At dawn, the campus resembled a lingering shadow, washed clean by rain.
Kazama Rei sat on the bench outside the infirmary, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
The door to the spiritual healing room had been sealed by the medical department with a light spell and now resembled some kind of transparent cage. Behind it lay Takamine Sho, his classmate and the first person he had ever 'judged'.
Those words still swirled in his mind:
"Rei... Do I deserve to die?'
Rei closed his eyes, his breathing uneven. He could remain calm in battle, but he still wasn't accustomed to moments like this when the soul was touched.
"Are you blaming yourself?"
A deep voice sounded beside him.
Amagi Yuuto leaned against the wall, his black coat billowing in the night breeze. He resembled an interrogator whose profession was spiritual energy more than a student council president.
Rei didn't answer, his gaze fixed on the closed door.
"Will Shou wake up?"
"He will. But the speed depends on his will.' Yuuto pushed his glasses up; the lenses reflected the talismanic light of the spiritual healing room.
'You didn't kill him. You purified the vengeful spirit. The result was cleaner than I anticipated."
Rei looked up, his brow slightly furrowed.
'You thought I might lose control.'
'I won't deny it.' Yuto's tone remained calm. 'The first time you activate the "Eye of Judgment", it's easy to be dragged down by others' sins. Few can withstand it.'
Rei fell silent for a moment. "Are you here to see if I'm qualified?"
"No." Yuto gave a slight smile. 'I'm here to formally invite you to join the Spiritual Incident Investigation Department.'
The air grew so still that you could hear the ticking of the instruments in the psychic therapy room.
Rei frowned. 'Wasn't that already decided?'
Yuto shook his head. 'Before, you were merely an observed candidate. Now, it's time for you to become a core member.'
"Why me?"
Yūto's reply held no evasion: 'Because you can see "sin".'
Rei fell silent.
He knew that he was different from other psychics.
While others relied on spiritual pressure, weapons or exorcism spells, he relied on seeing the darkness within people's hearts.
He relied on seeing the darkness within people's hearts.
Yuto regarded him as if weighing something significant.
'Rei, you know this academy was built on top of a spirit realm fissure. On the surface, it's an educational institution, but underneath, it's a sealing centre. Incidents occur every year, but this year..."
He paused, his voice softening. 'The spirit disturbance's vibration frequency has gone haywire.'
Rei turned to him. 'You suspect something is closing in on the campus?'
'Not merely closing in.'
Yuto raised his hand and drew a deep blue envelope from his coat. Engraved upon it was a golden crest — the official appointment rune of the Investigation Department.
'Someone is manipulating things from within.'
The words sent a chill down Li's spine.
Yuto held out the envelope. 'Join us, Li. You'll need answers, and we need you.'
Rei didn't take it.
His gaze was drawn to the rune array in the spirit healing room.
Inside, Takane Shou's chest rose and fell weakly with each breath, struggling against the abyss.
"If I join, can I improve Xiang's life?" Li whispered.
Yuren paused before answering, 'No.'
Rei froze.
Yuren continued, 'But it could prevent others from becoming like him.'
The words hung in the air, cutting through Li's hesitation.
He had judged a friend.
He saw the sins of others.
But more than guilt or punishment, what weighed heavier on his mind was the loneliness of knowing that no one would come to rescue them.
Rei took a deep breath and finally reached out—
— to accept the letter of appointment.
Yuto Amakawa's gaze softened slightly, as if a crucial piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.
"Welcome to the Core Team."
"Kazama Rei."
The next day, morning:
Sunlight streamed into the classroom. Although it was an ordinary school day, there was a heavy atmosphere.
When Rei entered the room, the students' chatter ceased abruptly.
It wasn't fear; it was avoidance.
"I heard Takane Shou went berserk yesterday."
"Yeah! Apparently, he saw some kind of spirit and almost killed someone."
'Kazama was closest to him, right?'
'So does that mean he also...'
"Shut up."
The sound of chairs scraping across the floor echoed from the front of the classroom.
It was the Chinese language class representative, the usually gentle Tsukishiro Yuki. She was standing at the front of the room, seething with rage.
'Shō is the victim. What do you know?"
Her bloodshot eyes glared fiercely at those who were whispering.
The air instantly turned icy.
She turned to Rei, pain etched in her eyes. 'Rei, what exactly did you see yesterday?'
Rei met her gaze.
There was no blame in his eyes, only desperate longing for the truth.
But he couldn't speak.
The sins witnessed by the 'Eye of Judgement' were bound by a rule: they must never be revealed.
Rei murmured, 'I'm sorry, I can't tell you.'
Xue's shoulders trembled slightly.
Not from anger, but from fear.
'Will Xiang really get better?'
Rei wanted to say yes, but he couldn't guarantee it.
In the end, he only replied,
'I'll do my best.'
Xue bit her lip and finally nodded.
Just then, the back door of the classroom swung open.
A student wearing a red armband entered; his uniform was crisply pressed and he wore a student council badge on his chest.
'Kazama Rei, the student council president demands your presence immediately.'
The officer's tone was icy.
The classroom fell silent once more.
Rei gathered his pencil case from the desk and stood up.
Just as he stepped out of the classroom door, however, he heard someone whisper:
'There must be something wrong with him for the Student Council to target him.'
Rei paused.
Without turning back, he took a deep breath and continued walking.
The closer he got to the core, the more he knew he would drift from the ordinary students.
Student Council Operations Room:
Located at the heart of the academy, the operations room resembled an underground bunker filled with surveillance feeds, psychic sensors and coordinate maps.
When Rei entered, the three main officers of the Investigation Department were present.
Amagi Yuto was seated in the main chair.
Beside him sat Vice President Himuro Chisa, whose expression was as cold as frost.
The third officer was Natsume Rin from Intelligence. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail and her fingers were swiping rapidly across a tablet.
'You're here,' said Yuto, looking up.
'Starting today, you're officially part of our core team.'
Natsume Rin lifted her head and smiled at him. 'Nice to meet you. I'm Rin, the Intelligence Lead. Whatever data you need going forward, I'll get it for you.'
Himuro Chisato merely gave a slight nod, her tone flat to the point of coldness. 'I hope you don't die as easily as the last one.'
"The last one?" Rei frowned.
Yuto quickly added, 'Chisato means the previous member who activated similar abilities went missing a year ago.'
Missing, not dead.
Rei's heart jolted.
Yuto pressed the wall-mounted projector and a campus map appeared on the desk, with red dots spreading across it like tumours.
'We suspect someone is spreading "spirit-attracting agents" within the school grounds. The goal is to make emotionally vulnerable students easier to possess or control."
Rei pointed at the red dots. 'Are these incidents becoming more frequent?'
Natsume Rin nodded. 'And the targets are almost always those without spiritual defences.'
Himuro added coldly, 'The weak. Easy prey."
Yuto looked at Li, his voice low.
'You can see "sin", the traces of manipulated hearts. We need you to find the mastermind behind this."
And to stop it before the next incident occurs."
Li remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.
'I'll do it.'
Yuto smiled faintly. "Then—"
Natsume Rin pressed another file.
Takamine Sho's student records appeared.
'Your first task is to find out why Takamine Sho was chosen.'
Rei's heart clenched violently.
'He wasn't a random victim,' Rin stated.
'Someone deliberately selected him.'
Rei clenched his fists.
The familiar feeling of suffocating guilt and pain churned in his chest once more.
And at that very moment, all the monitoring instruments flashed red simultaneously.
Chisa Himuro leapt to her feet. 'Spirit disturbance! New outbreak source detected in the southeast sector!"
'It's happening on the third floor of the club building!'
Rin's expression darkened.
Yuto immediately turned. 'Li, can you handle this?'
Rei took a deep breath, a faint silver light flickering in his eyes.
'Let's go.'
The moment he stepped out of the operations room, he knew that this wouldn't be the first time, nor would it be the last.
Some presence deep within the academy was drawing him ever closer to the darkness, step by step.
But he could no longer retreat.