The parking garage lights flickered like dying stars.
One floor.
Then another.
Then another.
Kenji stood in the street, rainwater pooling around his bare feet as he watched the concrete structure across the road.
Shapes moved between the pillars.
More than one.
More than ten.
Still silhouettes.
Still human-shaped.
Still casting no shadow.
Kenji exhaled slowly.
"Well," he said quietly.
"That escalated quickly."
The shadow beside him remained perfectly still.
But the air around them felt heavier now.
Like pressure building before a storm.
Kenji glanced down at the attacker's body lying on the pavement.
Or what used to be his body.
It looked empty.
Drained.
Like something essential had been removed.
Kenji nudged it lightly with his foot.
"No pulse?"
The shadow answered inside his mind.
He is alive.
Kenji raised an eyebrow.
"Define alive."
He still breathes.
Kenji crouched down and studied the man's face.
The eyes stared upward, unfocused.
Empty.
"Brain?"
Uncertain.
Kenji stood again.
"That seems inconvenient for him."
Across the street—
one of the figures stepped forward.
Not down the stairs.
Not through the entrance.
Just forward.
From the edge of the rooftop.
Kenji frowned.
"Please tell me he's not about to jump."
The figure stepped off the edge.
For a brief moment—
gravity took him.
Then the darkness beneath him twisted.
The shadow stretched out from the garage wall like a net.
The falling figure landed on it.
Softly.
Effortlessly.
The shadow lowered him the rest of the way to the ground.
Kenji watched the entire thing calmly.
"Huh."
The man now stood on the sidewalk across from him.
Tall.
Thin.
Wearing a long dark coat that didn't move in the wind.
His face was pale under the streetlights.
But the pavement beneath him remained perfectly empty.
Still no shadow.
Kenji gave a small nod.
"You must be management."
The man ignored the comment.
His eyes focused on the towering shadow beside Kenji.
Recognition flashed across his face.
And something else.
Concern.
"Step away from it," the man said quietly.
Kenji blinked.
"That's not how introductions usually go."
The man didn't look at him.
His attention stayed on the shadow.
"That entity does not belong in this world."
Kenji sighed.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
The man's voice hardened.
"You crossed the boundary."
Kenji spread his hands slightly.
"Not intentionally."
"That does not matter."
The man slowly raised one hand.
The shadows beneath the surrounding buildings shifted.
Kenji noticed immediately.
Every shadow nearby began creeping toward the street.
Dozens of them.
Flowing like dark rivers across the asphalt.
Kenji glanced at the towering silhouette beside him.
"Friends of yours?"
The shadow said nothing.
But it stepped forward.
One slow step.
The shadows approaching from every direction stopped instantly.
Like prey recognizing a predator.
The man across the street narrowed his eyes.
"You don't understand what that thing is."
Kenji tilted his head.
"You're right."
The man took a step closer.
Rain began falling again suddenly.
Harder than before.
"It's not your shadow."
Kenji waited.
The man pointed directly at the towering silhouette.
"That thing…"
His voice lowered.
"…is the one that guards the door you escaped."
Kenji stared at the shadow beside him.
Then back at the man.
"You're telling me the gatekeeper followed me home?"
The man didn't answer.
Kenji rubbed the back of his neck.
"That seems like a design flaw."
The man's expression darkened.
"Return it."
Kenji blinked.
"Return it?"
The man's eyes burned with authority.
"Send it back where it belongs."
Kenji glanced sideways at the towering silhouette.
It stood calmly beside him.
Silent.
Watching.
Kenji looked back at the man.
"I would."
He paused.
"But I'm not sure it wants to leave."
The shadow slowly turned its head toward the group on the parking garage.
For the first time—
Kenji felt something deep inside it.
Not anger.
Not hunger.
Something colder.
Older.
The man across the street suddenly went still.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"…that's not possible."
Kenji followed his gaze.
The shadow had begun to grow.
Not taller.
Deeper.
Like darkness thickening into something solid.
Kenji sighed quietly.
"Well," he muttered.
"I think it just made a decision."