HEAVEN'S DAWN

I used to think fear was loud - screaming, running, begging the gods to look down for once.

I was wrong.

Fear is quiet. It’s the sound of your own breath scraping your throat as you lie at the bottom of a deep, dried-up well, praying the warmth dripping onto your face is rain, and not someone you’ve known since childhood.

I wake choking on a scream that never quite leaves my throat.

My heart is already hammering, my ribs aching as if I’ve been running. The dark presses close, familiar and suffocating. My room. My futon, damp beneath me.

A safe place.

Still, the smell lingers.

I sit up slowly and listen to the house breathe around me - wood settling, paper whispering, distant creaks that almost sound like footsteps. Familiar sounds. Safe sounds. I press my forehead to my knees and count each breath until my hands stop shaking.

“Just a dream.”

Dreams can be cruel. They can steal your village, your neighbours, your dead, and parade them past you wearing masks of truth.

Rot and iron. The ash still clings to the back of my tongue.

In the dream, dusk swallows the Torii whole. The sky hangs low and bruised, like a wound that will not close. The temple bell stands crooked against it, cracked by some violence I never saw.

The crows leave first.

Every last one tears itself from the shrine roof in a single breath, wings beating panic into the air. The street falls silent after that. Too silent. Even the cicadas are gone.

I can hear my own fear thinking.

Then the bell rings, deep and thick, heavy with something I have no name for.

That is when the gate opens.

Not splintered. Not forced.

Opened.

The thing that steps through wears a shape it seems to only half understand. Too tall. Too broad. Its limbs bend the wrong way, pause, then bend again the right way, the joints clicking softly - as if it is assembling itself, slowly, with patience.

Its skin looks borrowed.

It smiles at nothing. And I am certain it is smiling at me.

We run.

Dreams don’t linger like this, I tell myself. But this one does.

I swing my legs off the futon and nearly fall. My hands are shaking. They don’t feel like mine yet.

I laugh, soft and stupid, because laughing is better than screaming.

“Get it together,” I whisper into the dark.

I splash water on my face and watch my reflection ripple and break apart. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Alive.

I wait for the smell to fade.

It doesn’t.

“Seriously. That nightmare really did a number on me.”

To think a dream could leave me this shaken. I can’t help but laugh again.

I remember falling into a deep, dried-up well, of all places. I just can’t remember how.

I can still feel the cold stone against my spine, still hear the chaos unravelling somewhere above the pit. Something warm splashed onto my face, and I was too afraid to open my eyes.

I swallow hard.

Someone called my name in a crooked voice. Almost not a voice at all.

The part that hurt most wasn’t the screaming. It wasn’t the blood.

It was knowing I couldn’t make myself look.

Then came the sound of metal parting something wet. Something cutting the air. An animal screech. And after that, nothing but fire settling into ash - and someone I couldn’t see, murmuring to themselves.

I wanted to scream for help. No sound would come.

The fear had wrung me dry. When I finally looked up, dawn was bleeding grey into the sky.

And beneath me - a warm body.

A young girl.

Someone I once called my friend.

Behind the thin walls, the floor creaks - someone’s coming. I step out of the washroom.

“Good morning. Yuuna, you look a bit pale. Are you feeling alright?”

I cross paths with my older sister, Lena, as she gazes down at me.

“It’s nothing. Just a bad dream.”

Her violet eyes - striking against the straight, dark bob framing her pale face - fill with concern.

“Was it the same one again? They’re getting quite frequent.”

I confirm with a small nod.

“I was on my way to wake you up. We’re going to be late.”

Oh shoot! I forgot to check the time!

I rush back to my room and throw on my academy uniform: a cream kosode under dark navy pleated hakama, my brown haori thrown over both. A voice echoes from the front of the house before I can finish tying everything properly.

“Hurry up! You’re taking forever!”

That’s my other older sister, Charlotte. The middle child. She gets on my nerves sometimes - and she’s one to talk, since she oversleeps constantly. Why does she get to yell at me for oversleeping just once?

I stomp to the doorway, slide my feet into wooden clogs, and step outside.

Sunlight greets us immediately. It spills over the rooftops and warms my cheeks like an apology for the night before.

Villagers are already awake. Someone is arguing over fish prices. A cart rolls past, wheels creaking lazily. A dog darts between two houses with something stolen in its mouth.

It feels normal. Alive.

“Let’s get moving,” Lena says, adjusting the strap of her bag. “We’re already cutting it close.”

“Yes, commander,” Charlotte sighs dramatically.

I almost smile.

“How was your beauty sleep?” Charlotte nudges me. “You look like you fought a demon and lost.”

“Good to know I look charming as always.”

She squints at me. “Debatable.”

That gets a small laugh out of me. It feels… nice. Like I can almost forget the dream.

My skin is a little darker than most people’s in the village, so when I look unwell, it stands out - especially beside my blonde hair. My sisters never let me forget it.

Charlotte has the same warm complexion, though her ash-black hair falls past her waist in a loose half-up style. She somehow manages to look composed even when she has only just dragged herself out of bed.

I do wish I had eyes like hers, though - the crimson of a spider lily.

We’ve only taken a few steps when my gaze drifts toward the gate across the village.

It slowly opens.

Just like in my dream.

A small flash of memory grips me. But the gate opens all the time - it’s a normal occurrence.

And monsters only live in dreams.

The streets are lined with wooden houses, floors packed with hardened earth and topped with thatched roofs. Sliding doors seal their openings. Most buildings here look the same.

We pass an old house with a weathered sword stand visible beyond its open door. The sheathed katana resting there looks more like an heirloom than something anyone carries through the streets.

I try not to stare, but fail.

I’ve always wanted to hold a katana. The swordsmen in old stories move with such calm certainty, as though fear has to ask permission before touching them.

Maybe someone still teaches that kind of discipline. Maybe they would laugh if I asked.

…Still worth asking someday.

Lost in that little fantasy, I bump into someone and knock them over.

A terrible odor hits me - like rotting garbage.

But that’s not it.

It’s a young boy, staring at me with an expression that looks like it wants something. His clothes are filthy, worn thin. Dirt streaks his skin, and bruises darken his arms.

I’ve seen him around before, always alone, always hovering near places where food might be discarded.

What does he want? Help?

I don’t want to be cruel.

But I don’t want to deal with this either.

As I scramble to gather my thoughts, a heavy pressure settles over me. I glance around and realise I’m at the centre of several pairs of watching eyes.

Some look disgusted. Others merely look away, as though noticing him would make his hunger their responsibility.

Their negativity seeps into me. My pulse rises. My hands tremble.

Please stop looking. I can’t deal with this many eyes on me.

“There, there. Take this - and share with your friends too. Alright?”

Lena crouches beside the boy and offers him her entire lunch without hesitation. She doesn’t spare a glance at the bystanders.

I can breathe again.

The boy springs up, bowing repeatedly before running off into the crowd, clutching his prize. Lena turns back to me with a gentle smile, checking if I’m alright.

My eldest sister is kind.

Sometimes too kind.

The circle of onlookers disperses, returning to their routines as if nothing happened.

“Was it alright to give him your food?” I ask as Lena straightens.

“Would you rather leave him to starve?”

She answers back with a question.

I don’t respond, because I probably would have.

“Just so you know,” Charlotte adds her usual greedy remark, “I’m not giving you any of mine.”

I wonder if the kid will be alright.

Miyama has no written rule for children like him. It doesn’t need one.

Here, a person’s household matters. Family, work, reputation - all of it decides whether others consider you worth helping. Someone without any of those things can disappear in plain sight.

My sisters and I lost our parents years ago, but we still have our home, each other, and a name people recognise. That alone separates us from him more than I like admitting.

The boy has none of that. Or at least, no one willing to claim him.

People tell different stories when they bother speaking about him at all.

That he ran away. That his family died. That someone in another household should take responsibility.

Every version ends the same way.

Not ours.

Not our problem.

The school comes into view. It’s small. A bit rundown.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to attend a school somewhere else. Somewhere bigger.

Tokyo, maybe.

Then I hear it.

A thin metallic clang from one of the narrow alleyways between houses. It’s sharp and hollow. A very familiar sound.

I glance toward the sound and catch a flicker of movement before someone disappears around a corner.

Probably nothing. It’s always probably nothing.

Still…

My eyes drift to something farther down the alley - partially covered, motionless.

That wrong feeling curls low in my stomach.

I should just follow my sisters, yet I do the opposite.

Something about it pulls at me.

The rooftops above connect, casting the alley in shadow. Without thinking, I veer away from my sisters for a closer look.

What is that?

It’s covered with cloth, but it doesn’t look like garbage.

The alley smells wrong.

Not trash, nor rainwater.

Iron.

My foot lands in something wet and my gaze is dragged toward it.

My heart drops.

No.

No, no-

The cloth isn’t covering garbage! It’s covering someone!

My hands move before my mind can catch up. I pull the fabric back - and instantly regret it.

His eyes are still open, filled with confusion. Like he never understood why.

I recognise him instantly - it’s the boy from earlier. Lena’s lunch is scattered beside him, rice crushed into the dirt.

He didn’t even get to eat it.

Something climbs up my throat. I turn away, pressing my palm to the wall, forcing myself not to be sick.

It had only been a few minutes since he bowed—since my older sister made him smile.

If not for Lena, I probably would have left him to starve, like so many others in this village. Yet now I feel sorry for him.

Now -

“Yuuna! Where did you go?!”

Charlotte’s voice echoes faintly from the street.

I don’t answer.

If they see this… if Lena sees this-

I don’t know what that would do to her.

So I step back.

And then another step.

And I do the one thing this village has taught me to do best.

I walk away.

Because that’s the kind of society we live in.

Cruel and unforgiving. But mostly full of cowards.

———

“…with his death, the Meiji period came to an end, opening the door to our current era. That will be all for today. Class dismissed.”

We’ve just survived history class. And by survived, I mean barely.

I’ve never been that interested in the past of our country.

Well.

Except for dinosaurs.

I mean - giant monsters roaming the earth? That’s objectively cool. I don’t care what era you’re from. I wonder if they were really as big as the books say. Or if scholars just exaggerated because “very large lizard” doesn’t sell as well.

“What are you daydreaming about this time?”

I’m yanked out of my prehistoric fantasies by a familiar voice.

“Gotta be something important, right?”

Hidiku Hakryuu leans over my desk, blue eyes bright with curiosity. His black hair falls into his face, dramatic as always. If he stood under the night sky, he’d disappear—except for those ridiculous star-bright eyes.

“Dinosaurs,” I say.

“…Dinosaurs? Why?”

“Yes.”

He just stares at me.

Do I blame him?

Not at all.

He pulls a chair over and sits beside me, lowering his voice like we’re about to discuss state secrets. “Actually,” he says, “I wanted to ask you something.”

This better be good. I’ve already sacrificed enough brain cells to history.

“It’s about Lena.”

Of course it is.

He leans even closer, whispering so quietly I can barely hear him. It would be tragic if Lena overheard. Or anyone, really.

It’s kind of adorable.

“Yeah?” I reply, feigning perfect innocence. “What about her?”

He rubs the back of his neck. “What’s her favourite flower? And her favourite colour. I want to get it right this time.”

Ah. So we’re upgrading from mystery gift drops.

Because yes - every time he gives her something, he leaves it anonymously in her cubby. No note. No name.

Lena has no idea.

Nobody does.

Except me.

And his sister.

I give him a slow, mischievous smile.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask her yourself? Look, she’s right there.”

I point toward the back of the room, where Lena is chatting with Charlotte and Hidiku’s older sister, Himari. Their advanced-course lesson ended early, so they have drifted into our classroom before the shared break.

All three of them notice immediately.

Hidiku turns red so fast it’s honestly impressive.

Himari gives him the softest, most knowing smile. Lena and Charlotte just look confused.

“It’s rude to point,” Lena says as she approaches. “Do you need something?”

“I don’t,” I reply sweetly. “But the gentleman next to me might.”

Fight-or-flight activates instantly.

Hidiku shoots up from his chair like it’s on fire.

“Actually! I just remembered one of the teachers needed me!”

And he bolts.

I blink.

“…coward.”

That word yanks my thoughts back to the dark alley from earlier today.

Lena tilts her head. “What was that about?”

“Oh, nothing important.”

Before she can press further, the rear classroom door slams open with theatrical violence.

“Himari! Your time has come! Submit your lunch, or face my wrath!”

Enmei Hakryuu fills the doorway like he rehearsed that entrance all morning. Tall, dramatic, white hair gleaming in the sunlight. Red eyes blazing with completely unnecessary intensity.

Daily demon lord role-play has begun.

Himari’s eye twitches.

“Huh?! That’s my food! Maybe if you spent less time trying to learn spells from fairy tales and more time cooking, you wouldn’t starve! What are you, five?!”

The twins glare at each other - the same ash-white hair and crimson eyes, but little else about them feels alike. Enmei is taller.

And louder.

Sometimes.

If his eyes burn like a flame, Himari’s swirl like an inferno about to erupt.

I give it five seconds.

The demon lord charges.

Punch. Punch. Wild, dramatic swing.

Himari sidesteps everything with terrifying efficiency, grabs his arm mid-strike, twists-

-and slams him to the floor in a move that looks extremely painful.

He taps out immediately.

Turns out there’s no knockout… Yet.

Charlotte strolls over and peers down at Enmei writhing on the ground.

“Never a dull moment at your house, huh?”

Himari sighs.

“I’m only teaching her how a proper slave should act!” Enmei wheezes.

There’s a sharp thud as Himari’s heel descends directly into his face.

I’m fairly certain I hear something crack.

Probably just the wind.

Anyway, there’s the knockout.

“I’m kind of glad my siblings are both girls,” Lena murmurs.

I couldn’t agree more.

Our academy is small enough that several age groups share the same building, library, breaks, and some practical lessons. Younger pupils like Hidiku and me study together. Charlotte belongs to the intermediate course. Lena, Himari, and Enmei take the advanced lessons.

Well.

Maybe a little.

Lena, Himari, and Enmei are already eighteen. Lena and Himari plan to continue their studies outside Miyama next year.

Must be nice.

A soft sound brushes against my ear. So faint I ignore it. But then it happens again.

It sounds like my name.

“Yuuna.”

I glance around.

Hidiku stands in the doorway he ran through earlier, urgently waving me over.

Oh no. More Lena interrogation?

Curiosity wins.

“What is it now?” I ask as I approach.

Without warning, he grabs my wrist and pulls me down the hallway.

“I found something cool! You’ll like it, I swear!”

This better not be a prank.

We stop in front of the library.

My least favourite place in the building.

“…Are we looking at picture books?”

He doesn’t even dignify that with a glance. Instead, he scans the shelves with exaggerated seriousness.

“I am not a child, Yuuna. Just wait.”

Mm-hmm.

He pulls out a dark violet book coated in thick dust. Strange symbols crawl across its cover. It looks old - older than the two of us, older than any other book in this room.

Almost… important.

Okay, now I’m interested.

We sit down and open it.

The pages are filled with symbols I’ve never seen before. Nothing recognisable. No proper sentences. Just clusters of words, scattered across empty space.

“What language is this?” I murmur.

Hidiku’s eyes sparkle. “We should show the others!”

“Can it wait? It’s just a weird book.”

Once again I am ignored.

We rush back toward the classroom-

-and the bell rings.

Saved.

“Oh well,” I say, heading to my desk. “Ancient relic investigation postponed.”

The next lesson drags on endlessly. I’m half asleep.

But the book on Hidiku’s lap…

It pulls at me.

Like a magnet.

Later, we gather outside the village on a patch of soft spring grass. The air smells fresh. Warm.

And slightly illegal.

We absolutely stole this book.

“Open it already!” Himari demands, practically vibrating.

Hidiku carefully flips through the pages while we hover around him.

Most pages are just scattered words.

Some show strange diagrams. Circles. Symbols. Shapes that look suspiciously like magic circles from children’s tales.

Then-

I see it.

A crooked humanoid figure.

Bent wrong.

Smiling wrong.

My stomach tightens.

It looks exactly like-

No.

Just a coincidence.

“I can’t read any of this,” Lena says, disappointed.

Charlotte suddenly grabs the book when it lands on a page with a carved outline of a palm.

“It says, ‘Place your hand here and your wish will come true!’”

“You can read that?!” Himari gasps.

“You bet I can.”

I call absolute nonsense.

Charlotte slams her palm onto the page dramatically.

“I wish to marry a wealthy and handsome hunk of a man!”

Himari snatches it next.

“I wish to grow taller - with a bigger bust and butt!”

Fair enough.

It’s passed onto Lena.

“I wish all of us are forever happy… I guess?”

She sounds a bit nervous.

Enmei grabs it.

“I wish to gain superpowers and become the strongest man in the world!”

Of course you do.

Hidiku takes it more gently.

“I wish for my family and friends to stay healthy and live long, happy lives.”

Himari immediately tackles him in a hug.

“That’s so cute! Who’s my good little brother?”

His face turns pink instantly.

Then the book is in front of me.

“Your turn.”

I hesitate.

I’ve mocked everyone else.

Now I actually have to think.

The page feels… warmer than it should.

And yet, this is the one that draws me in the most.

I press my palm against the worn outline.

“I wish -”

A sudden pressure hits my back.

Heavy.

Cold.

I whip around.

Enmei stares at me.

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

Was that him?

Or did something loom above me?

Something watching.

Something waiting.

Maybe I’m imagining it.

“The sun’s setting,” Lena says. “Let’s head home.”

I close the book.

Hidiku watches me stand, mild disappointment flickering in his eyes.

“She’s right,” I pronounce. “I’ll return it.”

I dodge my turn at the wishing game, then quickly part ways.

But the feeling doesn’t leave.

The school is darker now under the fading sunset. The shadows stretch too long. The halls feel… narrower.

I just want my bed.

I return the book to its shelf in the library and let out a quiet breath.

The pressure on my shoulders eases.

Just a little.

I turn to leave.

“Make… a… wish…”

The voice is faint.

Raspy.

Right behind me.

Cold runs down my spine.

I turn slowly toward the shelf.

The book sits exactly where I left it.

And I’m supposed to be alone.

A suffocating dread settles over the room. The pressure comes back.

The same invisible weight I felt earlier - heavy, watchful, wrong.

My mind scrambles for logic. Is it the old building? My imagination? Or maybe just overactive nerves?

I cling to the easiest answer.

“It’s just your imagination, Yuuna. Just your imagination.”

I repeat it like a spell.

Then I slam the library door shut and bolt down the hallway, running faster than dignity allows. My sandals slap against the wooden floor as I burst outside.

The moment fresh air hits my lungs, the pressure fades. I almost laugh in relief.

“See? Nothing. Just nerves, you dumb dumb.”

Even as I try to dismiss it, something deeper twists inside me. This isn’t small. This isn’t nerves. It’s something bigger moving, and we’re standing right in its path.

I don’t even make it halfway home before I run into Himari near the bend in the road. The sun is already sinking low, staining the sky orange and red, so what is she still doing outside?

“Oh, Yuuna,” she says, surprised. “You’re not home yet?”

“Right back at you,” I reply. “Escaping your chaotic household for once?”

She snorts softly and shakes her head, pale hair shifting over her sharp red eyes.

“Just needed some fresh air. Even I need a break sometimes.”

That makes me smile. Even the fearless Himari has limits.

“Want to walk with me?” she asks.

“Sure. Why not?”

We stroll through Miyama as the village settles for the night. Doors slide shut. Lamps flicker to life. The scent of dinner lingers in the air. A soft spring breeze brushes against us, tugging at my ponytail.

It’s peaceful. Almost enough to forget everything.

“My last year here,” Himari says suddenly. “Can you believe it? A terrifying delinquent like me, preparing to leave Miyama.”

She grins. “Even if I’m the size of a grade-schooler.”

“Hey,” I mutter. “Some of us are still that size.”

She laughs.

Then her tone softens.

“When Lena and I leave to continue our studies… I’ll worry about Hidiku.” She looks at me seriously now. “Will you look after him?”

The question hits harder than I expect - I stop in my tracks.

Things will change.

Lena. Himari.

They want to study in a larger town or city next year, somewhere with opportunities Miyama cannot give them. I’ve never really let myself think about it. Enmei may leave too, though with him it’s impossible to tell whether a plan is real or just another performance. Either way, the village will feel quieter without them.

“Y-Yeah,” I say. “I’ll do my best.”

She holds out her pinky.

“Promise?”

I blink.

“Pinky-promise? Isn’t that for children?”

“Promise.”

She insists and so I hook my finger around hers anyway.

“…I promise.”

And just like that, a pact is sealed.

We turn back toward the village gate.

That’s when it rings.

The bell.

Low. Deep. Wrong.

The sound crawls through my bones, and both of us turn toward the shrine on the hill.

The stairway. The Torii gate.

Above it, the blue drains out of the sky, bruising to purple as dusk comes down.

The bell rings again.

And then -

The crows erupt from the gate in a single violent wave, wings beating panic into the air.

The village goes quiet. Too quiet. Even the cicadas stop.

My blood turns to ice.

I’ve seen this.

Every detail. Every second.

And just as I know it will, the gate doesn’t splinter. It doesn’t break.

It only opens. Slowly.

So slowly.

Every muscle in me screams to run, and I can’t move. I can’t even breathe.

The thing that steps through the gate does not belong in this world.

Far too tall. Too broad. Its limbs bend the wrong way, pause, then correct themselves with quiet, patient clicks - like something assembling a body it only half understands.

Its skin looks stretched. Borrowed.

And even without eyes -

I am certain it is looking at me.

It smiles.

Himari yanks my arm.

“Yuuna! Move!”

My body snaps back to life, and we run.

“What is that?! Some kind of animal? A bear? We need the guards!”

It isn’t a bear. It isn’t anything natural.

I’ve seen this before. Over and over and over.

Only -

it was supposed to stay a dream.

Where are the guards? They’re always posted near the gate at sunset. So where are they?

The lamps flicker to life along the streets as villagers spill outside. Confused and alarmed.

Men draw their katanas - I want to believe they can stop it.

Then I hear it. A wet slicing sound.

Over.

And over.

And over.

Like cleaving through sacks of meat.

Then the screaming starts. The worst kind.

Not like in stories. This kind tears through the air.

I almost look back, but Himari’s voice cuts through my panic.

“Yuuna! Eyes forward! Don’t look back!”

Her terror-filled eyes make our situation feel even more freakish as we witness the pandemonium unfold.

Something large flies past us before landing ahead with a sickening, heavy thud.

We both freeze.

It takes my brain a second too long to understand what I’m looking at.

Then I recognise the upper half of a body, torn clean at the waist.

The head is missing. Organs are spilling onto the stone. And my legs give out.

I hit the ground hard, breath shattering in my chest.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t -

I vomit.

Heat flares behind me - something explodes. A house? I barely register it.

“Yuuna! Get up!”

Himari’s voice cracks.

She pulls at me, tears streaking down her cheeks.

“Is that… who I think it is?”

I spot Charlotte ahead of us and Lena beside her - pale and shaking.

Moments later, the Hakryuu brothers rush into the junction.

All of us gathered, syncing our stares.

Enmei is the only one not looking at the corpse. He’s looking past it, at the thing walking toward us.

Flames and bodies surround it.

Some villagers still try to fight, yet they don’t even get close. It’s like invisible blades orbit around it, shredding anyone who steps near.

Its skull is wrapped tight in dried skin. Its eye sockets are empty.

And yet-

I feel its gaze pierce straight through me.

“We need to move! Now!” Lena shouts.

Himari pulls me upright. Hidiku dashes forward - then something invisible slices through the space between us.

The ground explodes in a violent line.

Stone. Dirt. Houses. Chunks fly all around.

The street splits apart in a single stroke, and we’re separated.

Himari doesn’t hesitate before she drags me in another direction.

“All of you run! Hide! We’ll find you later!”

We don’t cross the carved trench - Himari and I seem to share the same bad feeling about it.

We run through untouched streets as we attempt to warn the villagers.

“There’s a monster! Run!”

After seeing so many lives lost in just a matter of minutes, I sink into my thoughts.

Can this thing be defeated? Is this it for all of us?

I glance back - it’s still following us.

It’s not fast, or maybe it just doesn’t want to be. Like it knows we can’t escape.

Then it grins.

I don’t know how it happens, but every instinct in my body detonates at once.

Without thinking, I sweep Himari’s leg and force us both to the ground.

A fraction of a second later-

Everything from the junction down the length of the road is sliced in half, at neck height.

People. Homes. Everything.

My ponytail falls beside me, severed clean.

Flames ignite along the cut. The street becomes a corridor of fire and corpses. I shut my eyes.

But darkness doesn’t make the screams disappear. It doesn’t block out the crackle of burning wood, or the smell of torched flesh.

I’ve never imagined being in the centre of something like this.

Blood covers my uniform, but that blood isn’t mine.

Himari is already moving again. Then a woman ahead of us screams.

“A monster!”

A heavy footstep lands behind me. Too close. Too loud.

My gaze snaps back.

It is standing over me - so much taller than I understood - and its shadow swallows me whole.

How did it get here so fast? I barely have time to think before its massive, skeletal tail swings toward me.

There’s no way I can move in time.

Then, in a flash, a curtain of white hair fills my vision.

Himari.

The tail strikes us with bone-shattering, breath-stealing force.

The world disappears.

For a few endless seconds my body tears through wood and something brittle, until I slam into the ground beyond the ruined wall.

My vision swims. My head spins. I can’t put together what just happened.

A broken gap gapes through the side of the house behind us, punched open by the impact.

Did I just… go through that?

Wait - where’s Himari?

I find her a short distance behind me, lying facedown, her back to me.

We’re behind an abandoned house, in a neglected patch of grass hemmed in by fire-weakened walls.

I try to stand. Something inside me cracks.

I drop back down, breath tearing in and out of my lungs. My back feels like it has been split open.

The second attempt works. Barely.

I stagger to her and turn her gently toward me.

“Himari? Are you alright?”

Something is wrong.

Her breathing is too sharp. Too fast. As if she’s drowning in air.

My hand moves to her stomach. The light is poor, but my fingers tell me what my eyes don’t want to see.

An absence. A hollow where there should be none.

“There’s… a hole.”

The words leave me in a whisper, and the confusion from before turns sickeningly clear.

She shielded me. She took the worst of it.

“Hey - Himari! Talk to me!”

The panic curdles into something worse, rising in my throat as I shake her, as gently as I can.

“Please. Wake up.”

Himari coughs. Blood spills from her mouth - far too much of it.

What do I do? What do I do?

“Yuu…na…”

The sound barely forms.

“I’m not leaving you here.”

It takes several tries with shaking hands, but I tear a strip from my sleeve and press it to the wound. My fingers are slick. I know it can’t undo what has already happened. Doing nothing feels worse.

Then it comes back. The heavy, ground-crushing footsteps.

From inside the house. Taking their time.

We have to move.

Adrenaline floods me so hard the edges of the world tilt. It’s the only reason I can lift her at all.

She protected me. Now it’s my turn.

Himari barely reacts as I pull her onto my back.

She has always been small. Now her weight feels wrong - loose, unbalanced, terribly hard to hold.

Running isn’t possible. It’s a lurching, clumsy limp, but I keep moving.

“Yuuna… just run… please…”

Does she really think I’d leave her?

Tears blur everything.

“Be quiet and save your strength. I’m not leaving you, whether you like it or not.”

I stagger between the houses, taking whatever narrow path isn’t already burning. Every step jars up through my back and ribs. I keep moving.

By the time I reach the overgrown yard of another abandoned home, most of my strength is gone.

An old well squats near the middle of it, its mouth covered by warped boards gone silver with age.

I’ve passed this place before. No one has lived here for years.

My lungs won’t fill. Each breath comes shallow, unfinished.

A groan runs through the burning structure beside us.

No. No, no -

The wall gives way. Fire-eaten beams and roof tiles crash into the yard with a roar.

Sparks and dust swallow everything.

I twist, trying to shield Himari with my body, for once.

Something heavy strikes my shoulder and throws us forward.

My knees hit the old boards over the well.

The wood bends beneath us with a long, splintering crack.

The well.

No -

The cover breaks. Himari slips from my back as the boards give way, and her wrist slides out of my hand.

There’s barely time to see her fall below me.

We hit the bottom.

Himari lands first.

Then I come down on top of her.

The sound is wet. Wrong.

Wrong.

Pain tears through my right arm, my left leg, the right side of my chest, all at once.

For a moment I can’t move. I can’t even tell which part of me hurts most.

Warmth spreads beneath us, soaking into my clothes.

The well fills with the smell of iron, and I am too afraid to shift my weight.

Tears come freely, blurring what little dark I can see.

Why?

Why did it come to this?

We had a peaceful life. A loving family. Good friends.

We laughed.

So why?

Why are our homes burning?

Why does something like that exist?

Why am I lying on top of -

Something shifts beneath me.

A breath. Thin and wet.

Relief hits so hard it hurts.

“You’re alive.”

I try to move off her, but my right arm folds under me and pain tears through my ribs.

“Wait. I’ll - I’ll get up.”

My left leg won’t follow. Something near the ankle feels broken, pinned beneath my weight.

The well is so narrow there is nowhere to move without touching her.

Her fingers twitch against the dirt.

They don’t reach me.

“Himari?”

Another breath leaves her.

No answer follows it.

A burst of flame above briefly lights the bottom of the well.

Himari’s eyes are half open. Blood stains her mouth, and all I can think is that the fall - my weight - must have made it worse.

My stomach turns. I twist as far as the broken ribs allow and am sick. Then the sobbing starts.

And then -

That voice.

Crooked. Dark.

“Your… wish…”

My soul leaves my body. My lungs lock.

I stare up at the circle of sky, unable to blink.

The familiar heavy footsteps return. The thing is coming.

It found me.

I try to breathe. The shock won’t let me.

Just as I’m certain it’s leaning over the mouth of the well, two other voices cut through the night above.

A man. A girl.

Metal tears the air.

An impact shudders through the ground, knocking dust and pebbles into the pit.

The creature lets out a furious, animal groan.

Something crashes through wood. Another strike answers it. The sounds overlap until I can’t tell who is moving or what is breaking.

Someone hurt it.

My vision starts to fade at the edges. However hard I try to focus, everything blurs.

The strength slips out of my fingers.

The fighting goes on somewhere above me.

Then even that is gone.

———

“Master, here! I found them!”

A voice pulls me upward through layers of darkness.

Not the crooked one.

A girl.

I force my eyes open.

Grey morning hangs above the well. Ash drifts through the opening in slow, weightless pieces.

I do not know how long I have been here.

My whole body is cold except for the places where pain burns through it.

A face appears over the broken rim.

“Hey! Can you hear me down there?”

I try to answer, but only a broken sound leaves my throat.

“She’s alive,” the girl calls. “Lower the rope.”

A rope drops into the narrow darkness. A moment later, she descends beside me, boots scraping the stone.

Long dark hair falls over one shoulder as she crouches. Even here, covered in ash, she looks strangely elegant.

“Don’t move,” she says.

“Himari-”

Her bright green eyes shift beneath me.

For one terrible moment, she says nothing.

She reaches carefully past my shoulder and checks Himari’s neck.

I already know.

Knowing does not stop me from waiting.

The elegant girl looks back at me. Her hand settles gently against my shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she says softly. “You shouldn’t have had to go through this.”

My mouth opens, but no sound comes.

“We’re going to get you out first. We won’t leave her here.”

She threads folded cloth beneath my injured arm and secures it against my chest. Every small movement sends white pain through me.

“I know,” she whispers when I cry out. “I’m sorry. Just a little longer.”

The rope tightens around the improvised sling supporting my back and hips.

“Ready,” she calls upward.

I try to ask about Himari again, but the words tangle behind my teeth.

She braces my broken arm with both hands.

Then the bottom of the well falls away beneath me.

Stone slides past. Rope groans against wood above.

For one breathless moment, I am certain I will fall again.

Cold air touches my face.

A man pulls me over the broken rim and lowers me onto a board padded with torn cloth. His hands are steady. His voice is calmer than anything has a right to be here.

“Yuuna Endo?” he asks after I manage to give him my name. “I’m Yasuhiko Moriyasu. Stay still. I’m going to secure your arm and leg before we do anything else.”

There’s someone behind him.

Dark hair. Blue eyes. Dirt and dried blood across his face.

“Hidiku…”

Relief slams into me so hard it hurts.

He takes one step toward me - then his gaze goes past the well.

“Where’s Big Sis?”

I can’t answer.

Below us, the woman is securing Himari’s body. The rope begins to rise again.

Moriyasu moves in front of Hidiku, trying to turn him away before the cloth-wrapped shape clears the rim.

Hidiku breaks past him.

“No! Big Sis!”

He drops beside her so fast his knees strike the ground. His hands hover over her hair, her face, shaking - as though touching her will make it true.

Then he pulls her against him.

The sound he makes isn’t a word.

He clings to her and sobs into her hair, and Moriyasu and the woman stand back. No one tells him to stop. No one tells him it will be alright.

I lie a few steps away, trapped inside my own body.

I can’t reach him.

I can’t even lift my good hand without the world tilting.

All I can do is cry with him.

Later - after the woman climbs out, after Moriyasu finishes binding my arm and leg in place - I ask the question that has been burning in me since I woke.

“The thing that attacked us… what was it?”

Moriyasu’s face hardens.

“A demon.”

The word should sound ridiculous.

It doesn’t.

“Is it dead?”

His silence answers before he does.

“No. It escaped.”

Something cold settles under my skin.

It’s still out there.

We bury Himari beneath a cedar at the edge of the forest.

There is no coffin. Moriyasu and the woman wrap her in salvaged cloth while Hidiku watches without blinking.

They keep me fixed to the board; moving me again would shift the fractures. I can see the grave from where I lie, but I can’t sit up. I can’t go to Hidiku when the first earth falls against the cloth.

Moriyasu offers a short prayer.

Hidiku stands at the edge, his fists clenched so tightly they shake.

“I’ll kill it,” he whispers.

There is no shouting in his voice.

Somehow that is worse.

I stay awake until the last of the earth has fallen.

Only then do I let the dark take me.

———

Wheels grinding over stone.

Branches moving above me.

The woman’s hand holding my broken arm still while the cart jolts beneath us.

Moriyasu’s footsteps in front.

Hidiku walking somewhere close enough that I can hear him breathe.

Then arms lifting me when the path becomes too narrow for the cart.

Darkness again.

Water against my lips.

Cloth pulled from skin.

A voice telling me to breathe.

Hands holding my shoulder and hip still.

Pain so bright that the room disappears.

Someone says my name.

Wood shifts back into place with a sickening pressure.

I scream.

Or maybe I only dream that I do.

———

When I finally wake properly, sunlight is spilling across an unfamiliar ceiling.

For several seconds, I forget.

Then I try to sit up.

Pain locks around my ribs and throws me back against the bedding.

“Easy.”

The woman from the well is beside me before I can try again. My right arm is trapped in a splint. My left leg is wrapped and immobilised beneath the blankets.

“How are you feeling?” she asks.

“Like I lost an argument with a house.”

The corner of her mouth moves, but she doesn’t laugh at me.

Another girl is standing near the foot of the bedding, holding a cup and folded cloth.

“You were troublesome,” she says.

“Viola.”

The first woman says her name with a warning hidden inside it.

“Very brave,” Viola corrects, and sets the cup beside me.

I look between them.

“My sisters.”

The words scrape out before anything else can.

Moriyasu enters a moment later. Whatever answer he carries is written across his face before he speaks.

“The people who escaped Miyama were taken toward Kyoto. That much has been confirmed.”

Hope rises too quickly.

“Then Lena and Charlotte-”

“The message did not include names.”

It falls just as fast.

Moriyasu kneels beside the bedding so I don’t have to strain my neck to see him.

“But they may have been among them. Until I learn otherwise, you should hold on to that possibility.”

May have been.

Not are.

I hate the difference between those words.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Not continuously,” the woman says. “You drifted in and out for about two days.”

Two days.

My thoughts stumble over one another.

Moriyasu gestures toward the woman beside me.

“This is Ena Nagi. She has been handling most of your treatment. Viola assisted her.”

“Thank you, Miss Nagi.”

“Ena is fine,” she says.

Absolutely not.

I nearly died in a well and somehow this is what embarrasses me.

Moriyasu begins to explain that the roads around Miyama are unsafe and that no physician could be brought through yet. He promises to tell me more about the demon when I’m strong enough to stay awake through the explanation.

I want to argue.

My body betrays me with a yawn.

Ena notices, of course.

“Rest.”

This time, I listen.

———

Evening has settled over the room when Viola opens the door again.

Hidiku is standing behind her.

He looks cleaner than he did beside the well, but not better. His eyes are swollen. His shoulders seem too heavy for him.

Viola glances between us and quietly steps away, sliding the door closed behind her.

Hidiku remains near the entrance.

“You can come closer,” I say.

He does, slowly, and sits beside the bedding.

For a while, neither of us speaks.

There are too many things between us now.

Himari beneath the cedar.

My sisters somewhere on the road to Kyoto. Maybe.

The demon still alive.

Hidiku looks at the splint around my arm, then at the blankets hiding my leg.

His mouth opens once, but nothing comes out.

When he finally speaks, his voice is small enough that I almost miss it.

“I thought you were going to die too.”