Kageshiki Trainee Report:
Total Trainees:200
Disqualified Due to Injury:45
Disqualified Due to Death:60
Remaining Candidates:95
The city sank deeper into twilight, its streets cloaked in an oppressive darkness. The wind howled through empty alleys, a bitter reminder of the world that had once been and the pieces of it now lost forever.
Reika sat on a rusted bench, her hands limp at her sides. The streetlamp above barely cut through the thick shadows. Her name—Kagetsu Reika—was nothing more than a forgotten whisper, a weight dragging her deeper into the void.
Her father's voice echoed in her mind, repeating the same warning he'd given countless times: "Stay inside after dark. Never go out. If you leave, you'll die."
But what did it matter now? The city was already dead to her, and she felt herself slipping away with it.
At first, she barely noticed him. A flicker of movement, the faintest sound. "How lucky," a voice drawled, low and unnerving. "A human, all alone at night."
A chill ran down her spine. She whipped around.
There he was. Tall, still as a statue, his features unnervingly perfect. Dark hair framed a face too sharp to be real. And his smile—too wide, too knowing—froze her in place.
Her breath caught. Her fingers scrambled for the knife at her waist, but it was useless. Her heart raced in her chest, and the air felt thick, choking.
The smile on his face widened as he twisted, his body bending in unnatural ways. Cracking, popping.
Then, jagged black wings sprouted from his back, their grotesque length stretching far beyond what was possible. This was no human. This was something far worse.
A Shikiban.
Frozen, her mind screamed for her to move, but her body refused. The knife was meaningless. She was nothing. She was going to die.
The creature lunged.
A flash of silver. A slash so fast, so precise, it left her breathless. The Shikiban's arm fell to the ground with a sickening thud, black blood spraying the air.
Without hesitation, the boy struck again—decisive, brutal. The creature's head tumbled to the ground, disintegrating into ash before it could touch the earth.
The night was still.
Reika's body trembled, her mind racing to make sense of what had just unfolded. The boy turned to face her, his eyes as cold as the dark city around them, his gaze cutting through her like a knife.
"Kagetsu Reika," he said, his voice flat, emotionless.
Her heart skipped a beat. How did he know her name?
Before she could respond, the boy pulled out an envelope. Black as the void, shimmering with an unnatural glow.
"Take it," he said, his voice distant. "Open it when you're ready."
Reika's hand trembled as she took the envelope. The moment her fingers brushed its surface, a magnetic pull surged through her, sharp and impossible to ignore.
Her pulse quickened as she tore it open, the words inside slicing through the silence.
Kagetsu Reika, You are summoned to Tenshiko Academy. The choice is yours. But once you step inside, you will never be the same.
The words hit her like a punch to the gut. Tenshiko Academy. She had heard whispers, but nothing had prepared her for this. Her past had caught up with her. Her fate was sealed.
She didn't know what choice she had, but the darkness was already closing in.
A notification flashed in the corner of her vision—one she had seen far too many times before. Trainees. Candidates. The list of who entered this city, who survived, and who didn't.
The reminder that no one entered this city without knowing what they were risking.
Every step, every breath, felt like a weight dragging her down. Even death no longer seemed like an escape. She'd almost welcomed it.
But the night had other plans.