The night was draped in gray, a heavy drizzle falling from a thick canopy of clouds that seemed to smother the moonlight entirely.
The streets glistened with water, reflecting the fractured glow of neon signs like shards of broken glass scattered across the darkened city.
The air was damp and cold, carrying the metallic tang of wet pavement and faint hints of smoke from food stalls closing for the night.
Akio walked alone, his transparent umbrella held above his head.
The rain thudded softly against its surface, a constant rhythm that almost drowned out the faint hum of traffic in the distance.
His school bag was slung over his shoulder, heavy with books he'd borrowed from the library earlier in the day.
His winter uniform clung slightly to his frame, the moisture of the night settling into the fabric, leaving him with a chill he couldn't quite shake.
This was the first night in weeks that he had been truly alone.
Yukiko had stayed behind at the basketball court to run extra drills, Sora was resting under Yukiko's watchful eye, and Akio's own parents were finally out of town again.
It was supposed to feel like freedom—yet instead, an unfamiliar unease stirred deep inside him.
Why does it feel like the whole city's holding its breath tonight?
Like something's watching me...
He adjusted his grip on the umbrella and quickened his pace, heading toward the school gates to pick up a forgotten textbook before going home.
The dim glow of the streetlights seemed to bend and stretch in the drizzle, each shadow elongated, moving strangely in the corner of his vision.
His heart thumped faster with every step, though there was no logical reason why.
The Descent
As he turned down a narrow side street, Akio froze.
There was someone standing on top of a street lamp.
The figure balanced effortlessly on the slick, narrow metal pole, their silhouette barely visible against the gray, storm-clouded sky.
For a heartbeat, Akio thought it was just an illusion created by the rain and the warped reflections of the neon lights.
Then the figure moved.
With an inhuman grace, the person leapt down, landing silently in the middle of the street just a few feet in front of Akio.
The impact sent up a small splash of water from the puddles, droplets scattering like tiny glass beads.
Akio's umbrella trembled slightly in his hands.
He stumbled back, his breath catching in his throat.
The kid who now stood before him couldn't have been much older than himself—perhaps the same age, perhaps even younger by a year or two.
The teenager had shaggy black hair, damp strands clinging to his pale skin.
A single bandage clung to his left cheek, the stark white marred by a faint trace of red.
Most striking of all were his eyes: deep, emerald green, eerily similar to Akio's own, glowing faintly beneath the hazy reflections of the surrounding neon.
His clothing was simple yet somehow intimidating:
A black long-sleeved hoodie pulled up over his head, doubling as a raincoat,
A dark green shirt beneath it,
Black pants torn at the knees,
And pale, faded blue shoes, the soles worn thin from countless miles walked alone.
In his right hand, he held a lit cigarette, the small ember flaring like a dying star in the night rain.
The sharp, acrid smell of smoke mixed with the cool scent of the drizzle, creating a strange, suffocating contrast.
The kid exhaled a long plume of smoke and spoke—not to greet Akio, but to silence him before he could even ask a question.
"Shut up."
His voice was calm, flat, and tinged with boredom, yet it carried an undeniable weight, like the soft rumble before a thunderclap.
Akio's brows furrowed in confusion.
"H-Hey, that's dangerous! You shouldn't be smoking at your age!"
His voice came out shakier than he intended.
The kid slowly raised his head, those green eyes locking onto Akio's like twin mirrors reflecting back something Akio didn't want to see.
The intensity of the gaze made Akio's stomach twist.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" the child repeated, more firmly this time.
"I don't have time for your little lectures."
Akio swallowed hard, instinctively taking a step back.
But there was something about this child—something familiar, like an invisible thread tying their souls together.
He couldn't bring himself to run.
Instead, he stayed rooted to the spot, trembling slightly beneath the weight of those eyes.
The Connection
For a long moment, the teenager simply studied him, his cigarette burning down slowly in the drizzle.
Finally, he flicked the dying ember into a puddle, where it hissed and vanished.
When he spoke again, his tone shifted—not hostile now, but heavy with something Akio couldn't quite name.
Pain, maybe. Or resignation.
"Hey... brother."
Akio's breath caught.
The single word cut through the rainy night like a blade, leaving him momentarily speechless.
"B-Brother...?" he repeated, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"What are you talking about? I don't even know who you are!"
The kid tilted his head slightly, a faint, humorless smirk playing at his lips.
"You don't need to know my name. Not yet.
But deep down, you already feel it, don't you?
That pull in your heart. That sense that we're... the same."
Akio's pulse quickened.
"The same? You—you're wrong. I'm nothing like you!"
His voice broke as memories surged unbidden to the surface:
The bullying.
The loneliness.
The bitter nights spent staring at his wand, wishing for a power he would never have.
The pain of dying alone, only to wake in a strange world with a second chance he didn't deserve.
The teenager stepped closer, his boots splashing softly through the shallow puddles.
"Aren't you, though?" he asked, almost gently.
"You've felt it too, haven't you? That hollow ache in your heart.
The way people look at you—like you don't belong anywhere.
The way even the kindest words sound like lies when you've been hurt too many times."**
Akio's breath came in sharp, uneven gasps.
Every word struck too close to home, cutting deeper than any blade.
"Stop it," he whispered.
"You don't know anything about me..."
The kids smirk widened slightly, but his eyes remained unbearably sad.
"I know more than you think, brother.
After all..." He leaned forward, his face inches from Akio's, their matching emerald eyes reflecting one another beneath the neon haze.
"...I've been watching you."
Ominous Revelation
The drizzle intensified, the soft rain now a steady curtain between them and the rest of the world.
The surrounding streets seemed to vanish, leaving only the two kids standing in their small pocket of reality.
"Why... why are you calling me brother?" Akio demanded, his voice trembling but louder now.
"We're not related. We've never even met before tonight!"
The kid laughed softly—a low, bitter sound that sent chills down Akio's spine.
"Maybe not in the way you think.
But in this world, family isn't just about blood.
It's about shared pain.
And you..." He jabbed a finger at Akio's chest.
"...you and I are bound by the same wound."
Akio stumbled back, his grip tightening on his umbrella as if it were a weapon.
"W-What are you talking about?!" he shouted.
"Who are you?!"
The kid finally gave a name—not his own, but something worse.
"I am what you could become," he said simply.
"If you give up. If you let the world break you completely.
I've already fallen, Akio.
Now I'm here to see whether you'll rise... or join me in the depths."
The sound of Akio's name on the stranger's lips made his blood run cold.
How did this kid know him?
Why did it feel like he was staring into a twisted reflection of himself?
The Departure
Before Akio could respond, the kid stepped back into the shadows.
The drizzle seemed to thicken, blurring his form until he was little more than a dark silhouette.
"Go home, brother."
His voice echoed strangely, as though coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Rest while you still can.
Because soon, the choices you make will matter.
And when that time comes..."
His green eyes glimmered faintly one last time.
"...you'll understand why I came to you tonight."
With that, the child turned and leapt upward, vanishing into the darkness above.
By the time Akio staggered forward, craning his neck to look, there was nothing left but the rain and the steady hum of distant city lights.
Ending Scene
Akio stood alone in the empty street, his breath ragged, his umbrella trembling in his hands.
The drizzle soaked through his clothes, chilling him to the bone, but he barely felt it.
Who was that?
Why did he feel... so familiar?
As he finally turned toward home, the neon lights reflected faintly in his tear-filled emerald eyes.
He didn't notice the faint silhouette watching from the rooftops above, those same emerald eyes glowing faintly in the storm.
The episode ended with a final shot of the cigarette ember still smoldering in the puddle, a tiny, fragile flame in the endless rain—
a warning of the fire yet to come.
TO BE CONTINUED...