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The last two weeks of training were the worst.
Field exercises. Real devils. Real danger.
They dropped us in groups of four into locations with confirmed devil activity. Gave us basic weapons and a radio. Said good luck, try not to die.
Two more recruits washed out. One broke his leg fighting some kind of dog devil and got medically discharged. The other just... didn't come back from an exercise. They found pieces of him the next day.
Six of us left now. Half of what we started with.
Yamamoto had said four graduates would be a success. Looked like he was gonna get his wish.
My group got lucky on most of our exercises. Low-tier devils. Stuff we could handle.
The last one wasn't like that.
Some kind of fear devil. Not the Fear Devil obviously that would've killed us instantly but something that fed on fear.
We found it in an abandoned apartment building. Fourth floor.
The moment we got close I felt it. This crawling sensation in my skull.
Yuki was in my group. She'd gotten assigned with me for most of the field exercises. Probably because our abilities complemented each other, her speed and my, whatever you wanted to call what I did.
"I don't like this," she muttered. Her hand was shaking on her sword.
The other two in our group were already losing it. Taniguchi had frozen completely. Eyes wide, staring at nothing. The other, a woman named Sato, was backing toward the stairs mumbling something about her mother.
The fear effect was hitting them hard.
I could feel it too. This pressure in my chest. Old memories trying to surface. My actual death, choking on that energy drink like an idiot. The alley with the yakuza. Scarface's leg...
No. Focus.
I pushed the fear down. Looked at the devil.
It was hiding in the corner of the room. Looked almost human at first glance, pale figure, long limbs, no face. Just smooth skin where features should be.
The lines on it were dense. Layered. This thing was stronger than anything we'd faced before.
"Yuki."
"Yeah?"
"I need you to get Taniguchi and Sato out of here. Get them downstairs."
"What about you?"
"I'll handle it."
She stared at me. "That's insane. You can't solo a devil like this."
"I'm not gonna solo it. I'm gonna distract it while you get them clear. Then we regroup and hit it together."
"That's still insane."
"You got a better idea?"
She didn't.
"...Fine. Two minutes. Then I'm coming back."
She grabbed Taniguchi by the collar and started dragging him toward the stairs. Sato followed, still mumbling.
I turned back to the devil.
It had moved. Closer now. The whispers were getting louder. I could almost make out words.
Worthless. Pathetic. You're going to die here just like you died before. Choking. Alone. Nobody even noticed—
"Shut up," I said.
The devil tilted its head. No face but somehow I knew it was looking at me.
I focused on the lines. Pushed everything else away. The fear, the whispers, the memories trying to drown me.
Just the lines. Bright and clear.
The devil lunged.
Fast. Faster than the insect thing had been. I threw myself sideways and felt something cold brush my shoulder. Mynfear spiked, suddenly I was eight years old and something was wrong with mom and dad, there was blood, so much blood...
Not real. Not my memory. Laurent's memory. The original Laurent.
I shoved it away. Rolled. Came up with my back against the wall.
The devil was already coming again.
I grabbed its arm as it reached for me. Found a line. Traced it.
The arm came off at the elbow.
The devil made a sound. Not a scream exactly. More like static. White noise turned into pain.
It stumbled back. Stared at the stump where its arm used to be.
I didn't give it time to recover. Closed the distance. Found another line, this one through its torso, thick and bright.
Pressed hard.
The devil came apart.
Just... fell into pieces. Like a puppet with its strings cut. The pieces hit the ground and started dissolving into black smoke.
The whispers stopped. The pressure in my skull faded.
I stood there breathing hard. Shaking. Covered in something dark that was already evaporating.
"Holy shit."
Yuki was at the doorway. Eyes wide.
"Thought you were gonna wait two minutes," I said.
"It's been three. I came back and you were just..." She gestured at the dissolving devil corpse. "What the hell was that?"
Good question. I'd never hit something that hard before. Never pushed that much intent into a cut.
"Got lucky," I said. The usual lie.
She didn't look like she believed me. But she didn't push either.
We passed the exercise. All four of us survived.
Yamamoto didn't say anything about me killing the devil solo. Just marked something on his clipboard and moved on.
But I caught him looking at me differently after that. Like he was reassessing something.
Made me nervous honestly.
Graduation was nothing special.
No ceremony. No speeches. Just Yamamoto reading off names and assignments from a list.
"Taniguchi. Division 4, Osaka."
"Sato. Division 2, Tokyo."
"Yuki. Special Division 4, Tokyo."
She blinked. "Special Division?"
"You've got speed and combat instincts. They need people like you." Yamamoto's voice was flat. "Report to Himeno tomorrow morning."
Himeno. I knew that name. I knew what happened to people in that division.
Yuki looked pleased though. Proud even. She didn't know.
Should I warn her? Could I warn her without explaining how I knew things I shouldn't know?
No. I couldn't. And even if I could, would it matter? The future wasn't set in stone. Maybe things would be different this time.
Maybe that was just what I told myself so I could sleep at night.
"Laurent."
I tensed.
"Division 3, Tokyo. Report to Captain Hasegawa."
Division 3. Tokyo.
Not Special Division 4. Not anywhere near the main cast.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"That's all," Yamamoto said. "You're dismissed. Try not to die."
After the others left I stayed behind. Yuki caught my arm at the door.
"Hey. Division 3 isn't bad. Hasegawa's supposed to be solid."
"Yeah."
"Maybe we'll run into each other. Tokyo's not that big."
It was very big actually. But I just nodded.
"Good luck Yuki."
She studied me for a second. That same look she'd had since the fear devil.
"You're weird you know that? Three months of training and I still can't figure you out."
"Nothing to figure out."
"Bullshit." She shook her head. "But whatever. Keep your secrets. Just... don't die okay? You're not as worthless as you act."
She walked off before I could respond.
I stood there for a while after. Thinking about what she said.
Not as worthless as I acted. Was that what I'd been doing? Acting worthless?
Maybe. Yeah. Probably.
Survival strategy. Keep your head down. Don't stand out. Don't let anyone see what you can really do.
It had worked. I'd gotten a boring assignment in a boring division far away from the people and events I knew were coming.
But standing there in that empty room, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd also missed something. Lost something.
Yuki was heading into a meat grinder and I hadn't even tried to warn her.
What kind of person did that make me?
I found Yamamoto before I left. He was in his office doing paperwork. Looked up when I knocked.
"Laurent. What."
"I wanted to ask about my assignment."
"What about it?"
"Division 3." I paused. "Why there?"
He set down his pen. Leaned back.
"Your assessment scores were average. Combat proficiency, adequate. Teamwork, minimal. Your ability is useful but inconsistent and you haven't shown much improvement in controlling it." He raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't it be Division 3?"
Because I killed a fear devil solo in under a minute. Because you know I've been holding back. Because none of those scores are real.
I didn't say any of that.
"Just curious."
"Uh huh." He stared at me for a long moment. "Let me give you some advice kid. Free of charge."
"Okay."
"The devils out there don't care about your scores. Don't care about your assignment. Don't care about whatever game you're playing." He stood up. Walked around the desk. Stopped in front of me. "When shit gets real—and it will get real—all that matters is what you can actually do."
"I understand."
"No. You don't." His voice was hard now. "You think you're being smart. Staying under the radar. Hiding your real capabilities so nobody notices you." He leaned in. "But I've seen that strategy before. Know what happens to those people?"
"What?"
"They die. Because when the moment comes, when they need everything they've got just to survive, they hesitate. Second-guess themselves. Wonder if they should keep hiding or finally show what they can do." He straightened. "That hesitation gets them killed."
I didn't have a response.
"Division 3 is fine. Good captain. Steady work. But Tokyo's not safe. Hasn't been safe for a long time. And whatever's coming..." He shook his head. "It's gonna be worse. I can feel it."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling. Something big is building." He walked back to his desk. Sat down. "Get out of here Laurent. Report to Hasegawa. Do your job. And when the time comes, don't you dare fucking hesitate."
I nodded. Didn't know what else to do.
Walked out of his office. Out of the training facility. Into the Tokyo evening.
The city spread out in front of me. Millions of people going about their lives, not knowing about the devils hiding in the shadows. Not knowing about the woman pulling strings from the top of Public Safety. Not knowing about all the horrible things coming their way.
I knew though.
And I was out here now. Not training anymore. Actually in the field. Actually part of this fucked up world.
Division 3 tomorrow. Captain Hasegawa. Regular devil hunting duties.
That's what I wanted right? A boring assignment. A chance to get stronger without anyone noticing.
So why did I feel like I'd already made a mistake?
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