Koryo turned toward the door before adding in a quieter tone,
"The clans have started to move. You need to decide which path you'll take."
Then he left, leaving Shinji and Satoru alone in a room filled with silence. But inside Shinji's mind, things were far from silent.
The clans were starting to move. That meant something big was about to happen.
As he pondered this, he didn't know that eyes were already watching him from the shadows...
Shinji sat on the roof of his house, staring up at the dark, cloud-filled sky. Night had fallen, and the city was drowning in its shadows, but his eyes were fixated on the emptiness, as if searching for an answer he couldn't find. Since the night before, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about what had happened. Why had he felt that strange shift when he killed that creature? And why did it feel like something had been taken from him?
He wasn't alone. Just a few steps away, Satoru watched him in silence, hesitant about whether he should speak or not. Since he had known Shinji, he had never seen him like this before. He was always a calm person, ready to deal with any situation with composure, but now, he looked as if the weight of the entire world was on his shoulders.
Finally, Satoru decided to break the silence.
"Shinji, you need to talk. You can't stay like this."
Shinji didn't respond immediately, but took a moment before answering in a soft voice,
"Have you ever felt like you don't belong in this world? Like there's something inside you… but it's not a part of you?"
Satoru looked at him in surprise, then after a moment of thought, he said,
"Everyone feels odd sometimes, but what exactly do you mean?"
Shinji turned to him, his eyes reflecting an inner turmoil that was hard to describe.
"When I killed that creature… I felt like I lost something. Like a part of me was forcibly taken away. Not just guilt, but something real… like my soul itself was scratched."
A silence settled between them for a moment. Satoru tried to process what Shinji had said, but he wasn't sure whether he should believe him or not. Finally, he sighed and said,
"If you think something's wrong, I won't argue with you. But we need to understand what's happening to you. You can't face this alone."
Shinji looked at him, a faint smile barely forming on his lips. Despite everything, there was someone still by his side.
"Thanks, Satoru."
But before Satoru could respond, a strange movement from a nearby alley interrupted them. Both turned quickly, ready for anything. A soft sound echoed in the air, like the faintest footsteps.
Then, from the darkness, a girl emerged, wearing a dark cloak, her face partially covered by a hood. Her eyes glowed with an unusual blue light, the same color as the energy Shinji had felt the night before.
"I've finally found you, Shinji."
Shinji stood alert, while Satoru eyed her suspiciously.
"Who are you?"
The girl didn't answer immediately. Instead, she gazed at Shinji with a mysterious look before speaking.
"I'm someone who has the answer you've been searching for."
Shinji had no choice but to listen, but deep inside, he knew that this encounter would change everything.
Shinji stepped back, exchanging a quick glance with Satoru. There was no fear in his eyes, only caution. The girl before him was mysterious, but her way of speaking suggested she knew something he didn't.
"The answer I'm searching for?" he repeated coldly. "And what answer do you mean?"
The girl smiled faintly, then took a step forward, allowing the dim streetlights to illuminate her features. She looked young, in her late teens or early twenties, with dark hair falling around her shoulders. But what caught Shinji's attention wasn't her appearance—it was the energy surrounding her, that unnatural aura he had felt the night before.
"You know exactly what I mean," she said quietly, as if speaking about an undeniable truth. "That feeling you experienced when you killed that creature… that emptiness. You want to know why, don't you?"
Shinji froze for a moment. He hadn't told anyone about that feeling except for Satoru, and yet, this girl spoke as if she had seen it all with her own eyes.
"How do you know that?" he asked more sharply.
The girl sighed, as if she had expected this question, then said,
"Because I went through something similar. Because, just like you, I killed a creature I shouldn't have."