**Kage no Hibiki – The Echo of Shadows**
**Volume 1 – Chapter 1: Failure Summon**
Takashi Kuroda died quietly on the Yamanote Line.
No truck. No dramatic fall. Just the soft chime of closing doors and the slow fade of everything — the hum of the train, the ache in his shoulders from 78 straight hours of debugging, the unread messages from his mother asking if he'd eaten.
Then light.
Gold-white, blinding, like someone had turned every office fluorescent bulb to maximum and aimed them straight at his face.
His knees hit stone. Pain shot up his shins — real, grounding pain that told him he was still capable of feeling anything at all.
He blinked against the glare.
He was kneeling in the center of a massive summoning circle. Runes pulsed under him like molten veins. Seven other Japanese people knelt in the same circle — all wide-eyed, all yanked from their lives mid-breath.
A high-school girl in a sailor uniform clutched her skirt, whispering "Yabai… maji de yabai…"
A university guy in a hoodie stared at his palms like they might explode.
An office lady in her thirties gripped her handbag so tightly the strap creaked.
Above them rose a cathedral of white marble and gold filigree. Hundreds watched from tiered balconies — knights in sun-emblazoned armor, nuns with crystal staves, nobles in embroidered silk.
The tallest figure — an old priest in high white robes, staff crowned with a blazing sun crystal — raised both arms.
"Heroes summoned by the grace of Solara, Dawnbringer!" His voice rolled through the hall like distant thunder. "The Centennial Eclipse approaches. The Demon God stirs in the Abyss. You are the light that will stand against the eternal night!"
The crowd roared. Swords clashed against shields in salute.
Takashi's brain caught up in fragments.
*Mass summon. Heroes. Eclipse. Demon God.*
*I got isekai'd on overtime. Fantastic.*
The priest moved down the line, touching each summon with the staff.
Golden wings erupted from the schoolgirl — "Saintess of Radiance! Attribute: Holy Light!"
Blue flames coiled around the hoodie guy — "Flame Sovereign! Attribute: Inferno!"
Green vines spiraled up the office lady's arms — "Goddess of Verdure! Attribute: Lifebloom!"
Cheers shook the rafters.
Takashi waited, stomach sinking lower with every second.
When the staff finally hovered over him —
Nothing.
No glow. No wings. No flames. Not even a faint static tingle.
The priest frowned. Tapped the crystal again.
Silence stretched like a bad meeting.
"…No attribute detected," the old man announced. "No grimoire. No gift from Solara."
The cheers died instantly. Whispers spread like fire through dry paper.
Takashi felt every eye in the cathedral on him — nobles sneering behind fans, knights disappointed, children confused.
The priest sighed — almost apologetically.
"Dawn Academy trains only those who bear the spark. You… are free to leave, lost soul. The slums await. Pray the monsters do not find you before the Eclipse does."
Two knights stepped forward — polite, armored, inevitable.
They guided him down the long aisle. Past rows of staring faces. Past banners of rising suns and holy swords. Past the faint sound of training drills echoing from somewhere deep in the cathedral wings — the sound of students already sparring in Dawn Academy's combat halls.
The side door opened onto pounding rain.
The doors boomed shut behind him.
Takashi stood alone in the courtyard. Rain soaked through his suit in seconds. Cold water ran down his collar, into his shoes.
No phone. No wallet. No yen. Just wrinkled fabric, scuffed leather, and the dull throb behind his eyes that had lived there since his third consecutive all-nighter.
He looked back at the towering cathedral — white stone glowing faintly even through the storm.
Somewhere inside those walls, the other summoned people were probably being led to warm rooms, given food, assigned private tutors from Dawn Academy's remedial wing. They'd spend months honing their blessings in controlled arenas, sparring summoned monsters, learning to channel high-tier blessings before the Eclipse arrived.
He was getting rain and whatever waited in the dark streets beyond.
Takashi laughed — once, short, hollow, swallowed by the downpour.
"Salaryman life. Another world. Same performance review."
He turned away from the light and started walking.
Behind him, unseen, a woman in professor's robes watched from a high balcony.
Professor Elara Voss — head instructor of Dawn Academy's Shadow Annex — narrowed her eyes at the small figure disappearing into the storm.
"Failure?" she murmured to the knight captain beside her.
The captain grunted. "The slums will sort him. Or the rats will."
Elara's lips curved — thin, cold, thoughtful.
"Or he'll sort the rats out."
She turned back inside.
The Eclipse was coming.
And sometimes, she knew, the ones without light at first carried the deepest shadows.