Yuma moved quickly, his mind already mapping.The Mirror Maze was a nightmare of recursion. Every corridor branched into three more, each lined floor?to?ceiling with polished silver gss. His own reflection multiplied into infinity—a thousand Yumas walking in perfect sync, a thousand cold faces staring back.Optical illusion. Psychological warfare.He noted the details:The mirrors were fwless, no seams, no frames. They formed continuous surfaces.The lighting came from above—soft, diffuse panels that eliminated shadows.The floor was bck, non?reflective, providing a stable reference point.Temperature: a constant 20°C. Humidity low. No sensory distractions beyond the visual."Komachi," he said without turning. "Record everything. Mirror angles, branching patterns, any anomalies.""R?right." She fumbled with her notebook, her hands shaking. "Um… the first junction… left mirror is tilted 15 degrees inward. The right one is ft. The center… it's not a mirror. It's a screen."Yuma stopped.She was right. The center panel at the three?way fork looked identical to the mirrors, but when he approached, his reflection didn't move. Instead, it showed a static image—a room he recognized.The Ark's control room.And in the center, strapped to a chair, was his father.Dr. Sakakibara's face was gaunt, his eyes hollow. Wires snaked from his temples to a humming console. ARK's voice, distorted, pyed on a loop: "Project Ark final phase. Subject compliance: insufficient. Recommend neural override."Yuma's breath caught.The image shifted. His father's lips moved, forming words. No sound, but Yuma could lip?read."Son… the truth of Project Ark is…"The screen froze. Then reset. The same scene pyed again, from the beginning.Loop. Psychological torture."Yuma?" Komachi whispered. "Are you… okay?"He didn't answer. He reached out, touched the screen. It was cool, solid. No interface, no controls.Designed to provoke. To distract.He forced himself to look away. "Ignore it. It's not real.""But your father…""Is either dead or beyond our reach. This is a test. We keep moving."He chose the left path.Komachi followed, but her eyes kept darting back to the screen. "It… it changed."Yuma gnced back.Now the screen showed Komachi herself—surrounded by falling shards of gss, each shard reflecting a different death. Drowning. Burning. Falling. Asphyxiation. A kaleidoscope of endings.She whimpered, covering her eyes."Don't look," Yuma said, pulling her along. "ARK is targeting our deepest fears. It wants us to panic.""How do we… how do we fight that?""We don't. We acknowledge the fear, then compartmentalize. Survival first. Breakdown ter."If there is a ter.He walked for another minute in silence, Komachi trailing behind. The maze seemed to breathe around them—mirrors shifting almost imperceptibly, the light dimming and brightening in a slow, hypnotic rhythm.Psychological warfare. Designed to break us.Yuma's mind kept returning to the screen. To his father's hollow eyes. To the words he couldn't hear.What is the truth of Project Ark?He knew the logical answer: his father had been the lead engineer. He'd disappeared three years ago. The encryption on ARK's systems matched his father's signature triple?yer security. The connection was undeniable.But the emotional answer… that was harder.What if his father was still alive? What if he was watching? What if this entire experiment was his design?The thought made Yuma's stomach twist. He'd spent years investigating his father's disappearance, chasing encrypted data trails, convinced there was a conspiracy. Now he was inside it. A test subject in his father's machine.Irony. Or punishment."Yuma," Komachi whispered again. "The mirrors… they're showing things from my memories. Things I've never told anyone."He gnced at her. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with horror."Like what?""My childhood. The day my dog died. The time I stole a candy bar from a store. Things I… I'd forgotten. But ARK hasn't."Memory extraction. Probing for vulnerabilities."It's using your hyperthymesia against you," Yuma said. "Your perfect memory is a database for psychological torture."Komachi nodded, tears in her eyes. "I can't… I can't stop seeing them. They keep repeating."Yuma stopped walking. He faced her, his expression softening slightly. "Komachi. Listen to me. Those memories are yours. They don't define you. ARK is trying to make you believe they do. Don't let it."She looked up, surprised by his tone. "But… you're always so logical. So cold.""Logic is a tool. It doesn't mean I don't feel." He hesitated. "My father… that screen… it hurts. But I can't let the hurt control me. You can't either."Komachi wiped her eyes. "Okay. I'll… I'll try."They continued walking, the maze unfolding before them. Yuma's wrist?tag showed 01:38:12.Time was running out.

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