From Lina's Point of View:
I stepped out of Arin's room, my heart pounding wildly as if searching for a way out of my chest. The meeting was overwhelming. Yes... I was sure he was Number Zero, but when I finally told him the truth, the air around me turned heavy, and the aura surrounding him seemed to multiply a hundredfold.
Arin was no longer the same... Something inside him had changed. His eyes, his presence, even his silence—everything about him had become terrifying and beautiful at once.
But I had no time to dwell in awe. He handed me Kyle's notebook… my brother's notebook. It felt like I was holding his heart in my hands.
I opened the journal, my hands trembling. I read every word… each line was a dagger plunging into my memory. I learned what happened to him, how the second academy was nothing but a stage for a deadly trick. And worse still… the headmaster was behind it all.
Arin:
That evening, I sat on my bed, staring at the mask I had bought months ago—just as a precaution. I never thought I'd actually wear it.
But tonight... the time had come.
I rose from the bed and washed my cold face. Slowly, I put on the mask, hiding my features—along with whatever humanity remained in me. Now, I was Number Zero… the hunter, not the student.
I slipped out of the dorm, moving through the shadows of night, heading toward the headmaster's house, which sat at the southern edge of campus, near the thick woods.
I crept in through the back windows without a sound. That familiar scent hit me: a mix of ink and the past.
He was in his study, examining some documents. Before he could notice me, I whispered in a low, dark voice:
— "Do you know anything about the emotion called fear… or its seven disciples?"
He froze, then slowly turned around.
— "W-Who are you?!"
— "I'm Number Zero."
His eyes widened. He staggered back, trembling.
— "Impossible… You've really come…"
I pointed the sword I had prepared straight at him.
— "Speak… or die."
He took a deep breath, then slumped into his chair as if the weight of years of guilt had finally broken his back.
— "I'll speak… I'll tell you everything. I… I was the one who gathered the children—from the streets, the orphanages… I sent them to Dr. Hayden's lab."
His confession shocked me. I didn't expect him to break so easily.
— "Continue."
— "I thought we were saving humanity… creating a weapon. But the truth was hellish. Every child that died in that lab… died in front of my conscience."
— "And me?"
— "You… you were found abandoned near the border, close to Novalis. I brought you to the lab myself. But you weren't like the other children. From the moment you arrived… everything started to change."
I stayed silent for a moment, then asked:
— "And then?"
He answered, his voice weary:
— "I realized the horror of what I had done. I abandoned the project and disappeared. I came to this school, became its headmaster… trying to atone in silence."
Then he looked up at me and said:
— "Two years ago… Hayden called me. His voice was filled with terror. He said the disaster had begun… and that the ten children were now my responsibility. Then the line went dead… I haven't heard from him since."
I fell silent. Then I asked:
— "And who told you to look for me?"
— "A strange man… He said, 'Number Zero will return. And if you don't find him… your family will pay the price.' I don't know his name, but… he was terrifying. He wasn't like any human I've ever seen."
I lowered my sword.
— "Is that everything?"
— "Everything I know… I swear."
I stared at him for a few seconds… then turned and said:
— "Stay alive… Maybe you can atone for something from your past."
I left his house in silence, and the shadows swallowed me once more.