The Forgotten Quarter lived up to its name. It was a part of Neo Akatsuki that the map-makers had simply stopped drawing. The buildings here did not stand; they leaned against one another like tired old men waiting for the end. There were no neon signs here, no humming electric cars, and no laughter. The only sound was the scratching of rats in the walls and the distant, rhythmic dripping of water from a broken pipe.
Kaito stepped over a puddle of oily black water. He felt the weight of the air pressing down on him. It was heavy with the smell of rotted curtains and old smoke. He kept his hands in his pockets. His right hand was wrapped around the Ace of Spades, and his left gripped the broken butterfly clip. The metal of the clip was sharp. It reminded him that he was still awake. It reminded him why he was here.
Seraphine Noire stood twenty paces ahead of him. She was a shadow given form. Her black wings were tucked behind her back, but they were so large that they trailed on the cracked pavement like the hem of a queen's dress. She was pale, her skin almost translucent under the flickering amber light of the single streetlamp.
Seraphine said, "You walk like a man who expects to be struck. Your shoulders are tight. Your heart is loud. I can hear it from here, Kaito. It sounds like a drum in an empty room."
Kaito stopped. He didn't look at her wings. He looked at her eyes. They were not eyes at all, but windows into a void where light went to die.
Kaito said, "Hana. Now."
Seraphine tilted her head. A lock of her hair, blacker than the night around them, fell over her shoulder. Seraphine said, "Always so direct. No greeting? No appreciation for the scenery? I spent a long time choosing this place. It matches the color of your soul, don't you think? Forgotten. Broken. Silent."
Kaito took a step forward. The shadows around his feet hissed, but he didn't stop. Kaito said, "I won't ask again."
Seraphine laughed. It was a beautiful sound, like glass bells ringing in a storm. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The air behind her began to ripple and tear. The darkness folded back like a curtain, revealing a sphere of pale, silver light.
The sphere was floating three feet off the ground. Inside, Hana Mitsuki was lying on a bed of white mist. She looked as if she were merely sleeping. Her hands were folded over her chest, and her face was peaceful. But the mist around her was slowly turning into ice. Small crystals were forming on the hem of her school uniform.
Seraphine said, "The Cradle of the Moon. It's a lovely prison, isn't it? It keeps the body perfect while the mind wanders through the coldest parts of the stars. But humans are warm creatures, Kaito. If she stays in there for another hour, her heart will simply decide that it is too tired to beat."
Kaito felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. He looked at Hana. He wanted to scream her name. He wanted to tear the silver sphere apart with his bare hands. But he knew that any sudden move would only make Seraphine close the curtain again.
Kaito said, "What do you want?"
Seraphine stepped closer. She moved without making a sound, as if she were sliding over the ground. She stopped just a few feet away from him. Kaito could smell her now. She smelled like lilies and cold marble.
Seraphine said, "I want to hear the truth. Not the silence you use to hide from the world. I want the words you buried ten years ago. I want the story of the fire, Kaito. Tell me what you said that night. Tell me the words that turned your parents into ash."
Kaito felt his breath hitch. The memory hit him like a physical blow. He saw the orange flames. He heard the roar of the collapsing roof. He felt the heat on his skin. He remembered standing in the middle of the street, screaming a single sentence that had changed everything. It was a secret he had kept locked in a box at the bottom of his soul.
Kaito said, "No."
Seraphine's expression changed. The playful mockery vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp hunger. She reached out and touched Kaito's jaw. Her fingers were colder than the Frost Walker's ice.
Seraphine said, "You would choose your silence over her life? How selfish. You play the role of the tragic hero, the boy who protects everyone from the shadows. But you're just a coward, aren't you? You're afraid that if you speak, the world will see you for what you really are. A monster. Just like us."
Kaito didn't move. He didn't pull away from her touch. He stared into the void of her eyes. Kaito said, "I am nothing like you."
Seraphine leaned in, her lips inches from his ear. She whispered, "Then prove it. Give me the memory. If you do, the sphere will break. She will wake up in her own bed, thinking this was all a bad dream. She will go to school tomorrow. She will smile at you. She will give you another blue bottle of juice. All it costs is one sentence."
Kaito looked at the sphere. Hana's breath was becoming faint. The frost was reaching her throat now. He thought about the school roof. He thought about the way she leaned against him, her shoulder warm and real. If he didn't speak, she would die in a place no one could find. If he did speak, the curse of his words might destroy everything he had left.
The cards in his pocket began to pulse. They were screaming at him to use them. Kuro was scratching at the edge of his consciousness, begging to be let out. Master, she is lying. Master, let me kill her.
But Kaito remembered the rule. Alone. No cards. If he summoned Kuro, Seraphine would shatter the sphere instantly. He was a King without a crown, standing in the dark with nothing but his own voice.
Kaito closed his eyes. He thought about the night of the fire. He remembered the way the air had tasted like burning rubber. He remembered his father's eyes, full of a strange, terrifying pride. He remembered the words he had whispered into the dark, words that shouldn't have been possible for a child to know.
He opened his eyes. Kaito said, "I was eight years old."
Seraphine's eyes widened. She pulled back slightly, a look of intense anticipation on her face. Seraphine said, "Yes. Go on. The fire was roaring. The neighbors were running. And you stood there, didn't you?"
Kaito looked at Hana. He didn't look at Seraphine. He spoke to the girl in the sphere. Kaito said, "I didn't want them to leave me. I was afraid of the dark. I was afraid of being alone in that big house. My father said we were moving. He said we had to go to the capital. I didn't want to go."
Seraphine whispered, "And what did you say, Kaito? What did the little boy say to the shadows?"
Kaito's voice was flat, devoid of emotion. It was the sound of a man reading a death sentence. Kaito said, "I said: 'I wish this house would burn so we never have to leave.'"
The silence that followed was absolute. Even the rats in the walls seemed to stop moving. The flickering streetlamp hummed once and then died, leaving them in a world of grey moonlight.
Seraphine stared at him. For the first time, she looked genuinely surprised. Then, she began to laugh. It wasn't the musical laugh from before. it was a jagged, cruel sound that tore through the air.
Seraphine said, "A wish! A simple, childish wish. And the cards heard you, didn't they? The King was born in the ashes of his own home. You killed them because you didn't want to change schools. Oh, Kaito. That is more beautiful than I imagined. You didn't just witness a tragedy. You authored it."
Kaito felt the weight of the words leaving his chest. He felt lighter, but also emptier. It was as if he had bled out a gallon of poison. He looked at the sphere.
Kaito said, "The deal. Release her."
Seraphine wiped a tear of dark ink from her eye. She looked at him with a strange kind of pity. Seraphine said, "A deal is a deal. I have what I wanted. I have the secret that makes your silence so heavy. Every time you look at her now, you will remember that you are a murderer. You will wonder if one day, you will wish for her to burn too."
She snapped her fingers again. The silver sphere began to crack. The silver mist poured out, dissolving into the air. Hana's body began to fade, her form becoming transparent.
Seraphine said, "She is going home, Kaito. But don't be too happy. The Architect is watching you now. He doesn't care about your secrets or your guilt. He only cares about the cards. And he is much less patient than I am."
Seraphine spread her great black wings. A sudden gust of wind blew through the alley, carrying the scent of rot and lilies. When the dust settled, she was gone. The streetlamp flickered back to life, casting a weak, yellow light on the empty pavement.
Kaito stood alone in the Forgotten Quarter. His legs gave out, and he slid down the wall of a crumbling warehouse. He took out his phone. He waited.
One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes.
His phone buzzed. A text message appeared on the screen.
Hana: Kaito? I think I fell asleep at my desk. I had the strangest dream about the moon. It was so cold. Are you still awake?
Kaito stared at the message. He felt a sob rise in his throat, but he pushed it down. He didn't cry. He didn't have the right to cry. He had saved her, but he had also confirmed his own nightmare. He was the boy who wished for fire.
Kaito typed a reply.
Kaito: I'm awake. Sleep now, Hana.
He put the phone away and looked at his hands. They were shaking. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Ace of Spades. The card felt different now. It didn't feel like a tool or a weapon. It felt like a mirror.
Kuro appeared on a nearby crates. The bird looked at Kaito with a quiet, somber expression. Kuro didn't make a joke. He didn't mention the girl.
Kuro said, "You told her. You shouldn't have told her, Master. Secrets are like shields. Once you throw them away, everyone can see where to strike."
Kaito stood up, wiping the dust from his trousers. Kaito said, "I don't care."
Kuro tilted his head. Kuro asked, "What now? The Architect is coming. Seraphine will be back. You can't keep fighting them like this. You're exhausted. Your energy is at its limit."
Kaito looked toward the Hanami district. The sky was still bruised, and the cracks were still there. But the red glow had changed to a dull, throbbing orange. It looked like embers.
Kaito said, "I'm going to find the others."
Kuro asked, "The other cards? The Legendary ones?"
Kaito shook his head. Kaito said, "No. Ryota and Jin. I can't do this alone anymore. If I try to carry it all, I'll burn everything again. I need to tell them."
Kuro flapped his wings, a look of alarm on his face. Kuro said, "That is a mistake! If you bring them into this world, they will become targets. Look what happened to the girl tonight! Do you want to see your friends in a moon cradle too?"
Kaito stopped at the end of the alley. He looked back at the darkness of the Forgotten Quarter. He remembered the way Seraphine had smiled when he told the truth. She wanted him to be alone. She wanted him to be the Silent King, trapped in a palace of his own making.
Kaito said, "They are already targets, Kuro. Because they are my friends. If I don't tell them, they won't even know why they are dying."
He began to walk toward the residential district. The night was cold, but the air felt clearer than it had in years. He wasn't the same person who had woken up that morning. The silence had been broken, and though the sound of his own voice terrified him, he knew he couldn't go back.
As he walked, he didn't see the figure standing on the roof of the tallest building in the quarter.
The figure was made of chrome and glass, its movements fluid and mechanical. It had no face, only a screen that displayed a series of rapidly changing equations. It watched Kaito move through the streets, its sensors recording every heartbeat, every breath.
The Architect spoke, but there was no one to hear him. His voice was a series of electronic pulses that translated into words.
The Architect said, "Subject Kaito Ashen. Emotional stability: 12 percent. Power output: Increasing. Probability of total reality collapse: 64 percent. Intervention required. Initiating phase two."
Across the city, in a dozen different locations, the black lines in the sky began to pulse. In the basements of schools, in the back of subway tunnels, and in the shadows of parks, things were beginning to wake up. They weren't just shadows anymore. They were constructs, half-machine, half-monster, designed with a single purpose.
Kaito reached his apartment building. He didn't go inside. He stood on the sidewalk, looking at the windows of the other units. He thought about Ryota's loud laugh and Jin's quiet intelligence. He thought about the life they had built together, a life of melon bread and arcade games.
He took out his phone and started a group chat. His thumb hovered over the keyboard for a long time. He felt the weight of the Ace of Spades in his pocket, a cold reminder of the king he was supposed to be.
Kaito typed: Tomorrow morning. The roof. I have something to tell you.
He hit send and watched the little checkmarks turn blue. He felt a sudden, sharp pain in his chest, followed by a wave of nausea. He leaned against a lamppost, gasping for air.
A shadow moved at the end of the street. It wasn't a bird, and it wasn't a fallen angel. It was something large, silver, and silent. It had four legs that looked like insect limbs and a head that was a spinning array of cameras.
The construct stopped and looked at him. A red laser dot appeared on Kaito's chest, right over his heart.
Kaito didn't reach for his cards. He was too tired. He just looked at the machine.
Kaito said, "Not tonight."
The machine tilted its head, as if it were considering his words. Then, it hissed and retreated into the darkness, its metallic claws clicking against the pavement. It was a warning. A promise of what was coming tomorrow.
Kaito went inside his apartment and locked the door. He didn't turn on the lights. He lay down on the floor, his back against the cold wood. He held the butterfly clip in his hand until the sun began to peek through the curtains.
The silence was gone, but the storm was only just beginning. And as the city of Neo Akatsuki woke up to another ordinary day, the Silent King prepared to tell his friends that the world they knew was already dead.