EPISODE 5 — "THE EYES THAT WATCH"
The night felt heavier than usual.
Clouds were piled across the sky like bruises, swallowing the moon. Yūto walked home alone, hands buried in his pockets, the faint outline of the fear sigil still tingling beneath his shirt. Every step felt like something was watching him from behind—yet whenever he turned, the streets were painfully empty.
He hated how normal everything looked.
How could the world just keep moving…
when a god was breathing inside him?
---
A Cold Whisper
"You're trembling."
Osore's voice slid into his mind—smooth, ancient, unsettlingly calm.
"I'm not," Yūto muttered under his breath.
"Fear is not weakness. It is awareness."
"Tonight, something old stirs… something that remembers me."
Yūto froze.
"You mean… another god?"
Osore did not answer immediately, and that silence worried Yūto more than anything.
---
At the Abandoned Shrine
Further ahead, old wooden gates appeared at the end of the alley—a forgotten roadside shrine, its lanterns long dead. Tall weeds grew between broken stone steps, and the air felt colder as he approached.
Yūto whispered, "Why here?"
"Because it's waiting for you."
Before Yūto could react, a sudden gust of wind slammed the gate open.
A single talisman, ink faded and torn, fluttered out and stuck itself to Yūto's sleeve.
The sigil pulsed—
slowly, like a heartbeat.
Then the shadows inside the shrine shifted.
A pair of eyes opened in the darkness.
Not human.
Not friendly.
Not asleep anymore.
---
The First Hunter Arrives
"Step away from the shrine!" a voice commanded sharply.
Yūto spun around.
A girl stood behind him—his age, maybe a bit older, wearing a black jacket with silver straps across the arms. A hunter's uniform. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and a glowing spear made of paper talismans rested in her hand.
The crest of Harbinger Order gleamed on her collar.
"You're the vessel," she said coldly.
"Yūto Kisaragi."
Yūto's heart almost stopped.
"So you're… one of them."
"Unfortunately for both of us." She pointed her talisman spear toward the shrine. "That thing in there is an unsealed remnant. If you go any closer, it will latch onto you."
Suddenly, the shrine shook.
Something scraped along the wooden floor—
long nails… dragging.
The girl swore under her breath.
"It's too late."
---
The Remnant Awakens
A monstrous figure unraveled from the darkness—thin, elongated, its skin pale like wet paper. Dozens of eyes bulged across its body, moving independently.
A leftover piece of an ancient god.
An unsealed Shin'en Fragment.
"Run!" the girl yelled.
But Yūto didn't.
Because the moment the creature's eyes locked onto him, the fear sigil on his chest flared to life.
The world went silent.
His heartbeat became the only sound.
Then even that faded.
Osore's voice rolled through his skull like distant thunder—
"Let the creature fear the one who birthed fear itself."
And for the first time…
Yūto felt Osore's power rising without his permission.
A wave of black energy burst from his aura, slamming the creature backward.
The girl stared, speechless.
"You… you just paralyzed it… with pure terror?"
Yūto's breathing was shaky, unsteady.
"I—I didn't mean to… Osore did."
"Incorrect," the god whispered.
"That was your fear—shaped through me."
---
A Dangerous Alliance
The girl lowered her spear, eyes narrowing in thought.
"You're not fully awakened. But if you can do that… we might stand a chance."
"A chance for what?"
She hesitated.
"To stop the Rebirth of the Pantheon. A war between vessels… gods waking inside teenagers… fragments escaping seals. Your awakening triggered something everywhere."
Yūto's stomach dropped.
"So I caused this?"
"No." She shook her head. "But you became the spark."
She extended her hand.
"I'm Sayo Akamine, first-class hunter of the Harbinger Order. From today… I'm assigned to watch over you."
Yūto blinked.
"Watch over me… or watch me?"
"Both."
Before he could argue, the remnant inside the shrine began to regenerate, its eyes opening one by one.
Sayo grabbed his wrist.
"Save questions for later. That thing won't stay down."
"Then what do we do?"
"We run."
Together, they sprinted into the night—
while dozens of glowing eyes watched them leave.
---
END OF EPISODE 5