Sakura High School rose majestically before him like something out of a manga panel. The main gate was huge and painted pristinely white, with the school crest worked beautifully into the metalwork.
The school crest was a simple cherry blossom encircled by a perfect ring but the symbol was so rendered well that Ren couldn't make out the individual petals that formed it.
Five.
He was able count five of them.
But it wasn't the gate that stopped him dead in his tracks.
It was what lay beyond it.
The entrance path to the school stretched forward in a straight never ending line toward the main school building and on either side of it were more trees.
Dozens of them.
The branches reached towards each other overhead of the trees forming something like a natural tunnel over the path. This created an archway of pink and white blooms that seemed to glow in the morning sunlight.
The petals too were not left behind as they fell in a constant, gentle rain.
They drifted down like snow, catching the light as they spiraled through the air. They then carpeted the paths, crushed by the the feet of passing students.
The breeze carried them in lazy patterns, swirling and dancing between the trees.
One got caught in Ren's gaping breath.
It was... beautiful nonetheless.
Genuinely, impossibly beautiful.
For just a moment one perfect moment he forgot about Kaito's blood on his hands. Forgot about the mysterious message. Forgot about the hollow ache in his chest that hadn't gone away since that night three weeks ago.
Paradise, his mind whispered. This is what paradise looks like.
The word came unbidden, but it fit. This place looked like paradise. Like somewhere untouched by violence or pain. Like somewhere a person could actually be happy.
Ren stopped at the gates, one hand reaching out to touch the cold iron. The Petals drifted down around him, catching in his black hair, landing on his shoulders.
"Maybe..." His voice came out rough. "Maybe I really can start over here. Maybe this can be different. Maybe. "
The thought had crept in before he could attempt to stop it.
A brief fantasy flickered through his mind: attending classes like a normal student. Making friends here. Sitting under these cherry trees during lunch, eating a bento his mother packed, worrying about tests instead of whether his brother would ever wake up.
Just... being normal again.
The way he was supposed to be at fifteen years old.
Maybe Kaito wanted this for me, that's why he always wanted him to come here.
The students streaming in through the gate in groups, still laughing and chatting despite the impending bell snapped Ren back from his thoughts.
This is it.
The school where his brother had wanted him. Where Hasegawa Fujimoto—whoever that was—apparently held the truth about what happened that night.
"The dragons... they're not—"
That's where Kaito's warning had cut off. The dragons. What dragons? A gang? Or was it a person?
"I'm going to find out. " He declared.
But as Ren finally regained some hold on his emotions, a surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins, his senses sharpening as he processed the chaos that had been unfolding behind him.
The urgent shouts of "Move! Move! Move! " rang out from behind him, accompanied by the ringing of a bicycle bell. Wondering what the commotion was, Ren turned round just in time to see a student on a bike barreling straight at him, eyes wide, the rider pedaling furiously, clearly late. And showing no signs of clearly not slowing down.
"Shit—!"
His instinct kicked in as he threw himself to the side but his foot got caught on the uneven pavement and he stumbled backwards, his arms windmilling for balance before finally going down hard on his hands and knees.
Pain flared up his palms where they scraped against the ground.
The bicycle swerved past him with inches to spare, the rider not even slowing down.
"Sorry!" the student called over his shoulder, not slowing down already disappearing down the cherry blossom path.
Ren lay there for a second, staring up at cherry blossoms and blue sky, his back aching.
"Crazy," Ren muttered, pushing himself to his feet. His palms stung, and there was a tear in the knee of his uniform pants. Perfect. Great first impression at his new school—showing up looking like he'd already been in a fight.
So much for paradise.
He dusted himself off, brushing cherry petals from his jacket, and almost instinctively, his hand then reached deep into his pocket, searching for the crumpled paper that held the key to his quest.
Empty hands.
His hand met empty fabric.
Ren's heart stopped
No.
Panic surged through him at the realization that his precious document was missing.
Frantically, Ren searched his other pockets, his heart sinking as he came up empty-handed once again.
A sense of desperation washed over him as he scanned the bustling crowd, his eyes frantically searching for any sign of his lost paper.
No no no—
"The paper," he breathed, panic spiking through his chest. "Where's—"
His eyes dropped to the ground where he'd fallen. No sign of it. He spun in a circle, scanning the pavement, the grass.
There.
A flash of white, tumbling across the path, caught in the breeze.
The paper.
The bloodstained paper was blowing away mixed together with dozens of fallen cherry petals. It twirled and danced through the air, already twenty feet from where Ren stood. As he watched in horror, a gust of wind lifted it higher, carrying it toward the crowd of students streaming through the gate.
It was Kaito's paper, the last thing he'd left him.
No!
He couldn't afford to lose it.
"Move! Coming through!"
Ren bolted after it, shoving through groups of students. The paper tumbled end over end, carried by the wind, always just out of reach. It skipped across the ground, lifted into the air, danced between the trees like it was mocking him.
Students jumped out of his way, shouting in surprise. Ren didn't care. He couldn't lose that paper. It was the only thing he had left of Kaito's last conscious moments. The only clue.
"Excuse me! Sorry! Move!"
The paper tumbled ahead of him, always just out of reach. It would land for a second on the ground, and Ren would lunge for it—only for another gust to lift it up and away, carrying it deeper into the crowd.
The paper landed on the ground again, and Ren dove for it only for another gust of wind to lift it up again.
Ren shoved past a group of second-years, ignoring their shouts of protest. His eyes never left the paper. It was spinning in the air now, rising higher, and if it got caught in the tree branches he'd never see it again.
God forbid.
The paper dropped suddenly and stuck to something.
A backpack.
Pink, covered in cute character pins, bouncing on the shoulders of a girl walking ahead with her friend.
Ren put on a burst of speed, closing the distance. The girl hadn't noticed as she was busy chatting with her companion, completely oblivious that she was carrying the most important piece of evidence in Ren's entire life.
Ren scrambled to his feet and ran toward her, reaching out.
"Wait!" he called out, reaching forward. "That paper on your... "
His fingers had just brushed the edge of it when someone grabbed his wrist.
Hard.
The grip was iron-tight, fingers digging into the tendons in a way that made Ren's hand go instantly numb. His forward momentum stopped so abruptly he nearly fell over again.
"What do you think you're doing to my friend, you creep?"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She repeated.