Chapter 1 — The Festival Encounter
The lantern festival had always been Kaien's quiet escape. Among laughter, food stalls, and glowing riverside lanterns, he preferred solitude. He wasn't rich, he wasn't popular — just smart, clever enough to get by in school, with dreams too big for the small town he lived in.
That night, while sketching equations into the corner of his notebook by lantern light, Kaien noticed someone unusual across the river.
He stood out immediately. Sharp suit, polished shoes, a man who looked like he'd stepped out of a different world. Even from a distance, Kaien could see his poise — the kind of calm authority only someone powerful carried. Yet his eyes, fixed on the drifting lanterns, looked unbearably lonely.
Kaien didn't know why, but his feet carried him closer.
"You're overdressed for a festival," he said before he could stop himself.
The man turned, surprised. Up close, he was striking — dark eyes, sharp jaw, and an aura that made Kaien feel small.
"And you're bold for a stranger," the man replied, though a faint smile touched his lips.
Kaien shrugged. "Everyone else here is smiling. You look like you lost yours."
The man chuckled quietly. "Maybe I did." He extended a hand. "Ren."
Kaien blinked. The name struck him — Ren Tsubaki, the young CEO whose face was all over the news. Owner of one of the most powerful tech companies in the country.
Kaien shook his hand anyway, smirking. "Kaien. Nobody important."
Ren studied him for a long moment, as though the boy's words amused him. "I doubt that."
They stood together by the water as lanterns floated upward, their silence oddly comfortable. Kaien glanced at Ren, his clever mind already racing with questions. Why was someone like him here? And why did his eyes look as though he'd been waiting for someone all along?