Chamber Gamma was different.

  Hikari y motionless on the gurney, her face pale and peaceful. The monitors beeped steadily: heart rate 32 BPM, brain activity 18%, neural integrity 41%. The numbers of a body in stasis, a mind in limbo.

  But Komachi knew better.

  You’re acting. You’re aware. And you’re signaling.

  But what are you signaling?

  The interface floated before her. Two options:

  SACRIFICE (Blue)

  KEEP (Red)

  But this decision was for two people: herself and Hikari.

  If Hikari is truly unconscious, her choice is irrelevant. I decide for both.

  If Hikari is pretending, she might have her own preference.

  What would Hikari choose?

  Komachi’s hyperthymesia repyed every interaction with Hikari:

  Chapter?1: The whispered apology to No.?07.

  Chapter?2: The delirium?driven system terms.

  Chapter?3: The confession of being Subject Zero.

  The Morse?code message: Acting. Don’t trust ARK.

  Hikari was a rebel. A double?agent. Someone trying to undermine ARK from within.

  Would she choose Sacrifice or Keep?

  Sacrifice yields bonus Points. Keep yields… what?

  If we both Keep, we lose 50 Points each. That’s worse than Sacrifice.

  But if one of us Sacrifices and the other Keeps…

  Her mind calcuted probabilities.

  Assume Hikari is rational. Assume she wants to maximize Points for herself—or for us collectively.

  Mutual Sacrifice is optimal.

  But what if she’s not rational? What if she’s pying a deeper game?

  Komachi looked at the flower she’d drawn—three small petals, two rge.

  Three taps. Two people.

  Connection.

  Her hyperthymesia presented her with a kaleidoscope of possibilities, each branching path a different outcome. In one, Hikari woke from her coma and smiled—a real smile, not the empty mask she’d worn before. In another, the mechanical arm descended, and Tsukasa’s debt became a death sentence. In a third, Yuma’s cold calcutions proved right, and they all became numbers in ARK’s ledger.

  But in all of them, one constant remained: the three taps. The Morse code. The silent rebellion.

  Acting. Don’t trust ARK.

  If Hikari was pretending, if she was fighting from within her own mind, then the least Komachi could do was fight alongside her. Even if it was just a button press. Even if it was just a choice.

  She made her decision.

  She pressed SACRIFICE for herself.

  Then, for Hikari, she also pressed SACRIFICE.

  The interface chimed.

  “Pair: Komachi & Hikari. Both select: SACRIFICE.”

  “Outcome: No Point loss. Bonus: +500?P each.”

  Komachi’s wrist?tag: 1,510?P.

  Hikari’s: 1,150?P (coma status).

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then, on Hikari’s medical monitor, a new reading appeared:

  NEURAL COHERENCE: 23% (Rising)

  She’s responding, Komachi realized. Even in coma—or pretending to be in coma—she’s aware of the outcome.

  She knows we both chose Sacrifice.

  And she approves.