Do you have any important information about that boy, ma'am?"the police officer asked.
Information…I didn't have much of that.
I only knew Souho carried the shadow of his father on his back —and from the few times I had seen that man, I understood enough to know madness runs in bloodlines.Souho was training somewhere now, sharpening himself into something dangerous.
But what truly set him apart from everyone elsewasn't his past, or his skill.
It was the creature living quietly beneath his skin.
The monster.
"Well…"
Our voices drifted through the hollow metal space, echoing against the walls.A vast iron frame, a single exit, and a staircase rising like a silent witness above us.
"Souho-chan, I heard your time here is over. You're leaving?What's that about?If you abandon me… I might just kill you."
I said it while staring at his back.He kept striking the sandbag, each punch sounding like a heartbeat forced out of rhythm.
"Sora…"he murmured with a crooked smile that never reached his eyes,"Don't you find it interesting?The girl who used to stand so carefully beside menow speaks so easily, smiling like this.Time really does rewrite people, doesn't it?"
He wasn't wrong.
After that day, many things stopped mattering…and many things began to glow with a strange intensity.The thrill of the moment.The taste of being alive.A smile that refused to leave my lips.
And Souho —Souho was the one who lit that fire inside me.
I loved him.Truly.
"Maybe… it's because I love you."
Silence fell between us, heavy and unmoving.
Then he scoffed."Pfft. That's disgusting."
He never believed my love.Maybe he couldn't.
His eyes suddenly flicked toward the exit.
"Sora, down!"
Before I could breathe, he slammed into me and forced me to the ground.
A gunshot tore the air above my head.A bullet passed where I had been standing a second before.If he hadn't moved me… I wouldn't be here.
I looked up at him —his face so close to mine, breath warm against my skin.
Absurdly, my cheeks burned.It felt… romantic.
Then footsteps flooded the space like a rising tide.
Souho stood, placing himself between me and them.
"Sora. Go up the stairs."
The weight in his voice left no room for argument.So I climbed.After all… tragedies always look clearer from above.
"Souho-chan," one of them called,"still as sharp as ever.You know why I'm here, don't you?"
"Heh. Next time, make an appointment before seeing me, idiot."
He smiled when he said it —but behind that smile lived a fury I had never seen before.
He picked up a knife from the floorand stepped into them like a storm finally breaking.
My eyes couldn't follow him.Only flashes remained —steel sinking into flesh,blood blooming like dark flowers,bodies collapsing one by one.
I watched his face.
He didn't blink.Not once.A wide smile spread across himas if this moment had been waiting for him since birth.
Every time I looked at him,I saw how similar we were.
Two reflections of the same broken mirror…except for one tiny differenceI could feelbut never name.
In that moment, he became someone I never wanted to lose.
But fate rarely asks what we want.
After that day, he disappeared.As if the world swallowed him whole.
Those days felt endless.I didn't know where to search.I only remember the anger —how it burned through meuntil six lives vanished beneath it.
"We know," the officer cut in."An old man. Two children. Three men."
He kept interrupting,as if afraid the story might grow teeth if allowed to breathe.
"Seems your police records have improved," I said quietly.
"What happened next?" he pressed.
"Well… of course I chased him.Eventually I learned he had fled to another country — Japan.Thanks to the money I'd stolen, reaching him was almost easy.
With help from one of my contacts, I found his school…and enrolled there myself.
And that's where I saw that boy.
Kai."
The boy who made Souho laugh more.Stay longer.Breathe easier.
The boy who made him look… human.
When I saw that smile,something sharp twisted inside me.
Jealousy, maybe.Or grief.
And I found myself wondering…
Do monsters like useven deserve to smile that beautifully, Souho?