Z remained silent inside Haruki's mind — but the rising tension within him was impossible to miss.

"Haruki."

"Be careful. The energy coming off her... it's just like the phoenix that attacked us."

Haruki gave a slight nod.

The evening light brushed softly across the strange girl's face. She still sat there, legs dangling casually off the rusted railing, as if the world meant nothing — but every detail in her presence, from her posture, to her gaze, to the way her wrists rested — radiated danger.

Then she turned.

Her eyes sliced right through Haruki's human shell, as if seeing something far beneath the skin.

A moment later, her gaze softened — just slightly.

"...I see."

"There's something strange inside you."

Haruki tensed. The girl's voice came again, sharp as a thin blade.

"No human holds energy like that. But if there's an alien lifeform inside you... then it makes sense."

Z stiffened. "She sensed me? How—? Her perception cuts deeper than STORAGE's entire system..."

The tension in the air eased.

The girl exhaled slowly and turned back to the horizon.

"I apologize... for the hit I landed on you earlier."

Haruki's eyes widened. That apology — so blunt — caught him off guard.

"It's just... your weakness irritated me. Watching it made my skin crawl."

"If you'd stayed like that — sluggish and broken — even one of his pets would've been enough to wipe you out, just like the other day."

"His...?" Haruki asked, but didn't get the chance to finish.

The girl had already stood up.

Her body ignited in a brilliant blaze of orange-red light.

Her hair became flowing streams of fire. Her eyes glowed with intensity.

Wings of flame erupted from her back — wide, like an exploding sun.

Heat rolled off her in waves. Haruki staggered back without realizing it.

For an instant, she turned her eyes to Haruki — a gaze caught between contempt and a sorrow she could not name, as though willing him to understand the unspoken.
Her lips shaped a whisper:
"Do not falter."
The wind took her voice, and the fire devoured the rest.

Without another word, she leapt off the cliff—

And transformed into a phoenix.

She soared upward, burning across the twilight sky — slicing a trail of fire through the clouds.

Then vanished, leaving not even a whisper of smoke behind.

The wind blew softly across the blackened cliffside.

Only Haruki remained, standing in silence.

Z finally spoke, voice low.

"She... doesn't feel like an enemy."

"But she knows far more than she's letting on."

Haruki furrowed his brows.

"'He'... Who is she talking about?"

"And why would a being like her even care whether we're strong enough or not?"

There were no answers.

Only the sky, dimming by the second.

And a thousand unspoken questions hovering among the clouds.

---

Hours later, after the strange encounter by the sea cliffs, Haruki returned quietly to STORAGE headquarters.

His footsteps echoed through the steel corridor. Cold light from the ceiling panels glinted off the floor, casting a long shadow behind him. No one said a word, but every eye followed him — the Ultraman host, returning from an encounter with something beyond anything their data could explain... and still alive.

The STORAGE commander was already waiting in the control room.

The door slid open. Familiar sounds of the tactical system filled the space. The central monitor displayed a map, tracking the anomalous energy spike from earlier.

Haruki entered without a word. He didn't need directions. He was used to this feeling — stepping into a war room like stepping into the eye of a storm.

After Haruki finished his full report, the commander finally spoke. His tone — dry as steel.

"The heat signature from that battle evaporated bedrock."

"Radar was blind for fifteen minutes."

"And you're telling me... we shouldn't act?"

Haruki kept his voice steady, though his face had grown heavier.

"I understand the danger. But she didn't target civilians. Didn't damage any facility. She came, eliminated an undefeatable kaiju... and left."

Z echoed inside his mind, voice flat and cold.

"She's strong enough to burn STORAGE to the ground if she wanted.

But clearly... she chose not to."

The commander turned slowly, eyes narrowing — as if trying to see through Haruki's human form and straight into the light within.

"And you two think that's enough reason not to act?"

Haruki didn't flinch.

"It's not just a guess. It's a feeling. There's something in her... that's like us. Like Z. She fights — but she doesn't kill. She has a purpose. We just don't understand it yet."

A long silence followed.

The air in the room seemed to weigh down like stone.

Then Z spoke again — this time, his voice ice-cold.

"If STORAGE acts too soon... you won't survive long enough to regret it."

The commander didn't respond immediately.

Wind hissed through a crack in the door. On a nearby screen, a fresh wave of sensor data came in — all chaos. Undecipherable.

Finally, the commander exhaled, slow and controlled.

"Haruki... You and Z have saved this world before. I'll place my trust in you — this time."

A pause. His eyes narrowed once more:

"But if that entity causes harm to even one civilian...

I'll be forced to take action."

---

Night had fallen.

Haruki stood alone at STORAGE's airfield, staring into a pitch-black sky.

Wind slipped between antennae and airships — silent, cold. The streaks of fire from the day before had faded, but the memory of them still burned behind his eyes.

Z's voice rose from deep within — calm, low, heavy with warning.

"I have a feeling... we don't have much time left.

STORAGE won't stay idle forever.

And if they make a move... they won't survive the consequences."

Haruki nodded slightly. He didn't speak.

But for the first time, his eyes weren't filled with confusion.

Only resolve.

"Then we'll uncover the truth...

before STORAGE ends up destroying itself."