?The garden of the Koro-kan, the Tiger-Lock Mansion, was a spectacle of blue roses, their petals sprawling towards the rising sun. These were of the Seiryu variety, named after the Azure Dragon, guardian of the East.

  ?The sun, emerging from the ocean's expanse, cast a creamy, yolk-like glow onto the petals. This light, now piercing through the window, roused Clamo from his sleep. Though he often indulged in a second slumber after a successful mission, his black cat, Tasha, adopted two months prior, now approached, stomach rumbling in protest.

  ?Tasha had a peculiar habit of gathering fragments of paper, ancient CDs, and attic curios, meticulously transporting them from one corner of the room to the other.

  ?It was this very habit that had inexplicably linked her to the mysterious "torn book incident," revealing her nocturnal wanderings and companionship with Amethyst. Proof? A careful review of the surveillance footage, where a tiny black shadow, unmistakably Tasha, could be glimpsed. It was clear these items weren't brought in by human design.

  ?Tora(Byakko): "Morning, Clamo. Ohayou, Clamo. This room's comfy, isn't it?"

  ?Clamo: "Toraemon, morning! Yeah, it is. I sleep really soundly here. Though, the sun's pretty intense, huh?"

  ?Tora: "There's another trick to it, you see."

  ?The Doctor: "Precisely."

  ?Clamo: "A trick?"

  ?Clamo's mind raced, wildly theorizing if the black cat, Seiryu, or even Byakko had perhaps conjured some magic.

  ?Tasha, a creature without a notepad, nonetheless moved with a methodical precision from dawn till dusk. They say cats are masters at choosing comfortable spots, and it certainly seemed true. But why this room? What made it so comfortable?

  ?Clamo's gaze sharpened, scrutinizing each piece of decor.

  ?First, his eyes fell upon the pyramid model atop the bookshelf.

  ?Could this be it?

  ?Tora: "Almost. That's just an ornament."

  ?Almost? What did he mean, "almost?" The rumor of invisible energy gathering in pyramids... for now, he'd relegate it to just a rumor.

  ?Second, his attention was drawn to a white teddy bear that Tasha was meticulously licking.

  ?The Doctor: "Oh, you're getting warmer! That's your hint. Keep going."

  ?Getting closer, then. All he knew was that the white bear was somehow involved. So...

  ?Third, realizing that pointing upwards endlessly was futile, Clamo lifted the carpet, carefully examining the floor beneath.

  ?Tora: "There's nothing here."

  ?He was wrong. Deep within the wooden floor, if you looked closely enough, there was a single square meter—perfectly geometric, perfectly smooth. It was a tactile anomaly that had escaped everyone's notice, save for the Professor.

  ?Even Byakko stood frozen in surprise.

  ?Why was it so slick?

  It possessed a luster like polished coal.

  While the rest of the floor had been buried under layers of dull brown paint, this specific patch was different. Beneath the surface, someone had meticulously inlaid a bed of charcoal, leveled to a hauntingly flat finish.

  ?Clamo reached out, his hand trembling with curiosity, intent on scraping the charcoal away.

  ?The Doctor: "Don't touch it!!"

  ?"Don’t touch it!"

  ?Is it a toxic coating on the charcoal? Or is the alignment of the embers themselves the key? Perhaps something ancient and forbidden lies buried beneath this carbon layer.

  ?Clamo: "Doctor, what is the meaning of this!?"

  ?The Doctor: "You must not move it. Not an inch. Do you understand? Stay focused. I never imagined you’d peel back the carpet the moment I turned my back..."

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  ?Beads of sweat clung to the Doctor’s forehead; his breath came in jagged rasps. His expression was one of pure, raw terror—as if shifting a single coal would dissolve the entire world into nothingness.

  ?What does any of this have to do with a Polar Bear? Clamo wondered, his mind racing to bridge the gap.

  ?The Doctor: "The Polar Bear—a 'Shirokuma'—was the key. If you can solve that, you’re more brilliant than I thought. I’ll tell you why I placed that stuffed toy there on the anniversary of the charcoal burial... but first, put the carpet back. Now."

  ?Is there a mummy under there? What is he hiding?

  The Doctor: "Clamo, listen to me. Under no circumstances are you to disturb these coals. If you dig them up or, heaven forbid, swap them for something else... it won't just be me. We will all lose our lives."

  ?Clamo: "I understand. Now, please—give me the truth!"

  ?The Doctor: "Always the seeker. Always the embodiment of curiosity. No wonder Byakko saw something in you. Very well. Calm yourself, and listen. This story begins long before you were born. Before the Koro-kan(Tiger-Lock Mansion) was ever built, those who lived on this land fell one after another... struck down by strokes."

  ?Clamo: "What!? Are you saying we’re destined to collapse too?"

  ?Tora: "Doctor! This is bad. This is very bad!"

  The Doctor: "Normally, yes. But you won’t. It’s not 'bad' at all. Look at yourselves—you’re bursting with energy from dawn till dusk, aren't you?"

  ?Tora: "That’s exactly why it’s bad!"

  ?The Doctor: "You weren't even born when the shadows held sway here. You're safe."

  ?Tora: "So this place is just a renovated 'death house'!? A stigmatized property!?"

  The Doctor: "Close, but no. Now, listen! Tell me... have either of you ever seen the Aurora?"

  ?Clamo: "The connection to the Polar Bear... could it be...?"

  ?The Doctor: "Clamo, you aren't just bright. You might be a genius."

  ?Clamo: "Did you intend for me to peel back the carpet, Doctor?"

  ?The Doctor: "Of course not! I expected you to point at Tasha. I’m just as shocked as you are. I wanted you to watch the living, moving creatures, not obsess over ornaments or floorboards."

  ?Clamo: "I see... I suppose I went looking for secrets where I shouldn't have. Just a clumsy mistake on my part."

  ?Was it a mistake? Clamo couldn't be sure. His intuition had a habit of striking the hidden truth, like a student providing a radical answer that renders the teacher’s textbook obsolete.

  ?This wasn't just a debate anymore. It was physics.

  ?The Doctor: "Let’s get to the heart of it. Do you know what Tasha was chasing?"

  ?Clamo: "Tasha? The cat who always hunts for the most comfortable spot in the room?"

  ?The Doctor: "Exactly. That is the answer. She chased the comfort."

  ?Clamo: "..."

  ?During the time of the 'Aurora Incident,' Tasha would never set foot inside the Koro-kan.

  ?The Doctor: "This place was once a 'void' in the earth. The magnetic field was dangerously low. Protection from cosmic rays and other lethal radiation was non-existent. It was a patch of land forsaken by God."

  ?Clamo: "I see. Not an oasis in the desert, but a cursed realm in the heart of the oasis."

  ?Clamo tried to remain composed, but his hands trembled. His spine felt frozen. He looked like a fox caught in an electric current.

  ?And in that heavy silence, the mouth of the white teddy bear seemed to twitch, just for a fraction of a second.

  The Doctor: "You might have realized it by now, but being the 'Guardian of Byakko' is merely a front. In truth, you are the Sentry of the Earth’s Pressure Point."

  ?Clamo: "What!?"

  ?The Doctor: "Oh, look at that face. The bear over there looks like he has something to say, doesn't he? Perhaps he’ll speak up and lend us some support? Ahaha! After all, that white bear was a witness to the eldritch Aurora as well."

  ?Clamo: "Tora-emon..."

  ?Dazed and disoriented, Clamo sank back down, collapsing onto the floor right beside Byakko.

  ?Tora: "Aurora... I want to see it too."

  ?The Doctor: "If we see it, it means our sanctuary is gone. The magnetic field would warp just like it did back then. Neither Tasha nor the Amethyst could survive that."

  ?The Doctor’s mind drifted back twenty years—to the day he buried a mountain of charcoal into the gaping maw of the earth’s void.

  ?If a God exists in this world, let us assume that the Doctor and Byakko were forsaken from the moment of their birth. It was as if they were destined to crawl through the dirt and taste the bitter dregs of the earth so that the rest of humanity could claim happiness.

  ?The origins of the Koro-Kan(Tiger-Lock Mansion) were, to put it mildly, a forbidden zone. It was a demonic realm found only after wandering through a sea of trees for five agonizing hours.

  The former residents were hauled away one after another, victims of sudden strokes, driven thirty minutes down paths known only to the locals to reach the nearest hospital.

  At night, a bizarre, unnatural Aurora would spill across the sky. Any plant sown there withered instantly; the few that survived grew into grotesque, twisted shapes.

  ?It reminded the Doctor of the Hoia Baciu Forest—the haunted woods he had once seen in Transylvania. Yet, it was perhaps more accurate to call this a graveyard where a once-flourishing civilization lay entombed.

  ?That was exactly why he sought to rebuild. Since the age of three, he had been captivated by a myth of a kingdom that once prospered here with gold, and he had never stopped believing in it.

  ?The gods and their myths were not yet his enemies. Rubbing his cracked, raw skin, he pressed forward. His colleagues, never keen on the investigation from the start, mocked him. they said the "Sentry of Civilization" would become just another casualty—a mummy-hunter destined to become a mummy himself.

  ?Still, the fire in the Doctor’s chest—the flame that pointed his way—would not be extinguished.

  ?Finally, as the sun dipped below the horizon, they pitched their tents. And then, he saw it. Along with three of his research companions, he beheld the Aurora.

  ?Its colors were enchanting, seductive, seizing the very soul. He remembered feeling as though the Snow Queen herself were calling to him. There was a joy in it, like the feeling of finally reuniting with a friend kidnapped at the end of a long journey. But simultaneously, the reality that they stood on the razor's edge of death became clearer than ever before.

  ?In that moment, the Snow Queen—a hallucination, surely—pushed him. To go further, you must plug the earth’s angry pressure point. To save his companions, he had to find the solution, and he had to find it now.

  ?A part of him screamed to forget everything—to go home and eat a warm meal. That desperation, too, lent his legs an unnatural, superhuman speed.

  ?The researchers would say later: they saw a weretiger sprinting through the forest.