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I have to find a way to stop him first Before he stopssubjected to the new NeuroLink algorithm They have holed up in an aparts to Asher, on the outskirts of the city

An incoe appears on my phone It’s from some encrypted, unknown source Hideo,hest speeds along an e the city in shades of gold, I pull to a stop at a quiet intersection on the outskirts of Tokyo, where the city gives way to hills and sparse streets I find ated, three-story townhoreets me at the door He ushersrooathered They stand up at the sight of limpse others on the couch, too, froy Frost Abeni Lea, fro noticeably apart from Roshan--but the two are turned toward each other, as if they were talking a o The tension between theone

"What do we do fro silence

I sit down, too "I run a hacked version of Warcross," I reply "I don’t think I’ure out a way for you guys to have it, too"

I tell the s with hi what had really happened when Zero appeared in the final game I talk until the streetlahts

"I saw hi the final moment e all felt that static shock It’s the first time I’ve ever seen any data about him"

Tremaine looks at me "You saw Zero, too? It wasn’t just me?"

The others chime in "I saw him," Asher adds "He had an opaque helmet on and a [null] name over his head Black body armor"

Hammie repeats the same, as does Roshan

Everyone had seen Zero in that instant That means that he had been exposed outside of my hack, that in that instant, all of his data had been exposed All of his data had been exposed

Suddenly, I straighten and begin to type I bring up my Warcross account, then my Memory Worlds There is one aather around I access the Me it with the others so that they can see what I see The worldaars, the battle that ensued I fast-forward through all of it, all the way until the end Then I let it play until the instant the electric shock had happened, when Zero suddenly stood in front of me I pause it

His data I’ve recorded it

I can see his actual account

"Ems," Asher says beside me as he watches the Memory "Can you actually find out who he is now?"

With treh Zero’s personal account

And sure enough, there it is The trigger had exposed him, if only for a fraction of a second, but it’s all the time I needed I stare nu in the center of the living rooside a photo of the real-life user who is Zero I don’t even need to read the na back at er version of Hideo, a boy who resee My eyes go back to the na

Sasuke Tanaka

• • • • •

LATER THAT NIGHT, I leave the apartment to stand outside in the front yard I need some air The streetlaht on the sidewalks, and I decide to concentrate on that, forcing myself to clearfor stars There are only a few to be seen fro the rest of the Milky Way, invisible without a virtual overlay I don’t care For once, it’s co the real world for what it is, instead of the enhanced version through the NeuroLink