---
The wind had stopped.
Not calmed—stopped.
Himari stood motionless before the old torii gate, her charm burned to ash at her feet. The warmth of her spiritual aura began to chill as the air around her thinned. This place wasn't just ancient—it was alive.
She didn't need to speak. The void pulsed through the ground, resonating with something buried deep beneath.
Then she heard it:
A whisper.
Faint.
One word.
"Kitsune…"
Her heart skipped. Not because of fear, but because the voice recognized him.
Yuki.
She turned swiftly, slipping a binding talisman across the gate's surface. "Not yet," she muttered. "You're not coming out yet."
The seal flared, struggling to hold. Whatever lay beneath that gate—it knew Yuki was awake now.
And it was calling for him.
---
Back at the shrine…
Yuki stood at the edge of the training field behind the shrine, hands wrapped in bandages, body still aching—but his spirit pulsing stronger than ever.
Each movement he made left trails of aura in the air, faint distortions that shimmered like waves. His strikes were sharper now. Focused. Controlled. For the first time, he wasn't just reacting—he was channeling.
Ren watched in silence, arms crossed, nodding once as Yuki struck the air and a ripple of void expanded without consuming everything around it.
"You've stopped fighting your instincts," Ren said.
Yuki exhaled. "I started listening to them."
Ren's lips curled slightly—barely noticeable. "You're evolving faster than I thought."
Yuki turned to him, serious. "I felt something when I lost control. Something watching me. Something ancient."
Ren's gaze sharpened. "You weren't hallucinating."
Yuki stepped forward. "What was it?"
Ren hesitated.
Then—
"I don't know," he admitted. "But Himari might."
---
Elsewhere…
Himari stood atop a cliff now, overlooking the valley below.
She held a piece of scorched paper in her hand—Aiko's sketch. A depiction of the red eyes, drawn while she was still recovering.
They matched the ones Himari had seen. Exactly.
"They're watching him too," Himari whispered.
She didn't turn when a new presence approached from behind.
"Himari."
She closed her eyes briefly. "You're late, Haru."
Her twin brother stepped forward, calm as always, though his aura danced with barely restrained power. "The seals are fading," he said. "We don't have much time."
"I know," she said softly.
Then she looked down at the valley again.
"I just hope Yuki awakens fully before it does."
---
The darkness stirred once more.
Deep below the surface of the world, in a place untouched by sun or moon, something opened its eyes for the first time in centuries.
And it smiled.
---