Arc 1 – The Shadow Awakens
"In a world that never forgets the blood on your hands, how long can you keep yours hidden?"
---
The city never slept.
Beneath the amber glow of artificial lights, the towers of Nakaizumi stood like tombstones—silent, towering, and cold. Neon signs flickered through the rain, blurring into distorted symbols against the windows of the overcrowded backstreets. Somewhere far above the smog, the elite drank wine on glass floors. But down here, where sirens replaced lullabies, monsters wore human faces.
At sixteen, Shinomiya Reiji had already learned to stop expecting kindness from strangers. Or from anyone, really.
He walked the alley alone, soaked in the midnight drizzle. His uniform was torn at the hem, the white collar stained with something darker than mud. His eyes—cold, sharp, and unmistakably empty—scanned the surroundings like a machine built only for survival.
He wasn't running from someone.
Not tonight.
He was hunting.
---
"Target confirmed. Sector 7-C. Moving in."
A voice whispered through the comms in his ear—someone from the agency. Reiji didn't reply.
A small metal chip embedded in his wrist blinked green. Bio-trace matched. Identity confirmed. One more mark on the list. One more sin added to the ledger he no longer pretended to keep clean.
He entered the warehouse.
Inside, flickering fluorescent lights revealed nothing but shadows and dust—until a figure emerged from the dark, dragging chains behind him like a funeral dirge.
"So… you're the ghost they sent?"
Reiji said nothing. He dropped his bag, rolled his shoulder, and stepped forward. The silence was his answer.
The fight lasted less than forty seconds.
Metal clashed. Blood hit concrete. Screams never made it out the door.
When it ended, Reiji stood alone, panting—his right hand trembling from impact. His left eye, glowing faintly blue, dimmed to normal again. Whatever "normal" meant.
He didn't care who the man was. A trafficker? A rogue experiment? A former agent gone rogue? It didn't matter. The system sent names. He executed.
He was a shadow. That's all they wanted from him.
---
Outside, the rain turned heavier. Reiji looked up at the city skyline, the lights of towers reflecting in the puddles near his feet. A fleeting image passed his vision—his own face, reflected, but hollow. Like someone erased the soul inside.
He had no home to return to.
No family waiting.
Just a number, a list, and silence.
---
Elsewhere...
Inside a glass office miles above him, a woman with silver hair reviewed a report marked "S-0."
> "Subject Reiji continues to function within acceptable parameters. Emotional suppression stable. No deviation recorded."
> "He still believes he's just a tool. Good. Let him."
Another man—older, cloaked in the crest of the Agency—lit a cigarette and exhaled.
> "Keep him in the dark. He must never remember... what he really is."
---
Back in the alley...
Reiji leaned against the rusted walls, breathing quietly. The silence didn't comfort him anymore. Not since the dreams started. Not since he began seeing things.
A girl's voice in his head.
A name he didn't recognize.
A place he was told didn't exist.
"Reiji... you weren't supposed to become this."
He shut his eyes.
But in the rain's rhythm, and the distant sirens, he couldn't silence it anymore.
The voice...
...sounded like it came from the part of him that had already died.