Midnight in the old district was not a place for the living.
The streets here were cobblestone veins that led into a heart long since stopped. Every building was dark, windows boarded or shattered. The air itself felt stale — as if it hadn't moved in decades.
Reiji's boots echoed in the stillness.
No one followed, yet he never lost the sense of being watched.
The "Hall with No Doors" stood at the farthest edge, where the street simply ended in black.
From the outside, it looked like an abandoned municipal hall — three stories of cracked stone, ivy climbing its face like skeletal fingers. The strange thing was, there truly were no doors. No obvious entrance at all.
Yet the whisper had guided him here.
Reiji took a slow step forward. The moment his shadow touched the building's shadow, the world shifted — not visually, but in weight. The air thickened, colors dulled, and sound fell away entirely.
A seam appeared in the wall ahead.
Not a door, but a slit of darkness opening in the stone, wide enough for a person to step through.
Inside, the Hall was nothing like the ruins outside suggested.
It was vast — a circular chamber lit by floating lanterns of dim violet fire. The walls were covered in curtains of black silk, swaying though no wind moved. In the center, on a platform of obsidian, sat six figures cloaked in shadow.
The Silent Court.
None of them spoke at first. They simply looked. Reiji could feel their gaze, even though their faces were hidden behind masks — each mask a different shape: a fox, a crow, a serpent, a hound, a horned demon, and a blank, featureless oval.
Finally, the one with the crow mask leaned forward.
> "Shinomiya Reiji. We know the blood that runs in your veins. We know the weight you carry. And we know the war that approaches."
The hound mask spoke next, voice deep as a growl.
> "You are an anomaly. Neither ally nor enemy… yet both."
Reiji didn't bow. Didn't speak. His eyes moved between them, memorizing every voice, every tilt of the head.
The demon mask broke the silence.
> "The Court offers you a pact. Aid us in what is to come, and you will have resources, knowledge, power. Refuse… and your existence will be erased before the first dawn."
The blank mask tilted slightly, and Reiji felt something cold press against his mind — as if the mask itself could see inside his thoughts.
He gave a small, almost imperceptible smile.
> "If you want my answer," he said, "you'll have to earn it."
A ripple went through the chamber — not anger, not amusement, but… approval.
The fox mask spoke last.
> "Then let the trial begin."
The lanterns flared, and the floor beneath Reiji shifted into darkness.