The air inside the half-collapsed convenience store felt heavy — thick with dust and the bitter smell of blood.
Flickering red light from a dying emergency sign painted faint shadows across the cracked floor.
For nearly an hour, no one spoke.
Kiana sat against the corner wall, hugging her knees, staring at the empty shelves as if hoping food might still appear there.
Bronya leaned silently beside her, her eyes sharp but distant. She looked calm, but the faint tremor in her hands betrayed her.
Mei sat on a broken counter, her eyes downcast, her posture too still.
And Kuhaku… sat away from them.
Head lowered. Elbows on his knees.
His breathing uneven.
The smell of metal lingered on his palms. He rubbed at them, but it wouldn't leave — no matter how much he wiped.
His mind kept replaying the same scene over and over.
The sound of bones breaking.
The desperate face of his classmate — no, the thing that had once been his classmate — twisting as the metal rod struck down again and again.
And his own voice, screaming without even realizing it.
He had killed.
He didn't know if it was self-defense or something worse, but the guilt sank into him like glass.
He pressed a hand against his chest, trying to push it down, but it only made his breathing heavier.
"…damn it," he muttered under his breath.
A faint flash crossed his vision.
He blinked.
Something shimmered in the air — transparent at first, then solidified into faint blue light.
Lines of text appeared in front of him, floating in midair.
Name: Kuhaku
Level: 1
HP: 87%
MP: 100%
Fatigue: 56%
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Vitality: 1
Intelligence: 1
Sense: 1
He froze.
A small tab flickered beneath it.
[Skill List]
→ System Share
No sound. No mechanical voice.
Just cold, silent letters glowing against the dusty air.
His eyes widened slightly.
What… is this?
He hesitantly reached out, but his hand passed through the projection like smoke. The letters rippled once before steadying again.
It felt too precise to be a hallucination — the light faintly reflected on the cracked tiles, and when he blinked, the text adjusted focus naturally, like it wanted to be seen.
"…system… share?" he whispered, testing the word.
The screen didn't react.
It just hung there — patient, waiting.
Kuhaku's chest tightened. "What are you?"
He leaned back against the wall, one hand brushing through his dark hair, eyes locked on the strange blue display.
Was it connected to what happened outside? To the sky breaking? To the egg?
None of it made sense.
And yet… the more he stared, the more real it felt.
⸻
A low sound broke the silence.
"Ah… ngh…"
His head snapped up.
Mei was gripping her neck, fingers digging into the skin just below her collarbone. Vein-like lines — black and faintly glowing red — began to crawl beneath her skin, branching up toward her face.
"Mei!" Kiana jumped to her feet, stumbling toward her. "Hey, hey, what's happening?!"
Bronya moved fast, kneeling beside her. "Her pulse is erratic." Her voice was sharp, steady, but her hands trembled.
Kuhaku's heart started pounding.
Those dark lines… they were the same as the ones that spread across their classmates before—
"Not again…" he whispered.
He pushed himself off the ground, moving toward her before his body even realized it. His hands reached out instinctively.
"Don't touch her!" Kiana cried, panic cracking her voice.
But it was too late.
The moment his hand brushed against Mei's shoulder, the faint blue screen in his vision pulsed once — softly.
[Skill Activated: System Share]
Light — thin, threadlike, and delicate — began to crawl across his arm.
Circuit-like lines shimmered beneath his skin, glowing faint blue.
They spread toward his fingertips and leapt into Mei's body like flowing data.
For a moment, the air around them hummed — faint, like a quiet vibration inside the skull.
Mei gasped. The black veins pulsed once, then stopped spreading.
Her breathing steadied, her expression easing from pain to exhaustion.
The light slowly faded.
Kuhaku stared, stunned, his own breath uneven.
"What… was that?" Kiana's voice shook. "What did you do?!"
"I—I don't know," he said quietly. "It just… happened."
He looked down at his hands — faint blue trails still flickered beneath his skin before fading completely.
The system window shimmered once more, then disappeared.
Mei's head tilted weakly toward him, her voice a whisper. "Kuhaku… what did you…"
He shook his head. "Just rest for now. You're safe."
Silence settled again.
The air felt heavier — but somehow calmer.
Outside, distant thunder rolled across the sky, echoing through the ruined city.
And though no one noticed, a faint, cold shimmer of blue still lingered briefly on Kuhaku's fingertips…
like the system itself was watching quietly, waiting for what came next.
⸻
End of Chapter 1 – Part 7