Chapter 4 — Rain Day
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Scene 1 — 8:30 AM. The Path to the Lecture Hall.
The day was sunny.
This was the first thing worth noting, because Kenny was using it as an opportunity to continue his lecture about the camel that hadn't stopped for two weeks.
Kenny (walking ahead, hands moving as if explaining a physics theory):
"Anyway, the camel said to me in the dream: 'I think you're confusing mass with volume, Mr. Carlos.' Then he said: 'Quantum physics explains the relationship between subatomic particles, but it doesn't explain why you eat so fast.'"
Leo (walking beside him, trying to look interested): "...The camel told you that you eat fast?"
Kenny: "Yes! And it got me thinking. If I were a camel, would I study physics or chemistry?"
Jenny (from behind, without looking up from her phone): "If you were a camel, you'd eat leaves and shut up."
Kenny (turning to her): "That's discriminatory! Camels are noble animals!"
Tara (walking beside Leo, laughing quietly): "I think the camel was genuinely interested in you. Most dreams don't have that kind of detail."
Kenny (stopping suddenly): "That's right! The camel cared about me! Do you know what that means?"
Leo (carefully): "...What does it mean?"
Kenny: "It means I'm special!"
Jenny (without looking up): "That's what we've been saying about you from the start. Special in a unique way."
Kenny: "Thank you— wait, that's not a compliment."
Jenny: "No."
Tara (laughing more): "I think it is a compliment."
Leo (smiling): "Me too."
Kenny (looking at all of them): "You're not serious."
Leo: "We've always been serious."
Jenny: "Especially about the camel."
They entered the lecture hall still laughing.
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Scene 2 — 4:30 PM. The Basement , the next day
The same place. Same concrete walls. Same pipes along the ceiling. Same orange emergency light that doesn't look like any light in the world.
Iruki stood in the middle, as if he'd never left the night before. His clothes were simple, gray, unremarkable. His face was calm, as always.
They filed in one by one. Leo first, then Tara, then Kenny, then Jenny. The door closed behind them.
Iruki (after a short silence): "I'm Iruki."
He waited. Nothing else.
Kenny (after a moment): "We know your name."
Iruki: "You know my name. You don't know who I am."
Silence. They looked at him. He wasn't speaking in a threatening way, but in the way someone draws a line.
Iruki: "I have no powers. I have no family. I'm an ordinary man who appeared at the right time. That's all you need to know about me."
Jenny: "That's nothing."
Iruki (a small smile): "It's the only thing I have. The rest is what I know."
Tara: "What do you know?"
Iruki: "I know what's coming for you. I know how to prepare you. I know that time is not on your side."
Leo: "What's coming for us?"
Iruki looked at him. A long, evaluating look, as if reading something in Leo's eyes that others couldn't see.
Iruki: "Your enemy"
He said it quietly, as if saying "the sky is blue" or "it will rain later." But the word hung in the air.
Iruki:" his name is Kurayami."
The name fell like a rock into the water; a long silence filled the room.
Iruki: "He's 415 years old. Not human, not in the way you understand it. His power is darkness. Everyone who dies by his hand makes him stronger. He's killed countless people. He stopped. Corrected himself. "a Bloodline tried to stop him eight times. Eight times they failed."
Silence. No one spoke.
Jenny (in a low voice): "Eight times?"
Iruki: "Eight generations. Generation after generation. All of them tried. All of them failed."
Kenny: "And us?"
Iruki (looking at Leo): "You're the ninth. Your mission is simple: Kill Kurayami. End the curses. Save the future."
That was all.
Leo (after a pause): "Why us?"
Iruki looked at him. A long look. He didn't answer.
Leo: "Why the four of us? Why not someone else? Why now?"
Iruki (quietly): "That's a question you'll have to answer for yourselves."
Kenny: "That's not an answer."
Iruki (smiling slightly):
"It's the only one I have. Now, training starts the day after tomorrow. Dawn. A few hours before your lectures. You'll go back to your dorms and get some sleep before class."
Jenny: "How many hours of sleep?"
Iruki: "A few. Enough."
Kenny: "A few hours isn't enough."
Iruki: "It will become enough."
Iruki stood, walked to the door, then stopped for a moment.
Iruki (without turning around):
"Don't talk about this to anyone. Not your families. Not your friends. Not anyone outside this room."
He opened the door. Disappeared.
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Scene 3 — 11:30 AM. The Next Day. Campus.
Leo was waiting for Kenny outside the main building. The lecture had ended minutes ago, and students were streaming out of the halls. He was looking for Kenny when he heard his voice.
Kenny (from a distance, loud): "Leo! Leo!"
Leo looked toward the sound. He saw Kenny standing in the middle of the hallway, standing in front of Jack — the tall student who had tried to take Tara's notes by force weeks ago. Jack was smiling a smile that meant nothing good.
Kenny (laughing nervously): "Leo! My friend! Leo!"
Jack (in a low voice): "Your friend?"
Kenny: "Yes! My closest friend! He was about to pass by here. Now. Right now. See? He's here!"
Leo arrived. He stood beside Kenny. Looked at Jack.
Jack (looking at Leo, his smile unchanged): "You're always here."
Leo: "I'm here often."
Jack: "Your friend was trying to convince me that camels can study quantum physics."
Leo: "He believes in camels."
Jack (laughing shortly): "He's an idiot."
Kenny: "I'm not an idiot! I'm a visionary!"
Leo (quietly): "Do you need something?"
Jack looked at him. Leo hadn't raised his voice. He hadn't threatened. He hadn't moved closer. He stood where he was, looking at Jack as if he saw nothing that needed confronting.
Jack (after a moment): "No. I don't need anything."
He walked away. He didn't look back.
Kenny (after he left): "I was going to handle him."
Leo (looking at him): "You were going to do what?"
Kenny: "I was going to... explain quantum physics to him."
Leo (smiling): "I'm sure."
Kenny: "And he would have understood! Then he would have become our friend! Then he would stop bullying people! Everything with physics!"
Leo: "Kenny, the only camel you believe in is in your dream."
Kenny (walking beside him): "That's what you think."
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Scene 4 — 2:15 PM. University Plaza.
Students were scattered everywhere. Some sat on stone benches, some talked in groups, some hurried toward their lectures. Then the sound came.
Not a sound. Something else. A feeling. A feeling that something wasn't where it should be. Students looked at the sky. It was blue. They looked at the ground. It was normal. But the feeling remained.
Then they saw it.
The spider.
It wasn't large in the ordinary sense. It was enormous. Its body covered part of the east building. Its eight legs moved slowly, as if searching for something. Its color was dark gray, nearly invisible against the shadows of the buildings, but it was there. And it was moving.
Screaming.
Students scattered in every direction. Some ran toward buildings, some froze in place, some screamed without knowing why. The spider didn't attack. It was just walking. But its size was enough.
Leo (whispering to Jenny): "The suits."
Jenny (whispering back): "I know."
They scattered. Each headed to a hiding place — behind a building, in a side alley, behind a large tree. The seconds stretched. Then they returned.
Leo appeared first. His black and gray suit, the two swords on his back. Jenny appeared seconds later, her kamas in her hands. Kenny and Tara arrived together, one panting, the other holding her ice staff.
The spider (didn't speak, but stopped moving. Like it was waiting.)
Kenny (whispering): "Is it thinking?"
Jenny: "It doesn't matter."
She attacked first. Her kamas cut off one leg. The spider seemed hurt — or seemed to be hurt — but it didn't attack. It turned slowly.
Tara: "It wants to run."
Leo: "We don't let it."
Jenny: "Easier said than done."
The spider leaped. Not flying exactly, but jumping. A very large jump. It landed on the roof of the neighboring building. Tara launched an ice wall in front of it; it crashed into it and retreated.
Kenny: "Let's go!"
He ran. But his feet weren't used to combat yet. He slipped on the ice Tara had made. Fell. Got up. Fell again.
Jenny (shouting): "Kenny!"
Kenny (from the ground): "I'm fine! I'm fine! Just... the ice is slippery!"
Tara (blushing): "Sorry!"
Jenny: "Don't apologize! Focus!"
Leo: "I need to reach its body. Its core."
Jenny: "How do we reach it when it's on the roof?!"
Tara: "I can make an ice bridge."
Kenny (finally standing): "Or I can lift it!"
Everyone looked at him.
Kenny: "I mean... water. I can lift it with water. If there's enough water."
Jenny: "There's no water here!"
Kenny: "I have some."
He raised his hands. Droplets of water began to gather around him — from the air, from the ground, from the ice Tara had made. They gathered into a large sphere. A very large sphere. Then he pushed it toward the spider.
The spider flew. Not by choice. The water pushed it. It crashed into the plaza in front of them.
Leo: "Now!"
He ran. The two swords in his hands. The spider tried to move, but Jenny cut off another leg. Tara froze two more. Kenny was still trying to stand.
Leo reached it. The swords cut through the core. Green light came from his hands, from the swords, from everything. The spider disappeared. Nothing remained.
Kenny (from the ground, panting): "I... I lifted it."
Jenny (looking at him): "You fell four times."
Kenny: "But I lifted it."
Tara (smiling): "You lifted it."
Leo (putting the swords on his back, looking at the sky): "It wasn't strong."
Jenny: "It was huge."
Leo: "But it wasn't strong. Like... a test."
Kenny (standing): "A test for what?"
Leo (after a moment): "I don't know."
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Scene 5 — 6:15 PM. Outside Campus.
The rain started suddenly.
Not like usual — there were no dark clouds, no wind. The sky had been clear minutes ago. Then the rain began. Light at first, then heavy. People ran for shelter. Taxis stopped. Umbrellas opened.
Jenny (standing under a tree, looking at her phone): "My mom is waiting. I have to go."
Leo: "Get home safe."
Jenny: "Always."
She walked quickly. Before she left, she turned for a moment.
Jenny: "Today was... funny."
Kenny (from under a nearby tree): "I made it funny!"
Jenny: "You made it funny."
She laughed. Walked away.
Kenny (looking at the rain): "I don't have an umbrella."
Alex (appearing suddenly beside him, umbrella in hand): "Here."
Kenny: "Where did you come from?!"
Alex: "I was in the library. I heard a giant spider appeared on campus."
Kenny: "Spider? I don't know anything about a spider."
Alex (looking at him): "Of course not."
They walked together. Alex holding the umbrella, Kenny running beside him to stay under it.
Hashiro was walking on the opposite side. His umbrella in his hand, his steps slow, not seeming to be in a hurry. He passed by Fuyota, who was also walking with her umbrella, smiling quietly.
Fuyota (looking at the sky): "Rain is beautiful."
Hashiro didn't answer. But he slowed his steps slightly. Walked beside her. Didn't speak. Didn't look at her. But he was there.
Kyuki was walking in the other direction. Her umbrella in one hand, her baseball bat in the other. The rain was wetting her shoulders, but she wasn't hurrying.
Leo (looking at Tara): "You're still here."
Tara (looking at her phone): "My dad will be late. He said he'd finish late today."
Leo: "Do you want to wait with me?"
Tara (looking up at him): "What... what do you mean?"
Leo: "I have an umbrella. We can wait together. If you want."
She was silent. The rain was washing everything around them. Students had left. The streets were almost empty.
Tara (quietly): "Yes. I want to."
They walked together. His umbrella covering them both.
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Scene 6 — 7:00 PM. Jackson Residence.
O'Hara (opening the door before Jenny could knock): "Jenny! You're soaked!"
Jenny: "Mom, I'm fine—"
O'Hara (taking her bag, drying her hair with a towel): "I told you to take an umbrella. I told you this morning. I said—"
Jenny (smiling despite herself): "I forgot."
O'Hara: "You always forget. Come in. Dinner is getting cold."
Jenny (entering the house, her voice softer): "Mom."
O'Hara: "Yes?"
Jenny: "I'm fine. Really."
O'Hara (pausing for a moment, looking at her, then returning to the kitchen): "I know. But I want to make sure."
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Scene 7 — 7:15 PM. Kenny's Apartment.
The room was small. Neat. On the couch, Kenny sat, his feet on the small table. The TV was playing a show about animals. On the table, a tray of food — takeout from the nearby restaurant, still warm.
Kenny (to himself): "Today was a good day."
He ate. Looked at the TV. On the show, a camel was eating leaves from a tree.
Kenny: "That's you."
He laughed. Ate more. The apartment was quiet. But he wasn't alone. He was with himself, and that was enough.
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Scene 8 — 7:30 PM. Raijin Residence.
Leo opened the door. He was still trying to dry his hair with a napkin when the door opened from inside.
Luan didn't wait. She hugged him.
Leo (frozen): "Mom?"
Luan didn't speak. She held him tightly. Like she needed to make sure he was there.
Lan (putting his hand on Leo's shoulder): "Luan. You'll get him wet."
Luan (not letting go): "Let me."
Kora (launching herself from behind, hugging all three together): "Family!"
Leo (his voice muffled between their arms): "Kora... you can't breathe..."
Kora: "Family doesn't need to breathe!"
Luan (laughing. Finally letting go): "Come in. I'll get you food."
Leo (entering the house, looking at his mother, his father, his sister): "I'm fine."
Lan: "We know."
Kora: "But Mom was worried."
Luan (from the kitchen): "I wasn't worried. I was sure you'd come back."
Leo (sitting on the couch, his hair still wet, but smiling): "I'm here."
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Scene 9 — 7:45 PM. Konaro's House.
Kyuki opened the door. The house was warm. The light was dim, but it was enough. On the couch, Konaro, her father sat, reading a book.
Konaro (looking up): "You're back."
Kyuki: "I'm back."
She took off her shoes. Walked toward her room. Then stopped. Returned to the living room.
Kyuki: "Dad."
Konaro ( freezes for a moment ): "....Yes?"
Kyuki (taking out her phone, opening a photo): "Who is this?"
The photo was Leo. On campus. Taken from a distance. His dark green hair, his green eyes, his smile that didn't look like anyone else's.
Konaro looked at the photo. Froze. His eyes widened for a moment. Then returned to their usual calm.
Konaro: "I don't know him."
Kyuki: "But you looked at him for a long time."
Konaro: "He reminded me of someone I knew. But I don't know him."
Kyuki (closing her phone): "Okay."
She went up to her room. Konaro stayed where he was. Looking at the wall. Then closed his eyes.
He didn't say anything else , He won't ,But in fact, he knows him.
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Scene 10 — 9:00 PM. Somewhere the Rain Doesn't Reach.
No windows. Or maybe windows. But they reflect nothing.
Kurayami sat. Not on a chair. Not on the ground. Like he was part of the shadow. still in his shadow, his yellow eyes are still glowing faintly
His hand was in his pocket. He took out a coin. Turned it between his fingers. He didn't look at it. He looked at the emptiness.
White sits beside him, watching the news on the simple television in front of them, her eyes narrowing whenever Hawkman utters the word "heroes."
A voice (from the shadow, or from his body, or from the place itself): "They're starting."
The coin stopped between his fingers.
The voice: "Training. Fighting. Growing."
A faint smile. Not cold. Not warm. Just there.
The voice: "I'll give them time."
White: why?
He put the coin back in his pocket. Closed his eyes.
The voice: "don't worry, It won't be long."
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End of Chapter 4 — Rain Day
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