The classroom looked just like every other in the school: pale walls, half-erased chalkboards, rows of desks worn down by time and compass scratches. A flickering neon light on the ceiling beat a rhythm to the teenage chatter.
Everyone was talking, laughing, throwing paper balls… except for one. Slumped over his desk, Keita let his head rest limply on his crossed arms. His orange hair, as bright as dying flames, fell over his forehead. The fade he had recently shaved revealed a dark stripe on the sides, like a shadow clinging to his light. Mischievous by nature, he wasn't speaking today. He was just tired. Nothing more.
Then, in the hallway, a noise.
Faint, but strange.
A long, heavy shadow approached, stretched unnaturally, as if it didn't belong to anything human.
Without a word, the classroom door slowly creaked open. The students fell silent instantly. One of them stood up nervously and shouted in a tense voice:
— Stand up!
Then, immediately:
— Sit down…
A massive figure stood at the doorway. The man entered without saying a word, dragging behind him a suffocating aura of authority. Pitch-black sunglasses hid his eyes, and no student could remember him looking any different. He was tall, built like a human suit of armor, and rumor had it he once smashed a locker—with a student's head.
He scanned the room, then said in a deep voice:
— Well… since it's the last day, the administration's giving you free time. Enjoy it. And try not to die.
He turned on his heels, walked out… and vanished down the hall, as if he had merged with the air.
As soon as he left, the chatter resumed—twice as loud.
A few minutes later, another boy walked in, slowly. His black hair fell over his forehead like a curtain, hiding his eyes completely. His calm demeanor contrasted sharply with the noise around him. Without a word, he walked over to Keita, who was still half-asleep.
— Keita, he whispered. Remember? Today's the day you have to tell her. You promised me.
Keita sighed without raising his head.
— I know, I know... But you think it's easy? It's not just "Hey, I love you, wanna go out?" It's... it's Yuna.
— Exactly, the other replied. You love her, right? Then go tell her.
Keita reluctantly sat up.
— Fine… Let's go.
They walked out together, heading into the hallway with its slightly grimy white tiles. Crumpled posters on the walls reminded them of the safety rules, the ban on using powers within school grounds (though almost no one had any), and the closing dates. Dented lockers lined the corridors.
Elsewhere in the school...
A door burst open. A group of girls in uniform spilled into the hallway, laughing loudly, trading stories about classes, hairstyles, and boys with the typical energy of a last day.
Back to the two boys:
— You have to tell her today that you love her, the friend insisted, calm but firm.
— I know, Keita breathed. But I'm scared she just sees me as her childhood friend… or worse, like a big brother. If I get rejected, that's it.
— Honestly, you're dumb. I'm sure she's in love with you too.
— That's just you wanting it to be true. There's no proof… but yeah. I hope you're right.
Back to the group of girls:
Among them, one stood out for her quiet grace. Long hair, sharp eyes, a balanced figure—she laughed with the others but already seemed somewhere else. Her name was Yuna.
— Alright girls, see you later!
She walked off, turning into another corridor.
I wonder where those two disappeared to… she thought.
As she walked, she passed by a large window. And then… she stopped dead.
Her eyes widened.
Just behind the glass, only a few meters away…
A gigantic eye was staring at her.
At the same moment, Keita and his friend turned into the adjacent corridor.
A piercing scream tore through the air.
Yuna had screamed.
Beyond the walls of the great city, several kilometers from the central zone, stood an outer wall—wide and thick, twelve meters high.
A simple wooden door, barely two meters tall, marked the entrance, like a tiny mouth at the base of a stone giant. All around, a dense forest surrounded the area, but it stopped exactly two meters from the wall, as if the trees themselves refused to come any closer. A narrow path cut through the woods, leading straight to the door, slicing through the vegetation with geometric precision.
Two teenagers, probably sixteen, sat at the edge of the path.
— I'm telling you, nothing's gonna happen, grumbled Kohaku, arms crossed. Let's go to the lake and swim.
Her long blond hair, tied back with a rough cord, slid over her tanned shoulders. She wore a plain white T-shirt tucked into denim shorts. A small knife was strapped to each thigh. Her gaze was sharp, her tone harsh, and her temper ever-ready to explode.
— We have to watch the gate, Hiro replied, calm but firm. To make sure no monsters get through.
Slim but sturdy, Hiro wore a red shirt with faded lettering: "I'M ALL FIRED UP." His black hair fell just above his eyes, and he was intently watching the forest.
— JUST ADMIT YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE WITH ME! Kohaku shouted, blushing. ANYWAY, WE CAN SENSE MONSTERS' WIND FROM AFAR!
— Yeah, except some can hide their presence, Hiro muttered. And what's this about being alone with you?
— N-Nothing! she answered, turning away, cheeks burning.
Hiro sighed, stood up, walked a few steps down the path, then turned back to her.
— I've got something to tell you.
Kohaku turned, intrigued, heart racing.
— What?… Go ahead…
— This morning, my grandfather gave me this.
He pulled out a small package wrapped in dark cloth, carefully folded. Kohaku, thinking it was a love confession, immediately looked away, annoyed.
— This is serious, Hiro insisted. He says it's some kind of prison. One of my ancestors managed to seal a mythical monster inside… and for generations, each descendant has been tasked with keeping it contained.
Kohaku crossed her arms, turned to answer… and then saw the object.
— Wait… looks like there's something inside…
— Exactly, Hiro said. Even I don't know what it is. Neither does my grandfather. He says anyone who touches it gets pulled in… after a few minutes.
— Whoa… That thing's dangerous… I kinda wanna—
Craack.
A sharp noise stopped them cold. A twig had just snapped. A footstep.
The two teens slowly looked up. A figure was moving through the shadow of the trees. It moved slowly, but with purpose.
It looked like… a deformed octopus, gigantic, like it had swallowed an elephant and digested it while keeping the mass. Two thick gray legs—remnants of the absorbed creature—helped it move, while several tentacles stretched and coiled constantly around its slimy body.
Two small black eyes near its appendages scanned the area, and a third, larger eye, like a brown pearl, gleamed at the center of its mass.
Hiro swallowed.
— See? I told you going swimming was a bad idea.
Kohaku didn't take her eyes off it.
— Okay… You were right.
A frozen silence. A moment of disbelief.
Then the screams began.
Students screamed in the halls, fleeing in all directions. Some tripped, others stood frozen, eyes wide in terror. But in that sea of chaos, two boys ran against the current, pushing through the panic.
They were looking for one person.
Yuna.
She was still standing frozen by the window, her hands pressed against the glass. But before Keita and Kubira could reach her, a deep rumble sounded.
A massive fist tore through the wall.
An entire section of the façade collapsed, scattering stone shards and a cloud of dust through the classroom. A massive crater now stood where the wall had once been.
A gigantic hand, with misshapen fingers and coarse, greenish skin, reached into the classroom like a grotesque claw. It grabbed Yuna effortlessly, lifting her off the ground without care.
Keita stopped dead, breath caught.
The monster, over three meters tall, wore nothing but a tattered loincloth fluttering in the wind. Its body was grotesquely disproportionate. One massive eye, nearly as big as its head, rolled in its socket. The other, smaller, looked normal—but was lost on the asymmetrical face.
Its arms, too long, hung like massive clubs. Each hand was bigger than its own chest. Yet it lifted them without strain. In one of them, Yuna's body dangled—her shoulders and head on one side, her feet on the other.
The monster tilted its head, gazing at its prey with a childlike curiosity. Then, in a guttural voice, slow and stretched by stupidity:
— Pre-tty…
The wind stirred. A burst of static electricity brushed Keita. He turned, surprised.
Kubira's hands and feet were sparking with electricity.
— You have powers now?! Keita shouted.
Kubira answered without taking his eyes off the monster:
— Yeah. Sorry I never said anything. But right now, I've got to save Yuna.
— You're gonna jump?! We're on the fourth floor!
— I know.
And without waiting, he leapt into the void.
Thunder cracked. His fist, wreathed in blue lightning, smashed into the monster's head with devastating force.
Outside the city, the peace shattered.
A loud bang, like an explosion, echoed from the wall. Then a second, even stronger. A section of the wall had just collapsed under the impact.
The shrill alarm rang across the entire sector.
— And you wanted to go swimming?! Hiro growled, teeth clenched.
Kohaku, eyes blazing with rage, drew her knives.
— Fine. Got it.
Without hesitation, she charged at the monster. A battle cry burst from her throat as she leaped. Hiro, right behind her, took a combat stance, his hands already heating with magical energy.
The monster turned to them. Two of its tentacles swelled, stretching toward them.
Kohaku dodged the first gracefully, spun, and slashed the second. It hit the ground with a heavy thud… then regrew immediately, as if made of eternal flesh.
— Hiro! Neutralize its powers! she shouted as she cut another tentacle.
— I'm trying! he yelled, stretching out his hands, focusing his energy.
— But… it's like it's not using any powers! I can't block anything!
— Then come help me! Just distract it for a second!
Hiro rushed in, barely dodging a tentacle. He leapt off a rock, then struck with all his strength at the monster's central eye.
A scream of pain shook the air.
But before he could land, three tentacles coiled around him.
The monster squeezed. Hiro screamed in pain, his ribs crushed.
— HIIROOOO!
Kohaku screamed with all her might. Her gaze hardened. She dove at the tentacles, slicing them with surgical precision.
Then, she leaned forward slightly… and disappeared.
The air folded—literally. Before her, invisible creases formed, as if space itself was wrinkling. She dashed into them…
…and reappeared behind the monster, blade forward, plunging her knife deep into its flesh.