Chapter 1: The Weight of Glory
Show what Kaito is about to lose.
The roar of the stadium was like thunder that rumbled in Kaito's chest.
The ball seemed to obey his every thought as he crossed the court.
He was just one step away from the National Team, the dream for which his friends had celebrated so many nights.
Upon leaving the university, he saw them: his usual group, the ones who were there through the bad times, laughing and waiting for him with a banner.
Kaito did not know that the light that surrounded them was the last flash before an eternal darkness. In the middle of the crowd, a new figure appeared.
It was Lisa. Her smile was perfect, but her eyes had the coldness of a grave.
Lisa gains everyone's trust while she prepares the trap.
Lisa moved among the group of friends like a snake in the grass.
"It's so hard to be here alone," she said with a voice that melted any suspicion.
Kaito, always protective, opened the doors of his world to her.
However, while they shared laughs and future plans, Lisa took mental notes.
She needed a scapegoat, a famous face that would hide the shadow of her true lover: a criminal from the slums.
"Kaito is perfect," she thought while she feigned shyness. "He is so bright that his fall will blind everyone."
One day Kaito is resting at his house after a great match that he had to play, a message from Lisa shined on the screen: "Kaito, go to the parking lot, I have a gift for you."
But the "gift" was a scene from hell.
When Kaito arrived, the smell of iron and death hit him head-on.
His friends were there, but they were no longer them; they were shadows stretched out on the cold asphalt.
The killers had not just settled for taking their lives.
With a cold laugh, one of them spat on the body of his best friend, while another, in an act of absolute contempt, humiliated the corpses in front of Kaito's horrified eyes.
Kaito's world was dyed red.
It wasn't soccer, it wasn't university; it was pure survival.
He launched himself against them with his fists charged with a fury he never knew he had.
Just when Kaito's knuckles impacted against the face of a killer, the sirens tore through the night.
But they were not coming to save him.
The officers came down with weapons raised, pointing directly at the national "hero."
—He is Angie! He killed them! —Lisa's scream was like a dagger of ice.
Kaito froze.
Lisa was there, hugging herself, feigning terror.
She approached him while he was being handcuffed and, with a voice that only he could hear, permeated with venom, she sobbed so everyone could hear her: "My love, why did you do it? I didn't want to believe that you were a killer... but you went crazy."
In that instant, something inside Kaito broke.
It was not just his heart; it was his humanity. His eyes, previously bright from the sport, became dark like the abyss.
