CHAPTER 23 – Shadows of the Mind
The room was dim, lit only by the weak glow of a single overhead bulb. They sat in a circle—Mei fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve, Daichi tapping his foot in a steady, nervous rhythm, Aoi glaring at the floor as though it had personally wronged her.
Tatsuya simply watched, silent as stone.
"So…" he said at last, voice calm and cutting. "You're not just chill, Ren. You're infected by it too."
Ren gave a half-laugh, raising a brow. "Yeah, yeah. You're right. Guess none of us are really untouched."
The words seemed to hang in the air, heavier than they should have.
"Who told you that?" Shun's voice cut sharp, defensive.
Every head turned toward him. The shift was instant—like a hunting pack sensing a wound.
"Tell us," Aoi said, her voice stern, sharp as a blade. "Or none of us are trusting you moving forward."
"Come on, man," Daichi urged, his tone softer, almost pleading. "Please. Just be honest."
Ren leaned forward, tilting his head. "Tell us, bro. No more masks."
"It's your choice," Mei said quietly. "But… we're here."
Shun looked at each of them in turn, his gaze slow, deliberate. His jaw tightened as though bracing for impact. Then, finally, he stood.
"Alright," he said, voice low. "Listen carefully. I'm only saying this once."
The room went still.
"When I was a kid," he began, "I was dumb. Really dumb. I always failed my exams. No matter how much I studied, the numbers stayed low. The pressure was endless. Crushing."
His breath caught slightly before he went on.
"One day, I was at the park. Alone. I remember the wind… the sound of the swings…"
Something in his tone shifted—cold, sharp at the edges.
"Then a car pulled up. Two men got out. I ran. Screamed. They caught me. One of them jabbed something into my neck."
Mei's voice was barely audible. "An injection…"
"Yeah," Shun said. "I blacked out. When I woke up… everything was white. The walls. The floor. The lights. All of it."
"Where were you?" Daichi asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
"A facility," Shun said darkly. "I don't know where. But I wasn't alone. Dozens of kids were there—black uniforms, numbers stitched on our backs. Mine… I think it was 400."
"Like a prison," Ren murmured.
"Worse."
His hands clenched.
"Then a massive door opened. Guards came in—tall, rifles in hand. They wore masks. Human-like… but frozen in these wide, sick smiles."
He made a slow, eerie curve with his fingers to show them.
"The middle one stepped forward and said: 'Follow orders, or suffer. No one will help you.'"
He glanced around the circle, eyes flat.
"They marched us into another room. Teachers were waiting—but they weren't teachers. They had no expressions. Just masks. They told us the rules."
His voice hardened.
"Rule one: No talking to anyone.
Rule two: No showing emotion.
Rule three: Never help another, even if they're dying.
Break any rule… and you're punished."
Aoi's fists clenched. "What kind of punishment?"
"You don't want to know."
The words fell heavy.
"They made us study every day. Perform well, or you don't eat. That was life—silent, starving, scared. One mistake, and you vanished."
"No one helped you?" Mei asked softly.
"They couldn't," Shun said, locking eyes with her. "Helping meant breaking the rules. Breaking the rules meant disappearing."
He looked at them all then—his voice trembling with both fury and grief.
"So yeah. I don't trust people. I don't believe in hope. Because I lived in a world where trust got you killed."
No one spoke. Aoi looked away, her jaw tight. Daichi stared at the floor. Ren leaned forward, lips pressed to a thin line. Mei's eyes glistened, but she didn't look away.
Only Tatsuya's gaze remained fixed, unreadable.
"That's my truth," Shun said at last, voice barely above a whisper. "Do whatever you want with it."
The silence that followed wasn't empty.
It was full—of all the things no one dared to say.
The story of Shun wasn't over. Not yet.
To be Continued in Chapter 24:The Maze Of Masks