"Even a shadow leaves a trace... if the light is cruel enough."
---
The next morning arrived without a sunrise.
In Nakaizumi, the clouds were too thick, the buildings too tall, and the smog too permanent for sunlight to ever reach the ground. But the city clocktower still struck seven, like it always did—mechanical, hollow, and unfeeling.
Reiji sat alone in the back row of Class 2-A, his presence barely acknowledged by his classmates. He liked it that way.
He was a model student—quiet, punctual, never speaking unless called on, never making eye contact unless necessary. No friends. No afterschool clubs. Just the desk, the silence, and the constant hum of thoughts that didn't belong to him.
His fingers idly traced the scars beneath his uniform sleeve. Hidden marks from years past—some from training, some from the field, some... he no longer remembered getting.
> "You're not like them."
"You never were."
The voice again. A whisper in his head, familiar and foreign all at once.
He tightened his grip around the pen. Across the room, the teacher's words droned on like static. Dates, wars, names—none of it mattered. Not when he could still see the blood on his hands from the night before.
---
At lunch, the routine changed.
A girl stood in front of him—blocking the sunless light from the windows.
She wasn't from his class. She wasn't even supposed to be in this building.
"Shinomiya Reiji?"
Her voice was clear, confident. Her eyes—silver, not unlike the woman from the Agency—locked onto him like she already knew everything.
He blinked.
> "Who's asking?"
> "The one who remembers who you were. Before they erased it."
A pause.
Reiji's fingers twitched.
He stood up.
> "Come with me. Now."
---
Outside the building, behind the abandoned gymnasium, Reiji cornered her against the wall.
> "You have five seconds to explain."
She didn't flinch.
Didn't run.
Didn't scream.
Instead, she held out a pendant. Broken, scorched, and half-melted—but something inside it pulsed faintly.
> "You dropped this… ten years ago."
Reiji's breath caught.
He didn't remember the object. But his body did.
His mind screamed.
A flood of images crashed into his skull.
Flames.
Laughter.
A girl's scream.
A locked door.
The Agency symbol, marked on fireproof walls.
He staggered back.
> "What... did you do to me?" he muttered.
The girl knelt beside him, whispering low:
> "Not me. Them. They took everything. And they'll kill me just for telling you this."
> "Your memories... they sealed them. But your blood still remembers."
> "You're not a tool, Reiji. You were never supposed to be."
---
Suddenly—
The sky rumbled.
A pulse rang in his chip—emergency alert.
"Target anomaly detected: perimeter breach. Designation: Level X."
The girl froze.
> "They're here. They found me."
> "You have to choose, Reiji. Either stay their puppet... or find out who you really are."
She threw the pendant to him and ran.
A second later, the school roof exploded.
From the crater, a humanoid figure emerged—black armor, veins glowing red, mouth stitched shut. A Class-X rogue.
And it was coming straight for him.
---
Reiji stood slowly, the pendant glowing faintly in his hand.
His chip blinked red.
> "Unauthorized combat not advised. Await backup."
He ignored it.
For the first time in years, something inside him stirred—
a fragment of himself they couldn't erase.
He cracked his knuckles, stepped forward, and said the words he hadn't spoken since the incident:
> "Shadow Protocol: Override."
The markings under his skin ignited.
His left eye blazed.
And the boy who never cast a shadow...
...became a weapon once more.