Recap: The silence stretched heavy, broken only by the fluorescent buzz. Each of them nodded once, reluctant but resolved.
The System whispered approval in my skull:
> [Objective Updated: Protect Witness (Aika).]
[New Thread Unlocked: Nakamura-sensei.]
[Emotional Sync: 12% → 15%.]
I closed the folder in front of , the clap of paper against wood final enough to feel like a vow. "We don’t let her get swallowed the way Saki was."
We left the archive in pairs, shadows thrown long against the hall walls. The night was sharp, cool, almost too quiet.
Aika’s small figure was already disappearing at the far end of the hall, her hood tugged low, her steps quick.
I almost called out to her but then I saw it.
Another shadow peeled itself from the corner near the stairwell, a fraction too deliberate, too smooth. A shape followed her at a asured distance, keeping to the edges of light, head low.
The hairs on my neck prickled. Whoever it was, they’d been waiting for her.
I didn’t breathe a word to the others, not yet. Just watched the figure tail her down the corridor until both vanished into the dark, swallowed by silence.
The mont the figure peeled from the stairwell, I moved. No orders, no words. My body was already breaking off from the group, my steps soundless on the linoleum.
Fifty years of instinct scread louder than caution: stalk the stalker.
The others called softly after , but I didn’t answer. My eyes locked on the shape trailing Aika — smooth, deliberate, too calm for a casual passerby. He knew how to blend. That alone made him dangerous.
The System flickered like a second pulse in my skull.
> [Predator Detected.]
[Threat Assessnt: Interdiate – Human.]
[Warning: Unknown Motive. Target is watching Aika, not you.]
Good. That ant I had room to maneuver.
I dropped my pace to a hunter’s rhythm, shadowing the shadow. Each turn of the corridor, each flicker of a light, I matched him two steps back. Aika had no idea head down, walking fast like she could outrun her own nerves.
The stalker adjusted his distance expertly, always keeping enough space not to spook her, never closing in too fast. Professional. This wasn’t a jealous student.
At the corner leading to the side exit, I finally caught a glimpse of his profile under the dim glow. Male. Taller than , maybe late twenties. His posture radiated patience — the kind that ca with repetition.
He’d done this before.
My fists clenched.
He reached into his jacket. Just a casual dip, like scratching an itch. But I knew better — the angle was wrong, too smooth. Not scratching. Drawing.
Fuck.
I slid closer to the wall, heart steady, breath shallow. Every sense sharpened into a blade. The others were still behind, but this was my mont. If he pulled sothing on Aika before I acted, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
The System purred, offering the edge.
> [Skill Triggered: Predator’s (Lust) Instinct.]
[Reaction Ti 50%. Stealth Tracking Enhanced.]
My lips curved into a grim smile. Sixteen on the outside. Fifty on the inside. And this bastard had no idea he was about to be the prey.
I pushed off the wall, silent and lethal, closing the gap.
---
I stayed on him like a phantom, two breaths behind, his shadow’s shadow. Every shift of his weight, every flicker of his shoulders, I read like a battlefield map.
Aika turned down the side corridor toward the old gym. Bad route — half the lights were dead, and the exit doors there stuck when it rained. She didn’t know it, but she’d just walked herself into a choke point.
The stalker adjusted imdiately, slipping his hand fully into his jacket. I caught the glint of tal — not a gun, too slim. A knife. Short blade, easy concealnt, good for close work.
He slowed. Aika didn’t notice. She was too busy tugging her hood lower, shoulders hunched like she could vanish if she shrank enough.
> [Threat Escalation: Confird Weapon.]
[Warning: Witness (Aika) – Vulnerability Critical.]
My teeth ground together. One wrong move and she’d bleed out on this floor before anyone could scream.
The bastard quickened his pace, steps silent but deliberate now, closing the gap. Ten ters. Eight.
Aika reached for the gym door, stuck, like I knew it would be. She yanked twice, muttered under her breath, and that second of frustration was all the bastard needed.
He shifted his knife into grip position, arm tensing. Predator ready to strike.
He thought he was the only hunter here.
That was a dumbass thought!
I wanted him to feel when I hit.
The System thrumd in approval.
> [Ambush Opportunity Detected.]
[Advantage: Total Surprise. Success Rate – 94%.]
My pulse slowed. My body coiled.
Three more steps and he’d lunge for her. Three more steps and I’d tear him off the ground.
---
The Shadow’s Hunt
The bastard’s breath quickened, shoulders dipping forward. He closed the last steps in silence, blade glinting as he drew it free.
Aika still fumbled with the gym door, cursing under her breath, hood slipping back enough to reveal her trembling profile.
He raised the knife. One clean stab to the ribs — that’s what he wanted. Quick, quiet, forgettable.
I moved.
My body launched before thought, a fifty-year reflex packed into sixteen-year sinew. My shoulder slamd into his side just as his arm cut down. The blade missed Aika by inches, scraping sparks off the steel handle of the gym door instead.
The sound made her spin, eyes wide.
"What—?!"
Too late to answer.
The stalker staggered, but he was trained enough to twist with the blow. His knife hand swung wild, and I caught his wrist, twisting until bone ground against bone. His grunt was feral, more beast than man.
"Run, Aika!" I barked.
She froze for half a heartbeat, eyes locked on the knife between us, then stumbled back down the hall.
Good.
The stalker snarled, trying to shove his knee into my gut. I deflected with mine, drove an elbow into his jaw, then slamd him against the wall hard enough to rattle the old gym windows.
His hood fell back.
Not a student. Not a teacher. Soone older — twenties, maybe thirties. Shaved head, sharp eyes, face too calm for a common thug.
A professional.
The knife slipped from his grip, clattering against the floor. But instead of panicking, he smirked, lips curling with recognition.
"You shouldn’t have seen this, boy," he rasped. "Now you’ve made yourself part of it."
> [New Thread Unlocked: Unknown Operative.]
[System Alert: Danger Level – HIGH.]
My fists clenched. Part of it?
No, motherfucker. I was ending it.
The stalker lunged again, barehanded now, but faster than any thug had the right to be. His elbow cut past my jaw, grazing skin, but I rode the blow, twisting in close. My knee drove into his ribs, and the crunch told sothing cracked.
He didn’t cry out. He laughed, low and ugly, like pain was fuel.
"You fight like a soldier," he spat, blood trailing from his lip. "But you’re just a kid."
I slamd him against the wall again, forearm across his throat, my other hand pinning his wrist flat. His breath hitched, but his eyes still burned with sothing colder than rage — obedience. Orders.
"Who sent you?" I growled, tightening until his voice rasped.
His smirk widened, teeth red. "The sa people who buried her. You can’t—"
I drove my fist into his gut before he could finish. The air exploded out of him, his smirk folding into a cough.
My knuckles burned. My blood roared. I wasn’t sixteen. I wasn’t a boy. I was every battle I’d ever survived, and this bastard was mine to dismantle.
He tried to knee again — I caught it, twisted, and dropped him to the floor with a crack that rattled the corridor. He wheezed, clutching his side, eyes finally flickering with sothing like doubt.
I pressed my knee into his chest, fist raised for the killing blow.
That’s when I heard Rika’s voice.
"Renji—!"
The door slamd open. Rika, Reina, and Mayumi spilled into the hall, eyes wide at the sight: crouched over a broken man, my fist trembling inches above his skull.
"Stop—" Reina’s voice cut sharp, commanding, like a nurse who’d seen too much blood. "If you kill him now, we lose answers."
The stalker coughed again, eyes darting between them, between , calculating. Even half-crushed, he still had that calm — the kind of calm that said he was just one piece in sothing much bigger.
The System whispered in my skull, hungry and cold:
> [Interrogation Opportunity Detected.]
[Warning: Target is trained for resistance.]
[Hint: Emotional Leverage required.]
My fist hovered, my pulse thundering, the choice coiled tight in my arm.
For one second, all I wanted was to end him.
But then I saw Rika’s trembling hands, Reina’s sharp glare, Mayumi’s clenched jaw.
And I knew, the real battle wasn’t killing this bastard. It was prying open his mouth.
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