The elevator was going to the 99th floor. It didn’t just hum. It breathed.

  It was a smooth, high-pressure climb designed to make one nervous. It made Reina's ears pop and almost made her stomach drop. It was a physical reminder designed to remind one aware of their status and make them realize where one stood in the food chain before one even stepped into Chairman Kaneshiro’s world and they could never reach the height or mess with him in his domain.

  Reina stood perfectly still in the center of the mirrored cabin, staring at her own reflection. She looked flawless. The pastel-pink cardigan, the perfectly pleated skirt, the innocent, doe-eyed expression she had practiced until her facial muscles locked into place by default.

  She stood perfectly still in the center of the mirrored cabin, staring at her own reflection. She was looking flawless right now. Her face was brimming with the innocent look which she had practiced until it became her natural face. And to make her innocence explode, she wore a pastel-pink cardigan and a perfectly pleated skirt.

  Outside she was looking perfectly fine but inside she was panicking. Beneath the skirt, her knees were trembling.

  It wasn’t an act.

  Reina’s nerves were finally breaking. Her body was starting to rebel. As if her body refused to act any more. She was feeling sick and tired.

  Control your breathing, she told herself. She started her breathing exercise-

  Breathe in for four seconds.

  Hold for four seconds.

  Breathe out for four seconds.

  Reina closed her eyes. Tried everything her father taught her. But her father’s rhythm didn't help her at all.

  And then she remembered his voice from years ago, on a small yacht in the middle of the ocean, escaping from Shanghai to Nagasaki,clutching his bleeding side, he whispered, “If you panic, you die. If they see you, you die. Hide, Reina. Always hide.”

  But she didn't stay in the dark. When her father finally died, when the dangerous secrets that chased them across the sea finally caught up with him, she didn't stay in the dark. She did the complete opposite of what her father told her. She chose the spotlight instead.

  She believed that if she became bright as a star, she would be safe. She thought that if millions of people watched her every single second, no monster could touch her without being caught.

  It was her ultimate plan. Hiding in the brightest light.

  But standing in this elevator, rising to the top of the company, she realized the bitter truth. She hadn't run away from the monsters. She had walked right into their office and signed a contract with them.

  With a sharp hiss, the elevator’s polished obsidian doors opened, breathing out a gust of cold eerie air.

  The top floor felt like a different universe. The executive floor was a different world. There were no bright office lights or white tiles here. Also the air didn't smell like a clinic. Instead it smelled like expensive cigars and rare orchids. It was the smell of power.

  Reina walked across the thick, silent carpet. Her eyes were already scanning the room like a computer. Her father’s training was working.

  Two exits.

  One private elevator behind the reception desk.

  Fire stairwell. Probably passcode-locked and approximately fifteen meters to the left.

  And only three security cameras. Long-range bullet camera. Narrow field of view. "Dead zone" directly beneath. Easy to trick.

  No fisheye 360° Cameras? What a fool!

  "Ah. Shiratori-san."

  The voice came from the open double doors at the end of the hallway. Reina moved toward it, acting like a shy, obedient girl. She kept her head bowed at exactly 15 degrees, an industry standard angle for showing respect.

  Chairman Kaneshiro’s office was huge, with floor-to-ceiling windows that made it feel like he owned all of Tokyo. And from the window the city looked like a glowing circuit board. But he didn't care about the view. His entire focus was on a massive, ultra-high-definition holographic display.

  On the screen was Reina.

  Or rather, it was Aura. The AI.

  The digital ghost was dancing, performing the new choreography with mathematical perfection. . She didn't get tired and her chest never heaved because she didn't need to breathe. She didn't sweat. She didn't get old.

  "She is beautiful, isn't she?" Kaneshiro asked, his eyes didn't look away from the holographic girl. He took a slow puff from his expensive cigar. Smoke drifted through around his silver hair.

  "Yes, Chairman. She is perfect," Reina whispered in her softest and perfectly practiced voice.

  "She is," Kaneshiro agreed. He tapped a button on his desk and the hologram froze like a perfect, silent statue in mid-air while doing a difficult dancing move. He finally looked at Reina with a cold, heavy gaze. "Sit down. Reina."

  She sat on the very edge of the expensive leather chair, keeping her knees pressed together and hands folded in her lap to reduce her nervousness.

  Kaneshiro then slid a thick, expensive, cream-colored envelope across the desk. It stopped right before Reina. The envelope looked heavy and a textured surface, embossed with the LUMINA! Logo in gold foil.

  "Open it," he commanded softly.

  Reina reached out. Her fingers touched the envelope.She knew what this was. She had long before planned for this. She had even manipulated her own matrices, pushing the agency for this exact moment. She always wanted to make this moment happen sooner. But as soon as she broke the wax seal, a sudden wave of nausea hit her.

  She pulled out the document. Bold, black kanji shouted from the page-

  GRADUATION SCRIPT: REINA SHIRATORI.

  DATE OF DEPARTURE: TWO WEEKS.

  She stared at the words. “Graduation”. In the idol industry, for most idols, graduation was supposed to be a beautiful farewell where a star moved on to a new career. But at LUMINA!, it was a death sentence. It was a corporate execution disguised as a "Goodbye."

  "You are getting older, Reina. In three months, you will turn 23," Kaneshiro said coldly. "The KIZUNA sentiment analysis is dropping, Reina. The predictive algorithm shows a 14% drop in teenage demographic retention over the next two fiscal quarters. Young fans are losing interest and will stop caring about you by next year. We are spending a fortune on Soft-Swapping your trending hashtags just to keep you relevant. Meanwhile, medical treatments to housing, you cost too much money. And it's not profitable anymore."

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  He then pointed toward the frozen hologram of the AI.

  "You know. Aura’s costs have dropped by 60%. She doesn't need to sleep. She doesn't complain about her feet hurting. She didn't even gain half a pound and set off a medical alarm."

  Reina kept her eyes on the paper. stared at the floor. This was her plan:

  Get fired.

  Be free.

  Break the cage.

  Become a ghost.

  But as she looked at her official "expiration date” she felt sick with shame. It gave her a strong emotion she hadn't felt in a long time. It ignored all her training and hit the lonely terrified little girl hidden deep inside her. She had given them her entire childhood. She had starved, bled and broken her mind just to become their perfect idol.

  She had given up everything her father believed in just to stay in the light. Just to feel safe.

  And now they were throwing her away because a string of computer code was cheaper.

  Have you ever looked at a photo of yourself and realized the person in the photo is happier than you will ever be? Now imagine that the photo is moving. Imagine it’s talking. Imagine it’s doing your job. And imagine it’s doing its job so perfectly that the world prefers it to the authentic one.

  Reina looked up from the floor to the frozen AI on the screen. The AI smiled back. It was a perfect, dead version of herself that would last forever. Suddenly, she became afraid of being erased. Her heart started to beat rapidly.

  Her breath hitched. A genuine panic hit her heart.

  BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

  On Kaneshiro’s desk, a small monitor suddenly began to buzz and flash a red alert. It was synced to the biometric sensor hidden inside Reina's choker. It showed her heart was racing at 130 BPM. The screen evaluated that she was in great distress. And analysis showed she was showing signs of resistance.

  Reina froze. She had made a massive mistake. She had lost control. She had let her real feelings show in the data. Kaneshiro’s eyes narrowed, he looked from her face to the screen, his eyes growing cold. Suspicion began to show in his cold eyes.

  He knew-

  A perfectly trained LUMINA! idol never panics. They always accept management's decisions with utmost sincerity.

  To him a spike like that meant she wasn't just sad. She was a risk.

  If he realized she was resisting, she was fighting back, he wouldn't let her “graduate” on stage. He would lock her in a basement ward and erase her existence.

  Fix it. Now. Fix it now. You Idiot, Reina.

  Reina didn’t think twice. She immediately reacted. She took that genuine fear and shame in her chest and twisted it into a beautifully crafted performance.

  She let the paper fall and collapsed onto her knees, the soft thud absorbed by the expensive carpet. She started to cry.

  "Please!" she sobbed in a high, pathetic voice. She sounded as small and broken as possible, exactly like the failing girl Kaneshiro believed her to be. "I know I'm 23. I know the fans are leaving me. I know my numbers are down. But please, Chairman... give me another chance. I'll do anything. I'll take less money. Just don't let me go. I have nothing else."

  She forced herself to breathe fast and shaky to ensure her biometric sensor registered an erratic, messy and helpless panic. Not a rebellious tendency or a calculated stress.

  "Just… just give me a chance at acting! Or variety shows! I’ll take a pay cut. I’ll do the late-night blocks. Please don’t throw me away. I have nowhere else to go. I gave you my whole life!"

  A heavy, suffocating silence spread throughout the room.

  Reina stayed on her knees, staring at the fibers of the carpet as her tears left small, dark spots on the fabric. She didn't move. She stayed perfectly still, playing the part of a loser. She wanted Kaneshiro to see her as a pathetic, broken mess.

  Let the scene breathe.

  Everything was quiet except for the hum of the air conditioning and the faint crackle of Kaneshiro’s cigar. On the holographic display, her AI avatar, her replica, her replacement, kept its digital smile. As if it was mocking the messy, sobbing girl on the floor.

  Reina waited. She wanted him to underestimate her. She needed him to see her as trash.

  Believe in it.

  Look at me.

  Feel disgusted.

  Think I’m weak.

  Kaneshiro finally sighed with irritation. "Stand up. You're ruining the carpet."

  Reina jumped up. Acted like a frightened kid. She wiped her face and kept her hands trembling.

  "There is no acting career for you, Reina," Kaneshiro said, his voice full of fake kindness. He believed her act completely. The biometric spike wasn't a threat; it was just a hysterical woman breaking down. He was no longer looking at a star. To him, she was just garbage that needed to be removed. "Your face is too linked to our brand. We can't have you getting old on screen. You will ruin our brand's purity."

  He looked towards the floor and gestured to her to pick the script from the floor.

  "Pick it up. Drill it into your brain."

  Reina slowly bent down and took the heavy envelope.

  "In two weeks, we will hold a grand concert at the Tokyo Dome," Kaneshiro continued, looking pleased with himself. "For your graduation, we will give you a customized song that will be significant to your ‘career’. And towards the end of the show, you will deliver your graduation speech. You will cite 'creative exhaustion' and a desire to 'return to a normal life'. During the speech you will cry. But not this pathetic version you have shown me. Remember here in LUMINA! we only do 'Perfect.' And you are far from it. Make sure the fans also cry with you. We will also broadcast it live. It will give us both waves of popularity and will also give us substantial revenue."

  He paused and gave a nasty smile.

  "Then you will leave the spotlight for good. But do not worry. Aura will take over. And your legacy will be safe forever. She’ll keep your face and your smile alive for the next generation. You should feel lucky."

  Honored. The word echoed in her head. They weren't just replacing her. They were stealing her life.

  "Thank you, Chairman," she whispered, bowing low at a perfect ninety degrees angle. She clutched the graduation script as if she cared about it. "Thank you for… for everything you have done for me."

  "Now. Go," he said.

  She walked out into the hall. Her footsteps were silent on the thick carpet. The second the office doors shut, the "pathetic trembling girl” act vanished.

  The tears stopped instantly. She straightened her back. Her eyes, once red with sorrow, went dead and cold. She looked at her shaking finger. It was a reminder that she was playing a life-or-death battle where one wrong move no one wrong heartbeat could get her killed.

  She squeezed her hand into a tight fist. The shaking stopped.

  Two weeks. She had 14 days. The countdown to her final concert had begun. Kaneshiro thought he had just successfully concluded the story of a broken girl. He had no idea he had just handed the masterkey to the daughter of a ghost.

  Reina walked toward the elevator, her mind again started to calculate the blind spots in the fire exit and the security cameras.

  Reina waited until the elevator doors closed. Until Kaneshiro's face disappeared behind steel.

  Then she stopped and controlled her breathing. She started her breathing exercise-

  Breathe in for four seconds.

  Hold for four seconds.

  Breathe out for four seconds. She knew her heart rate was going down. And a small LED in her choker was flashing a red light.

  She counted.

  Three seconds. Four seconds.

  And the LED in her choker turned green. Her heart hit the baseline. Around 60 BPM.

  Normal. Calm. Dead zero emotion.

  She stepped out of the elevator. The guard at the desk didn't look up. The system had logged her heart rate abnormality. It had also logged her recovery. Three point eight seconds. Within acceptable parameters. A sensor calibration error.

  You want my smile? she thought as the elevator doors slid shut. I’ll give it to you. I’ll make sure it burns this whole building to the ground.

  > [SYSTEM LOG: LUMINA!_EXECUTIVE_NODE_99]

  > Location: Chairman's Suite (Floor 99)

  > Asset: Reina Shiratori

  > Event: Graduation Notice Delivery & Post-Event Monitoring

  > Biometric Analysis: Acute Stress Response Detected (HR Spike: 130 BPM, Elevated Galvanic Skin Response).

  > Recovery Time: 3.8 Seconds

  > Action: Logged as Sensor Calibration Error. No Alert Generated.

  > Note: Asset emotional baseline returned to normal within acceptable parameters.

  > Warning: Recovery time falls within Micro-Tremor Auto-Filter Window (3.0-4.0 Seconds).

  > Recommendation: Monitor for pattern repetition.

  > Status: FALSE POSITIVE. No Further Action Required.

  > Emotional State: Hysteria / Total Submission. Threat Level: 0%.

  > Executive Note (Chairman Kaneshiro): Asset is broken and compliant. Schedule the Tokyo Dome finale. Begin total phase-out of biological marketing materials.

  > [WARNING: ASSET HEART RATE RETURNED TO ABSOLUTE BASELINE 3.8 SECONDS AFTER EXITING THE SUITE. LOGGED AS SENSOR CALIBRATION ERROR.]