Click. Click.
The measured footsteps of Rei and Hiromi sliced through the chilling silence of the hall.
Sitting amidst the drying blood and the limp body of the soldier, Kai felt a terror colder than the concrete floor.
It wasn't the fear of having killed that paralyzed him; it was the chilling possibility that he had sabotaged the plan by executing one of Rei's men.
He struggled to rise, trembling.
"I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin..."
Rei merely smiled.
It wasn't a smile of affection or approval, but a flicker of cold amusement, like a scientist observing a successful experiment.
Hiromi, however, moved past the corpse without flinching, her eyes locking onto Kai's.
They held a feverish, satisfying glow.
"See, Chief?" Hiromi's voice was a low, triumphant purr. "I told you this boy had innate talent! It only took him a day to accept it."
Rei nodded, his hands still casually tucked into his pockets, analyzing Kai from head to toe. "I must admit, I underestimated you, Kai. Your adaptability is remarkable. I expected you to cry and scream. Instead, you killed a man with cunning brutality. Well done."
Kai remained utterly bewildered. He couldn't reconcile their pleasure with the blood on his hands.
"But... he was your soldier. I jeopardized the mission?" Kai asked, his voice raw and strained.
Rei let out a brief, dry laugh.
"Our man? That?" He gestured dismissively toward the body. "No, Kai. He was merely a criminal. A serial murderer our organization caught a while ago. A condemned man disguised as a soldier. The lives of that sort of filth hold no value to me. He was the perfect man for your test."
Rei took a step closer, his shadow falling over Kai.
"I gave him a chance, you see? I told him: 'If you can beat this boy, I will spare your life.' And here we are. He failed. You succeeded. I knew that you were special, boy."
Rei chuckled, satisfied by the whole scenery.
He took a look at Kai and noticed that his eyes were open wide.
Void, emotionless, the same eyes that he saw in Hina.
He perfectly knew that the young man in front of him was angry.
"Don't worry about that, Kai. He was dead anyway." Rei said, trying to calm Kai's inner demon.
A tide of cold, sharp rage surged through Kai, replacing the nausea.
He was stunned, his mouth dry.
It wasn't the act of murder that stung now, but the realization that to Rei, the life of a human being was nothing more than a game.
A sadistic test where Rei was the Goddeciding who lived and who died.
Anger constricted his throat.
He wanted to scream at the sheer arrogance, but the words died, replaced by a terrible, cold resolve.
Hiromi stepped forward again.
She pulled a clean, damp cloth from Rei's coat pocket—a strangely intimate gesture—and Kai passively submitted to her touch.
She acted like Kai was his little puppy.
"Come here, Kai," Hiromi murmured, her voice radiating a disturbing, misplaced maternal sweetness.
She dabbed the cut on his cheek and wiped the blood from his brow.
"Don't soil yourself. That piece of garbage doesn't deserve to contaminate you. You're still a good person, don't worry about that." Hiromi said, while gently cleaning and caressing him.
Kai stood still, eyes vacant.
He was an object being serviced.
His mind lingered with a lot of thoughts.
"I now understands Hina. I totally understand her." He thought.
Hiromi smiled at him—a soft, almost loving expression that twisted something deep in his gut.
"Now you are clean. The past is dead. His death has freed you from all illusions, hasn't it? Now you can move on." She said, while rubbing his cheek.
Rei nodded, adding a final, chilling instruction: "Hiromi, Kai needs a moment to process his... success. Clean him up, wash him. Then ensure he is in his room. Tomorrow, the plan activates at dawn."
With a final, cynical look, Rei left the hall.
As Hiromi began the grim work of disposing of the body and weapons, Kai remained standing, the physical pain a dull ache compared to the torment in his soul.
And in that moment of sterile terror, a single, haunting question tore through his mind:
How was it possible that his body had reacted and adapted so quickly to such a dangerous fight without ever having properly trained in his life?
He hadn't the physique of a soldier.
He was bookish, weak.
Yet, he had instinctively sought the fatal strike, used brutality, and moved as if he had performed the act hundreds of times.
Moreover, he was always the one who got saved by Hina.
If it wasn't for her, he would've been dead some time ago.
But... for the first time, Kai felt a strange feeling.
He looked at his right hand.
It was not trembling anymore.
It was firm.
The more he looked at it, the more strange images appeared in his mind.
Images of experiences that he doesn't remember.
A knife, a gun, an old man smiling at him, blood, fists, scars...
All of these things started to appear.
But then, he snapped back to reality when he heard Hiromi calling his name.ì
"Kai? Are you okay?" She asked, with a worried tone of voice.
Kai immediately turned towards her.
"Y-Yes." He said, while looking away.
"Don't make me worried. Now go rest. We'll meet again later." She said, while dragging the body away.
Kai didn't even reply.
He just thought about the things he saw.
"What... what was that...?" He said, confused.
Was he having hallucination or... was he remembering some hidden events of his life...?
After that, Kai started to walk towards his room after giving one last glance to the training hall.
"What happened...? What am I feeling? Who... Who am I?" Kai asked to himself.
During the walk, he ignored everyone, while mantaining his eyes on the floor, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
When he finally reached his room, he collapsed into his bed and covered his head with the pillow, not wanting to hear any kind of noise..
---
Who was Kai truly? What part of his past, unknown to him, had forged such a lethal instinct? A dark, terrifying enigma had just awakened.