Fire and Song recap

Rei and Aria begin dating as Firesong prepares for Sectionals, while Kamiya Corporation offers Rei a suspiciously generous sponsorship tied to the family that abandoned him. Central manipulates Rei's fortitude test, and Shido continues evolving at an extraordinary pace. At Sectionals, Firesong advances despite targeted brackets and internal strain. Catcher gains Ruinous, Chancery gains Warband, and the team suspects Shido may affect nearby CADs. Rei reaches the individual final against Aria, but an arena hack subjects him to S0 projections and leaves him badly injured. Shido rises to C9, adds a Phalanx mode, and grants the short-range jump ability Temporal Step. Firesong wins the team-battle championship without Rei, while the interrupted duel is declared a draw. Logan reveals his former identity and reconciles with the team. Central then uses a transfer order to demand exceptional Systems and InterSystems results from Rei, Aria, and Firesong. Rei seeks Kamiya sponsorship for the whole team instead of himself, and Kamiya agrees in principle, while its head is revealed as Rei's estranged grandfather.

Previously: Rei entered Galen's Institute with Shido, a CAD whose S-ranked Growth made his development both exceptional and dangerous to reveal. Viviana Arada remained his oldest friend, while Aria Laurent became the commander of the six-person squad that also included Catcher, Chancery Cash, and Logan Grant. Rei's rise brought growing attention from Galen's staff, the ISCM, and other cadets. His relationships within the squad were uneven: Aria and Catcher were trusted allies, Viv was fiercely protective of him, and Logan's hostility remained a threat to the group's cohesion. As the new term begins, Rei and Aria are prominent first-year fighters, their squad is preparing for higher competition, and the secret of Shido's growth still shapes who Rei can trust.

Rei and Aria's first date ends in an off-campus fight when four Penview cadets corner them. Security footage clears the pair, but an autograph request shows that their Galen's reputation has become public. Back at the Institute, Aria's squad defeats two allied training teams, with Rei taking temporary command and sacrificing a simulated shoulder so Viv can strike decisively. Logan still resents following Rei, though Viv confronts him and makes any future relationship conditional on changing his conduct. Rei is then summoned to a confidential meeting with Galen's commanding officer and a Kamiya Corporation representative. Kamiya offers a remarkably rich sponsorship despite Rei's limited public record. Rei refuses to sign immediately, suspecting the corporation knows something about him or Shido. Kamiya's head, Dr. Kamiya Hiroto, responds by planning to block rival sponsors and shows an unexplained personal concern with Rei's abandonment and medical history. Rei links Kamiya to his biological family and shares the suspicion with Viv. The resulting distress disrupts squad training, while Logan begins apologizing and Rei prepares to trust Aria and Catcher with more of the truth.

Rei tells Aria and Catcher that Kamiya's offer may come from the family that abandoned him. Independent reviewers find the contract genuine and unusually favorable, leaving its motive as the central concern. Rei also concludes that Shido may need varied, stronger opponents to maintain its rapid gains. Logan distances himself from former associates and starts making tentative efforts to join the group. During parameter testing, Rei openly compares Shido's Brawler and Saber modes, but the final fortitude trial is secretly altered. He collapses with a lung injury after reaching conditions later measured at A1. Galen's officers determine that the manipulation points to Central Command, which appears to be probing Rei as a strategically important user. Rei receives treatment from Willem Mayd and Amina Ashton, then returns under strict medical and training controls. Chancery presses him to explain Shido, and Logan privately infers that its Growth is the key, but Rei does not confirm the secret. After recovering enough to travel, Aria's six-person squad departs for Sector 9 Sectionals under Dyrk Reese. The team receives its official competitive name: Firesong.

While Firesong arrives at Sectionals, Solista Laurent participates in a covert plan to obtain arena-system access. Christopher Lennon ends a public provocation against Rei, and Logan gives Rei a direct apology without yet explaining the trauma behind his anger. All six members qualify. Firesong wins its opening team battle by hiding CAD light in a blizzard and ambushing its opponents. Reese tries to punish the team for prolonging Rei's final confrontation, but Valera Dent accepts their tactical explanation. The Mind privately admits it may have arranged the pairing to test Rei. Shido gains unexpected improvements, while Viv and Logan's relationship becomes public. Firesong survives a war game, and Catcher defeats a stronger Phalanx despite a broken shoulder. His CAD evolves and grants Ruinous, a repeatable charged burst powerful enough to bend Aria's shield. In a later zero-gravity war game, three teams target Firesong. The squad reunites after being separated, Catcher deploys Ruinous, and Firesong wins the quarterfinal. Immediately afterward, Chancery receives an undisclosed CAD notification that leaves her shocked.

Chancery's new ability, Warband, creates three overlapping spear attacks and defeats Aria in testing. Coming so soon after Ruinous, it raises the possibility that prolonged proximity to Shido is affecting other CADs. Viv, the only Firesong member without an ability, fears that the team will outgrow her. She performs strongly in team competition but abandons a useful stealth advantage in an individual quarterfinal against Castro Vadem and loses. Her CAD ranks up without granting an ability, deepening that fear. Firesong is then overwhelmed in a Wargame semifinal after the other teams coordinate against it. Solista, watching in disguise, is revealed as Aria's mother and decides that Rei and Firesong threaten Aria's future. Firesong later defeats Red Crown and advances to the team-battle final against Valormade. Rei beats Vadem to reach the individual final, while Aria defeats Logan to become his opponent. Before those matches, Aria helps Rei confront his tendency to blame himself for the team's difficulties. They kiss and agree that they are now in a relationship.

Rei gains the advantage over Aria in the first-year final, but the arena freezes the match and spawns six S0 sparring projections that repeatedly attack him. Valera Dent breaches the field boundary and forces a reset, ending the assault. Investigators identify an arena back door installed days earlier, but not the attacker. Solista had separately brought a trigger intended to hinder Aria's opponent. Her adult son, Aria's brother, destroys it after she denies activating it. Shido's response to the attack raises Rei from C7 to C9, upgrades Type Shift, adds a heavily armored Phalanx mode, and assigns Temporal Step. Rei and Aria re-enter a practice field under supervision despite their trauma. Temporal Step moves Rei across a short distance by a jump-like mechanism rather than ordinary speed, but it causes fleeting visions and severe nausea. Reese reacts to its implications with threatening language and is removed as chaperone. Rei's extensive injuries keep him out of the team final. Firesong agrees to compete with five members. The Mind cannot trace the hack, suspects a rogue actor within the hierarchy rather than Central as a whole, and adds monitoring to every arena Rei uses.

Anatoly Sidorov confronts the injured Rei over Shido until older Galen's cadets intervene. Firesong enters the team-battle final one member short. Aria struggles at the boundary where the attack occurred, but Viv helps her enter. The team draws Valormade into an encirclement, then converges on Castro Vadem and commits Ruinous, Warband, and Overclock at once. Firesong wins the first-year team-battle championship without Rei. Officials record Rei and Aria's interrupted individual final as a draw. Afterward, Rei decides that Logan and Chancery have earned the right to know Shido's secret. Logan first reveals that he was born Logan Galt. He explains how his father's abandonment of a threatened civilian sector led to mass death, disgrace, and the destruction of his family. His mother changed the children's identities and later died, while Logan was separated from his sister. Firesong accepts him, and Rei recognizes how their different traumas fueled their conflict. Rei then shows Logan and Chancery Shido's S-ranked Growth and unique abilities. The team leaves Sectionals more cohesive. Kamiya accelerates its effort to secure Rei and tells Sarah Takeshi that Rei is her younger brother. Reese is removed from Galen's after his campaign against Rei exceeds the authority Central granted him.

Back at Galen's, Rei trains Shido's Brawler, Saber, and Phalanx modes with Michael Bretz and Katori Amala while Claire DeSoto develops the rest of Firesong. Temporal Step becomes more controllable, though nausea still limits repeated use. Medical checks find no new fibrodysplasia flare-ups and suggest Rei may be in remission. Aria's father, General Carmen Laurent, then arrives with a transfer order. He argues that Galen's and Firesong limit Aria, but both she and Rei refuse to leave. Rei identifies the order as a Central pressure tactic that makes Carmen the required signatory. Carmen will not sign voluntarily, yet warns that Central can compel him. He gives Galen's a chance to prevent the transfer: Rei and Aria must win at Systems, Firesong must win team battle and War Games, and they must reach InterSystems. Galen's promises intensified support. Rei decides additional resources are necessary and reopens talks with Kamiya. He will consider sponsorship only if the corporation identifies who initiated the offer, supports all of Firesong, and pays him nothing personally. Kamiya accepts the team condition in principle and begins recruiting staff. Its head, Hiroto, is revealed as Rei's estranged grandfather. The family conflict, Central's coercion, and the identity of the arena attacker remain open.

Firesong leaves Sectionals as the first-year team-battle champion, although Rei's injuries forced the other five members to win the final without him. Rei and Aria's hacked individual final is recorded as a draw. Rei recovers into specialized training at C9 with Shido's Brawler, Saber, and Phalanx modes, Type Shift 2, and the short-range jump ability Temporal Step. His fibrodysplasia shows no new flare-ups and may be in remission, but medical monitoring continues. Logan reconciles with Rei, tells Firesong the history behind his former identity, and joins Chancery in learning Shido's S-ranked Growth secret. Rei and Aria remain together, while Viv continues to fear that her development is falling behind the team. Central's coerced transfer threat leaves Rei, Aria, and Firesong with demanding Systems and InterSystems targets if they are to stay at Galen's Institute. Carmen refuses to sign voluntarily, and Galen's promises greater support. Rei reopens negotiations with Kamiya only for team sponsorship, rejects personal payment, and learns that the corporation's head initiated the offer. Kamiya accepts the team condition in principle. Rei has not reconciled with Hiroto or Sarah, while Solista's opposition, the unidentified arena attacker, and Shido's limits all remain unresolved.