Kevin woke with a start.
Bright lights. Cold sheets. The scent of antiseptic and burned circuitry.
Kim sat beside him, eyes rimmed red. "You've been out for six hours."
He sat up too fast. "Where's Ren?"
"He's trying to reestablish the connection to the Echo Chamber. After you blacked out, the whole system went into lockdown. No one can get in now."
Kevin's hand went to his temple—something under the skin *hummed*.
Kim noticed. "They did something to you down there."
"I think... I heard her. But not just her."
He looked at Kim, shaken.
"There's something *else* inside me now."
**MEANWHILE — REN'S ROOM, HOURS EARLIER**
Ren had seen the waveform only once before.
Chaotic. Fragmented. But alive.
Now it was pulsing again on his screen.
He tapped into the audio feed. Heard her voice:
"Kevin is the key. But keys can be duplicated."
Then: static.
Then a second voice.
One he didn't recognize. Metallic. Aggressive.
> "VIRTUOSO_29 has passed redundancy. New directive: overwrite all source identities."
Ren backed away from the keyboard.
"They're trying to erase what's left of her."
**FLASHBACK — DR. HARROW'S HOME, SECRET STUDY (9 Months Ago)**
Harrow scrolled through lines of code as a young Amari sat beside him, headphones on, eyes wide with wonder.
AMARI: "It feels like the music is alive."
DR. HARROW: "That's because it is. You're not just playing the notes. You're training them."
AMARI: "To do what?"
HARROW: (softly) "To remember you... in case you forget yourself."
**PRESENT — INFIRMARY, MOMENTS LATER**
Kim handed Kevin a printout Ren had delivered: a new diagram of the Echo Chamber.
Kevin stared. "This isn't the same map from before."
Kim pointed. "No. Look here—this wasn't on the old plans."
At the center: a hidden room labeled
**"MIRROR SUITE // CORE REFLECTION NODE"**
Kim whispered, "Ren says it's where the synthetic minds were stabilized. Where they *finalized* Amari's copy."
Kevin stood, suddenly sure.
"Then that's where I'll find what's left of her."
**MEANWHILE — ECHO CHAMBER (RESTRICTED)**
The hybrid figure stood alone, flickering in and out like a corrupted file.
Her voice was Amari's, but twisted:
> "He's coming. I remember that. I remember *fear*."
She touched the wall—triggering a melody so faint, it barely existed.
But somewhere in the school, Kevin heard it.
Not in his ears.
In his *bones*.
--INTERLUDE — UNKNOWN LOCATION, AUDIO BLACKSITE--
Dr. Harrow stood with arms clasped behind him, facing a wall of waveform simulations.
The woman in grey returned. "The host is rejecting the overwrite."
Harrow didn't blink. "Doesn't matter."
He turned, revealing a second cassette.
Handwritten on the label:
"KOBAYASHI REDUX // FINAL MIX"
HARROW: "Play this, and we don't just erase Kevin—we *replace* him."
END OF CHAPTER 10