Dolls High Chapter 1: Black Reverberation, Episode 63: Cognitive Deficit

-Synopsis-

Vanishing records.

Unrecognizable names.

A phenomenon where information that should exist slips away in the middle of a thought.
As they approach the Seventh Blockade Sector, the anomaly shifts from a "lapse" to a "blocking of cognition itself."

Mirei (Luna) begins to hypothesize this as selective cognitive blocking.
Cain (Volg)'s squad discovers traces of Gezeer registration that shouldn't exist in the old database.
Gald (Draig) begins to touch upon fragments of combat records in the restoration sector.

And Alto (Noah) encounters an identification code left in the documents that he "can read but cannot recognize"—.

Episode 63: Cognitive Deficit

The morning at the academy looked just as it always did.
Cold air.

Regular, rhythmic footsteps.
Time flowing as if nothing had happened.
But in the gaps of conversation, a small distortion was mixed in.

"Who did I hear that story from again?"
"I know I saw it, but I can't remember."

The moment one tries to probe the memory, the thought drops off halfway.
As if that part never existed from the beginning.
Yet no one treats it as a problem.
◇

The lecture proceeded indifferently.
Tactical theory.

Information management.

Facility operations.
The theories were sound, and the system remained intact.

The numbers and formulas were also correctly established.

Even so, a thin sense of discomfort settled deep within his understanding.

Alto (Noah) watched the blackboard while feeling it.
He could understand the meaning.
But he couldn't grasp the "core itself."

Somewhere in his field of vision, there was always a missing area.
◇
Multiple squads were deployed simultaneously in the training sector.
Alto's squad.

Cain's squad.
Doug's squad.

Fiona's squad.
Sierra's squad.

The war zone was divided, and operations were proceeding simultaneously.
Alto's squad was in a peculiar state.

Alto was at the observation station.
Rio (Fel) and Mirei (Luna) were deployed in actual units.

Despite being in the same squad, they were not existing in the same space.

Even so, coordination was established.

The fact that this was processed as a matter of course was, in itself, a distortion.
Cain's squad (Volg, Elk, Cecil) was performing tactical coordination.
Doug's squad was breaking through the vanguard.
Fiona's squad was handling command and control.
Sierra's squad was handling electronic warfare and analysis.

Everything was moving normally.
And yet, somewhere on the battlefield, something was faintly missing.

◇

The movement trajectories of Fel and Luna flowed across the monitor at the observation station.
Alto was watching them.

Before, he would have been among them.
Now, he was on the outside.

The tactics were being perfected.
The coordination was being refined.

The only thing that remained quietly was the fact that it could function even without him there.
The moment that thought surfaced, it was cut off halfway.

◇
Analysis room.
Mirei (Luna) was staring at the terminal.

Anomaly occurrence points.

Missing records.
Cognitive anomaly reports.

Everything was converging in the same direction.

The Seventh Blockade Sector.
Mirei stopped her fingers.

This was not a lapse.

"It is 'selected' from the beginning."
The information that remains and the information that disappears are being separated.

Not by coincidence, but as a structure.

◇
Old database.

Cain (Volg) glared at the screen.
Elk stopped scrolling.

Cecil frowned.
There were traces of Gezeer registration that shouldn't have existed.

But the name could not be read.

The characters were there.

The structure was there.

Yet, the meaning itself could not be established.
Elk muttered.
"This... it's not being erased."

Cain continued.

"It's in a 'form that cannot be recognized' from the start."

◇

Fiona's squad was organizing their reports.

The testimonies didn't match up.

Even though it should have been the same event, the details were different.

Fiona closed the paper.
"It's not the memories... it's that the perceptions aren't aligned."

No further words came out.

◇

Sierra's squad (Edgar) was staring at the analysis results.
"It's not an expansion."
"It's a selection."

Sierra remained silent while looking at the screen.
It wasn't that things were increasing.

The things that remained were decreasing.

◇
Doug's squad lineup check.

The number of people was correct.

But someone said quietly,

"That guy from earlier... what was his name again?"

No one answered.

No one could remember.

◇

Special restoration sector.

Draig was being quietly reconstructed within the restoration frame.
Gald was looking up at that machine.
For just a moment, a scene from the battlefield flashed through his mind.

Explosions.

Metallic sounds.

Someone's voice.

But the next moment, it was severed.

"What was that just now?"
He couldn't reach the memory.

Only the existence remained.

◇

There were gaps in the internal machine data.

But no one could judge whether that was an anomaly or not.
It was treated as if that place had been blank from the beginning.

◇

Evening.

Alto, Mirei, Cain, Gald.

Each of them was touching the same anomaly in different places.

Without knowing about each other.

Yet they were all heading toward the same point.
◇

Archives room.

Alto was staring at a blank area.

A place that didn't exist as a map.
Only that part was treated as "not existing."

But Alto was convinced.

It wasn't that it didn't exist.
It was being erased.

◇
Night.
Academy database.

The log screen flickered for a moment.
"Cognitive Protection Area: Seventh Blockade Sector"

The next moment, it vanished.

It didn't even remain in the records.
It wasn't fixed in anyone's memory.

And yet, it certainly "was" there.