"My eyes feel weird."
That was the last thing I thought before everything went dark.
My life started in an orphanage, but it was not a good place. It was run by bad people. From childhood, we were taught wrong things. Stealing, pickpocketing, lying, cheating others. They said this was how we would survive in the world.
When we turned fifteen, we were sent out to do real jobs for them. Some kids came back. Some didn't.
I always obeyed. I never complained. That was how I stayed alive.
One day, one of the men called me into a room.
"Hey, boy," he said. "We have a task for you. If you do it well, you'll become part of our gang."
My heart beat fast. "Y-yes sir. What is it?"
"There's a girl coming here for inspection. Her name is Mina Satsuki. She's about your age. Her organisation thinks they can interfere in our business."
He placed a knife in my hand.
"You need to kill her before she leaves."
My hands shook. "O-okay…"
Mina arrived the next day.
She didn't look scary or important. She just looked… normal. She talked to everyone kindly, even me. When she found out I was the same age as her, she smiled and asked if I wanted to show her around.
We talked. We ate together. She listened to my stories. She didn't judge me when I lied about my life. For the first time, someone treated me like a normal boy.
By the third day, she called me her friend.
On the last day, I took her to an empty room. The knife was in my pocket. My heart was pounding so loudly I thought she could hear it.
I couldn't do it.
My hands wouldn't move.
"Mina… I—" my voice broke.
Before I could say anything else, the door burst open.
The gang members were there.
"Useless brat," one of them said.
Mina looked confused. Then scared.
I stood in front of her without thinking.
The pain came suddenly. Sharp and burning. I felt myself falling. I saw Mina collapse beside me.
Maybe i should've killed her the moment i saw her because this is most pain i have ever felt.
Blood covered the floor.
As my vision faded, I thought:
So this is how it ends.
Then everything went silent.
Cold.
Hard.
I tried to open my eyes.
"My eyes feel weird."
I tried to move—and felt something small, thin, and scaly.
That was when I realized…
I was no longer human