The fluorescent lights in the lab flickered faintly as the scientists circled around the table, murmuring to each other in low voices. The tension was palpable, each of them hesitant to be the first to touch the Ledger, as though its very presence emanated something dark and ominous. Sato stood off to the side, his eyes fixed on the book, his mind racing with every possible outcome.

Carter glanced at him, sensing his unease. "Sato," she called out, her voice sharp, snapping him from his thoughts. "You’ve been close to this thing longer than any of us. You’re going to be the one to open it."

Sato’s jaw tightened. He had expected this, but it didn’t make it any easier. The last time he had opened the Ledger, people had died. It wasn’t just a book; it was a weapon, a trap, and yet they were treating it like some puzzle to solve. He could feel the weight of their expectations pressing down on him. Carter and Miller stood nearby, their eyes gleaming with the promise of discovery. The scientists, who were used to analyzing cold, emotionless data, were fidgeting, eager to understand something beyond their comprehension.

"You think this is some kind of experiment, Carter?" Sato muttered, walking toward the table. "You think you can just crack it open and dissect what makes it tick? This isn’t a lab project."

Carter’s gaze narrowed, the intensity in her eyes not wavering. "We’re not children, Sato. We understand the risks. But it’s our job to investigate, to control it before it gets into the wrong hands. Do you want someone else out there using it?"

Sato shook his head, feeling the familiar sting of frustration. "It doesn’t matter who holds it. The book controls you. Not the other way around."

Miller stepped forward, his broad shoulders looming over Sato. "That’s why we need to study it—find out what makes it work. You think you’re the only one who’s seen what it can do, but we’ve all lost people, Sato. We’re not playing games here."

Sato’s hands trembled slightly as he reached for the Ledger, feeling its cold, leathery surface under his fingertips. The sensation sent a chill up his spine, a reminder of the power he had once tried to walk away from. He glanced at the team assembled around him—people who thought they were on the verge of some groundbreaking revelation. But this wasn’t a revelation. It was a curse, one that would swallow them whole if they weren’t careful.

As his hand lingered on the cover, Carter leaned in, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "You don’t have to be afraid of it. You’re stronger than you think, Sato. You survived where others didn’t. There’s a reason for that."

Sato shot her a sideways glance, his expression hardening. "I’m not afraid of the book, Carter. I’m afraid of what you’ll do with it." He pulled the cover open, the pages rustling softly like the sound of distant whispers, as though the Ledger was alive, eager to be used again. The blank pages seemed to stare back at him, inviting him, tempting him. He fought the urge to write a name—any name—just to silence the voices in his head.

The scientists moved closer, peering over Sato’s shoulder with wide eyes. One of them, a young woman with dark-rimmed glasses and a clipboard, spoke up hesitantly. "What... what exactly happens when a name is written? Is it immediate?"

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Sato’s gaze remained locked on the pages. "It’s not like flipping a switch," he said, his voice low and steady. "Sometimes, it takes hours. Sometimes, days. The Ledger has its own timing. But it’s never wrong."

Miller folded his arms across his chest, his brow furrowed in thought. "So you’re telling us it’s selective? How does it know when to—"

"I don’t know how it works," Sato interrupted, his frustration bubbling over. "No one knows. It just does. And every time you use it, it takes a piece of you. It changes you."

"Changes how?" Carter pressed, her eyes searching his face for answers.

Sato’s fingers twitched against the page, memories of the past flooding back—of faces he had watched fade away, of the weight of responsibility crushing him every time he put pen to paper. "You start to lose sight of what’s real. The lines blur between what you want and what’s necessary. And before you know it, you’re not yourself anymore. You’re just… hollow. The Ledger consumes you, and there’s no going back."

Carter exhaled slowly, absorbing his words. "But you managed to stop," she said, her tone softening. "You walked away from it. That’s why we need you, Sato. You understand it better than anyone. We need to control it, or the next person who gets their hands on it could be a lot worse than Kai or even Hana."

Miller cleared his throat, growing impatient. "So what do we do with it? Destroy it? Lock it away?"

Sato shook his head. "I told you. I’ve tried to destroy it. You can burn it, rip it apart, throw it into the ocean—it’ll come back. And locking it away only delays the inevitable. It’ll find its way into someone else’s hands eventually. It always does."

The room fell into a heavy silence. The scientists, who had been eager and excited moments before, now seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation. Carter’s gaze dropped to the Ledger, her fingers tracing its worn edges. "Then what’s the alternative? If we can’t destroy it, and we can’t study it, what are we supposed to do?"

Sato paused, considering his next words carefully. "You don’t use it. You don’t give in to the temptation. You leave it alone."

Miller’s eyes narrowed, his voice thick with disbelief. "Leave it alone? After everything we’ve seen, after all the lives it’s taken, you’re saying we should do nothing?"

"Doing nothing might be the only way to keep people safe," Sato replied, his tone firm. "The more you use it, the more dangerous it becomes. You can’t control it. The Ledger controls you."

Carter stared at the book for a long moment, her expression unreadable. "There has to be more. There has to be a way to break its hold."

Sato’s lips tightened into a grim line. "If there is, I haven’t found it."

Before anyone could respond, one of the scientists, a middle-aged man with graying hair, stepped forward, breaking the silence. "There’s still so much we don’t understand," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "We can’t just give up. We have to try."

Sato met the man’s gaze, his eyes dark and full of warning. "You’re not ready for what this book will do to you. None of you are."

Miller stepped closer to the table, his eyes fixed on the Ledger with renewed determination. "We’ll figure it out, Sato. One way or another. We don’t have a choice."

Sato knew they weren’t going to listen. The Ledger had already drawn them in, its promises of power too enticing to resist. He could see it in their eyes, the same hunger he had once felt—the same hunger that had nearly destroyed him. But now, standing there in that cold, sterile room, surrounded by people who thought they could outsmart the darkness, he realized something chilling.

The Ledger wasn’t done. Not yet. And the people in this room were just the next victims in its endless cycle.

Carter closed the Ledger slowly, her eyes flickering with something unreadable. "We’ll proceed carefully," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "We won’t let it control us."

But as Sato stared at the book, at the way her fingers lingered on its cover, he knew the truth. It already had.