Kurogami Ryumen had fought countless battles.
Some were against Devourers.
Some were against himself.
But the most dangerous battles were always the ones where he didn't know the enemy.
Because strength was simple.
A powerful opponent could be measured.
Speed could be calculated.
Energy could be analyzed.
But something unknown?
Something that watched him before attacking?
That was different.
And the creature from the sky had left behind a question Kurogami couldn't ignore.
Why did it recognize him?
The morning after the incident, Seiran Academy looked exactly the same.
Students walked through the gates.
Teachers complained about late assignments.
Clubs prepared for their activities.
Nobody knew that above their heads, something had appeared that could have erased cities.
Nobody knew that two of humanity's strongest forces had faced it.
And nobody knew that one of their classmates was connected to it.
Kurogami preferred it that way.
He sat quietly in his usual seat, looking at the board while the teacher explained a lesson he had already mastered.
Normally, he would have ignored everything around him.
Normally, he would have disappeared into his own thoughts.
But recently...
That had become impossible.
Because someone kept pulling him back.
"You're doing it again."
Kurogami glanced beside him.
Kiromi Kiroyu was resting her chin on her hand, watching him.
"Doing what?"
"That thing."
"What thing?"
"The silent staring thing."
He blinked.
"I am listening."
She looked at the teacher.
Then back at him.
"You haven't moved your eyes from the same spot for five minutes."
Kurogami looked away.
"I was thinking."
"About what?"
He paused.
The truth?
Impossible.
He couldn't tell her about the creature.
Not yet.
"Nothing important."
Kiromi narrowed her eyes.
She had become surprisingly good at noticing when he was hiding something.
"You always say that."
"Because most things aren't important."
She smiled slightly.
"That's probably the most Kurogami answer ever."
He didn't understand what that meant.
But somehow...
He didn't dislike hearing it.
During lunch, Kurogami sat behind the old maintenance building.
The same place where Kiromi had found him before.
He expected peace.
He should have known better.
"You know, normal people eat lunch with other people."
Kurogami didn't look up.
"Normal people also talk too much."
Kiromi sat beside him.
"Wow."
"What?"
"That was almost a joke."
"It wasn't."
"It was."
He stayed quiet.
She opened her lunch box.
"You know, for someone who says he doesn't care about people, you worry about everyone."
Kurogami looked at her.
"I never said I don't care."
"Then why do you act like you do?"
He didn't answer.
Because the answer was complicated.
Because caring about people meant having something to lose.
And he already knew what loss felt like.
Kiromi noticed the silence.
Her expression softened.
"You don't have to tell me everything."
Kurogami looked down.
"But?"
She smiled.
"But you should stop pretending you have to carry everything alone."
The words reminded him of yesterday.
Of Yuuji.
Of the creature.
Of the feeling that something was approaching.
Before he could respond, a strange sensation passed through him.
A pulse.
A disturbance.
For a fraction of a second...
His instincts reacted.
His eyes shifted toward the sky.
Kiromi noticed.
"Again?"
He looked at her.
"What?"
"You do that."
"Do what?"
"Like you're listening to something nobody else can hear."
He stayed silent.
Because she was right.
He could hear things others couldn't.
Feel things others couldn't.
And sometimes...
He wondered if that was a blessing.
Or a curse.
Deep beneath the city...
Something moved.
The UNDF underground facility was one of humanity's most secure locations.
Thousands of meters below the surface.
Protected by layers of reinforced material.
Designed to survive attacks from the strongest Devourers.
But today...
The alarms were not because of an attack.
They were because of information.
A scientist stared at the readings on the screen.
"This is impossible."
The officer beside him frowned.
"What happened?"
The scientist pointed.
"The remains from yesterday's creature."
The screen displayed the fragments recovered from the unknown Devourer.
"They're changing."
The room went quiet.
"What do you mean changing?"
The scientist swallowed.
"The cells are adapting."
The officer's expression darkened.
"Devourer cells don't do that."
The scientist looked at him.
"Apparently, these ones do."
A silence followed.
Then another piece of information appeared.
A genetic scan.
The scientist stared.
Then slowly looked toward the officer.
"There's something else."
"What?"
The scientist hesitated.
"The creature wasn't reacting to Earth."
He enlarged the data.
"It was reacting to Kurogami Ryumen."
Meanwhile, Yuuji stood alone in his office.
The city stretched beyond the glass window.
For most people, he was the symbol of safety.
The strongest soldier.
The leader who stood between humanity and extinction.
But he knew the truth.
Strength did not solve everything.
Sometimes strength created bigger problems.
A knock came.
"Come in."
The door opened.
One of his officers entered.
"Director-General."
Yuuji turned.
"We finished analyzing the battle."
"And?"
The officer hesitated.
"Several commanders are requesting an emergency discussion."
"About?"
"Kurogami."
Yuuji already knew.
"They are afraid."
The officer didn't deny it.
"He has abilities beyond anything we've seen."
Yuuji looked outside.
"He is also the reason thousands survived The Fall."
"That doesn't change the risk."
"No."
Yuuji's voice was calm.
"But it changes the decision."
The officer looked confused.
"What decision?"
Yuuji finally turned.
"The decision of whether we treat him as a weapon..."
A pause.
"...or as a person."
That evening, Kurogami walked home alone.
The streets were quiet.
The city had become peaceful again.
Almost too peaceful.
He stopped suddenly.
His senses detected something.
A presence.
Not a Devourer.
Not human.
Something else.
He turned.
Nothing.
Only an empty street.
Then...
A whisper.
Not from outside.
From inside.
The beast.
The other consciousness.
For years, it had been silent.
Waiting.
But now...
It spoke.
"That creature knows."
Kurogami froze.
His hand tightened.
"What?"
A low voice answered inside his mind.
"About us."
His eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
Then:
"You already know."
The energy inside him stirred.
For the first time in years...
The beast wasn't trying to take control.
It was warning him.
And somehow...
That scared him more.
Because if the thing inside him was afraid...
Then whatever was coming...
Was worse than he imagined.
Far away...
Hidden beyond human detection...
The Devourers began to move.
Not randomly.
Not blindly.
With purpose.
And their purpose had a name.
Kurogami Ryumen.