Everyday Life
The alarm rang at exactly 6:30, and Aoi Suzuhara opened her eyes as if she had already been awake. The sky outside still had the grayish tone of dawn, and her room remained wrapped in soft shadows.
In the small apartment kitchen, her mother prepared breakfast with routine movements. Nami, her younger sister, hummed a cartoon song while brushing her teeth in a hurry. The air smelled of freshly cooked white rice and fried eggs.
"Aoi, don't forget your umbrella. It's going to rain this afternoon," her mother said without looking at her, in a rush.
"Got it," Aoi replied, already dressed in her uniform and with her backpack ready.
Before leaving, she knelt to tie her shoes by the door. Her sketchbook stuck slightly out of the side pocket of her backpack, wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve. She never left it behind.
The train ride was the same as always: fast, filled with murmurs and announcements fading into the noise of the car. While most students stared at their phones, Aoi focused on the little things. A sleeping man with a newspaper still open on his lap. A little girl clutching her mother's hand tightly. A sunbeam slipping through the dirty window, casting a triangle of light on the floor.
She would draw that later. She stored it in her memory.
At school, she was greeted with smiles by her friends, Kana and Miyu. Like every day, they had lunch together on the terrace, talking about everyday things: exams, teachers, music, celebrities. Aoi laughed with them, though she often preferred listening. She loved them dearly, but couldn't shake the feeling that part of her remained unseen.
It wasn't loneliness. It was a kind of emotional transparency. As if the real version of her—the one who drew, who stayed quiet, who observed the world from the sidelines—had no room outside her mind.
Karaoke Night
When the final bell rang, Kana suggested, "Karaoke today? It's Friday!"
"Yes!" Miyu replied, excited. "I want to sing that Luna Pop song again!"
Aoi hesitated for a moment, then smiled sincerely. "Sure. Let's go."
They spent almost two hours singing. Miyu was off-key but gave it her all, Kana mimicked dance routines with a soda can as a microphone, and Aoi... Aoi captured it all with her eyes. She only sang once, softly, almost to herself, but her friends applauded her anyway. Deep down, those moments made her happy.
When they left the place, the city was already bathed in a blue dusk. Neon lights flickered and streetlamps cast long shadows on the sidewalk, now damp from a light drizzle that had started without warning.
"I go that way. You?" Aoi asked, pointing to an alternate route home.
"I'm going that way," said Kana.
"Me too. So I guess this is where we split," added Miyu, pouting. "Take care, Aoi!"
"Text us when you get home," said Kana.
"I will," Aoi replied, waving as she walked away.
The First Encounter
The alley was narrow, flanked by low buildings and shuttered stores. Aoi knew the path — she had walked it hundreds of times. Despite the dim light, she walked calmly.
Until she felt it.
Footsteps. Another pair. Very close.
She turned slightly. Someone was behind her. It wasn't a coincidence. The pace of the steps shifted with her own.
Aoi swallowed hard. Her hand instinctively moved toward the pocket where she usually kept her phone, but stopped. She didn't want to look paranoid.
The alley narrowed. A wall at the end.
She didn't remember that gate being closed.
No way out.
When she turned around completely, he was already there.
A tall man, gaunt face, dead eyes, and a twisted grin. He wore a stained jacket and held a rusty knife, barely visible beneath his sleeve.
"Nice night to be alone," he murmured.
Aoi backed up until her back hit the wall. Her heart pounded.
She tried to activate her camouflage — focus on the air, the wall, vanish...
Nothing. Fear had her frozen.
The knife glinted for a moment.
Then, everything changed.
A loud thud — like metal slamming into concrete — echoed through the alley.
The attacker was hurled to the side, like a train had hit him.
Standing before Aoi was an imposing man, his body covered in skin that gleamed like steel. His fists were clenched. His eyes were cold.
"Be more careful," he said, not even looking at her. "There are monsters that don't hide."
And then he walked away.
Aoi stood frozen. Her legs shook. She clutched her sketchbook to her chest without realizing. It took her several seconds to catch her breath.
When she tried to thank him —
He was already gone.
Only the sound of the rain remained in the silence.
The Spark
That night, back home, Aoi showered in silence. The hot water hit her back, but it didn't wash away the chill on her arms. The weight of fear still sat heavy in her chest, as if the knife still floated in the air before her.
At the kitchen table, her mother asked if everything was okay. Aoi just smiled and nodded. She said she had stayed chatting with Kana and Miyu after karaoke.
She didn't mention the assault. Or the alley. Or the man of steel.
Back in her room, she turned on her desk lamp and pulled out her sketchbook.
First, she drew the scene as she remembered it: the narrow alley, the shadows, her curled-up figure against the wall. Then, she outlined the attacker — twisted, threatening — and, in front of it all, the silhouette of the man who had saved her. His broad shoulders. The metallic texture of his skin. The way a seemingly ordinary human had stopped something terrifying with one move.
She wrote beneath the drawing:
"Be more careful. There are monsters that don't hide."
She stared at those words for a long time.
"Be more careful. There are monsters that don't hide."
She repeated them in her mind, again and again, like they had an echo of their own. She couldn't get them out of her head: the shine of his skin, the firmness in his voice, the way he appeared out of nowhere — like he had risen from the very ground.
Aoi bit her lower lip, trying to suppress a smile she didn't expect.
Her heart still raced — but this time, not from fear.
From something else.
Something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Admiration.
Wonder.
Excitement.
"I saw him," she whispered to herself. "I saw a real hero."
Not one of those who show up on the news, surrounded by cameras, giving speeches at schools or smiling in pristine uniforms.
No.
The man who saved her had no emblem, no fanfare, no media.
He simply appeared, did what he had to do — and vanished.
And that made him even more real. More authentic.
More... legendary.
She turned on her laptop, her fingers trembling.
"steel man hero tokyo", "man with metal body saves girl", "unlicensed hero alley", "metal skin hero", "steel alley tokyo"...
Nothing.
The latest headlines were all about licenses, tournaments, rankings, public battles.
But nothing about a man of steel acting in the shadows. Not even a whisper.
She dove into witness forums, anonymous vigilante boards, even conspiracy blogs. A couple of vague stories: one about a glowing silhouette in a fire two months ago. Another about an "armored man" pulling a family from rubble.
But no names. No photos. No face.
That only deepened her fascination.
Who was he?
Why did no one talk about him?
Why work in secret?
She closed her laptop, crossed her arms on the sketchbook, and rested her forehead on them.
She couldn't sleep.
"It's like I met a myth," she thought.
And then, an idea started to grow in her chest.
At first, timid.
Then clear.
Strong.
She had a power too.
Not as impressive, not as destructive.
But useful.
Stealthy.
And she had always used it to disappear.
But what if... now she used it for something else?
Aoi sat up straight. Gripped her pencil tightly.
On a new page of the sketchbook, she wrote with firm strokes:
"I don't want to keep hiding."
Below it, she drew her reflection. A version of herself with skin blending into shadows. Invisible to the eye, but watchful. Silent, but present.
She gave it a name.
Shiftie.
Birth of Shiftie
The clock read 2:37 a.m., but Aoi couldn't sleep.
She tossed and turned in bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling, thoughts buzzing like trapped insects. The image of the man of steel, the alley, the glinting knife... and that spark inside her wouldn't go out.
What if I go out?
What if I try?
Just once?
She got up without making a sound, tiptoeing down the hallway. Carefully opened the closet door and began digging through old clothes and forgotten school supplies. Bags, scarves, an old jacket of her mother's. Hats, scraps of fabric, even a pair of broken sunglasses.
She didn't have a sewing machine or the slightest idea how to design a suit like licensed heroes...
But that didn't matter.
This was hers. Hers alone.
She grabbed a tight black T-shirt, long athletic leggings, and a dark gray scarf that she wrapped into an improvised hood. Over that, she put on an old jacket that reached past her thighs, cutting off the sleeves for better movement. She added fingerless gloves and used eyeliner to darken the area around her eyes to blur her identity.
In front of the mirror, she stopped. Blinked.
She looked... different.
Not an invisible student.
Not a victim.
A figure from the shadows.
A protector.
"I'm Shiftie," she whispered, feeling something new in her voice: resolve.
She folded the clothes carefully into a small backpack. Alongside her sketchbook, she packed a black pen, a tiny flashlight, and her phone with an offline map app installed. She charged everything before dawn.
The next day, Saturday, the sky was gray and a light drizzle fell. Aoi woke up late — later than usual — and lay in bed for a long while, staring at the ceiling.
The entire day had a different energy.
During breakfast with her mom and Nami, she didn't say much, but inside she was boiling.
Her body knew something was coming.
She spent the afternoon in her room, drawing.
Made several sketches of her suit, thinking of improvements.
She called it "Mode 0".
Scribbled ideas for future versions: with a hood, thermal goggles, non-slip gloves.
She wanted to be ready for anything.
She checked her backpack multiple times. Studied routes. Reviewed the map of her neighborhood. Read local news about robberies, strange activity, rumors of underground dealings.
She wanted to be in the right place.
At the right time.
When the sun set completely, she had dinner with her family like nothing was happening.
Laughed at Nami's dinosaur joke. Helped her mom wash the dishes.
Went upstairs and turned off the lights, pretending to sleep.
But her mind was lit up like a flashlight.
She waited for the world to go quiet.
And when it did — she changed clothes, grabbed her backpack, and climbed out the window.
That night, Aoi Suzuhara wasn't just another girl.
That night, Shiftie came to life.
The SecondIncident
For over an hour, she walked through familiar areas: quiet streets, alleys where the streetlights didn't work, the edges of warehouses and rooftops of closed shops.
Everything was calm.
Part of her hoped to find something.
Another part wondered if she was just crazy.
Then — she heard it.
Voices. Growls. A metallic sound.
Coming from an abandoned warehouse near the old train station.
She approached cautiously.
The building was open through one of the shutters, half-raised.
She slipped under it without making a sound.
Inside, in the shadows, were two figures.
One was human — more or less. Tall, thin, wearing a dark trench coat with tense movements.
The other... not quite.
A man with scaly skin, vertical eyes, and a tongue that flicked in and out rapidly. He held a briefcase in one hand and a pistol in the other.
They were making a trade.
Aoi held her breath.
She pressed herself to a concrete column, letting her skin take on the tone and texture of the surface — almost invisible to the human eye.
Her power worked perfectly. She barely breathed.
"I'm fine. I'm hidden. They can't see me..."
But she had made one mistake.
One she hadn't considered.
The lizard-like creature turned its head... and looked straight at her.
It growled.
"Ah... human warmth," it hissed with a rough, reptilian voice. "You're not as hidden as you think, little rat."
Before she could react, a whip of its tail slammed her into a stack of boxes.
The impact knocked the air from her lungs.
Her camouflage flickered out.
She tried to stand — but the lizard was already on her, baring its fangs.
"This'll be quick."
And then—
BOOM!
A translucent energy barrier appeared between them, sending the lizard flying backward with a sonic pulse that shook the entire warehouse.
"Are you okay?!" shouted a young male voice.
The creature crashed into a pile of metal drums that clattered loudly across the floor.
Aoi stayed still on the ground, dazed.
Her lungs still fought for air.
Her ribs ached. Scratches stung on her arms. She tasted metal in her mouth.
"Are you hurt?" said the boy who had cast the barrier.
He was young — just a few years older than her. His voice was breathless, and though he tried to stay calm, the sweat on his forehead and the tension in his jaw betrayed him.
"N-no... I think I'm okay," Aoi managed to reply, slowly sitting up.
"Stay behind me," he said. "It's about to get ugly."
The lizard-man stood with a low growl.
His pupils narrowed.
His muscles swelled, as if ready to burst through his own scaly skin.
"You're lucky I haven't had dinner yet," he snarled, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Don't move," boomed a deeper voice.
From the far end of the warehouse, Goro Takamine stepped forward, walking with firm, heavy steps.
His body was entirely coated in shining steel.
The broken lights above flickered as his metallic form reflected across the puddles on the floor.
The lizard took a step back — but didn't give up.
"What is this? The hero syndicate ran out of budget and now sends scrap metal?"
"I'm not with the syndicate," Goro replied without humor. "But I'm all you need to stop breathing tonight."
With that, he charged.
The Fight
The battle was brutal.
Goro and the lizard clashed with raw force.
The creature leapt with animal agility, using claws and fangs. Goro blocked with hardened arms, sending sparks flying with each hit.
Every strike from the lizard shook the floor.
Every blow from Goro knocked down pillars.
Meanwhile, the boy with the energy barriers — whom Aoi still didn't know by name — moved quickly, shielding her from debris. He conjured shimmering shields to deflect concrete chunks, glass, and even bursts of venomous breath the lizard occasionally spat.
"Hey! Girl!" he yelled suddenly.
Aoi blinked. "You mean me?"
"Yes! Use your power! Give me some cover!"
She hesitated — just for a second.
Then focused.
Took a deep breath.
Felt her skin respond, blending into the warehouse's dull grays, rust stains, and moldy textures. Her silhouette vanished from view.
Invisible again.
But now, with a purpose.
She moved silently around the enemy, dodging strikes, crawling under a broken table, grabbing a rusted pipe off the floor.
When the lizard turned to spit acid at the boy, Aoi appeared behind him and smashed his ankle with everything she had.
"AHHH!" the creature roared, collapsing to one knee.
That was enough.
Goro didn't miss the opening.
He leapt, channeling all his reinforced weight into a downward punch that connected squarely with the monster's face.
BOOM.
The lizard dropped unconscious instantly, crashing through part of a wall as he fell.
Silence.
Just the dripping from the ceiling.
The echo of the fight still hanging in the air.
Aoi fell to her knees, trembling. Her body still camouflaged — but she deactivated it slowly.
Visible again.
Gasping.
Covered in dust.
Goro approached the fallen creature.
Examined him with a practiced gaze.
Knelt and checked his pupils.
"Normal," he muttered, frowning. "Not a mutated. This isn't Cult activity. This is a different kind of trafficking."
The barrier boy approached Aoi and offered his hand.
"Nice move. That ankle hit was brilliant. Are you sure this was your first time?"
Aoi hesitated. She clenched her fist for a moment, then let it go.
"...After what I saw last night... I decided I didn't want to just stand by."
At that moment, Goro recognized her.
He stared at her in silence for a few seconds. His expression was stern, unreadable.
"You... saved me," Aoi said, still shaken. "In the alley. Yesterday. That was me."
Goro said nothing at first.
He stepped closer, studying her, making sure she was in one piece.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asked, serious. "This isn't your place."
"It is," she said, voice shaking but firm. "I don't want to hide anymore. I don't want to be invisible. I want to help."
Goro clicked his tongue. His shoulders lowered slightly.
"There are already others helping."
"Goro..." the other boy chimed in with a half-smile. "Don't be like that. Her power's amazing. She just got unlucky — that lizard could see body heat. But her camouflage? It's perfect. We could use her."
Aoi looked at him, surprised.
Goro didn't answer.
He just sighed and turned his back.
The boy pulled a folded card from his pocket and handed it to Aoi.
It had a handwritten number and a name:
"BlockWave."
"That's my hero name. If you ever want to try this for real... call me. We could use someone like you."
Aoi nodded silently.
She tucked the card away like it was a diamond.
For the first time, she felt... seen.
Not as an ordinary student.
Not as a shadow.
As a hero in the making.