Prologue — Shadows on the Laboratory Floor
Nao stands in a hallway lit dull and blue, heart in her throat. Beyond glass, men in masks lower a child into a pod. What would you do in her place?
Scene 1: Nao’s Motivation and Inner World
Nao Kisaragi always wanted one thing: to protect her little brother, Tomo. The city towers above, grim and silent. She tells herself she’s nothing, unseen, but now they’ve taken Tomo. Street lamps flicker as Nao checks her notebook. There are addresses. A certain laboratory is underlined in red. She knows danger fills that place, but Tomo’s soft voice keeps sliding through her mind: “You’ll find me, right, Sis?”
Scene 2: Into Black Gate Facility
Nao, thin as a reed, trades blows with a lone guard in a side alley. His ID badge gives her what she needs: access. As she passes the disguised entrance in an old ramen shop, alarms mutter within the walls. She slips blood on the tiled floor, memories of failed protests humming in her ears. Would you risk so much for one person?
Scene 3: Meet the Supporting Cast
Low lights cut across the lab. Hiro, a failed researcher who works late sweeping floors, points silently at an elevator blinking with codes. Laut, a tired android with an angel’s smile, stands near the data bank faking innocence. “They move the kids in one drip-crew right after sunrise,” Laut says as she hands Nao a half-burned map. She nods but her hands shake. 
Scene 4: Evidence and Realization
Nao hides under cold steel. Whispers carry down to where she’s crouched — voices listing run numbers. She breaks into a file room. Sheets marked with TOMO: C6/3 appear on her screen. Her eyes circle words she hopes are lies: ‘forced growth serums,’ ‘group B: Subject Shows Aberrant Trait.’ Rage bubbles inside her. Hiro pulls her away just as footsteps close in. “If you die now, all this was for nothing.” Do you think knowledge always brings hope?
Scene 5: Escape Route Falls Apart
An alarm shudders through every wall. Red strobes flash. Nao and Hiro crawl up twisting steps. Sirens pulse above while doors spring to lock. Nao sees the observation room ahead. Glass doors start shutting. But she catches a last glimpse: kids, sick and altered, faces gray. Her knees lock. Neo-corridor lights catch on her tears.
Scene 6: Lost and Cornered
Laut appears from the surveyors’ vent, grabbing Nao’s arm. “They’re shifting every patient. We have one chance.” Hiro types fast at a fade-green terminal, sweat rings blooming under his arms. “Quick!” he urges, but Nao holds back. “Tom—I need to see him!” Her cry is a whisper no one else seems to hear in that sealed place.
Scene 7: Tomo Unmasked
Nao finds Tomo strapped inside a pod. He’s awake but the light behind his eyes looks wrong. “Sister, they made me strong. Stronger than any of them. Want to see?” Tomo’s hands twist and the machine groans. Hiro stares at the numbers: output is far beyond what flesh should bear.
Scene 8: The Dark Experiment Exposed
Dr. Hashiba, head scientist, enters flanked by guards. “Children born in the slums rarely prosper; we correct the city’s error.” Nao glares at him, nails digging into her palms. Hashiba’s eyes are cool as ice. “Are you ready to trade lives, girl?”
Nao answers, “I don’t accept any of your tech. I want my brother.” Her voice is soft but sharper now. Tomo’s pod unseals.
Scene 9: The Descent
Tomo, guided too far by rage and drugs, snaps shackles like they’re string. Guards raise deadweight weapons, but Tomo—face smudged, trembling—speaks past them: “Nao, I can fly now. Maybe it’s not my body anymore but it feels right…” As they struggle, tubes pull free from Tomo’s arms, streaking more blood on the deal-white floor. Hope fights with dread in her gut. Does fixing the broken make it right?
Cliffhanger:
An explosion shakes the lab. Hiro shoves a lockdown sequence into the control. The ceiling cracks above Tomo. Debris falls, separating the siblings. Nao screams, reaching through smoke, “Tomo—don’t move!” In chaos, her vision shuts down as tranquilizer gas floods the pod room. Next thing—with alarms singing—a shadow carries Tomo away through ruin. Nao coughs on the ground, vision blurring… will she wake in time?
Epilogue to the Arc’s First Episode
Silence grips the ruined lab. A round lens records something moving fast underneath. Voices echo even with none left in the hall. Nao, out cold, is rolled over by gentle android hands. Somewhere beneath scorched stone, Tomo opens his eyes. Two scientists in clean white bent over him. “Experiment C6/3 survives halt,” one says flatly. Has Nao lost her brother again?
