Sena Ayanami š
Unit 07 lunged. Sena blockedāleft arm, redirected, side stepābut the clone had already anticipated the redirection. A knee drove into Senaās ribs. She gasped, stumbled, and in that microsecond of pain, saw the truth.
She had come here expecting to find monsters. She had found a mirror instead. The next morning, Sena Ayanami walked into the Academyās main hall five minutes before the first bell. Her uniform was immaculate. Her hair was pinned. Her face was a dollās faceāstill, perfect, unreadable. sena ayanami
The Academy had a basement, technically. A sub-level labeled āMaintenanceā on every map. But Sena had never seen a janitor descend those stairs. She had never seen anyone enter at all. Three nights later, dressed in dark gym clothes with her hair pinned tight, Sena picked the lock on the basement door. It took her twelve seconds. The stairs went down farther than they should haveāfour flights, then five, the air growing cold and metallic. At the bottom, a single reinforced door with a retinal scanner. Unit 07 lunged