The memorial flowers outside the old Hoshino residence were wilting.
Kagayaku stood across the street in the fading afternoon light, watching as an elderly person replaced the dead bouquets with fresh ones—a ritual that had continued for over many years now, ever since Aqua Hoshino's body had been found in the ocean alongside Hikaru Kamiki's.
The case had been closed years before Kagayaku even enrolled at Yoto High. Murder-suicide, the reports said. A revenge quest that ended with both the avenger and his target dead in the water. Ruby Hoshino had fallen into a deep depression, disappeared from the public eye for months, then returned to her idol career with a brightness that looked increasingly brittle with each performance.
He completed his revenge and it destroyed him, Kagayaku thought, studying the memorial. That's the lesson everyone keeps teaching but nobody seems to learn. In the end he tried to keep it a secret. But the public found out about his families secret hidden from the world to do with a revenge fate. But nobody can do anything about his history and death now anyway. And the public always found out about ancient cases like this often. But never could do anything about it in the end. As history had already done It's course.
His phone buzzed. A text from Shōgeki: "Student council meeting ran late. Still coming to the spot?" "Already here," Kagayaku typed back. "Take your time."
He'd been coming to this memorial once a week since school started, studying it like a textbook. Learning from Aqua Hoshino's mistakes without ever having met the kid. The dead could teach just as much as the living—sometimes more, because their lessons were final.
A figure approached the memorial, and Kagayaku's attention sharpened.
Ruby Hoshino. Blondish hair pulled back, sunglasses hiding her eyes despite the dimming light, moving with the careful precision of someone who'd learned to function while broken. She knelt at the memorial, placed a single white lily, and sat there in silence.
Kagayaku watched from his position across the street, feeling like a voyeur but unable to look away. This was what surviving revenge looked like—kneeling at your brother's memorial, performing the role of "healing idol" while your insides stayed hollow.
Ruby stood after several minutes, adjusted her sunglasses, and walked away without looking back. The mask of strength held perfectly until she turned the corner. Only then did her shoulders shake with silent crying.
She's still performing, Kagayaku realized. Even alone. Even grieving. Because if she stops performing, she has to feel it all at once, and that would break her completely.
"That's Ruby Hoshino, right?"
Kagayaku turned to find Shōgeki standing beside him, her red scarf bright in the dimming light. He hadn't heard her approach—she moved quietly for someone who seemed so cheerful.
"Yeah," Kagayaku confirmed. "She comes here every week. Same time, same ritual." "You've been watching her." It wasn't a question.
"Learning from her brother's mistakes. He died over many years ago, and she's still bleeding from it." Kagayaku's blue eyes met Shōgeki's brown ones. "That's what revenge costs. Even when you survive it."
Shōgeki was quiet for a moment, her fingers touching her scarf. "Do you think she knew? What he was planning?"
"Probably. Siblings with that kind of trauma don't hide things well." Kagayaku turned from the memorial. "But knowing and stopping are different things. You can watch someone run toward a cliff and still be powerless to stop them."
"Speaking from experience?"
"Speaking from observation." He started walking, and Shōgeki fell into step beside him. "I've been researching the Hoshino case since I decided to come to this school. Aqua spent years planning his revenge. Built his entire career around getting close to his target. And when the moment came, it killed them both. And Hikaru was seen as the villain in the eyes of the public. As it should be, but It's already to late to save Aqua Hoshino, no matter how bad you feel for his fate in the end. And the same applies to his sister Ruby."
"You're trying to figure out how to not end up like him."
"I'm trying to figure out if that's even possible." Kagayaku's black stars flickered briefly. "Maybe revenge is inherently self-destructive. Maybe the only way to survive it is not to pursue it at all."
"But you're still pursuing it."
"Can't stop now. Already invested too much." He glanced at her. "You too, right? With your parents' killers?" Shōgeki's eyes flashed crimson for just a moment. "Yeah. Too far in to turn back."
They walked in silence through Tokyo's streets as evening settled over the city. Three weeks into the school year, and they'd developed this routine—meeting after classes, walking, talking about things they couldn't say to anyone else.
Two reincarnated souls learning to be human again while planning decidedly inhuman things. A bond they had formed on complete accident. And one where they truly understood one another just by looking into each others eyes. A bond formed through seeing one another. And a bond that continues from just doing the same thing at times.
[YOTO HIGH SCHOOL - THE NEXT DAY]
The student council room was empty except for Kagayaku and Shōgeki, both of them supposedly working on budget proposals but actually having a very different conversation.
"I saw him today," Kagayaku said quietly, his eyes on the paperwork that he wasn't actually reading. "Makoto. In the hallway between classes." Shōgeki looked up from her laptop. "Did he see you?"
"Looked right through me. Just another first-year. Nobody important." Kagayaku's jaw tightened. "He was laughing with his friends about something. Looked... normal. Happy. Like his father didn't murder two people for insurance money."
"Maybe he doesn't know," Shōgeki suggested. "About what his father did. Maybe his family lied to him. Still though you needed to break somebody connected to those killers. And he's perfect, and that's just what your doing. Nice! And somebody who does not deserve to live on money your family worked hard for in the first place. And money that you see as the last gift they left for you. I can see that all in your eyes. A gift he does not deserve to keep... only you."
"Maybe." Kagayaku's black stars pulsed. "But even if he doesn't know the details, he knows about the money. The inheritance his father was after. That's the part that'll bring him to me eventually."
"How much longer are you going to wait?"
"Until I'm ready. Until I'm strong enough, smart enough, positioned well enough that when we finally collide, until I'm the one who walks away with the red flag. Not that fucking moron." He looked at her directly. "How long have you been searching for your parents' killers?"
"Nine years. Since I was seven." Shōgeki's fingers found her scarf automatically. "I have descriptions but no names. Three adults in masks. Could be anyone. Could be dead themselves by now. Could have left the country. And for me, my targets are all the ones apart of my crime. Because I see them all as my main targets all together. Because for me, I never show mercy to filthy killers. Especially when they kill my beloved family."
"But you keep searching."
"What else am I supposed to do? Move on? Forgive?" Her eyes flashed crimson. "They shot my parents in front of me. My mother died trying to protect me. My father took a bullet meant for me. I don't get to move on from that. I will have my revenge."
Kagayaku understood completely. "Same. My mother bled out in my arms. My father was stabbed protecting me. Moving on would be betraying them."
"Exactly." Shōgeki closed her laptop. "So we keep planning. Keep preparing. Keep pretending to be normal students while building ourselves into weapons."
"How's that going for you?" "Terribly." She smiled without humor. "You?" "Same." They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, two people who'd found understanding in shared brokenness.
"There's something else," Shōgeki said eventually. "I've been getting... watched. Feeling it. Like someone's tracking me." Kagayaku's attention sharpened. "Paranoia or actual surveillance?"
"Don't know. Could be nothing. Could be someone who knows what I am." She met his eyes. "What we are. Reincarnated. Planning revenge. Operating outside normal life's parameters."
"Have you seen anyone specific? Or just a feeling?"
"Just a feeling. But my instincts kept me alive in my first life until they didn't, and they've kept me alive in this one so far." She paused. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Kagayaku considered lying, then remembered their agreement. Honesty, always, even when uncomfortable.
"Yeah. For the past week. Like eyes on my back. I've checked for physical surveillance—nothing. No one following me, no cameras I can spot. But the feeling persists."
"Another reincarnated soul?" Shōgeki suggested. "Someone like us, drawn to others like them?"
"Maybe. Or someone studying us. Researching reincarnation, tracking cases." Kagayaku's mind raced through possibilities. "The Hoshino twins were famous. Their case was public. If someone was researching reincarnation patterns, they'd start there. After all, their cases seemed just that strange connected to other deaths in the publics eyes. I'm also surprised nothing major about that has popped up, which means we're safe for now. But considering what the public can do when a case like ours gets famous... let's just say things would get annoying real fast."
"And if they found Aqua, they'd look for others."
"Which leads them to us." Kagayaku stood, pacing. "Two students at the same school, both with a public tragedy in their backgrounds in the most unusual way both afterwards and before the incidents—"
"Both exhibiting behaviors too strange," Shōgeki finished. "Yeah, we'd stand out to anyone looking for patterns." "So what do we do?"
"Same thing we've been doing. Keep our heads down. Keep performing normalcy. And if someone approaches us..." Shōgeki's hand drifted to her bag, where Kagayaku knew she kept pepper spray and a knife. "We assess whether they're threat or opportunity."
Kagayaku nodded slowly. The paranoia was setting in, he realized. The awareness that their secrets might not be as secret as they'd hoped.
But maybe that's good, he thought. Maybe we need someone else who understands. Someone who's survived what we're trying to survive. Or maybe it's just another way to die.
[THAT EVENING - SHIBUYA STATION]
Kagayaku had agreed to meet Shōgeki at Shibuya Station at 7 PM, ostensibly to study together at a nearby café. Actually to continue their ongoing education in each other's revenge plans and survival strategies.
He arrived early, standing in the famous scramble crossing, watching thousands of people flow past like a human river. Tokyo at night was a different city—neon and noise, loneliness disguised as connection, everyone performing their role in the great metropolitan theater.
"Hoshino-kun." Kagayaku turned sharply. A kid around his age stood there—second-year by his uniform, familiar in a way that made Kagayaku's stomach drop.
Makoto Hoshino. His cousin. His target. Standing three feet away in Shibuya crossing, smiling pleasantly.
"Sorry, you look like you're waiting for someone. I'm Makoto, second-year at Yoto. You're the new transfer student everyone's been talking about, right? Kagayaku?"
He knows my name. He's approached me. This wasn't supposed to happen yet. Kagayaku's mind raced, but his face remained perfectly neutral. The mask he'd spent twelve years building slid into place effortlessly.
"That's me," he said with a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you, Makoto-senpai."
"Just Makoto is fine. We're all pretty casual at Yoto." Makoto's eyes—ordinary brown, no stars, no indication of anything unusual—swept over Kagayaku with what seemed like innocent curiosity. "Your eyes are really striking. Blue like that is rare in Japan."
"Genetic. My mother had them." My mother you never met because your father helped murder her. "That's cool. Hey, some of us second-years are grabbing food nearby. Want to join? Good way to make friends at a new school."
This is a test. He's watching me out. Does he know who I am? Or is this genuinely random? "Thanks for the offer," Kagayaku said carefully, "but I'm actually meeting someone. Study session."
"Ah, the student council kid with the red scarf, right? I've seen you two together." Makoto's smile didn't change, but something in his eyes sharpened slightly. "You guys friends?"
"Just friends. She's been helping me adjust to the school."
"That's Burst for you. Super helpful." Makoto checked his phone casually. "Well, if you change your mind, we'll be at the ramen place on the corner. Open invitation."
"Thanks. Maybe another time." "Sure thing. See you around, Kagayaku." Makoto walked away, rejoining a group of friends who'd been waiting nearby.
Kagayaku watched him go, his heart pounding despite his calm exterior. His black stars were threatening to surface, and he had to concentrate to keep them hidden. He knows. He has to know. The way he mentioned my eyes, my mother. That wasn't random. Or I'm being paranoid. Seeing patterns that don't exist. "What was that about?"
Shōgeki appeared beside him, her red scarf whipping in the evening wind. She'd seen the interaction, had hung back deliberately. "That was Makoto," Kagayaku said quietly. "My cousin. My target."
Shōgeki's eyes widened slightly. "He just... approached you? Randomly?"
"Nothing about that was random." Kagayaku turned, leading them away from the crossing. "He knew my name. Mentioned my eyes. Brought up my mother. And he specifically mentioned you—that he's seen us together."
"So he's watching us."
"Or someone told him about us. Or it was genuinely coincidental and I'm reading too much into it." Kagayaku ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't tell. That's the problem. I've spent so long watching him from a distance, I don't know how to read him up close."
They found a quiet café away from the main streets, settled into a back corner booth where they could talk without being overheard. "What do you want to do?" Shōgeki asked once they had coffee in front of them—neither actually drinking, just props for normalcy.
"I don't know. This wasn't supposed to happen yet. I wasn't ready for direct contact." Kagayaku's hands clenched around his untouched cup. "I had a plan. A timeline. Years of preparation before confrontation."
"Plans change. Timelines adjust." Shōgeki leaned forward. "The question is: do you think he knows who you are? Not just your name, but who you actually are to him?"
Kagayaku thought about Makoto's smile, his casual questions, the way he'd mentioned things that could be innocent or could be probing. "I don't know," he admitted finally. "And that's terrifying. Not knowing if I'm the hunter being hunted, or if I'm just paranoid."
"Welcome to revenge," Shōgeki said with dark humor. "Where every interaction could be genuine or deadly, and you won't know which until it's too late."
"How do you live like this?" "Poorly." She touched her scarf. "Very, very poorly." They sat in silence, two teenagers drinking cooling coffee, both carrying heavy weight.
Outside, Tokyo continued its endless performance—lights and noise and millions of people pretending everything was fine. Inside, Kagayaku felt the carefully constructed walls of his revenge plan beginning to show cracks.
Makoto knows something. The question is what, and how much time do I have before he acts on it? His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number:
"Interesting conversation at Shibuya crossing. You handled it well. But Makoto Hoshino is more dangerous than you think. Meet me if you want to understand what you're really up against. Old theater, 5th and Nakamura. Midnight tonight. Come alone. - A Friend"
Kagayaku stared at the message, his black stars threatening to surface. Someone had been watching. Someone knew about the interaction. Someone wanted to meet.
He showed the message to Shōgeki. Her eyes flashed crimson as she read it. "I got the same message. Different wording, but same meeting." "So someone's tracking both of us."
"And they know about Makoto. About the danger." Shōgeki looked up. "We going?" "It's obviously a trap." "Obviously." "We could die." "We've both died before." Her smile was sharp. "What's one more time?"
Kagayaku felt something like relief flood through him. Having an ally—someone who understood the insanity and chose to walk into it anyway—made the darkness slightly more bearable.
"Okay," he said. "Midnight. The old theater. We go together." "Armed?" "Heavily." "Good." Shōgeki raised her coffee cup in mock toast. "To terrible decisions and the traumatized teenagers who make them."
Kagayaku clinked his cup against hers. "To finding out if we're the hunters or the prey." They drank the cold coffee, made plans, prepared for midnight. Outside, Tokyo's night deepened.
And somewhere in that darkness, someone was watching, waiting, knowing things about them that they didn't know about themselves. The game was changing. The question was whether they'd survive the new rules.
TO BE CONTINUED... [Next Episode: "The Theater of Truth"]