hands.

They were…

Smaller.

Much smaller.

“No…”

Her voice…

It wasn’t her voice.

Shiho staggered toward the metal door and caught a faint reflection in its polished surface.

A little girl stared back.

Her silver hair remained unchanged.

But everything else…

…had disappeared.

Shiho Miyano was gone.

To be continued…

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