Rain fell without mercy.
It soaked the empty street, washing dust into the gutters and turning the pavement into a mirror of broken light. In the middle of the road, something fluttered weakly before settling onto the wet ground.
A photograph.
Rain struck its surface again and again, blurring the edges. Six children stood in the picture, arms thrown over one another's shoulders, smiling without fear of the world. Their faces were bright. Innocent.
Except one.
A dark stain bloomed across the chest of the boy in the center.
Black ink seeped from his eyes, crawling down his cheeks like tears made of shadow. The longer the rain fell, the more the ink spread—until it swallowed his smile whole.
A whisper drifted through the storm.
Not yet…
Chains clinked softly, somewhere far beneath the sound of thunder.
The Repeller has awakened.
Abo Kurenai jolted awake.
His breath came in sharp gasps, chest heaving as if he had been drowning. His hands clutched the bedsheet, fingers trembling. The darkness of his room pressed in from all sides, broken only by the faint glow of the city beyond his window.
Then he felt it.
Heat.
A sharp, burning sensation spread across his chest. Abo pulled his shirt aside—and froze.
A symbol glowed against his skin.
Crimson lines twisted into an unfamiliar mark, pulsing like a living thing. With every heartbeat, the glow deepened, shifting from red to something darker… almost black.
"What… is this?" he whispered.
Outside his window, the streetlight flickered.
For just a moment, Abo felt it.
Someone watching him.
He stepped closer to the glass, heart pounding. The rain distorted everything beyond the window—cars, buildings, shadows—
Then two red eyes opened in the darkness below.
Abo stumbled back, his breath catching in his throat.
The light snapped off.
The eyes vanished.
Silence returned to the room, heavier than before.
Abo pressed his hand against the mark, trying to calm the pounding in his chest. Whatever this was… it wasn't a dream.
And somewhere far beneath the world—
Something had noticed him.
----------END OF CHAPTER 1----------